Ning Chen came out of the marquis’s residence and drove a cart straight for the palace.

The palace channel had to be opened.

If the emperor drank it and called it good, how could the wine be anything but good?

Ning Chen carried three jars of wine to the door of the imperial study.

As it happened, Nie Liang was on duty that day.

He looked at Ning Chen holding three jars of wine and was thoroughly at a loss. “My lord marquis. What is this?”

“I’ve come to bring a gift!”

Nie Liang: “???”

Bringing a gift into the palace?

Ning Chen handed two of the jars to Nie Liang. “One for you, one for Old Quan… I can’t hand it to him in front of His Majesty, so tell him to come and get it from you later.”

“Hold on to them, don’t drop them. This wine is expensive… Ten taels of silver a jar, and money alone won’t necessarily get you one. It took a great deal of trouble to lay hands on these.”

Nie Liang was stunned. “What wine costs ten taels a jar?”

“It’s called Immortal Dew. Wine the immortals drink… I’m telling you, take one mouthful of this and you could die this minute with nothing left to regret.”

The corner of Nie Liang’s mouth twitched. “Ha. Thank you so much.”

The Xuan Emperor was reading memorials.

A young eunuch came in and knelt. “Your Majesty, Marquis Ning begs an audience!”

The Xuan Emperor nodded slightly. “Let him in!”

The young eunuch withdrew.

A moment later Ning Chen came in.

The Xuan Emperor glanced up and gave a slight start. “What are you doing with that wine? Have you come to drink with this emperor? This emperor has no time… Go amuse yourself with Huai’an.”

It was not at all the way an emperor spoke. It was the way an elder tells a boisterous young relative to go play somewhere else and stop bothering him.

Ning Chen bowed his head. “Your Majesty, your subject has come to bring you a gift.”

The Xuan Emperor set down the memorial. “And this gift of yours is that jar of wine?”

“Your Majesty, the wine is called Immortal Dew, and it is no ordinary wine. Your subject has never in his life drunk anything so good. It is nectar of the immortals, nothing less.”

“It has not gone on sale yet. Your subject happens to know the owner of the shop, and your subject paid a great deal of silver to get hold of it… Your subject thought of Your Majesty first of all and came straight here with it.”

The corner of the Xuan Emperor’s mouth lifted. What wine had he not drunk?

The imperial wine of the palace was the true nectar of the immortals. Had Ning Chen simply never tasted anything good?

Still, Ning Chen’s filial feeling warmed him.

“Very well. This emperor accepts the wine… Whatever it cost you, this emperor will make it up to you.”

“Your Majesty, at least take one mouthful… If it is not good, your subject will take the punishment willingly.”

Eunuch Quan frowned. How could His Majesty simply drink wine of unknown origin?

He was about to speak when he saw Ning Chen break the clay seal… In an instant the rich smell of the wine spread through the room.

The Xuan Emperor sniffed, lifted his head from the memorials, and fixed his eyes on the jar in Ning Chen’s hands.

Even Eunuch Quan, who did not care for wine, swallowed in spite of himself.

The smell of it was too much.

“Bring it here and let this emperor look at it.”

Ning Chen came forward quickly and set the jar on the dragon desk.

The Xuan Emperor leaned in and smelled it, and his mouth watered.

“Quan Sheng. Fetch a wine cup.”

“Yes!”

Eunuch Quan brought a wine cup.

Ning Chen poured a cup out… The mouth of the cup was too small and a fair amount was spilled.

In the jar it had not shown, but poured into the cup the Xuan Emperor saw it: the wine was pure and clear.

If it had not been for the rich smell of it, he would have doubted it was wine at all.

The Xuan Emperor reached for the cup without thinking.

Eunuch Quan was about to stop him when Ning Chen got in first. “Your Majesty, wait!”

The Xuan Emperor looked at him.

“Your subject is certain there is nothing wrong with the wine, but what if there were? So your subject will taste it for Your Majesty first.”

Ning Chen picked up the cup and drank it off in one swallow.

The Xuan Emperor’s whole face warmed. He had not favored the boy for nothing. The boy thought of him at every turn, and when he came by something good he brought it straight to him.

Sensible, dutiful, learned in letters and prepared in arms — who would not be fond of a boy like that?

After waiting a while, Ning Chen smiled. “Your Majesty, your subject is well… Your Majesty may drink without concern.”

“If Your Majesty will wait, this servant will fetch a fresh cup.”

Eunuch Quan turned to go for one.

The Xuan Emperor waved a hand. “No need. This emperor will use this one… Ning Chen, fill it for this emperor.”

Eunuch Quan was dumbfounded. Whoever heard of an emperor using something a subject had used?

Ning Chen quickly took up the jar and poured a cup.

The Xuan Emperor lifted it, smelled it, took a small sip, and his eyes lit up, and then drank the rest off at once.

Then he let out a breath of wine fumes and could not keep it in. “Good wine… The scent leaps at the nose, the liquor is pure and clear, drinking it is like drinking sweet dew, the mouth fills with fragrance, and the aftertaste does not end… It has earned the name Immortal Dew.”

Listen to that. Look at the words the man pulls out. An emperor really does have something to him — not like that coarse soldier Gu Yichun, who had nothing to say but “good.”

Eunuch Quan, a man with no taste for wine, smelled it and could not stop himself from swallowing.

A pity there was none for him.

The Xuan Emperor had to ask, “Where did this wine come from?”

“Your subject came across it by chance. The owner of the shop is called Jin Qingsheng, and the wine does not go on sale until tomorrow… Your subject thought wine this good must reach Your Majesty first.”

“So your subject paid a heavy price for some of it and brought it straight to Your Majesty.”

The Xuan Emperor gave a warm nod.

“The wine is good indeed. This emperor has never drunk anything so clear and so full-bodied.”

Ning Chen smiled like a fawning dog. “It is enough that Your Majesty likes it. Your subject bought thirty jars and they are on the cart at the palace gate… Your Majesty can keep them and drink them at leisure.”

The Xuan Emperor was greatly pleased.

The more he looked at Ning Chen the better he liked him. The boy grew more sensible by the day.

“Quan Sheng. Reward Ning Chen with ten thousand taels of silver!”

Ning Chen’s heart broke into flower. He stepped back a few paces and bowed. “Thank you, Your Majesty!”

Eunuch Quan fetched a silver note for ten thousand taels and gave it to Ning Chen.

Ning Chen took the note and said quietly, “Old Quan, I’ve kept a jar for you. It’s with Commander Nie. Go collect it quietly later.”

Quan Sheng’s eyes lit up, and the more he looked at Ning Chen the more agreeable the young man seemed.

Ning Chen bowed. “Your Majesty, Old General Chen is a man who likes his wine. May your subject take a jar to him?”

The Xuan Emperor said, “You need not trouble about that. This emperor will send someone with it.”

That was the sentence Ning Chen had been waiting for. If the wine was granted to Old General Chen, how could it not be granted to the other ministers?

Wine the emperor himself had called good — would that not lift its standing at a stroke? After that, not only would the price rise with the tide, the market would open along with it.

“Yes. Then your subject takes his leave!”

Ning Chen left thoroughly pleased with himself, the ten-thousand-tael note tucked away.

After Ning Chen had gone, the Xuan Emperor could not stop himself from drinking several more cups.

“Quan Sheng. Send a jar of this to Old General Chen, then reward every minister at court with a flask, and the same for the inner palace.”

Quan Sheng bowed. “Yes. This servant will see to it at once!”

“Wait. Have Nie Liang send men to look quietly into this Immortal Dew shop.”

The Xuan Emperor had fallen completely in love with the wine, and felt that what he had drunk before did not deserve the name.

If there was nothing wrong with the shop, they could send it to the palace as tribute from now on… The wine was certainly fit to be the imperial wine.

“Yes. This servant obeys the command!”

Eunuch Quan hurried off to find Nie Liang. Ning Chen had left a jar for him at Nie Liang’s, and with wine this good he was not going to let Nie Liang drink it all.

By now Ning Chen was out of the palace, and his whole face opened up in a grin… In a few days, he was sure, the wine would sweep the whole capital.

After that he would fill the Great Xuan with shops, and sell the wine into other kingdoms too.

A fortune falling out of the sky, and no dodging it!

With power in hand, making money really was too easy!

(End of Chapter 367)