"Has it not come out yet?" Grav's eyes were bloodshot with white, and this was no different from a high-stakes gamble for him, betting his entire net worth.
He was one of the few porters at the station who could actually make money as a porter, earning about eleven to twelve yuan per month because everyone worked quickly. If there were fewer porters, he could earn even more.
This time, under Dulin's careful explanation, he took out all his savings - forty-one yuan - as "start-up capital" for himself and Dulin's business. According to their agreement, if they successfully turned low-alcohol liquor into high-alcohol liquor, he would take 40% of the profits from selling high-alcohol liquor as his own benefit. Dulin had no objections to this; initially he planned to give Grav 50% of the profit.
But when this guy opened his mouth, he lowered it by ten percent. Even Dulin knew enough to shut up despite being an idiot.
With Grav's forty-one yuan in hand, they soon gathered everything they needed from memory: a small iron pot for boiling low-alcohol liquor with a lid that had a pipe attached to it. The pipe ran through another bucket filled with water and extended downwards with a glass basin underneath. These things didn't cost too much money; they only spent four or five yuan on them altogether. They could have been bought for three or four yuan if they hadn't needed an ironsmith to attach the pipe onto the lid and fill in any gaps between the wooden barrel and pipe.
The real expense came from boxes upon boxes of low-alcohol liquor placed on one side along with some sugar and glass bottles plus their current residence which consumed most of their start-up capital but couldn't be avoided.
Taking two days off work together in this small room where Grav remained highly alert covering all doors and windows with curtains, which later proved to be the stupidest thing they did as it made the room smell bad.
As the low-alcohol liquor in the small iron pot began to bubble and boil, Dulin pressed a few stones onto the lid and touched the pipe. It immediately sprang open, burning his hand slightly. When the first drop of liquid dripped out from the other end of the pipe, Grav almost lunged forward to hold onto the glass basin. The liquid dripping from inside became more frequent and faster; Grav's hands trembled as he dipped them into some of it at bottom of glass basin before putting it in his mouth.
Dulin swallowed hard, feeling his throat burn painfully dry. He had also been working hard for these two days that he could hear his heart pounding nervously now. If they succeeded, then great! But if they failed...he would feel guilty since Grav had put all his money into this venture!
Watching Grav close his eyes, with all his features squeezed together and trembling all over, Dulin's mind went blank. Had he failed? He sighed in frustration and was about to extinguish the furnace fire when Grav suddenly shouted "Yes!"
He joyfully put down the glass bowl and hugged Dulin tightly, spinning him around. His mind was filled with happiness. Before meeting Dulin, he had no idea that cheap low-alcohol drinks could be turned into expensive high-alcohol ones. If he had known this earlier, would he still have worked as a laborer at the station? Thank God for sending this bastard to me!
Grav looked at Dulin with a flushed face and said: "If you were a girl, I'd marry you right now."
"I think my ribs might be broken!" replied Dulin.
Grav immediately let go of him as he knew how strong his grip was. When they looked back at each other again, their eyes sparkled with excitement and joy before bursting out laughing heartily.
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Their laughter didn't last long as they heard banging on the floor upstairs followed by a shrill voice shouting: "Can't you guys rest? You damn people deserve to rent houses for your whole lives!"
Although annoyed by the woman's complaints and curses from upstairs, neither of them felt upset. They returned to their crude distillation equipment once again looking at a small bowl of amber liquid emitting an unpleasant odor but making both of them obsessed - it wasn't just high alcohol content; it meant money!
Dulin's heart raced faster than ever before while feeling dry-mouthed knowing that what they did violated imperial law but strangely enough felt more excited than scared! If not for avoiding attention being drawn towards them, he would have sung loudly through an open window expressing his joy.
"When do we stop burning?" asked Grav tilting his head while watching water drops dripping slower from the tube.
Dulin was unsure and hesitated for a moment before suggesting: "Maybe we need to wait a while? Why don't we start bottling these up and see how many bottles we can fill?"
They immediately started working together, pouring the alcohol from the glass bowl into their prepared bottles. Looking at two full bottles of alcohol and one that was only six or seven tenths full, they no longer felt excited but rather doubtful!
They had used three low-alcohol drinks for this experiment but ended up with almost three high-alcohol ones. The more they thought about it, the more something seemed off.
Grav picked up the partially filled bottle and took a sip before spitting it out saying: "Yuck! Why is it so bitter? It doesn't taste right, plus its alcohol content isn't even high!"
Dulin turned around immediately to open the small iron pot where he saw some sticky yellowish substance bubbling under residual heat. He picked up a small wooden stick, poked at it then blew on it before putting it in his mouth - an intense aroma mixed with sweetness made his head ache. Suddenly realizing what happened, he slapped himself on the forehead; initially they did produce high-alcohol content but later added water which left behind non-volatile substances such as sugar and spices.
Now that they knew the reason, things became much simpler. He first scraped out the blackened substance from the small iron bucket, then poured low-grade alcohol back in and distilled it again. When there was about a bottle left, he immediately switched to another container. The two tasted the liquid in the glass bowl; this time it was not only bitter but also spicy. He added bit by bit of the previously scraped black syrup-like substance into it and after continuous attempts, finally made what Grav considered to be top-notch high-proof liquor.
"I think we can start selling now!" Grav couldn't help taking another sip. God bear witness, he had never enjoyed such high-proof liquor before; it was really too enjoyable. The fiery liquid entered his stomach and brought forth a warm feeling, and he liked this hot taste just like how he liked adding chili powder to his cigarettes.
However, Dulin didn't see it that way: "We should investigate the prices and tastes of most high-proof liquors on the market first, then improve them as much as possible to create our own unique characteristics before we can sell them. Products different from ordinary brands on the market can quickly shape better reputation and value for us!"
Grav was already a little dizzy; he used his pinky finger to rub his earlobe and asked: "Can we make more money?"
Dulin nodded vigorously: "Yes! We can earn much more money!"
Grav suddenly burst into laughter; slapping Dulin's shoulder with one hand caused him to stagger backwards almost falling down. My god! Dulin's body is strong enough already but still not as strong as Grav's? Sometimes Dulin really doubted whether there was an energy crystal warehouse inside this guy or if he were actually a machine wearing human skin? Otherwise where did all this strength come from?
But soon they faced another problem - they ran out of money!
According to Grav's idea, they would take out the distilled high-proof liquor and exchange it for some money first, then use that money to buy some popular high-proof liquors to taste. However, Dulin had a different opinion. It was definitely not something smart people could do by rashly intervening in this illegal industry without preparation; there might be another crazy donkey or something running out.
Moreover, how to manage this business that could definitely make big bucks still required some planning time.
The two had no choice but to return to the station and wait for payday at the end of the month.