frightfiction Chapter 333 The Wine is Served
Chapter 333 The Wine is Served
Half a month later, Zhao Yang finally met Zhong Chang, the chubby, smiling businessman.
Inside the inn across from Chen's Restaurant, the innkeeper grumbled under his breath as he put down the food he had specially bought from Chen's. "Is our place so bad? This guy comes here to eat every few days, and not only does he eat here, but he also always asks me to buy food from across the street. Despite his complaints, I haven't stopped working at all, since he pays me a lot."
They started cooking, and before Zhong Chang could say anything, the three of them had already started siphoning their food.
Ah Xing took a bite of the big white steamed bun. The soft and chewy texture made him exclaim, "How is this made? This steamed bun is so delicious. No wonder it's Chen Ji's!" After saying that, he picked up a piece of twice-cooked pork with his chopsticks. The meat and steamed bun mingled together in his mouth, and the sweet and salty flavors of starch and oil blended perfectly.
"Oh, it's delicious!" Ah Xing muttered to himself, his chopsticks flying as he ate without stopping for a moment.
Ah Xing was also eating heartily, but he couldn't out-eat Ah Xing when it came to picking up food. Angrily, he hit Ah Xing with a hammer, saying, "Are you a reincarnated starving ghost?! You're eating so fast!"
"Um, what about the eggs..." Ah Xing mumbled incoherently.
Zhao Yang, quick as a flash, picked up the last piece of fish and said, "Eat slowly, what's the rush!"
Seeing their unsightly eating habits, oblivious to everyone else, and noticing that the table was now reduced to scraps in the short time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Zhong Chang put down his chopsticks, sighed, and said, "Could it be that the higher-ups have shortchanged you, making you eat in such a wretched state?"
Just as Ah Xing was about to say something, Zhao Yang laughed and said, "Yeah, we haven't had a proper meal in ages."
A-Yue glanced at him in surprise, trying hard not to laugh.
Zhong Chang swallowed his words after being rebuked, and only spoke after the three of them had finished eating, "The general has ordered you to follow my instructions. Do you have any thoughts on this?"
“No!” Ah Xing replied immediately.
Ah Yue sipped her tea and said slowly, "Me neither~"
Zhong Chang looked at Zhao Yang, who seemed quite embarrassed. "Really, there isn't one. Chen's workshop recently found some experts from somewhere, and we're familiar faces. Going there would just be suicide. And that Madam Chen is very wary; she never leaves her house. We can't get close to her. What can we do?"
"That's right, if they had a way, they wouldn't have made us come to you." Ah Xing smacked his lips, realizing he wasn't full and wanted some more beef jerky.
"Sigh," Zhong Chang sighed. This Madam Chen was truly a difficult person to deal with. He thought he was out of the picture, and he had recently made a good fortune reselling chili seedlings. What was the mistress thinking? Why did she have to kill him for no reason? Wouldn't it be better for everyone to make money together?
"How about I find a few people to sneak into the manor?" Zhong Chang thought it over and over, but he had no other choice.
"I'm afraid that might not work. Everyone working there is an acquaintance; I've already inquired about it," Zhao Yang said.
"I have my own way, you can wait for my notification." Zhong Chang said and left. "I'm starving! Eating with these beggars is really lowering my status."
The groom found a few suitable refugee families, the kind with their own children. After confirming them, he notified Ah Xing and the other two to abduct the three families on the road to another house. Then, he detained all the adults and the elderly inside the house and demanded that the children dress up as innocent beggars and go to Chen's workshop to beg.
If they recognize Madam Chen and the assassination is successful, they will give each of her family members fifty taels of silver. If they dare to run away, they will be killed if they don't return within a day. They will be in for a world of hurt.
They were looking for children around ten years old, two boys and one girl. They were already somewhat sensible, and with threats from their families, the three children had no choice but to agree.
At Chen's Manor, Chen Wenfang looked hopefully at the copper filter pipe and waited for the wine to be dispensed. Beside her, Ye Peining squatted in the exact same position. The girl had completely stopped following Chen Wenfang; she was now completely absorbed in the path of martial arts and couldn't extricate herself.
"How is it? How is it? Has the wine been made yet?" Aunt Nie personally tended the fire, afraid that Chen Wenfang would ruin those few jars of good wine, even though the landlady said that the wine was not very good.
"Don't rush, it'll only be a little while." Chen Wenfang appeared calm on the surface, but she was still a little anxious inside. She had the iron bucket and copper pipe polished to be exceptionally smooth. This whole set cost fifty taels of silver, and she insisted that Wang Xiaoming not tell anyone, for fear that if it failed, people would scold her for being wasteful.
"Almost there, almost there, I can smell the alcohol," Ye Peining said, pouting and taking a deep breath.
Chen Wenfang placed a clean white porcelain bowl at the outlet of the copper tube, wanting to see if the filtered wine was as clear as jade.
After a few more breaths, the wine finally dripped out.
"Wow! It smells so good!" Ye Peining praised without reservation.
It did smell very good. Chen Wenfang picked up the porcelain jar that had been prepared next to her to collect the wine. She picked up the bowl and looked at it carefully. The surface of the bowl was not cloudy at all. She had succeeded!
Chen Wenfang put it to her lips and took a sip. "Hiss!" It's so spicy, but the taste is definitely much better than the previous ones.
"Let me try some!" Ye Peining quickly poured some into another bowl and drank it all in one gulp. "Wow, this wine is really good, sister-in-law."
"Really? Let me try it." Sister-in-law Nie took the bowl from Chen Wenfang and took a sip. "It's really not bad, fragrant and smooth, with a long aftertaste, a good wine." After saying that, she downed the wine in the bowl in one gulp.
Chen Wenfang clicked her tongue. She was drunk last time, how come she didn't learn her lesson? Luckily, she only drank a little bit, otherwise she would have gotten drunk again. How come she didn't realize that Sister-in-law Nie was actually a drunkard!
As the wine flowed from the copper pipe, the flow grew larger and larger, and the jar filled with more and more wine. The aroma of wine began to permeate the entire room, and people who smelled it began to wander into the room, intentionally or unintentionally.
Uncle Hu had always been a glutton for alcohol. Since the landlady treated him like her father, it wouldn't be too much for him to shamelessly beg for some wine.
"Madam, this wine smells so good, could you pour me a little bit to try?" Uncle Hu pleaded pitifully.
Looking at the face she had longed for for half her life, Chen Wenfang couldn't refuse. She picked up the bowl on the table and filled it halfway. It wasn't that she was reluctant to part with it; the wine was too strong, and she was worried that he would drink too much and get into trouble.
"Drink slowly, this liquor is too strong. Go find Aunt Liu to get you some side dishes. Don't drink it on an empty stomach," Chen Wenfang advised.
Uncle Hu was deeply moved. Fearing that others might see this and gossip, which would have a bad influence on her, he secretly took the bowl of wine, hid it under his robe, and sneaked out of the room.
Just as I reached the corner, Brother Nie caught me red-handed.
"What are you holding?" He sniffed like a dog.
"Nothing, I just need to pee, I need to go to the outhouse." Uncle Hu, who was quite old, was forced to lie.
"I don't believe you. Open your clothes and let me see if it's good wine."