Good Wine Was Ready

Good Wine Was Ready

The next morning, Jiu'er woke up, looked at the man still snoring away, smiled, and got up to make breakfast.

As soon as she entered the main room, she caught the scent of wine. Jiu'er froze, looked around, and finally turned her gaze to the four jars of wine the man had peed into last night.

Could it be them?

That was impossible, wasn't it? How could wine brewed at the Distillery smell this fragrant?

Jiu'er moved closer and sniffed carefully, only to find that the aroma really was coming from those four jars.

Unable to resist, Jiu'er scooped out a little with a small bowl and tasted it. Her eyes immediately lit up. What mellow, fragrant wine!

"Dear, dear, wake up!" Jiu'er hurried into the inner room and shook Jiang Hao, who was still asleep.

"Mmm, what is it?" Jiang Hao asked groggily.

"Go take a look! The four jars of wine brewed yesterday have become so mellow and fragrant. They're far better than anything the Distillery brewed before. Get up and see for yourself!" Jiu'er tugged hard at Jiang Hao.

The moment Jiang Hao heard that the wine had really changed, he woke up. He threw on some clothes and went to the main room. The wine's fragrance was rich and intense. He could not help taking a sip himself. It was mellow on the tongue, strong without being harsh, and the bitter, astringent taste from yesterday was gone. Based on Jiang Hao's experience with liquor, it absolutely ranked among the finest baijiu.

Jiang Hao was overjoyed.

It worked. It really worked.

"Jiu'er, go get Brother Luohan," Jiang Hao said.

Jiu'er answered with a quick "Okay" and hurried to the distillery to find Luohan. Before long, Luohan came with her. Not only Luohan—aside from the few men tending the fires, all the other workers had come too.

The moment they entered the room, everyone was drawn in by the rich aroma of wine. Someone could not help swallowing. "What a fragrant smell! What kind of wine is this?"

"Who knows? It's probably about as good as Maotai."

"Pfft. Have you ever even drunk Maotai?"

Ignoring the chattering workers, Jiang Hao said to Luohan, "Brother Luohan, come have a look at our new wine. Is this flavor good enough now?"

Luohan was somewhat stunned. "This is our new wine?"

"That's right. You brewed it yesterday, and Dazhuang and Er Zhuang carried it into the house for me. How could it be wrong?" Jiang Hao said with a smile.

Jiang Hao scooped out a bowl from the wine jar and handed it to Luohan. Luohan first took a small sip, and his eyes instantly widened. Then he drained the whole bowl in one gulp, exhaled a breath of alcohol, and shouted, "Good wine! Good wine! Clear and pure red in color, fierce on the tongue but smooth going down, with a lingering fragrance after drinking and a long finish. This is truly rare, excellent wine! This... this is really our sorghum liquor?"

Luohan looked at Jiang Hao in disbelief.

"Absolutely," Jiang Hao said with a smile.

Luohan suddenly remembered something and looked at Jiang Hao. "Yesterday, you said you had a Secret Recipe for blending wine. Was that true? Did you do this last night?"

"That's right. I was busy for half the night," Jiang Hao said.

Jiu'er secretly glanced at Jiang Hao and thought, What Secret Recipe do you have? You just took a piss, then slept like the dead afterward. If I hadn't been by your side the whole time, I might actually have believed your nonsense.

But Luohan did not see it that way. The way he looked at Jiang Hao changed again. In these times, people truly believed in secret recipes. Some recipes were secrets guarded by a family for generations and could be passed down for countless generations.

Jiang Hao looked at the workers, who were practically sticking their necks into the wine jars, and said, "Jiu'er, bring more bowls. Let everyone taste our new wine."

Jiu'er and Er Dan's Mother brought over bowls and filled each one to the brim. Looking at the crimson wine and smelling its rich fragrance, everyone turned to Jiang Hao. Jiang Hao smiled and said, "For our new wine, and for the life we'll have in the future, let's drink this bowl."

"Bottoms up!" everyone shouted together, then gulped down the wine in their bowls in two or three swallows.

"Holy hell, that's good!"

"I've never had wine this good before."

"It tastes so much better than the wine we used to brew."

"There's no comparison. No comparison at all."

"I never thought this was wine we brewed ourselves. We can make wine this good too."

At that moment, someone reminded them, "It's Brother Zhan'ao's Secret Recipe that's amazing. Everyone tasted the new wine when it came out yesterday—it was bitter and astringent. But now it's become heavenly nectar. That skill is incredible."

As for what Secret Recipe Yu Zhan'ao had used, no one opened their mouth to ask, because they knew such things were not to be questioned.

Of course, Jiang Hao had no intention of telling them either.

The people left in high spirits. Jiang Hao had the workers carry away the half-finished jar, leaving the other three behind. Jiu'er moved close to him and whispered, "Was it really just one piss, or is there another Secret Recipe?"

"Heh heh, it was just one piss. But there's a lot more to it than that," Jiang Hao said.

He guessed that the urine must have caused some subtle chemical reaction with the bitter new wine, making it so delicious. As for what reaction it was, he could not figure it out.

Jiu'er said, "Only the two of us know about this. Don't tell anyone else. When new wine comes out in the future, you can blend it in the wine cellar. Don't let anyone find out."

The shrewdness of a farmer.

Jiang Hao nodded. That would make things more convenient for him as well.

"I'll go make you breakfast. Just wait."

Jiu'er left with a bright smile on her face. With this Secret Recipe, the new wine had succeeded. Shibali Slope's business would definitely improve, and their lives finally had hope. Of course she had reason to be happy.

After Jiu'er left, Jiang Hao walked over to the wine jar, placed one hand on it, and silently recited, Collect.

Ten seconds passed.

Whoosh~

The wine jar vanished. Jiang Hao was delighted. He opened the system panel and saw an extra green mark on the mission progress bar, followed by: "Completed 1%."

Try again.

He placed his hand on another jar, silently recited Collect, and after another ten seconds, that jar was absorbed as well. The progress rose to 2%.

It was not an isolated case.

Oh yeah, it really worked. It seemed aliens liked this sorghum liquor with extra ingredients.

Over the following days, batch after batch of liquor was brewed and sent into the wine cellar. When they counted them all, there were more than three hundred jars. Jiang Hao shut himself in and began adding the Secret Recipe to the wine—well, in other words, pissing in it.

You never knew how little urine you had until you needed it.

A normal person urinated six to eight times a day. If they went more often than that, there had to be something wrong.

One piss for four jars.

Six times four was twenty-four, eight times four was thirty-two. There were over three hundred jars in this batch. To add the Secret Recipe to every one of them would take at least ten days. It was exhausting work too.

Whenever Jiang Hao blended the wine, Jiu'er stood guard outside the wine cellar and did not allow the workers to enter freely, lest the secret be exposed.

Yet Jiang Hao collected wine while blending it.

Whoosh~

Another jar of wine vanished.

He checked the system panel's progress bar. It had already reached 99%. Jiang Hao was thrilled. The mission was about to be completed. Just as he was about to place his hand on the final wine jar, his movement suddenly stopped.

As long as he collected one more jar, he could complete the mission. Once the mission was complete, he would be forcibly ejected after twelve hours. At that moment, a deep reluctance rose within him.