Chapter 210

After finishing up her work at the company, Qing Mengzhu thought she could finally take a break, but then Zhou Yan came looking for her again.

Qing Mengzhu covered her eyes with both hands and wailed, "Brother Zhou, are you busy too?"

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Yes, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration, so I came to discuss it with you."

Qing Mengzhu: "Hurry up and tell me, I need to rest after you're done. I'm exhausted today. I didn't even know there were so many things for me to do."

Zhou Yan: "That's because you're our core. We can handle the details ourselves, but you need to steer the ship for the big things."

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "I understand now, Brother Zhou, this matter is definitely not going to be easy for you."

Zhou Yan: "Easy, there's nothing difficult about it. Didn't we say before that we were going to use rice to brew wine? Are you still going to brew it now?"

Qing Mengzhu had previously mentioned that he would brew a batch of wine after the Rice harvest.

Zhou Yan had wanted to remind him a couple of days ago, but he didn't expect the expert team to visit. Judging from the experts' tone, their batch of Rice seemed to be particularly impressive, and the demand for rice seeds was also very high.

In this situation, Zhou Yan found it difficult to offer any advice.

However, he only has a few hobbies, and good ingredients are one of them. Knowing that there are good ingredients but not being able to get them makes him extremely envious, so he came to ask about them.

Qing Mengzhu remembered and readily agreed, "Of course we'll brew it! We've been working so hard, isn't this the only thing we've been looking forward to? Of course we'll brew it."

Zhou Yan laughed, "That's great! I'm really looking forward to the wine made from your family's rice!"

Chapter 210

Qing Mengzhu had never tried brewing wine before.

Zhou Yan watched him research and said with some concern, "Why don't we have the kitchen brew it ourselves? Poorly brewed rice wine can easily contain fusel oils, which is quite dangerous."

Qing Mengzhu looked up and smiled, "It's alright, I just wanted to give it a try. I can't keep asking you to help me brew wine every year after the rice harvest."

Zhou Yan: "What's the big deal? As long as the farm exists, we can keep brewing."

Qing Mengzhu was very insistent this time, and Zhou Yan glanced at Ming Chunxi Ming Chunxi him, who didn't seem to object.

Well, since both of them want to try, it's not appropriate for outsiders to interfere.

Qing Mengzhu wasn't afraid at all. The Star Coins he spent on opening the Mall Assistant every year weren't for nothing. He could tell whether the brewed wine had any impurities just by scanning it.

He's having a bit of a headache right now—which type of yeast should he choose?

Different types of yeast starters are actually different strains of bacteria, which will bring different flavors to the wine during the fermentation process.

Qing Mengzhu showed the search results to Ming Chunxi: "Looking at the buyer reviews, they all seem pretty good?"

Ming Chunxi glanced at it. "Did you search on the Interstellar Mall?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Not yet, I plan to go check it out later. I saw it once before, and the yeast on the Interstellar Mall seems to be quite expensive."

Ming Chunxi turned around, extended her slender fingers, and lightly tapped the screen to exit the online shopping app. "Our rice isn't cheap either, shall we take a look first?"

Qing Mengzhu then opened the Interstellar Mall: "Okay, let me search."

The Interstellar Mall had a surprisingly large selection of yeast, with over forty different kinds available. The cheapest Star Coins could be bought for a few dozen Star Coins, while the most expensive cost several thousand.

Qing Mengzhu checked the origin of the wine; most of the yeast came from a cultivation world, which looked pretty good.

Qing Mengzhu turned to look at Ming Chunxi: "Which kind should we buy? Sweet wine yeast or regular wine yeast?"

Ming Chunxi looked at both. "Buy both? Let's make two tanks."

Qing Mengzhu muttered, "It doesn't seem like a bad idea. I'll buy it then. For our plane, a few hundred Star Coins worth of yeast seems enough. We can buy more expensive yeast when the rice quality reaches 'Superior Grade'."

Ming Chunxi: "Okay."

Qing Mengzhu bought two sets of yeast: one set of sweet yeast worth 500 Star Coins and the other set of regular yeast worth 660 Star Coins.

When they were brewing wine, they each weighed out fifty catties of rice, then steamed it in a large rice steamer. After cooling, they mixed the yeast with the rice and then stored it in separate vats.

On the day they cooked rice, their yard was filled with the fragrant aroma of cooked rice.

The two dogs, who usually play outside, came back, and the red fox and otter also came out of their den and ran into the yard.

Not to mention the little ones, Qing Mengzhu herself couldn't stand the smell.

He simply made rice balls, filling the little ones' rice balls with pure meat, while the rice balls he and Ming Chunxi ate were filled with meat chunks, chopped dried radish, chopped pickled cabbage, and fried mushroom oil—whatever was available at home.

Fragrant, soft, and sweet rice wraps around a rich filling; one bite is both delicious and satisfying.

Qing Mengzhu squinted her eyes. "It's delicious, it's a pity we don't have any peanuts. If we had some peanuts, it would taste even better."

Ming Chunxi: "We can stop by the convenience store to buy some things when we go for a walk later."

Qing Mengzhu held up the rice ball. "I can't eat anymore. The rice steamed in the rice steamer smells so good, it seems a bit more oily and fragrant than rice steamed in an electric rice cooker, which is more suitable for making rice balls. When I was a child, my family steamed wine, and we used glutinous rice, which is also perfect for making rice balls."

Ming Chunxi looked at him with a nostalgic expression and asked, "What kind of filling did you use back then?"

Qing Mengzhu smiled and said, "It's just a rice ball made while it's still hot, without any fillings. When I was little, there weren't many snacks, so just a simple ball of sticky rice was delicious."

Ming Chunxi took off his gloves and ruffled his hair.

After the wine was poured into the vat, they moved it to the storage room and waited for the two types of wine to ferment.

According to the instructions for both types of yeast, aerobic fermentation is required in the early stages of brewing. After aerobic fermentation for one and a half days, the mixture is then sealed for further fermentation.

Qing Mengzhu used the Mall Assistant to monitor the situation in the wine vat at any time, and it seemed to be going quite smoothly.

Before the rice wine had even fully fermented, Ming Chunxi discussed it with Qing Mengzhu: "I want to resign and start my own business."

Qing Mengzhu was taken aback upon hearing the news. "Are you unhappy at work?"

Ming Chunxi shook her head. "I'm not unhappy, it's just that my original plan was to work for a year after returning to China to get familiar with the environment before looking for an opportunity to start my own business. Now the timing is right, and I want to give it a try. Starting my own business would also give me more flexibility in terms of time."

Qing Mengzhu knew he always had a plan, so she immediately agreed, "Then let's quit! Let me check our income; we should have almost broken even."

Qing Mengzhu told Ming Chunxi such a big secret about the Interstellar Mall, not to mention money.

They share a common account; all dividends from both Zhuxi Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd.., Ltd. and Zhuxi Farm are deposited into this common account.

Qing Mengzhu hasn't checked her account this month, but a few months ago, the amount in her account had already reached eight figures again.

Qing Mengzhu quickly opened the account and showed Ming Chunxi the eight-figure sum. "If you start a business, you shouldn't have to worry about finances."

Ming Chunxi glanced at it. "We don't need that many."

Qing Mengzhu: "We can spend a little more; the money's just sitting there anyway."

Ming Chunxi hugged his shoulders and nuzzled his head against his. "Okay."

Ming Chunxi Qing Mengzhu what he was going to do next. After listening to a bunch of quantum computing and artificial intelligence, Qing Mengzhu felt like she was seeing mosquito coils in her eyes. "This is so difficult."

Ming Chunxi's eyes lit up. "It's definitely a tough nut to crack, but it'll be interesting to slowly gnaw through it."

Qing Mengzhu bumped fists with him. "Next, we need to rent an office building, buy equipment, and hire people?"

Ming Chunxi: "The latter two are more important. Renting an office building isn't urgent. I'll see if we can locate our work in town so it'll be more convenient to go home later."

"Okay!" After saying that, Qing Mengzhu added, "If we can't find a suitable office building, we'll apply to have one built."

Ming Chunxi: "Build it on a larger scale when you build it, so that we can consolidate our companies into one entity."

Qing Mengzhu clenched her fist. "Yes, we can use the same cafeteria!"

Ming Chunxi quickly got busy with resigning and starting her own company. Qing Mengzhu couldn't help with these matters, so she took over the logistical work.