Chapter 199: A Timely Rain Has Arrived
Because of the plan to open a bubble tea shop, Wen Yao spent nearly every day over the next few days researching drinks. Every evening when the boys returned from school, they would be dragged by Wen Yao to taste her new products.
Over the past few days, Xun Feng felt that the wisest decision his young master had ever made was to shamelessly stay at the Wen residence.
On this day, Wen Yao was clearing out a small plot of land in the backyard to plant her mint when she saw Auntie Lu run in, shouting, “Miss, Qiaoyan from Madam Xie’s side has arrived. She’s outside.”
Wen Yao stuffed the seeds in her hand into the grasps of Wen Di and Wen Ying, who had come to help, saying, “I’ll leave it to you two.” She then followed Auntie Lu out.
Qiaoyan was waiting in the courtyard. Seeing Wen Yao come out, she hurriedly took two steps forward to salute. “Miss Yao’er, my mistress sent people over to Miss.”
“People? What people?” Wen Yao blanked for a moment, only then noticing an elderly man and a young girl standing in the courtyard.
The older one was in his sixties, looking about the same age as Old Man Wen. The younger one was a young girl, around thirteen or fourteen years old, carrying a bundle and standing obediently behind the old man. Seeing Wen Yao look at them, the two of them hurriedly saluted.
For a moment, Wen Yao didn’t realize what these people were here for, looking at Qiaoyan blankly.
The corners of Qiaoyan’s mouth twitched. No wonder her mistress had said that Miss Yao’er had probably mostly forgotten about this matter and insisted that she make the trip, lest these two came on their own and Miss Yao’er, not understanding the situation, drove them out.
Qiaoyan curtsied and saluted. “Miss Yao’er, this is Uncle Qin. He is the master wine brewer that our Eldest Young Master found from the winery for Miss Yao’er. The one beside him is Uncle Qin’s granddaughter, Yanyan.”
“Greetings, Miss.” Uncle Qin and Yanyan saluted Wen Yao together.
Only now did Wen Yao’s brain snap back into place, her face full of joy. “Sister Qiu helped me find the people! That’s wonderful.” She had thought Sister Qiu had forgotten all about this matter.
Looking at the two of them, Wen Yao was exceptionally delighted. She asked Auntie Lu to take them to the rows of rooms by the entrance to find a place to settle down, before asking Qiaoyan about their circumstances.
Qiaoyan told her everything honestly.
Uncle Qin was an old-timer from the Qiu family’s winery who had been brewing wine his entire life. His children also worked for the Qiu family, but in other places. No one had learned the art of wine brewing from him, so he kept his granddaughter, Yanyan, by his side to teach her.
Other places didn’t have the custom of letting women brew wine, and it was only the Qiu family that didn’t demand such a thing, so Uncle Qin was very loyal to the Qiu family.
This time, Qiu Rongrong had sent a letter to her eldest brother saying she needed someone to come to the Wen family to brew wine. Although he had never met this young girl, Wen Yao, this Eldest Young Master of the Qiu family had long known of the girl’s uniqueness from his sister’s mouth. Thus, he sought out Uncle Qin and asked if he was willing to come.
The Qiu family’s winery could only be described as barely surviving. Over the years, Uncle Qin had felt somewhat guilty toward the master household for not being able to brew better wine, and he also knew the master household kept the winery running just for old-timers like them. To avoid causing further trouble for the master household, he agreed to bring his granddaughter to the Wen family.
The Eldest Young Master Qiu had people escort them over, and as soon as they arrived, Qiu Rongrong had Qiaoyan send them here.
To Wen Yao, this was truly a timely rain.
Having Auntie Lu take good care of the grandparent-grandchild pair was also so she could explain the household’s situation to them. Only after Auntie Lu had settled the two of them down did she bring the pair to the backyard.
Yet, upon reaching the backyard, Uncle Qin and Yanyan saw the miss of this household squatting in the dirt doing farm work, which was completely different from the young ladies of wealthy families they had seen before.
“Miss, Uncle Qin said he wants to see Miss,” Auntie Lu said.
Squatting in the dirt, Wen Yao raised her head to look at them, asking, “Uncle Qin, what’s the matter?”
When had Uncle Qin ever seen a young lady with such a complete lack of pretension? He hurriedly bent his waist to salute. “Miss, old servant merely wanted to ask where the family’s winery is; I want to go take a look.”
“Huh? No rush, the winery isn’t finished building yet,” Wen Yao said.
Uncle Qin: “…”
However, it should be fine to go take a look. After all, Uncle Qin was a professional, so it was perfect to let him see what areas still needed improvement.
“I’ll leave the rest to you two! Whether we can make money depends entirely on it.” Wen Yao clapped the dirt off her hands and stood up.
Wen Ying also stood up with her. “Second Sister, I want to go too.”
Wen Di smiled helplessly. “Yao’er, take her along. She can’t sit still here; she’ll just cause trouble for me in a moment anyway.”
Wen Ying mischievously stuck out her tongue.
Auntie Lu also spoke up, “Miss, you go ahead. I’ll stay here to help Miss Wen Di.”
“Alright, let’s go.” With a wave of her hand, Wen Yao led the few people away.
Walking along the path, Wen Yao introduced the village’s situation to Uncle Qin, pointing here and there. Uncle Qin’s face bore both shock and a sense of good fortune.
An employer like this seemed quite nice as well.
Very quickly, the group reached the winery, and Wen Ying scampered off running toward Old Man Wen.
From quite a distance away, they saw Old Man Wen turn his head and walk toward them.
“Yao’er, the person has been found?” Old Man Wen was currently most worried about this winery of Wen Yao’er’s. After speaking, he sized up Uncle Qin.
Guessing the identity of the newcomer from Wen Yao’s form of address, Uncle Qin and Yanyan hurriedly saluted. “Greetings, Old Master.”
Old Man Wen was well used to this. He waved his hand. “No need, no need. Our family doesn’t care for these things. Uncle Qin, is it? Come, I’ll lead you to look at this winery. You are an expert; see what areas still need improvement so we can alter them while there’s still time. Let’s go, let’s go.”
Without another word, Old Man Wen led Uncle Qin away.
Yanyan followed obediently. Old Man Wen cast a glance at her and asked, “Is this your granddaughter?”
Uncle Qin respectfully responded, “Replying to Old Master, yes.”
After hesitating for a moment, he spoke up carefully again, “Yanyan has followed this old servant to learn wine brewing since childhood.”
Old Man Wen was surprised. “That impressive? Then Yanyan should follow along to take a look too. If there’s any place that needs alteration, I’ll have them change it again.”
Uncle Qin was shocked once more. He hadn’t expected Old Man Wen to accept the matter of Yanyan brewing wine so easily. He tested the waters again, saying, “Old Master, Yanyan is a girl. Does Old Master not mind her entering the facility to brew wine?”
Without even thinking, Old Man Wen blurted out, “Huh? A girl can’t brew wine?” There was such a rule?
Looking at the young girl’s awkward and nervous demeanor, Old Man Wen waved his hand. “Those are the rules of other households, not the rules of our family. Our family doesn’t care if you are a girl or a boy. Even if you are a girl, as long as you have ability, you can stand firm in this household. Even if you are a boy, if you don’t have a shred of ability, you’ll have to beat it too.”
A surge of warmth flowed through Uncle Qin’s heart. His clasped hands twisted together with quite a bit of excitement as he urged, “Yanyan, hurry and thank the Old Master.”
One had to know that even in the Qiu family, Yanyan was only permitted to follow him to learn wine brewing, but she was never allowed to brew wine herself.
Yanyan immediately dropped to her knees with a thud, giving Old Man Wen a solid kowtow, which thoroughly gave the old gentleman a fright.
He hurriedly looked around, and fortunately, no one saw. It wasn’t appropriate for him to directly pull the girl up with his own hands either, so he said anxiously, “Oh dear, what are you doing? Hurry up and rise, hurry up, don’t let people see.” Otherwise, people would surely accuse him of lacking elder respect and bullying a young girl.
