Chapter 67: Drinking

  Before long, Li Jin had prepared the food. With Zhang Bao supervising, Li Jin didn't dare to be sloppy either. Looking at the full table of food, looking at the roast chicken that Zhang Bao had specially asked someone to buy back and was still emitting a fragrant aroma. Zhao Fei's fingers were moving rapidly, his saliva was flowing non-stop. Even Li Jin on the side couldn't stop swallowing his own saliva.

  "Don't just look at it, hurry up and eat." Zhang Bao said with a smile as he looked at Zhao Fei staring straight at the food on the table.

  "Then I won't be polite anymore, boss." With that, Zhao Fei reached out with one hand and grabbed the roasted chicken in the middle of the table, taking a big bite. For an instant, he felt more satisfied than he ever had before. He had eaten meat and chicken many times before, but why had he never felt this way? Swallowing the chicken in his mouth, Zhao Fei couldn't wait to tear off another piece. "It would be even better if I had a bottle of fruit soda," he thought to himself as he ate.

  Looking at Zhao Fei's wolf-like eating, Zhang Bao's face revealed a smile. On the other hand, Li Jin's heart was filled with unspeakable discomfort. As he swallowed his saliva, he silently cursed in his heart, "Eat! Eat! Soon you'll choke to death or burst from eating too much."

  In the blink of an eye, more than half of the chicken had been devoured by Zhao Fei. Putting down the now somewhat bony roasted chicken, Zhao Fei shifted his target to other foods.

  Seeing Zhao Fei eating like a starving ghost, Zhang Bao couldn't remain calm. He hastily stepped forward to stop him, saying: "Xiao Fei, slow down, no one is competing with you for food, what's the hurry?"

  Under Zhang Bao's repeated persuasion, Zhao Fei finally slowed down his eating speed. From a starving ghost to an ordinary person.

  "Xiao Fei, how are you feeling?" asked Zhang Baozhen with concern.

  "It's okay (it's fine), the medicine is still effective, it would be even better if you drank more." Zhao Fei muttered to himself.

  It took Zhang Baofei half a day to figure out what Zhao Fei was muttering about. Then he turned his head and said to Li Jin: "Go to my room, bring that bottle of ten-year-old Chenyao fine wine from under my bed."

  Li Jin was still there, cursing Zhao Fei to death. Suddenly hearing Zhang Bao's words, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. He knew that the bottle of ten-year-old Chen wine under Zhang Bao's bed was considered a treasure by Zhang Bao and wouldn't be easily moved. Unexpectedly, today Zhao Fei said one sentence, and Zhang Bao took out his own treasure. Unconsciously looking at Zhao Fei's expression became even more gloomy and jealous.

  "What are you still dazing about? Hurry up and take it away." Looking at Li Jin who was in a trance, Zhang Bao couldn't help but tap the back of his head.

  "Oh! Oh!" Li Jin hastily came back to his senses, then turned around and walked out. Seeing Li Jin about to leave, Zhang Bao hurriedly added: "Remember the several bowls." Outside the house, through the faint moonlight, it could be seen that Li Jin's face had already twisted completely. Only saw Li Jin clenching his fists, his fingernails had deeply dug into his flesh. "Wait for me, I will double what you brought to me and return it to you."

  Before long, Li Jin brought over a ten-year-old Chen that Zhang Bao treasured like a precious gem. He placed the wine jug on the table. Then Zhang Bao said to Li Jin: "Alright, you're not needed here anymore, go take a rest." Before Zhang Bao had even finished speaking, Li Jin quickly walked out.

  Li Jin didn't even have time to react, Zhang Bao personally picked up the wine jar, opened the seal on the lid, and sniffed it with a look of intoxication. Then he carefully poured a bowl and handed it to Zhao Fei, smiling and saying: "Come taste the treasure I've been keeping."

  Swallowing the food in his mouth, looking at the bowl of fine wine that Zhang Bao pushed over, Zhao Fei didn't know what to do. In his heart, he secretly thought, "You're actually encouraging a minor to drink!" But looking at Zhang Bao's sincere eyes, and indeed feeling somewhat parched, Zhao Fei carefully picked up the bowl of fine wine.

  He brought it to his nose and sniffed it lightly. Indeed, he could smell the aroma of the wine, but it wasn't a pure aroma, with a hint of acidity in between. With the help of the dim yellow oil lamp, he could vaguely see that there were still some impurities in the beautiful wine in the bowl. Even the color was slightly yellowish, rather than being clear and transparent like before.

  "Is this also fine wine and good food?" This was Zhao Fei's first thought. Immediately followed by, "Do I really have to drink it?"

  Looking at Zhao Fei holding up his wine bowl to his mouth but not drinking, Zhang Bao couldn't help but feel very puzzled. "Little Fei, what are you spacing out about? Why did you pick up the fine wine but not take a single sip?"

  "Ah! Nothing. I was just thinking about some things." Zhao Fei said, putting down his wine bowl and pretending to be deep in thought.

  "What's going on? Tell me, boss." Zhang Baosat down beside Zhao Fei and asked patiently.

  "It's like this." Zhao Fei cleared his throat and pointed to the wine bowl on the table, asking: "Is this wine really a ten-year-old vintage?"

  "Of course!" As soon as Zhao Fei commented on his fine wine, Zhang Bao immediately turned into a mother hen protecting her chicks. He picked up the wine jar and said to Zhao Fei with a proud smile: "This jar of wine is one of the best ones I personally selected from the entire batch in the winery, and I sealed it myself. It's absolutely authentic ten-year-old vintage."

  "But I think this wine's fragrance is not pure, and there are some impurities in the wine." Zhao Fei expressed his doubts.

  "You know nothing!" Zhang Bao glanced at Zhao Fei with disdain. "This is the finest wine, brewed using the secret recipe of the Zhang family, a hundred times better than what those small workshops produce. And it's been personally sealed and stored by Master Zhang for over ten years, making it a rare treasure in this world." As he spoke, he gave Zhao Fei a look that said "you don't know anything".

  "Is this really one of the rare treasures in the world?" Zhao Fei couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. In the past, even an ordinary bottle of wine would have a more intense flavor and clearer color than this ten-year-old vintage. "There's still a huge gap between ancient times and modern times!" Zhao Fei thought to himself. "Did they not know how to distill in ancient times?" he wondered. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head. "Distillation! That's it! The problem lies there!" In an instant, Zhao Fei was enveloped by a huge sense of happiness. "Why is the wine from later generations so mellow and rich? It's all because they've been distilled and purified. If I can figure out how to distill and purify, then this ten-year-old vintage will be nothing compared to my own brew!" The more Zhao Fei thought about it, the more excited he became, and the more possible it seemed.

  Looking at Zhao Fei's constantly changing face, Zhang Bao felt very puzzled. "What is this kid thinking, why is his facial expression changing so fast? Sometimes puzzled and sometimes happy?"

  "Little Fly, Little Fly!" Zhang Bao stretched out one hand and waved it back and forth in front of Zhao Fei's eyes.

  "Ah!" Zhao Fei came back to his senses and found that Zhang Bao was still hugging the wine jar and sitting in front of him.

  "What were you just thinking about? Why did your expression become so strange." Zhang Bao asked his question as soon as Zhao Fei snapped back to reality.

  "Nothing... nothing." Looking at Zhang Bao in front of him, Zhao Fei was a bit conflicted in his heart, not knowing whether he should tell Zhang Bao about this method. After some consideration, Zhao Fei gritted his teeth and thought to himself: "Forget it, whether this thing succeeds or not is another matter, I'll first study it carefully, if things go well then I'll inform the boss."

  "Really nothing?" Zhang Bao was still somewhat puzzled.

  "It's really nothing, boss. I was just thinking about what happened today." Deciding not to tell Zhang Bao for now, Zhao Fei started to change the subject. Then he picked up his wine bowl and downed it in one gulp, without leaving a single drop behind.

  "Alas... alas..." Seeing Zhao Fei drinking like that, Zhang Bao, who loved wine, suddenly became anxious. "Good wine can't be wasted like this, it must be savored slowly! Slowly savor! Do you understand?"

  Zhao Fei smiled helplessly and looked at the lovely shopkeeper in front of him. He made up his mind. "Don't worry, shopkeeper, I will definitely repay your kindness."

  Before Zhang Bao's words fell, Zhao Fei snatched the wine jug from Zhang Bao's arms and poured two bowls. Putting down the jug, one bowl was handed to Zhang Bao, and one he took for himself. "How can such fine wine be enjoyed by me alone? Here, shopkeeper, have a bowl with me." After speaking, he tilted his head back and another bowl of fine wine was emptied. Seeing Zhao Fei like this, although Zhang Bao's heart ached, he was also delighted. Only to see Zhang Bao loudly exclaim: "Good! Young Fei is so young yet so generous, if I don't drink, wouldn't that be looking down on you?" After speaking, he too tilted his head back and drank the fine wine in his bowl clean.