Cellar Upgrade 078

  That thrilling all-night battle was thoroughly enjoyable and exciting.

  Xiyuan was defeated even more miserably and thoroughly than the first time, after all Zhang Jin's physical strength had already reached 60 points, and in terms of endurance, he was unparalleled in the world. Moreover, his beating of Xiyuan was not as reserved as when he was with Yehong, because he didn't hold back out of sympathy. So, just like last time, Xiyuan was still paralyzed like a puddle of mud the next morning and naturally asked for leave again.

  But Zhang Jin felt refreshed the next day, even though the sky outside was overcast, he seemed to feel a warm sun shining on his body. After being suppressed for a long time, he finally let it all out, and that kind of refreshment couldn't be summed up by just one word 'cool'.

  After one night, the two returned to normal again.

  After the anger and fire dissipated, Zhang Jin returned to Haiwazi Village with a full tank of energy, continuing his pig-like life. Xi Yuan also rested for a day before returning to campus, continuing her "Gardener of the Motherland" life. The entanglement between the two was just a matter of mutual need and assistance.

  The roles they play with each other, apart from the barely passable friendship at present, are just a living "electronic toy" and a moving "human-shaped balloon".

  Just like Xi Yu teased Zhang Jin about being "impulsive", Zhang Jin explained, "A normal man has two brains that are in charge of thinking. The upper brain decides human nature, the lower brain decides animal instincts. Women are actually the same."

  Of course, it can also be like what Xi Yuan said when refuting Zhang Jin, "Some men have two brains that think responsibly. The lower brain always decides on animal instincts, and when something swims from the lower part to the upper part, the upper brain also helps decide on animal instincts. Just like how Zhang Jin was eager to do so earlier."

  …………

  Then Zhang Jin's life fell back into a pendulum-like rhythm, after several days of living like a pig, there was one night of 'original' passionate hunting. Sometimes he would run into Xi Yuan, and they would fly together; if he didn't run into Xi Yuan, he wouldn't return empty-handed either.

  Shenzhen, this rhythmically tense city, is never short of white-collar elites who are elegant during the day and howl at night, just like Zhang Jin. It's also never short of women who are eager to indulge in order to release stress or vent their emotions, just like Xi Yuan.

  …………

  Although September should be the golden autumn season, in Guangdong Province, in Shenzhen City, in Haiwotou Village, September doesn't have any hint of autumn at all, still stuck in the scorching summer weather. The hot weather is just as unbearable as July and August.

  It was still a sunny day with clear skies and warm sunshine. Mr. Liu, as usual, helped Zhang Jin finish his "househusband" chores in the morning and went out for a stroll. When he came back, he found Zhang Jin and Qi Bing, who had lost a lot of weight, unusually not lounging on the couch like they normally did, but instead were busy surrounding a pile of reddish-brown soil that looked like fire.

  Watching the two of them, one with a hoe and the other with a pickaxe, it seemed like they wanted to do something with the soil. Hurriedly, he was about to go forward to help. But when the old man approached closer and saw what Zhang Jin had in his hands, he suddenly became anxious, opening his mouth to shout loudly: "Stop right there! Didn't you hear me telling you to stop?"

  Zhang Jin's body was in front of a pile of red soil, the color of which was rare and bright, but not particularly unusual. However, his muddy water made Liu Lao's eyes, who were already heartbroken, turn red.

  Just by looking at the pile of red soil next to a dozen or so empty black ceramic jars, and the intoxicating aroma of wine in the air, it's clear that Zhang Jin used liquor instead of water for the mud. If he had used ordinary market-bought liquor, Liu Lao would have thought it was a waste of money, but wouldn't have said anything.

  But from the jar and the aroma, Old Master Liu could tell that Zhang Jin was using the "Wen Xiang", "Ruan Yu" and "Jia Ren" wines, which he and his brothers would not even drink together, and they thought they had gotten a great deal by spending 3,000 yuan for a jar.

  In the midst of Zhang's loud shouting, Old Man Liu hastily rushed forward in three strides, pushed Zhang Jin aside, and squatted down to examine the now thoroughly stirred and muddy red soil. He then glanced at the dozen or so empty black ceramic jars beside him, his face twisted in pain, his lips trembling with rage, and his pupils constricting involuntarily.

  After a long while, Old Man Liu finally stood up with a fiery temper, his hands shaking as he pointed at Zhang Jin's nose and scolded: "You little brat, how can you be so wasteful?! You're using such good wine to play with mud?! You're too good at ruining good things! You're simply... simply...", Fortunately, Old Man Liu's body had been nursed back to health by Zhang Jin, the divine doctor, over the past few days. Otherwise, his illness would have flared up immediately, and he might not have even survived.

  Unlike playing chess, this time Old Man Liu was really angry.

  To know, even if this old man with a severe drinking problem has already moved into Zhang Jin's home, but due to his illness, he only gets less than half a catty of wine per day! With just this one bowl of wine, Old Liu always takes a full hour to drink it, sipping slowly, savoring carefully, and can't bear to gulp it down quickly.

  Although Zhang Jin thought to himself, "It's my own wine, what business is it of yours?", but seeing the old man who had always been like a child being angered to the point where his lips were trembling, he could only say: "Old sir, don't be anxious, listen to me explain!"

  Although Old Man Liu still looked quite temperamental, he didn't say a word, clearly waiting for Zhang Jin's next explanation. So, Zhang Jin continued: "To be honest with you, I and this mud are going to build a wine cellar."

  "Cellar, isn't that a good cellar? Why bother wasting so much good wine?" Old Master Liu was clearly dissatisfied with Zhang Jin's excuse, pointing at the underground storage room where Zhang Jin stored his wine and shouting!

  Zhang Jin ignored Liu Lao's bad attitude and replied slowly, "I'd say, Liu Lao, you're barely passable as a half-expert when it comes to drinking wine, but when it comes to brewing wine, you're a complete amateur!"

  Actually, the cellar is divided into brewing cellar and storage cellar, one for brewing and one for storing. If my family's existing cellar is used as a storage cellar, it's still barely passable! But if it's for brewing, then it won't do.

  In a cellar like this, no matter whether you use jars, wooden barrels or fermentation tanks, the wine that comes out is nothing but inferior wine of the kind you've had before, such as 'Wen Xiang' and 'Ruan Yu'. Even if it's slightly better, it won't be much improved. If you want to brew really good wine, then this cellar is absolutely indispensable!

  Mr. Liu was very uncertain whether he had appeared to have hallucinations or not, and he was also very uncertain whether he was asleep or awake now! In his and many old friends' cognition, even if they drank all the fine wines in the world, they believed that few wines could be compared with Zhang Jin's 'Wen Xiang', 'Ruan Yu' and 'Jia Ren'! Even a few kinds of wine that were slightly comparable were expensive to the point of being tongue-tied, and the aging time was also a hundred-year-old cultural relic-level famous wine.

  So, until Zhang Jin finished speaking, Old Man Liu still had a good half day's time to come back to his senses, his ears buzzing with sound, and his mind filled with several words swirling around " 'Low-grade wine!' And 'just'......and 'that's all'......"

  Finally, after a good while, Old Man Liu shook his head and came back to reality from his incredulity. Considering that he really wasn't qualified to argue with Zhang Jin, this 'wine brewing master', on this matter, he could only take an attitude of "let's just listen for now" and said hesitantly: "Then what about this mud..."

  Zhang Jin saw that the old man was no longer as resolute in his obstruction, and he picked up the iron shovel that had been thrown aside by the old man to continue stirring the muddy mixture that gave off a strong aroma of wine. He added an explanation, "Of course, this mud is going to be used for making the cellar mud for brewing wine! Do you know why Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao and Maotai always emphasize that their cellars are old?"

  It's well-known that Old Master Liu is quite skilled at drinking and tasting wine, but when it comes to brewing wine, he's a complete novice. So Zhang Jin didn't expect an answer from the old master and instead gave his own explanation: "It's because the mud in the old cellar and new cellar are completely different. The old cellar has mud that's been soaked in wine liquid and fermented for years, so even with the same ingredients, the wine brewed will be several grades higher. I don't have the patience to slowly age the new cellar into an old one, so I can only make my own cellar mud!"

  Although Mr. Liu still had doubts about the existence of the good wine in Zhang Jin's mouth, which was far better than 'Wen Xiang' and 'Rou Yu', since things had been said to this point, he also didn't have an excuse to stop Zhang Jin from continuing to waste things. So, in order to avoid watching with a heavy heart, he simply took the attitude of "out of sight, out of mind", turned his head and went into the house.