"Ruiyang, shut up! How can you be so rude in front of guests!"
When Mrs. Cao saw that they were talking a little too much, she turned pale and scolded them.
The five or six young and middle-aged children of the Cao family were scolded by Mrs. Cao, and all of them suddenly fell silent and stopped saying a word.
Cao Hao has a rough temper and doesn't stick to trivial matters. There will be no serious consequences if they argue for a few words. However, Mrs. Cao, who was in charge of the Cao Mansion, treated them extremely harshly and had strict family rules.
After Mrs. Cao warned them with a stern look, she turned back to look at her husband Cao Hao with some doubts.
She was also puzzled. Cao Hao said that he had invited a distinguished guest to the banquet tonight, but he did not say who it was in advance.
Only someone like Princess Ling Jiaojiao who can be called a distinguished guest by Cao Hao, the dean of Donglai County Courtyard, is qualified to sit in the chief left position.
At the lowest level, only people like Princess Li Hao and Pan Yun are qualified to attend. Except for young heroes like them, I am afraid they are not even qualified to attend their family banquet.
Unexpectedly, it was a young man with no reputation, Ye Fan, who was in the early stage of the Martial Master Realm.
At yesterday's Mid-Autumn Festival boating party, she also saw that Ye Fan was just an inconspicuous person among the more than ninety martial arts people participating in the boating party, and he had no special performance.
There are countless young geniuses in Donglai County, why would they treat such a young man with few talents as a distinguished guest?
Cao Hao glanced at Madam Cao and all the Cao family disciples who were expecting an explanation from him, but sighed slightly.
His heart was full of depression.
The vision of the Cao family is too narrow, and the descendants will not mention it. They are all conservative generations. Among the descendants, there is not even one who can compare with the likes of Pan Yun and Li Hao, let alone a peerless talent like Ye Fan.
In the past few decades, no heir of the Cao family has achieved great success and can shoulder the future destiny of the entire Cao family.
Among the descendants of the Cao family, there is only one granddaughter, Cao Youwen, who has outstanding qualifications and a promising future. But she is a woman and cannot support the Cao family.
Even Madam's eyes can only see the outstanding young men on the "Donglai List" in front of her. Beyond this range, there is nothing.
She just thought that all the young talents in Donglai County were in the county college, and the best students from the county college were all on the "Donglai Ranking".
But how can a truly peerless genius be included in a mere "Donglai List"!
It's hard to explain clearly to them in just a few words.
Fortunately, the Cao family can survive for a long time with him as its backbone. He can only work harder himself, pave the way for these descendants, and let the family prosper for a longer time. Later, they will understand his good intentions.
Cao Hao did not intend to explain anything more. It was just like it was difficult to explain to a group of sparrows with their eyes on the ground why the goshawk could soar in the nine heavens.
Cao Hao glanced at Mark apologetically.
Ye Fan smiled lightly and didn't mind. Dean Cao invited him to the family dinner. This was already a courtesy, and it was no big deal if he was questioned by the Cao family's children.
"In this Donglai County, if I want to buy you a drink, there are only two young people! One of them is Ye Fan!"
Cao Hao waved his hand heartily and said with a smile: "Forget it, today's small banquet, let's not talk about anything else, just drink to our heart's content until we are drunk! Come on, bring up the good wine I have collected!"
Outside the pavilion, ten maids immediately brought up ten jars of fine wine and removed the mud seals. Pour wine into everyone's cups in turn.
Cao Hao is known as the "Wine Lord of Wine", and Cao Mansion's wine is recognized as the best wine in Donglai County.
It's a pity that Cao Mansion's wine is never sold out, only when entertaining guests. Of course, depending on the level of the guests, the quality of the wine will also be different.
The whole pavilion suddenly smelled of fragrance.
"No way? Grandpa likes to fill his wine gourd with the third-level seventh-grade 'Huoyunshao' and drink it with him! He always drinks it by himself, and occasionally invites his old friends to have a few sips. , but I can't bear to bring it to the banquet for everyone to drink."
"Look, it's the third-order and eighth-grade 'Ice and Snow Soul'! Twenty years ago, my grandfather went to the top of the Nine Domains Ice Peak in Canglan Country and picked a large piece of ice and snow to brew it. There are only ten jars in total. , never took it out. He was actually willing to take it out and drink it!"
"Of the jars sealed with red mud, there are only two jars left of the third-level top grade 'Tian Xiang Zui' that he has hidden for fifty years. Why is dad willing to take out one jar to drink?! That's not right, He said he would leave one jar for Youwen when she gets married, so he took it out."
"Grandpa, this is a big investment!"
The children of the Cao family couldn't help but swallow their saliva. In the blink of an eye, they forgot what happened before and focused their attention on these wine jars. They were all shocked and unbelievable.
They, the children of the Cao family, are naturally very fond of their own wine.
In the wine cellar where Cao Hao makes wine himself, there are countless wine jars like these. It can be said that everyone took out a jar of the best wine in Cao Hao's wine cellar. The total value of just these ten jars of wine is no less than tens of thousands of yuan stones.
Normally, they would never drink any of these ten jars of wine. Because Cao Hao forbids anyone from approaching his wine cellar, let alone drinking from one of the jars. If you dare to take a sip secretly, half of your legs will be broken.
But today, the head of the house actually brought ten of the best wines as a treat.
Invite a man named Ye Fan from Luyang Mansion who is not well-known. Ye Fan may be considered one of the few geniuses in Luyang. But among the talented warriors in Donglai County, it seems like that's all!
What did he see in Mark?
This kind of courtesy would not be available even if Li Zhouying, the princess of Donglai County, and Pan Dahai, the general of Zhenhai, were here.
Is there really something special about Ye Fan? Didn't they see it? Only the head of the family saw it?
All the Cao family's disciples were shocked and confused.
Tonight, thanks to an outsider named Ye Fan, I was "lucky" to drink these fine wines that had been collected for forty or fifty years.
Cao Ruiyang, Cao Hao's eldest son, was very depressed.
A maid carefully held a jar of "Ice Snow Soul" wine, poured a small cup for everyone in the pavilion, and then left.
Immediately, a feeling of coldness filled the pavilion, almost making everyone feel refreshed, as if they were in a world of ice and snow. Amidst the ice and snow in the sky, waves of strange fragrance floated.
Although everyone at the table was intoxicated by the aroma of the "ice and snow soul" wine, no one drank it.
This is a third-level, eighth-grade wine. If Wu Zun takes a sip, he will be drunk for three days and three nights. Tonight's Cao Mansion banquet has just begun, and no one wants to get drunk at this time. There are nine jars of top-quality wine in the back!
Only Cao Hao, the Jiu Wuhou, dared to drink this kind of wine directly.
If they want to drink, they can only drink lightly.
Several grandchildren of the Cao family even secretly rejoiced that if the wine was poured into their cups, it would belong to them. Although I can't finish the glass tonight, I can save it for later.
"Just drinking wine isn't much fun! Everyone here today is proficient in winemaking in the Cao family, and Ye Fan is also good at it. Why don't we play a little trick and guess the raw materials for brewing this 'Bingxuepo' !"
Cao Hao glanced at everyone at the banquet and smiled.
This "Ice Snow Soul" wine was brewed by him himself, but he had never told anyone what the recipe of this wine was. It's not that he doesn't want to leave the recipe to Cao's descendants. But the brewing materials for this recipe are too difficult to find, and most of them are in dangerous places. The descendants of the Cao family have no ability to find them. If they really want to find the brewing materials on a whim, it will harm them.
However, it doesn't hurt to play some games with it tonight. It is impossible for anyone to accurately describe all the ingredients in the formula.
"Grandpa, if you guessed it right, is there any reward?"
The pretty and charming 17-18-year-old cardamom girl sitting behind Mrs. Cao said with a sweet smile in a clear voice.
"Of course! The person who guesses all the ingredients correctly will get a small gourd of 'ice and snow soul' as a reward. The wine in it can hold ten sips. Drink it slowly, and it is estimated that you can drink it for more than half a year. Youwen, why don't you guess first? A guess?"
Cao Hao laughed.
"No, grandpa is cheating. We can't guess all the brewing materials! We can't guess it. It's a guess in vain. Grandpa's wine gourd can't be given away!"
Cao Youwen immediately protested dissatisfied and coquettishly.
"Forget it, let's see who can guess the most!"
Cao Hao thought for a moment and took a step back.
As soon as these words came out, all the Cao family's children were overjoyed and praised him one after another.
Even Ye Fan smiled after hearing this.
Dean Cao is thinking of ways to give him wine.
The main purpose of his coming to Cao Mansion tonight was to get some good wine from Cao Mansion back home. He would be embarrassed if he didn't accept it.
Cao Youwen nodded, picked up the cup with her right hand, and blocked it with her left hand with the lapel of her clothes. She sipped a little on the cup with her red lips, savored it carefully for a while, and soon her face turned red.
"The taste is very pure! There are only ten kinds of ingredients for this 'ice and snow soul'! I have already guessed five of them, but let's not talk about it yet. Can any of you guess more? I will admit defeat."
She glanced at everyone with her smart and beautiful eyes and chuckled.
The other Cao family members also picked up their cups and tasted them carefully. For all the children of Cao Mansion, brewing wine is almost their special skill, and they are very familiar with all kinds of brewing materials.
"I have tasted four types! If all of Youwen's guesses are correct, then I lose."
"I only tasted three kinds. Alas, they are far behind you."
"Youwen's wine skills are getting better and better, I'm willing to give in!"
Soon, they all shook their heads and put down their cups. Although I want to win, my skills are not as strong as Cao Youwen's.
Ye Fan took a sip and tasted the taste of Donglai County's finest wine, but did not speak.
Cao Hao suddenly smiled and looked expectantly at Ye Fan, who was on the left, and said: "Ye Fan, how many can you guess!" He had already learned from Ye Fan on the wine trail during the ten consecutive boat races. In terms of ability, I am naturally looking forward to Ye Fan's performance.
Ye Fan thought for a moment and said: "Six kinds!"
He actually tasted all the ingredients in this ice and snow soul, but there is no need to tell them all. As long as there are more than others, he can win the small gourd of wine.
The quantity he reported was no more and no less, just one more than Cao Youwen. Try to exceed as little as possible to avoid embarrassment to Cao Youwen and the children of the Cao family.
"Impossible. I have practiced winemaking with my grandfather for more than ten years. How can you guess one more thing than me?"
Cao Youwen immediately widened her beautiful eyes with an angry expression.