"If customers wants to enjoy our snacks with liquor then why force them to drink tea. Just bring liquor." Gu Yanyan replied to Fan Dongjin's concern with an crafty smile in her eyes.
"Yes. That's good too. Why didn't think of this before?" Fan Dongjin became excited and said while slapping his forehead.
"But which winery we should contact for the liquor? There are many big and small winery in the Hangzhou city but Thyme in the south and Smile in the east is the most famous one in the entire Hangzhou and even people from neighboring cities come to drink these two liquor." Fan Dongjin suggested with great enthusiasm but his all enthusiasm become air when he heard Gu Yanyan's next words.
"Neither of them."
"Aah? Neither of them then which one?" Fan Dongjin asked feeling puzzled.
"Recess." Replied Gu Yanyan, her eyes filled with gleam as she remembered the taste of Recess when her grandfather first time poured her wine on her twelfth chinese new year behind her grandmother.
Seeing the small cup of tea in front of her filled with her grandfather's secret wine, Gu Yanyan was so happy that she gulped the wine before her grandmother could see and then both grandfather and granddaughter duo giggled to each other.
Recess was her grandfather's secret recipe and his last one too. He had brewed that batch of wine specially for Gu Yanyan.
He had kept that wine under the apricot tree in his backyard, intended to open it when Gu Yanyan turned eighteen but when Gu Yanyan turned twelve, her grandfather got diagnosed with Liver cancer, fearing that he couldn't live until Gu Yanyan turned eighteen, he opened the jar of wine the same year at the chinese new year.
But God blessed them and he overcome his cancer and lived until Gu Yanyan turned eighteen and they again opened another jar of Recess to celebrate her coming-of-age ceremony.
Gu Yanyan came out of her trance when she heard Fan Dongjin's confused voice;
"Recess? But I haven't heard such wine name." Fan Dongjin said while scratching the back of his head.
"Of course you haven't heard grandpa Fan." Gu Yanyan giggled as she addressed butler Fan.
"Then?" Fan Dongjin raised his brow in curiosity.
"This wine is our good Xumei's secret recipe." Gu Yanyan made up another lie and threw the bomb in Yang Xumei's basket.
"Hah?" Little Yang Xumei's eyes widened till the shape of two tennis balls.
"My secret recipe?" Yang Xumei pointed her finger towards her and questioned Gu Yanyan word by word.
In reply, Gu Yanyan just nodded her head up and down and blinked twice at Yang Xumei.
Yang Xumei immediately turned towards Fan Dongjin. "Yes." Full certainty.
"It's my secret recipe." Once again. With full confidence.
"Xiao Xumei... this.. when you learnt to brew liquor?" Looking at the eight year old little Xumei, Fan Dongjin hesitated but then changed his words and asked "Is this your own recipe or you learnt from somewhere?" Fan Dongjin didn't wanted to get into conflict with the recipe owner so he thought to better confirm the situation before taking action.
"Grandpa Fan, don't worry." Gu Yanyan interrupted Fan Dongjin's train of thought and give him a reassuring smile.
"It's Yang Xumei's formula." Gu Yanyan said with determination.
Looking at the firm gaze of little girl, Fan Dongjin knew, it was not something a simple person like him could understand.
He remembered late marquis Zhiwu and late Madam Lin and heaved a sigh before shaking his head.
May be it was something predetermined, he was just someone who was chosen to become a part of this miraculous journey.
Fan Dongjin left the room and went for the preparation of winery.
He himself visited the Er Xiaolin Manor and met Zhou Fengfeng. There he talked with Zhou Fengfeng and told him Gu Yanyan's decision.
Both butlers worked hard and with the help of Qi brothers within fifteen days winery's construction was ready. They named the winery winery Bai Jiu Cheng.
It literally meant; white wine winery.
In the era where distillation was not developed yet, Gu Yanyan was sure her distilled white wine would soon become a sensation when it would come into the market.
Gu Yanyan used rice, wheat, bran and various kind of wild fruits available in the mountains to fermented her wine.
While the fermentation was going on, Gu Yanyan had her eyes on one of the three story building just in front of her Three Galaxy snacks shop.
Since she liked the building, she baught it.
It has already passed more than four months since Gu Yanyan had arrived in the Hangzhou city and in next two months her distillery wine would also be ready to come into the market.
But to sell the wine, Gu Yanyan needed a source. Just by relying on a snacks shop, Gu Yanyan was sure she couldn't make it big anytime soon. To sell her wine on the large scale she needed a larger crowd. And what would be more better than a restaurant?
In a restaurant, people come with the main purpose of eating and drinking until they were full.
Gu Yanyan was sure, once people got the taste of her Recess, they would come back again and again and the rich and wealthy ones would try to visit almost everyday which would not only increase the sale of her Recess wine but it would also lead people to enjoy the various dishes in her restaurant too.
After purchasing the three story building, Gu Yanyan asked Fan Dongjin to find a local but capable manager who could be trusted to run the restaurant.
Fan Dongjin didn't waste his time and within a week he found a reliable and trustable manager for the restaurant.
Wei Mingting.
Wei Mingting was a middle aged man who used to work at a renowned restaurant, Zinxi Palace.
Zinxi Palace used to be number one restaurant in the Hangzhou city. It was mainly famous for it's fresh seafood and marinated West Lake fish.
People from all over the Zhejiang used to come to Hangzhou city specially to taste sweet and sour west lake fish prepared at the Zixiu Palace but later the owner of the Zixiu Palace was caught in some conflict with a nobleman and that nobleman destroyed the whole Zixiu Palace.
Since then Wei Mingting was wondering on the streets in search of work but because of his past relation with the Zixiu Palace and it's owner, people feared to associate themselves to him.
They didn't wanted to offend that nobleman because of a mere manager.
But Fan Dongjin thought that just this reason was not enough to not catching such a big fish in Gu Yanyan's net. And about that nobleman.....