Chapter 175: Old Man Wen Regrets Agreeing Too Quickly

Soon, Old Man Wen paid the price for his deep grandfatherly affection.

"Grandpa, right here! I want to build a distillery. I've already drawn up the design plans for the distillery. Look, isn't it beautiful?"

"Grandpa, this spot is closest to the mountain spring. Bringing the water down from here is the most convenient way. Look, we can use hollowed-out bamboo poles to channel the water down from up there. Isn't that handy?"

"Grandpa, this is the cellar, this is the area for drying grains, and this right here is the brewing room."

"Grandpa, take a look at this. What do you think?"

"Grandpa, why aren't you saying anything?"

"Grandpa..."

Old Man Wen's head was buzzing right now. Looking at the plot of land his granddaughter had circled, he turned completely petrified.

He had thought she was just playing around, wanting to set up some little corner at home to fiddle with wine-making. Who could have imagined that this girl wanted to build an entire distillery?

"Yaoyao..." Old Man Wen began earnestly.

Wen Yao didn't give the old man any chance to speak.

"Grandpa, you also think these ideas of mine are wonderful, right? Grandpa, you're the best grandpa in the whole world. Look, once the distillery is built, our family won't ever run out of wine to drink. You can drink however much you want! The grandpas in the village will all have to come to you to buy their liquor. Aren't you happy?"

"And think about it, Grandpa! Once our brewed wine gets better, with Sister Qiu helping out, it can definitely be sold all across the country. Won't everyone everywhere know about the Wen Family Distillery? Won't our old Wen family become more and more famous? Our ancestors up there in the underworld will certainly be so happy that you, a descendant of the Wen family, brought such a prosperous life to the clan!"

"Grandpa..."

Wen Yao used every single trick in the book to sweet-talk him, sparing no effort, laying it on so thick that she was practically kissing the horse's ass until it cracked.

And Old Man Wen indeed cracked, completely losing himself amidst wave after wave of "Grandpa" from Wen Yao.

"Build it!!!"

"Yay! Grandpa is truly the best! You're the greatest grandpa in this entire world!" Wen Yao laughed with cunning slyness, silently offering an apology to Old Man Wen in her heart, but for the sake of a bright and glorious future, she had no other choice.

When they learned that their own barren hills hadn't even been cleared yet, and Old Man Wen was already going to help Wen Yao build a distillery, Wen's three brothers almost tumbled straight off their chairs.

"Dad?" The three of them looked at Old Man Wen in unison.

Old Man Wen awkwardly averted his gaze, trying hard not to look at the painful and aggrieved expressions on his sons' faces, and muttered, "Well, you see... what Yaoyao said is right. If this wine turns out well, our Wen family's reputation for liquor will spread farther and farther down the road."

By the end of it, Old Man Wen himself felt a lack of conviction.

Madam Luo watched as these men and boys were thoroughly bewitched by Wen Yao's smooth talking, and she couldn't help smiling.

"I'll just ask one thing: Yaoyao, do you even know how to brew wine?"

Madam Luo finally hit upon the crucial question. For so long, Old Man Wen had been completely led astray by Wen Yao's sweet talk without ever asking her this fundamental question.

Hearing the old woman ask, Old Man Wen finally snapped back to his senses and turned to look at Wen Yao: "That's right! Yaoyao, do you know how to brew wine?"

Wen Yao desperately wanted to say a firm and decisive "yes," but she had only watched a few videos about it in her past life. To say she knew how would be an overstatement, yet to say she knew nothing wouldn't be entirely true either.

So, facing everyone's expectant gazes, Wen Yao carefully squeezed out a few words: "Well... a little bit?"

Old Man Wen almost lost his grip on his tobacco pipe. He really wanted to pry open this girl's skull to see what on earth was packed inside.

Seeing them all fall silent, Wen Yao knew that if she didn't produce some hard evidence today, this distillery project was most likely doomed.

And this was her grand ambition! It absolutely could not be allowed to fail.

"You guys wait right here." With that, Wen Yao scampered back into her room, quickly returning with a stack of books in her arms, which she slapped down with a thud onto the table right in front of everyone.

"What is this?"

"Are these books? Sis, how come these look a bit different from the ones we read?"

"Whoa, this paper feels so nice to touch."

"Wow, the paper is so thin, yet the ink doesn't bleed through at all."

Wen Xiuyi and Wen Jun felt cold sweat break out on their backs as they watched Wen Yao brazenly pull these books out.

"Yaoyao, what are these?" Old Man Wen had never seen such books before either, and his eyes were filled with curiosity.

Datou stood by the edge of the table. Having studied traditional characters, he could recognize many of the words on the cover, though not with absolute certainty, so he tried reading them aloud: "This one says... *Practical Technology for Baijiu Production*."

"And this one is... *Grain Wine, Fruit Wine*. Sis, can you make wine out of fruits too?"

"This is *Production Techniques for Sauce-Aroma Baijiu*."

Datou silently flipped through the stack, finally raising his head to look at Old Man Wen: "Grandpa, it looks like these are all books teaching how to brew wine."

Although the layout and binding were very strange, they were indeed books. Moreover, the contents written inside were remarkably easy to understand—much simpler to comprehend than the books from their tutor or godfather.

Wen Yao patted the stack of books and declared, "With these, we won't have to worry about failing to brew good wine."

She had already planned it all out: she would hire professionals specifically for the brewing, while she would provide the techniques, improvements, and the yeast starter. After all, the most critical secret to brewing wine, aside from the water, was the yeast starter. The quality of the yeast determined the quality of the liquor.

With her cheating artifact, she had nothing to fear when it comes to brewing fine liquor.

Hadn't the female protagonist done the exact same thing? If the protagonist could do it, why couldn't she? She was joking, of course—otherwise, her own path would be completely blocked off.

However, Wen Yao was well aware that she couldn't entirely rely on her spatial dimension. They had to establish their own distinct characteristics to stand firm in this world. What if, just as Wen Xiuyi had mentioned, the female protagonist was born a couple of years later and the space was reclaimed by her? What would happen then?

Therefore, in everything she did, she had to prepare for both scenarios. She had also gathered a pile of books on how to make yeast starters from scratch; two years of time would be more than enough for her to research and master it.

Everyone in the Wen family—literate and illiterate alike—fell silent.

Only Datou quietly continued reading through the books, occasionally asking Wen Xiuyi beside him about certain characters, given the significant differences between traditional and simplified scripts.

Wen Xiuyi and Wen Jun exchanged glances, secretly observing the reactions of the rest of the family while racking their brains over how to spin a convincing lie if questioned.

Yet, until the meeting adjourned and Old Man Wen hammered down the final decision to build the distillery, not a single person ever asked about those books again.

At that moment, Wen Xiuyi suddenly had a lingering feeling that perhaps the members of the Wen family had long since sensed their differences, choosing simply to keep quiet about it.

An unusual emotion suddenly flared up deep within his heart. Wen Xiuyi sniffled slightly and looked towards the two elders.

"Dad, Mom, since Yaoyao wants to do this, let's let her do it. Our old Wen family ought to have something unique of our own."

Madam Luo glanced sideways at him without saying a word, merely remarking, "If you're going to do it, do it properly. None of this fishing for three days and drying nets for two nonsense, or coming up with a new whim every few days."

With that, she gave Wen Yao a warning glare.

Wen Yao playfully stuck out her tongue in response.