Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 118 - 59 Doing Good Deeds at Cross Slope_1

Chapter 118: Chapter 59 Doing Good Deeds at Cross Slope_1

In fact, the wine Yan Fei is selling is making more money than Ma Chao’s family ever did.

The Old Ma’s family has been selling wine for so many years, and they’re familiar with all the regular buyers in the surrounding area, so they’re simply too embarrassed to charge too high. The price they quote is one thing, but in reality, they always give a little discount to whoever comes, or sometimes, they pour a bit more wine given the original price.

But Yan Fei has no qualms about selling expensive wine, especially since he knows fewer people. Plus, with Xu Xiaoyan up front, this girl is quite ruthless. Even when some locals come to buy wine, she doesn’t even give them a discount. All the while, she’d have a big smile on her face and say, "Oh wow, Yan Fei just learned how to make wine! He’s not very good at it yet, we’re barely breaking even here!"

Who doesn’t know that what she’s saying is just nonsense? It’s commonly known that Ma Chao is here helping Yan Fei out, but out of every ten customers who come to buy wine, eight are robust men who just can’t bargain with such a young lady! And they can’t just quit drinking, especially when they have guests waiting at home. They’d grit their teeth and bear it!

If it was any other maiden selling the wine here, those rough men might even try to flirt a little. But who would dare when Yan Fei, with his notorious reputation, is lounging on a chair behind them?

By the third day, when Xu Xiaoyan came again, she was already showing up with a long face and puffed cheeks.

"What happened? Did your parents scold you again?" Yan Fei noticed something was off, and couldn’t afford to upset her who practically kept the business afloat for the past days! So he immediately stood up to ask her.

"Humph! I’m furious!" She plunked her behind onto Yan Fei’s old rattan chair, nearly breaking it to pieces.

"What happened exactly? Who upset you? As long as it’s not your parents, I’ll go get them for you." Yan Fei was willing to go the distance for his own peace of mind.

"I’m not sure, but if I find out, I’ll strangle them. Humph, they’re gossiping behind my back, they deserve to be in tongue-ripping hell." She huffed angrily.

"Come on, spit it out. What’s going on?" Seeing her gritting her teeth with rage, Yan Fei was genuinely panicking.

"They are calling our wine shop a ’Cross Slope’ inn!" Xu Xiaoyan finally mumbled after holding her glare for a while.

"What ’Cross Slope’?" This was the epitome of ignorance, Yan Fei was truly clueless.

"You..." Xu Xiaoyan lost her patience and decided to explain, "Have you read ’Water Margin’ or seen it on TV? The Cross Slope inn in Water Margin is run by a couple of bandits who sell steamed buns made from human meat. They’re basically calling our place a gangster inn. Do you get it now?"

"I got it, you’re talking about the inn run by the ’Mother Demon,’ right?" Yan Fei said with a smug look, he did have a good memory, and although he didn’t remember when he learned of it, he did recall this part about the Mother Demon selling human meat buns.

Those words were trouble the moment they left his mouth!

Xu Xiaoyan immediately sprung up, flailing her arms and pinching and twisting Yan Fei, "Damn you, Yan Xiaofei, I sold wine for you for the past two days, my legs are all stiff from standing, and you still side with the others? I’ll show you ’Mother Demon,’ I’ll show you ’Mother Demon’...

"Don’t cry, don’t cry, I was wrong. Is that okay..." Seeing her almost bursting into tears in anger, Yan Fei was instantly panic-stricken.

"Humph..." The girl pinched and twisted for a long while before ignoring him, sitting on the side, silent, with tears welling up in her eyes.

Despite Yan Fei’s many apologies, he couldn’t mollify the girl. Just when a customer came in to buy wine, Yan Fei, who was busy pacifying the girl, turned around and said, "We’re not selling wine today!"

Before the customer could respond, Xu Xiaoyan was already displeased, "He’s here to buy wine, why won’t you sell? Get up!"

With that, she mustered up a forced smile and went to sell the wine.

As soon as the customers left, the girl giggled and said, "Hehe, they want to make fun of me? From now on, I won’t fill the wine pourers to the full for those who come to buy wine."

When selling wine, they use a wine ladle, which is designed for specific quantities. For example, a half-catty wine ladle, when filled, would hold a half-catty of wine. Similarly, there are also those for a catty, two taels, one tael, and so on.

In other wine shops, the customers watch as the wine is ladled. But in Yan Fei’s rundown little shop, there’s only a small window. The wine jars are all in a corner inside, and from the outside, it’s hard to see even what kind of wine is being ladled, let alone the quantity.

"You’re under-filling so blatantly—customers will notice. You’d be better off diluting with some water!" Yan Fei wasn’t annoyed at her antics anymore and left her to her own devices, but he still ’kindly’ offered some advice.

"That’s a good idea. I’ll add more water to each jar." The girl must have been truly upset; Yan Fei’s unscrupulous idea seemed good to her. Not only did she verbally approve, but she even went on to do it.

No wonder though! Any unmarried girl would be muddled with rage if she were maliciously accused of being an ogress running a gangster inn that sold human meat-filled buns, especially when what Xu Xiaoyan had told her was the nicer version of the rumors.

However, she didn’t add much—only a basin of water to each jar.

Once she finished, she began to worry "Yan Xiaofei, do you think adding water to the wine will give people diarrhea?"

"Definitely not. Don’t people drink cold water in the summer? What could possibly go wrong? Besides, water has been added to wine for thousands of years. Don’t worry!" Yan Fei calmly replied. This was what Ma Chao told him when he had mentioned adulterating the wine, and he remembered it.

"Alright, good that there’s nothing to worry about." Xu Xiaoyan said, but found something else to fret about. "If I goof off and the business fails, you won’t be angry, will you?"

Would Yan Fei be angry? Of course, he would, but his anger would be directed at those wagging their tongues. As for Xu Xiaoyan’s antics, they were nothing.

After all, she hadn’t added a basin of wine to a water jar to sell it—what’s a basin of water in a wine jar? Would that even count as a problem?

In the afternoon, when Ma Chao brought in the newly brewed wine and was about to fill in the jars after measuring the alcohol content, Yan Fei asked Xu Xiaoyan, "Are you going to add more water?"

Xu Xiaoyan felt a bit embarrassed now. "Never mind, let them say whatever they want; they can’t harm us."

Once Ma Chao understood what was going on, he reassured, "Don’t worry; people are probably just jealous of you two. Yan Fei, you’re running a cattle farm and making wine on the side. Business is booming—they’re envious! When we raised prices because the price of grain went up, people talked then, too. They’re just drunk and talking nonsense. Pay them no mind."

"Exactly, only mediocrity doesn’t attract envy. Yan Fei is competent, isn’t he?" Xu Xiaoyan had been upset all day, but Ma Chao’s words did the trick and cheered her up.

"Hehe, it’s likely not deliberate malice. Besides envy, they could be just joking around after having a few drinks. Don’t worry, in a couple of days, no one’s going to talk about it." Ma Chao consoled them a bit more and went back inside to finish his work.

Yan Fei finally let out a sigh of relief. If this girl was in a bad mood, she would undoubtedly give him a hard time!

Fortunately, she was no more upset than a summer storm. The storm came quickly but passed even quicker. By dinnertime, she was all smiles and laughter again, and the day’s mishap was soon forgotten.

However, wine buyers for that day did have some bad luck—they drank wine with a lower alcohol content.

But that wouldn’t really count as a big deal. In Yan Fei’s comforting words to Xu Xiaoyan, "We’re doing good work! There are plenty of people causing trouble when they’re drunk. By watering down our wine, it’s for their own good, right?"

It was fortunate this guy wasn’t mainly running a pub; who knows how badly he could mess things up!