Chapter 48 Processing Rolls Makes Life Happier

Winery.

A worker lifted the lid of the wine vat, and a rich fruity aroma wafted out, filling the entire room.

Jiang Zhou, the person in charge, took a spoon, scooped out a small half spoonful, and poured it into a porcelain cup. He took a sip, and instantly his mouth was filled with the aroma of grapes.

He frowned and said to the workers, "It's a failure."

Everyone immediately showed expressions of disappointment.

"How did it fail again!"

"Where is the difference?"

"Doesn't it smell quite nice?"

Jiang Zhou looked helpless. He handed out a spoon, "You guys should try some too. I think it's more like grape juice than wine."

"Juice?" The middle-aged woman standing next to him took the spoon, ladled herself a glass, and said, "Uh..."

The dozen or so workers around each scooped up a small cup and tasted it.

They looked at each other, their expressions a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"This really is grape juice. Where did we go wrong? We turned winemaking into fruit juice!"

Jiang Zhou finished his grape juice and cleared his throat. "Let's try again! So what if we failed again? We'll try a few more times, and we'll succeed eventually!"

The other workers nodded in unison, "Okay!"

"One more time!"

"Everyone, please take a look and see which step can be improved."

"Let's keep going!"

Everyone had successfully brewed corn liquor and sorghum liquor before, not just once or twice, so they were all in a good mood and planned to review everything from the beginning and try again until they succeeded.

A male worker picked up a purple grape, and as he looked at it, he became quite tempted. He said to the female worker next to him, "I wonder if the apple trees will bear fruit this year. I really look forward to making wine from apples."

The female worker's mind raced with images of various fruits, a mixture of anticipation and regret in her eyes. "Fruit trees usually take more than three years to bear fruit. Let's wait patiently. I also want to try bayberry wine and cherry wine!"

Another male worker overheard their conversation and chimed in, "Could the flowers grown in the garden be used to make wine?"

The female worker thought for a moment and nodded, "More or less. Osmanthus and peach blossoms will take a few years to bloom, but chrysanthemums, roses, and jasmine will all bloom this year!"

The male worker clicked his tongue and said, "In a few years, when the flowering trees are in full bloom and the fruit trees are laden with fruit, we'll be incredibly busy!"

“Don’t worry,” the middle-aged woman laughed, “when that time comes, our distillery will be much bigger than it is now, and we’ll have many more workers!”

Who knows, by then we might build branch factories based on the type of liquor: the sorghum liquor factory will only produce sorghum liquor, the plum liquor factory will only produce plum liquor, and the osmanthus liquor factory will only produce osmanthus liquor.

The female worker suddenly had a brilliant idea: "Maybe we can move the distillery to a county someday."

The male worker asked curiously, "Moved to a certain county?"

The female worker nodded, "Yes, just like that salt county in the north, we can also create a wine county!"

Jiang Zhou glanced at them and couldn't help but laugh, "Jiu County, you guys really know how to come up with ideas."

Seeing this, the other workers deliberately teased, "Hey, workshop owner, you should have dreams!"

"I think Xiao Zheng's idea is very good."

"Exactly! Why can't we build a wine-producing county?"

The female worker stood tall and said, "Master, with your guidance and our hard work, I think Jiangyang County is a good fit."

afternoon.

The winery sent people to Longyuan Academy to give the children the failed grape juice.

The children whom Song Li and the others had "picked up" looked at the juice they received in surprise, "Huh?"

"It's okay, drink up." The other students enthusiastically told the new students, "The candy shop gave us candy before, the fruit shop gave us dried fruit, and the braised duck shop also gave us duck heads and duck feet."

Wow! The new students were even more surprised: there are such benefits to being a student at the academy!

Wei Taotao lowered her head and sniffed the aroma of the juice; the sweet grape scent made her subconsciously swallow.

But she held the small cup without drinking.

The girl opposite her walked over and asked the new classmate, "Aren't you going to drink it? It's really delicious."

Wei Taotao glanced at the teachers distributing juice to everyone and whispered, "I want to take some back for Aunt Mei to try."

The girl blinked. "But the teacher wants to collect the cups, so you'd better drink them quickly."

Wei Taotao pouted; she wanted to bring it to Aunt Mei.

She said something to the girl, then turned to find her half-siblings.

The brothers and sisters were also helpless. The eldest boy said helplessly, "I asked the teacher, and they said that the food given by the academy cannot be taken home."

The oldest girl nodded repeatedly, "Even if we wanted to sneak them back, we don't have any bottles or jars."

Wei Taotao couldn't understand, "Why can't I take it back? I want to give it to Aunt Mei!"

"I want to, but..."

Why won't the teachers let us take the food back with us?

The other two children sighed.

"Of course it's for everyone's good," a female voice chimed in from the side.

The group turned around and saw a girl with her hair tied in a high ponytail giving them a grin.

The girl with the high ponytail explained with a smile, "Not all parents love their children, and not all elders can treat children fairly."

“If the academy allows students to take food home, some elders will force students to take everything they can home so that they can redistribute it.”

Wei Taotao didn't quite understand what she meant. After being adopted by Aunt Mei, she enjoyed Aunt Mei's equal maternal love.

However, some of her siblings understood.

"In that case, there's no other way. Let's drink it."

“But classmate,” one girl asked, “what should we do if we want to have money to buy things?”

The girl with the high ponytail asked in confusion, "The goddess bestows food upon you every day, so you don't need to earn money to buy food."

"Yes, but we want to buy something else." On the day they arrived in Anling County, they were taken on a tour and visited the East Market, where they saw a street full of delicious food.

The girl with the high ponytail rolled her eyes and said, "Wait a minute."

Soon, she pulled someone over and said, "This is our class monitor. Class monitor, they want to make money."

The class monitor, a girl with very short hair, looked at Wei Taotao and the others with a serious expression. "If the children want to work and earn money, they can go to the shops in the East Market and ask the owners if they need temporary workers, or they can apply for temporary cleaning jobs in various workshops."

"However, this is on the premise of not affecting your studies; otherwise, the Master will invite your parents to the academy for public criticism."

"Alright, having a way is better than having no way." Wei Taotao nodded.

Mei Gu is still recovering from her injuries at the clinic. She needs to earn some money to buy food for Mei Gu!

After school, the girl with the high ponytail waited for a while at the entrance of the academy, where she met her cousin, Ji Yunheng.

In Yunhe County, Qinglan Academy divides students into classes based on their enrollment time, as does Longyuan Academy in Anling County.

Therefore, although the girl with the high ponytail and Ji Yunheng are not much different in age, they are in different classes because Ji Yunheng enrolled in Longyuan Academy when it was first established, while she only moved to Anling with her parents three months ago.

Ji Yunheng and several classmates of different ages walked out together, discussing something intensely as they went.

Big boy: "Blah blah blah, so I think I should blah blah blah."

Girl: "No, no, no, I think it should be blah blah blah."

Ji Yunheng put her left hand on her hip and pointed her right index finger in the air. "You're both wrong. This problem should go from blah blah to blah blah, but so-and-so said blah blah, so you've calculated it wrong. And so-and-so, I think your third step should be blah blah."

The girl with the high ponytail stared blankly at her cousin and classmates discussing the problem, her eyes wide with amusement. She looked at her classmates' expressions of sudden realization, feeling lost.

That's it?

She couldn't understand what they were saying.

"Sister Yunheng!" the girl with the high ponytail called out.

Ji Yunheng turned around and said goodbye to her classmates. She quickly walked towards the girl with the high ponytail, "Qianqian."

The girl with the high ponytail said, "My mom asked me to buy some braised duck to take home."

Ji Yunheng nodded, "Then let's go to the East Market first."

They walked hand in hand toward the East Market.

The girl with the high ponytail told Ji Yunheng about the interesting things that happened in class today, what knowledge the teacher taught, and the new classmates who had just been assigned to their class.

"They can't understand the teacher's lessons, just like I can't understand the question you just asked, Sister Yunheng."

Ji Yunheng smiled and said, "It's okay, you'll learn slowly and eventually you'll understand."

The girl with the high ponytail took a few steps forward, facing Ji Yunheng while backing away, and asked, "Really? Can I be as amazing as you, sister, in the future?"

Ji Yunheng nodded affirmatively.

The girl with the high ponytail was very happy.

They walked briskly to the East Market and found the shop that sold braised duck.

There was a long line outside the store, and Ji Yunheng dragged her cousin to join the queue.

Smelling the aroma of braised duck, she turned to the girl with the high ponytail and asked, "What do you want to buy? Duck feet, duck intestines, duck tongue, duck wings?"

The girl with the high ponytail said, "I'd like to buy two pounds of duck feet and one pound of duck intestines."

Ji Yunheng nodded, "Okay."

Listening to the vendors and customers talking, Ji Yunheng suddenly had an idea and said to the girl with the high ponytail, "Why don't you try it out and listen to the vendor's price per unit and weight, and then you can calculate the total price?"

Girl with high ponytail: "..."

She was shocked, "Sister Yunheng!"

Ji Yunheng smiled, "Come on, Qianqian, let your older sister see how well you've learned arithmetic."

Mo Jingchun, who was at the front of the line, yawned as he waited in line, when he suddenly heard the sound of two little girls doing math problems behind him.

"One pound of duck feet costs twenty-three coins, how much is three and a half pounds?"

"Yes... three catties is sixty-nine? Half a catty is eleven and fifty cents, so it adds up to eighty and fifty cents."

"You got it right!"

"One catty of duck wings costs nineteen coins. How much is four catties and seven ounces?"

"Huh? Um, four catties is... is... is... seventy-six! Seven taels, seven taels is one hundred and thirty-three!"

"Hmm? It's seven ounces, not seven pounds."

"Oh, oh, that's 13.3. Seventy-six plus 13.3 equals eighty-nine.3."

"That's right, that's right!"

Mo Jingchun turned her head and saw two girls taking the opportunity to practice arithmetic.

She was surprised and impressed: the children were so motivated, they were studying even while waiting in line to buy things!

If we adults don't work harder, we'll be left behind by the kids in the future.

She took the duck intestines and duck tongues handed to her by the boss, her eyes shining: I will do my best!

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Author's note: It's been incredibly hot here lately, 33+

The weather forecast said it would rain every day this week, but not a single drop came. _(:з」∠)_