Yun Hu quickly arranged for Chen Yang to contact that high-ranking official in the military, and the interview was scheduled for ten days later.

Chen Yang had intended to use these ten days to improve himself, but after the grape harvest, the camp was short-handed.

Whether it's making wine or raisins, both require manual labor, but the most troublesome step is making grape seed oil, which requires selecting grape seeds.

Knowing he wouldn't make any breakthroughs within ten days, he helped process the grapes.

Most of the manpower in the camp was devoted to processing the grapes.

The girls went to make raisins, which could be placed in a time-accelerated zone, where they used a method of first sun-drying and then air-drying.

The accelerated time zone is quite convenient; just one day of sun exposure is enough. It's equivalent to sun-drying for three days at once, without needing to go through the night, so the effect is outstanding. Whether it tastes good, however, is another matter.

They simply moved the winemaking process to the vineyards, because winemaking requires very strict control over temperature and other factors, and it's definitely not feasible to make wine in a time-accelerated zone.

Yunhu made ample preparations for making wine.

He went to great lengths to find a foreigner who knew how to make barrels. Making barrels is a skilled job that requires a lot of expertise. Yun Hu studied for a while before he dared to start making barrels.

The iron rings binding the wine barrels were made by Hong Gui. Hong Gui was now eager for someone to ask him to make things, because there was no longer a need for ironware in the camp. So he could only practice his forging skills and try to upgrade the camp's ironware.

Hong Gui's skill in forging iron pots is now unparalleled. The iron pots he forges are no worse than those made by some veteran craftsmen, and they are extremely useful. Even the old chef Wang Bing praised them highly. Hong Gui is truly talented in this area, and his physique is simply made for blacksmithing. After incorporating Xingyi Quan (a style of Chinese martial arts), his forging skills have become even better.

The iron hoop was not a complicated iron tool, so Hong Gui quickly made it. Yun Hu carved wooden planks to make wine barrels. After a few failures, he gained experience and successfully made three and a half person-high wine barrels, which was enough for use.

The winemaking process is already quite mature, and many of Yunhu's friends enjoy making their own wine. Yunhu has been interested in it for a long time, but his grandfather felt it was unnecessary, saying that making rice wine at home was enough and there was no need for wine.

In the current micro-world, there is no rice, so there is no way to brew rice wine. They did brew some yeast with wheat, but since there are no peas, the yeast they made was not very good, but it did make some fruit wines more flavorful.

The first step in winemaking is washing, but since their grapes are already quite good and the air in the microenvironment is clean, this step can be skipped, resulting in higher sweetness of the grapes.

Yun Hu has made ample preparations for this, and even visited a friend's winery to learn from his skills.

While the wine is undergoing its first fermentation, the grape seed oil extraction process is also underway.

This wasn't their first time pressing oil, so they were quite experienced. They were very skilled at the processes of drying the seeds, grinding them into powder, steaming the powder, and wrapping the cakes. After thoroughly cleaning the oil press inside and out, they finally prepared to start pressing the oil.

Grape seeds are relatively small and not as easy to collect as camellia seeds and peanuts, so not as much oil can be extracted from them.

However, they still have leftover camellia oil and peanut oil. Extracting grape seed oil is simply to have more oil options and avoid wasting grape seeds.

Different oils have different flavors and nutritional values. Oils extracted using this traditional method are even more precious. They select the best materials they collect, resulting in high-quality oils.

Chen Yang was involved in grape processing, specifically oil extraction. He had participated in several oil extractions, so he was very experienced. Jiang Bo had already returned to Xijiehe to take care of his sugarcane, so he didn't come over.

Sugarcane is very important to everyone now because they have very little sugar left for making wine, and they are just waiting for the sugarcane in Jiangbo's area to ripen so they can make more sugar.

Wine, raisins, grape seed oil. One fruit has three great uses. Grapes are currently their most valuable fruit, and they have even transplanted some of the better seeds to the west bank of the West Boundary River for cultivation.

The western bank of the Xijie River is located in the desert area, but because it is close to the river, there is a water source for irrigation. Although the temperature difference between day and night is not as large as inside the desert, it is still much larger than here in the camp, and the sunshine is also very abundant.

The best place in China for grape cultivation is undoubtedly Xinjiang.

Xinjiang has high daytime temperatures and strong sunlight, allowing plants to photosynthesize and produce organic matter such as starch and sugars. At night, the temperature is low, and the plants' respiration is weaker, resulting in less consumption of organic matter. As a result, grapes from Xinjiang accumulate more organic matter than grapes from other places, making them naturally sweeter.

Due to the unique climate of the desert, they found a region with a climate similar to that of Xinjiang to grow grapes.

The microcosm's climate is anomalous, much like a miniature Earth, containing all sorts of climates. Therefore, they can find suitable climate zones for whatever they want to grow, and the transitional zones between climates simulate different seasonal effects. This makes planting incredibly convenient for them.

The climate in the cabin where Jiexin is located is relatively normal, feeling closer to a temperate oceanic climate, but with some subtropical monsoon characteristics; it gets hot when it should be hot and cold when it should be cold.

Fortunately, the microcosm does not have an ozone hole or large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, so there is no greenhouse effect. Although it is hot during this period, it is not as excessively hot as some cities in reality.

Chen Yang's watch can detect temperature. So far, the highest temperature it has detected is only 37°C. It usually stays between 28°C and 34°C, which is still within a tolerable range.

Moreover, it rains occasionally in the micro-world, and the temperature becomes very comfortable after the rain.

Of course, this refers to the climate of the Ink Plains in the Microverse. The temperature in the Desert is much higher, with over 40 degrees Celsius being the norm, and the highest temperature can even reach over 50 degrees Celsius.

Ding Qihan and Weng Ji spend very little time at the beach each day because they are afraid of getting sunburned and peeling. However, the sea breeze still makes them tan easily, and they have already gotten quite tanned, which has made them afraid to get close to each other lately.

If they synchronize now, the damage will be far more than just a little bit.

They found a patch of aloe vera and used the aloe vera juice as sunscreen every day, trying to only go out in the morning and evening.

They also found a suitable place to set fishing traps. Although they still had a lot of fish left from their last catch, they couldn't just sit around and do nothing. The fishing traps would allow them to survive for a long time. In addition, they would go hunting from time to time. The two found a small peninsula by the sea with a high vegetation coverage, where many animals lived and some edible plants were also found.

However, for the time being, no one can deliver supplies to them or replace them because the grape harvesting season is too short, so everyone in the camp is focused on processing the grapes.

"For the sake of wine... no, for the sake of great scientific research! We'll endure it!" Ding Qihan and Weng Ji could only console themselves one after the other.

(End of this chapter)