Chapter 20 Case File 1: Botanical Garden Mystery (2)
The sweet and sour green plum wine vinegar jelly slid down her throat, instantly dispelling the thirst brought on by constant talking. Talia seemed to have returned to the summer fifteen years ago, when she had just lost her own child, but because of her work, she "got" an equally cute baby.
She remembered sitting under the plum tree in the botanical garden, smelling the sweet and sour aroma of the fruit, holding the little Haff child in her arms. That little round face had a big nose, and its innocent eyes looked straight at her.
She lowered her head and gently rocked the swaddling clothes, humming a lullaby to him, and the little baby smiled innocently, stretched out his little hands and grabbed the long gray-brown hair in her hands.
The little hand covered with light green scales held her furry wolf paw, and the sour and sweet emotions filled her heart. The rich fruity fragrance was buried deep in her heart along with this memory... until now.
The green plum wine vinegar jelly brought back Talia's memories and opened her mouth completely. She chattered on and on about a lot of old stories and gossip about the Axe family.
With Aunt Wolf's permission, Jiang You gently drew a yellow-green soul fire from Aunt Talia. The skeleton held the soul fire and sniffed it a few times, the flames in its eyes dancing with excitement: "That's the smell!"
She suppressed her excitement and licked the soul fire. The cool, sour and sweet 'jelly' soul fire melted on her soul tongue. The aroma of fruit, wine and vinegar bloomed together in an instant, like a dazzling firework.
Suddenly, she felt a breeze on her face, and the scenery before her eyes suddenly changed. She had somehow come to a forest... or a garden... and young Aunt Talia was sitting in front of her, holding a baby in her arms.
This scene only lasted about five seconds before disappearing. Jiang You scratched his head: How come there is a small animation to watch when the Lich eats?
While the knights and their servants listened to Aunt Talia's gossip, they also picked up the plum wine vinegar jelly. Jericho took a sip and his eyes lit up. "This is even better than the last one!"
He felt something was wrong after he said that. He looked up at his young master and alarm bells started ringing in his heart.
Andrei stared at him resentfully with his green eyes, and asked in a gloomy tone: "Just now? That? Which one?"
——Young Master, I didn’t get to eat it, so why can you?!
Jiang You was completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere between master and servant. She said cheerfully, "Yes, the recipe is slightly different. The previous one was a test sample I used to see if I could taste it myself, so to save costs, I only added vinegar and no wine.
"However, this jelly is delicious no matter what you use it in. If you add fruit juice, it becomes jelly. If you add vinegar, it becomes vinegar jelly. If you add wine, it becomes wine jelly. If you add tea, it becomes tea jelly! You can also add flower petals or jam, and you can make a thousand different variations..."
She chattered cheerfully, completely unaware that Jericho leaned over to whisper in Andre's ear, "Master, you said Evil Eye Moon spent so much to get her, could it be that he was just attracted by her cooking skills?"
This speculation was indeed a bit far-fetched. Andrei opened his mouth to refute, but the words faltered. He used a spoon to stir the small bowl of a delicious dessert he had never seen before: a seemingly clear, yellow-green liquid, but actually a chewy, semi-solid gelatinous substance. Finally, he said hesitantly, "...That's a possibility...?"
He scooped up the large green plum from the jelly and put it in his mouth. The moment his teeth bit into the flesh, the cells in the fruit, saturated with alcohol, instantly exploded, releasing a strong aroma of alcohol! The sweetness of the fruit and the pungent taste of the alcohol were like a ball of blazing fire, suddenly rushing to his head.
Andre: “!!! What a strong drink!” High!
"Does the plum wine have a strong alcoholic flavor?" Jiang You asked. "This jar of green plum wine was brewed first. I didn't quite grasp the passage of time in the crucible back then, so it might have fermented a little longer... Well, to put it in perspective, this jar of plum wine is probably thirty years old."
She hadn't measured the alcohol content, but judging by the remaining liquid and the concentration of the wine, it was probably around 38%...? Hmm, maybe I should just pick the plums out of the vinegar next time?
What the newly arrived Jiangyou didn't know was that this world's brewing industry was still limited to beer, red wine, and fruit liqueurs. Brewed wines were generally consumed after three to five years, and aged wines were extremely rare. High-concentration distilled spirits, for the time being, were only used in the medical field.
Her 38-proof aged plum wine was indeed a strength that the Knights of the Kingdom had never tried before.
But Andrei was a strong man, and even a single wine-soaked plum couldn't overpower him. Instead, the more he chewed it, the more he savored it. With this "strong liquor" to accompany it, Aunt Wolf's gossip about family matters became even more interesting.
To summarize the key points of Aunt Wolf’s narrative, we can summarize the following:
The Axe family was very wealthy. Their botanical garden supplied fruits and vegetables to everyone in Eston West City, from the common people to the nobles, and this wasn't even their most profitable venture.
What really makes the Ax family rich is the magic plants they sell.
In this world, everything related to magic is valuable... At least this was an absolutely correct statement before King Huntington and the Moon Worship Cult began their campaign to popularize magic.
Now, this sentence is still applicable to the magic plant industry.
The so-called magic plants are special plants that have magical affinity, absorb a large amount of specific magical elements during their growth, and can be used in certain magical rituals or potions.
These plants are either dangerous, poisonous, or extremely delicate, and will easily die if they are not satisfied with the conditions... It is often not easy for magicians and potion makers to get a satisfactory material, and they always have to pay a certain price in terms of money and sweat.
Sometimes, a special magical ritual or a bottle of special potion requires extremely high requirements for the magical herbs required. Even the slightest inferior quality will cause the ritual or potion to fail. Any experienced magician or potion maker knows that it is absolutely impossible to save money on magical herbs.
The natural abilities of the Hafu people came in handy in this industry.
Their botanical gardens are home to a large number of magical plants of good quality, large quantity, and complete variety. Even the most demanding magicians and potion masters can find the magical plant materials they need. Although it costs a lot of money to buy them, it is much more convenient than having them search all over the mountains and plains for a plant that blends into the grass and cannot be recognized anymore!
The Ax family almost monopolized the supply of all magic plants in the west city of Eston, and even had enough spare capacity to supply magic plant materials to the royal capital. The daily income alone was enough for a family from the civilian class in the city to live a well-fed and well-fed life for a year!
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