FID – Chapter 623

Chapter 623: Too Big a Strike, So Desperate

What impressed Qian Wanjin the most was that the young woman had already taken preventive measures for today’s incident right from the beginning, when she first established the wine shop. He learned today that the wine jars used by Xinghua Village Winery contained more than meets the eye.

The little girl had even kept him in the dark about it all along, which both frustrated and amused him.

With the involvement of the government, after the fraudulent merchant was arrested, the people could go to the magistrate’s office to claim their compensation. 

The official had also mentioned seizing the merchant’s assets, selling the shop, and using the proceeds entirely for compensating the affected citizens. Because of this, the crowd no longer gathered around the wine shop, not wanting to disturb the business.

As the crowd slowly dispersed and the shop returned to its quiet state, Qian Wanjin noticed that one person was missing.

“Where’s Xiao Shi?” he asked.

Originally, Shi Xianrou was supposed to be sitting with them, but at some point, she had disappeared.

Liu Yusheng covered her mouth and smiled, “She went to ambush someone, to prevent anyone from fleeing once they catch wind of what’s happening.”

With the fake alcohol issue erupting, and the people gathering in the Qian’s wine shop to protest, the ones selling the fake alcohol couldn’t possibly be unaware. They would definitely have someone nearby, monitoring and gathering information.

Once they saw the situation collapse, they would surely try to escape.

So, after casually chatting with the granny earlier and getting the information about the person, Shi Xianrou had already gone ahead to ambush them, ensuring that no one could escape before the officials arrived.

Upon hearing the young girl’s explanation, Qian Wanjin slumped onto the table, feeling completely disheartened. “Nannan, you’re actually the one who’s best suited for business. Why did you study medicine? How did your brain even work like that?”

Strategic planning, quick adaptability, calm under pressure—each step had a clear purpose. 

Her meticulous thinking even surpassed his own, despite being a man.

Liu Yusheng just smiled and didn’t reply.

Inside the shop, the shopkeeper and the workers had already begun cleaning up the debris on the floor.

Due to everyone smashing the wine jars earlier, the floor was littered with broken ceramic pieces, creating a mess, and there was barely any space to step.

If it wasn’t cleaned up, customers wouldn’t be able to enter.

Looking at the shards, Qian Wanjin groaned again, “Nannan, you should’ve told me about the wine jars. When did you prepare all this? You kept it so tightly under wraps that even I didn’t know.”

The young girl stuck out her tongue, feeling a bit guilty.

“It’s not that I kept it from you, it’s that I almost forgot about it. If it wasn’t for today’s incident, I wouldn’t have remembered at all. When we first set up the winery, we asked Uncle Li’s family to help make the wine jars. At that time, it was just a spur of the moment idea. I thought I’d put something special on the jars, something not easily noticed, as a mark for our Xinghua Village Winery. It’s like a trademark.”

The young girl’s explanation made Qian Wanjin sneer, “That sounds so nice, but you’ve already had the idea of preventing counterfeits, haven’t you? No wonder when I saw you earlier, you were so calm and not in the least bit anxious. I thought it was just me lacking composure, but it turns out you had everything planned.”

The young girl chuckled behind her hand, silently accepting his teasing.

Qian Wanjin sighed, burying his head in his hands. He truly couldn’t keep up with Lucky Nannan.

The blow was too great, rendering him desperate.

He was clearly the son of a family of merchants, but then here came Lucky Nannan. How could she be competing with him for a livelihood?

Couldn’t she let others live with a little confidence?

After the shop was cleaned, customers started to trickle in, including many ordinary people who had been observing outside earlier. 

The reason they walked in was purely because of the strong aroma from the jar of wine that Liu Yusheng had just poured.  

To put it simply, they were attracted by the scent of the wine.

The unique fragrance instantly triggered their cravings for alcohol.

Even if it was a bit expensive, they were willing to grit their teeth and buy a small jar to take home and try.

After all the commotion, not only did the Qian’s Wine business not suffer, it even gained a new wave of customers. Sales showed a steady increase, but that’s a story for another time.

A little while later, Shi Xianrou, who had gone out to ambush someone earlier, returned.

“How did it go? Did you manage to block them?” Qian Wanjin immediately asked.

“I went personally to block them, and if they managed to escape from me, then all my skills would have been for nothing,” Shi Xianrou sat down and poured herself a cup of tea. “The person has already been handed over to the authorities. All the evidence is solid and undeniable. After a brief questioning, the results will soon be posted, and the compensation to the citizens will not be forgotten.”

“Who was this person?” Liu Yusheng asked.”

“What kind of person could he be? Just an ordinary wine merchant in the city, with a small to medium-sized winery at home. When he saw that the business of Xinghua Village wine was doing well, he decided to take advantage of it. He wanted to make a big profit by using the Xinghua Village wine’s name. When I went to block the people, I even specially checked their wine warehouse.”

Saying this, Shi Xianrou glanced to the sides, signaling the two to bring their heads closer. She then lowered her voice, “In their warehouse, there indeed is Xinghua Village wine stacked there, the wine jars are still there, but they’re empty inside. I suspect that the guesses of Nannan and the others are correct. The manager diluted our Xinghua Village wine by adding other things, thinking he could stretch it and sell one jar as several. But he never expected that it would cause people to vomit and have diarrhea, which made the incident blow up. Otherwise, he could have kept making money for a while.”

Liu Yusheng and Qian Wanjin exchanged a glance, their faces turning serious.

The wine from their winery is sold in a controlled manner, and they have fixed distributors. They would never sell to others.

And since the distributors work on retail, they wouldn’t be able to wholesale the wine they just acquired.

“Then where did the wine from the East Alley come from?”

This situation likely involved something Liu Yusheng and Qian Wanjin were very reluctant to face: someone pocketing profits and secretly selling Xinghua Village wine.

If the situation was true, handling it would be very difficult.

Firstly, every winery had a record of how much wine was brewed, and each village head kept track of it.

The wine was distributed according to the order quantities, so there shouldn’t be any excess.

Then, where did this batch of wine that appeared on the market come from?

Secondly, after the new winery was established, the two often gathered with the village chiefs to discuss winery matters, and they became very familiar with each other. Each of them was diligent and responsible, with no one trying to cheat or cut corners. 

Liu Yusheng really didn’t want to see any of them punished because of this issue. She didn’t want to believe it was one of them. 

If it turned out to be so, she wouldn’t show any mercy, and then, the sense of village loyalty would be lost.

“Nannan, what do you plan to do?”

“After the government resolves this fake wine incident, we will discuss it when we return,” Liu Yusheng said as she rubbed her forehead. Even she, at this moment, couldn’t come up with a good solution.