Chapter 157 The World Champion’s Ex-Girlfriend (8)
The Life Manor is divided into two buildings.
The building she lives in now is the main building with three floors. It was the residence of the old man when he was there. There was usually no one else except the old housekeeper and the cook, but it was still kept very clean.
There is also a two-story long living building next to it, which is used for technicians, winemakers and workers.
Separated from the Life Manor by a wide road covered with roses, there is an ancient winery and professional wine cellar.
In front of the brewery, some workers were moving in and out of large wooden barrels, and some were loading and unloading.
If the Life Manor and the winery are like the center of a circle, then the five hundred acres of vineyards surrounding them are the face of the circle.
Xu Yin stood in front of the manor door, putting her hand on her forehead and looking far away.
The old housekeeper finished sweeping the garden with a broom, went to make a pot of black tea, and asked the cook to prepare some snacks that Xu Yin might like and send them over together.
I have been learning French from Grandpa Xu since I was a child. Spoken communication is much smoother than English, but Xu Yin is still more proficient in English. I only learned French for a while when I was in the small world with Song Mingjin when he went abroad.
Fortunately, the old housekeeper can speak both languages and can switch easily.
The two of them had a very good chat.
He said that the longest age of these trees in the vineyard is more than forty years, and the shortest age is about fifteen years.
Generally speaking, when vines are more than fifty years old, their yields will become very low. Before Grandpa Xu passed away, he came here to inspect and then exchanged a batch. Even the newest vines are now more than ten years old.
Xu Yin remembered that there were many carefully selected old vines in the system warehouse, and decided to take them out someday and replace the old trees that were about to turn fifty years old.
The grapes here only mature in September or October. At this moment, they are still bunches of small green fruits, crowded together under the wide grape leaves.
She did not walk over to disturb the workers, but took a walk nearby and went back upstairs to review her professional classes.
She spent these few days of jet lag reviewing, walking, and chatting with her old housekeeper.
She showed Zhang Peng’s photo to the housekeeper and asked him if this man had ever been to the winery.
The housekeeper took one look and nodded, indicating that he had been there.
He still had the impression that he was here to buy wine, but after looking around, he didn’t buy any wine because it was too expensive. But the free tasting was one cup after another, and I drank a lot.
The housekeeper was still a little angry when he mentioned this, and said that there was a Chinese and two foreigners who came with Zhang Peng. Both parties spoke neither English nor French, and he could not understand what they were talking about.
Xu Yin nodded thoughtfully, and then asked the housekeeper to monitor Zhang Peng.
On the surveillance camera, Zhang Peng and the three others seemed to be very cautious. They either turned their backs to the surveillance camera so that no one could see the shape of his mouth, or they chose to talk in a place where workers were laughing and working and the background sound was very noisy.
To convince Xu's father that Zhang Peng has evil intentions, just such a period of surveillance is not enough.
Before Xu Yin could figure out a countermeasure, Lisa Wen came to play with her.
"Yinyin, I convinced my grandfather and he agreed for us to visit the vineyard where he works." Lisa told her with a face of excitement, "Let's go now. We will have dinner at my house tonight. Grandma can cook Chinese cuisine. It tastes pretty good.”
I saw the iconic building - Chateau Lafite before I even got out of the car. "Let's go! I'll take you to see my grandfather."
Xu Yin followed her to the place where Lisa’s grandfather worked.
The other party greeted her warmly, opened a bottle of wine and invited her to taste it.
Xu Yin also brought a few bottles of home-produced wine, but she was a little embarrassed, as if she was doing something special. But the other party didn't mind at all and accepted it with a hearty smile.
Lisa held her grandfather's arm and said coquettishly: "Don't just accept it without drinking it. This is brewed by Yin Yin's own winery, not just bought from outside."
“Oh? Isn’t she from China? There is a winery here?” Old Ivan said in surprise.
“Of course! When her great-grandfather opened the winery, you didn’t even come to work here.”
Old Ivan was obviously very interested when he heard this, so he asked which winery it was. When Xu Yin reported the name of his own winery, he raised his eyebrows, as if he had thought of something.
However, since it was his working time at the moment, he didn’t say much. Instead, he asked his granddaughter to entertain her new friends. They could visit any place that didn’t have a “No visitors allowed” sign.
Xu Yin was dragged along by her new friend to have fun.
Rothschild Winery covers an area of more than 1,500 acres, which is three times the size of Xu Yinjia Winery.
In the vast vineyard, three generations of old, middle and young grapevines are planted in separate areas. The grapevines in the old area are over fifty years old, and the entire batch is replaced by young trees that are three to five years old. This is worth learning, Xu Yin secretly kept it in mind.
“Yinyin, look at that, that’s my favorite place to stay every time I come here.” Lisa pointed to a river not far away, which was five or six meters wide, winding through the middle of the vineyard. There is a small patch of greenery on both sides of the river, and where the greenery meets the vineyards is a row of small fountains, spraying water. The overflowing water sprinkles on the ground and flows along the concave tube into the vineyard, nourishing the surrounding soil.
Xu Yin also kept this in mind.
Her family’s winery still uses the old-fashioned method of watering through rivers and water pipes, but she seems to have a set of fully automatic watering equipment stored in the system warehouse. It is very convenient to use it without a fountain.
The two of them lay on the grass under the shade of trees and chatted until the sun went down and the winery workers got off work. Then they went to her maternal grandfather’s house hand in hand.
Old Ivan is the oldest winemaker in the winery, and the owner allocated a two-story building to him. He and Lisa's grandmother lived here for a long time.
Lisa's maternal grandmother, Mrs. Ivan, was indeed good at Chinese cuisine. She not only roasted crispy duck, but also made dumplings and steamed fish. She kept asking Xu Yin to eat, and even used chopsticks to put it into her bowl.
After a pleasant meal, Lisa made a pot of tea, took some pieces of apple pie baked by her grandmother, and took Xu Yin to her grandfather's study.
“Grandpa wants to talk to you. Let’s chat while eating.”
Xu Yin helped her carry the teapot: "Are you not full yet?"
“Hey, my stomach is full from the food, but not from the snacks.”
Xu Yin smiled helplessly and shook her head.
"Go and help grandpa bring up the pipe on the coffee table downstairs." Old Ivan put his granddaughter away and turned to look at Xu Yin, "Don't be nervous, little girl. I just have something to tell you. Lisa is not stable enough. , I’m afraid she’ll be shocked if she finds out.”
Xu Yin sat up straight and leaned forward slightly: "You say it, I'll listen."
"About three months ago, two Chinese people came to our winery to observe and learn. As you know, my son-in-law is Chinese and has been coming and going over the years. Although I can't speak well, I can generally understand. They seem to have some premeditated plans for your winery, so you should be careful."
(End of this chapter)