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Chapter 374: Wine Tasting Conference
The magnificent living room had a extremely luxurious decoration style. The wooden floor was covered with beige carpet, and the variety of home appliances were all high-end foreign brands. Even the sofa in the living room was made of expensive leather. The most exaggerated was the 60” LCD TV that could be used to watch movies directly at home.
Too extravagant.
Han Qingwu took off her shoes and looked elsewhere. She couldn’t help exclaiming with a resentful as well as shocked expression.
She roughly estimated that this flat was, at least, 250 square meters wide. There were five rooms and three living rooms; a kitchen and two bathrooms. Even the balcony was more than ten square meters.
She knew the housing prices in Shanghai. In this metropolis where an inch of land was worth a bar of gold, such a building was definitely priced at more than 10 million.
After looking around, Han Qingwu forced a smile and took out her mobile to dial Tang Xiu’s cell number. After a while, her call was connected.
"Tang Xiu, are you kidding me? Your friend's house is too..."
"You’re not satisfied with it?" Tang Xiu’s voice came out of the mobile.
“I’m satisfied, but it’s way too much.” Han Qingwu forced a smile and said, “This house is simply a mansion. The house should be around 250 square meters or more. And the decoration… is too luxurious. Tell me, will your friend really agree to rent this place for a few thousand yuan a month?”
“It’s good if it meets your satisfaction!” Tang Xiu said, “Like I said, the person himself doesn’t want to leave the house empty. He doesn’t care how much rent you can pay either. If you don’t want to stay there, then just forget it.”
“I’ll stay. Who says I won’t take it?” Han Qingwu quickly called out, “Why would I not take it if the chance is given to me? So be it then. I’ll be waiting for you to come back, and then I’ll give you six months of rent.”
“All right!” Tang Xiu replied and directly ended the call.
While holding her mobile phone, Han Qingwu couldn’t help rolling her eyes as she heard the beeping blind sounds from the mobile. However, she let out a smile as she looked at the luxurious and beautiful house.
The next day, radiant and enchanting sunlight shined on the whole world.
Shanghai World Trade Exhibition Center.
Hundreds of brands of wine from across the country were placed on the counters. On the corridor outside the counters, liquor wholesalers, who came from all over the country, strolled around, looking at the variety of wines on the counter.
In counter #246.
While sitting quietly in a chair, Kang Xia watched the streams of people coming and going. The Gods Nectar produced by Magnificent Tang Corp winery had no fame and was unknown. Thus, many people looked at it, yet no one showed any intention to order. Numerous people even jeered because of the price displayed on the sign.
“How come I have never heard about this Magnificent Tang Corp? They only offer one type of wine, yet the price is 18,888 yuan. Is this a joke or something? I really don’t know whether the boss of this company is stupid or not, but to think that it’s being sold with such a sky-high price without any fame at all is unexpected.”
“There are indeed many expensive domestic wines, but what’s exactly is this Gods Nectar? They don’t fear being laughed at, eh! The owner of this liquor is just a money grubber.”
"18,888 per bottle? Isn’t this like a scam? Is it possible that this drink is a Gods Nectar?”
“Really now. All kinds of birds can be found in a big forest. This company is surely scamming. To think that they deliberately out such a high price.”
“Let’s go!”
"..."
Kang Xia listened to the voices of the passing people with a calm expression. So did Su Quan as he kept his smiling face, not the slightest bit concerned with their opinions.
“Oh? Grandpa, this wine is rather interesting! I’ve never heard of its name, but the price is unexpectedly 18,888 yuan. Is this wine better than the best Wuliangye?” A clear voice belonged to a girl sounded.
Two people, one old and one young, came before the counter. After the old man observed the four bottles of Gods Nectar on the counter, he looked quite astonished. After he hesitated for a moment, he looked at Su Quan and curiously asked, “Little Brother, from where does this wine originates? Also, the other counters give a chance to taste the wine, how come you don’t?”
“Uncle, our wine is from Star City, Shuangqing Province.” Su Quan replied with a smile, “As for why we don’t allow anyone to taste it, it’s because we’re afraid that people who can’t judge the quality would spoil this good wine. Besides, we don’t need favors from those wine wholesalers. The second reason why we’re participating in this conference is that we want to introduce this Gods Nectar to the market.”
“Courage and self-confidence, you have both.” The old raised his thumb and exclaimed in praise, “Such being said, I’ll look forward to taste your wine. Since you don’t allow it, how about I buy a bottle? To be frank, few things can make this old man curious these years, but this wine piqued my curiosity.”
Su Quan turned his head to Kang Xia.
The latter stood up and sized up the old man. She then smiled and said, “Uncle, we only brought these four bottles of wine. We prepared two bottles for the Wine Tasting Conference, but we can use the remaining two at will. Since you want to taste it, we’ll give you a bottle for free! If you think the wine is good, I hope the elderly would help in publicizing it.”
The old man stared blankly for a moment, as he then nodded and smiled, “It’s very good of you to say so!”
Having said it, he took a bottle of Gods Nectar, and then said to his granddaughter, “Little Ying, take out my wine glass.”
"Okay!"
The 17 or 18 years old girl carefully took out a four-angle crystal cup from the bag and handed it over to the old man.
The old man opened the bottle, poured the liquor into the four-angle crystal cup until it was half full. He immediately looked astonished as his eyes stared wide.
“This mellow fragrance is intoxicating. Though this old man have yet to taste it, this wine commands me to do so.”
He took a deep breath and then gently sipped a mouthful. A few seconds later, his expression turned stunned, followed by redness coloring his old face with an intense shocked expression at the same time. While Kang Xia and Su Quan smiled, the old man slowly closed his eyes.
“Hey, Grandpa, don’t keep me guessing. How’s the wine?”
The girl pulled the old man’s sleeves, a dissatisfied expression hanging on her small, delicate face.
The old man opened his eyes instantly and couldn’t bear to exclaim in praise, “Good wine, great wine! This old man drank many good wines in his life, yet there’s only one wine that can be compared to this one.”
“Uncle, are you not kidding me?” Su Quan grinned ear to ear and said, “I have drunk a lot of wines, but not even one of them tasted better than this one.”
“More than 40 years ago I went to Shennongjia and found a group of monkeys there. Have you heard about Monkey Wine? It’s a pity that I was only lucky enough to drink a few mouthfuls of it since those monkeys attacked me, so I had to flee to the wilderness. The taste of that Monkey Wine is something I can never forget. Thus, I didn’t expect to there really exist such a great wine besides Monkey Wine in this world.”
Su Quan suddenly understood and then said with a smile, “I heard about Monkey Wine, but I have never drank it. Uncle, since you liked our Gods Nectar, you must help us publicize it.”
“Worry not, young man!” The old man laughed and said, “This old man will keep his word. Anyhow, can I order a few bottles in advance? The price will be according to your tag.”
“Thank you for the patronage, Uncle.” Kang Xia lightly smiled and said, “However, we can’t do a private sell. If you like it, you can buy them in our store. We’ll deliver it to our exclusive stores in various cities after the conference.”
“Your company opened your own exclusive stores?” The old man asked in astonishment.
“That’s right.” Kang Xia replied with a smile.
“Impressive!” The old man raised his thumb and exclaimed in praise, “Nowadays, breweries send their produced wines to the wholesalers. Thus, the latter monopolize it in every part of the country. But you actually invested to hold the monopoly and sell it directly to the customers. It’s great!”
“Well, it was Boss’ request.” Kang Xia smiled and said, “We can only follow his instructions.”
“And your Boss is?” The old man nodded.
“I’m sorry, Uncle. Our Boss seldom intervenes in company issues.” Kang Xia said, “He’s also the type of person who doesn’t like to show his face in public. Hence, we can’t announce his information to the public as well. Perhaps, the elderly would have a chance to know him in the future.”
The old man couldn’t help laughing, “From the looks of it, your boss must be a great person. Anyways, how about we discuss something else? I like this wine very much. Since we met here, can you sell it to me in advance? I don’t need too many of it, though. It will be fine if you sell me ten boxes. I’ll buy the wine later in your shop after I have finished it.”
“This…” Kang Xia hesitated.
The old man took a business card from his pocket and handed it to Kang Xia, “Little girl, this is my business card.”
After receiving it, Kang Xiu’s eyes swept over the card as her expression immediately changed.
“You’re the owner of the Weide Group, elderly Du Kun?”
“I never thought you would actually recognize me.” Du Kun said with a smile, ”It seems that I am the same as your Magnificent Tang Corp’s Boss who hardly appears on stage, don’t you think?”
Kang Xia then took out a business card and handed it to Du Kun, saying, “Elderly Du, we actually met before.”
Du Kun stared blankly. As he took Kang Xia’s business card, his brows furrowed. He thought for a long time, and then said in puzzlement, “Kang Xia? This name I know as being the world’s most famous gold manager. Don’t tell me you’re…”
“There being no mistakes, that should be me.” Kang Xia said with a smile, “I dare not accept being called the world’s most famous gold manager, however.”
Du Kun’s expression changed. He looked deeply at Kang Xia and curiously said, “I still remember inviting you to be the CEO of our Weide Group, yet you refused.”
“Well, I had just resigned from my previous company.” Kang Xia said with a smile, “It’s been so many years, so I just wanted to have a good rest.”
After finally recognizing Kang Xia’s identity, respect appeared on Du Kun’s face. He then nodded and sighed, “I never thought that the Magnificent Tang Corp’s Boss would actually be able to get you. His luck is truly good!”
“Elderly Du, since you want to buy our wine, then I’ll take the responsibility to sell ten boxes to you.” Kang Xia laughed, “Only, we didn’t bring more aside from these four bottles, so I’m afraid you need to send someone to Star City.”
Du Kun said with a smile, “No problem.”