Shadow Empire

Chapter 794 Wang Fu
"What kind of wine is this?" Clara took a sip and thought it tasted good and had a strong flavor.

After drinking someone else's wine, she must return the favor, so she really wanted to find out how much the bottle of wine was worth.

Clara didn't know how to taste wine, so she wasn't sure how much these wines were worth, because she felt that they tasted almost the same as the wines that Bolton brought home, or even seemed better in some ways?
In fact, this is a typical case of cognitive misunderstanding. As a cadre of the Lance family, Bolton must have taken back the best wine.

But at this stage, the difference between the good wine and the bad wine under the name of Lans is actually not that big!

At present, the aging period of Golden Lion is only about one and a half years, and Lance suggested the use of some additives.

For example, flavoring agents, thickeners, etc., improve the taste to a certain extent, but the essential difference is still not that big.

The price difference of wine is not mainly due to the core ingredients.

Wine is made from grain. How much is grain worth?

Just a few hundred dollars per ton.

Its high price lies in the production process. In this era when information transmission is not well developed and even making bread requires learning from a master, the production process of each brand of high-end wine is the core value of high-end wine!
Clara, who often drinks high-end wines but is not familiar with them, subconsciously has a feeling that this bottle of plain-looking wine should be good.

Her cousin did not hide it, "I don't know either. Someone is selling it on the roadside. I tried a little and it tasted good. It doesn't seem like low-quality wine."

"You don't know, Clara, there are a lot of thieves and robbers in the city. Maybe they stole this wine from somewhere."

"Otherwise, they could have sold it for more at the bar, so why did they only sell it to me for forty-five dollars?"

This price was indeed abnormal, and he poured himself a little more. Following Clara's idea, he suddenly felt that he had gotten a great bargain.

Maybe, these wines were stolen from some rich man’s wine cellar by the wine dealer and sold secretly.

Since even his knowledgeable cousin said it tasted good, it must not be bad wine and he had to drink more.

Watching her little cousin take one sip after another, Clara smiled and took another sip, "If you like drinking, I'll have someone send some over to you."

When the young man heard this, he immediately showed a surprised expression. Everyone knew that this cousin married a rich man, but no one knew how rich he was.

Their relatives who lived in Indenno didn't know Burton, nor did they know that Burton was Lans's man. They only knew that the old man was very rich.

The wine that a rich person gives as a gift is definitely not the kind that costs forty or fifty yuan. It will at least cost two or three hundred yuan, or even the top-level whiskey that costs more than five hundred yuan.

The Federals' directness is here.

If it were another civilization, young people might push it away first to express an implicit emotion.

But this is the Federation, no one is so reserved, the young man immediately smiled and said "thank you", "I will like whatever you give me."

This sentence made Clara laugh. Isn't this the life she pursues?

Everyone becomes friendly and knows how to talk. What's wrong with worshipping money?

The dinner was very enjoyable, and everyone was a little intoxicated by the addition of whiskey.

The young man had always been somewhat envious of Clara, who had built her own career at such a young age. He asked a lot of questions about life in Jingang City.

When he heard that Clara's daily life was shopping, enjoying herself, partying with other hostesses in the community, or swimming and sunbathing when she had nothing to do, the young man and his family were extremely envious!

This is the most perfect form of life!
After dinner, they cleaned up the guest room and asked Clara to stay there for the night. Clara did not refuse. At the same time, she called Burton in front of everyone.

"My dear, I have arrived in New Bern and now live with... my uncle..."

"They entertained me warmly, and my uncle and cousin both like to drink, so I wanted to give them some wine."

"Okay, thank you, honey, I love you!"

Soon she hung up the phone, then said with a smile, "My husband has asked someone to send some wine over."

The young man was immediately overjoyed, "Cousin, you are so nice!"

This made Clara couldn't help laughing out loud. "Okay, okay, I have to rest. Good night, uncle, aunt, and little cousin..."

Bolton did not pay much attention to his young wife's request. As a senior official of the Lance family, he bought wine from the family warehouse at cost price.

Lance didn't think about making money from his own people. The cost of Golden Lion-grade whiskey is only a few dozen dollars, and the main cost is the time cost of aging.

Compared with his current income, this little bit of money was nothing to him.

However, he would not give away all Golden Lion Whiskey. He asked someone to send one box of Golden Lion Whiskey and two boxes of Silver Lion Whiskey, with the total cost being around one thousand yuan.

It may not seem like much, but for Jingang City at that time when the average income per capita was 47 or 48 yuan, it was already a very heavy gift, roughly equal to an ordinary person's income for two years without eating or drinking.

And this is the cost price. If it is the retail price, it will be around five to six thousand yuan. In bars and restaurants, it will be sold for more than seven thousand yuan!

He was still very satisfied with Clara, his young wife.

After all, besides wealth and power, a man's face also depends on the female companions who are an important part of his appearance.

Although Clara did not have a prominent background, she was from a middle-class family and was much younger than herself.

Whenever someone asked, "Is this your daughter?" he would smile and respond in a boastful tone, "This is my wife."

He liked the surprised looks from people, and it became a pleasure for him.

Moreover, Clara is a woman who is easily satisfied. She doesn't think about what kind of trouble she will have. As long as her demand for the high-quality "modern life" is met, she will be very obedient.

Every day he spends taking care of his children and enjoying life. Nothing is easier for Burton than this.

He quickly put the matter behind him and had people investigating where the missing wine had gone.

Although Lance didn't say it, Bolton knew that he still cared about the results of the investigation.

If those people can tamper with their wine once, they may do it a second time and a third time.

They will become more and more daring and will encourage more people to join their actions.

As long as one evil act is not punished, there will soon be more people doing evil more times!
He hoped to find out who stole Lance's wine when he returned from the Holy Farmer's Day!

However, this matter is not so easy to investigate clearly, because the Lance family's control in other states is far less than here. To expand some channels and interpersonal relationships, it requires not only money but also time.

There had been no good news for several days, and Bolton was so anxious that his hair was falling out. The people he sent to deliver wine had already arrived in New Bermingham.

The person who came to deliver the wine this time was one of Bolton's confidants who had a good relationship with him. After all, this was related to Clara's family situation and his wife.

If he were to switch to an ordinary one with a less reliable relationship, he would be somewhat uneasy.

There was no such thing as feelings at the beginning, but as we went to bed more often and spent more time whispering in each other's ears after venting our feelings, we gradually developed feelings.

When there is someone who can lean against your body to give you warmth at night and accompany you to sleep, feelings will sprout and heat up.

It may not necessarily be love, it could also be family affection, or something else.

So he arranged his confidants instead of anyone else.

Soon, his trusted subordinates came over according to the address provided by Clara. During these days, Clara also participated in the St. Farmer's Day parade in New Bermingham, and had a great time for a few days.

She planned to go back to see her grandfather after the Holy Farmer's Festival was over. She needed to adjust her mood.

Bolton's men deliberately chose an afternoon. He had heard that Bolton's wife often slept until noon, and the younger the woman, the more difficult she was to deal with. He didn't want Clara to report him for disturbing her sleep.

At around three o'clock in the afternoon, he brought people to the outside of the house and knocked on the door.

They were greeted by Clara's little cousin. They had just returned from dining out. Clara was still commenting on the difference between the chefs here and those in Jingang City when they arrived.

"Who are you?" The young man didn't know these people and stood behind the door with some caution.

The crime rate in New Bern cannot be said to be high, but it is definitely not low.

This is indeed a middle-class community, but that doesn't mean that no one can get in.

And the guys at the door didn't look like ordinary people, they looked like gang members. The guy standing in the front looked at the face in the crack of the door and said, "Mr. Bolton asked us to bring some wine."

"Who is Mr. Bolton?" The young man didn't know what his cousin's husband's name was.

Clara in the living room heard this key word and immediately stood up and walked over. When she saw the familiar face outside the door, she immediately asked the young man to pull the safety pin.

"I'm sorry to make you run so far..." She would still say nice words.

A few people smiled and brought in the wine.

"There are three boxes of wine in total, one box of Gold Lion (six bottles), and two boxes of Silver Lion (twelve bottles). If it's not enough, we can get some more, but the Gold Lion may take a little longer."

"The market price of these wines is about five to six thousand yuan." He was talking about the market price, not the cost price.

The Lance family has already started delivering alcohol here, but they are only delivering low-end bronze lions and a small amount of silver lions.

Without fully opening up the market and gaining a firm foothold, Golden Lion had no sales at all.

It was also because Bolton asked them to send a box of Golden Lion over, so they came directly from Jingang City instead of getting some wine locally and having someone send it over.

Uncle Clara's family widened their eyes when they heard the price, which made Clara smile comfortably.

Just as these people were about to leave, Clara suddenly thought of something and said, "Wait a moment."

She went to the kitchen and brought the little bit of wine left along with the bottle. "What kind of wine is this?"

"I drank it when I got here. It didn't have a label. I thought it was delicious, but my brother said it was not expensive."

"Look, what kind of wine is this and how much does it cost per bottle?"

Since there wasn't much left that day, it would have been a bit inappropriate to continue drinking this, as they had been drinking wine recently and also had a bottle of brandy.

To be honest, I feel a little sad.

But at this moment, all the heartache disappeared. Compared with these wines, what they lost was nothing!
The people under Bolton are all from the Lance family. As one of the family's biggest sources of income, they have very thorough research on alcohol.

The confidant standing in the first place didn't take the bottle too seriously after receiving it, but when he looked down at the bottle, he gradually felt something was wrong.

He looked at the raised area on the neck of the bottle. Although the small wine label and gold stamping were gone, the bumps on the glass bottle were still there.

He took the bottle outside and examined it carefully in the sunlight, with more and more surprise in his eyes.

"I don't know about this bottle of wine, but I will find out. Did you buy it?" He looked at the young man.

Now they all knew that these men were Clara’s husband’s men, so the young man did not deny it, “Yes, I bought it in an alley.”

“Someone sold it to me during the San Nong Festival a few days ago.”

The trusted subordinate asked again, "Can you still find him?"

The young man seemed to realize something. He nodded quickly and said, "He called me."

He quickly ran back, took the business card and handed it to this trusted subordinate.

He glanced at the number, wrote it down with a pen, and then returned the card to the young man. "Don't leave during this time. We may need your help when the time comes."

Clara was a little confused, "What's wrong with this bottle of wine?"

The trusted subordinate smiled and said, "It solves a big problem for Mr. Bolton."

But he was unwilling to say more, "Don't tell anyone about this, and don't run around recently. We will contact you if there is any further news."

After that, they said goodbye to Clara and drove away.

Ten minutes later, they used some simple means to print out the uneven pattern on the neck of the glass bottle, a blurry lion head!
The trusted henchman waved his fist fiercely, cursed "Fuck", and then excitedly called Bolton.

"Has the wine been delivered?" Upon hearing his subordinate's voice, Bolton's first reaction was that the wine had already been delivered.

He then said, "Come back when you've delivered it!"

"I have a lot of things to do here."

But his confidant said in a slightly trembling voice, "Mr. Bolton, I may know where the wine we lost is!"

Twenty minutes later, Lance received a call from Bolton.

"…So the wine we lost is in New Bermingham?"

Lance sat back in the chair, basking in the sun. "Let's investigate first. Don't alarm those people. Wait until I come back from the farm."

"If we really lost the wine, your wife has done a great deed."

"You can ask her what reward she wants then."

There was joy in Bolton's voice in the receiver. "This is what she should do. After all, she is also a member of the family."

In fact, he basically didn't change much, and Lance could sense that he really wanted to know what the reward was and wanted it very much, but he just pushed it away very subtly.

This is not quite like the people of the Federation, but it can also be said that his first half of life smoothed out his edges, making him reserved and not good at expressing his strong emotions.

Lance chuckled, "If we don't reward someone who does something to help the family, then the next time someone finds out they can help us, they'll hesitate."

"It's like punishment, it's the same thing."

"Not rewarding meritorious deeds and not punishing mistakes are both stupid behaviors. Do you think I am a stupid person?"

Without waiting for Bolton to answer, "Let's do this for now. Figure it out as soon as possible and don't let me down."

After Lance hung up the phone, old man Hubert, who was sitting in another chair, looked at him and asked, "Do you need our help?"

The family is unprecedentedly powerful, and all the surrounding farms are providing them with food. It can be said that Lawrence Farm is still expanding.

They have already started talking about acquisitions, and the family has the money to hire more cowboys.

Hubert told Lance that they now had at least seven or eight hundred cowboys.

These cowboys usually do farm work, herding, and patrolling farm territory, but when needed, they pick up guns and become gunmen.

The strength of the family made old man Hubert want to flex his muscles, but Lance did not agree.

"It's just a small thing. I'll call you when I need you."

Hubert, who was still thinking about leading the cowboys to attack, seemed a little depressed, "Actually, I can still pull the trigger."

Lance smiled and said nothing.

Life on the farm is so leisurely. Apart from the ever-expanding winery and the steam rising from it, the slow-paced life full of rural charm can really calm people down.

Sitting in the sun, leaning on a lounge chair, with some tobacco and wine at hand, such a day is so comfortable.

On the last day of the Feast of the Holy Farmer, the Lawrence family held a grand bonfire dinner at the farm. So many people came that it was incredible.

At least two or three thousand people attended the bonfire dinner, possibly more.

Moreover, old man Schubert said that many people have not come yet, and those who have come are just those who live nearby and come for the convenience of passage.

For example, some farmers and cowboys who lived more than ten kilometers or even twenty or thirty kilometers away did not come.

But the farm also gave them rewards, some cash, some wine, some meat and food.

The bonfire illuminated everyone's faces and their hearts.

A good life is like those blazing bonfires, getting better and better!

(End of this chapter)