Wine-scented Beauty

Chapter Thirty-Three: Important Matters

"Fake wine?" Ji Meiqing sobered up immediately and said seriously, "Impossible, we made it ourselves, it's impossible to fake it."

"Still trying to argue? Try it yourself." He tossed a wine flask over, and Ji Meiqing took a sip; the wine had already changed in taste.

She frowned. "Is that true for everything? There were no problems when you tested it."

"Hmph, you're pretending to be innocent after passing off inferior goods as superior ones. If our boss hadn't tasted them one by one, we might not have known you were adulterating them."

Ji Meiqing's face twisted even more, and ignoring their disdainful looks, she said, "Take me to see."

"Let's go!" Several people pulled her away from there. Ji Meiqing followed them to Hu Mama's place. As soon as she entered, Hu Mama glared at her coldly.

Before she could speak, Ji Meiqing said, "I want to taste all the wines."

"Okay, take her to the wine cellar." Mrs. Hu said coldly, and had someone lead her there. The wine cellar was unusually cold. In order to preserve the wine here and prevent it from spoiling, Mrs. Hu had specially asked someone to buy ice to keep it warm. So as soon as they entered, the people around her all shivered.

"Where?" she asked, looking around. The people around her dragged her to a small, cramped space and pushed her inside. The room was filled with wine. Ji Meiqing took a wine spoon and tasted each bottle, then separated out the problematic ones. Finally, seeing the few good wines left and the piles of defective products, she decided to take the problematic wines back and figure out how to remake them.

But dealing with such a large amount of wine was a bit of a hassle. Ji Meiqing wrote down the list and then followed them back to find Aunt Hu.

“I’ve already seen the problematic wines,” she said as soon as she sat down, meeting her cold gaze. “So, I’ll write down a list, and you send someone to deliver it to Lu Yu at the Lu family. He will give you the wines listed in full. If there are still problems, we’ll let him handle it.”

"Alright, I'll do as you say!" She looked outside and had someone bring her pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. Ji Meiqing wrote down the number she remembered in her mind, just in case they thought she was playing tricks. When she put it back in the envelope, she made a point of showing it to Hu Mama.

Both sides nodded before she handed over the letter.

"Do you believe me now?" Ji Meiqing looked at her helplessly, but in her heart she was thinking about the abnormality of the drinks. Once the drinks were returned, it would mean a loss, and a considerable one at that.

A huge sum of money just went down the drain like that. Who wouldn't be angry? If it were Ji Meiqing, she would want to find the person and strangle them.

Madam Hu gently fanned herself with her jade fan, looking at her with a flirtatious air. Although she was old and faded, her charm was still undeniable. Her face was painted with a seductive expression, making one's heart itch with desire.

Whether I believe it or not depends on whether the girl tries any tricks.

"Do you think I would ruin my own business?" Ji Meiqing retorted. "I'm not a brainless person who would only care about immediate gains and give up greater benefits."

"Are you suggesting that someone did this on purpose?" Mrs. Hu looked at her with a half-smile, and then said, "But this wine arrived here from the Lu family without any problems. How could the person guarding the wine cellar get in without a key?"

“The incident occurred in the Lu family, and the Lu family is willing to take responsibility. However, since the Lu family did not cause this, my brother Lu and I need to find the culprit.”

"In the end, this all happened in your Lu family. If it had happened here, I would take responsibility myself, but since it happened in your family, then it's your fault."

“Yes. You’re right.” Ji Meiqing said. “So I will bring the person out to apologize. As for the wine, we will make up for it.”

"I hope so." She snorted coldly and left. The door closed and was locked. Ji Meiqing sat at the table, her expression somewhat grave.

Upon hearing about her situation, Lu Yu immediately ordered the wine stored in the cellar to be brought out, and then followed them to the brothel.

The wine was delivered, and Mrs. Hu personally tasted all of it, finally becoming satisfied. She looked at Lu Yu and said gently, "Why don't you rest here tonight? I'll find you two beauties to keep you company."

"No need," he refused coldly. At the same time, he asked anxiously, "Where is Ji Meiqing? Where is she?"

"Zheng'er, take Young Master Lu to find Miss Ji." Madam Hu gently made a move, and a girl standing behind her moved and squeezed out from the crowd.

She wore a bright green dress with a gauze skirt over it, and her face was made up with fresh and elegant makeup, which was quite pleasing to the eye.

The girl named Zheng'er walked up to Lu Yu and said softly, "Young Master Lu, please come with me."

The two walked towards the backyard one after the other. Zheng'er didn't say anything, and Lu Yu didn't say a word either.

Upon seeing Ji Meiqing, Lu Yu finally spoke, "What happened?"

“Someone put salt in the wine,” she replied, then asked, “Is Xiao Cui still there?”

Lu Yu shook his head. "She went home."

"It really was her." Ji Meiqing said in a low voice, her eyes immediately turning cold. Seeing that something seemed off about her, Lu Yu asked, "What's wrong? Do you suspect that this is related to Xiao Cui?"

"It can't be ruled out." She neither denied nor admitted it, but Lu Yu disagreed.

Xiao Cui had lived in the Lu family for several years, and he knew her well; she wouldn't do such a thing.

Ji Meiqing glanced at him, understanding that he wouldn't believe her, but she didn't say anything more. The two left one after the other; the wine cellar's reserve of wine was empty, so they would probably have to work twice as hard.

It would be difficult for Widow Li, Li Ming, and the other two to make that much wine on their own, so it would be easy to avoid hiring more people.

Seeing that she was lost in thought, Lu Yu didn't disturb her and sat blankly to the side, thinking about the problematic wines. These problematic wines were currently in their car; such a large quantity would be a huge waste to throw away, so Ji Meiqing had to find time to dispose of them.

Once home, Ji Meiqing ignored Lu Yu. The two of them laboriously carried all the wine back to the cellar, and without resting, Ji Meiqing grabbed a lantern and went out.

It was pitch black at night, and she carried a lantern to Widow Li's house. The door was closed, but a dim light shone from inside. Ji Meiqing went in and knocked.

After a while, the door finally opened, and Li Ming looked at her in surprise, "Why is Madam Ji coming so late? Is there something wrong?"

"If you have something to say, come inside." She extinguished the lantern and forced her way inside. Upon hearing her voice, Widow Li immediately brought over two cups of tea.

"Coming here so late, Madam Ji, is there something important you need me to tell you?"