Mission in another world with my transformed best friend

After hearing the general contents of the "contract" from Zhang Lan, Wang Kai finally breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that she and Hani were just "technical partners." All the wild guesses and worries about her being a "wealthy wife" could now be completely put aside.

With a relaxed mindset, Wang Kai naturally deduced what happened next and made a concluding speech that seemed to bring the matter to a close.

"So, you didn't bother to tidy up that old rented room and just moved into the 'Hani Chamber of Commerce'?"

"Yeah, anyway, the house was full of all sorts of unused drafts and some cheap props and models. Martha and I just tidied up a bit and then Honey picked us up."

"Next, in order to test Hani's sincerity, I deliberately used the excuse of 'needing a quiet and spacious place for research and development' to ask him to provide a building that could meet my standards, which is now the 'Alchemy Pavilion'..."

"But in the end, I still underestimated the old man's strength. He found hundreds of magicians and builders, and it was completed in less than a week and ready to move in. Even in our world, this speed is unbelievable."

Wang Kai nodded, quickly grasped the key point, and added his explanation.

"Your 'inventions' are incredible to them. After all, many things in this world can be solved with magic. Building such a great building in seven days is certainly incredible to you as well."

"Money makes things easier... By the way, you said you'd get 5% of those 'inventions' in the future. How much do you estimate you'll get?"

……

Zhang Lan raised her head, tapped her chin with her hand, and thought for a moment...

"Just in this past month or so, based solely on the total amount of orders generated by 'charcoal,' 'steelmaking,' and 'oil quenching,' I can't give you an exact figure. I jokingly asked Hani about it the other day, and he said it would be enough to build five or six 'alchemy pavilions' like this in prime locations in the imperial capital..."

When Wang Kai opened his mouth, his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

"A rich woman is asking you to marry me... No, no, no... Wouldn't that mean I'd be 'richer than a country'? You can earn so much money just by using three little gadgets from my old world?"

"Yes, I was also extremely panicked at the time. If the next 'imitation' became popular, it might be the case that a dozen or so 'Alchemy Pavilions' would emerge..."

"You mean there's more to this? And that 'Alchemy Pavilion' thing, it just inexplicably became a unit of currency?"

Under Wang Kai's continued astonished gaze, Zhang Lan beckoned him to the next booth. Inside the crystal dome was a bottle, the purple liquid inside exuding a gentle and noble beauty under the light.

"This is……"

Wang Kai glanced around and seemed to catch a whiff of wine in the air around the booth. "Isn't this the 'Lafite' wine I drank today?"

"Ah...you've had it, how did it feel?"

"It's hard to say, it's just average. If I had to really analyze it, it has a 'raw and pure' flavor compared to those high-end wines..."

Zhang Lan immediately gave Wang Kai a thumbs up and began to explain with a hint of pride on her face.

"Actually, this wine has a rather long history, probably after the discovery of 'oil quenching'."

"Back then, I was constantly trying to improve my technology and racking my brains to find any new inventions that were 'readily available.' When I was thinking for a long time, I would get anxious, and after that, I would inevitably want to drink some alcohol to relieve the anxiety."

"You've drunk alcohol in this world before, right? Most of it is rice wine made from grains like wheat and rice that have been slightly fermented. It tastes similar to a soft drink. Even if you drink a dozen bottles, you won't feel drunk at all, but you'll still have to go to the toilet a dozen times, which is quite troublesome."

"At that moment, I don't know where the inspiration came from, but I thought of a method of making wine from fruit, in addition to using grains..."

Based on his previous experience with the "Lafite II" series, Wang Kai could only think of one fact and weakly pressed for an answer.

"You mean the 'foot-treading' winemaking method used in ancient Greece?"

"Yes, if you had helped us back then, we would have been drinking 'authentic' wine long ago... So, with Martha's help, I could only get some grapes, put them in a big basin and stomp on them haphazardly for a few hours. After crushing them, I put them in a bucket and let them ferment in a cool place for more than ten days. Then, after removing the grape residue, it was ready to drink."

Wang Kai's head was a little dizzy. Although he knew that there used to be a brewing method called "foot stomping", wouldn't the wine made by that method just be... drinking foot sweat?

Suppressing his nausea, Wang Kai thought to himself, even if it were wine made from "Alice's" beautiful feet—would it be made from foot sweat, or even just foot bath water?—he would still…

Go away, what the hell just popped into my head? Author, stop giving me all this random stuff. Even if I, Wang Kai, die outside, even if I jump off a cliff, I will never succumb to the feet of a beautiful girl... It's so tempting.

Once the topic of "alcohol" came up, Zhang Lan became quite talkative, completely unaware that Wang Kai's gaze had shifted from her head down to her feet.

"At first, it tasted sweet and sour with a hint of bitterness, but the fruity flavor and the alcohol content, comparable to red wine, satisfied my craving. One time, Uncle Doolittle and his team were patrolling outside when they smelled this aroma and... well, you probably know what happened next. They each took a large bottle, as a 'secrecy fee and protection fee.' I didn't care; I just randomly stumbled upon it in my spare time, getting some exercise and drinking at the same time—a win-win situation..."

At this point, Zhang Lan seemed to have suddenly realized something, his eyes widened, and he slapped his forehead in surprise.

"I knew it... why the first thing Hani asked me after that investigator 'committed suicide' was where that 'purple wine' came from. Holy crap, 'officials and businessmen are inseparable' is true here too. Turns out it was that Duli guy who 'tipped me off'. I'll definitely cross him off the 'special supply' list next time, and the same goes for 'Lafite II'... humph."

Zhang Lan seemed to be throwing a tantrum, her cheeks puffing out like a disgruntled girl who knew she'd been teased. Luckily, Wang Kai was only staring at her feet, otherwise he would have been stunned for a while seeing that expression.

"Hey, are you listening? Why don't you just casually throw in a brilliant critique like before..."

"Oh, nice feet... no, I'm listening, where were you?"

Zhang Lan also adjusted her mood, took small steps, slowly circled the booth, stretched out a finger and drew a circle in the air, and soon thought of something, and continued to speak.

"Well, after signing the 'contract' with Hani, I was worried about what to do with my next 'invention,' and I didn't expect this wine to be the most popular. Because there weren't enough samples, I just tried it a few times haphazardly. Before signing the 'contract,' I accidentally let slip the brewing method of this 'purple wine' while drinking with Uncle Duli. In the following short period of time, a large number of 'imitation wines' appeared, which seriously affected the production of my 'Lafite Generation 1'..."

"What's so strange about that? It's just 'knockoff culture,' right? You've just 'activated' it hundreds of years ahead of time. Maybe your name will even appear at the top of the 'foundation monument of knockoff culture' in this world..."