Banquet Flower Car

Browning, a minor finance official in Ryan City, has been so worried recently that his hair has been falling out in handfuls.

Baron Jasper was a fanatical believer in an evil god. Although he had interacted with Baron Jasper a few times due to work, he had no idea about this!

The task of selling Baron Jasper's assets fell on him. Although Browning had a headache, he still tried his best to sell these farmlands and manors at a good price, hoping to please his superiors who had been displeased with him for the past few days.

The other assets were easy to deal with, but no one showed interest in the castle where Baron Jasper lived and the vineyard where he died. Honestly, Browning didn't think the castle would sell from the start. He had taken a look at it, and even from the sealed basement door, he could feel the gloom inside and the smell of blood hit him hard. No noble would buy such a castle.

As for that vineyard, the price kept dropping, and Browning's attitude went from hopeful to just wanting to sell it off to get it off his plate.

Today, when he heard that someone was interested in the vineyard and wanted to come for a field inspection, Browning perked up immediately: "Who is it?"

The servant replied, "A lady named Ina."

Browning sifted through the few notable nobles in Neranka and Ryan City but didn't remember anyone by that name, so he asked again, "What's her last name?"

"The lady didn't specify. She just asked if the vineyard could be visited in the next few days. Lady Ina is very busy and cannot stay in Neranka for too long, so she hopes to arrange it as soon as possible."

Browning pondered, those who have an interest in buying the vineyard must be either a rich businessman or a noble, and not being able to stay in Neranka for too long also matches the characteristics of a merchant. But if it was a merchant with businesses in Neranka, they would usually mention their own guild to build a relationship. In this way, it seems more like a noble lady or a widow. No matter what, Browning must seize this opportunity to get rid of this hot potato.

The visit was scheduled for the afternoon. Browning certainly had time, as his superiors had stopped all his other work and let him "focus" on handling Baron Jasper's estate. Browning proposed to send a carriage to pick up the lady, but to his surprise, she refused. This was also good, as he could judge the lady's financial status and even her identity from the carriage she would arrive in. As an official who often deals with various businessmen and nobles, judging the master's character and wealth through the carriage, clothes and even the servants is his expertise.

Upon hearing that Ina had refused the offer for a carriage to pick her up, Donne, although he didn't understand, volunteered: "Then shall I rent a carriage? I can be your coachman."

Ina shook her head: after playing the game for so long, who doesn't have a few vehicles?

She scrolled through the list, skipped over the rather anachronistic "Laser Motorcycle", "Broom Flyer", and "Pegasus Tank", and finally selected "Banquet Flower Car".

Browning was waiting anxiously at the entrance of the vineyard. He had just reported the status of selling Baron Jasper's other assets to his immediate superior, and his superior finally agreed that he could return to his original position after dealing with this vineyard. Browning couldn't help but lower his bottom-line price over and over again, just 200 gold coins, and get the vineyard off his hands as soon as possible!

Accompanied by the sound of trotting horse hooves and the faint sound of bells carried by the wind, Browning welcomed his guest.

An extremely luxurious carriage appeared before him. The pure black body made it impossible to discern what kind of wood it was made from. The wheels and roof were wrapped in gold foil, making the carriage dazzlingly eye-catching.

A circle of vine wound around the windows draped with a golden silk, binding passionately blooming flame roses and golden roses. Despite the scorching sun, they remained fresh and dripping with vitality.

There was no coachman to control the movement of this carriage. In the place where two horses were supposed to draw the carriage, there were, shockingly, two mechanical nightmares. Copper plates made up their bodies, mithril outlined their contours, and their eyes were two lava hearts, kept in a state of burning. When Browning looked over, he suddenly felt that these were two living guards, protecting their noble master.

Ina sat in the carriage, complaining to Dusì, "Although this carriage is beautiful, it's just a showpiece, it's too slow." In order to maintain stability, the two mechanical nightmares were limited to the lowest speed. Sitting inside, you couldn't feel any jolting, but the journey took more than an hour, almost exhausting Ina's patience.

Dusì lifted the curtain to look outside, "We've arrived, haven't we? Miss Ina, look at the finance officer's eyes, do you think he might see us as sheep ready to be slaughtered?"

Browning stood dumbfounded at the entrance of the vineyard, his smiling face had frozen. He couldn't imagine who could own such a golden and splendid carriage. The Silver Empire no longer had a royal family, did it?

Suddenly, he felt that he wouldn't be able to sell this vineyard behind him. How could a noble lady with such a carriage be interested in this vineyard, known for its poor reputation and insufficient scale?

The carriage's curtain was lifted, but Browning did not approach immediately. Usually, the one to disembark first would be the noble lady's maid. Sure enough, a girl with gray hair got off the carriage. Browning's eyes were even more puzzled, for he noticed that this young lady was actually limping.

How could there be a limping maid? Maids at the side of nobles should be good-looking, of gentle temperament, and efficient in their work. A disability, such a drawback, would be filtered out at the very beginning. It became stranger and stranger that she would become the maid of a noble with such substantial wealth.

About Dusì's limp, Ina had also thought of many solutions. First, Ina took it upon herself to attempt a cure, but she found that her healing skills could only be used to replenish health points. After a few uses of her abilities, Dusì was bleeding from the nose, and the skills were completely useless for the disability of her leg. After all, players wouldn't have a problem with disabilities, at worst they could just respawn, so Ina couldn't find a suitable skill.

Ina then sought the physician of Neranka, who said that Dusì's was a congenital disability, and the treatment risk was very high. If not done properly, she might never be able to stand up again. Dusì always had a good mindset, saying that she was used to her condition now and never cared about the gaze of others. Ina could only comfort her that in the future they might find a more skilled doctor in another city.

Browning was slightly startled when he saw Ina. The lady in front of him had soft long hair loosely tied into a bun, with a strand of lazy curls falling from her temples. There was only a light golden floral hairpin on her hair, and no other precious jewelry on her body. But no one would think she looked poor, because her dress seemed to be cut from the fabric of the galaxy. Browning swore that he saw the stars on her skirt flickering...

Ina's words brought Browning back to his senses, "You must be Mr. Browning, can we start touring the vineyard right away?"

Browning nodded hastily, "Of course, Miss Ina, this way please."

Browning called over Morton, who usually managed the vineyard, to introduce the vineyard to Ina.

Ina asked, "I don't know the name of this vineyard yet."

Knowing Ina might be the potential future owner of the vineyard, Morton respectfully said, "Miss Ina, the name of the vineyard is Fatil Vineyard."

Morton led the group into the vineyard, introducing as they walked, "The vineyard spans seven hectares and cultivates over ten thousand grapevines, currently including various high-quality varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, and Tempranillo."

They passed a two-story country villa and a row of houses. The villa was for the owner to stay when visiting, and the houses were used for processing grapes and making wine. Outside the houses, numerous treated oak planks were drying. After a sufficient period of drying and air-curing, these planks would be made into oak barrels for storing wine.

This was why Ina passed an oak forest when she came to the entrance of the vineyard. Many vineyards have an oak forest on their outskirts, as the quality of the oak significantly impacts the wine.

The terrain here was primarily hilly. Ina and Dusì looked down from the hillside, the best quality grapes were planted on the sun-facing slope of the hill, and the pruned grapevines looked very neat.

"What is the annual production of wine here?" Ina asked.

Morton explained carefully, "About 3000-6000 grapevines can be planted per hectare. Because the vineyard also has other buildings and areas not suitable for planting grapevines, and the former owner... the baron hoped to improve the quality by reducing the density of the grapes, the total number of grapevines in the vineyard is about ten thousand.

A yield of grape juice within 4000 liters per hectare is reasonable because the vineyard does not pursue a higher yield. Here, blindly pursuing a high yield will only lead to low-quality wine. A grape tree is allowed to bear a maximum of eight clusters of fruit, and strict vineyards may even prune the fruit to within four clusters."

"According to statistics from previous years, the annual production of Fatil Vineyard fluctuates between 5000 and 8000 liters."

Ina did a quick calculation in her head. Assuming an annual yield of 6000 liters, it could produce about 8000 bottles of wine, with the price per bottle varying from 1 to 20 silver coins depending on the quality. But high-quality wine is always in the minority. So, even if all the wine could be sold in the same year, the annual sales of the vineyard would be less than a hundred gold coins.

And she would need to hire a winemaker, two apprentice winemakers, ten temporary workers to harvest during the grape ripening season, five long-term workers for regular maintenance and pruning of the grapevines, and a steward like Morton. If she does not have an appropriate sales channel, she would need to arrange 2-3 positions under the steward responsible for selling the wine. Finally, if the owner of the vineyard were to reside here either long-term or short-term, 1-3 servants of varying roles would need to be kept in the villa.

Just the commissions are a considerable expense, not to mention a series of regular expenditures such as replacing sick or dead grapevines, buying fertilizers, and so on. If the year's harvest is bad, she might not make any money at all.

And the price Browning quoted them was 230 gold coins, which seemed slightly high. Ina and Dusì exchanged a glance, tacitly deciding they should be picky and must try to negotiate the price to an acceptable range. Ina looked around and pointed at the weeds growing beneath the grapevines on a sunny slope, "Why are there so many weeds growing here?"

Morton immediately responded, "This is a new measure we've adopted in the vineyard over the past few years. Because the land is sloping, a lot of soil is washed away by rainwater each year. We've found that fields planted with grass have significantly less soil erosion, so we've deliberately planted some grass under some of the grapes."

This response impressed Ina; not only had Morton noticed the phenomenon of soil erosion in the vineyard, but he had also thought of effective measures to address it.

"So why is the field planting grass strategy only implemented in a small part?" Ina asked.

Morton responded confidently, "Miss Ina, not all vineyards are suitable for planting grass. Vineyards with young grapevines have underdeveloped root systems that would be deprived of nutrients by the grass."

It was clear that Morton was very knowledgeable about Fatil Vineyard. Ina nodded in satisfaction. It seemed that although the owner was unreliable, the steward was indeed very dedicated.

Browning, who had been quiet at the side, couldn't quite gauge Ina's thoughts. Only when Ina nodded did he step forward and ask, "So Miss Ina, are you still satisfied with the vineyard?"

Ina gave a cryptic response, "The area is a bit small, and the villa is probably quite old, isn't it? The facilities and decorations inside should all be replaced."

Browning couldn't tell whether she was dissatisfied or simply negotiating the price, so he echoed a few words but didn't bring up the matter of lowering the price. Actually, he also thought that the vineyard would likely not appeal to a wealthy young lady like Ina.

Seeing that Browning was unmoved, Ina was a bit frustrated. Dusì quickly stepped in and bluntly asked, "I think it's necessary for you to inform Miss Ina about the location of the previous owner's unfortunate death. If it happened in the villa, we might have to demolish and rebuild the whole thing."

On hearing this, Browning quickly shook his head, "Baron Jasper didn't usually live here. He only visited the vineyard on a whim to watch the grape harvest. Er... he was..." Browning knew the specifics of Baron Jasper's death, but he didn't dare to use the word "assassinated" that was being rumored around. Seeing Ina's calm demeanor, he suspected that she also knew the inside story, so he switched to another verb and said in a lower voice, "The Baron was executed in the field, the body has been taken away and burned, and any traces of blood have been buried. All the grapevines within fifty meters have been uprooted."

Ina feigned disgust and sighed, "How ominous."

Browning readily agreed, "You're right. So I think, it's quite reasonable to sell the Fatil Vineyard for 200 gold coins, the next owner deserves to be compensated."

Ina smiled lightly as if she didn't care about the money, even though she only had 186 gold coins in her pocket.

Dusì then asked, "Mr. Browning, why haven't we seen the winemaker of the vineyard?"

The winemaker holds a position only second to the steward in a vineyard and often knows the quality of the grapes better than the steward. He hadn't appeared to explain to Ina about the varieties, age, and yield of the grapes, or even show his face. This was obviously impolite.

Furthermore, Browning had not mentioned this winemaker at all. Even if the winemaker was arrogant, Browning, as the person most eager to sell the Fatil Vineyard, should have invited him to come.

As expected, Browning stammered, "The winemaker resigned and left right after the Baron's incident."

Dusì and Ina exchanged a look, then pointed out the problem straightforwardly, "With the departure of the winemaker who knows the vineyard best, I'm afraid the grape processing this year will be problematic." The grapes from each vineyard are seen differently in the eyes of the winemaker, and a new winemaker unfamiliar with the grape quality might struggle to keep up. The quality of this year's wine might be questionable.

Browning was indeed stumped by this question, and Morton looked worried.

Dusì took advantage of the situation, "If the grapes are not harvested this year, I'm afraid they will over-ripen, even I feel regret seeing it."

Wine requires grapes with a high sugar content, but this sugar content must also be within a certain limit. Overripe grapes will greatly affect the flavor of the wine. If the grapes in the vineyard are delayed further, the issue will not just be about over-ripening; there's a high chance that they will rot in large quantities. No wonder Morton was eagerly answering Ina's questions, hoping that Ina would buy the vineyard as soon as possible.

Browning was completely taken aback by Dusì's insights. He hadn't expected a maid by Ina's side to have such understanding. Seeing his surprise, Ina explained, "Dusì is not my maid, she is my steward."

Is a steward so young? And a girl at that? Browning's surprise deepened.

Finally, under the persistent questioning of Dusì and Ina, the Fatil Vineyard was purchased by Ina for a price of 170 gold coins, with the condition that the workers in the vineyard could not be dismissed on their own.

With the remaining 16 gold coins, Ina gave one to Morton to hire workers to harvest the grapes and maintain the vineyard on a daily basis. She spent ten a space node from the system to facilitate Dusì and her to teleport directly to the vineyard for daily management. After all, this was a property under the restaurant, not a branch, and didn't have a quick teleportation function.

As for the missing winemaker, Ina simply promoted a diligent and experienced apprentice from within to temporarily oversee the winemaking process. She also left the sacred oak wine barrel in the vineyard, instructing the temporary winemaker to fill it with the best grape juice. After seven days, the restaurant would be selling top-quality wine.

Why did Ina leave such a precious item in a newly-acquired vineyard so trustingly? Of course, it was because the items drawn from the prize pool were bound and couldn't be stolen.

The beer that was originally in the wine barrel was placed by Ina in ten large oak barrels from the Fatil Vineyard, each with a capacity of over 200 liters, and easily put into her backpack.

Finally, looking at the remaining five gold coins in her pocket, Ina thought: indeed, gold, it's bound to be spent.