Chapter 183: Making Wine
Chapter 183: Making Wine
The late afternoon sunlight bathed the Chen Manor in its warm glow as Xiang Ling and three of her husbands - Wei Guang, Li Xian, and Zhe Yuan, made their way to the side courtyard of the main kitchen.
"We will need a lot of grapes. How much have you bought? We are making grape wine, right?" Li Xian enquired as the four of them made their way inside the courtyard.
"Don’t worry. I have everything prepared." Xiang Ling said as she moved to remove the covers from the big bamboo baskets that were sitting on top of a wooden table. The moment everyone witnessed the variety of contents inside those baskets, they all were left shocked.
"She’s indeed well prepared." Wei Guang couldn’t hold himself back from praising Xiang Ling who looked proud after surprising the three of them. The baskets were filled with grapes, peaches, plums, rice, millet, and finally wheat. There were also two more baskets which were filled with herbs.
Li Xian turned his impressed gaze toward Xiang Ling and gave her an appreciative nod. "Where are your students?" He suddenly asked when he failed to find anyone else there except for the four of them.
"Well... since we are making this wine for the Mid-Autumn Festival, I thought it will be great to make it on our own. You can start teaching them from tomorrow onwards." Xiang Ling explained and noticed the smiles that appeared on the faces of all three men. They were more than happy to know that no fifth person would be disturbing them.
"Alright. We should start working then. Let’s start with grapes first." Li Xian took the lead as he rolled up his sleeves and made his way toward the well to draw water from it. Wei Guang picked up two big earthen wares and placed them on the wooden table for Li Xian to fill them with the water from the well.
Xiang Ling and Zhe Yuan busied themselves with the task of washing the grapes. Li Xian and Wei Guang also joined them to quickly wash the grapes. The former picked a grape to taste it and immediately hummed in satisfaction when the rich taste of sweetness met his taste buds. "These grapes are so good. I haven’t tasted such good grapes ever before."
Xiang Ling smiled as she took a grape and offered it to Wei Guang so that the man could have a taste as well. The Night Immortal accepted the grape and he too voiced out his contentment and surprise as soon as he tasted the sweetness.
Moving toward Zhe Yuan, she offered him the grape as well but much to her surprise, the man didn’t took the grape from her hand. Instead, he bent his head and ate the grape that she was holding between her fingers. Not only his soft lips brushed over her fingers, but even his tongue made the slightest contact with her skin as if to tease her.
Her breath hitched at the sudden contact and she found herself recalling the intimate night she spend with him inside his Spatial Realm a while ago. As he gazed at her, she noticed the sparkle in his eyes and it made her realize that he was purposely teasing her.
Clearing her throat, she quickly stepped away from the dangerous Mer Crown Prince and returned to the task of washing the grapes. While she tried to keep her attention on her work, she was more than aware of the intense gaze of Zhe Yuan that were still fixed on her.
The four of them quickly washed the grapes and cleaned them thoroughly to remove any dirt or debris. They removed the stems and made sure that there were no spoiled grapes. Finally, they placed the clean grapes in a clean container.
"Now, we need to crush them. Make sure to only burst the skin and not crush the seeds or it will make the wine taste bitter." Li Xian gave further instructions and showed everyone how to crush the grapes properly.
Xiang Ling, who unfortunately hadn’t learned the art of making wine even though she was wandering around in the Five Realms to learn different skills throughout her long life of ten thousand years, suddenly found herself confused as how to properly crush the grapes.
She tried to closely observe Li Xian’s demonstration, but when she picked up the first grape and crushed it while holding it between her thumb and forefinger, she ended up spraying the dark liquid on her dress.
"What are you doing, Lingling?" Zhe Yuan was the first one to notice and he was unable to hold back his chuckle. "So, there’s finally something you don’t know how to do. That’s good to know."
Xiang Ling gave the Mer Crown Prince a hard glare but before she could have spoken anything, her attention got shifted when she felt someone moving behind her. The very next moment, a pair of arms surrounded her from behind and took hold of her hands.
"Here. Let me show you how to do it." Li Xian whispered in her ear before he made her pick up more grapes and showed her how to properly crush. For Xiang Ling, it wasn’t an easy job to focus on work and not on the nearness of the man who was trying to make her think of anything but crushing the grapes.
"Stop being distracted." He suddenly whispered next to her ear and Xiang Ling felt her cheeks immediately warming up.
"I’m not." She muttered back in response while she pulled out of his arms and started crushing the grapes the same way he just showed her. The four of them continued to work diligently all the while each of the three men took their turn teasing Xiang Ling every now and then. While some did it on purpose, some were completely oblivious of the effects of their nearness on her.
By the time dinner hour finally arrived, they were done sealing three big jars of grape wine and two big jars of rice wine.