Chapter 225: Grape Wine

From early spring when we left, to midsummer when we returned, everything in the little courtyard seemed unchanged.

Gu Xixi and He Jinglan exchanged smiles.

He Jinglan said, "It feels reassuring, as if this place is another home for us."

Gu Xixi smiled, "Yeah, upon entering the courtyard I felt completely at ease, as if I knew the place well, but thinking back, the time we've lived here doesn't seem long."

The two of them looked around everywhere.

The three bedrooms' wooden doors were tightly shut, but none had locks outside.

Passing the house where Mu Nan Zhao used to live, He Jinglan glanced at it twice and said wistfully:

"Last time I left, I thought I would never come back here—truly, life is unpredictable."

She looked at Gu Xixi and asked with a smile, "Do you think Chen Fang will be able to return in the future?"

Gu Xixi tilted her head up to the sky, "I don't know."

She raised her hand and pointed upward, "Hey, quickly look at the sky—you can see the Milky Way."

"In winter and spring you can also see stars, but they are just scattered lone stars, very cold and clear, nowhere near as bright as now."

"The borderlands are vast and sparsely populated, perfect for stargazing."

"Especially on clear summer nights, looking up reveals a sky full of brilliant stars."

The two stood silently, watching the stars for a while.

He Jinglan gazed at the sky and said, "He left a lock at your home; he should return."

Gu Xixi caught her breath, her smile fading, "We're stargazing! It's such a rare romantic moment—can't you stop bringing up things that kill the mood?"

He Jinglan chuckled secretly, then straightened her face and looked seriously at the stars.

"Well, the capital's nights are too bright, so many beautiful stars can't be seen."

"I also, as a child, went with my grandmother to stay briefly at a mountain temple, and only then did I see a sky like this."

She smiled at Gu Xixi, "And I was seeing it with you."

Gu Xixi gave a noncommittal hum of laughter.

After a moment, she said, "I almost forgot—you've lived here much longer than I have; why hasn't Meng Chengping watched the stars with you?"

He Jinglan laughed and cried at once, "Annoying! Just now you told me not to mention mood‑killers, and yet you're doing it again!"

Gu Xixi smiled triumphantly, "As sisters, we naturally take every chance to hurt each other."

He Jinglan was both angry and amused, choked for a moment, then lifted her head and continued watching the stars.

"Fine, I'll take the first day of the month, you take the fifteenth—whoever begs first is the dog!"

That night, the two were in high spirits; just staring at the stars wasn't enough, so they simply brought out a small stove.

The kitchen had several kinds of vegetables and salted meat ham.

They casually sliced the ham into a few pieces, tossed it into a sand pot with water, boiled it until the broth turned thick and milky, then added the vegetables—making the simplest hot pot.

He Jinglan came over holding a small jar, her face lit with glee, "Xixi, you'll never guess what good thing I've found!"

Having lived in the village for a long time, He Jinglan's habits were no longer as particular as before.

Gu Xixi stirred the soup pot and said, "What else could it be? One look and you know it's alcohol."

"But I'll say this first—you can drink a little less if you want; I won't have even a drop."

He Jinglan sat down with her legs spread wide, then set the wine jar down on the ground.

"Miss, don't refuse too hastily—first take a look at what kind of wine this is."

She pulled the stopper, and the liquor trickled into the ceramic bowl—it was a dark purplish-red.

Gu Xixi's eyes widened slightly, "Grape wine?"

He Jinglan filled one bowl, then another, "I knew you'd be the most knowledgeable."

In the Great Undertaking Dynasty, grape wine already existed, but because it was an import from the Western Regions, only high officials and nobles, as well as a few wealthy merchants with connections, had the chance to taste it.

In other words, grape wine was absolutely a rare item beyond the reach of ordinary folk.

Seeing He Jinglan's completely unsurprised expression, Gu Xixi smiled and covered up, "I never had the chance to drink it; I just noticed the wine's unusual color and fruity aroma, so I guessed it was the legendary grape wine."

He Jinglan said indifferently, "There are countless people in the world who have never drunk grape wine,"

"I myself only tasted it once, when I was young and accompanied my older brother to a palace banquet."

She lifted both bowls of wine, handed one to Gu Xixi, and smiled with a mischievous curl of her lips.

"How about it? If you don't try it, you'd be letting yourself down."

Gu Xixi stared at the wine in the bowl and pursed her lips.

Alas, before she transmigrated into the book, she was someone who loved alcohol.

Yet fate gave her Gu Xixi's constitution—one drink and she's down.

Since the holidays, she had gone a long time without touching a drop, thinking her interest in drink had faded, but the grape wine before her rekindled it.

Her hesitation lasted only a blink, and Gu Xixi quickly took the wine bowl.

"Grape wine isn't strong; just drinking this small bowl will surely be fine!"

"With ancient brewing techniques, strong liquor was already rare, let alone a mere fruit wine."

……

Gu Xixi was awakened by a chorus of chirping birds.

She opened her eyes, and the sudden sunlight stabbed at her, making her brow furrow involuntarily.

"It's gotten light so quickly?"

Gu Xixi's mind wasn't fully clear yet, and her gaze slowly shifted.

"On the bed?"

"Covered with a quilt?"

Isn't this the bedroom in the small courtyard of Dependents Village?

But she clearly remembers eating hot pot in the courtyard, drinking……

Drink?!

Gu Xixi suddenly sat up.

That's right, she remembered drinking alcohol last night, grape wine.

Sour and sweet, the wine aroma slightly intoxicating, it was pure grape wine.

The hot pot was also quite delicious; the white broth simmered from air-dried ham had a salty freshness, further highlighting the vegetables' tender sweetness.

Mm, it goes well with grape wine.

Then…… then what exactly happened, Gu Xixi just couldn't remember.

She bent over with a headache, holding her head with both hands.

Just then the door was pushed open; He Jinglan walked in, and she first glanced at Gu Xixi's face with lingering fear.

"Awake?"

Gu Xixi nodded, looking at He Jinglan; despite having a premonition, she still asked unwillingly:

"Last night, we ate hot pot and drank grape wine?"

He Jinglan nodded with a strange expression, "You remember everything?"

Gu Xixi swallowed, "Afterward…… I mean, besides eating and drinking, what else happened?"

He Jinglan actually let out a sigh of relief, "It's better if you forgot."

Gu Xixi felt a thunderclap explode above her head, "Tell me quickly, I can bear it; otherwise, if you let me half-guess and half-imagine, my heart will feel worse."

He Jinglan gazed sympathetically for a moment, saying, "You originally said you'd only have one bowl, but while I went to the outhouse, your second bowl was already almost empty."

"Then you pulled me saying something about 'grape fine wine, night-light cup'—that's actually a rare good poem, but you insisted on dragging me to ask for a night-light cup, saying using a broken pottery bowl disgraced the grape wine."

"You also said, 'Finally found the grapes; you want to find grape seeds, grape vines, grape seedlings. Given your abilities, grapes can definitely be grown in Flower Pool Ford Village.'"

"You also said a bunch of things I didn't understand—cultivation, hybridization, shade nets—you went on forever; I couldn't understand or interject, my head was bursting."

"Finally you snatched my wine bowl, drank the rest, then flopped onto me, and at last things settled down."

Gu Xixi listened with both hands covering her face.

After He Jinglan finished speaking, Gu Xixi slowly lifted her head.

She forced out a smile uglier than crying, "I'm not drunk; I really do want to grow grapes—everything I said came from the heart. Do you believe me?"