Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1130. The Courage to Start Over (Part 1130)

In just a few hundred meters, Dong Qiangqiang saw no less than ten garbage dumps, each as high as a small hill. There was everything from used household items, electrical appliances, broken plastic products to all kinds of incomplete wooden boards and strips, from destroyed billboards, auto parts, barbed wire to building materials, large and small clothes and damaged lawn mowers.

The large parking lot in front of the brewery was also full of garbage. Dong Qiangqiang finally parked the car, got out, walked a few steps and looked back. It felt like there was a scrapped car in the garbage dump. The pickup truck, which had been driving on a bad road all the way, was so dirty, but it didn't look out of place buried in the garbage dump.

Dong Qiangqiang observed the winery while calling Josefina's father.

The gate of the winery was tightly closed. It was unknown whether it was not opened when the flood came or was closed later. Although the gate was not damaged, there were several shocking giant bulges on it, as if something huge had hit the gate from the inside. Compared with other buildings in the village, the outer wall of the winery was intact. Except for a few collapsed houses that could be seen from the outside, the winery did not seem to be affected by the flood.

The call went through, and Dong Qiangqiang introduced himself. In this time, Josefina's mother had contacted her husband in advance, and Josefina's father immediately recognized who he was, but he was not at the winery. He asked Dong Qiangqiang to keep going and drive another kilometer forward. Dong Qiangqiang would see a winery, and he would wait for Dong Qiangqiang at the door of the winery.

With the guidance of the other party, Dong Qiangqiang found the winery smoothly. He slowed down the car and looked around. The winery did not look like it had been flooded, but more like a war zone that had been baptized by artillery fire. The scale of the garbage in front of the door was almost twice that of the winery.

The familiar bulldozer was parked next to the garbage dump in front of the winery. When he carefully walked around the bulldozer, he found that Josefina's father had been waiting at the door for a long time.

Unlike the day they met, Josefina's father wore a baseball cap, a loose T-shirt and jeans, casually stepped on sneakers, and was covered with mottled mud from head to toe. He had dark circles under his eyes and an undisguised look of fatigue on his face. He sat on the dirty steps at the entrance of the winery, surrounded by all kinds of garbage and mud, but he didn't seem to care much.

Seeing Dong Qiangqiang coming, he smiled, raised his arms with his sleeves rolled up, stood up and walked towards him.

When the two approached, Dong Qiangqiang took the initiative to extend his hand, but the other party did not make the same move. Instead, he waved his muddy hands to indicate that it was not convenient. Dong Qiangqiang never cared about such trivial matters. He naturally held the other party's hand and shook it vigorously twice: "Hello, Josefina's father."

The other party was not expecting Dong Qiangqiang's action and was a little surprised. He said in a hoarse voice: "Hello, Peter Baldauf, you can just call me Peter. Can I call you 'Dong'? Your name is a little difficult to pronounce."

"Mr. Peter, you can call me anything you want." The other party's attitude this time was obviously much friendlier than the last time they met. Dong Qiangqiang felt that the other party was cold to the touch, and there was a bit of bitterness in his smile. "Your wife said that you were in the winery these two days. She also gave me the mobile phone number."

"What do you want to ask me? Josefina has been telling us about your heroic act on the rooftop for the past two days."

"Is she laughing at me for being clumsy and awkward?" Dong Qiangqiang laughed at himself, "Actually, I'm afraid of heights."

"Not really. She thought you were a very considerate person. You tied a rope and pulled her arm to prevent her from falling off the roof. Dong, her mother and I are very grateful that you helped our child that day."

"It's just a small favor." Dong Qiangqiang didn't rush to answer the other party's question because he hadn't thought about how to start the conversation and had just gotten confused. "I remember there wasn't so much garbage in the village last Friday. Why is it that after two days, there is..."

Dong Qiangqiang's curiosity was like an eraser, slowly erasing the smile on Peter's face, and replacing it with a bitter expression. Dong Qiangqiang thought to himself that something was not good, but words spoken were like water spilled, and it was too late to take them back.

Peter stared at the garbage dump in front of him for a long time, and then he sighed heavily before slowly explaining the whole story: It turned out that late at night when Dong Qiangqiang left, the soil soaked by continuous rain could no longer store more water, and an unimaginable mudslide swept across the idyllic grape valley at lightning speed. To make matters worse, a small dam upstream of the village that was originally thought to be safe broke without any warning. After the mountain torrents and the water from the dam combined, the water level of the river that Dong Qiangqiang crossed rose rapidly, reaching a peak of six meters at night, releasing a force comparable to a tsunami, which not only easily tore apart the bridges on the river, but also swallowed up the houses along the coast like a whirlwind, causing unimaginable and immeasurable damage.

The village suffered more serious and terrible damage than the first time, and encountered a real hellish blow. "It was not a flood, but a terrifying tsunami, a complete disaster." Peter was lost in his memories, and the raging flood seemed to be vivid in his mind. "Almost no house in the village was not flooded on the first floor. The water quickly flooded the first floor. After realizing that the flood was more dangerous than last time, we could only retreat to the second floor. Fearing that the water level would rise suddenly, we spent a difficult night in the attic with our children. When we left home at noon the next day, the village was flooded. All the wineries suffered a devastating disaster: machines were damaged, warehouses were flooded, houses collapsed, and vehicles were missing. The efforts of many wine merchants for generations were wiped out overnight. Except for the wine merchant's signboard and the people who were still there, everything else was gone. Many people still cannot accept this fact."

Dong Qiangqiang then realized why Peter said that Josephine had been talking about what happened on the roof for the past two days. Their family was hiding from the water in the attic, and it was natural for a child to think of what had just happened.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Peter," Dong Qiangqiang felt uneasy about bringing up the other party's painful memories, "I didn't know such a terrible thing happened..."

"It has nothing to do with you." Peter retracted his gaze and his mind calmed down.

"I came here without an appointment today because I do have something I want to consult you about." Worried that the other party would feel more miserable if he thought about it, Dong Qiangqiang quickly changed the subject back to the other party's original question.

"Go ahead." The memories consumed a lot of Peter's energy, and he sat back on the steps tiredly.

"I don't mean to offend you. I deeply regret the losses caused by the flood. I happened to hear someone say that when unfortunately a flood occurs, wine merchants will sell wine contaminated by the flood to reduce losses. I remember the last time we met, you mentioned that your family's wine is all homemade. I wonder if you have this kind of flood wine ready for sale?" Dong Qiangqiang was not clear about the extent of the other party's losses in the flood, and tried to find the best balance between being cautious and being straightforward.

"No contamination," Peter corrected decisively. "All flood wines are not contaminated at all."

"But weren't they all rescued from the mud? Are they still drinkable? Or are they just commemorative symbols of the disaster?" Duanmu once told Dong Qiangqiang in person that he had drunk similar flood wine. Dong Qiangqiang also remembered that the reason he said this deliberately was to allow Peter, the owner of the winery, to show off his knowledge and help him learn some literacy skills.

Peter raised his eyebrows, and although he did not show displeasure, he waved his hand to stop Dong Qiangqiang from continuing, "The winery's partners just left this morning. They include people from the State Investigation Office and third-party research institutes. Their sampling analysis of flood wines can prove that my wines are still of the best quality. They are all the best wines, but unfortunately they encountered a flood on a bad day. When my employees and I dug them out of the ruins of the wine cellar, they were not destroyed (by the flood), but the bottles were covered with mud and dirt. We will try to clean them with a cleaner. Some are easily washed away, while some (mud) will become It is very hard, and cleaning it thoroughly means that the labels on the bottles will also be destroyed by the water gun. In order to keep the labels, we can only put it aside and keep the dirty mud. The inspection certificate can prove that what I said is true. In addition to a slight increase in carbon value, the mud on the wine bottles does not pose any health risks. Mud or sand may be deposited on a small part of the cork, but even so, the impact on the quality and taste is minimal. Personally, I would recommend that buyers keep these bottles after drinking the wine to commemorate the flood. Oh, one more thing, it is best to wash your hands in time after opening the cork. "When he said this, Peter raised his muddy hands.

"I see," Dong Qiangqiang admitted his mistake honestly, "I'm sorry that my wording was inaccurate."

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Peter waved his hand generously and said in a muffled voice, "You are an outsider and a foreigner, so it's normal that you don't understand. Hundreds of years ago, the wine merchants here encountered a great flood. Flood wine is their poetic creation left to future generations. Since then, flood wine has been divided into three types: the first type is dug out of the mud and sold intact with its muddy appearance, the second type has a visible label after washing, and the third type has an invisible label after washing. These wines are collectively called 'flood wines', and their prices vary because each bottle is unique."

"Mr. Peter, I don't quite understand the third option you mentioned. If the label is still invisible after cleaning or is completely damaged, why don't you just put a new label on it?"

"According to German trademark law, relabeling Flood wine is illegal and will mislead consumers. As a businessman, it is my responsibility to ensure that product quality and consumer rights are not harmed," Peter said seriously.

This was the first time Dong Qiangqiang had heard of such a provision in the law: "I was the only one who had not heard of it."

"Just now you said you wanted to buy Hongshui wine? Do you drink it normally? I remember that the last time you took whiskey from my house, you didn't even look at the wine, and then I gave it to you."

Dong Qiangqiang thought to himself: How can you say I took it? I clearly bought it, and I paid for it. Besides, what is the necessary connection between buying alcohol and drinking alcohol? Is there such a hypocritical rule here?

"Mr. Peter, I haven't drunk the bottles you gave me, but they're not Flood wines. I have a friend who is interested in them, and if the price is right, he'd like to buy some."