Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1133. The Courage to Start Over (Part 1133)

"Mr. Peter, you said before that there are three prices for Hongshui wine." Dong Qiangqiang brought the topic back to the point that interested him.

"It's Flood wine that is divided into three categories, not three price levels," Peter corrected.

"Then how much is this bottle in my hand?" Dong Qiangqiang shook the bottle.

"Do you want to wash?" Peter stretched out his hand and motioned Dong Qiangqiang to hand him the bottle.

"No need, I like it now with mud on it." Dong Qiangqiang handed over the wine.

Peter turned the bottle around and quickly handed it back to Dong Qiangqiang: "You're lucky. The original price of this bottle is 90 Euros, and the current price is 75 (Euros)."

"My goodness," Dong Qiangqiang suddenly felt that the bottle of wine had inexplicably become much heavier when Peter handed it back to him, "Do you have any cheaper ones? I'm a poor student."

"The prices range from 50 Euros to over 1,000 Euros. We hope to deliver the wines rescued from the flood to as many wine-loving families as possible, so the discounts vary for different wines. Some wines may even be more expensive than their original prices."

"You said some wines are more expensive than the original price..." Dong Qiangqiang was still smacking his lips over the wines that cost thousands of euros. When he heard Peter's last sentence, he thought he was hard of hearing and was hallucinating.

"Yes, these works of art are the result of our hard work. Their original artistic value has not been diminished by the mud. Instead, the flood has given them a symbolic value of rebirth after the disaster. Of course, their original price is not cheap. The subsequent cleaning and logistics costs are also the reason why the price has risen instead of fallen. Of course, the total amount of this part of wine is not high, limited to 2,000 bottles, which does not account for a large proportion of all my bottled wines."

Dong Qiangqiang thought: Such good wine should be left to the rich. I wonder if Lao Bai can find such a sucker.

Peter continued, "Dong, grape cultivation is an important pillar of the local economy, and wine culture is the core of this area. We have been hit hard this time, and rebuilding our homes requires a lot of money. The remaining wines in the hands of all wine merchants are very important for raising reconstruction funds and saving local cultural heritage. But you can rest assured that the price of flood wine is transparent, and we will not ask for a random price."

"Have you ever considered raising funds?"

“The local winemaking association is responsible for fundraising, but I don’t know the details.”

"The news said that your government will give you strong subsidies this time to support your resumption of work and production as soon as possible." Dong Qiangqiang remembered that this information was mentioned in the newspaper he read to the landlord in the morning.

Peter smiled bitterly and said, "I never have high expectations for government aid. I don't know how long those politicians will discuss it. As for when the government subsidies will arrive, it is even more difficult to estimate. Even if I get it, it will be a drop in the bucket. I must work hard to save myself. I am not saying this with blind confidence. In addition to the support of the local wine association and domestic peers, there are also many people who love wine culture and are interested in wine like you who support us. We have no reason to give up any efforts."

Peter's words struck Dong Qiangqiang like a bolt of lightning. He instantly thought of the Chinese people during the SARS period who were facing the same predicament. He immediately expressed his strong agreement: "I also believe that the wine merchants and grape growers in this area will be able to get out of the predicament as soon as possible, just like the Chinese who encountered SARS in the first half of the year. At that time, we were also at a loss for the unknown virus. You are right. People in trouble must work harder. There is an old saying in China, well..." Dong Qiangqiang wanted to say "If you don't save yourself, God won't help you." After a long time of thinking, he always felt that the expression was inseparable from God. He wanted to translate it into "If you don't save yourself, God won't save you." Still couldn't escape God's help, so he had to say "No one is willing to help those who don't work hard." But the meaning and momentum were more than one level lower than the first sentence. Looking at Peter's indifferent expression, Dong Qiangqiang felt that trying to translate the charm of ancient Chinese in German was more tiring than crossing a river in the rain or saving people on the roof. And his German was not as good as he thought.

Just as Dong Qiangqiang was racking his brains to try to express himself accurately, Peter found a wet towel and a wine glass from somewhere, and quickly wiped the mud around the cork ring with the towel. Before Dong Qiangqiang could say "don't open it", he heard a muffled bang in front of him. In the dark room, he saw a puff of white smoke rising from the bottle mouth and quickly disappearing.

Peter poured half a cup and handed it to Dong Qiangqiang: "Try it."

The person opened the bottle in front of him. Dong Qiangqiang felt embarrassed but had to refuse: "I drove here, so I can't drink it, but this wine looks good, I'll buy it."

"Yes, you drove here. Look at my brain."

"Can I smell it?"

Dong Qiangqiang took the wine glass, pinched the stem of the goblet with his thumb, index finger and middle finger, shook the glass gently and put it under his nose to smell the wine. He stared at the liquid in the glass for a while, but the light was too dim and he couldn't tell whether it was colorless, champagne or golden yellow.

"How long should this wine last?"

Peter smiled and said, "It seems that you really don't understand. Not all wines need to be decanted. Good white wines usually do not need to be decanted so that the drinker can taste their lightness and freshness." If Dong Qiangqiang had not been driving, he might really not have been afraid of scaring the German and would have drunk it in one gulp. When driving, one has to abide by the law.

"Is this white wine? Is it Riesling?"

"Yes, do you like it?"

"When I first came to Trier, I drank Riesling from a supermarket. That wine was quite interesting. It smelled like lemon, apple, and pear. It was not as astringent as I had imagined. Instead, it tasted like a mixture of plum and passion fruit, with a hint of blackberry. It had a long aftertaste, but not a single grape flavor. It was magical."

"Looks like he's had a lot to drink," Peter joked.

"I've never learned wine tasting, and I don't drink much wine on a regular basis. If I continue, I'll definitely get into the fuzzy area of ​​nouns and adjectives. Does Trier's Riesling have many flavors? How much is a bottle of this?"

"It's about the same as the one you dug out."

Dong Qiangqiang breathed a sigh of relief. He was still worried that the amount would exceed 100. He didn't have a stomach for wine. Wine was a far cry from what he considered delicious. He also hated liquor. He only liked whiskey.

“Are there thousands of euros’ worth of wine on this floor?”

"Thousands of them are down there," Peter pointed casually at a wooden shelf in the corner, "those batches are hundreds of them. Want to try some?"

Seeing Peter was about to go over, Dong Qiangqiang hurriedly stopped him, "No, no, I'm just asking casually. Actually, what I want to say is that I have some friends here who are also interested in wine, but if you agree, they would like to visit your family's vineyard first before deciding whether to buy and how much to buy. I wonder if you are willing to receive such potential consumers."

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"You mean, they'll consider buying my wine after reading this?"

"That's probably it." Dong Qiangqiang couldn't see the expression on Peter's face at the moment and wasn't sure whether he was interested or not.

"Of course you can, that's the custom, but..." Peter said the first half of the sentence generously, and a transition word whetted Dong Qiangqiang's appetite again, "The vineyard has been destroyed and there is no scenery left. Are you sure there are still people who want to see it?"

"Frankly speaking, I'm not sure, but the possibility still exists. After all, visiting the vineyards on the 'Wine Road' is an old tradition here. Maybe foreigners need this, um... sense of ritual, yes, sense of ritual." Dong Qiangqiang made up a lot of nonsense and admired his own ability to make up stories after he finished speaking.

"If they want, that's fine with me," Peter shrugged.

"How much discount will I get if I buy more?"

"Normally not, unless you buy thousands of bottles. Do you want to buy so many?"

“No, no, I definitely can’t stock that much, but maybe there are wine collectors among the visitors.”

"I'm kidding. Most people only buy two or three bottles. Seriously, how many bottles do you want? I'll find you a few bottles in good condition."

"If I want a case of wine that's completely unwashed and covered in mud, is that okay?"

"Of course. But I suggest you get a few bottles of each so you can introduce them to your friends. What do you think?"

Before Dong Qiangqiang could answer, the pleasant sound of a cell phone began to sing happily.

"Where is it? Is there any news about the vineyard?" Old White asked without any greetings.