"Hi, Becky. I heard you weren't feeling well today. How are you? Are you feeling better?" In the winery, Dulles Gerard looked at Becky Hall and couldn't help but smile. He had been working with these girls for half a year.
To be honest, Dulles had been skeptical of the girls at first. He thought they were inexperienced, clumsy, and not very refined. From what he understood, they were connected to Jiang Hai, and with his own biases against women, he doubted how well they could take care of the grapes.
At the beginning, Dulles wasn't very impressed with them and often spoke sarcastically. However, he was surprised to find that the girls endured his comments and, despite their lack of knowledge initially, they began to perform well. Whether it was tending to the grapes, removing pests, or watering, they did everything remarkably well. In Dulles's view, the healthy growth of the grapes was largely due to the care these girls put in. Of course, what he didn't know was that the main factor was their dedication, which developed over the past six months.
Dulles, who had no children of his own, came to regard the girls as his daughters and granddaughters. He took good care of them. When Aphra mentioned that Becky, who lived with Hilda, had a headache and was resting at home, he was concerned, but luckily, she came over in the afternoon.
"Oh? It's much better now," Becky responded awkwardly. Only she knew that she didn't actually have a headache. But...
"How did it go? Did you succeed?" Dinah Taylor quietly approached and asked in a low voice. Becky looked around and nodded shyly.
"Hey, good job. How many times have you and Jiang done that?" Dinah smiled, then clenched her fist and tapped her palm. Realizing her gesture was too big, she quickly stopped and leaned closer to Becky to continue her question in a softer tone.
"Well, I think it was three times, and Jiang Hai once. Then... the mouth and the back... Jiang Hai once, I... can't quite remember," Becky said, her face flushed with embarrassment. Despite the shame, she was bold enough to answer after hesitating for a moment.
"Wow, such great results for the first time! At noon, I saw Aphra going to find Xila. It's probably her tonight. Alas, Jiang Hai didn't come. I miss him again." Dinah's eyes lit up at Becky's words, but then she sighed. Since Jiang Hai wasn't there, it seemed they'd have to wait for something to happen.
"Yeah... I miss him a little bit too..." Becky said, lifting her head and gazing at Jiang Hai's villa in the distance. Meanwhile, Jiang Hai was peacefully asleep in the villa.
On the other side, Bernice, who was helping, glanced at Becky and Dinah. Although she didn't know exactly what they were doing, her instincts told her it wasn't anything good, and it might be related to Jiang Hai. She had vaguely heard something the previous night before falling asleep.
She glanced at Darlene and Marian, who were nearby. These two girls probably knew something, though they were aligned with Aphra and the others.
"It looks like I need to investigate this," Bernice muttered softly and lowered her head.
"Sister? What did you say just now?" Xiaoya, who might have overheard, asked softly.
"Oh... Nothing. Well, I can tell you a little. I feel something's different between Aphra and Jiang Hai recently, so I plan to check it out. If you notice anything, let me know. But don't tell Darlene or Marian—they're likely with Aphra and the others," Bernice said. At first, she hadn't planned to tell Xiaoya, but then realized it might be better to have some help.
"Jiang Hai and Aphra? Got it, sister," Xiaoya replied, a bit confused but nodding in agreement before they returned to their work.
Without Jiang Hai's help, the work that could have been done in the morning wasn't finished until evening.
By now, all the ripe grapes in the vineyard had been harvested.
These grapes would be made into wine. According to Dulles Gerard's calculations, the recent harvest should yield around 100,000 bottles of wine. Although this wasn't a lot for a large winery, it was just an initial attempt. By next year, after a winter of storage, the wine might even compete in wine competitions.
For Dulles, participating in small competitions was beneath him. He only cared about the top-tier international wine competitions, like the Brussels International Wine Competition, the Mâcon Competition, the Bordeaux-Aquitaine Wine Competition, and the Decanter International Wine Competition, all of which he had already participated in and won awards.
This time, he felt that the wine might have some issues with sugar fermentation, but he was confident about the other wines, especially the dry reds.
Dulles was hopeful that the new wine could make it into the top ten, and with a bit of luck, even win a small prize. It would serve as a good starting point for sales. While cleaning up, he was already researching the wine competitions he could participate in next year.
Aside from the big four competitions, there was also the Island International Wine Challenge, which was gaining recognition in Asia. However, Dulles didn't plan on participating in that one, knowing that his boss wasn't particularly interested in that region.
If he could schedule it, he felt confident about entering the Brussels and Mâcon wine competitions in April and May.
After the grape harvest, everyone discarded the vines and piled them into barrels.
Then, Bernice, Xiaoya, Darlene, and Marian jumped in to start stomping the grapes, working until everything was done.
The sun had set, and as they worked, Jiang Hai was sleeping comfortably in his bed.
"Ugh..." Just as he was sleeping soundly, his phone suddenly rang. Startled, Jiang Hai groggily reached for his phone and checked the screen.
He hadn't slept all night and had been busy in the morning, so he was exhausted. He had been sleeping since then, and if it weren't for the phone, he might have slept right through the night.
"Hello?" Jiang Hai answered the call, his voice still drowsy.
"Hello, Jiang Hai?" A familiar voice came through the phone, speaking in Mandarin.
"Oh, it's you, Yunfei. What's up?" Jiang Hai rubbed his eyes and glanced at the caller ID. It was Huang Yunfei, a childhood friend.
Huang Yunfei, who worked in a hospital, had been visiting whenever he returned to China.
"Is it night time over there? Are you still sleeping? Wait, isn't it said that you only work twelve-hour shifts?" Huang Yunfei asked, sounding curious. It was a bit after 6:00 a.m. in China, and he had called on purpose at that hour.
"Oh, I went fishing last night and didn't sleep. I was catching up on sleep during the day. What's going on?" Jiang Hai sat up, wiping his face and looking at his watch.
"Well, I don't know if it's a good time for you, but I'm getting married on November 11. Will you be able to come back?" Huang Yunfei asked hesitantly.
"Wait, you're getting married? Congratulations! Is it with that girl? When?" Jiang Hai responded immediately, now fully awake.
"Yeah, with her. It's on October 4th, Sunday, which is the 22nd of August on the lunar calendar. Do you have time to come back?" Huang Yunfei quickly changed the subject, seemingly because his fiancée was nearby.
Jiang Hai laughed, understanding what was going on. He knew Huang Yunfei's family had a medical background, and his path had been quite similar—starting as a nurse before passing the doctor's qualification exam and later focusing more on gaining experience than performing surgeries.
But now, his childhood friend was about to get married.