Chen Yang listened carefully to Zhou Jingqiu's detailed comparison of the experimental data from ten sets of experimental fields. This was not his forte, but it didn't prevent him from being a listener.
Zhou Jingqiu had no one here to share her thoughts with, and Chen Yang, after all, had the experience of two lifetimes. He had lived through an era of information explosion in his later life.
He was able to offer some targeted suggestions regarding Zhou Jingqiu's experiments. As a result, Zhou Jingqiu was very happy today. Some of Chen Yang's opinions made her see things in a new light, and her experiments gained some new perspectives.
Seeing Zhou Jingqiu busy again, Chen Yang washed the mud off his feet by the irrigation ditch and put on his shoes to go home.
There were no major issues with Zhou Jingqiu's side. He couldn't help much with the technical matters anymore. Now, all they could do was wait for time to reveal the final results.
Upon returning home, his father-in-law and mother-in-law had also returned. They had caught two to three hundred catties of fish. Upon hearing that Chen Yang would take them to Qinghe City later, his father-in-law was so excited that he didn't bother sending the fish himself and directly arranged for Shen Xue's second uncle, Shen Guangfu, to take the fish to the aquatic products station.
Shen Xue and his mother-in-law busied themselves with making lunch and packed some good dishes for Shen Rong to take to school.
Shen Futang, on the other hand, rushed to find the old village secretary to get a letter of introduction. They would likely be staying in a guesthouse in Qinghe, and without a letter of introduction, they wouldn't have a place to stay.
After a hurried lunch, the family, along with Lei Baoguo, rushed to the county town. The last bus to Qinghe City departed at three o'clock in the afternoon, and if they missed it, they wouldn't be able to catch it.
Shen Xue and Liu Chunmei didn't even have time to say much to Shen Rong. They gave her the dishes, urged her to study hard, and then followed Chen Yang to the station.
Fortunately, they managed to catch the bus by the skin of their teeth.
With the whole family, and Lei Baoguo accompanying them this time, Chen Yang was no longer worried about anyone ambushing them. He had taken the money he earned from selling fish and had hidden at home, and he wondered about Zhang Weiyang's current financial situation.
Expanding rapidly throughout the entire Anhui Province would undoubtedly cost a lot of money. Since such a good opportunity had presented itself, Chen Yang naturally wouldn't let it go to waste.
"Dad, you don't need to keep peering out the window. We're just going back to the old home to see the winery. It's no big deal."
"We're not lacking anything now. Even if Grandpa were alive, he'd surely be happy and praise your capabilities."
Shen Xue couldn't help but want to comfort Shen Futang, who looked worried all the way.
"Daughter, you don't understand. Your father is afraid the winery will be ruined by others."
"That was the life's work of your grandfather and the Shen family ancestors. When your father was young, he loved to brag to me about how prosperous his family used to be. He was once a young master himself."
Liu Chunmei glanced at her husband. Having lived together for most of their lives, how could she not understand Shen Futang's thoughts?
"As long as our family is well, there's meaning in keeping this family fortune. If people are gone, there's no use in guarding that industry."
"Dad, our grandfather was a very shrewd man. If he hadn't been farsighted, how could you have had two such good daughters, and two such wonderful grandchildren?"
Chen Yang glanced at his preoccupied father-in-law. When his business took off later, it wouldn't be impossible to help his father-in-law redeem the winery.
After all, in the 1980s and 1990s, due to national policies restricting baijiu consumption and increasing taxes on the baijiu industry, many wineries went bankrupt.
Only those that survived, like Maotai, Wuliangye, Fenjiu, Jiannanchun, and Luzhou Laojiao, managed to dominate the subsequent vast baijiu market.
Did you not see that decades later, Maotai, which had always dominated the A-share market, had a stock price as high as 2608, and was even called by traders to reach three thousand?
One could imagine what a highly profitable industry baijiu would become in the future. At least in China, perhaps no industry could completely surpass baijiu except for tobacco.
However, his father-in-law's ancestral business, Xuanjiu, hardly occupied any market share in baijiu. At least, Chen Yang had hardly heard of the Xuanjiu brand in his later life.
This meant that the winery likely didn't do well in the 1980s and 1990s, failing to seize the golden development period of baijiu.
The price of liquor depended on its brand and popularity. Was Maotai truly tastier than other liquors? That was debatable.
For someone who enjoyed strong liquor, a Flying Fairy at over a thousand yuan a bottle was truly inferior to the fifteen yuan per jin raw baijiu from the street wine shops.
Therefore, as long as the brand awareness was boosted, and some brewing engineers were hired to improve the taste of the liquor to be more popular and suitable for most people's palates.
Although it might not be comparable to Maotai, its sales might rival those of Luzhou Laojiao and Fenjiu in the future. If the advertising was done well and opportunities were seized to increase brand awareness, there might be a chance to compete with Wuliangye.
"That's true. My father was shrewd. After being a master for so many years, he let go of his ancestral business just like that. I can't compare to my father's decisiveness in this lifetime."
"But I'm not bad either. Both my daughters are promising. Xue girl has good judgment and found a good man. As for our grandchildren, they're even better. What other child can be as smart as our grandchildren?"
"Er Ni might even get into university next year. She'll be a golden phoenix flying out of Shenjiaba. My old face is much more glorious than my father's when he was a master back then."
Comforted by Chen Yang, Shen Futang instantly felt much better. No matter how good the ancestral business was, it was useless if no one was around to inherit it. Although he hadn't been capable in his life, both his daughters were successful.
His elder daughter, though not educated, had good judgment and found a good man, giving birth to a pair of intelligent twins. His younger daughter had a chance to go to university. What more could he ask for?
"Dad, it's good that you can think this way. In life, not everything can go as planned."
"However, if there's an opportunity in the future, it's not impossible to reclaim this ancestral business. It's just that besides you, no one in our family understands winemaking. If the winery is reclaimed, who will take over?"
Chen Yang wasn't sure if he would have the capital and energy to help his father-in-law reclaim the ancestral business in the future, so he didn't make any definitive promises. Moreover, he was truly ignorant of the winemaking industry, and even if it were reclaimed, whether it could be managed well was another matter.
"It's enough that you have this intention. Originally, ancestral businesses were passed down to sons, not daughters. But now it's a new era, and we don't care about that anymore. Xue girl is the eldest daughter, and this family winemaking craft cannot be broken in my hands. I will pass it on to her in the future."
Shen Futang mused. Upon hearing his words, Shen Xue nodded. After all, it was a family heirloom craft, and learning it would certainly not be a disadvantage.
The bus chugged along and arrived at Qinghe City precisely at four-thirty. As soon as Chen Yang got off the bus, he saw people waiting for the bus.
A woman had a pile of goods next to her. After the driver turned off the engine, he went to help her move her things. Drivers were very respected professions in those years, and it was rare for them to be so enthusiastic towards passengers. Chen Yang took another look at the woman carrying goods.
"Aunt!"
It was none other than Shen Xue's aunt, Shen Xiaoxia.