From Wage Slave to Tycoon

Chapter 99: Chapter 94: Have to Wait 2.5 Years?

The two drank coffee while admiring the swans on the lake. Whether it was intentional or not, Arno somehow brought the conversation around to the vineyard.

"I went to the vineyard a few days ago to check things out. I was surprised to find that there’s quite a bit of fine wine hidden away in the warehouse!"

At the mention of the two words "hidden away," a flicker of regret crossed Arno’s eyes. He had forgotten to exclude the vineyard when he transferred the estate to Su Chen.

The thought of all that aged wine in the cellar made his heart ache.

People from Gaul are arguably number one in the world when it comes to drinking wine. It’s not just a pillar of their industry, but also a cultural heritage.

The wine from that vineyard, after all, was top-tier red wine carefully selected by the Arno family. The quality was absolutely impeccable!

Su Chen took in Arno’s expression. After a moment of thought, he said, "Mr. Arno, there’s still quite a bit of aged wine at the vineyard. You know we Huaxia people aren’t big fans of it. If you’d like, you can take some!"

"Mr. Su, you are truly too generous!" Arno hadn’t expected Su Chen to be so forthcoming; he’d thought it would take some convincing.

"We’re friends, Mr. Arno!"

"That’s right, we’re friends!" Arno said, smiling.

Arno stayed for about an hour before taking his leave. Su Chen tasked Jiang Hui with handling the arrangements for Arno’s men to pick up the wine from the vineyard.

He told him to keep a sharp eye out. While he had promised Arno a portion of the wine, he wasn’t about to give away all the oldest vintages. Su Chen wasn’t *that* generous.

As for the Sheep Head, Arno hadn’t accepted a single cent from Su Chen. At first, Su Chen had planned to bring up the matter of payment, but then he thought, ’This thing was originally from my own country; why should I have to pay for it?’

This was why Su Chen had been so willing to give a portion of the wine to Arno.

’You have to give people something in return, after all!’

...

"Are these the Snake and Sheep Heads?" Si Cong asked, staring at the two bronze heads sitting on the table.

The sight made him feel as if he were dreaming. These two bronze heads had been missing for over a hundred years with no news of their whereabouts, yet Su Chen had only been in Gaul for a short while and had already obtained both!

How could he not be astonished?

"Well, they’re right in front of you, aren’t they? Why are you asking me?" Su Chen said, popping two grapes into his mouth.

"I mean, are they real or fake!" Seeing Su Chen’s nonchalant attitude, Si Cong had no choice but to suppress his excitement.

"Of course they’re real. Arno gave them to me. Do you think he’d give me fakes?"

As soon as Si Cong heard they were from Arno, he knew they had to be genuine.

"Wow. The Snake Head and the Sheep Head... Bringing these back home will cause a huge stir! By the way, what are you planning to do with them once you get them back to Huaxia? Are you going to donate them to the national museum?"

Su Chen paused at his words. He hadn’t really thought about that.

After a moment of contemplation, an idea formed in Su Chen’s mind. "I’m not planning to donate them to the national museum. I’m going to keep these two heads at home to enjoy. If I get the chance later, I’ll bring back some more cultural relics and open a private museum!"

’Donate them to the national museum? Not a chance. They’d just give me five hundred yuan and a silk banner and call it a day. No way!’

’I basically paid for these with a favor!’

’Surely my favor is worth more than five hundred yuan, right?’

Hearing Su Chen’s words, Si Cong smacked his lips, not knowing what to say. After all, the two bronze heads were Su Chen’s private property. Whether he donated them or not was entirely up to him.

"Badass!" After a long silence, Si Cong finally managed to squeeze out a word.

After saying that, Si Cong seemed to think of something. He nonchalantly sat down across from Su Chen, picked up a few grapes from the table, and asked casually, "Old Su, what do you plan on doing with all that wine from your vineyard? Need a hand? A friend of mine happens to own a wine company back in the country!"

"Hm?" At his words, Su Chen stopped what he was doing and looked over at Si Cong.

There was a hint of a smile in his eyes.

Meeting Su Chen’s gaze, Si Cong coughed awkwardly. "I was just thinking, the vineyard’s yield is high this year, and you don’t have any other sales channels right now. I just wanted to help you solve the problem."

The smile on Su Chen’s face grew wider. "Are you trying to help me, or are you just after the aged wine in those three warehouses?"

"Ahem."

A little embarrassed at being seen through, Si Cong nevertheless forced a calm expression and said, "I’m after both. Think about it! If we ship this back home, give it some high-end packaging, and enter it into a few wine-tasting competitions... with the quality of our wine, it’ll get famous overnight! It’ll take the domestic red wine market by storm!"

The quality of the wine from this vineyard is no worse than Romanee-Conti, you know. With the right marketing and planning, even if a bottle doesn’t sell for tens or hundreds of thousands like Romanee-Conti, selling for ten or twenty thousand should be no problem.

This is pure, unblended wine, mind you. Anyone with a discerning palate would know its value.

If we reduce grape sales next year and expand production, we could be looking at the birth of a wine company with annual sales in the billions, or even tens of billions.

Thinking of this bright future, Si Cong could barely keep from grinning from ear to ear.