Chapter 120: Exhausted

Seeing Lin Shuang once again lost in deep thought, Lou Jingsong’s patience was truly worn out. The two sides started bidding again. Even if they could get the girl to change her mind, Manager Lin probably wouldn’t agree. Gritting his teeth, he simply voiced his original idea: “Miss Lin, what if I sell you the winery?”
Lin Shuang shook her head vigorously. “No way! You just said that no matter how many wineries you open, business won’t get any better.”
Lou Jingsong gave up and explained that thyme wine aged for three or five years would be better than their Open Door Wine, and that if Lou’s Winery were located in Xilan County, it would also have a significant impact on Lin’s Winery’s business.
“Is thyme wine aged for three or five years better than our Open Door Wine?” Lin Shuang widened her eyes and looked at Lou Wentang. After getting confirmation, she turned to Lou Jingsong and asked, “If we buy Lou’s Winery, can we also produce thyme wine aged for three or five years?”
Lou Jingsong replied weakly, “What kind of wine can be produced depends on the brewing formula, not where it’s made. Besides, thyme wine aged for three years refers to thyme that has been stored for three years. If your Open Door Wine can also be stored for three years, its quality, though slightly inferior to thyme wine, would still be better than the current Open Door Wine.”
Lin Shuang tilted her head, her eyes sparkling. “Then what should we do? Buying your winery would be a loss for us! Unless you give us the formula for Open Door Wine, that would make sense. We can combine thyme wine with Open Door Wine. That way, we’ll have better wine aged for three or five years, and selling it for four coins won’t result in a loss.”
“The formula for thyme wine?” Lou Jingsong frowned slightly. The girl’s idea was somewhat naive, but if he could really sell the winery, whether it was naive or not, what did it matter to him?
After months of drastic price cuts, Lou’s Winery had lost almost all its savings. Even if they wanted to reopen elsewhere, they would need funds to rebuild the winery. Although Lou’s Winery’s stores in Xilan City and Qiufeng City could be sold, the money wouldn’t be enough to build a new winery. Moreover, no other winery dared to take over Lou’s Winery. Even if sold at a loss as land, it wasn’t farmland and was located outside the city, making it impossible to sell in three to five years.
The only problem was that once the formula for thyme wine leaked from Lin’s Inn, Lou’s Winery would lose its competitive edge in the future.
“I wonder… how much is Miss Lin willing to pay in total to buy Lou’s Winery and the formula for thyme wine?” Lou Jingsong asked carefully.

Lin Shuang raised her little head and said timidly, “Can we try first to see if this recipe is real or not?”
“Well…” Lou Jingsong hesitated. If he gave her the recipe and Lin’s Winery suddenly changed its mind, he would suffer huge losses.
“Grandpa Lou must be worried that I’ll take the recipe and not return it. How about I use silver as collateral?” Lin Shuang reached into her clothes and took out six or seven copper coins and some silver pieces, placing them on the table. “This is my monthly allowance. Is that enough?”
Lou Jingsong shook his head in confusion.
“How much more is needed? Can I ask Dad for another ten taels?” Lin Shuang asked doubtfully. “You can also make another copy of your recipe. Even if we try to be untrustworthy, you won’t have to worry!”
Lou Jingsong smiled bitterly. He realized that when both sides had leverage over each other, dealing with an old fox was far more exhausting than dealing with a young girl. He had to explain everything in detail after just a few words—this wasn’t business negotiation; it was like teaching a girl how to do business. Teachers at the academy only taught for half an hour, and they could sit down when tired, while he had to teach for over an hour without a seat and without even a chance to drink water.
Looking at the copper coins and silver pieces on the table, Lou Jingsong didn’t dare to speak for a long time.
Others thought a leaked recipe was only worth a dozen or so taels of silver, but he was asking for thousands of taels as collateral—his demand was far too high.
Yet he couldn’t refuse either; otherwise, who would take over Lin’s Winery?
Seeing that Lin Shuang remained serious, after a long while, Lou Jingsong mumbled an apology, “How about adding a little more? We can negotiate the price of the winery first.”
“That won’t do. Who knows if this recipe is real or not…” Lin Shuang pouted discontentedly. “Just say how much more. One recipe isn’t even worth my monthly allowance as collateral. How can you be so unfair?”
Lou Jingsong was frustrated. Being looked down upon by a young girl left him with no argument…
He didn’t have the energy to explain again how important a brewing recipe was to a winery. Gritting his teeth and disregarding his pride, he said harshly, “At least three thousand taels of silver.”
“That much?” Lin Shuang turned to Lin Dong. “Dad, is he trying to trick me?”
“Dad doesn’t know either!” Lin Dong replied, confused.
Lou Jingsong couldn’t catch his breath. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed weakly.
Lou Wanzhang was quick to act. Seeing the situation was going wrong, he hurriedly supported the exhausted Lou Jingsong.

“Lin, Manager Lin… How could the thyme recipe of my Louji Winery be worth only three thousand taels of silver? I… I…” Lou Jingsong gasped for breath desperately. It was one thing if an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl didn’t understand, but even her father not understanding was truly hurtful.

Seeing Lou Jingsong about to pass out again, Lin Dong waved his hand impatiently at Lou Wentang, “Enough, it’s almost noon. You take care of this! Use the deed to Louji Winery as collateral first—don’t end up with a fake recipe and run away with three thousand taels of silver.”

“Huh?”

Lou Wentang was utterly confused. From start to finish, he had been listening in a daze, and even by the time an agreement was reached, he still didn’t understand what was going on. It was clearly just innocent child talk, but somehow it led to the thyme recipe, and… it only cost three thousand taels of silver, which was merely a deposit that could be returned later. Didn’t that mean the thyme recipe cost not a single penny?

According to Lou Wentang’s estimate, even if someone tried to drive down the price by taking advantage of the situation, it would still cost four or five thousand taels of silver to obtain it. If it weren’t for the high price, he wouldn’t have hesitated.

“I mean, I’m leaving this to you. Finish it as quickly as possible and return to the winery early—don’t delay its business,” Lin Dong reminded him.

Lou Wentang snapped out of his daze. No matter how complicated it was, since Lou Jingsong had already agreed, it was indeed best to finish it quickly. Otherwise, once Lou Jingsong recovered and had the energy to think, he would definitely regret it later.

“Young Master Lou, go get the deed! Winery Master Lou, I’ll ask the staff to prepare a guest room so we can settle the recipe matter first.” Lou Wentang stood up, helping the unsteady Lou Jingsong and pushing Lou Wanzhang aside slightly.

Seeing Lou Wanzhang hesitate, Lou Jingsong took the key from his waist and handed it to him, saying weakly, “Go ahead! The deed is in the box in my room.”

After the three of them left the backyard, Lin Shuang looked up at Lin Dong and said proudly, “Dad, did I do well?”

“Good. There couldn’t be a better result,” Lin Dong gave Lin Shuang a thumbs up. Not knowing the bottom line for buying the thyme recipe or the extent of Louji Winery’s distress, he had managed, in just over half an hour, to get Lou Jingsong to hand over Linji Winery’s top goal as a bonus. Such skill was only something a cunning old fox could possess.

Over by the side, Yang Ling and Yang Qingting were completely confused. After listening to their conversation for a long time, they still couldn’t figure out why Lou Jingsong would give away the recipe for free.

After a while, Yang Qingting couldn’t help but cast a deep glance at Lin Dong.

If Ruolin Dong were truly willing to join the Yang family, with Lin Shuang’s intelligence alone, if her management skills were fully developed and she were given time to take charge of the business, it would likely be enough to elevate the Yang family even further in terms of financial strength. Add Tianhao to the mix, and the Yang family has no reason not to soar to new heights. It’s a shame that if they had known back then that although Lin Dong was ordinary, the children he adopted could be so extraordinary, they wouldn’t have turned a blind eye.