Qin Lin followed Master Zhang into a simple office.
After Master Zhang cleared a place on a pile of junk, he dug out stone bricks and revealed an entrance.
In other words, Li Qing was right. There really was a middle cellar.
Master Zhang didn’t forget to explain, “Boss Qin, there’s actually a wine cellar under this winery.”
“Is this cellar dedicated to storage?” Li Qing was inexplicably looking forward to it.
Generally, winery cellars were quick to produce wine for profit. This created an environmental problem. There was no way to store old wine.
Therefore, he would have to build a smaller special vault to store the aged wine.
Under normal circumstances, this special vault was rarely opened to reduce the impact of external factors.
When Qin Lin followed Master Zhang into the cellar, he saw the scene inside clearly.
The space was not very big, but it was filled with stored sealed wine jars of all sizes. Judging from the style, it should have been affected by the age and the size could not be uniform.
Moreover, judging from the oxidation on the surface of the large wine jar, these wines were not placed in the same batch. Some were placed a long time ago, and some recently.
Master Zhang also explained, “I put in a lot of the wine here later. Almost every year, I would put some in without telling anyone.”
Qin Lin asked curiously, “Has no one discovered Master Zhang’s wine cellar?”
Li Qing also looked at Master Zhang curiously.
He could see that there were more than ten large wine jars in the corner that were obviously very old. He wondered how many of them had been preserved intact.
Due to the storage technology, waste wine would appear after a certain number of years. The longer it took, the higher the waste wine rate.
This was also because 20- and 30-year-old wine could still be seen on the market. Any longer and it would be almost invisible. Once it appeared, the price would be unimaginable.
At this moment, Master Zhang also began to recall. “Actually, I didn’t know about this wine cellar at first. Master didn’t tell me.”
“I only discovered it by accident. I wanted to report it when I discovered it, but who knew that those officials were so useless? An official came and said that he wanted to lower the quality of the materials for the sake of benefits. I might as well not say anything.”
“After that, I circled this place myself as my office. I’m in charge of the production of the winery, and the other masters don’t come into my office casually. As for the management, they come to the winery less than twice a year.”
“There are a few who aren’t fooling around. I can guess that the winery will be sold or even bankrupt. I’m also prepared to keep these wines to see if I have a chance to save the winery at a critical time.”
Qin Lin asked again, “Then didn’t the people in this wine cellar know?”
Master Zhang thought for a moment and said, “I’m also curious about this, so I’ve investigated it. There should only be one possibility. After the winery was built, it belonged to the cooperative group at first. Wasn’t there a bad period after that?”
“The winery was affected in the last few years of that period. It was even deserted for a long time. Later, this winery was restarted as a county business, and the employees were no longer the same.”
“My master also entered the wine factory to survive after his son died. I just don’t know why he didn’t say anything about this wine cellar. When I found it, it was obvious that there was still wine that he put in later.”
This seemed a little tortuous. It roughly matched the wine cellar time mentioned earlier.
Qin Lin and Li Qing also knew what that period of time meant. The topic was a little sensitive, so the two of them did not want to ask further. Anyway, there was no point in probing further.
The most important thing now should be the wine in the wine cellar, especially Qin Lin. He had just obtained a wild ginseng and nine bitter ginseng and needed good wine to brew it.
Master Zhang continued, “Boss Qin, now that you’ve bought this winery, I believe you can make a good winery. Take these wines and use them. Perhaps they can help.”
He had been in charge of technology since he was a young apprentice at the winery. Along the way, he had relied on the winery to marry, have children, and support his family. It was already an obsession of his not to let the winery fall.
Qin Lin looked at Master Zhang’s sincere expression and nodded.
Although it would be easier to promote ordinary wine if there was some aged wine.
However, he said worriedly, “By the way, Master Zhang, will anything happen if the county finds out about this?”
At worst, this behavior could be considered as embezzlement.
To be honest, he really did not want anything to happen to Master Zhang now.
This teacher was not bad.
Otherwise, the wine in this wine cellar should be worth a lot of money. He had a chance to move away long ago.
Li Qing smiled and said, “What’s the matter? Boss Qin, you only discovered this cellar after buying the winery and found a lot of old wine inside.”
“Besides, the contract has already been signed. That’s Youcheng County’s own problem. It’s most likely because of the blame that Master Zhang mentioned. It’s ridiculous that he didn’t know that the winery had such a fortune after being in charge for so long.”
Master Zhang immediately said, “That’s right. Boss, you only discovered this wine cellar after you bought the wine factory. No one knew about it before.”
Li Qing said casually, “Actually, it’s fine even if Youcheng County finds out. Youcheng County is relying on you now, Boss Qin. They won’t take these things seriously.”