"Xiaoliu, is the wine ready?" Shen Yibin asked, his eyes shining. He was practically drooling as he spoke. From the very first day Xiaoliu stuffed fruit into the tree hollow, Shen Yibin had been looking forward to this moment.
"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" Xiaoliu stood on a branch, gesturing with its hands. It took Shen Yibin a while to understand what it meant. "You need a pot to get the wine, right? Just a second, I’ll go get it for you right away!" After speaking, Shen Yibin dashed into the kitchen. He had prepared the wine set long ago.
A moment later, Shen Yibin came out holding a large box containing a full wine set. He opened the box, took out a wide-mouthed wine pot, and stood by the railing, stretching his arm out to hand it to Xiaoliu. Xiaoliu climbed a few steps down the trunk, took the pot from Shen Yibin’s hand, and stuffed it into the tree hollow. It fiddled around for a long time but didn’t take it back out.
Shen Yibin was so antsy, it felt like a hundred claws were scratching at his heart. He was utterly miserable, wishing he could just climb the tree and get the wine himself instead of waiting for Xiaoliu.
Fortunately, Xiaoliu didn’t make him wait too long. Xiaoliu finally pulled the wine pot out of the tree hollow. It brought the pot to its nose and took a sniff, then closed its eyes in comfort, seemingly intoxicated by the aroma of the fine wine.
"Xiaoliu, don’t just stand there sniffing it! Give me some too!" Shen Yibin climbed right onto the railing, stretching his arm out and leaning his body forward. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to fall downstairs.
Xiaoliu was quite obedient. It immediately hugged the wine pot and scurried along the branch toward the second floor, so Shen Yibin quickly cried out, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, slow down! Don’t you dare drop that pot!" He wasn’t worried that Xiaoliu would fall from the tree, but if it accidentally dropped the wine pot, he’d cry his eyes out. ’Would I have to run downstairs and lick the floor?’
’Uh, if it really came to that, licking the floor wouldn’t be so bad, would it?’ Thinking about the taste of the Monkey Wine, and then considering how clean the floor was, Shen Yibin felt he could totally abandon his dignity for the sake of the Monkey Wine.
"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" Xiaoliu ran to the end of the branch, leaped forward, tapped its feet lightly on the railing, and landed smoothly on the sofa. Not a single drop of the Monkey Wine in its arms was spilled. What skill.
"Here, drink from this cup!" Shen Yibin quickly handed over a wine cup. Then, bowing and scraping with a sycophantic smile, he asked in a toadying manner, "Want some snacks to go with the wine? There are still plenty of five-spice peanuts from last night. How about I bring them out and we can eat and drink?"
"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" Xiaoliu gave a casual wave of its hand, as if to say, ’Stop wasting time and just bring them out.’ Shen Yibin hurriedly ran to the kitchen and brought out the peanuts, dried shrimp, and century eggs—a few snacks for drinking. Meanwhile, Xiaoliu had already poured the wine and was happily sipping it.
"Hey, how could you start drinking by yourself without waiting for me?" Shen Yibin didn’t have time to blame it, so he quickly picked up the wine pot and poured himself a cup. He took a delighted sip. Ah, the taste of this Monkey Wine was just too good; he couldn’t bear to gulp it down in one go. He held the fine wine in his mouth, savoring it carefully. At first, it was slightly sour and tart, whetting his appetite. Then, the sweetness of the fruit followed, and immediately after, the intoxicating aroma of alcohol rushed forth. Wave after wave of different flavors assaulted Shen Yibin’s taste buds, leaving him completely captivated.
In the words of the Huanzhu Master, this Monkey Wine was "both richly fragrant and purely mellow, its sweetness and aroma beyond compare." After drinking several cups in a row, another benefit of the Monkey Wine became apparent. Previously, no matter what good wine he drank, drinking too much would always make his head feel fuzzy. But with Monkey Wine, this wasn’t an issue.
After drinking it, his mind and body felt refreshed, a sense of comfort spread through him, and his thoughts became clear. There were none of the unpleasant aftereffects at all. Shen Yibin picked up the pot to pour himself another cup, but he failed to notice that the wine’s fragrance had already begun to drift on the breeze, spreading to every corner of the pet store. The pets downstairs were all greedily sniffing the air, and even the ones sleeping upstairs woke up, drooling.
Just as Shen Yibin finished one cup and was about to pour himself another, he suddenly felt something tugging at his pant leg. He looked down to see Hah’Er glaring at him. "Hmph!" Hah’Er was tugging his pant leg with one paw and pointing at the table with the other, looking very displeased that Shen Yibin was drinking without it.
"My bad, my bad!" Shen Yibin gave an embarrassed laugh, quickly picked Hah’Er up, and placed it on a chair. Before Shen Yibin could pour it a cup, the little guy snatched his cup away. The moment it saw the Monkey Wine, Hah’Er immediately cast its displeasure aside, hugged the cup, and began to take small sips.
’You win.’ Shen Yibin felt guilty, so he didn’t say anything. He just picked up another cup and poured himself some wine. However, just as the cup was full, before he could even put the pot down, a hand reached out from behind him and took the cup away.
’Who was that?!’ Shen Yibin was furious. He whipped his head around to see Xia Shixuan had already chugged the entire cup of wine in one go. The sight made Shen Yibin’s heart ache. ’This isn’t beer, why are you chugging it?! It’s a total waste of a priceless treasure! You’re like Pigsy eating the Ginseng Fruit—wasting something so good!’
"Uh, did I drink that a little too fast?" Only after the fine wine was down her throat did Xia Shixuan realize her mistake. The aftertaste lingering in her mouth told her this was no ordinary wine; it had to be savored. ’Drinking it like that... you should be taken out and shot for five minutes!’
"Forget it. I’ll definitely savor this cup." Before Shen Yibin could reply, she reached out again, took the wine pot, and poured herself a full cup. Mimicking Hah’Er, she began to take small sips. "This really is good stuff. Bin, where did you buy it? Give me the address. I want to buy a case and drink it slowly."
"A whole case? In your dreams," Shen Yibin scoffed. ’You probably couldn’t find enough for a case even if you searched the whole world. Sure, there might be other monkeys out there that can brew wine, but one that can make it this delicious? I’m afraid Xiaoliu is the only one.’
As they were talking, Li Shiqing, Xie Nannan, and Gao Shu also came out of their rooms. They were sniffing the air constantly as they walked over, obviously lured by the wine’s fragrance.
"Forget it. The renovation company is coming to tear down a partition wall this afternoon anyway, so we can’t open for business as usual. Let’s just take the day off!" Shen Yibin quickly put the wine pot away. "Let’s get some things ready and find a spot to have a picnic and drink later!"
Shen Yibin was planning to use this as an excuse to throw a Monkey Wine party. He picked up his phone and called Bai Yanni, Qiao Wenqi, Mo Xiaomo, and Xu Ye one by one. As for Sun Qian and the others, they would just have to wait for the next batch of wine. There was no chance for them to have any from this batch.