Ke Xue Bartender

Chapter 196: Drinking Wine and Talking about Green Plums

The church bells rang.

The wedding was successfully held with the blessings of all the guests.

But at night, the groom disappeared.

Polo Bar.

7 p.m.

Lin Ye looked at Takasugi Toshihiko who was sitting at the bar and smiled.

Great, you're here at last.

"Shouldn't Mr. Takasugi be with the bride on the wedding night?" Lin Ye asked calmly.

Conan, who was sitting in the corner, also stared at Takasugi Toshihiko with a strange look on his face.

"Sayuri said she had been to this store, so I wanted to come and take a look." Takasugi gave a perfunctory answer.

[Why did he knock over those two cans of lemon tea? Did he find out that I had poisoned them? ]

[No, he was not in the dressing room when I poisoned him. Could he have really knocked him over accidentally?]

【Does this man know something? 】

Gao Shan thought about these questions in his mind.

Lin Ye glanced at him and said, "Mr. Gao Shan, you've come at the right time. I'd like to buy you a drink."

"Buy me a drink?"

Lin Ye smiled and said, "When Miss Matsumoto came to the store before, I offered her a glass of wine to congratulate her on her wedding. Mr. Takasugi is the groom, so I would like to invite you to have a drink as a wedding gift."

Takasugi Toshihiko nodded with a complicated expression: "Okay, thank you very much."

Lin Ye turned around and took a bottle of wine from the wine cabinet.

A bottle of green plum wine, the brand is Dieshi.

Seeing the name of the wine on the bottle, Takasugi Toshihiko asked, "Chouya Plum Wine?"

Lin Ye smiled and said, "Mr. Gao Shan also knows this company?"

Takasugi Toshihiko nodded and said, "Chouya Umeshu Co., Ltd., headquartered in Habikino City, Osaka Prefecture, is a company engaged in the manufacture and sale of fruit wines, mainly plum wine."

Lin Ye asked as if he was just chatting, "Mr. Gao Shan, do you know the origin of the name Chou Ya?"

Takasugi shook his head to indicate that he didn't know.

Lin Ye then explained:

"There are many Japanese tiger swallowtail butterflies living in the mountains of Habikino City. There is also a historical legend that stones and wood were quarried from the mountains to make arrows, so the name 'butterfly arrows' was derived."

"The company was founded in 1914, but initially it focused on growing grapes and other fruits. It was not until 1924 that it built a winery to make wine and brandy from its own grapes and other plants. It was not until 1959 that plum wine became its main product."

"Have you ever drunk plum wine, Mr. Takasugi?"

Takasugi Toshihiko nodded: "I drank it with Sayuri..."

It seems that Miss Matsumoto also tried to hint to him, but unfortunately she was unsuccessful.

Well, let me help you remember it today, Mr. Takasugi.

Thinking of those memories you have forgotten.

"Chouya plum wine is made entirely from Japanese green plums and does not contain any additives. This kind of plum wine made only from plums, wine and sugar, without additives such as coloring and flavoring, can be called 'honkaku plum wine'."

"Honka plum wine?" It was the first time that Takasugi Toshihiko heard this term and it felt a little fresh.

[In the mystery novel world, there is a school of orthodox reasoning, which prioritizes logic and focuses on realism]

[The "honkaku" in Honkaku plum wine probably refers to the classical and traditional brewing method]

It is natural that Takasugi Toshihiko has never heard of it, because the term "honge plum wine" was not officially proposed until 2015.

Because breweries have different brewing recipes, in order to make it easier for the public to distinguish the various types of plum wine on the market, the "Japan Western Liquor Brewing Association" announced the "Honka Umeshu Standard" on January 2015, 1. The standard is that no additives are added, and only plums, wine and sugar are used for production.

Lin Ye was just using this name in advance.

"Mr. Takasugi, do you know where the place with the largest plum production is?" Lin Ye asked again.

Takasugi Toshihiko knew this and replied without hesitation: "It is Wakayama Prefecture." "Yes, Wakayama Prefecture was part of Kii Province in the seventh century, so it was also called "Kishu". The most important variety used to make plum wine is "Nanko", which originated in the southern part of Wakayama Prefecture, so it is also called "Kishu Nanko Plum". "

Lin Ye introduced.

“The name ‘Nanko’ comes from the name of Wakayama Prefectural Nanbu High School and the name of the original Takata plum. The school participated in the selection of plums and finally selected the Takata plum, the predecessor of the improved Nanko plum. Therefore, this name can be said to be a combination of man and plum.”

While Lin Ye was talking, his hands were not idle.

He brewed a cup of hot black tea, a cup of hot green tea, and a cup of hot oolong tea, then mixed the three teas together and mixed them with plum wine, with the ratio of wine to mixed hot tea being 1:1.

After finishing, he placed the steaming wine glass in front of Takasugi Toshihiko.

"Mr. Takasugi, please."

Takasugi Toshihiko picked up the wine glass, and a warm breath hit his face, along with the aroma of tea, wine, and green plum.

At this moment, something seemed to be loosened deep in his memory.

When he drank the hot drink in the cup, as the warm liquid flowed into his throat, a warm current spread throughout his body and surged to his brain.

Forgotten memories quietly resurrect.

In the park, a group of children were bullying a little girl.

"Let the girl go!"

Hearing the sound coming from behind, the children who were bullying the girl turned around and saw a boy holding a wooden stick with clear and determined eyes.

The boy waved a stick and tried hard to drive the bad boy away, but he himself was covered with bruises.

But he still walked up to the girl with a smile, like a victorious swordsman, showing a hearty smile:
"Are you okay?"

There were still tears in the girl's eyes, but she shook her head.

"My name is Takasugi Toshihiko, what's yours?"

"Matsumoto...Sayuri."

The girl replied quietly.

The scene changes.

Boy and girl sitting on the grass in the park.

"This is the lemon tea I secretly brought from home. Please have some."

The girl took the can of warm lemon tea from the boy, her eyes sparkling with curiosity and joy.

"My family runs a bakery, what about you?"

"My dad... catches bad guys and is often not at home."

"Is that so? Then I will play with you from now on. If anyone dares to bully you, I will help you beat them away."

The girl saw the boy's sincere smile and nodded vigorously.

The screen turns again.

On the street, the boy was holding his mother's hand, and they had just returned from the market buying vegetables.

The picture is warm and peaceful.

Two cars chasing after them broke this warmth. After a violent collision and the harsh sound of tire friction, the woman fell in a pool of blood.

The boy was pushed away by his mother and escaped.

A ferocious-looking man rushed out of the civilian car that hit the electric pole. After cursing, he covered his forehead and rushed into the alley on the street.

Immediately afterwards, an even more ferocious man rushed out of the police car that braked suddenly at the back and was about to chase into the alley.

"Uncle, my mother--"

"Get out of the way, little brat! Get out of the way!"

The man with a scar through his left eye responded rudely and rushed into the alley without looking back.

The boy was frightened and stared at the man's back.

That fierce and cold face has been deeply engraved in his memory ever since.

(End of this chapter)