Reborn in a small mountain village in 1991

Chapter 103 Catching the Counterfeit Alcohol Seller

Hearing the sound outside the door, Xu Chunsheng put down the book in his hand and invited the person in.

The whole family heard Li Minfu shouting in the yard.

The matter that had been weighing on my mind for days finally saw new developments at this moment.

During the days that Xu's father stayed at the shop with Xu Chunsheng, he watched as business became more and more dismal. The customers who used to come to buy wine every day disappeared, and the restaurants he cooperated with lost orders for weddings and funerals one after another. There were also rumors spreading everywhere, which made him so anxious that he developed several mouth ulcers.

Although Xu's mother and eldest sister did not go to the store, they were extremely anxious every day as they listened to what Xu's father told them when he came home.

Mr. Xu slammed his hand on the table, venting all the pent-up frustration of the past few days in that slap: "You really found it? Which bastard is it?"

Standing to the side, Xu's mother also spat twice, "Which despicable scoundrel is it that's been doing all this shady stuff behind the scenes!"

Xu Chunsheng and the others surrounded Li Minfu, looking at him anxiously. The eldest sister poured him a bowl of tea, gesturing for him to explain what was going on: "Minfu, have some tea before you speak."

"Thank you, big sister."

Li Minfu took a sip of tea to relieve the heat in his heart, and without keeping them in suspense, he told them directly: "It was Wang Dongcai. I followed Jun'er and Yong'er to keep an eye on those two who sell counterfeit liquor. At first, when they had the goods, they sold what they had. For a while, we didn't know where they got the goods from."

"To this day, we saw them go to the back door of Wang Dongcai's shop with our own eyes. I was outside peeking through the door and I heard Wang Dongcai ask them if they had been caught and if the wine was from the Xu Family Winery that they were advertising."

Xu Chunsheng was more composed than his family: "Tell me slowly, tell me everything from beginning to end, don't miss any details."

Li Minfu spoke at length, panting heavily, and took a sip of tea before continuing, "The three of us searched for people in the villages around the town on ordinary days, and kept watch at the town's vegetable market and fair on market days, until we confirmed that it was indeed those two people."

"Like other peddlers, they carried their wine around and sold it everywhere. Whenever someone came to buy, they would say it was wine from the Xu family's winery, and their behavior was particularly suspicious."

"Where is it suspicious?" Xu Chunshan pressed on.

"The bottled wine they sell is similar in style and size to the wine bottles from your winery. They keep the price very low and tell people it's a special offer from Xu Family Winery."

Upon hearing this, the people inside the room immediately understood.

Mr. Xu instantly understood, his voice filled with anger: "No wonder some people said our wine tasted weak, bitter, and astringent. These people not only sell fake wine, but they also dilute it with water! They're ruining our reputation!"

Li Minfu nodded, handed over a bag of wine, and continued, "I don't know much about wine either. I smelled it up close and could only tell that the wine wasn't very strong. But I bought a bottle, so you can smell it."

When Xu Chunsheng asked Li Minfu and the other two for help last time, he gave each of them a sum of money and told them to buy some of the alcohol from suspicious people they found. He told them not to worry about buying the wrong kind of alcohol, and to buy anything that seemed suspicious.

Xu Chunsheng casually opened a bottle, brought it close to his nose and smelled it. This bottle of wine was different from the one brought by the person who came to the store last time to ask for a refund.

The last one was clearly diluted with water; it tasted weak, but it was strong.

This bottle smells sour and pungent, clearly indicating that it was under-fermented and diluted with water, making it a low-quality tail wine.

Xu Chunsheng took a porcelain bowl, poured some wine into it, and it was clear that the wine was cloudy and obviously not pure wine.

Xu Chunsheng opened the remaining bottles of wine, looked at them, and smelled them. They were either diluted with water or were leftover wine that had been sold directly. Without exception, they were all wines that had been sold directly.

"These liquors are completely different from our genuine, pure grain-brewed liquors. Those who buy them are probably just looking for a cheap deal."

Xu Chunsheng put down the bowl in his hand and continued, "They felt something was wrong after drinking it, and since they couldn't find those two itinerant peddlers, they came to our shop to ask for a refund. Those who didn't come went around saying that our Xu Family Winery's wine was made with inferior ingredients, diluted with water, and was counterfeit."

Mr. Xu was so angry that his face turned pale, and he cursed fiercely.

Xu's mother and eldest sister also looked displeased: "It's outrageous! They can't run a business well, so they resort to these despicable means to harm others."

Xu Chunsheng then asked, "You didn't have a conflict with them, did you?"

Li Minfu shook his head, indicating that he had not been discovered and that they did not know that he had been asked by Xu Chunsheng to stake out the place: "We did not dare to alert them on the spot. The three of us took turns staking out the place so that they would not notice us."

"After selling all the wine they had, the two men, carrying empty wine jars, sneaked into the back door of Wang Dongcai's shop without anyone noticing."

Xu Chunsheng was not surprised by the result, which was consistent with his previous guess: "It really was them. Only Wang Dongcai and Zhang Qiang sell wine in town, so it couldn't be one of them."

Since its opening two months ago, Xu Family Winery has only been able to retain customers by offering small bonuses with each bottle of wine. If the wine is not good, no matter how many freebies you give away, you will not be able to keep those who appreciate good wine.

Wang Dongcai's winery business was dismal, with fewer customers. He probably had long harbored resentment towards the Xu family. But no one expected that he would actually hire someone to impersonate the Xu family and sell counterfeit wine.

This is an attempt to destroy the Xu family's winery from its very foundation, with the aim of making them unable to withstand the pressure of rumors and causing them to go bankrupt as soon as possible.

Xu Chunsheng cracked his knuckles, a cold glint in his eyes: "Have you found out where they live?"

Li Minfu scratched his head a little embarrassedly: "Hehe, we tied him up, and Jun'er and Yong'er are watching him. That's why I rushed over to tell you."

Xu Chunsheng frowned: "Why did you tie them up? Didn't I tell you not to fight? What if you get hurt?"

Although Li Minfu was already nineteen years old, in Xu Chunsheng's eyes he was still a young boy, not to mention that Jun'er and Yong'er, who were with him, were only fourteen or fifteen years old.

Hearing the concern in Xu Chunsheng's words, Li Minfu explained, "After they left Wang Dongcai's place, they went to a restaurant to eat and drank the wine that Wang Dongcai gave them. They got drunk and fell asleep on the street, which is why we tied them up."

After hearing about the kidnapping, the family present didn't know what expression to wear. Xu Chunsheng pressed his temples a couple of times and asked, "Where is that person? Did no one see them?"

Li Minfu chuckled: "We carried them both on our backs, and anyone who saw them on the street just assumed they were drunk."

"We put him in the 'Quercus glauca forest,' and he should be sober by now."

The oak forest is a grove of trees that you have to pass through on the way from Xujia Village to the town. It is green all year round, with wild grass that can grow as tall as a person, and it is right next to the town.

"Alright, since we've already tied him up, let's go take a look."

Xu Chunsheng called Li Minfu and prepared to go to the oak forest, but Xu's father and eldest sister also came along.

Xu's mother wanted to come along, but Xu's father stopped her: "It's so hot. You're not feeling well, so don't go. We don't know when we'll be back. If we're late, you can go to the pig farm and feed the pigs first."

Only then did Mrs. Xu stop and watch them get into the car and leave with a worried expression.

Xu Chunsheng parked the car by the roadside, and the group went into the oak forest together. Before long, they saw two young men, around fourteen or fifteen years old, guarding two drunk men who were fast asleep.

"Uncle Xu, Brother Minfu, Sister Chunhua, Brother Chunsheng."

The two greeted them one by one: "You've finally arrived! There are so many mosquitoes in this forest, we've practically fed them all."

Sure enough, the two young men had many mosquito bites and scratch marks on their exposed arms.

The two drunkards sleeping on the ground were in a terrible situation. No one was there to swat the mosquitoes for them, and mosquitoes could be seen crawling on them and sucking their blood every now and then.

Seeing the horrific state of the two people on the ground, the older sister couldn't help but laugh: "How come they're still not awake after being bitten like that? If they weren't still breathing, I would have thought they'd passed out drunk!"

Jun'er and Yong'er exchanged an awkward glance before saying, "We were afraid they would wake up in the middle, so we fed them some more wine."

The eldest sister was amused by her two younger brothers' words, and even Li Minfu thought they were clever, completely unaware of the problem.

Xu Chunsheng and his father: ————

Xu Chunsheng didn't blame them, but explained the consequences to them: "You can't do this again. Drunk people aren't really conscious. If you keep pouring more alcohol into their mouths, they'll choke if you're not careful. If they choke and the alcohol goes into their trachea, it can be fatal."

He crouched down and looked at the two of them carefully. Apart from the mosquito bites covering their bodies, their breathing was normal, and they were snoring loudly, sound asleep.

Seeing the serious expressions on Xu Chunsheng and his father's faces, and the complete lack of humor in their words, the eldest sister and Li Minfu also stopped smiling. Only then did they realize the seriousness of the matter.

The smiles on the faces of Jun'er and Yong'er, who were only a little over 20, also froze. They were both at a loss, and the cleverness they had just displayed was gone.

"We don't know, we're just afraid they'll wake up and cause a commotion, which would attract other people."

Jun'er and Yong'er were terrified by Xu Chunsheng's words. Their voices trembled, their fingers nervously gripped the hem of their clothes, and they lowered their heads even further.

The teenagers didn't have any bad intentions; they were just trying to keep people from waking up and causing trouble. They never thought that someone might die, and no one had ever taught them that they shouldn't do that.

So Xu Chunsheng, seeing their panicked expressions, didn't scold them too much: "I know you meant well. Remember this today, and don't do things like plying drunk people with alcohol again."

After the two nodded in agreement, Xu Chunsheng called on them to help transport the two men to the road.

"Come on, give it a push and load them into the car. We'll go to the shop and wait for them to sober up."

Xu Chunsheng stood in the truck bed, put his hands under the man's armpits, and lifted him onto the truck. Xu's father and Li Minfu each supported the man's waist and lifted his legs.

She moved carefully to avoid making the two people vomit. After loading both of them into the car, the older woman handed them their belongings over to the car as well.

After arriving at the shop, the group spent some time unloading the person from the car. Fortunately, it was an ordinary day, and there were few people in the town. In addition, Xu's winery was a standalone building, and the shops next door had closed early, so no one saw what Xu Chunsheng and his group were doing.

After placing the people on the ground, the group sat in the shop chatting. More than an hour passed, but the two still showed no signs of waking up.

Xu Chunsheng fetched a basin of cold water and splashed it on the two of them. Stimulated by the water, the two gradually regained consciousness.

Who are you? Where is this?

The two were dizzy, feeling as if their bones were falling apart. The cold water made them feel refreshed, but their eyes were still unfocused. They saw several figures in front of them, but they were still confused.

Xu Chunsheng moved a bamboo chair and sat in front of the two people. The rest of the people also found stools and sat down. Jun'er and Yong'er stood behind Xu Chunsheng like door gods, staring wide-eyed at the two people on the ground.

Xu Chunsheng calmly asked, "Tell me, who are you two? Why are you impersonating our Xu Family Winery and selling counterfeit wine to others?"

Upon hearing this, the two drunkards panicked again, and even sobered up a bit.

The tall, thin man, with his neck stiff, said arrogantly, "What nonsense are you spouting? We've never bought any wine from Xu's Winery."

The shorter man next to him chimed in, "That's right! You need to provide evidence. What makes you think we're lying? I'll report you to the police station!"

The two maintained a unified story, refusing to admit anything and showing no intention of backing down, clearly indicating their unwillingness to acknowledge the truth.

Enraged, Mr. Xu cursed twice, "You damn fool, if you say another word, I'll drag you to the police station!"

The older woman and the remaining people frowned, not expecting these two to be so shameless and refuse to admit it.

A hint of impatience flashed in Xu Chunsheng's eyes. He had long known that these people would not admit it easily, so he directly told them what the two had done: "Recently, people have been coming to our door with inferior wine, saying that they want to buy wine from my Xu family winery. They made it very clear that it was just two skinny men, one tall and one short, carrying goods and selling them from village to village."

"Furthermore, many people who bought counterfeit liquor on market days saw you selling liquor in town with their own eyes, and even the bottles were imitations of ours."

Xu Chunsheng pointed at the two men's goods and continued, "Don't think you can get away with just denying it. I only need to find two people who have bought counterfeit alcohol before, and I'll know if you two were the ones selling it. Then it won't be as simple as just pretending to sell alcohol!"

Xu Chunsheng raised his voice, staring at the two men, and said, "Disrupting production, spreading rumors, defrauding the people, and selling substandard products—if these things escalate to the police station, at best you'll be fined and have to pay compensation; at worst you'll be imprisoned for fraud and punished. You should think about it carefully!"

These words completely terrified the two men. Their previously stiff necks softened, and the tall, thin man swallowed hard, still somewhat indignant: "At most, I just used your brand name. I'm selling real wine. I didn't lie to them. I told them it was clearance sale wine, and they bought it voluntarily!"

The shorter man, however, seemed unable to withstand the pressure: "Brother, we were wrong. We were just greedy and took advantage of your business, which is why we had such wicked thoughts."

Xu Chunsheng nodded, then asked, "Where did you get your wine from?"

The two men on the ground exchanged a glance, and the tall, thin man spoke up: "It's brewed by someone in our village. We bought the leftover wine from his house."

Lies! Everyone present was furious. Even at this point, they still wouldn't confess!