Second Young Master Fenn laughed when he heard Hale's request. "That's easy! If there's one thing our Fenn Family has, it's plenty of quiet places."
Hale chuckled inwardly, but on the surface he looked embarrassed. "Uh..."
"No need for all that. Like I said, I'll handle everything. Wherever you want to brew, I'll make it happen." Second Young Master Fenn grinned.
Hale kept refusing for quite a while, but in the end, Second Young Master Fenn managed to invite him over. Meanwhile, Caleb Fenn's personal guard immediately returned to the Fenn estate, found Caleb Fenn, and reported everything that happened.
"What? It's gone?" Caleb Fenn said angrily.
Miles Feng could only sigh helplessly beside him, clearly tempted by the wine.
The guard added, "Second Young Master Fenn also went to find him and brought him back to the Fenn estate."
"Another brewer? Didn't Brandon just bring one in last time? It's turning into a mess." Caleb Fenn snorted coldly.
He stood up, looking like he wouldn't be satisfied unless he went to hassle Second Young Master Fenn. Miles Feng hurried after him, worried he might cause trouble.
After bringing Hale to his manor, Second Young Master Fenn smiled. "Stay here for now. I'll have someone arrange a quiet place for you, and then you can move over."
"Thank you, Second Young Master." Hale said.
"By the way, Hale, try not to wander around the Fenn estate. Most people here don't know you, and they might lock you up by mistake." Second Young Master Fenn said with a smile.
Hale nodded, indicating he understood.
Just then, a group of people arrived outside. Seeing them, Second Young Master Fenn felt a pang of annoyance and cursed inwardly, "They came so fast."
The steward led the group. After Hale's earlier incident, the Fenn steward had become especially sensitive about recruiting outsiders and insisted on vetting each one carefully.
"Steward, what brings you here?" Second Young Master Fenn asked with a smile. Hale also noticed the steward.
Besides the steward, Caleb Fenn was also there. Caleb glanced at Hale, then snorted coldly. The steward spoke up, "Third Young Master, I heard you recruited a brewer."
"Yeah, that's right. It's him—I just found him." Second Young Master Fenn replied with a smile.
"Second Young Master, you brought one in last time too, and that was..." The steward frowned, his expression sour—he clearly meant not to bring more trouble to the family.
Of course Second Young Master Fenn wouldn't give up, but he needed a reason to let Hale stay. So he decided to drag the steward into it too. He took out a bottle he meant to keep for himself and smiled, "Steward, this is his wine. Unfortunately, there were only a few bottles, all bought by me. That's why I want him to brew more."
When Caleb Fenn saw the wine, his eyes widened, and Miles Feng's expression turned strange—as if he wanted another taste.
Even the steward was captivated by the aroma, but he managed to restrain himself and said, "No matter what kind of wine it is, it's all the same. What's so special about it?"
"Steward, you just don't get it. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself." Second Young Master Fenn laughed, already handing over a glass.
He poured a cup, and the steward took it out of curiosity, wanting to see if it was really as tempting as Second Young Master Fenn claimed.
As the wine flowed into the steward's mouth, he saw a vision of what he most wanted to see. Seeing even the steward like this, Caleb Fenn suddenly wanted to try it himself—curious about what he'd see.
Hale secretly laughed to himself, "Go ahead, drink as much as you want."
When the steward finally snapped out of the wine's illusion, he said, "This really is good wine. Is there any more?"
Second Young Master Fenn explained everything to the steward, including how he claimed six tenths of the wine and provided all the materials.
The steward liked the wine too, but on the surface he said, "The Fenn Family has strict rules about recruiting people." He stared at Hale, as if trying to see through him.
Second Young Master Fenn didn't interfere, letting the steward inspect Hale as much as he wanted. The steward kept probing, "Where are you from?"
"I'm from a fifth-class planet under Hundred-Bloom Palace. I heard the Fenn Family loves wine, so I came to try my luck." Hale showed a greedy merchant's look.
Seeing Hale's expression, the steward continued, "Who taught you to brew?"
"When I was young, an elder taught me. After I learned, he left." Hale continued, spinning his tale.
The steward thought for a moment, then asked, "What's your name?"
"Hale," he answered.
"I see. Other than you, do you have any family or friends?" the steward continued.
Hale was prepared for this, and sighed, "I had family. We ran a tavern in a small city, but bandits came. My family died to let me escape."
Seeing Hale's grief and anger, the steward said, "You're not weak."
"Those bandits were powerful—they hired people from Black Hand Gate. I had to run, and ended up here, hoping for a safe place." Hale sighed.
Everyone recognized the name Black Hand Gate, so the steward stopped asking and said, "We want seven tenths of your wine."
"What?" Evan was startled, and the others were too. This steward really was ruthless.
"You're now being hunted by the Black Hand Gate. If we want to protect your safety, naturally there has to be a protection fee." The steward said, then turned and left.
Everyone was left staring at each other, but Evan secretly laughed to himself. "Protection fee? What a protection fee."
Miles Feng hadn't expected things to turn out like this. He originally wanted to stir up trouble for Brandon Fenn, but now it had backfired. He could only snort coldly and leave.
Miles Feng smiled at Brandon Fenn. "Second Young Master, could you give me a cup?"
"No problem, here you go." Brandon Fenn said with a sly smile.
Miles Feng took the cup but didn’t drink it right away. Instead, he left. Seeing Miles Feng’s reaction, others assumed he was simply tempted by the wine.
But in truth, no one realized that Miles Feng returned to Caleb Fenn’s manor and set the cup on the table. "Third Young Master, I got you a cup."
"You!" Caleb Fenn snapped angrily.
"Don’t get worked up. Everyone thinks it’s for me, but I never said who I’d give it to." Miles Feng grinned.
Seeing Miles Feng’s expression, Caleb Fenn suppressed his anger and eyed the alluring wine. He downed the cup in one gulp.
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Watching Caleb Fenn’s intoxicated look, Miles Feng smiled. "See? That’s how it should be."
Caleb Fenn finally came back to his senses. "Good wine, truly excellent wine. Amazing."
"Looks like that brewer is something else." Miles Feng said with a smile.
"But all the future wine will belong to Brandon Fenn." Caleb Fenn said, feeling jealous at the thought.
"Why don’t we invite him over sometime?" Miles Feng suggested with a smile.
"Then I’ll leave it to you. Don’t make it too obvious." Caleb Fenn said.
Miles Feng nodded. "No problem."
Evan had no idea Caleb Fenn was now interested in him. At the moment, Evan wasn’t in a hurry to ask about Elena Yale’s father; he planned to get familiar with everyone first.