Chapter 253 Please Resort to Reverse Psychology
Calabash Brothers, Calabash Brothers, on a single vine blossom seven flowers, Ultimately, seven monkeys were made... Seven White-browed Gibbons swaying on the trees, Suming turned into an old man with a white beard, earnestly instructing them, hoping that they too could learn some wine brewing techniques.
Truth be told, Suming did not expect them to learn how to brew wine.
There was talk of Monkey Wine, but it seemed there was never any White-browed Gibbon Wine. Though White-browed Gibbons and regular macaques are both primates, they are after all different species. Suming felt they were closer to orangutans; if they could brew wine, then orangutans might as well make 'Orangutan Wine'.
However, if the White-browed Gibbons learned a few tricks and could imitate the macaques in brewing wine, they could potentially help with promoting the brewery in the future. That way, with both monkeys and gibbons, it wouldn't raise suspicion; onlookers would just think they were trained animals from a zoo.
Moreover, each White-browed Gibbon was carrying a bag of fruit on its back. They had had their fill of dinner and now couldn't snack anymore, which would just go to waste otherwise.
"Isn't that right, come on, at least follow along and learn a couple of moves."
Brewing wine is a technical task, and Suming didn't know how, so he couldn't use spiritual power to force them to brew. Besides, revolutionary work must rely on self-consciousness. If he forced them this time, what about next time? Surely he couldn't always be watching over them.
Despite Suming talking himself hoarse, the gibbons couldn't care less. They pouted their thick lips, flipped their eyelids to the sky, and swayed even more vigorously on the trees. Some even deliberately made faces at Suming.
"A bunch of bastards, I knew I shouldn't have brought you out! Next time I won't bring you out!" Suming pretended to threaten.
The threat didn't work either. Macaques are playful and clever by nature, while White-browed Gibbons' temperament can be described as mischievous with a hint of defiance, like a bunch of rebellious teenagers who do the exact opposite of what they're told, and if you push them too far, they explode.
"Or what, you don't want to brew wine, just sit there?" Suming tried a different tactic, thinking maybe if he told them not to do it, they might just insist on doing it.
"Oook oook oook..." The seven gibbons vigorously nodded at Suming without hesitation.
"Oh man..."
Suming finally gave up on verbal persuasion, realizing that ideological education was futile.
So, he projected a strand of spiritual power onto the Monkey King, employed the Soul Attachment Ability, and thought to himself that he would personally experience it first, learn the brewing techniques following the Monkey King, and then gradually attempt to teach the White-browed Gibbons. If it came to it, he would just have to learn whether they liked it or not, supervising during filming for promotional videos if necessary.
Once the Soul Attachment Ability was activated, Suming felt a dizzying spell as the world spun around him. No wonder he felt dizzy, the Monkey King was hanging upside down on a tree and still swaying.
A peach the size of a fist whooshed towards him as though it was a small cannonball. Just as it seemed about to hit him in the eye, Suming instinctively tilted his head back and cried out, "Oh my..." before he could finish, the Monkey King lightning-fast caught the peach and casually tossed it into a tree hollow.
Experiencing it firsthand allowed Suming to better appreciate how quickly the Monkey King could act, all-seeing and all-hearing. Suming couldn't help but praise, "Awesome! All of you guys are quite impressive too, Xiao Kong, you've grown much stronger recently..."
He had not anticipated that, upon casually complimenting the macaques, the White-browed Gibbons would take offense!
Four White-browed Gibbons jumped down from the trees, each grabbing fruit from the others' backpacks and throwing it at the gibbons still hanging in the trees; those in the trees held on with one arm and imitated the macaques in trying to catch the fruit.
"Oh! I get it now!" Suming was momentarily stunned but soon had an epiphany.
These White-browed Gibbons had always had a chip on their shoulders against the macaques, feeling competitive. After hearing him praise the macaques, they became disgruntled, wanting to prove that they were more impressive than the macaques!
In ancient times, wise rulers were not afraid of internal conflict among their ministers; they even hoped for it within the court. As long as they could keep the repercussions of such rivalries within limits, it could motivate both sides to work harder and serve the court more diligently.
Now, it was the same with the macaques and the White-browed Gibbons.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"The gibbons aren't bad either, keep it up!" Suming deliberately said.
The gibbons grinned smugly at the macaques, and the macaques immediately started chattering louder and picking up the pace of their wine-making. Fruit flew everywhere in the air, turning the scene into a veritable fruit battlefield.
"Good, turns out the macaques are even better!" Suming mused.
"Ook ook... ook..." The gibbons' fighting spirit surged, their anger levels skyrocketing!
But honestly, the macaques were indeed much stronger. Although the gibbons were nimble, they were still novices and didn't have an 'old expert' like the Monkey King leading them. They often missed their target with the fruit, either tossing it into the woods or directly hitting the other gibbons on the head or stomach, prompting howls of pain; or the gibbons in the trees would fail to catch the thrown fruit, grasping at air and quickly becoming disorganized.
After a while, the 'competition' resulted in most of the macaques' fruit landing inside the hollow tree, while the gibbons' fruit mostly rolled around on the ground, not making it into the hole.
Not long after, the gibbons realized this and changed their strategy, all climbing onto branches and lining up in a row.
"What are they planning now?" Suming watched curiously.
He observed as they each moved to the mouth of the hollow, hooked their hind legs onto the bark around the opening, and hung upside down like golden hooks, emptying the fruit from their backpacks right into the hollow.
Soon enough, the hollow was filled with quite a bit of fruit.
Then, one by one, the gibbons hopped down from the tree and lined up according to their size in front of the hollow.
"Ook ook!" The gibbon at the front of the line suddenly pounded its fists fiercely into the pile of fruit in the hollow, splashing juice all around.
After a good while of pounding, the first gibbon seemed tired, its long arms dragging by its sides as it staggered to the end of the line, and then the next gibbon in line hammered at the hollow in the same fashion...
The gibbons' arms were very strong, and it wasn't long before a large portion of the fruit in the hollow was reduced to pulp.
"So, that's their plan." Suming chuckled, finding it tough for the creatures who had come up with such a tactic.
Since it was a matter of physical labor, and the gibbons weren't as strong as Su Meng who was idle anyway, he simply decided to join the queue in the gibbons' team, ready to help hammer the fruit. Find your next read at empire
Unexpectedly, when Su Meng approached, the gibbons persistently pushed him away, refusing to let him join in the work.
"Quite temperamental, aren't they? Alright then, if they don't want help, let them do it themselves." Suming laughed from the sidelines.
And so, the gibbons lined up in front of an old tree to smash fruit, while the macaques hung from another old tree catching them, both sides working fervently.
Soon, all the brought fruit was processed, and the first stage of wine-making was completed. Most of the fruit in the macaques' hollow was smashed open; in the gibbons' hollow, however, it was thoroughly mushed, like a pile of fruit puree.
"Let's get ready to go." Suming whistled, and a dozen large dogs immediately came back from all directions.
Huiya and the wolf dogs came running down from a steep slope of yellow stone, soaking wet and steaming.
"What's the matter, got boiled?" Suming blurted in surprise. In the middle of winter, why would they be steaming?
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