Brentwood Deer Ridge Country Club (Deer Ridge Country Club).
The place Chloe had invited me to wasn't a temporary residence situated on a farm, but rather located at the long-named Deer Ridge Country Club.
The country club referred to here meant a social club equipped with various recreational and social functions—golf, tennis, swimming, restaurants, event spaces, and more—at the center of a high-end residential complex.
So just by hearing the neighborhood name, I could tell how rich Chloe's family was.
Here, I realized that the reason Elaina, who had acted so haughty despite owning that vast Silver Oak Farm, couldn't make a peep at Chloe's single shout wasn't solely because of her beauty.
As the pickup truck I was driving slowed upon entering the residential complex, a smoothly stretched golf course fairway unfolded before my eyes, dazzlingly bright. A completely different world from the dusty cherry orchard road. The grass was manicured like a painting, and every single house boasted large marble columns and gardens, as if showing them off.
It was late afternoon, when the sun seemed about to set, so the mansions reflected in the sunset glow looked like a painting.
"The atmosphere of this neighborhood..."
I hadn't been to many rich houses of this level even before my regression. Back then, I had been a salaryman, rent near New York was expensive, and after I fell into agriculture, I devoted myself to studying.
I had occasionally met rich people during business trips when I was an accountant, but since I worked in New York, I mostly saw luxury apartments. Being invited to a rich house located in such a high-end residential complex was an experience that had happened only a handful of times in my entire life before regression.
When I arrived and got out, the door opened as if she had been waiting, and Chloe walked out. Wearing a black dress that came down to her knees, she was certainly pretty.
"You're here?"
"...Are we going to an awards ceremony after dinner or something?"
"...Shut up."
"I thought we were—"
"Forget it. Anyway, you found the place okay?"
"I used a map. Nice house. Do you live here?"
"We have one here and one in Crockett..."
She even had more than one house.
"You're really a blessed... friend."
"Something like that. Let's go in."
When I opened the door and went in, Chloe's mother welcomed me with a bright smile.
"So you're Brian!"
"Yes, hello."
When I slightly bowed my head in the Korean style, Chloe's mother smiled even wider and led me inside.
"I'm cooking, but it's not ready yet, so go to Chloe's room first, chat for a bit, and come down in twenty minutes."
What kind of conversation could we have in her room for a whole twenty minutes...
"Hmph!"
Brandon, Chloe's older brother, a big burly man who had been sitting in the living room, snorted with his arms crossed and went inside. Then a man who appeared to be her father approached and extended his hand. His hand was rough with calluses but had a firm, warm grip.
"Call me Frederick. I hear you taught Chloe about farming. Thanks to you, my daughter seems to have grown a lot. Thank you."
"Not at all. I merely told her what I knew."
"Go have fun with my daughter, as my wife said. Of course, doing anything excessive is..."
What on earth is this gentleman thinking?
"Ab-so-lute-ly not, absolutely not... Chloe and I are just friends."
Since I uttered 'never' twice without a shred of ambiguity, Frederick made a rather strange expression before soon turning away.
"Follow me."
Chloe's room was on the second floor, and like any girl's room, it was pink and frilly. With her wearing a black dress, it seemed strangely mismatched yet somehow suited her.
She plopped down on the bed and gestured with her chin toward her desk chair. When I sat in the chair, Chloe crossed her arms and spoke.
"You're the first male friend I've brought to this house, so my parents are overreacting a bit. Don't take it too seriously."
"It's fine. I'm not bothered. They seem like good people."
At my words that I wasn't bothered, Chloe's lips twisted, then she crossed her legs and tapped her foot.
"They are good people. I was never scolded much growing up."
"So that's why your manners..."
"Hmm?"
"Nothing. But what about your brother? Since he lost to you, isn't the cherry farm completely out of his reach now?"
"Like I said before, even if I had lost, Dad said he'd give my brother another farm. That's what will happen to him. We have tomato and olive farms besides the cherry one."
The farming tycoon I aspired to become was right here.
"Impressive, huh?"
"Well, even so, I won. Those two farms combined aren't as big as the cherry farm."
If her brother Brandon saw Chloe shrugging her shoulders and acting smug, he would definitely find it insufferable and want to tear his hair out in frustration.
"Anyway, thanks. If it weren't for you, I couldn't have beaten my brother."
"...Well, alright."
"You probably think I'm thanking you just because I'm happy about getting the cherry farm... but that's actually not entirely wrong. I like pretty and sophisticated things. To maintain that lifestyle, money is essential, and I thought the farm Dad built would be a good asset."
"It is a good asset."
"It might be a bit different from yours. I thought of it as... a kind of real estate. Something where cherries would grow on their own if you paid workers on a big plot of land. But Dad gave me a mission, and my worldview shattered. It was the moment I properly realized that cherries don't just grow on their own."
"Hmm..."
"It was shocking to catch bugs I absolutely hated with my own hands so they would eat the aphids. At first, catching the bugs was shocking, but later, seeing those bugs eat the aphids and the sick trees recover was shocking. Dad is probably grateful for that too. More than simply being taught farming knowledge."
"So you're capable of having a normal conversation, more than I thought?"
"...Just how have you been seeing me? As a dumb blonde with big breasts?"
My gaze dropping down and back up in an instant was unavoidable.
"...I never said that."
"..."
After that, we hurriedly changed the subject, chatted about this and that to kill time, and went down to the kitchen about twenty minutes later.
The moment we went down, a rich aroma of food spread out. On the long table set up on one side of the living room sat roast chicken, roasted vegetables, cherries and tomatoes marinated in olive oil, and a neatly arranged cheese platter.
What stood out most was the wine decanter placed in the center of the table. The red liquid glowed softly under the candlelight, emitting a deep purple hue.
"Sit down, sit down."
Chloe's mother offered the seat of honor to Frederick. Chloe sat beside me, and across from us sat Chloe's mother and Brandon.
"Eat up."
"Thank you for the meal."
Perhaps because Chloe's mother was quite a good cook, the food was very good.
"You studied farming very professionally?"
Frederick asked, piercing a piece of roast chicken with his fork and bringing it to his mouth.
"I studied on my own."
"That much on your own? Impressive. You got into UC Davis?"
"Yes."
"I looked into Redwood Farm and heard it suffered a major pest outbreak last year... You must have had quite a bit of confidence to purchase it?"
"That's right. I'm confident that I'm now growing them in better conditions than any farm cultivating Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa Valley."
"Ho, is that so? What do you plan to do once they're all grown? From what I heard from my daughter, you mentioned thinking about cherry wine, so are you planning to make wine at your own winery rather than sell them?"
"Last year, I made vinegar from the remaining grapes with lower marketability and saw quite a decent profit. Since wine prices aren't in a good situation, I'm planning to make half into vinegar and half into wine."
"Oh, I see. I heard. The vinegar is quite popular?"
"Yes. I made 20,000 liters and supplied them primarily to Bristol Farm, but now stock has run out, so I've notified them that we're closed for the year."
Frederick looked at me with a gaze full of meaning, then pointed to the decanter on the table.
"Well then, I've prepared something special today. Have you heard the name Château Margaux?"
I looked at the red liquid in the glass and nodded.
"Yes, it's a First Growth wine from the Médoc region of Bordeaux. I've heard it called an elegant wine."
"Since you're an adult now, you can have a glass, right?"
"Yes, please."
Frederick poured the wine very skillfully. Since I was only twenty years old, I didn't bother sniffing the aroma first or swirling the glass around; I just took a sip without putting on airs.
Truthfully, I had drunk a lot of wine even before my regression, but more for research than for enjoyment.
"It's good."
"How is it?"
Asking specifically how it felt seemed closer to a kind of test.
"The tannins aren't strong, so it's smooth. The finish is long, too."
I didn't bother rambling on about violet or cedar notes. I thought a concise answer describing exactly how the wine felt right now was sufficient.
"You felt it exactly right. It's a favorite of mine, but it's a shame you can't make this in California."
"That's right."
"Do you happen to know why?"
"A style like Château Margaux requires Bordeaux's unique conditions: a stable climate, soil with good drainage yet rich in minerals. California has strong sun and is dry, so even if you plant the same varietal, the aroma becomes denser and the alcohol content rises, so you can't achieve this feeling."
He looked at me with a greatly impressed expression.
"I once asked a wine expert the exact same question, and his answer was exactly the same as yours."
"I see."
I answered as if it were no big deal, and he looked at Chloe with fresh eyes before asking me.
"You said you'd make cherry wine, right? Is two tons enough?"
"Actually, the scale could go up to twenty tons, but there's no reason to be greedy. I was planning to make it because the winery would otherwise be sitting idle until October."
"Have you decided what kind of wine you'll make?"
He was asking about the wine's concept.
"It's more that it's already determined rather than me making it. Basically, Brentwood cherries have strong sunlight so the juice is concentrated, and the temperature drops sharply at night, so the acidity remains moderate. Therefore, cherries grown in Brentwood have high sugar content but also moderate acidity and aroma."
"You know your stuff."
"Brentwood cherries have a very bright aroma. There are notes of red rose and cranberry in that aroma, so if fermentation goes well, that aroma will come alive in the wine too. The sweetness will naturally decrease... but instead, the remaining acidity should make it a dry wine with bursting fruit flavors, don't you think? That's my prediction."
It was literally just a prediction, and I would have to watch the fermentation process as I made it, but suddenly Frederick closed his eyes and murmured as if in admiration.
"A ruby-red wine... Bringing the glass close, the aroma of cherry blossoms and ripe cherry juice would bloom. When drinking, it would be refreshing at first, then leave a subtle, spicy finish... That's the kind of wine it would become."
What the hell, this guy?
"...I suppose... so?"
"A wine that's easy to drink, yet doesn't end lightly. A wine that will make anyone reach for a second glass."
For a moment, I almost asked Chloe if her father had written poetry when he was young.
How could his sensibility be so abundant...
Then, Frederick opened his eyes and said.
"I'll give you ten tons for now. Try making it with that."
"Huh? Ah, we haven't prepared the funds for that much."
Originally, quite a bit of money remained after selling the vinegar, but because I used it to pre-order Pinot Noir, funds weren't exactly comfortable. Since the cherry wine was just something to make so the winery wouldn't sit idle, I had no intention of overextending.
However,
"Don't worry. I'll just give you the cherries."
"You'll just give them to me?"
"In exchange, let's split the profits from the cherry wine fifty-fifty. If the quality of this wine turns out well, I'd like to seriously enter into a long-term deal with you using our cherries... What do you think?"
I looked at him with a bewildered expression and said.
"Let's do fifty-fifty of the revenue from the farm, excluding distribution costs."
"Good. Deal."
He raised his wine glass, clinked it against mine with a tap, and grinned.