Chapter 93: Life is hard to get drunk once (03)

  At around 7 pm, Ouyang Yiweng accompanied Xiao Nian's teacher slowly walking out of the school gate, and they chatted and laughed as they walked.

  The town of Linfeng is a mess due to the large-scale processing of wood, whether it's transportation or the environment. The smoke and dust are unbearable, especially with the constant haze and massive amounts of sawdust. I remember when I first arrived at Yannan S, every time I went out on the street, I would see streets filled with smoke, dust, and trash, which really scared Teacher Xiao Nie. From then on, she rarely went out on the street, and even for essential daily necessities, she would find ways to get someone else to buy them for her.

  However, tomorrow is the day to leave, and Xiaoni teacher walks on the street, seeing the original scene that she was very disgusted with, but she has some nostalgia. She pulls Ouyang Yiweng's hand, pointing here and there, asking this and that, saying a lot of sentimental words...

  In the afternoon, Xiao Nian teacher and Ouyang Yiweng had already made an appointment with Chen Haonan to meet at the entrance of "Fuyunju" at 7:30 in the evening. Speaking of "Fuyunju", it is the highest-end restaurant in Linfeng Town, of course, because of its comfortable environment, it has also become a great place for gathering friends and family. Here, Chen Haonan followed Xiao Qiuming to meet with some hoodlums, tasted the pleasure of being a big brother; also here, he celebrated his birthday with friends, enjoying happy moments. Perhaps, in a sense, "Fuyunju" is a witness.

  At a normal pace, it would take five or six minutes to walk from the school gate to Fuyunju. However, Xiaonie teacher and Ouyang Yiweng walked slowly and stopped frequently, taking more than 20 minutes.

  As soon as they arrived at the entrance of "Fuyunju", Ouyang Yiweng saw Chen Haonan come out to greet them. She grasped his hand tightly, as if she had caught a lifeline, and deliberately took deep breaths, saying: "Haonan, I almost went crazy! This young Nie comrade is leaving tomorrow, and he's suddenly developed a strong attachment to Linfeng Town - as soon as we got onto the street, he saw something and started waxing poetic about it. He went from sighing over wood shavings to lamenting rotten wood blocks, and then from wood planes to circular saws... the whole street almost became a thick volume of poetry..."

  "Isn't that an exaggeration!" Little Nie teacher laughed and pinched Ouyang Yiweng, "I just expressed my own thoughts, I didn't expect this little demon to scold me like that!"

  Chen Haonan couldn't help but laugh as he watched them playfully, and whispered to Xiao Nie teacher: "Since you're so fond of Linfeng Town, Teacher Xiao Nie, why don't you just... stay here and not leave..."

  Mr. Xiao Nie was about to respond when Li Donglin walked over, and Ouyang Yiweng was smiling and greeting him... "Hao Nan, your friend is here, why don't you introduce me?" Mr. Xiao Nie smiled and gave Chen Haonan a hint with her eyes, indicating that his previous question didn't need to be asked. Of course, she also knew that his previous question was probably just a joke, because he already knew that her leaving was a done deal.

  "Come, come, come, Donglin. This is the little Nie teacher I've often mentioned to you!" After hearing Little Nie's words, Chen Haonan hastily smiled and introduced her to Li Donglin. Then, he pointed at Donglin and said to Little Nie, "Little Nie teacher, this is my iron brother Li Donglin."

  "Ah, Teacher Xiao Nie, I'm Li Donglin. Haonan has mentioned you to me before, but I never had the chance to meet you. Today, I'm so lucky to finally see such a beautiful and young teacher... it's truly a blessing from three lifetimes!" As he spoke, Li Donglin extended his hand.

  Xiao Nian teacher smiled and shook hands with Li Donglin, saying: "This afternoon, I heard Yier say that you are humorous and witty. Now it seems that not only are you humorous and witty, but also quite gentlemanly!"

  "Too kind, too kind, but...but who is this 'Yi Er'?" Li Donglin rubbed his head in some confusion.

  "'It's me, of course...' " Ouyang Yiweng squeezed forward, laughing and shouting.

  She shouted this, and several people laughed. Finally, it was still Xiaonie teacher who reminded: "Let's go in, we won't stand here anymore, let's go in and drink while chatting!"

  Then the four of them entered one after another, chatting and laughing.

  In the small room on the left side of the second floor of "Fuyunju", four people sat around a table: Xiao Nie teacher was surrounded and sat at the top, Li Donglin sat at the bottom, Chen Haonan and Ouyang Yiweng sat opposite each other in the middle.

  As soon as they sat down, the waiter brought in a pot of tea and greeted everyone to order. Teacher Xiao Nie and Ouyang Yiweng took over the menu, whispered for a while, and asked the waiter to write down two stir-fried dishes, a plate of garlic shoots with meat, and a plate of fried tofu. Then, they handed the menu to Chen Haonan and Li Donglin respectively.

  After all, they are men of action, and they get things done quickly! Chen Haonan and Li Donglin took the menu, looked at each other, discussed briefly, and "slap slap" ordered four cold dishes, plus a red-braised carp.

  Next was the issue of drinking. Teacher Xiao Nie said that Yannan County is famous for its glutinous rice wine, but there has never been a chance to taste it, so he ordered a bottle of Hu Zi wine; Ouyang Yiweng saw Teacher Xiao Nie ordering Hu Zi wine and also shouted for a bottle; Chen Haonan and Li Donglin were not willing to drink glutinous rice wine and couldn't drink white wine, so they ordered half a dozen beers.

  Before long, the wine was brought to the table. Ouyang Yiweng smiled and picked up the wine bottle to pour a full cup of whisker wine for Xiao Nie teacher, and then filled himself up again. "Ah, this whisker wine is really not bad!" Xiao Nie teacher took a small sip, feeling that the taste was very good.

  "Of course, this is our local specialty, very famous!" Ouyang Yiwu picked up her wine glass and took a sip, proudly showing off to Xiao Nai's teacher in her heart.

  "Hey, Xiao Nian teacher, don't think it's good to drink and gulp it down," Chen Haonan stood up, tapping the wine bottle with a chopstick, "This Hu Zi wine may taste sweet like sugar water, but don't underestimate it, its aftertaste is quite strong, and it's easy to get drunk..."

  "That's right, this is no joke! When I was in elementary school, I once snuck a drink of this wine and it tasted so good that I had cup after cup. As a result, I slept for an entire day and night before waking up - my dad really gave me a good scolding that time!" Li Donglin said with a big laugh.

  "It's nothing, just one bottle, it should be fine... we'll drink beer later..." Little Nie said, shaking the wine bottle in his hand. Then, Little Nie stood up and invited everyone to say: "Come on, come on, fill your glasses, let's have a toast first - First of all, as both your teacher and friend, I wish you all success in your studies and that next year's college entrance exams will be a great success!"

  "Come on, cheers! Little Nian teacher, I wish you a smooth postgraduate entrance exam and happiness every day!" This is the bright voice of Ouyang Yiweng.

  "Cheers! Cheers! Little Nie teacher, I also wish you a smooth postgraduate entrance examination, and wish us all a happy and peaceful life!" Chen Haonan also smiled and raised his glass.

  "Now it's my turn to say a few words!" This was Li Donglin's voice, he raised his wine glass and smiled, "I wish Teacher Xiao Nie not only passes the postgraduate entrance exam smoothly but also reads for a master's degree and then a doctoral degree, and even a postdoctoral degree; I wish our three stinky craftsmen who are about to face the college entrance examination will all laugh proudly on the battlefield next year and get into good universities... Come on, come on, cheers! Cheers!"

  Laughter filled the air as four wine cups clinked together, producing a crisp sound.

  Four people chatted and laughed, but soon all the dishes they had ordered were on the table. As they talked, they ate their food, frequently clinking glasses together.

  Little Nai teacher really is a real person who doesn't show his face, one bottle of beard wine was poured three times and the bottom was seen. Then, she just touched a glass of beer with Chen Haonan.

  Next to her, Ouyang Yiweng tasted a piece of braised fish and thought it was delicious. She quickly picked up a piece and put it on Xiaonie teacher's plate, calling out to her: "Come on, Teacher Xiaonie, this fish is really good, you have to try some..."

  "Not bad at all!" Little Nie teacher picked up the fish, put it in her mouth and tasted it, unintentionally praising. At this time, she saw that Ouyang Yiweng's wine glass was empty, taking advantage of her distraction, she quickly filled her a cup of beer.

  Ouyang Yiweng turned her head, not wanting her cup to be filled with beer by someone else, and involuntarily pouted, revealing a bitter expression. "Who did this?!" she deliberately shrieked.

  "It's like it fell from the sky... " Chen Haonan smiled and deliberately winked, even glancing up at the ceiling as he spoke.

  "Hao Nan——" Ouyang Yiweng deliberately prolonged her voice, "Not honest anymore? Beer falling from the sky? Or would you like to get me another cup?"

  "Another cup? —— Cough... cough..." Chen Haonan smiled and started dry coughing.

  "Hehe, you caught a cold all of a sudden! Do you want me to take you to the infirmary and have Dr. Lin (the school doctor) give you two shots?" Ouyang Yiweng chuckled and smiled as she spoke, and then turned behind Chen Haonan, gently patting his shoulder."

  "I'd rather not go to the infirmary, Haonan is afraid of injections..." At this time, Li Donglin took over and relieved the situation, "The weather forecast said it would rain beer today, but only one cup can fall - Ouyang Xiaojie, you're really lucky! Today's sky full of beer all fell into your cup!" As soon as he spoke, everyone laughed even more, Teacher Xiao Nie almost spat out her beer, and even the female waitress who came in to change the tea water was laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach and retreated quickly.

  "Alright, alright!" Teacher Xiao Nie took a paper towel to wipe her mouth and smiled, "That wine was poured by me - what? Are you afraid? Or I'll accompany you for a cup..." She filled herself a full cup, Teacher Xiao Nie quickly picked up the wine glass, lightly touched it with Ouyang Yiweng's, and then drank it all in one gulp.

  "Come on, who's afraid of whom!" Ouyang Yiweng stood up, raised her wine glass, and drank it all in one gulp. Before she even put down the glass, she puckered up her mouth and shouted: "Oh my, how bitter is this! It's really hard to drink!..."

  Ouyang Yiweng's embarrassed and amusing expression made everyone laugh: Xiao Nie teacher held a wine glass, bent over and laughed non-stop, almost crawling under the table; Chen Haonan and Li Donglin simultaneously opened a bottle of beer each and blew into it in response to that funny girl.

  "This wine is so hard to drink, how can you like it so much? It's like drinking cola..." Seeing Chen Haonan and Li Donglin tilt their heads back, the bottle was almost half empty. Ouyang Yiweng furrowed her brow. Her question made Chen Haonan and Li Donglin a bit speechless. They also knew that wine was hard to drink, but sometimes they just wanted to have a few cups. But is wine really good? Honestly, wine is really not easy to drink: beer is a bit bitter with a hint of astringency, like the taste of Chinese medicine; white wine is strong and pungent, feeling like fire as soon as it enters the mouth; and other types of wine, such as vodka, whiskey, brandy, and red wine, also have strange tastes! However, despite this, some people love to drink and even think it's good. Some people even make it their life goal to be able to drink a small amount every day."

  "Have you guys ever heard this saying?" It was Xiaoni teacher's voice, "...the reason why wine is good to drink is because it's hard to drink! This saying seems to make some sense, many people like drinking wine precisely because of its bitter and astringent taste, the burning sensation of the wine, that seems to be the flavor of life: savoring wine is savoring life..."

  Chen Haonan and Li Donglin, as well as Ouyang Yiweng, all nodded in unison, as if the true connotation of drinking and tasting wine had been fully expressed by Little Nie's words, and this connotation had also made them deeply feel.

  "Come on, cheers! Cheers......" Teacher Xiao Nie called out to everyone to take a shot again. Except for Ouyang Yiweng who took a small sip, everyone else downed their drinks in one gulp.