Chapter 41: The Extreme National Banquet of Chong Tai

  That day, Ye Nan, who was on duty, received a call from Li Xiaoyang's father, Li Weidong. He warmly invited Ye Nan to have dinner together, and since Ye Nan also had some things about Xiaoyang that he wanted to discuss with Li Weidong, he gladly agreed.

  After work, I called Ye Wei and said that I had something to do for dinner and wouldn't be going home to eat. Then I arrived at the Huangchao Western Restaurant on time.

  The waiter at the entrance of the Western restaurant politely opened the door for Ye Nan, smiling and saying: "Sir, welcome! Do you have a reservation?"

  Ye Nan smiled and said, "Victoria!" The waiter was taken aback for a moment, but quickly smiled more respectfully and said, "So you're Mr. Li's guest, please follow me, Mr. Li is already waiting for you!"

  The waiter led him in enthusiastically, and Ye Nan thought to himself as he walked: "I don't know what Li Weidong does, but he seems quite familiar with this restaurant!"

  But he didn't think much of it, and for the first time here, he walked around and took a look at the environment, which was indeed not bad, with decorations that were very stylish, much better than ordinary Western restaurants, and worthy of being one of the top local restaurants.

  While he was still daydreaming, the waiter had already led him to the door of a private room in the innermost part and knocked gently on the door. He then pushed the door open and respectfully said to the people inside: "Director Li, your guest has arrived!" After that, he stepped aside and invited Ye Nan to enter.

  Ye Nan walked in and Li Weidong had already stood up from the dinner table to greet him, warmly extending his hand: "Doctor Ye is very punctual, please come and sit down!"

  Ye Nan walked over with a smile, shook hands with him and apologized: "Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, Mr. Li!" The two exchanged pleasantries for a while before taking their seats separately.

  Ye Nan took a look, today Xiaoyang and his mother did not come, it was quite strange. According to reason, since it was to thank him, Xiaoyang should have been present, but he thought about it and didn't say anything.

  Li asked the waiter to start serving dishes, and they were very sumptuous. The two of them ordered eight dishes. Li Weidong looked at Ye Nan with a smile: "What kind of wine does Dr. Ye usually drink?" "No need for Mr. Li to be polite, no wine is needed!" Ye Nan hurriedly declined.

  Li Weidong laughed loudly: "Dr. Ye, don't be polite, when men eat, if they don't drink, there's really no atmosphere, I have a few bottles of twenty-year-old national banquet Moutai, how about we finish one today?"

  Yeshan usually only drinks Wu Liang Ye, and has never had Moutai before, let alone a 20-year-old national banquet Moutai. Hearing this, Yeshan's heart itched a bit, so he laughed: "With such good wine, not drinking would be a waste, don't be stingy, Mr. Li."

  "If Dr. Ye can come, it's a great honor for me, of course, I'll treat him with good wine!" Li Weidong said generously. After finishing his words, he waved his hand and instructed the waiter who was still waiting on the side: "Start serving dishes, let Manager Liu bring up a bottle of my Maotai."

  The waitress answered with a bow and left, muttering to herself as she walked: "What's the background of this young doctor that he can get Mr. Li to bring out his treasured wine? I'd better be careful in serving him!"

  When the waiter left, Li Weidong looked at Ye Nan apologetically and said: "Originally today was supposed to be Xiaoyang and his mother coming together, but suddenly received a call from his grandmother, his grandmother heard that Xiaoyang was ill and got anxious, must have Xiaoyang rush back to the countryside to take a look today, so only I accompanied Dr. Ye, please don't mind!"

  "There, old man Li will certainly be anxious about such a happy event, it's right for Xiaoyang to hurry back. Besides, with President Li accompanying me personally, I'm already feeling apologetic." Ye Nan smiled understandingly: "Also, President Li, please don't keep calling me Dr. Ye, that's too formal, just call me Ye Nan."

  Li Weidong smiled and nodded: "Alright, I won't be polite then. Ye, you don't have to keep calling me Director Li all the time, that's what guests are for. I'm only a few years older than you, if you're not disgusted, Ye Nan, just call me Brother Li."

  A two-man guest room, the dishes have been served, Li Weidong waved his hand to let the wine service staff go out, and he himself picked up the wine bottle, pointing at the label on the bottle that was already a bit broken, smiled and said: "This wine, now in the whole Dongjiang, I'm afraid only my brother has a few bottles left. Usually, ordinary guests won't get me to take it out, today we two brothers will have a good drink."

  The cork was removed, and a rich aroma of wine gushed out of the bottle mouth, pouring into the cup. The liquid looked very thick, indeed a good wine with some age.

  Li Weidong raised his cup: "Come on... Ye Nan, thank you for curing Xiaoyang's illness. I'll toast to you first."

  Yè Nán raised his cup and touched it to Lǐ's: "Lǐ Gē, you're too polite! Let's drink..." The two men downed their cups in one gulp. Yè Nán felt the warmth spreading through his mouth, then a fiery hot current flowed down his esophagus, leaving an aftertaste that was endless. He sighed: "Good wine..."

  Li Weidong filled the bottle with wine, smiled and said: "Of course it's good wine, if it's not good wine, how can I take it out? Come on... eat some dishes, these are all signature dishes of my royal court, I asked Chef Zhang to cook them personally, try the taste!"

  Upon hearing this, Ye Nan finally realized that the Imperial Court was actually Li Weidong's property. It seemed that Li Weidong was indeed a man of great stature. Ye Nan didn't stand on ceremony and dug in with gusto. Meanwhile, Li Weidong frequently toasted them, although each person only had half a catty of wine, but the liquor was potent, and the two men drank until their faces were flushed and their ears were red.

  After getting drunk and full, Li Weidong pulled Ye Nan to sit beside a small table on the balcony of the private room. A waitress brought in a set of purple sand tea sets, followed by a beauty wearing a light-colored cheongsam, who skillfully demonstrated her skills in making gongfu tea, brewed tea for the two, and quietly retreated.

  Li Weidong pointed to the teapot and smiled: "This is indeed my elder brother's top-grade Dahongpao from Wuyi Mountain, although it's not from those two remaining solitary tea trees, but it's also very close. Come try some and sober up..."

  Ye Nan stretched out two fingers, gently picked up a cup, and saw that the tea soup was deep yellow. A faint, refreshing aroma wafted to his nose, refreshing his mind. He took a sip, swirled it in his mouth for a moment, and savored the bitter sweetness before swallowing. A soothing tea fragrance rose from his throat, straight up to the top of his head, making Ye Nan feel that even his slightly dizzy head had cleared up a bit. Unable to help himself, he sighed again: "Good tea! Li Ge's place really has a lot of good stuff!"

  "Haha, brother, this stuff is indeed not bad at all. Ordinary people who come here wouldn't even dare to bring it out. It seems that only Mayor Xu and Director Wang from the provincial hall have had the pleasure of tasting it, apart from you, Ye!" Li Weidong laughed triumphantly.

  Ye Nan nodded in agreement, thinking that such good things are hard to come by these days, and sometimes even with money, it's not guaranteed to get them. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh at how Li Weidong had spared no expense for his son, truly a case of "all parents in the world are pitiful".