Chapter 4: Surrender and Lose Half?

  Li Ke, I, plus a loli, three people on horseback, charged into the Yunwen Pavilion. As soon as they stepped inside, "Master Li, Master Fang, and this young lady, your esteemed presence brings great honor to our humble shop..." The shopkeeper's fat face scrunched up his features, like a busy bee, eagerly welcoming them.

  It seems that Li Ke and Fang Yi'ai, the two spoiled brats, are regulars here. "Today is Mr. Fang's treat..." Li Ke made a grand gesture with his hand and pulled Li Shu towards the stairs.

  Money? I didn't bring any. Turning back, haha, Zhong Gong, "Come over..." I walked towards Fang Cheng who was standing at the door and kept winking at me. What's going on, sending secret signals?

  "Second Master..." Fang Cheng's expression was very mournful, could it be a black shop? Looking around, he only saw the shopkeeper's chubby smiling face, with very pure eyes.

  "Is it expensive here?"... A hand rested on the shoulder of the house owner, lowering his voice, looking around, very elegant, a hundred times better than those fake and inferior wine houses in later generations, with a great atmosphere for drinking and reciting poetry.

  "Second Master, the most expensive thing in Chang'an City is probably this family's. The jade Ruyi you pawned last time was exchanged for a pot of wine here." His explanation shocked me, I'm too scared, do I have to go back home and steal the jade Ruyi again?

  He stretched out three fingers under his eyelid and rubbed them. "Second Master... what's this?" The nearly two-meter-tall loyal servant, Fang Cheng, couldn't understand my gesture. He lowered his head, foolishly staring at me, the second young master of the Fang family, who was almost hanging from his neck.

  "Money... whether you have money or not, lend me some first, I'll settle the account with my mom when I get home." Hurriedly, Li Ke and Li Shu had already gone up to the second floor and were getting a bit impatient. A young master can't lose face too much either. If you invite someone out but don't bring any money, it's strange if people don't look down on you, especially in front of the opposite sex - you absolutely can't lose face."

  The housekeeper pulled out a string of money from his pocket with a sour face: "Young master, this was given to me by the mistress just now, please save it."

  "...". I took it over, very heavy, tightly wrapped in my hands, very excited, tears welled up in my eyes. I wanted to sing a song to praise the greatness of mothers. Looking at the fat shopkeeper, forget it, go home and sing directly to mom.

  Although I had money, I wasn't the original owner of the house. As a scapegoat, I glared at the fat shopkeeper with a fierce gaze: "Will you give me a discount?"

  "Ah! ? ... " The fat shopkeeper blinked his small eyes, and for a long time, he couldn't utter a word. "Nothing, remember, just choose the best ones, just three, if you take more, I'll charge you." He threatened the shopkeeper fiercely, and under Li Ke and Li Xu's stunned gaze, he went up the stairs with a smile: "I'm used to being frugal... Hehehe, just joking with the shopkeeper."

  "The second floor by the water has a elegant room, good hospitality for two gentlemen and ladies." The shopkeeper who just came back to his senses shouted from downstairs, with a slightly changed tone.

  --

  That damned little loli doesn't know what's wrong with her, she just orders the most expensive dishes, a whole table full, all natural, non-polluting, handmade, it's so cool. Chicken legs, duck paws, fat fish, sauce meat... Since I'm treating, not eating my money back is not coming back. These days being managed by my mom, saying that I was seriously injured and could only eat soup, couldn't chew hard objects, congee, chicken soup, nourishing soup and so on made me feel weak in the hands and feet. Now when I see oily meat dishes, my eyes turn green.

  Li Ke looked at me with a strange gaze: "Younger brother...the room, the room is also too..." He let out a long sigh and rescued a relatively intact piece of tofu from the plate in front of me, placing it into Li Xu's bowl who was staring blankly at me eating.

  "Huh?" I stuffed a piece of chicken into my mouth fiercely. What does eating have to do with the house?

  "Brother, you must have suffered a lot at home... Normally, when we come here, you never touch these..." Li Ke pointed to the fish head in my bowl with his chopsticks. His expression was like he was looking at a fellow prisoner who was being held in custody and eating prison food.

  "My little brother has been seriously injured at home for the past few days, so he can't eat meat... Nutrition, do you know or not? Fish head is rich in various minerals such as iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and various amino acids...... Forget it, I won't talk about these things with uncultured people."

  "Oh, it seems to be a misunderstanding between us brothers. Let's drink first and apologize later." Li Ke raised the wine jug, poured himself a full cup, and drank three cups in a row without changing his expression. The cup was not small, probably at least two taels per cup.

  "Good wine!" I couldn't help but raise my thumb and shout loudly, I had done this in my student days, at a classmate gathering, in front of beautiful girls, my courage suddenly expanded from the size of a fingernail to that of a leopard's, I, who could only drink a little more than the bottle cap, competed with a classmate known as "Three Jin Hero" in drinking, three bowls of Guizhou local wine (our local nickname for Maotai) went down... The result was vomiting until the sky was dark and I lost consciousness, then at midnight, I chased dogs in my classmate's backyard. This was still when my beautiful classmate complained to me with tears in her eyes the next morning, holding her slightly deformed dog, very indignant......

  "Has Brother already had three cups, Jun Ge, do you still want me to pour for you?" Li Shuai was very bad. Little Loli elegantly ate the delicious food, her crescent-shaped eyes staring at me.

  He glanced at the large wine cup and felt a bit guilty: "Brother, I'm still recovering from my injuries, how about I drink tea instead of wine?"

  Li Ke hadn't spoken yet, but Li Shu started chattering away: "Third Brother, that's enough. Young Master Fang is too frail, he'd collapse from just walking in the wind... if he gets drunk, it'll be a disaster..." She looked at me with narrowed eyes, this little girl was really bullying people! Who's afraid of whom? I slammed my hand on the table: "Waiter, bring out the cow-eye cups! Today, younger brother will drink with Brother Wei until we're drunk!"

  The shopkeeper's triangular eyes widened, the little loli's crescent moon eyes widened, and Li Shuai's electric eyes widened. Three pairs of eyes stared at me in unison, counterattacking, I fiercely glared back at the shopkeeper, but the royal family's backstage was too powerful, so I didn't dare to mess with them.

  "Little... I really don't know what Master Fang is referring to with this 'ox-eye cup'..." Maybe it's because of my robust physique and fierce expression, the waiter almost cried, his upper and lower lips trembling.

  "Jun Xian brother... this cow eye cup..." Li Ke looked at it and felt a bit dizzy.

  "Ah ha... look at me, little brother suddenly got confused. These days at home in seclusion, I was thinking of using a cow-eye-sized cup to drink wine and recite poetry under the moon, which is one of life's greatest pleasures... Hurriedly use nonsense to get past it first. It seems that the Tang Dynasty didn't have cow-eye cups yet..."

  "Oh..." Li Ke waved his hand to show he understood, and had the shop assistant leave the room. However, looking at him, it seemed like he still didn't quite get it. Never mind, no point arguing with someone who's never seen the world. Come to think of it, was he supposed to discuss Ming dynasty Qinghua porcelain and 52-degree Moutai wine with him?

  "I wish Brother De good health, cheers!" He raised his glass, closed his eyes and took a swig. The wine tasted very light, slightly sweet, not as strong as the homemade village wine back home. Had they watered it down?

  "Good!... Junior brother Zunxian, it's been many days since we last met, and you're even more dashing now. Come on, let me toast with you to a full cup." Li Ke raised his glass again in invitation. Alright, this wine is still okay, I think three to five cups won't knock me out, hahaha...

  My heroic spirit was stirred, the aura of a king's dominance shook violently, as I faced off against Li Shuai one-on-one. Little Li Luoluo kept shouting loudly beside us, and later on this little girl actually grabbed me, insisting on drinking with me - afraid of you?

  "Finish your three cups first, then talk!" He glanced at the girl with disdain, her tiny waist that was almost not graspable, a small appetite like a cat's, and she still wanted to clink glasses with him?

  Clang, clang, clang, three cups, Li Fu's face turned even redder, her charming eyes sparkled like silk, but her words were venomous: "I've had enough, Lord Fang Jun, aren't you trying to get me to pour wine for you instead?" Hmm, looks like this little girl can hold her liquor, I surrender and lose half the bet, how about we just drink one and a half cups?

  Unfortunately, the negotiation failed. Li Yu very rudely rejected my extremely kind proposal and showed dissatisfaction and contempt for me, a high-ranking official of the Tang Dynasty and a young master.

  How dare you, what kind of person are you, to actually look down on me, a social elite with a red heart and two preparations, a steadfast executor of the Three Represents, a Four Haves youth in the tide of reform and opening up, a Five Good Teacher widely acclaimed in school, and a powerful traverser who crossed over from history to arrive in the Tang Dynasty six days ago.

  With a big slap on the wine jar in front of him, he grinned at the little loli: "What's the big deal? It's just a five-jin wine jar! I'll take it!" After drinking too much, he became boastful and nonsensical, his words making Li Ke's eyes turn green with excitement. His expression was agitated as he said: "You're indeed Brother Jun, this move is quite in line with the style of the Wei and Jin dynasties' scholars... For your younger brother's sake, I'll make a comeback today, let's drink to our hearts' content, we won't leave until we're drunk!" The shopkeeper was very considerate, before Li Ke had even finished speaking, he quickly ran out of the room. In the blink of an eye, another wine jar appeared on the table... Damn! I want to go home...

  Alas, even after crossing over, I still can't change my habit of bragging... I'm really fed up with myself. At the moment, there's no time for regret, so I can only drown my sorrows in wine...

  One, two, three... I glanced at Li Ke who had transformed into a poet and dared to recite poetry in front of me. Two little loli or three? The three little loli were blushing as they gazed at Li Shuai's elegant gesture of raising his cup to recite poetry, cheering him on with tender voices. Isn't it infuriating? Reciting poetry, how...tacky! I feel like singing now... My reserved program after drinking wine, over a decade of foundation.

  At this moment, gazing at the rolling waves, I am filled with heroic passion, my hair disheveled and clothes undone, standing on top of a wine table, composing an earth-shaking melody... Is it real or fake? Don't know, anyway, I'm drunk...

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  PS: ...Everyone, come on, I'm also working hard, within this week, two chapters a day, let everyone have a good read first, after having a good time, don't forget to give me your votes, if you like it, collect it first, hehe... thanks!