Chapter 150: Bamboo Liquor (Part 2)
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
"Wow, wow, wow. The way you talk indicates that you look down on women, right?" the lady stroked the hair by her ears, her white fingernails being painted with red nail polish, and smiled gently.
"No, no. It’s just not good for women to drink liquor. What about giving this red ball to me?" Wu Hai was fairly shameless.
"Let big sister tell you, liquor is good for women to maintain their beauty and youth. You’d better draw the lottery by yourself." Her manner of speaking was gentle and polite like the warm wind in spring, but the words nevertheless made Wu Hai feel frustrated.
"Huh, women. Trouble is their name," seeing the pretty lady turn around and get into the restaurant, Wu Hai murmured in a low voice and then realized that he had no liquor to drink tonight.
"Wait, what about my liquor?" Wu Hai suddenly recalled of this matter.
"Hey, beauty. Wait, wait," immediately he turned his head and shouted to the pretty lady who had barely entered the door.
"What’s up? What else do you want?" The pretty lady said mildly as usual.
"I can pay for the liquor and treat you. What do you think?" Wu Hai made up his mind and then said.
"No need. I can at least afford the liquor," the pretty lady replied with words of refusal while smiling.
"It’s my pleasure, really. Let me pay for the liquor to apologize for the discourtesy just now, ok?" Wu Hai was so quick-minded that immediately he figured out an excuse.
"What shall I do? But I still don’t want you, little brother, to spend the money for me. Maybe next time, ok?" the lady refused gently.
Now, Wu Hai could no longer think of any other methods. He could only see the 3 opportunities slip from the fingers. After all, it was him who carried the box around and let them draw the lottery.
"Come at 8:30 in the evening. I won’t wait for any of you guys if you are late. And I only provide each with a pot of liquor, a cup, and three chairs. The restaurant will be opened for three hours," Yuan Zhou said to each customer who came to him to pay for the liquor.
"No problem. But don’t you provide dishes that go with the liquor?" Chen Wei preferred to eat some dishes while drinking.
"Not for now," Yuan Zhou said affirmatively.
"Can I bring the dishes by myself?" the lady who had just drawn the red ball asked curiously.
"Yes, sure," Yuan Zhou nodded.
"That’d be great. We can take some dishes on our own by then," Chen Wei let out a sigh of relief.
Then those who had bought the liquor left delightedly. This showed that the business of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant had increased again. The 50 draws of the lottery were finished in the morning and at noon.
At 8 p.m, in the summer evening of Chengdu, it still wasn’t completely dark yet. The red evening sunlight still painted the sky and the clouds appeared to be extraordinarily magnificent. Yuan Zhou’s restaurant had been closed for a while and Mu Xiaoyun had likewise already gone back to her home.
For the 3 hours’ business time at night, Yuan Zhou didn’t let Mu Xiaoyun come to work. It was too late and was not safe for girls when they went home.
Yuan Zhou pushed open the archway of the sergestes wall landscape, which then revealed the interior surroundings. The grass was so luxuriant; although he was in the yard, he felt as if a breeze was blowing.
"Good evening, Boss Yuan," a clear and melodious female voice passed.
The father who drawn the red ball first had brought along his daughter to come again.
"Good evening. Please go upstairs to the second floor through this entrance and seat yourselves," Yuan Zhou said while pointing to the beautiful yard.
"It’s so beautiful, isn’t it?" The daughter said. She hadn’t quite got used to bending but still managed to walk through the archway.
"I really have no way out. It’s you who insisted on coming with me," the man’s character was already not so twisted. It was just that he didn’t know what to say when facing his daughter.
The girl’s purpose was nevertheless simpler. After drinking, people would become less defensive, therefore she could have a heart-to-heart talk with her father.
"Come on in," Yuan Zhou nodded, signaling that they could go inside.
At the first moment, Yuan Zhou recognized the different sound of the girls’ footsteps on the ground with his sharp ears. She definitely had a story but that was unrelated to him.
"Boss Yuan, we are here," Chen Wei shouted loudly as soon as he walked to the entrance.
Behind him followed two persons. One was the smaller-sized Chen Wei, who had drawn the red ball at noon and the other was also a big fellow who was bald and had a fierce look on his face.
"Come on in...," Yuan Zhou repeated saying the same words.
"Let’s go. Boss Yuan’s liquor is surely superior," while summoning the two people, Chen Wei said with certainty.
Just after that, the pretty lady who had last drawn the red ball arrived, without bringing anybody else.
"Hua La", Yuan Zhou shut the front door of the restaurant before going upstairs of the pub through the archway. When he arrived, they had started to chat freely.
"The surrounding is so tasteful. Look these bamboos," Chen Wei’s compliment was rather simple.
"You are right. The lighting is also quite novel." The father was seated in the middle along with his daughter and looked around.
On the second floor, many small bulbs were twined around the bamboos, with a big headlamp tied to the middle part with an almost transparent thread. It was like the sun in the morning, bright but not dazzling.
"There are only these few of us. Let’s each make a self-introduction so we could chat later while drinking," Chen Wei said casually.
"This is my brother. Despite the fierce look, he was actually very nice. You can call him Dong Dong. This is my student, Guang Wei. And you guys definitely know me," Chen Wei immediately turned on the mode of self-introduction.
Of course, he did this for the sake of the pretty lady who came last.
"My surname is Wei. This is my daughter," Chen Wei was enthusiastic but not everyone was like him. The father Wei Hua nevertheless didn’t really want to introduce in details.
"I’m Zheng Xian. You can call me elder sister as I’m older than you," Zheng Xian revealed a smile and said gently.
"No, no. You are not old at all. Boss Yuan’s here." Just when Chen Wei was about to say something, Yuan Zhou came upstairs.
Yuan Zhou didn’t say much and just took out the three sets of wine pots and cups before saying straightforwardly, "Hey guys, please select your favorite wine pots with different patterns on your own."
"Let me select first," while speaking, Chen Wei took the lead to pick up a wine pot painted with plum blossom and then grumbled, "It’s truly small."
Following him, Zheng Xian took the wine pot with orchid pattern and Wei Hua took the remaining one with bamboo patterns.
"Bamboo Liquor is the liquor made in the hollow of the bamboo in certain districts," while Yuan Zhou was explaining to them, he took up Chen Wei’s wine pot of plum blossom and started to fill it with the liquor.
A very thin bamboo needle was inserted into the middle part of the bamboo at the side and immediately, a faint fragrance of the liquor dispersed with the night wind into the air.
"Good liquor. It’s so fragrant," Chen Wei was intoxicated by the liquor and hence couldn’t help but to compliment it like that.
"This is so aromatic, unlike liquors," the daughter of Wei Hua suddenly blurt out.
"Even so, you still can’t drink it," Wei Hua said gravely, not giving any chance to negotiate.
"I never said I wanted to drink," the girl said coldly.
Just in a little while, the liquor was filled to 80% full, exactly 200ml. Then, no more liquor flowed from the bamboo needle.
Only from that, one can clearly see how concisely Yuan Zhou took control of the details.
Meanwhile, the fragrance of the liquor became stronger, reaching as far as 100 steps away.
"Come on, let me take it," Chen Wei couldn’t wait to take up his wine pot and go back to his seat.
He took a glance at the liquor, of which the color was like the amber. He then poured it into a cup to its fullness, it had a touch of sweetness and was completely cool.
"It well deserves the price. So good liquor," Chen Wei praised repeatedly even before he started to drink.
"Come on. You pour the liquor by yourself. I’m going to start now," while speaking, Chen Wei picked up the cup and drank half a cup of the liquor in one go. Nonetheless, this was considered a cultured way of drinking for him already.
Seeing Chen Wei start to drink, the students sitting beside him took out a glass cup and prepared to pour the liquor.
"Take it easy. Leave some liquor." Chen Wei and Dong Dong were both staring at his cup nervously at the side.
In other restaurants, people could order another pot of the liquor after finishing one. In Yuan Zhou’s restaurant, however, if you drank it up, that was it.