Chapter 29: When wine meets an old friend, a thousand cups are too few

  Yin Jinghua felt wronged, no one wanted to sit next to him, and a large space was left empty around him. Even Xie Bianjiang, who had brought him here, looked at him with an expression that said he didn't know what to do with him. The only ones talking to him were Xiao Fengjie and the short fat guy who had approached him earlier, but now they weren't paying attention to him either, instead fawning over a young man surnamed Li.

  Yin Jinghua had just arrived at the neighboring table and started eating with his head down, but after half a day of eating, he still hadn't seen any decrease in the amount of rice. At this time, he saw Xue Xiang walking towards him, and his heart was shouting "can't see me, can't see me" just like Wu Mengda in the movie "God of Gamblers". But what he feared most still happened, Xue Xiang found him again. Yin Jinghua quickly stood up and said: "Third brother, I'm eating my second... third bowl, it's very delicious, I've never had such a good meal before." Yin Jinghua adapted quickly and also learned to address Xue Xiang as "third brother". It was indeed a narrow escape, almost kicking himself out of the group. How could he not adapt quickly? Earlier, no one paid attention to Yin Jinghua, so he just buried his head in eating, hiding his embarrassment, showing that his mouth was full of food and had no time to talk to them. So this guy didn't eat too little.

  Xue Xiang smiled and said, "As long as it's delicious, Comrade Yin has come from Minnan all the way to Beijing. If the first meal isn't good, people will say that we Beijingers are not hospitable. I'll add three more bowls later, if you don't eat, it's not giving me face." Xue Xiang was still angry and wanted to tease him a bit, earlier he had given his disciple's daughter Xu Cuifeng some face, but the anger in his heart hadn't dissipated yet.

  Upon hearing this, Yin Jinghua let out a sigh of relief, thinking that Xue Xiang would take some other kind of revenge on him. It turned out to be just a punishment of eating more food. Yin Jinghua thought to himself that today he would rather die from overeating than let Xue Xiang get the better of him, otherwise it would be difficult for him to survive in the capital city in the future. The rascals in the capital city were truly unbearable.

  "Master's niece, how is it? The food here isn't worse than your special forces team, right? I've seen you add rice several times from afar, and you really don't treat yourself as an outsider. Good, straightforward, better than your brother Xu Cuihuang." Xue Xiang said, walking behind Xu Cuifeng.

  Xu Cuifeng raised her good-looking eyebrows, sat up straight, and held the bowl without putting it down. She said without turning her head, "Do you know who I am?"

  Xue Xiangxiao said, "A big courtyard in the border area is also called by this name. Apart from Minister Xu of the Central Organization Department's treasured daughter, Xu Cuihuang's twin sister, who else could it be?"

  Cui Huang, Cui Feng's names sound strange, their names are said to be Mrs. Xu's dream before giving birth, two big birds landed on the emerald bamboo, and the next day a pair of dragon and phoenix twins were born. Mr. Xu learned about his wife's dream, with a stroke of his pen, these two names appeared on paper, without considering whether the big bird that fell on the emerald bamboo was a phoenix or not. Cui Huang grew up to be very dissatisfied with this extremely feminine name, he is introverted and reserved by nature, afraid that the soldiers in the army would laugh at him, so he didn't even join the army. Mr. Xu had no choice but to send him to university to study. Xue Xiang had seen Cui Huang before, two years older than himself, extremely handsome, but as soon as he spoke, his face turned red, shy like a big girl. Earlier, when Xie Bianjiang mentioned her name, he knew who the mysterious beauty in front of him was. Of course, he also covered up Yin Jinghua's mistake, not just because of Mr. Xu's face, but also because today was his own happy day, seeing blood is not good after all. Besides, if he were to make things difficult for Cui Feng, it would be hard to talk to Gu Changdao next time.

  "Minister Xu? Which Minister Xu? Could it be the Deputy Minister of the Central Organization Department, Xu Zigang?" Maliang was shocked, almost dropping the bowl he was holding. The Deputy Minister of the Central Organization Department was a million miles away from him, and being able to get acquainted with his family's driver would have been a great achievement for him. Now, his daughter was having dinner at the same table as him, it felt like a dream. Maliang's face changed color, Zhang Baozi was also not far behind, almost falling over. These low-level officials were most concerned about and studied the upper echelons of power, even if it was just superficially. They would carefully analyze and research every detail. It could be said that the sensitivity of these lower-level officials in Beijing was extremely high, they could tell who was losing power and who was gaining favor from the media coverage. The resumes of high-ranking officials were collected and studied by them, an important subject for their research. They could learn from others' experiences, what achievements to make to get promoted, whether they should imitate them. Even from a thick collection of resumes, they could study who was whose patron, how to deal with them in the future, how to avoid them, how to take sides, etc.

  Xue nodded, which was a response to Ma Liang's question. Although Ma Liang and Zhang Pangzi liked to fawn on people who might help them in their future careers, they were not stupid enough to rush up to flatter someone just because of their status, which would only make others disgusted with them and reveal their self-interest. Besides, the person in front of them was a young lady, and they didn't know what to say if they went up to fawn on her. In fact, Zhang Pangzi and Ma Liang were both clever and had already figured it out: instead of trying to curry favor with Director Xu, who was beyond their reach, it would be better to curry favor with the son of Director Li, which would be a great help to their own careers. Later, when it was time to toast, they could just show their respect to Director Xu by offering him a few cups of wine, and that would be enough. After all, being able to say that they had dinner with Director Xu would also be impressive.

  Xue Xiangyu chatted with others at the table for a few words, then left and stopped by each table along the way, saying a few words.

  Ask if the dishes are satisfactory, and joke a few words to leave some belly for drinking later. This round of chat took about an hour or so, and when Xue Xiang saw that everyone had eaten enough, he instructed the waiter next to him to bring wine and dishes.

  The wine was packed in small iron buckets, and after forty iron buckets were filled with wine from the wine cellar, they were sent to each table. The kitchen also brought out a dish of braised pig's ears and peanuts. Everyone didn't know that there were two more dishes, and before eating, they hadn't let go, fearing that their own table would be eaten clean, waiting for their brothers to come and toast, laughing at the joke, so they all left some dishes as a reserve for drinking. Only when the real drinking dish came up did they realize that San Ge was really thoughtful, thinking of even this trivial matter.

  Now, the real fun has just begun. The first cup of wine, Xue Xiang called on everyone to drink together to celebrate this gathering, and everyone drank it all in one gulp. Xue Xiang had prepared two-tael large cups, and many people who were not used to drinking made a sound when they gulped down the wine. After finishing the first cup, everyone started looking for someone to drink with, and the table also began to get chaotic. Of course, no one would come to find Xue Xiang to toast, because everyone knew that San Ge would definitely take the initiative to come over, otherwise, ten San Ges wouldn't be enough to handle the crowd.

  Xue Xiangxian accompanied the elders at his table to finish a cup, which was the courtesy that should be extended. After finishing, he said "Brothers, enjoy yourselves" and walked towards another table.

  It was impossible for Xue Xiangxian to drink a full cup with everyone he met, most of the time he just touched his lips to the cup, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to make it past three tables without falling over.

  Xue Xiangxian made his way to Ma Liang's table and first had a shot with Ma Liang and Zhang Pangzi. Then he found Xu Cuifeng and wanted to have a drink with him, Xu Cuifeng didn't hesitate and clinked cups with Xue Xiangxian before downing the cup.

  At this point, Xue Xiangxian had already drunk almost three kilograms of liquor, his capacity was basically at this level. This was an alarming amount of liquor, even people with a good capacity usually couldn't handle more than one kilogram.

  Xu Cuifeng finished her cup and smiled at Xue Xiang, saying: "Master Xue, since you said you are my Master Uncle, I will acknowledge it for now. Now that I've met Master Uncle, as a junior, I should at least show respect with a few cups of wine." She had seen earlier that Xue Xiang had already drunk quite a bit and was now at the end of his rope. This was the perfect opportunity to vent her anger from being taken advantage of by Xue Xiang earlier. She didn't have any noble notions about not taking advantage of someone in distress; she was just a young woman who would seek revenge whenever she had the chance, and now was that chance.

  At this time, Xue Xiang's brain was a bit dizzy, but he wasn't confused to the point of not knowing what Xu Cuifeng was up to. How could he not see that her smile had a sinister tone? Although Xue Xiang was no longer as reckless and stubborn as he used to be, how could he lower his head and yield in front of a woman? Xue Xiang's eyes suddenly narrowed, and he smiled: "My niece wants to drink with me, and as an elder, I shouldn't deny you this opportunity to show your filial piety. Let's make a deal, five cups each, how about it? If you want to be filial, you have to do it thoroughly."

  Xu Cuifeng saw Xue Xiang's eyes suddenly clear up a lot, unlike the original daze. She felt suspicious in her heart. Could it be that he wasn't drunk and was pretending earlier? No, he didn't know beforehand that I wanted to find him to drink, so there was no need to pretend. I get it, he forced himself to drink, trying to scare me, just a show of false bravado. Unfortunately, he got seen through by Miss, useless now. Xu Cuifeng felt proud in her heart, but suddenly thought that according to Xue Xiang's request, she still had to drink another jin. However, no matter what, her capacity for alcohol wouldn't allow her to drink another jin. This little thief was too cunning, he must have calculated it beforehand. It seems that he really is all bark and no bite. Let's see who falls down first.

  Xue Xiang knew that Xu Cui Feng was weighing the pros and cons, but he didn't want to give her time to think. If he dragged it out any longer, he might not be able to hold on himself. So he urged her tightly: "Junior sister, do you still want to toast or not? If not, I'll go toast with the next table."

  Xu Cuifeng sneered inwardly, thinking that he was going to the next table to toast, probably to go to the bathroom to relieve himself. Xu Cuifeng made up her mind and said, "Of course I'll toast, how can I not toast my teacher? If I don't, tomorrow when I return to the troops, I won't be able to explain it to my old instructor."

  Xue ordered Hu Baoguo to pour wine, but didn't expect Yin Jinghua to snatch the wine jug from Zhang Pangzi's hand and offer it to Xue with a flattering expression, muttering that he wanted Xue to give him an opportunity later to toast Third Brother and make amends.

  Ten cups of wine were lined up, Xue's eyes became increasingly dim. He suppressed his intoxication and said: "Disciple niece, since you're toasting your master's brother, you should drink first as a sign of respect."

  Xu Cuifeng didn't expect Xue to be so cunning, taking someone else's toast as a command. Not drinking now would make him lose face. Xu Cuifeng gritted her teeth, took the wine cup and poured it into her mouth, one cup, two cups... five cups of wine were downed by Xu in just one minute, the people around looked dizzy, too overbearing, this wasn't a lady, but a man. Fortunately, everyone didn't know Xu's nickname in later generations, otherwise they would have called out "Xu Brother, pure man, iron-blooded true hero".