"I dare not, its the credit of all brothers, Xu Mou does not dare to take the credit." Xu Haifeng was also stunned, unexpectedly this big fat man is so familiar with this matter.
"Its said that after this battle, your unit had only 124 people left, and when you arrived at the Western Capital, with a single order from General Xu, not one person dared to take half a step out of their quarters for an entire month. When General Guo sent over spoils of war three times, General Xu didnt say a word, and yet no one dared to privately take even a single copper coin. Such strict discipline is rarely seen, and all his subordinates obeyed him without question, not one person uttering even half a sentence of complaint. This is truly unprecedented.
Old Master Chen paused for a moment, raised his thumb, and said: "From what I know, General Xu was a new recruit who enlisted at the beginning of this year, and among those who survived, there were many old soldiers, including two who had served as company commanders. But after the battle, they all looked up to General Xu as their leader. Heh heh, why this is so, I think everyone understands without needing to say more."
Mr. Chen meant that Xu Haifeng had performed exceptionally well in the previous battle, earning the respect of all survivors and making them thoroughly convinced, even the two hundred people who were originally higher than him were willing to obey his orders. In fact, in that battle, Xu Haifeng contributed nothing but his own blood for everyone to drink, and no one knew about it, nor would Xu Haifeng spread the word himself.
But hearing him say this, Xu Haifeng also secretly muttered to himself that the energy of this big fat man cannot be underestimated. He even knew about their entry into the courtyard for treatment, which shows that he is indeed a figure with high-ranking officials in the army who have mutual connections with him. Among them, Tong Yifeng, who has a similar physique and body shape, is the most suspicious.
He glanced at Tong Yifeng and Fang Xiangming, but found that they were not surprised at all. It seemed that they had already known about this matter. He couldnt help but feel relieved. As soon as he arrived in Xijing, he ordered everyone not to go out or make trouble. The command was correct, it seemed that many people were paying attention to him.
Then Tong introduced three thousand-year-old men, Qin Yong and Chen Boss, who also praised them with flattery, making everyone laugh. This persons words are eight-sided and clever, and whats even more rare is that the things he boasts about are often the most proud events in peoples lives, which are indeed true and not fabricated out of thin air. Therefore, it seems particularly sincere, making it impossible for anyone to feel even a little bit of dislike.
"A few of you are visiting my Drunken Moon Building for the first time today. I, an old man, have no other skills, but I especially love making friends, particularly with heroes like yourselves. Today, your bill will be on me; theres enough wine to go around and food to fill your bellies. Lets not part until were all drunk."
"Thank you for your trouble." Director Mings face looked much better now, it seemed that everyone loved to hear flattery, and his impression of Old Chen had improved a lot.
"Everyone use it first, Ill go arrange something." Mr. Chen nodded his hands and smiled as he withdrew from the meeting.
Seven people sat down around a large round table, and Mr. Chen went out, only to return in a moment with the table full of dishes. The crowd had just taken a sip when Mr. Chen left again, this time returning with seven more beautiful women behind him.
Everyone got up, after a round of modest politeness, and sat down again. This time, however, each person had an additional beautiful woman serving wine beside them, except for Old Master Chen.
Xu Haifeng was experiencing this scene for the first time, forcing himself to remain calm while glancing around and secretly observing others behavior. Everyone else seemed completely at ease, chatting and laughing, with some even being overly familiar like Tong Yifeng, who appeared to know the woman next to him and had already started getting cozy, but she was blushing and seemingly hesitant.
Qin Yong, who was also visiting for the first time, seemed to be without a care in the world and chatted happily with the woman beside him.
"Sir has come from afar and is a guest, so let me offer you a cup of respect."
A pair of jade-like hands with a subtle fragrance held a half-transparent glass cup, which caught the eye of Xu Haifeng. Xu Haifeng looked up and saw that the woman beside him had light makeup on her face, and a pair of big eyes that seemed to speak were gazing at him soulfully. This womans beauty was exceptional among all the women present, except for the one standing next to Fang Meng, the other five women were slightly inferior to her.
The most beautiful woman that Xu Haifeng had ever seen was only the second daughter of the Xu family in their village, Ruxian, who was also the number one beauty in their town. To be honest, the face of this woman in front of him seemed to surpass Ruxians by a lot, but if it came to dressing and demeanor, Ruxian was still far superior.
Xu Haifeng didnt dare look at her again, hastily raised his cup, and took a quick sip.
"Hmph..." Seeing Xu Haifengs slightly disheveled appearance, the woman smiled faintly, and suddenly the room was filled with light, causing Xu Haifengs heart to skip a beat.
"You look unfamiliar, sir. My name is Vivian, whats yours?"
"It turned out to be Miss Weiwei, under the sea breeze."
"Mr. Xu seems to rarely come here, and judging by his accent, hes not a local, right?" Vivian picked up the wine jug and filled Mr. Xu and her own cups with fine wine, asking as she did so.
"Yes, first time in a place like this." Xǔ Hǎifēng blurted out, then immediately reacted and hummed twice, unable to speak. Seeing Weiwei looking at him with a smile that was not quite a smile, he became even more embarrassed.
Fortunately, Vivian spoke up immediately, easing the awkwardness: "So being able to meet you, Mr., is indeed a fate, let me toast you another cup."
At this time, the side door opened again, and two servants pushed a wine cart in.
Mr. Chen stood up, bowed and smiled: "Everyone, todays good wine has arrived, this is the Drunken Moon Wine that I specially brought from another house, this is our stores signature dish, please drink freely, dont be polite. I have some mundane matters to attend to, so Ill take my leave for now."
"Hey, old Chen is being so generous today, this has really cost him a lot." After Mr. Chen left, Tong Yifeng suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
Fang Xiang looked at the three jars of wine on the wine cart and nodded: "Three years ago, I came here and had a drink too. Its indeed a rare wine." A sly smile appeared on his face: "This wine has another wonderful use, everyone will experience it later."
As soon as these words came out, except for Tong Yifeng revealing a similar lewd smile, all the women either lowered their heads in shame or lightly snorted in disdain. Xu Haifeng was confused, but it wasnt good to ask about this matter.
"General Fang, is there something different about this wine?" It was actually Qin Yong, that straightforward person, who directly asked.
"Alright, I wont keep you in suspense anymore. This Drunken Moon wine is said to be brewed with a special secret recipe, and apart from its strong potency, it also has an effect that makes all men desperate for it."
He said that, and when they thought about it again, everyone suddenly realized where they were, exchanged a glance with each other, and everything was understood without a word.
"There is a main medicine in this wine, and you cant guess it at all." Tong Yifeng suddenly put down his chopsticks and said mysteriously.
At that moment, everyones curiosity was successfully aroused by him. Several pairs of eyes stared at him eagerly, wishing he would speak out immediately. Fortunately, Tong Yifeng soon catered to the crowd and spoke out.
"According to Old Chens slip of the tongue after a drink, there is a main ingredient in this wine that is snake blood."
"Whats snake blood? What kind of medicine is this?" Qin Yong asked in surprise.
"Its not ordinary snake blood, those are medicinal snakes. It is said that they were cultivated from a young age, with lingzhi, goji berries, ginseng and other precious medicinal materials mixed into their food, and only after one year would they be slaughtered to extract the blood for medicine. Therefore, this wine is also known as medicinal snake wine."
"Well, well, well! If we have to eat for a whole year, how much money will that be?" Qin Yong exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes, this wine is expensive, it takes 100 taels of silver to buy just one jar, so I said Old Chen really lost a lot of money this time."
Xu Haifeng was tongue-tied after hearing this, one jar of wine is worth 100 taels of silver, and three jars would be 300 taels. These soldiers only make 10 taels a year, it would take them ten years to buy just one jar of wine. If not for Tong Yifeng leading the way, he probably wouldnt have been able to taste such an expensive delicacy in his lifetime.
"Come on, come on, lets not waste words, everyone come and try it." Fang Ming grabbed a jar, patted it with his big hand, knocked open the mud seal, and suddenly a strong aroma of wine wafted out.
Several women, without waiting for instructions, had already proactively filled everyones cups with Drunken Moon wine. Tong Yifeng raised his cup and said: "This wine is strong and has a lasting aftertaste, hence its name Drunken Moon. So far, no one has been able to drink an entire jar by themselves without falling over. Everyone should drink according to their own capacity, but please limit yourselves to three cups. Otherwise, Im afraid none of you will be able to get up later and it would be a waste for the beautiful ladies."
Among the womens reproachful cries, Xu Haifeng also drank it down. The wine was sweet and mellow when entering his mouth, but once in his stomach, it turned into a raging fire, a wave of heat rapidly spreading throughout his body, warm and extremely comfortable. However, this was just an ordinary persons feeling, for Xu Haifeng, it was another kind of taste.
As the wine went down his throat, Xu Haifeng not only felt the warmth spreading through him, but was also astonished to discover that this warmth had actually penetrated into his blood vessels. Then, as his circulation accelerated, this warmth was absorbed by his blood vessels and transformed into his own lifeblood. Of course, all of this was just a feeling on his part, but it was happening nonetheless.
Xu Haifeng had not fully recovered since his last major blood loss. Although he had been recuperating for so many days, it would take at least three to five months to completely replenish the lost blood. But after drinking this cup of wine, the feeling of weakness in his limbs was greatly alleviated, leaving him amazed.
The wine in the jar was not much, and after each person had a bowl, more than half of it was gone. After three cups for each person, only a little more than one jar was left. This wine was very strong, and everyones face was flushed with redness. Fortunately, everyone was a soldier, and their capacity for liquor was not small, so no one fell drunk.
He loudly laughed and said, "Everyone, from the time we set out from Beijiang to today, Ive been holding back for three months. Now Ill go and have a good time, excuse me." After finishing his laughter, he hugged the blushing beauty and left on his own. Although the heroes of the north are not bound by trivial rules, such licentiousness is rarely seen, it can be seen that he was still quite drunk.
Xiang Ming led the way, and the others also left one after another. Even Qin Yong followed Xu Haifengs hint and took Mei away.