Chapter 391 — Let's Just Drink the Baijiu Instead

"Starting off with beer right away — I can't say I'm all that interested," Wei Zhao said, sounding thoroughly unenthusiastic. "Drinking is something a few people ought to do together. It's not mineral water — what's all this about quenching thirst?"

"Then we'll drink together!" An Liwen thought, a few men drinking together, what could be easier? Our whole gang against you alone! Aloud he raised his glass: "To you! I'll down mine — whether you finish yours is up to you!"

With that, An Liwen tipped back his head and sent a whole can of beer down his throat. The alcohol content of this beer was hardly low, but to a seasoned drinker like An Liwen, it truly amounted to nothing.

An Liwen could hold a great deal of liquor — knocking back several bottles of Moutai at a stretch was no problem for him. Back when they were the Four Young Masters of Songshan, which of them had not been a walking wine cask? And what set An Liwen's mind at ease was that today he still had one final trump card: Su Tai-wei.

"All right." Wei Zhao nodded, then copied An Liwen's manner, tipped back his head, and set the empty can down on the table.

"Brother Lin, you can certainly hold your liquor!" An Liwen praised as he quietly picked up the empty can in front of Wei Zhao and set it on the floor, replacing it with a freshly opened beer.

An Liwen had wanted to check whether Wei Zhao had really drunk the beer in front of him. Finding the can empty, he relaxed — though he also privately mocked himself for being far too suspicious. This "tactical nuclear penguin" beer was a rare thing; he had gone out of his way to have a friend bring these few cases in from abroad. Wei Zhao, that country bumpkin, would surely assume it was just ordinary foreign liquor, and since foreign liquor generally had a low proof, that was why he had drained it so readily.

Still, no harm in it. Let the bumpkin drink his fill — everyone would down a can with him, and then they would bring out the baijiu. It probably would not be long before Wei Zhao landed himself in the hospital.

"This beer's got a nice taste. Never seen it before?" Wei Zhao studied the lettering printed on the outside of the can, putting on an air of great novelty.

"Ha, yes — foreign liquor, and not cheap!" Su Tai-zao gave a hollow laugh. Fearing Wei Zhao might spot the alcohol content printed on the can, he hastily cut him off: "Let's have another round, you and I..."

"Sure!" Wei Zhao nodded readily.

Su Tai-zao cheerfully drained a can of beer with Wei Zhao, one each, and An Liwen, watching, nodded to himself in secret approval. He felt he had seen clean through Wei Zhao by now: the fellow was really nothing but a bumpkin with a bit of low cunning, and plainly fond of snatching up a bargain — otherwise why would he come out every single time they invited him to a meal?

From the way Wei Zhao drank, An Liwen understood: the boy had most likely hardly ever tasted foreign liquor in his life, and now that the chance was here, how could he let it pass? He had originally been puzzling over how to cajole Wei Zhao, how to have everyone at the table take turns toasting him — but now no cajoling was needed at all! And then something happened that delighted An Liwen even more!

After matching Su Tai-zao can for can, Wei Zhao seemed still to be savoring it. He held the empty can up and tipped it toward his mouth, trying to coax out one last drop, then set it down with visible reluctance.

Faint as Wei Zhao's display was, and little as he said, An Liwen caught it all, and his heart swelled with ever greater delight.

"Actually, the taste is only so-so. Nothing remarkable," Wei Zhao remarked mildly.

An Liwen nearly burst out laughing at his words. Only so-so? If it were only so-so, why drink it so fast? You've tasted foreign liquor now, and you don't want to be in my debt, is that it? But An Liwen said nothing of the sort. In his eyes none of it mattered — so long as Wei Zhao ended up in the hospital, that was enough.

"Brother Lin, let me toast you as well!" Yang Ganglou now rose to his feet and handed Wei Zhao another can of beer. "For what happened with Brother An that day, I truly thank you!"

"Ha ha, think nothing of it, think nothing of it..." Unable to hide his delight, Wei Zhao took the beer from Yang Ganglou's hand and drained it in one go. A rotating assault, is it? Ha ha, how creative... Wei Zhao felt a touch of contempt.

If he had not still needed to keep living in Songshan City, Wei Zhao would not have minded taking these few pieces of trash by the scruff of the neck right now and flinging them out the upstairs window, letting them experience for themselves what it felt like to be Superman.

But for the moment — at least on the surface — Wei Zhao would not go looking for trouble for himself, and so he regarded the schemes of An Liwen and his lot as he would a play unfolding on a stage.

After Yang Ganglou sat down, Su Tai-wei came forward — only this time he carried four cans of beer. He set two of them before Wei Zhao, then opened the remaining two: "Brother, you saved Brother An's life, which makes you the savior of Wei-ge here as well. One can of beer is no longer enough to express my feelings, so I'll use two! But Brother Lin, you drink at your own pace!"

Wei Zhao saw through the man's little game at a glance. No doubt he knew that by now, this deep into the beer, the rest of the evening would be free-and-easy drinking — there was no way they could keep up this rotating relay of men pouring beer into Wei Zhao. He was the last one left, and he meant to seize his chance.

"Since Wei-ge can down his, then I'll down mine too!" Wei Zhao thought to himself. Someone who actually calls himself Wei-ge? This guy's something else. So Wei Zhao deliberately pronounced the first "down" with a heavy stress, in distant echo of "Wei-ge"...

Su Tai-wei naturally caught the little trick in Wei Zhao's words, but since he had to drink with the man, he could only pretend he had not heard, and said with a smile: "Good — then let me drink first, as a show of respect!"

Two cans of beer went down, and Su Tai-wei drank as if it were plain water — not a flush on his cheeks, not a quickening of his heart, nothing out of the ordinary at all. But then, looking at Wei Zhao, it was just the same.

An Liwen and Su Tai-zao exchanged a glance, and a flicker of shock crossed each man's eyes. It seemed this young Wei Zhao had some capacity for liquor after all. Good thing they had brought Su Tai-wei along — otherwise they might not have been able to get the better of Wei Zhao at all.

Seeing that things were going on this way without much effect on Wei Zhao, An Liwen threw Yang Ganglou a look, signaling him to move on to the next step of the plan. The beer-drinking stage could be skipped.

The beer might not have been weak, but compared with baijiu it was a long way off. Rather than filling their bellies with beer, it would be better to switch straight to the hard stuff.

If Wei Zhao drank too much beer and got full, then declined the baijiu, they would lose more than they gained.

"Brother Lin, you can certainly hold your liquor! I'm in awe!" Yang Ganglou said with a laugh. "It looks like Brother Lin is a serious drinker too. So why don't we switch to baijiu? Otherwise we won't really enjoy ourselves, will we?"

"You should have said so earlier!" Wei Zhao tossed aside the empty beer can in his hand. "If you'd told me sooner, I wouldn't have drunk the beer at all. I'm a man who can't work up any interest in low-proof stuff! Brother An treated me to red wine, and it was pure misery for me! Since I wasn't familiar with you all, I didn't feel right making demands — but this time it doesn't matter. We all know each other well now, so let's just switch straight to baijiu!"