Chapter 151: Enjoyment of Drinking Bamboo Liquor
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
"Coach Chen, the cup is too small and can only fill 50ml," the student Guang Wei said with a good-natured look.
"50ml? You are too greedy. There is only 200ml in all. 50ml for each of you two and the remaining 100ml for me," With those words, Chen Wei decided everything readily.
"Wait, wait. Brothers aren’t supposed to do so," having just finished a mouthful of the liquor, Dong Dong frowned and said disapprovingly.
"Dong Dong, you don’t like drinking, so don’t compete with me," Chen Wei said after taking another sip of the liquor primly.
"It’s just like pear juice. The liquor is sweet and smooth when first sipped and is refreshing when it goes through the throat. When the liquor goes down into the stomach, it starts to burn warmly inside. It’s surely not liquor, so 50ml is too little for me," Dong Dong took another sip and then continued to answer.
"You are really good at saying such beautiful words. For the sake of brotherhood, I can split a mouthful of the liquor with you, but no more. As for you, you’d better forget about it," Chen Wei could do nothing with Dong Dong and hence had to compromise by giving him another mouthful of the liquor. As for his student who was usually oppressed by him during normal times, he directly refused his request.
"Coach Chen, but I have already poured 75ml into my cup." The student, Guang Wei, first drank half a cup silently and then again filled the cup with liquor to its brim.
"You brat. You have a very important training program tomorrow. You can’t drink too much in case you screw it up. Pour the liquor back into the pot, hurry up," with a serious expression, Chen Wei talked as if it were real. Then, he poured the liquor in Guang Wei’s cup back into the pot swiftly.
"Coach Chen, I can actually drink a lot. Never mind," Guang Wei was unable to rival Chen Wei and naturally had to give up.
On the other side, the liquor for the other two customers were also filled into the pots and carried to their tables respectively.
"It really isn’t like liquor with its sour, sweet and delicious taste but soft and smooth texture as well. Good liquor," Zheng Xian took a sip and said gently after carefully savoring.
"So it is. It’s simply like the Ai Family Pear Juice and sugar cane honey, fragrant, sweet and delicious. Nonetheless, it has the fragrance of liquor as well," Wei Hua likewise gave a compliment generously.
"Is it really so tasty?" Wei Hua’s daughter was a little suspicious.
Speaking of liquor, wasn’t it sour and astringent with a sort of bitterness and piquancy, along with a choking feeling as well? How could it be so exaggeratedly good when described by these people?
"Humm, this is rarely good liquor. Look at the color, just like amber," seeing his daughter’s disbelief, he started to explain to her, trying to purposely ease the tension between the two of them.
Her nickname was Tang Tang (the single word means sugar in Chinese) indicated the previous sweetness of the three-member family. But now, she no longer allowed others to call her with this name, but with her formal name Wei Wei.
She craned her neck to watch the liquor and found the color was indeed like the amber, hence agreed with a nod.
"If you smell it, the flavor is as natural and refreshing as that of the pear juice. Right?" It was rare for Wei Hua to have such a meticulous tone in his instructions. Even though Wei Wei didn’t really have much interest in the liquor, she still listened to him earnestly.
The father instructed his daughter and his daughter listened to her father. That was a rarely harmonious scene.
At the other side, although Zheng Xian was alone, she nevertheless drank quite blissfully. She helped herself to the liquor and enjoyed it a lot, with a gentle smile all along.
After a single round, all the three pots basically had only half of the liquor left.
At that time, the aftereffect of the liquor gradually revealed. The bamboo liquor was so clear that people could even see the bottom. While drinking, one felt like being drinking pear juice or cane syrup, without even knowing it was actually liquor. However, the improved bamboo liquor provided by Yuan Zhou retained abundant aftereffect. The atmosphere of the several people drinking in the pub then heated up.
"Hey, guys. We are all considered to be acquaintances now. Let’s have a toast, shall we?" Chen Wei said in a loud voice.
"Yeah, right. It’s not funny to drink the liquor only. What dishes did you guys bring?" Dong Dong also stood up and said.
"This elder sister brought Marinated Sliced Lotus Root. Would you guys like to eat some?" Zheng Xian said with a smile and a slightly flushing face.
"Could I taste a little?" Wei Wei said shyly while staying seated in her position.
"Of course. Let me bring a plate of the dish to you." While saying that, Zheng Xian stood up and took a small bag to the girl.
"Thank you," Wei Wei stood up gratefully and took over the dish.
It was only Wei Hua and his daughter Wei Wei who didn’t bring any dishes and didn’t even think of bringing some with them. It was an established habit to drink while eating dishes. They were here not only for drinking, but also for enjoying the good liquor and the delicate cuisines.
Besides, the girl Wei Wei who couldn’t drink could only eat dishes.
"Hey, girl. Come here. We brought a lot of dishes." The student, Guang Wei, picked up a bag of stewed meat and handed it to her generously.
"Thank you," Wei Hua went up for a step and received it.
"You are welcome. Why don’t we play a game? Whoever wins gets the liquor of the loser. Half a cup each time. How do you like that?" Chen Wei then brought out his purpose.
Zheng Xian was drinking alone. Although Wei Hua had his daughter with him, she didn’t actually drink, which nevertheless meant that he drank alone, too. At his side, however, three people shared only 200ml of the liquor. It was totally insufficient for him and therefore he had to work out another method to drink more.
"Yeah, that’s interesting. Ok," Zheng Xian saw through Chen Wei’s purpose in one go, but she still agreed while smiling.
As for Wei Hua, he would naturally agree since he had just accepted the kind offer of Chen Wei.
The rules of the game were quite easy, merely competing with the speed of eyes and hands.
Yuan Zhou was just sitting beside the countertop and looking at them quietly. In this case, however, he would be inevitably affected.
"Boss Yuan, stop watching us like that. Come and join us," Chen Wei sneakily intended to get Yuan Zhou into hot water.
"I’m quite good at playing this game," Yuan Zhou answered in a low voice.
"Really?" Chen Wei was a little suspicious. Only the people who had received professional training like him could have excellent coordination between their eyes, ears and hands. Nevertheless, Yuan Zhou was obviously an ordinary person. How was it possible?
"I think Boss Yuan is right. Anyhow, he is a reputable chef," Zheng Xian said affirmatively at the side.
What she said was fairly persuasive, because she had won two full cups of the liquor in that short time.
"Alright," Chen Wei had expected to cheat some liquor from Yuan Zhou but now, this plan failed.
"We might as well change another game," seeing the several men not even win once, Zheng Xian suggested.
"That would be wonderful. What game do you want to change to?" Chen Wei was the first to agree. He had no way out if he didn’t agree. If the game continued, even his liquor would be drunk up by the pretty lady, let alone him drinking others’.
"Then we change to a tasteful game. We all know about the bamboo liquor. So let’s compete over the characteristics and brewing of the liquor. Boss Yuan, you act as the judge, ok?" As soon as she opened her mouth, Zheng Xian suggested that they compete with culture.
"Of course, good liquor is to be drunk by people who know about it well," Wei Hua said confidently.
Concerning the understanding of liquor, Chen Wei wouldn’t admit any inferiority than others, thus he agreed flatly.
When Guang Wei heard his coach was going to treat him to the liquor, he specifically did some homework.
"Sure. You can start now," Yuan Zhou was quite willing to be the judge.
"Let me start first to get better ones. Pi County Annals said bamboo liquor originated from the renowned person, Shan Tao, during ancient times, who gave this liquor its current name," smilingly, Zheng Xian spoke out the background of the liquor name.
"Yes, it’s true," Yuan Zhou agreed with a nod.
"’The delicacy of the fish from Bing Xue is well known to all, while the good taste of bamboo liquor was always missed without needing to be scooped’. This is a poem by the major poet, Du Fu, in Tang Dynasty. He expressed his fondness to the Ya An fish (Bing Xue is one of the districts of Ya’an County) and Bamboo Liquor," immediately, Wei Hua followed suit and directly brought out two lines of the poem.
"That’s right, too," Yuan Zhou confirmed Wei Hua’s words again.
"None of you guys got to the point. Speaking of the liquor, we naturally should talk about the taste. Why are you all saying that kind of elusive stuff?" Chen Wei said loudly.
"Then let’s hear Brother Chen’s wise idea," Zheng Xian reached out her white and beautiful hands and made a gesture of "Please".
The liquor is like the amber in color, but nonetheless tastes awfully refreshing," while speaking of that, Chen Wei immediately took a sip and then continued to say, "When first sipped, it’s incomparably smooth, bringing about a mouthful of saliva. The taste is sweet, but the breath is cool. And when it goes down to the stomach, it became hot."
After that, Chen Wei filled a cup with the liquor again and shook it slightly, "With the fragrance, Boss Yuan probably also added some mandala flowers, making it so appetizing."
Hearing Chen Wei introducing the liquor in details, especially when he shook it while speaking, others were nevertheless enticed to pick up the cup and sip the liquor.
The game continued. Although they all loved drinking liquor, it was not so easy to describe it in that instant. However, Zheng Xian presented her abundant knowledge in front of other people by reciting several poems and then completely defeated others.
"’Reefs in the ocean are no more than chess pieces in my heart, and the bamboo bucket is like the wine jar to me, for me to drink to the bottom". This is the poem by Li Shangyin."
"Yang Wanli once said, ‘Among the continuous hills and rives, two people were travelling and drinking bamboo liquor in company of one another’".
"Let me think. Also, the poem Yu Ji in Yuan Dynasty said, ‘When the heavy rain pours into the Han Zhou city at midnight, there I am, holding the bamboo bucket to drink ceaselessly and thus becoming drunk’".
As a result, all the liquor was drunk by Zheng Xian.
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