Chapter 145: Use This to Slap Him
Later that afternoon, Tianming led Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng towards the center of the city where the Aroma Delicacy was.
In the most luxurious room in the three-stories Aroma Delicacy, a veritable mountain of exotic delicacies were piled up on top of one another on the table. Four people were seated around the table as two young women stood off to the side with a pitcher in hand. Su Dong was standing quietly in the corner to the left as he watched the young charge of his ‘push his cup for a drink and return with a bowl’ with a very helpless expression.
“And the eighth cup! As lord Bai said, there cannot be concord without discord! It bears me great honor to be able to meet such a chivalrous person like lord Bai! Yes, in light of our recent meeting, let me toast you all one more time! Drink up as you will!”
“……”
The corners to Bai Yunfei’s mouth twitched slightly as he gave Jing Mingfeng and Tianming a wry smile before drinking a cup.
“And the ninth cup! It too, is a great honor to meet lord Jing! Let me toast you all again! Drink up as you will!”
“……”
Bai Yunfei didn’t know what to say by this point. The very moment this person had sat down, he polished off five drinks in ‘punishment’ for yesterday’s crime. Originally thinking that this was just how it was done, Bai Yunfei paid no more attention to it and didn’t bother to mention that there wasn’t a need to repeat such a thing or to toast in meeting Jing Mingfeng.
But by the time Liu Shun had drained his tenth cup, Bai Yunfei realized—this person was just finding an excuse to drink! Before the meal could even begin, he had already drained half the jar. But seeing how he was drinking in consideration to the guests, it was clear to see that he was ‘restraining’ his drinking…..
“Young master Liu, I’ve heard that the crystal fish of Aroma Delicacy is a delectable dish. Why don’t we eat first? In truth, I’ve been wanting to eat here ever since I’ve arrived in Gaoyi City.”
Just as Liu Shun was about to drink his thirteenth cup, Bai Yunfei interjected in before he could have any more wine poured in. Giving a stare at the two others, Jing Mingfeng and Tianming rose their chopsticks up to speak up as well, “Yea yea! Let’s eat! I skipped breakfast so I’m starving!”
“Uhhh….” Liu Shun stared blankly, but then he put down the wine cup with a slightly resentful expression. But then when he realized just how over-the-top he had been, he raised his chopsticks up as well. “Yes, then let us eat first. All of these foods are specialties of Aroma Delicacy; each one of them are extremely delicious. Despite his character, fatty Zhao has a palate that is far better than anyone else.”
When Liu Shun wasn’t drunk, his words and demeanor were fitting his status. His speech was concise and he wasn’t cold to any single person in conversation, making the table talks quite pleasant. But every so often, he would try to find a reason to drink another cup, causing Bai Yunfei to feel both helpless and afraid that he would become a raving drunk again.
Half an hour later, Liu Shun had finished off three jars of wine all by himself. But his expression was calm and his eyes were clear, indicating that he was clearly a drinker of high tolerance.
Tianming and Liu Shun were good friends with one another and had began to talk about the ‘great fun’ Tianming had during his ‘excursion’ to the outside world. Jing Mingfeng was rather absent minded during the meal; every so often, he would glance to the doors of the room as if he was waiting for something….
And Bai Yunfei was looking only to the dishes on the plate. Every so often, he would say something, but it was clear to see that he came here to just enjoy a nice meal.
Just as the meal came to a close, the sounds of footsteps could be heard approaching the door. Followed by the laughter of some sort of duck, the doors to the room was pushed open to allow for a meatball to move in.
Oh. No, it was a person actually. This person was shy two meters tall and had a waist that was nearly the same length as he was tall. The neck of this person was nowhere to be seen on this perfectly spherical body. But the funniest thing about this person was how his combed hair looked like a big bottle gourd with four small limbs. Even Bai Yunfei had nearly spat out his food at the sight of this person.
“Haha! I only just heard of young master Liu and little brother Tianming welcoming my humble abode a few moments ago! Your presence brings light to this humble dwelling! But how unkind you are to not give Zhao Liang a message beforehand! I would have prepared a better welcoming for you two!”
This fatty gourd….no...this Zhao Liang was the one that was speaking with rough quacking sounds of a duck.
Bai Yunfei, Liu Shun, and Su Dong who was in the corner had raised an eyebrow at his entrance. And even Tianming was slightly taken aback. But the most unexpected reaction was the one of Jing Mingfeng.
“F*cking hell! You finally came out! After all of this waiting, I thought the flowers would wilt before you would come out! Hurry up and get to the fighting already then!" Jing Mingfeng spoke out loud in joy as if a great play was about to start right in front of him. In his joy, he had slapped the table with a firm hand.
“……”
Zhao Liang came to a screeching halt as he turned his head several degrees to stare at Jing Mingfeng in what appeared to be astonishment with his small beady eyes.
Bai Yunfei didn’t even know just how to react to Jing Mingfeng. “There wasn’t a point to being so anxious for this! He only just came out and you’re shouting about fighting already….” He thought to himself.
“Haha, my friend here drank a little too much. Please forgive him, young master Zhao. Pretend he didn’t say a word.” Bai Yunfei turned to speak to Zhao Liang apologetically. In his mind, he was looking at what the rumors said to be the ‘fatass’. As expected from his expectations, this was a fatty of stupendous levels.
“Haha, fatty Zhao, brother Jing really did drink too much. He was only joking around with you, don’t take offense to it please.” Liu Shun copied Bai Yunfei’s reaction and hurried to help.
“Oh yea! I’m drunk! I was just speaking the lines to an opera I’ve heard. Don’t mind me, don’t mind me at all….” Jing Mingfeng himself knew that he had slipped up in his excitement. Mimicking the belch of a drunken man, he fell onto the table and moved no more.
“……”
In the midst of the silence, Zhao Liang’s face seemed to have begun to twitch as if he was trying hard to quash the anger in him. Smiling, he spoke, “Haha, this friend is quite interesting! Little brother Tianming, is this your friend?”
“Hmph, don’t call me that as if you were my family. Since when was I your brother?” Tianming scowled in discontent.
“Haha, it’ll be good to call ourselves that. When I marry Ye Yan, you’ll have to call me brother-in-law! It’d do you well to get accustomed to that.” Zhao Liang laughed merrily.
“You….you fatass! You’re as fat as a pig and yet you want to marry my cousin? Don’t get carried away!”
An ominous glint flashed across his eyes as Zhao Liang smiled insincerely, “She should be lucky that I took a liking to her! For now, she’ll be my concubine, but when the Ye swears allegiance to the house of Zhao, I’ll work her like a servant!”
“You….you shameless hog swine! Your tongue doesn’t like to hide I see, dreaming of swallowing even my Ye family, you’re dreaming!”
“You only just came back from your excursion, so maybe you don’t understand how Gaoyi City is like now? What fight can the Ye give us? You’re in the final struggle. No matter how hard you try, it’ll only delay the inevitable.”
“Bullshit! Wait until my father becomes a Soul Ancestor, he’ll show the Zhao what-to!”
“Soul Ancestor? You sure he’s not going to die before that?”
“You….”
Because of his simple mind, Tianming had been brought to a boiling point with just a few words by Zhao Liang. While he was barking red from the squabble, Zhao Liang had a sinister look on his own face as he struck at the Ye. Their squabbles had gotten so heated that they practically forgot about Liu Shun and Bai Yunfei.
Two bodyguards came up in front of Zhao Liang with malevolent eyes that seemed ready for a fight.
“Tianming, that’s enough. There’s no need to squabble.” Bai Yunfei spoke up in uninterest to stop this pointless bickering. With a shake of his right hand, he dropped an object into Tianming’s hand.
“Use this to slap him….”