Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 109 Bragging

Li Guang picked up his wine glass, tapped the bottom of it on the table, and said, "Come on, guys, meeting is fate, let's have a drink first."

Xia Maosheng picked up his glass and said, "Let's have a four-way drinking session. I can't drink as much as you, so let's drink slowly."

The four people clinked glasses, each taking a quarter of the glass in one gulp. This was called "four-way drinking," meaning four sips from one glass, each sip representing one ounce of liquor.

After putting down his wine glass, Xiao Wei scooped up a bowl of soup and drank it. Soup was warming and appetizing on this day, and it could also dilute the alcohol in his stomach, which felt good.

Li Xing also ladled some soup, smiled at Xiao Wei, and asked, "Xiao Wei, right? What are you doing here, buddy?"

Xia Maosheng said, "Come and lease a restaurant. I'll call you when it opens in a few days. Bring plenty of customers over then."

Li Xing said, "You two did this? I think it's good, better than our jobs. You guys do it, why would I need to pull any strings? How many people can I bring over? Your aunt can just make one phone call and it'll be packed every day. It'll be like a government canteen!"

Xia Maosheng raised his wine glass and clinked it against Li Xing's, saying, "Find some from the mountains, we'll be counting on you for this."

Li Xing took a sip from his cup, picked up some food with his chopsticks, nodded, and said, "That's no problem. I'll set up a route for you, and you can navigate it yourself. You won't lose anything. It's just that there's less and less food available now, and we have to go into the old forest. It's not a regular route, and we can't keep up with the pace."

Xia Maosheng said, "That thing is just a longing, how can you ever have enough? What you lack is what's best."

The dishes were all served, the wine was half-drunk, and the restaurant started to get more customers. Two groups of people came in. One group sat down next to Xia Maosheng and Xiao Wei's table. They were a few young men, the kind who had been around in the streets. They looked up at people with their heads tilted back. Two of them were wearing leather jackets, three were wearing military-style cotton-padded jackets, and one of them was wearing a black cotton-padded jacket that looked like it was issued by a factory, with the markings of the mining bureau.

The one in the black cotton-padded jacket walked over, took off his hat and threw it on a stool to the side. Without even reaching out, he kicked the stool in front of him away with his foot, and sat down with a creak. He banged on the table and shouted, "Fifth Brother, get some hot water! So clueless! You think you can't do your job?"

The others who were with him sat down, all crookedly. One of them laughed and said, "Old Stubborn, you'd better be a little more stubborn. If you piss Fifth Brother off, he'll throw you in the sewer. You dare to fry your wings here? Is your dick harder than everyone else's?" The group burst into laughter.

The boss came over with the menu, threw it on the table, and said, "Behave yourself, don't make a fuss. Do you want people to know you're not a good person? What do you want to eat? Old Stubborn, drink less today. If you drink too much, listen to me, if you drink any more than that, I'll throw you out onto the street, you hear me? You blind man, watch him order. Also, who's paying today? Don't drink all that and run away like last time."

Old Jue slammed his hand on the table and said, "What's wrong? Why is there so much trouble just because I'm having a meal at your house? Can't you even do anything right?"

The boss glanced at him and laughed, "Look at your face, what's wrong? Did you win some money today? You're pretty confident."

The blind man said, "Today, while playing the 'Mihu' game, this bastard had good luck; he won over a thousand yuan. Hey, Old Stubborn, where did you go gambling?"

In the early 90s, billiards had already become popular in Northeast China, and it developed rapidly. Within a few years, the roadside stalls and wooden tables were replaced by indoor billiard halls with marble tabletops, becoming a favorite among young people. There were many ways to play, the most common being "Fighting the Confused Numbers." A deck of cards, numbered 1 to 15, was used. Each person would draw two cards and keep them in their pocket. If a number made a shot, the player would win. Each ball cost a few yuan, or even tens of yuan.

The most direct way to gamble is with the drop shot. Two balls are placed, one on the heading spot and the other on the tee spot. You call out for the basket to be hit, and you can only hit the bottom pocket. Usually, one shot can be worth several hundred dollars. You can also bet on the horse, which means everyone bets, and often one shot can be worth thousands of dollars.

Normally, a game played according to the rules costs 30 to 50 yuan per round, but this is too slow and requires skill, so it's not very engaging.

Around this time, more people in Northeast China started playing mahjong, but the scale was so large and the activity so prolonged that relatively few people actually played. Keep in mind that in Northeast China at that time, even five cents was considered gambling, punishable by detention and fines of several thousand yuan. It wasn't until around 2010 that local regulations on mahjong became less strict, though arrests were still made based on reports. I imagine the police from Northeast China would be ecstatic if they were reassigned to work in Sichuan and Chongqing.

Old Stubborn slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "Stop spouting nonsense! Bring out the food! Let's drink to the hundred-year anniversary today! Damn it, I've turned my life around! I've been winning money like crazy lately!"

The blind man said, "How much have I won? Ten of my wins don't even equal your one win!"

Li Xing raised his glass to Xiao Wei and said, "Come on, since it's our first meeting, let's have a drink. I'll come visit you whenever I go to Fengtian."

Xiao Wei raised his glass and clinked it against his, saying, "Sure, anything is fine, my house is easy to find."

Xia Maosheng said, "Last month, we got into a fight with the management office on Taiyuan Street, and guess what? The director got fired. Isn't that amazing?"

Li Xing nodded and said, "Awesome. In Fengtian, the management office of such a big market must be at least at the section chief level, right? That's really impressive. Come on, Xiao Wei, let's do this." He tilted his head back and finished off the four ounces.

Xiao Wei licked his lips, glanced at Xia Maosheng, and thought, "This is a bit of a boast, but what can I do?" He couldn't say anything, so he just went downstairs and quickly drank the soup. It was four liang (200 grams), and two cups would be almost a bottle. Speaking of which, a bottle of baijiu (Chinese liquor) that weighs one jin (500 grams) is actually only about nine liang (450 grams).

After finishing his drink and taking a couple of bites of food, the stubborn old man next to him turned around and said, "Hey buddy, bragging? What's so great about you? Tell me, let's see how awesome you guys are. Awesome, right?"

Li Xingxia, Maosheng, Xiaowei, and Liu Huasheng all turned to look at Lao Jue. Just then, the restaurant owner came over to serve the dishes, kicked Lao Jue's stool, and said, "What's so great about him? You're already drunk before you've even had a drink? Do you even know him? Just eat your food. Tiezi, ignore him. We're used to joking around together, so we don't know any better. Come on, these are dumplings my family made ourselves, just for us. Try some."

He stood between the two tables, blocking the stubborn old man behind him, placed the dumplings on the table, rubbed his hands together, pulled up a stool, sat down, and said, "Come on, let's have one. It's been a while since we've seen each other. It's fate that we've run into each other today."

Li Xing said, "Then you can treat me to this table?"

The boss pointed to the dumplings and said, "These are for you. I'll cook more for you if you need more." He then poured himself a glass of wine.

The stubborn guy at that table was pulled back by his tablemates. They poured wine and served dishes. Usually, stews are almost cooked in advance, so if someone wants them, they can be served as soon as they boil. It's quick.

Old Jue picked up his glass, took a small sip, put it down, and called out, "Bring me some vinegar and garlic, single-clove garlic, please." The young man in the restaurant agreed and ran to the back to get it for him. This young man was a relative of the owner and was a jack-of-all-trades in this small restaurant, doing everything from front to back. Back then, most restaurants were like this; people would work their way up from the front of the house to the kitchen, eventually becoming more familiar with the restaurant than the owner himself. When they got older, they would definitely open their own business.

While the boss was drinking with Li Xingxia and Maosheng at their table, Lao Juequ, the blind man, and the others were also getting into it. These people were known for one thing when it came to drinking: noisy. They were shouting and making a ruckus, and before they'd even finished their drinks, they were already playing drinking games.

"Two good ones. Four happy fortunes, six six six six, eight horses. A perfect match, champion champion, champion champion..." Six people made the noise of sixty people.

Old Stubborn is the most mischievous one among them.