Chapter 34: Solicitous Wang Zhitao
Yang Ming looked at his watch. It was 5:55 pm. He walked towards Tavern Heaven On Earth.
The greeter in the tavern gave Yang Ming a strange look and said, "Sir, are you dining in?" At this moment, Yang Ming was dressed like a student. Also, he was alone, therefore, the greeter had doubts.
Yang Ming was annoyed because he felt that he was being treated like a beggar. "Nonsense. If I didn't come here to eat, what else can I do?!"
"Oh, please follow me…" The greeter saw that Yang Ming's clothes were pretty common; basically, they were bought from the flea market. He didn't look like he could afford this place. Actually, dining in Tavern Heaven On Earth wasn't that expensive but it cost from a few hundred up to thousands of yuan.
As Yang Ming approached the front desk, he suddenly realized that he hadn't confirmed with Wang Zhitao regarding which room to meet in. Moreover, he didn't have his cell phone. This is bad! Would that fellow intentionally deceive me?
The greeter noticed an expression of hesitation and uncertainty on Yang Ming. She deduced that Yang Ming was overwhelmed by the luxury of the place and he couldn't afford it. She secretly laughed at him.
"Sir, are you dining in? If you are, allow me to have the receptionist arrange a table for you. If you are not, then leave. I have work to do!" The lady greeter was certain that Yang Ming was a poor fellow and therefore, spoke rudely.
Yang Ming heard the harsh words from the greeter. Anger built up in his heart. Why would you treat your customer like this? He wanted to throw a fit, but he was afraid that Wang Zhitao was fooling him. If he were to lose his temper, he would be the laughingstock when he couldn't dine in here.
Yang Ming couldn't help but try to ask the greeter. "Is there someone named Wang Zhitao here? Did he reserve a room?"
The greeter was stunned, "Ah? You are the guest of Master Wang?" Her disdain quickly turned into brown-nosing. "Aiya, are you Mister Yang? Why didn't you mention this earlier? Sorry. sorry. Please pardon my poor service..."
Yang Ming didn't know why the greeter's attitude improved so much when he mentioned Wang Zhitao. Also, she called him Mister Yang. The reason must be that Wang Zhitao had sorted it out beforehand. He left a cold humph as he said, "Why don't you quickly bring me over?"
"Yes. Yes. Mister Yang, please follow me!" the greeter bent her body and walked ahead of him. She turned her body sideways and extend her arm in front of Yang Ming just like welcoming a big shot in town.
Yang Ming didn't quite understand the situation. Apparently, Wang Zhitao, that brat, didn't lie to him. This fellow had actually come around.
After coming to the third floor in the lift, the greeter pointed to a room and said, "Mister Yang, Master Wang is waiting for you in the Purple-Gold Pavilion ahead."
"Erm, I got it. There is nothing of your concern here. You may leave!" Yang Ming waved his hand like a boss.
The greeter bowed and said, "Yes. Yes. Regarding my poor service, Mister Yang please don't let Master Wang know..."
"Alright, alright. This time let's forget about it!" Yang Ming wondered why everyone was so afraid of Wang Zhitao. What did that little brat's household work on? It seemed that he was quite capable!
Yang Ming pushed open the room's door and he saw Wang Zhitao smoking as he sat on a couch inside.
Damn, I thought you were some good fellow. You are also a big smoker like me. Yang Ming simply walked in and said, "Aiya! Great class monitor, pardon me for making you wait for such a long time!"
Wang Zhitao saw Yang Ming and he immediately stood up as he smiled from ear to ear. He took a pack of cigarettes from the coffee table, squeezed it into Yang Ming's hand and said, "Yang Ming, you are here! Hehe, I have also just arrived a few moments ago. Come and have a cigarette. I will order the waiters to serve the dishes!" Then, he simply put out his cigarette, turned around and left the room.
Yao Ming looked at the cigarettes in his hand. Damn, it was actually the Zhonghua brand! He is so rich. Usually, Yang Ming could only afford a pack of the Bailingzhi brand that cost two yuan.
Yang Ming took out a cigarette from the pack, held it in his mouth and lit it with a lighter. While Wang Zhitao left the room to order food, Yang Ming put the remaining Zhonghua cigarettes into his pocket. It was stupid to not take advantage especially of that little brat, Wang Zhitao. Yang Ming looked at the Zippo lighter in his hand. After a few moments of consideration, he put it in his pocket as well. Since he had already taken something, why not just take everything?
Not long after, Wang Zhitao returned to the room and said, "The dishes are ready. They will be coming soon. Just wait a bit longer!" After that, he looked around for his cigarettes.
"Uh... Are you looking for a cigarette?" In Yang Ming's head, he cursed Wang Zhitao, "You still want to smoke? Death will be coming. Don't you know the dangers of smoking?!" However, Yang Ming reached his hand into his pocket. It was just that he couldn't find the cigarettes.
Wang Zhitao turned around to call for the waiter as he said, "Never mind. You can have it. I can buy another pack!"
"Give me two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes…" Wang Zhitao looked around for the missing lighter. He added, "Bring a lighter as well!"
Wang Zhitao despised Yang Ming. He thought to himself, "Poor people are indeed poor people. Someone like you still wants to pursue Chen Mengyan? You're asking for the moon. Why don't you look at yourself in the mirror?"
Soon after, the dishes were served. Yang Ming was amazed at the scene. This little fellow, Wang Zhitao, was really generous with his money. Abalone, sea cucumber, crabs, and prawns were all served in batches.
Wang Zhitao attended to Yang Ming during the meal, "Yang Ming, come quickly and eat. There's only two of us here. Don't worry about being polite. I am quite hungry as well!"
Yang Ming was already a glutton with the food. However, as a guest, he wouldn't want to just eat it directly if Wang Zhitao didn't say anything.
"Haha, I am also hungry. Then I won't be polite and help myself to the food!" Yang Ming simply took a big crab with his chopsticks and started eating.
Although Wang Zhitao said he was hungry, he didn't even touch the food. It was Yang Ming eating all along.
Yang Ming felt thirsty after he ate a lot of food. "Can I drink some alcohol?"
"Aiya!" Wang Zhitao slapped his head. "Look at me, I forgot all about it. What do you want to have? Beer or a drink?" Wang Zhitao thought, "I was waiting for you to ask this!"
"Beer!" Yang Ming felt that food was wasted if there wasn't any alcohol complimenting it.
Wang Zhitao turned around and left the room saying, "Alright, wait a bit. I am getting it."
Why is this fellow so attentive? It's just a beer and he personally went to get it? What does he really want? Is it... Not good. This brat wants to leave me here to pay the bill? Yang Ming slapped his thigh as he contemplated how to stop Wang Zhitao from running away!
Chapter 35: A Drunken Yang Ming
"What he wants is beer. Have you prepared it?" Wang Zhitao quietly asked the man across from the room's entrance.
No worries, master, I can guarantee you that it looks completely similar to a factory produced product!" assured the man.
"Alright, Ah Biao, you go and arrange to have a waiter to deliver it in a while. Make sure he doesn't mix it up." Wang Zhitao nodded his head and asked, "Oh yeah, how well have you arranged the things that come after that?"
"I already have my brothers downstairs finding our target!" said Zhang Biao.
"Hehe, Yang Ming, this time around I shall really screw you up!" Wang Zhitao sneered. "Okay, you go down first. I will go back since it's been a while or else this brat would think that I am making him pay the bill!"
……………………
Yang Ming thought it over and immediately went to the room's door to have a look outside. He realized Wang Zhitao was talking to the "Brother Biao" from the other day about something. Yang Ming can see them, but couldn't really hear them. Yang Ming felt sorry for himself. He already obtained the legendary x-ray vision but if he could also get a super-hearing ability, that would be brilliant! Although it was just wishful thinking, he knew that this wasn't possible. A person having one superpower is already really great because it was a God-given talent. How could he ask for more when he wasn't some kind of demigod? Therefore, Yang Ming decided that after the college entrance exam, he would find a chance to learn lip-reading as a substitute for the super-hearing ability.
Could it be that this brat is still looking for someone to give me a beating? But there's really no need to spend that much effort, right? Buying me such a high-class meal? Even though Yang Ming felt that Wang Zhitao was a coward, he wasn't an idiot. But since Wang Zhitao didn't slip away, Yang Ming didn't have to worry about other things. Different situations called for different actions! The first thing is to fill up his stomach before anything else.
"Hehe, you waited for a while, right?" Wang Zhitao pushed open the room's door and walked in. "I met a friend just now and had a small chat with him. Oh yeah! It was the person who wanted to give you a lesson last time. I told him that we are now good brothers so that if he were to bump into you, he would need to be respectful to you!"
Wang Zhitao was obviously not an idiot. He went out for a long time, so of course, he was afraid that Yang Ming had peeked at what he was doing. Therefore, instead of covering it up, he took the initiative to tell him why he met with Zhang Biao earlier but modified some of the facts. He was certain that Yang Ming wasn't able to hear anything since the distance was pretty far. The fact was that Yang Ming really couldn't hear anything at all.
After listening to Wang Zhitao's semi-believable explanation, Yang Ming's doubt disappeared. He never thought that Wang Zhitao would just tell him everything but the more Wang Zhitao behaved like this, the more Yang Ming felt confused!
Very quickly, the waiter served the beer, and it was a full box! The beer was stored in a big glass bottle. This has to be explained. People in the North are lavish drinkers. They hardly go for a small cup of drink. Regardless of how rich a person was, the most popular drink was still this type of big glass bottle even though this was a high-class restaurant.
"Sir, how many bottles would you like?" asked the waiter.
"Open ten bottles first. Me and this gentleman over here, five bottles each!" Wang Zhitao ordered and said to Yang Ming, "Let's drink straight from the container itself. It's so troublesome to pour it into a glass!"
Wang Zhitao's suggestion went right along with Yang Ming's intention. Last time when he drank at the big food stall with Xu Peng and friends, everyone was also drinking a bottle each.
It was obvious that this waiter had gotten an order from Zhang Biao. When he was distributing the bottles, he was taking them from two different sides. Yang Ming didn't have this societal experience so he didn't realize this small detail. He raised the glass bottle and said, "To our great class monitor, this is for you!"
"Ah... it should be me drinking this for you! Come, both of us are brothers. Words can't say much. Let's finish one bottle first!" Wang Zhitao also raised the glass bottle in his hand.
Even though he looks like a good boy in class, his tolerance to alcohol is pretty good. Starting with a full bottle! Yang Ming thought to himself but Yang Ming was not afraid of Wang Zhitao at all. During those years when he was drinking with his brothers at the big food stall, everyone was drinking from boxes. Yang Ming's record was finishing two boxes in about a day's time.
Yang Ming saw how Wang Zhitao was pouring the fluid into his stomach. How could he let Wang Zhitao win? He took up the glass bottle and poured it into his stomach too.
One bottle went down and Yang Ming burped. He felt a bit dizzy. How come this beer is so strong? Last time when I drank, it was also this same brand, but it was like drinking water. Is it because I haven't had a drink in a few months that my alcohol tolerance dropped? Yang Ming shook his head.
What Wang Zhitao drank was water. It was actually carbonated tea which he had Zhang Biao prepare earlier. What Yang Ming drank was a specially made condensed beer.
I have heard that you have a high alcohol tolerance. I'm so glad that I have prepared everything well. This time around you shall drink to your grave! Wang Zhitao raised another glass bottle and said, "Brother, the last time it was my fault. This bottle is me asking for your forgiveness. I will drink it first as a sign of respect. You can drink whenever you want!" As he finished the sentence, he raised his chin and another bottle of "beer" entered his stomach.
At that moment, Yang Ming was feeling tipsy. That kind of drinking mood was also here. Therefore, he also raised another bottle and pour it right into his mouth. He raised his empty bottle and said, "Sure! Let's drink together!"
"Brother, you are really forthright! Come, let's eat while we drink!" Wang Zhitao signaled the waiter to open a few more bottles. It seemed that even this strong alcohol wasn't having enough attack power. If it were any other Tom, Dick or Harry, half a bottle would be enough to make him drunk.
Those two exchanged their words and five bottles went down into their stomach. This time, Yang Ming didn't really need Wang Zhitao to ask him. He just took the bottles and drank it himself.
Wang Zhitao let out a breath of air as he noticed the situation in front of him. He was also feeling uncomfortable because his stomach was full of tea. It felt as if everything was going to overflow from his throat and eyes! He really didn't understand how Yang Ming could drink all that alcohol.
Eventually, Yang Ming lost to the strong alcohol. He felt a bit blurry... then afterward he was no longer aware of anything.
Wang Zhitao then stood up shakily, walked towards the front door. He felt that his body was full of tea. Whenever he moved, he could hear the tea sloshing around - splash, splash.
"Master, are you okay? Why are you so pale?" Zhang Biao asked concerned.
"It's alright; I drank too much tea. Help me to go to the washroom to settle it. Damn, this is killing me!" Wang Zhitao complained.