Chapter 152: Dishes with Liquor
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
Three pots of liquor were finished in three hours. All of them looked at Zheng Xian in silence.
"Beauty, are you a teacher of ancient Chinese prose?" Dong Dong asked, being reluctant to accept the truth.
"Do you recite poems whenever you have nothing to do?" Guang Wei said with a quite frustrated tone.
"You finished all the good liquor. Do you take a collection of poems along wherever you go?" Wei Hua likewise felt rather helpless.
"I’m sorry. As I had never heard of the bamboo liquor before, I did some preparations before I came in the afternoon. So.... But anyway, thank you for your good liquor," with a gentle smile on her face, Zheng Xian thanked them sincerely.
"Boss Yuan, is she your younger sister? Such a scammer," Chen Wei blurted that out.
"I have no younger sister?" Yuan Zhou’s serious answer directly made Chen Wei choke.
....
Delicious dishes relied on the reputation gained from the foodies while good liquor naturally depended on the publicity of drunkards.
The information that Yuan Zhou provided extremely good bamboo liquor that wouldn’t cause hangovers soon went spread among the drunkards. This was followed by a sudden sharp rise in drinking visitors. The 50 draws of lottery every day were quickly used up.
"Boss Yuan, this is absolutely not rational. How can you sell the liquor like that?" A drinker that Chen Wei introduced here said discontentedly.
"The bamboo liquor is limited, so I have to ration it," Yuan Zhou pointed to the rules written on the price list and then said.
"That wouldn’t work. Let’s not mention the fact you only sell this liquor. You don’t even let us drink our fill for this single one. Do you mean to tempt us? No, no way," the drinker was still reluctant to give up and hence continued to question him.
"This is the rule. If you obey, you can drink; if you don’t, please leave the restaurant. The business hours are not done yet," Yuan Zhou remained serious and just disregarded his complaint.
"Boss Yuan, look at you. I’m just speaking casually. Don’t take it so seriously. However, those who had drawn the red ball are not a secret, right?" With his lifeblood having been grasped, the drinker was like a cat that was scratched on the neck and thus became quite obedient.
"You’re right. It’s not a secret. But I don’t know," as soon as Yuan Zhou finished speaking, he turned around and started to prepare the dishes ordered by the customers.
"Er…." the drinker instantly choked.
"Remember what I said? This way doesn’t work at all." Another person beside him dragged him walking away out of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
"I asked that way mainly because Boss Yuan is easy to talk with during the opening hours," still being not convinced, the drinker said.
"You talked as if you could see Boss Yuan outside the opening hours." His friend attacked him mercilessly.
"Sigh. Boss Yuan not only cooks delicious dishes but also makes good liquor. He’s truly admirable," the drinker heaved a sigh and said helplessly.
"That’s true. It’s just that the liquor is too little." While speaking, his friend swallowed saliva as if he recalled of the delicate taste of the bamboo liquor.
Of course it deserved its reputation. The liquor was naturally not easy to be preserved and easily deteriorated. Even so, the big foodie Yuan Mei in Qing Dynasty still drank the deteriorated bamboo liquor 7 times.
We all know the emphasis a senior foodie such as Yuan Mei placed on food. Even with the deteriorated bamboo liquor, he drank it 7 times. One can easily judge from that how attractive the bamboo liquor was to him.
Such reaction of these drunkards was considered to be rather normal already.
As for now, the drinkers used to enjoy good liquor from a Fang Family Pub which provided the liquor made with a very traditional method. It was located in the opposite direction of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant to the south of the street. Although the business of the pub was still as good as before but the several regular customers had been quite strange recently.
For example, Chen Wei, or the several people who were talking to him now.
"Boss, please serve me some dishes with liquor and pack them."
"Ok, what do you like to eat, you guys?" the waiter asked politely.
"One serving of Vinegar Peanut, one kilogram of Stewed Beef, two servings of Marinated Duck Tongue and also a serving of Dried Seaweed, that’s all," they ordered their dishes deftly and then just waited there.
"Ok, one moment, please. They’ll be soon served," the waiter took notes of the dishes while speaking of that.
At that time, Fang Heng, the boss of the pub, walked out. The several people were basically known to him, but he still greeted them first with courtesy.
"Hi, you guys are here. What would you like to drink today?" Fang Heng pretended that he didn’t know they were ordering take-out and asked with a smile.
"I’m not here to drink today but only order some dishes," of the several people, the one who had drawn one pot of bamboo liquor in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant first said directly, not intending to conceal anything.
Apart from the well-known Chinese spirits made from a very traditional method, this Fang Family Pub also served superb dishes with liquor. Since all these drunkards had gotten used to eating the dishes here, they would rather walk farther and come here to buy the dishes with liquor when they found there was none in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
"I didn’t see you guys much these few days. Busy with work now?" Fang Heng asked while smiling, with a caring look on his face.
Previously, these few people came every day at 8 or 9 in the evening to drink a cup of the liquor. But they hadn’t shown up for the past 5 days, Fang Heng naturally would ask.
"No, not really. It’s just the Chinese spirits have strong after effects, so I drink less now," the person bullshitted without blinking.
"Yes, you are right. If you guys have any suggestions towards my liquor, do tell me. My business mainly relies on you guys," Fang Heng started to drag them back with touching words.
"No. Old Fang, you liquor has always been terrific. It’s just that I get a headache the next day after drinking," while thinking, this person said.
The several people all liked drinking and once they drank, they couldn’t stop. Even drinking a mere cup of the liquor meant that they basically went back home drunk, just with different degrees drunkenness. As soon as they drank the liquor for a while, they would have a headache, which was also the common failing point of drinking liquor.
"Yeah, yes, you are right. But right now our pub serves medicinal liquor, so you guys can drink a little of that," Fang Heng started to promote the new product smilingly.
"Hi, the dishes for you sirs are here. It’s 161 RMB in all. Just give me the round number 160 RMB," seeing the boss is here, the waiter spoke aloud and politely.
"Ok, thank you," this person received the packaged dishes and then said to Fang Heng, "Boss Fang, we are leaving."
After that, they walked out of Fang Family Pub together.
"He seems to be embarrassed to talk," while they were leaving, Fang Heng saw them off smilingly and murmured in a low voice.
Fang Heng then decided to ask another person, who happened to enter the pub.
He was no other than Wu Hai, who brought his agent along. Although Wu Hai wasn’t a regular customer of the pub, his agent nevertheless knew Fang Heng and moreover had a good relationship with him.
"Jiawei, you are free today, huh? Drink a cup?" Fang Heng came up and greeted.
"No, thanks. I’m here today to accompany Wu Hai to buy some dishes with liquor," Zheng Jiawei stuck out his forefinger, pointing to Wu Hai and said while smiling.
"So he’s the Wu Hai frequently mentioned by you, right? I have heard about you for a long time," Fang Heng stretched his hand and intended to shake hands with Wu Hai.
"No need. Just get us some dishes with liquor," Wu Hai frowned and said in an unfriendly manner of speaking.
"Well, we are all old friends. Come on, get your secret Shredded Jellyfish for us to take away," Zheng Jiawei knew the temper of Wu Hai. He went up to seize the hand of Fang Heng and brought him to a few steps away.
"This boss of yours has really a tough temper. The shredded jellyfish is not a problem, but you have to give me a decent reason why you only buy the dishes with liquor," Fang Heng didn’t really mind the discourtesy of Wu Hai. He followed Zheng Jiawei’s pull and walked away from Wu Hai.
"You hurry up," Wu Hai urged his agent Zheng Jiawei while standing in the main hall, without any intention of getting a seat.
"Don’t worry, Wu Hai. The dishes will be served in no time," Zheng Jiawei turned his head and said to Wu Hai first before looking back at Fang Heng and asking, "What do you mean?"
"Recently, more and more regular customers like you suddenly stop buying my liquor and only order the dishes with liquor. Tell me what exactly happened." The relationship between Fang Heng and Zheng Jiawei was pretty good, hence he directly asked him without concealing anything from him.
"For this matter, I’m afraid it’s caused by the tiny restaurant across the way of Wu Hai’s art studio. The boss has started to serve new liquor recently," while speaking, Zheng Jiawei turned his head and looked back at Wu Hai. When he found Wu Hai didn’t leave despite his impatience, he felt relieved.
"Wu Hai is about to take me there for a taste today. It is said to be very good," speaking of that, Zheng Jiawei was quite delighted.
"Over there at Taoxi Road?" Fang Heng asked in puzzlement.
"Yes, it’s that place. Now that you know the reason, go and get the dishes. Otherwise, Wu Hai would become impatient soon," once he finished explaining, Zheng Jiawei started to urge Fang Heng.
"Ok, ok. Every family member of your boss matters," Fang Heng then turned around and instructed the waiter to get the dishes.
...….