Chapter 626 — A Few More Bottles
"Oh, so Brother Jianwen isn't half bad — he's treating us to a world-famous wine!" Shen Yushu nodded and said happily to Gu Mengyao, "Right, Sister Yao Yao?"
Hearing Shen Yushu's words, An Liwen felt absolutely thrilled! He thought to himself, Shen Yushu, oh Shen Yushu, all these years you've never done a single good turn for me, and now at last you've spoken a word of justice — that's more like it!
"Heh, it's nothing at all. So long as Yao Yao and Little Shu are happy, what are a few bottles of wine?" An Liwen waved his hand and said mildly.
"That's true, but what does that '82 Lafite taste like? Sister Yao Yao, do you want to try some?" Shen Yushu's eyes shifted and she looked toward Gu Mengyao.
"..." Gu Mengyao's somewhat sorrowful mood had been prodded by Shen Yushu into the verge of laughter. After all that circling about, so this was the girl's aim — she wanted another '82 Lafite to taste!
An Liwen's face froze. He had not expected Shen Yushu to say such a thing — was this not a downright swindle? An '82? That bottle was being hyped on the market at over a hundred and fifty thousand yuan, and here at the Starry Radiance Grand Hotel it was sold at the sky-high price of three hundred thousand. An Liwen felt a sharp twinge in his kidneys.
"Brother Jianwen, Sister Yao Yao wants to try the '82 Lafite too, and neither of us has ever tasted it. How about you order a few bottles?" Shen Yushu had already skinned Zhong Yongliang alive with this trick countless times — it was child's play to her.
A few bottles? My kidneys! An Liwen nearly fainted dead away on the spot! Three hundred thousand a bottle, one bottle was practically the price of a kidney — and some kidneys did not even fetch that much! Did this Miss Chen really take him for a tycoon? Was money easy for him to earn?
With the police pressing closer at every step, his business volume had plummeted, and there was no help for it but to push his kidney sources out into the rural villages; in a whole week he could not harvest even one or two kidneys. And now a single meal was going to swallow several kidneys?
He was so furious he wanted to curse his mother, and he shot Su Taizao a venomous glare. You blabbermouth, could no one take you for a mute if you just kept quiet? If you hadn't mentioned the '82 Lafite, where would Shen Yushu have learned there was any such thing as an '82 Lafite?
But he could not fly into a rage on the spot — that would only make him look petty, and how was he supposed to court Gu Mengyao then? Especially since Shen Yushu had said that Gu Mengyao wanted to drink it too. How could he refuse?
"Waiter, two bottles of '82 Lafite!" An Liwen called for two bottles, enduring the pain in his heart.
"Two bottles won't be enough, will it? Sister Yao Yao and I will have one each — what will the rest of you drink?" With a single sentence, Shen Yushu had monopolized both bottles of '82 Lafite.
"That's enough... we won't drink that, we used to have it all the time, you two just taste it..." An Liwen wanted to cry. Two bottles still not enough? Did she want him to go sell a kidney too?
The An family was wealthy, but the two brothers each managed their own affairs, and every month, after handing over the family's share and the Fire Wolf Gang's cut, what was left was really not much. A meal that should have cost tens of thousands had turned into hundreds of thousands, and An Liwen's reserves took a severe blow all at once.
Chen Yuxuan too was thinking to himself that his sister was just as ruthless as ever! Truly not something an ordinary man could withstand! What puzzled him, though, was how this man had come to be a follower of Gu Mengyao and his sister. What on earth was going on?
With his strength, he was qualified to guard any great personage at all, and yet he had come to protect two young girls? But earlier Wei Zhao had clearly not wanted him to reveal his identity any further, so Chen Yuxuan did not dare ask rashly!
Yet none of this could check the fervor in Chen Yuxuan's heart — his worship of Wei Zhao! One could say that without Wei Zhao, there would be none of the strength he possessed today!
The two bottles of '82 Lafite were set upon the table. Wei Zhao casually glanced at the seals and labels — they should be genuine beyond doubt. Though the market was flooded with counterfeit '82 Lafite, given the standard and standing of the Starry Radiance Grand Hotel, they would hardly sell fakes; after all, even their genuine goods were not cheap, costing one to two times the price of the normal channels.
"Sister Yao Yao, let's drink one bottle first, and take the other one home to drink, all right?" Shen Yushu thought that drinking it here was not as good as taking it home, having Arrow Brand Bro cook a couple of dishes, and the three of them enjoying a candlelit dinner together — how romantic that would be!
"Suit yourself." To Gu Mengyao it made no difference what she drank; she simply wanted to vent, to drown her sorrows in wine, to let the grief in her heart dissolve away with the fumes.
Hearing Shen Yushu's words, An Liwen nearly leaped out of his chair. You want to take it home? Why didn't you say so earlier? Then why buy it at the hotel at all — go to a shop tomorrow and buy a bottle, and you'd save a hundred and fifty thousand, half a kidney!
But this An Liwen could not say, for saying it would only make him lose more face, so he could only swallow it.
Remembering that today's main task was to get everyone drunk and then seize the chance to confess his feelings, An Liwen could only set his other thoughts aside. If the confession really succeeded today, then these hundreds of thousands would not have been spent in vain!
So while An Liwen kept pressing wine on the others, he drank as well, and to make it look natural he did not deliberately hold back his capacity. His tolerance was good anyway, and red wine did not easily intoxicate him.
Watching Su Taizao raise his glass and propose toasts on one pretext or another, An Liwen felt his anger ease a little. The fellow had some sense, at least, knowing enough to help him ply the others with drink!
Chen Yuxuan was stiff and ill at ease today; with Wei Zhao present he could not relax at all. From the corner of his eye he kept glancing at Wei Zhao, yet Wei Zhao remained as calm as ever, sitting there without so much as a sidelong look, saying nothing.
Still, Chen Yuxuan felt an invisible pressure that left him short of breath. An Liwen and Su Taizao, however, had not seen him for so long that nothing seemed amiss to them now; they simply assumed the army had changed his temperament and made him more steady and reserved.
An Liwen's chief purpose was to invite Gu Mengyao and afterward, once the wine had done its work, to make his confession, so what Chen Yuxuan was like made little difference to him. He was merely a pretext for arranging the banquet. The Four Young Masters of Songshan were the Four Young Masters of Songshan no longer, and their bonds were not so intimate as one might imagine.
A phone rang. An Liwen frowned, took out his cell phone, glanced at the caller ID, and saw that it was the tattooed man, one of his subordinates.
He hesitated a moment, then answered: "What is it? I'm in the middle of a meal."
"Brother Wen, word on the street is getting tight lately — looks like they're cracking down for real again. There are police cars all around Gayazi Village, and we can't make our move now!" the tattooed man reported, somewhat gloomily, seeking instructions.