Chapter 1898 — Drinking Contest, Part 2

Seeing the look on Bai Weituo's face, Zhang Duopan and Fan Ganhe grew all the more reassured. To their minds, Wei Zhao was just talking tough.

"Waiter, bring me two bottles of Red Star Erguotou!" Fan Ganhe threw open the door of the private room and shouted to the waiter outside.

"Sir, my apologies, but we don't sell that particular liquor here..." the waiter said awkwardly.

"If you don't sell it, then go buy me two bottles!" With that, Fan Ganhe pulled out three hundred yuan and handed it to the waiter. "Off you go. Keep the change as a tip!"

"Yes, sir!" The waiter was overjoyed. In the supermarket, a bottle of Red Star Erguotou cost only about ten yuan, so he would pocket two hundred and eighty in all—why not? Though regulations required him to hand over fifty percent of any tip, what remained was still a hundred and forty, and all for a quick errand. He was only too glad. "Would you like the fifty-six proof or the sixty-five proof?"

"The stronger the better!" Fan Ganhe shot Wei Zhao a provocative glance and spoke coolly.

"Right away, sir!" The waiter turned and ran off.

Fan Ganhe had drunk baijiu before, and his capacity was quite formidable. He had never touched anything as strong as sixty-five proof, but two bottles of ordinary forty-proof liquor posed him no difficulty whatsoever, so he was not the least bit afraid of Wei Zhao.

As for a speed contest—he refused to believe that a scrawny fellow like Wei Zhao could outdrink him, a physical education student.

"Xinyan, do you think he can really pull this off? Your man looks full of confidence, but don't let him get the worst of it..." He Meiyue had taken the seat Wei Zhao had vacated and whispered to Wang Xinyan.

"My man? What are you talking about..." Wang Xinyan's face flushed at once. "How would I know whether he can hold his liquor... though he should be fine, I think..."

In Wang Xinyan's eyes, Wei Zhao was a rather capable person, and surely would not do anything he was not sure of.

"Look at Bai Weituo—he probably can't drink much. And you may not know this, but that Zhang Duopan is only so-so too. Fan Ganhe, though, is a bottomless barrel—he's a sports scholarship student, and back at school, after evening training, a whole bunch of them would go drinking. He's long since built up his tolerance..." He Meiyue sounded a little worried.

"Meiyue, don't tell me you've taken a fancy to Bai Weituo?" Having been teased by He Meiyue all this while, Wang Xinyan finally seized her chance to tease back.

"Haha, I just think he makes a decent impression—not as flashy as Zhang Duopan!" He Meiyue smiled faintly, making no effort to hide her thoughts.

Wang Xinyan looked at the unashamed He Meiyue with some surprise, then suddenly understood. This was college now, utterly different from high school days. Dating was perfectly normal; even the teachers turned a blind eye. Who would bother with secrecy anymore?

It was she herself who, bound by an engagement, had yet to adjust to this environment, and probably came across as terribly shy.

"That's true enough." Wang Xinyan nodded, covering her feelings.

"Xinyan, what are you really thinking? Do you like Wei Zhao or not? If you don't, I'm going to introduce him to one of my girlfriends. With credentials like his, it would be a shame to waste them." He Meiyue said with a laugh.

"Don't..." Wang Xinyan blurted out instinctively, but no sooner had she spoken than she realized she had overstepped, and would only make He Meiyue misunderstand. She had meant to say that Wei Zhao already had a girlfriend, so there was no need to introduce anyone—but that was Wei Zhao's private business, and she had no right to speak of it, so she shut her mouth.

"Haha, see? You do have feelings for him." Certain she had guessed Wang Xinyan's mind, He Meiyue laughed heartily.

Just then, the karaoke waiter returned, two bottles of Red Star Erguotou in hand. Fan Ganhe took them, then pulled four disposable paper cups from the cabinet in the private room, one for each person, and set them before Wei Zhao and the others.

"How shall we drink?" Zhang Duopan asked.

"I'll go first." Before Bai Weituo could speak, Wei Zhao had taken it upon himself. Liquor of this strength was, to Wei Zhao, about the same as drinking water.

As he spoke, Wei Zhao took a bottle of Red Star Erguotou, opened it, and filled his cup to the brim.

"I'll keep you company! Your opponent is me!" Fan Ganhe followed Wei Zhao's example and filled his own cup to the top.

"Meiyue, do us the favor of being referee. When you say go, we go." Wei Zhao raised his cup and smiled. "But let's agree first: you can't let too much spill past the corners of your mouth, and you can't leave too much in the bottom of the cup, or it counts as a loss."

"No need to tell me. I won't cheat." Fan Ganhe snorted.

"All right—three, two, one... go!" Seeing Wei Zhao's confident manner, He Meiyue said no more and took up her role as referee.

How nimble was Wei Zhao? He was an Earth-rank expert. The instant the last word left He Meiyue's lips, his cup was already at his mouth; he tipped back his head, poured the fiery liquor straight down his throat, and set the paper cup on the table with a casual flick of his hand.

"Whoa—" Bai Weituo, He Meiyue, everyone present—all of them turned to stare at Wei Zhao in astonishment! Even Zhang Duopan could not help but cry out in shock! For Wei Zhao had drunk incredibly fast, almost as fast as if it were water. How was this drinking at all?

Fan Ganhe had drunk quickly too, but it was only after Wei Zhao set down his cup and the others had finished exclaiming that he finally put his own paper cup down. Yet he believed he had been very fast, and took the crowd's gasps as meant for him, so once he set the cup down, he could not resist saying smugly, "Well? Scared now?"

Everyone looked at Fan Ganhe with somewhat peculiar expressions. Zhang Duopan's face reddened; he was privately fuming—was Fan Ganhe out of his mind? The man had already finished drinking, and here he was still saying such things.

Fan Ganhe was waiting for everyone's praise and for the sound of Wei Zhao's fear, but after waiting a good while he heard nothing at all. Somewhat puzzled, he snapped out of his self-satisfaction and looked at Wei Zhao in surprise. "Did you drink?"

"Are your eyes failing you?" Wei Zhao pointed at the empty cup on the table.

"Gah!" Only then did Fan Ganhe realize that Wei Zhao had finished too—and by the look of it, had finished long ago, faster than himself. Thinking of the words he had just spoken, his face burned with shame; but he was thick-skinned. "Ha, since we've both drunk, let's carry on!"

"You haven't taken off any clothes yet," Wei Zhao said with a shake of his head. "Don't tell me you're drunk after one cup? You've forgotten even the forfeit?"

"Who says?" Fan Ganhe casually stripped off his outer garment. In autumn, people generally wore two layers—an outer coat and a shirt or T-shirt beneath—so taking off one did not matter much.

Having removed his clothes, Fan Ganhe refilled his cup and raised it of his own accord. "With this baijiu, no matter how fast you drink the first cup, with nothing in your stomach, drink fast now and you'll be suffering soon enough!"

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