Chapter 393 — Wait a Moment

The liquor burned so fiercely that it nearly sprayed the tears from An Jianwen's eyes. He had never had to down anything at such a pace. He had a head for drink, all right, but his stomach and gullet simply could not take it, and the whole mouthful came choking back up.

An Jianwen's face had gone chalk-white, and he coughed for a good long while while Su Taizao and Yang Ganglou thumped him repeatedly on the back... Only after some time did the color return to his face.

Under these circumstances, though, there was absolutely no way he could keep drinking. A flicker of venom passed through An Jianwen's gaze as he looked at Wei Zhao. The wretch had been playing the pig to eat the tiger — clearly a ferocious drinker, yet he had said nothing about it before. Had he known, he would never have tried this trick!

"Brother An, are you better? Shall we carry on?" One sentence from Wei Zhao nearly set An Jianwen coughing again!

Carry on? Did he have a death wish? An Jianwen's face was hideous; he itched to stride over and strangle Wei Zhao. Look at the state he was in, and the man still wanted him to drink — was he trying to drink him to death?

At this moment, though, he had forgotten that he was the one who had come here to drink Wei Zhao to death.

An Jianwen was in something of a fix. He had come tonight to teach Wei Zhao a lesson, only to run smack into Wei Zhao's strongest suit. If he simply gave up and conceded now, he would lose face completely — all the more so when he saw Wei Zhao still toying with his phone, and he knew that what had just happened had probably been recorded.

In that instant, humiliation, defiance, fury, and loathing flickered across his heart one after another. No — he could not concede. If he did, Gu Mengyao would probably die laughing.

He had come to discipline Wei Zhao, only to be disciplined in turn. If word got out, where would the honor of the Four Young Masters of Songshan be? And this was his second attempt to settle the score — after already having been taught a lesson the first time.

"Let me take over!" Watching An Jianwen's face shift through every shade, Su Taiwei knew he was finished. Of everyone at the table, Su Taiwei had the strongest head for liquor; if he didn't step up, no one here could match Wei Zhao.

He could only hope that Wei Zhao was merely quick at putting liquor away, and that his true capacity fell short of his own. Su Taiwei calculated silently to himself: he could manage five bottles, and he did not believe Wei Zhao could down five in a row and still come away unscathed.

"Sure," Wei Zhao agreed straight away, perfectly cheerful. "Are you still up to it?"

"Naturally!" Su Taiwei gave a cold laugh, thinking to himself: don't go putting on airs. Down five bottles and we'll see whether you don't drop. You think you're a tumbler that never falls over?

"Oh, forgive me, I forgot — you are Brother Wei, and how could Brother Wei not be up to it?" Wei Zhao cracked open the bottle of liquor in his hand and raised it, giving Su Taiwei a little shake of it.

Damn it! Su Taiwei cursed under his breath, hoisted his own bottle, and the two of them began pouring it down.

"Phew..." After his second bottle, Su Taiwei let out a long breath. It felt as though a fire were burning inside him, and he wanted a bite of food to put it out — but he couldn't quite bring himself to lose face like that.

Because Wei Zhao was sitting right there at that moment, not a blush on his face nor a flutter in his chest, smiling as he held up his phone and filmed the whole affair.

Su Taiwei seethed inwardly, yet could hardly go help himself to the dishes, so he had no choice but to swallow it.

"Taiwei, have something to eat first. Weren't you complaining about being hungry on the way here? The dishes have all arrived — while they're hot, help yourself." Seeing that his brother was in trouble, Su Taizao quietly came to his rescue.

Su Taiwei shot Su Taizao a quick glance. "Right — I came here on an empty stomach, so I won't stand on ceremony!"

Saying which, Su Taiwei picked up his chopsticks and began eating in great, greedy mouthfuls...

Watching the Su brothers play off each other like a well-rehearsed double act, Wei Zhao felt nothing but contempt, though he kept it to himself, remarking only, lightly: "Since this Brother Wei has gone limp... oh, I mean hungry — then Brother Taizao, will you take his place?"

"Very well, I'll drink with you!" Su Taizao nodded. "Only my tolerance isn't great, ha ha... Tell you what — you drink yours in one go, and I'll take mine in two!"

Su Taizao had seen the wretched state An Jianwen was in. He lacked Su Taiwei's capacity — he and An Jianwen were much of a muchness — so rather than spraying liquor all over himself and making a fool of himself, he decided he might as well be generous about it: admit that he couldn't hold his liquor, and ask to split it in two.

"Sure, no problem — you could drink even half and I'd be fine with it!" Wei Zhao silently cursed the two Su brothers for the shameless creatures they were, but outwardly he sounded generous enough.

The words were barely out of Wei Zhao's mouth before Su Taizao very nearly burst a heart valve from regret. Half would have done? Why on earth hadn't he said so earlier — if he had, what would have been the point of splitting it in two? But though Su Taizao was shameless to a degree, he had not yet sunk so low as to be utterly without face, and there was no going back now.

Wei Zhao, his expression still unmoved, polished off a bottle of Maotai, while Su Taizao got his down in two goes. He didn't go so far as to spray the liquor out of his mouth the way An Jianwen had — but it was hardly any better.

Once the liquor was down, he sat frozen in his seat — plainly seared half out of his wits, his face scarlet, his eyes brimming with tears, fighting back the cough. Motionless as a statue, he sat there.

In fact, Su Taizao didn't dare move a muscle; he was afraid that one twitch and the liquor in his belly would come gushing back up.

"Brother Wei, your brother seems to have run out — still no match for Brother Wei himself! What do you say, shall we keep going?" Wei Zhao glanced over at Su Taiwei, who was desperately cramming in food while he had the chance.

"Good! Bring it on!" Su Taiwei wiped his mouth and nodded. He had just eaten a good deal and felt somewhat restored; one more bottle should pose no problem. By now, though, he understood that Wei Zhao outmatched him — Wei Zhao had already put away four bottles.

Without the slightest suspense, Wei Zhao finished his fifth bottle. Su Taiwei withdrew to recover, and Yang Ganglou took his place — only for Yang Ganglou to declare, with breathtaking shamelessness: "I'll drink half. My tolerance really is poor! Let me drain mine first, out of respect!"

With that, Yang Ganglou raised his bottle and knocked back half of it, as though terrified Wei Zhao might change his mind...

"Wait a moment—" Before Wei Zhao could finish, Yang Ganglou had drunk his half and set the bottle down.

"Oh? Brother Lin, did you have something to say?" Yang Ganglou thought: that was a close call. One more second and Wei Zhao might have gone back on his word. What he had said to Su Taizao earlier was probably only meant to rile him — how could he ever have let Su Taizao off?

So Yang Ganglou thrilled at his own cunning — truly a strategist's mind, a head that really worked. I've already finished drinking; whatever you say now is useless. What do you want to do? What can you do?

"Ah, you've already drunk it — anything I say now is pointless!" Wei Zhao sighed.

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