Locals at my local

Busy busy day, but I stopped at half midnight and went out for a bite to eat at the seafood place again that is definitely my local now. I ordered some fried sweetcorn and an octopus (again), and as I waited I was called over by a bloke from a table of eight men looking rather the worse for wear. As he called my by my name ("A Ming" is one of my monikers here), I went over to say hello and have a glass of beer with them. Well it ended up being more than just a glass, but they were good company and very jovial as we joked about Bangxu. One of the things that brings many of us together is the fact that we're married to Bangxu women. There is always a belly laugh when I recite a phrase that is quite common among Bangxu men: "Tian xia bu pa, di shang bu pa, jiu pa Bangxu lao po!" ("I fear nothing under the sky, I fear nothing on the ground, I only fear Bangxu wife!").

The boss of the seafood place didn't want to serve my food at the table I was sitting at as he whispered to me that the blokes had drunk a lot. Without being rude, I excused myself to say I'd eat with some other friends I'd planned to earlier, and they were all fine, after gan bei'ing a final time.

Of course the sweetcorn and octopus was delicious, but the boss had also brought a portion of raw fish. At least that was the name of the dish. It looked raw, and had the consistency of raw fish, but it was rather hot. Anyway, it was very salty but very tasty too, and at 2.30am we said our farewells, and the boss's wife would only take 30 kuai from me for all the food and drink.