Three or four meals

Up at 10.30 and although could have slept more decided to get up and talk to Ma Laoban as I was feeling sort of ok. I'd been in contact yesterday and he had come back to Pingguo after spending a few days in Nanning as his baby son was in hospital. We had a few cups of red tea that was particularly nice, and I gave him his six bottles of cod liver oil and two large tins of lecithin - stuff you can get here but not too many people trust it due to various stories about the quality of similar goods here. He did want to pay me back but I would hear nothing of it, especially as it was partly for his son. I sort of made an excuse by saying that I hadn't even given him (the son) a red envelope so this made up for it somewhat, which sort of dampened his protestations I think.

We went for lunch with a couple of friends at a place right next door to A Wu's massage place. I was really keen to get a sleep but we ate till 2.30pm, during which time two of us shared a modest six pack of Li Quan. I managed to get back and grab some shuteye at 3pm for an hour or so, but got calls to go and eat from both Tan and A Wu. When I properly woke up I couldn't remember who I'd agreed to eat with, so went to Waipo's until 5.30, when I remembered I was to go with A Wu. I started to excuse myself but Tan told me off for potentially not eating at Waipo's which was fair enough, so I sat down and ate a little of what had been prepared before properly excusing myself at 6pm to go to A Wu's office. In the meantime I'd of course received a call from Uncle Yellow asking me to eat with him and some friends. I told him I was already double-booked and he said it was ok, we could meet at 8pm.

Apparently we were eating with the police. That didn't actually surprise me, and I thought to take a carton of Marlboro fags so that A Wu could give them out. Surprisingly not a single person smoked for the entire time I was there, and the carton just lay on the floor. A Wu had really appreciated me bringing it and I thought at least it would be opened and offered. Anyway, it was a good, fun meal. 8pm came quickly and I had another call from Uncle Yellow. I explained to A Wu and he said it was fine, he'd give me a lift, so a few gan bei's later we went to a place near to the Beihai seafood place that I'd not been to before. Uncle Yellow and a friend were there waiting and so was more beer. A Wu stayed too (though I have no idea what happened to the Marlboro), and a couple more blokes turned up during the evening. I noticed that the woman who worked there smoked, and shared a couple of glasses with us too, which is rather uncommon.

Xiao ye with Uncle Yellow, A Wu, and some mates

Chuan Chuan picking up the sweaty kids

As Chuan Chuan was going to the cinema, she left the kids with me so we spent some of the evening together too, until around 11pm when she came back to pick them up as they wanted to stay the night with her. We stayed till gone midnight and had a few cai ma's as per usual, and I was sober enough not to disturb Tan on my return.