Boss Zhou had pinged people on a WeChat group to pop around for some food and drink after 7pm, so that gave me a deadline to sort out last minute packing stuff. I decided to leave a load more clothes this time as there is a possibility I will be back in a month or two and they’re summer clothes that I’ve had for multiple years in the UK anyway so are due to be replaced.
Of course the girls had forgotten a few things so I packed them in the space I had saved, then picked up Tan’s jacket from A Xia’s that she’d forgotten and picked up some food for the train journey tomorrow to Guangzhou.
As Leilei wasn’t that hungry I didn’t force any food on him but took him to Boss Zhou’s at 7.30. He was busy cooking for guests though so I said I’d take Leilei to eat elsewhere. This didn’t go down well so people eating at another table invited us for a bite and a drink, which we did, though Leilei ate virtually nothing, probably because he’d just had a cup of zhen zhu nai cha. Then he complained of a stomach upset which sounded like an excuse for going home, but I forced him to stay a few more minutes until Boss Zhou produced a number of dishes, mainly of lamb, but he still wouldn’t touch them. So I begrudgingly took him home knowing he’d be starving a little later.
Back at Boss Zhou’s I contacted Uncle Yellow, who said he was busy with his kid which was fine by me, but texted back later saying he would find some time. Then as per usual more people came and the beer flowed. Someone from another table invited me to go over and cai ma, so I couldn’t possibly refuse. But embarrassingly I beat him five times in a row after he insisted that each time the loser should drink a whole glass. Finally after trying hard I managed to lose, which gave me the right to leave the table and get back to mine. But I had to start the process again with Boss Zhou. He told me he’d wiped the floor with me two days ago which may well have been true, but I won the first four much to everyone’s delight, except me a little as I was getting thirsty.
 |
| Pretty decent nosh at Boss Zhou's |
Then Li Kun called to tell me my ice cubes had arrived. Normally I can spin a conversation to make it mean I understand to some extent but this time I was flummoxed. He mentioned about the other day and I suddenly had a vague recollection of him having a medium dice-sized metal object in his glass of wine, and of course I wanted a set. Well he’d gone and ordered one for me of course. So I said to come over to Boss Zhou’s but he said no because he’d had too much to drink. I’m not sure that was the reason so agreed to go to his and he invited me to bbq. Now this was a bit awkward as there were still people waiting for me, so I got him to agree to compromise by saying I’d take him to bar 3000 degrees but would pop back first for 10 mins to say my goodbyes.
I was worried that there would not be enough dian in the dian dong che so we took it easy, and we made an order of bbq and beer, and I made an apology to the pretty boss for the other day in case I was in any way lewd after the wedding evening with Chen but she suggested I had not made any faux pas and I decided to agree. Then I got back to Boss Zhou’s only to find he was the only one at the table. Had the others thought I wasn’t coming back? Did they care at all? Well at least I could leave, so after a glass and many hugs with Boss Zhou I left him soon after midnight and got back to Li Kun at 3000 degrees for some nice nosh.
But I was aware Leilei would be hungry now so went up to see him and despite saying he wasn’t he asked for some beef bbq. So I went back down to order and have a couple of drinks with the manager, then back up to Leilei with his bbq at 1am, which he quaffed down, if you can quaff food, then back down for a final half an hour or so. Another goodbye to a good friend with a hug ensued before I forgot I still had to take him home, to his non-tea-drinking place around the corner before I went for a ride to use up the rest of the dian. After taking another friend back home it was gone 3am but I had the wherewithal to go to charge up the bike for a last time. But the bloke I woke up to do it smiled and said it was too late. I was annoyed but didn’t argue, and when I went down to park the bike found that indeed every charging space was taken. I guess he meant I’d arrived too late to find a space rather than too late in terms of time.
I really shouldn’t have had a beer when I got back but I put on a last wash and realised I should wait it out and put the clothes out to dry asap. In fact, I had two as I spoke with Awl for a while until I was just too tired to any more. But I remembered the clothes and made a massive effort to put them out to dry at around 4.30am, knowing I’d have to be up four hours’ later. Twit.
No comments:
Post a Comment