Oh nothing was planned so today could have been a chill-out session, and indeed it was until Tan said we were to meet her secondary school Teacher Ling this evening at 6pm. That was cool by me, I like the bloke and he definitely helps build my vocabulary.
Typically the boys got up late, but at least Leilei was out to Li Kun's music studio by 3pm and Nezha went out by himself to get some fodder. Tan had gone to A Xia's again so I just made sure Xixi was not hungry and my lunch comprised a boiled egg and a mini pack of la tiao. I then got a text to say we'd meet at the wine shop for tea at 6.30pm, which was fine by me so later we all left the house together at 6.35pm to be fashionably a little late.
Three of the 30-something young entrepreneurs from the previous meal were there drinking tea, and we immediately went upstairs to a sumptuous room to sit down and the lady of the shop laid the table with lots of meaty goods. I learnt that no Chinese meal was complete without chicken, duck, and fish. That's clearly not true so I asked if that was Guangxi culture. No! This was Chinese culture! I suppose it means a grand meal when you're inviting multiple people but whatever. Nezha was feeling sick as apparently the boys had been to some place where you cook your own chicken but his was probably underdone and was too chewy. Nevertheless he did manage to eat a reasonable amount.
As it was a "wine" shop (selling wine and spirits) I deigned to have some for about the first time this year. The lady poured about half a bottle into a small jug and it actually had measurements on it so I could see it was 400ml. Everyone was playing the game of not wanting to be the first person to eat, so as I was starving I sort of cheated by pouring a bowl of soup for Tan. That was a timely trigger as Teacher Ling then poured one for me, but wouldn't allow me to pour his, preferring to pour the wine shop boss's to his left. But by now people were tucking into the food so after a few minutes I took the initiative of offering a gan bei to the boss, but he said no! I should first gan bei Teacher Ling. But Teacher Ling said no! We should all gan bei together first, so that we did a couple of times before the personal gan bei'ing began.
I realised I'd been pouring too much red wine into my glass for each gan bei as after half an hour my jug was nearly empty but the boss's was only half so. I had planned just to have that much red wine before moving on to beer but I found my jug filled up by the woman again, and felt it would be rude to put it back in the bottle. So I drastically reduced the amount I was pouring into my glass and made sure I gan bei'd every non-family member in the room. At 7.15pm the boys were asking to go and I told them to stay till at least 7.30pm and to gan bei Teacher Ling and the boss at least once. They agreed and were good to their word, and Leilei stuck to the water though Nezha managed a small beer. Then Leilei asked to take the black dian dong che I'd driven here instead of the 3 minute walk to avoid sweat, and I said he could as long as they initiated a final group gan bei. So they both stood up and raised their glasses, and the rest of us did too, before saying thank you and "man man chi".
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| Another great meal with Teacher Ling |
I managed to finish the second lot of wine (350 ml, so in total a whole bottle) by gan bei'ing each of the four young men, and then asked for two beer glasses as Teacher Ling also said he was moving to beer after baijiu. But unlike boss meals we didn't descend into cai ma, rather we were just talking about stuff as Teacher Ling likes to do and I was trying to hang on, using Tan to translate much more than I wanted to.
Zhang Hua had pinged me earlier in the day to meet up tonight at 8.01pm. Yes he specifically said one minute past eight, to celebrate the opening of a friend's shop. I'd IM'd back to say thanks but I'd be late due to a previous engagement. But the previous engagement was still going strong when I told Tan I'd take Xixi home as an excuse. But Tan wanted that excuse too, so they left together and I had to tell Zhang I'd be even longer than I expected. But we wound up before 10pm as we finished what beers were on the table and didn't open a new pack. They all seemed satisfied and we had the opportunity for a photo shoot downstairs, and Ling said they may use me to advertise their wares.
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| Looking interested at the baijiu they sell here but not yet advertising it |
By this time A Wu had also pinged me to go for a beer but I was not going to miss Zhang so after saying my goodbyes asked him to send a weizhi. The red bike was its usual slovenly self but it got me there where I was met by one of his friends who is an art teacher. We got on the bike and drove around the corner to get off by some mates eating outside. But Zhang Hua wasn't one of them, and I just had to perform a perfunctory gan bei before being led around another corner and up some stairs to some outside place by some football and basketball courts that were in the process of being built.
Ah, then I saw about four or five tables set out with copious food and drinks, and Zhang Hua was at the head and I was to sit with him. I found out after a gan bei that it was his birthday and he'd not told me that! So another gan bei ensued, and another, and another, and it descended into an enjoyable evening I wouldn't be able to leave from until the cake turned up at midnight. One person I sat next to for a while turned out to be the doctor (or surgeon) who had stitched up my leg back in 2017, and I thought he may berate me for being out drinking but to be fair so was he.
When the cake arrived I did the usual putting my finger in the cream and spreading it on Zhang's face, though this time only about two of us did that and I wondered if it was not the done thing anymore. Still, I forced myself to eat a slice and it's about the only thing you can eat when you're full as it's sooo light. Finally at around 12.45 I was able to leave with copious hugs from Zhang as he walked me to the bike.
A Wu was still about and sent me a weizhi and 10 minutes later I was in some shop upstairs with a huge table with the remnants of a meal and only three other blokes. It was a total change of atmosphere and I wished I could be back with Zhang, so limited myself to a few games of cai ma before giving A Wu a lift back. Except the dian dong che was really suffering and stopped at the slightest incline, so A Wu got off and on to his mate's one which was in fine fettle. And that was it for another night in Pingguo, only two to go now. Leilei had sent a picture of the QR code he'd plugged the black dian dong che into so he must have really gone a great distance in order to have used up the charge so soon. So when I got back at 1.45 I set it on charge then home to get to sleep pre 3am just.
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