Chapter 194: Dragon-Phoenix Assembly

Although Murong Juhui had proposed drinks for reconciliation, she hadn't expected Qing to accept so readily, without even a hint of hesitation.

She'd assumed she'd be refused.

Of course, simply giving up after being refused—thinking, ‘Wow, she avoided it. Nothing I can do now,’—would make her nothing but a fool.

She had prepared various means to gently coax and melt Qing’s resistance should she refuse, meaning all the effort she'd put into planning various scenarios the night before was now wasted.

What is this? Was my acting just too good?

Or is her head so full of flowers that she actually believes I'm asking for reconciliation?

However, after a loud gulp echoed, Murong Juhui realized the reason.

Ah, this wench. She’s crazy about booze.

Alright, so you think you can drink, huh?

Thinking you can handle your liquor, so you won't refuse?

But Murong Juhui, too, was a drinker who had never once known defeat, from her very first drinking session to the present day.

Even so, Murong Juhui never grew complacent about her tolerance, her caution as great as her grudge.

Besides that, she had prepared a secret weapon; this was a battle she absolutely could not lose.

“Miss Ximen, do you enjoy alcohol?” Murong Juhui asked.

“I do,” Qing replied. “I can never get enough of it.”

“Ah,” Murong Juhui continued. “Since you’ve come all the way to Henan Province, do you know the liquor Henan is famous for?”

“Ah! Don’t tell me,” Qing gasped. “Dukang liquor?”

“You know it!” Murong Juhui exclaimed. “As a token of reconciliation, I’ve prepared a special drink. It’s called Dukang Liquor from Xuchang, brewed with water from Xixia.”

“Dukang Liquor from Xuchang!” Qing cried out involuntarily, and immediately had a great realization.

Ah. So this is why everyone shouts out names and titles. It just comes out automatically without thinking.

Murong Juhui gestured with her hand, and a woman appeared, carrying a tray with liquor bottles and cups.

“Now,” Murong Juhui said, “these drinks are on me, not the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly. Please accept the first cup. Come, come, come.”

The cups for strong liquor were exceptionally small, holding barely two spoonfuls, and since they were only filled halfway, you could even say it was just one spoonful.

It was merely a single spoonful of shimmering baijiu, yet its clear, pure fragrance had already filled the entire space, blooming explosively.

“Wow, just the scent alone is wonderful,” Qing remarked. “Miss Murong, please have a cup too.”

Qing poured Murong Juhui a drink, who accepted the Dukang liquor in her cup and returned to her seat. The dining table was so large that the two sat facing each other at the furthest points of the circle.

Then, Qing moved to pour for Gongson Yoye but paused to ask, just in case.

“Wait, Yoye-ah. Have you ever had alcohol before?”

“No…” Gongson Yoye answered quietly. “But I want to try.”

…With a friend, the words she muttered to herself were crystal clear to Qing’s sensitive ears.

Feeling a pang of sympathy again, Qing smiled playfully, like an adult offering a child a spoonful of liquor, and briefly explained the basic drinking etiquette.

“Really? You know, the first cup at a drinking session should be downed in one go, leaving nothing behind. That’s why we say ‘Cheers’—geonbae. A dry cup. Geon bae. But this stuff is pretty strong. For now, just this much.”

With practiced skill, Qing tilted the bottle and let exactly four drops fall into Yoye’s cup.

“Just this little?” Gongson Yoye asked.

“You might think differently after you taste even that much,” Qing said. “Alright, let’s toast. To friendship.”

Qing raised her cup to eye level and downed it in one shot.

A cold fire slides down.
The aroma of the liquor that went down her esophagus seeped into her airway and exhaled through her nose.
Not just the aroma; even her breath seemed mixed with the alcohol’s spirit, making every organ above her solar plexus and below her eyes instantly flush with warmth.

Qing let out a rapturous sigh without realizing it.

“Haaaah… this is it.”

“Keuk, cough! Cough!”

Unsurprisingly, fierce coughing erupted from beside her. Qing gently patted Gongson Yoye’s back.

“Yoye-ah, you okay? See? It’s not easy, right?”

“My insides… feel hot,” Gongson Yoye gasped. “Is it… poison?”

“Would poison smell this fragrant?” Cheong asked. “The aroma is quite nice, isn’t it?”

“Mm, the scent is… very nice,” Gongson Yoye conceded. “Is it supposed to feel hot inside? But… it’s so bitter. I don’t think it tastes good at all.”

“Alcohol doesn’t taste good?” Qing sounded surprised. “I honestly find it tastier than fruit juice.”

“Hey, Miss Ximen,” Gongson Yoye protested. “You’re teasing me, right?”

“It’s because you can’t handle it, Yoye-ah,” Qing explained. “Since I have a good constitution, it’s just like sweet fruit tea. The aroma. Wow, the aroma is really something. I miss the scent.”

“…?”

Qing continued rambling nonsense as she refilled Gongson Yoye’s cup slightly, then explained some simple drinking manners.

“Purse your lips tight, just touch the center lightly, then drink as if just dabbing your wet lips. It’s strong liquor, so absolutely don’t let it flood your mouth. If you feel it doesn’t agree with you, don’t drink it. Better than making a mistake while drunk.”

As Qing spoke to Gongson Yoye, a realization dawned on her.

Ah, this Murong Juhui girl is dead set on taking me down with alcohol, isn’t she?

However, against this body, which is at a level where it can’t distinguish between alcohol and water? What a rookie.

Sure enough, Murong Juhui spoke up.

“Ah, Jeongah,” she instructed her attendant. “Since it’s quite a distance for me to pour every time, could you make a special effort to ensure Miss Ximen’s cup is never empty? Got it?”

“Yes. I understand,” the attendant, Jeongah replied, turning to Qing. “Miss Ximen, I hope you won’t mind if I pour for you?”

‘Make a special effort’ meant she absolutely couldn’t stand seeing my cup empty.

And she probably couldn’t stand seeing her own cup full either.

However, to Qing, alcohol was merely a beverage enjoyed for its aroma and warmth, something that just made her feel pleasantly mellow no matter how much she guzzled down.

Qing decided to up the ante.

“Mind? Not at all,” she replied brightly. “But, my cup happens to be empty right now? Aren’t you going to fill it?”

Seeing this, Murong Juhui let out a low, sinister chuckle.

In truth, though the bottles looked the same, their contents were different. The bottles placed near Qing contained the Dukang Liquor from Xuchang, famed as the strongest in Henan. The bottles near Murong Juhui, however, weren't liquor bottles at all, but tea canisters filled with tea.

The moment Qing’s cup was full, Murong Juhui spoke as if she had been waiting.

“Come, come, Miss Ximen. Let’s not hold back among us women who enjoy a drink. Let’s play. Cooome on.”

“Oh my, are you sure you’ll be alright?” Qing countered. “I drink like a fish, you might run out of liquor, you know?”

And so, one cup went down.

“Well then,” Murong Juhui prompted, “how about Jeongah says a word this time?”

Two cups, three cups, four cups…

“Alright, one round is complete,” Murong Juhui announced. “Miss Ximen, please say something again.”

And so, one bottle, then two…

In the blink of an eye, five bottles had completely disappeared.

“Hmm. Ah, that feels good.”

Qing swayed gently from side to side, humming a little tune. She was deliberately pretending to be drunk. The ploy was pathetic, but ultimately, it resulted in someone buying her unlimited amounts of expensive booze, so she had to play along reasonably well to keep the sponsor happy, didn’t she? Pretending to be drunk was an art shared by all the people from her homeland, practically learned as part of the regular curriculum in school since childhood.

“Hehe, Miss Ximen,” Gongson Yoye giggled.

“Yes? What is it?” Qing asked.

“Nothing,” Gongson Yoye slurred slightly. “I just wanted to call your name. Miss Ximen. Miss Ximen. Hmm. Qing-ah. Haaaaah, I can’t do it. It’s embarrassing.” Gongson Yoye raised her cup and downed it in one go.

Qing clicked her tongue, seeing the movement that mirrored her own.

Strange? I definitely told her just to wet her lips?

“Who gave Yoye-ah alcohol?” Qing demanded.

“Ah, she kept asking for it…” stammered the woman sitting next to Gongson Yoye.

“How much did you give her?” Qing pressed.

“About a bottle and a half…” the woman mumbled evasively.

While Qing had been preoccupied with downing drinks, Gongson Yoye had started by sipping tentatively, then gradually took a liking to it and began gulping it down heartily.

“You’ve drunk quite a lot,” Qing observed. “Yoye-ah, are you okay?”

“Yes,” Gongson Yoye replied, clearly intoxicated. “I feel good. Good. But Miss Ximen, how can you just drink like that? Drink? I feel strange, Ah! This must be what being drunk is. Drunk. Hehe.”

Gongson Yoye tilted her head as she spoke, then looked back at Qing with a goofy, loose smile Qing hadn’t seen before and said, “But it feels good. Good. But Miss Ximen, how can you just drink like that? Drink? I feel strange. Ah! This is—”

So Yoye-ah was the infinite repeat type, Qing noted internally.

“Infinite repeat?” Gongson Yoye asked. “What’s that? What. But I like Miss Ximen. My friend. My first friend. My only precious friend. But.” And then she hugged Qing’s arm tightly.

“But it’s unfair. Fair. I only have Miss Ximen as my friend, but Miss Ximen has too many friends. That’s not right. I give my whole heart, but Miss Ximen divides hers. Divides it. I don’t like it. Can’t I be more special? Even if it’s divided, I want the biggest piece. Because, it’s unfair. I only have friend—”

“Maybe Yoye-ah should make lots of friends too?” Qing suggested, trying to break the loop.

Then, a heavy voice emerged from Yoye.

“Everyone dislikes me,” Gongson Yoye mumbled sadly. “Before Miss Ximen became my friend, I was alone for half a month. All alone. No one talked to me. The men, the men, I thought they were friends, but they weren’t. No. They said that stiff wench would probably put out if they just sweet-talked her a little. It hurt so much. Hurt. So much.”

“Which son of a bitch was it?” Qing snarled, anger flashing. “Tell me exactly who. Let him know today’s the day his head gets smashed. Who was it? Just tell me.”

“Hehe, are you getting angry for me?” Gongson Yoye noticed, her mood shifting slightly. “Angry? See, I really only have Miss Ximen. But it’s unfair. Fair? I only have Miss Ximen as my friend, but Miss Ximen has too many, so it’s unfair, this isn’t right. It’s bad. I give my whole heaaaart, yaaawn. Sleepy. Sleepy. Wanna sleep. Sleep.”

And then, the head leaning on her shoulder felt heavy, and just like that, she lost consciousness and collapsed onto Qing’s lap.

“Oh dear,” Qing sighed, looking at the women with an awkward expression.

“I heard the sixth floor is used as a lounge,” Qing asked Murong Juhui. “Is there perhaps a place where she can lie down?”

Murong Juhui considered for a moment before answering. Her target was Ximen Qing anyway, not this rude-mouthed girl from the Gong Clan.

“There should be a room with a sign written on Hanji paper,” Murong Juhui replied. “The women’s lounge.”

“I’ll just lay my friend down for a moment and be right back,” Qing said.

Qing lifted Gongson Yoye effortlessly and disappeared towards the stairs. Watching her go, Murong Juhui let out a suspicious breath.

Is she really drunk?

She suddenly looked perfectly fine?

However, that thought lasted only a moment. After laying Gongson Yoye down, pressing some silver into the lounge attendant’s hand, and specifically asking her to take good care of Yoye, Qing caught her foot on the last step coming down and tumbled face-first with a thud.

Ah. She IS drunk after all!

Must be the type whose drunkenness doesn't show on the outside!

Murong Juhui beamed broadly and rushed over, pretending to be concerned.

“Oh my!!! Miss Ximen!!! Are you alright!? To fall down like this!!”

Qing’s eyes narrowed.

This wench is absolutely determined to humiliate me.

My act of pretending to be drunk seemed to be wasted after taking Yoye upstairs, so I threw in a fall for effect, and just look at her! Wow, look how she doesn't even bother managing her expression, thinking I'm too drunk to notice. She’s absolutely thrilled.

“Ah ah. I’m quite alright,” Qing replied lightly.

“You don’t look alright?” Murong Juhui retorted mockingly. “It was only five bottles, a measly five bottles? You acted like such a heavy drinker, but five bottles, pfft, five bottles, you really shouldn’t go around saying you can drink. Falling over like this after just five bottles, did they even make a dent?”

Now Qing saw it clearly; she was deliberately not controlling her expression. It was a provocation that no true drinker could possibly ignore.

Playing such pathetic little tricks, are we?

Want to ply me with more? Alright. I’ll fall for it this once.

But what about her? She downed five bottles and seems perfectly fine? Was she also born immune to poison or something?

“I can’t simply let those words pass,” Qing declared, her voice hardening. “I, Ximen Qing, am a woman who has never lost when it comes to drinking, anywhere.”

“Oh my,” Murong Juhui feigned surprise. “The same goes for me. In that case, shall we take this opportunity, right here in front of everyone, to determine who is the foremost drinker of the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly?”

“That’s the line I should be saying to you,” Qing shot back. “Fine. Miss Murong will be crawling home today.”

“Well,” Murong Juhui sneered, “we shall see who ends up crawling like a dog, won’t we? Girls, did you hear? Miss Ximen has challenged me to a drinking contest, so naturally, we must accept. Isn’t that right? Go downstairs, announce it, and tell them to prepare.”

It was a cunning turn of phrase, subtly shifting the narrative so that Qing became the one who initiated the challenge.

Wow, not just anyone can be a leader, huh? Qing thought inwardly.

“Come, come, get up,” Murong Juhui said, offering a hand. “It will take some time to prepare, so you should drink more in the meantime, yes? Surely, you won’t hold back just because of the upcoming contest, will you?”

However, accepting the challenge was one thing; being vexed by the underhandedness was another.

Qing, still sprawled on the floor, extended her hand. As Murong Juhui grasped it firmly to pull her up, Qing suddenly exerted force and flung her.

Thwack! Caught completely off guard, Murong Juhui slammed face-first onto the floor with a yelp, utterly unable to react to the startling, incredible strength.