Beauty and the Bodyguard

“Here, Mister Lin!” Jianwen pulled out some of the beer bottles from the crates and placed them on the table. “Summer’s right around the corner, it’s hot! Shall we quench our thirst with some beer first?”

“Beer right from the get-go… Isn’t that a bit dull?” Lin Yi said uninterestedly. “Drinking is supposed to done with other people- this isn’t water, what’s with the talk about quenching our thirst?”

“Then let’s drink together!” Jianwen thought that it was an easy thing to do- there were a ton of people here who’d drink with him! With that, he raised his glass. “Cheers! I’m giving a toast, you can cheer back if you want!”

With that, Jianwen straightened his neck and gulped a bottle down. It was concentrated beer, but it really wasn’t something that would concern a veteran like Jianwen!

His tolerance to alcohol was strong- drinking a couple of Maotai beers in succession wasn’t a problem at all! He was a Songshan Young Master, and all its members were drinking veterans! What gave Jianwen relief was the fact that he had a killer drinker with him today, Su Taiwei!

“Alright.” Lin Yi nodded and did the same thing Jianwen did, straightening his neck and slamming the emptied beer bottle on the table.

“Quite a drinker, lil bro Lin!” JIanwen praised as he silently removed Lin Yi’s empty bottle from the table and replaced it with a newly opened one.

Jianwen wanted to check if Lin Yi had actually drank the thing- he calmed down after seeing it empty, also reminding himself that he was thinking too much. ‘Tactical Nuclear Penguins’ were really rare, and he’d asked his overseas friend to have these shipped specifically. That bumpkin Lin Yi must be thinking that it was regular foreign beer, drinking it so fluidly because those were known to have lower concentrations.

But that was fine- let the bumpkin drink as much as he wanted! Everyone would take their turns giving him a toast before throwing in the vodka. It wouldn’t be long before they ended Lin Yi and sent him to the hospital.

“This brand is pretty good? I’ve never seen this before?” Lin Yi put on a curious look as if he were trying to read the foreign letters on the beer bottle.

“Haha, yeah, from overseas! It’s quite costly!” Taizao interrupted Lin Yi’s reading with a ‘haha’, in case he read about the concentration levels on the description. “Here, another toast…”

“Alright!” Lin Yi nodded boldly.

Taizao was having a good time drinking bottle by bottle with Lin Yi as well, gulping them down as Jianwen nodded softly at the scene. He felt like he’d seen through Lin Yi already- the guy was just a bumpkin! He had some smarts about him, but was evidently a greedy guy! It was why he kept coming out to dinner every time they called.

Jianwen understood after seeing how Lin Yi gulped those beer bottles down- the guy probably didn’t have much of a chance to taste foreign alcohol, and was latching onto that chance now that it was presented to him! He’d even been troubling himself about how to get Lin Yi to drink more by letting everyone take turns giving him a toast, but all that wasn’t necessary anymore!

And that was just the beginning of Jianwen’s joy!

Lin Yi was trying to edge out the last droplets after emptying out a bottle with Taizao, as if he weren’t satisfied yet!

The way he put that bottle down, too- he evidently still hadn’t had enough from the bottle!

Lin Yi’s behavior was obscured- he wasn’t saying anything either, but all that entered through Jianwen’s eyes and resulted in his happiness…

“The taste isn’t actually that great… It’s pretty normal.” Lin Yi said faintly.

Jianwen wanted to burst out laughing!! ‘Normal’? Was that how someone drank their beer if it was just ‘normal’ beer? The guy obviously didn’t want to owe him any favors for drinking his foreign beer!

But Jianwen kept those thoughts to himself- to him, it was irrelevant. What mattered was that he sent Lin Yi into the hospital.

“Lil bro Lin, another toast!” Ganglou stood up that moment and handed Lin Yi another bottle. “I really have to thank you for what you did for An Bro the other day!”

“Haha, it’s nothing, it’s nothing…” Lin Yi couldn’t keep in his joy as he took over the beer bottle, gulping it down without pause. _Cartwheel strategy, huh? So creative._ Lin Yi thought with disdain.

If it weren’t for his hope of remaining in Songshan, he wouldn’t have minded swooping them out the window right here and now, showing the trash what it felt like to be superman.

But now, or at least on the surface, Lin Yi wouldn’t cause trouble for himself. As such, he treated the whole plot Jianwen and his group were carrying out as entertainment, as if he were watching a performance.

After Ganglou was Taiwei, who, different from the others, was holding four beer bottles- he placed two in front of Lin Yi and opened the other two up. “Brother! You saved An Bro’s life, and that makes you this Wei Bro’s savior as well! One bottle is no longer enough to express my gratitude- I’ll need to use two! But brother Lin, do as you will!”

Lin Yi could tell what the guy was planning right away- the guy probably understood that it’d be free drinking after the toasts, they couldn’t just take turns doing that to Lin Yi the whole night. Now that he was the last one, he wanted to make the most of his turn.

“If you’re toasting two, Wei Bro, then so am I!” Lin Yi wondered what was wrong with this person, calling himself Wei Bro? Shameless much? And so Lin Yi decided to change the tone when saying ‘toast’ to mess with him a bit…

(Can’t think of an alternative for English, but in Chinese, ‘giving a toast’ in a different pronunciation makes it ‘fucking’, as in the sex thing. Reminds me of when me and a friend needed to interview someone and I said let’s ‘do’ her, it’s a little similar to that.)

Naturally, Taiwei didn’t miss that little circus act. He could only smile and pretend as if he didn’t hear anything if he wanted to continue drinking with Lin Yi. “Alright, cheers! I’ll go first!”

Taiwei drank the two bottles as if it were water- his heart wasn’t thumping and his face wasn’t red… It hadn’t affected him at all.

Yet it was the same with Lin Yi, as well.

Jianwen and Taizao locked eyes with each other, faint surprise in their eyes- it seemed like this Lin Yi kid was quite a drinker! Fortunately for them, they’d brought Taiwei with along; who knew if they’d really be able to handle Lin Yi otherwise!

It seemed like Lin Yi would still be unaffected if this went on, so Jianwen made an eye gesture to Ganglou to have him proceed into the next stage of the plan, skipping the beer part.

The concentration in the beer may be high, but it was still a long way from the concentration vodka had. They might as well switch to vodka than fill their bellies with beer.

It’d be bad if Lin Yi got full from the beer and missed out on the vodka, after all.

“You’re really good, lil bro Lin! I respect you!” Ganglou smiled. “Looks like lil bro Lin’s quite the drinker, too- why don’t we switch to vodka? I’m sure beer isn’t enough at this point.”

“You should’ve said so earlier!” Lin Yi tossed his empty beer bottle away. “I wouldn’t have bothered with beer if you said that earlier- I’m the type of person who isn’t interested in low concentrations! An Bro was buying me drinks, so I didn’t want to point out my discomfort and request anything, since we’re not close and everything… But we’re close now, so now that that’s changed, let’s get straight to the vodka!”