Chapter 38
Chapter 38
“Everyone understands the rules, right? Then let the game begin!” Tina announced. “Ms. Song Xue is the Featured Player this round, so each time, she will choose what everyone drinks and how much. The other players may raise the amount. Anyone who accepts must drink the same amount, while anyone who refuses forfeits!”
Song Xue sat behind the bar like a bartender. An entire wall of liquor cabinets stood behind her, holding almost every variety and strength of alcohol from around the world. She seemed highly familiar with liquor. After briefly scanning the selection, she said,
“They have everything. Let’s start with something relatively weak.”
She took a bottle of Red Star Erguotou from the cabinet.
“You call that weak? Red Star Erguotou is sixty-five percent alcohol!” Liu Dashan exclaimed.
“If you’re scared, old man, you should quit. We’ve only just begun. At your age, you shouldn’t be trying to outdrink young people,” Song Xue said.
Her warning promptly convinced Liu Dashan to withdraw.
“I have high blood pressure and diabetes… I really shouldn’t drink. I’ll sit this game out.”
The moment he finished speaking, Hong Long’s raucous laughter rang out beside him.
“Hahaha! All that circling around and all those rules, but in the end, it’s still just a drinking contest! Now this is my specialty. I drink every day. Two or three jin in one sitting, a liter or more, is nothing!”
“Is that right? Then we’ll have to see which of us is better.” Song Xue smiled calmly, showing no fear.
“How much Red Star Erguotou are we drinking at a time?” Hong Long asked.
“We’ll take it slowly. Let’s start with two hundred and fifty milliliters,” Song Xue said.
“How much is two hundred and fifty milliliters?” Hong Long was unfamiliar with the unit.
“Five liang, or half a jin,” Shu Yanjun said.
“Ha! Only half a jin. That’s nothing!”
A male server was assigned to pour the drinks.
“For the first round, two hundred and fifty milliliters of Red Star Erguotou at sixty-five percent alcohol,” Tina said. “Raise your hand if you can drink it.”
Shu Yanjun raised his hand, then turned to his wife and son. “You two should stay out of this, especially you, Shu Ke.”
“Dad, I can drink a little. Why should I quit before we’ve even started?” Shu Ke asked.
“You’re a high school student. You shouldn’t drink!”
“I’ve had alcohol at class dinners. Didn’t I toast our relatives during the New Year too?”
“One or two glasses of beer during a holiday is one thing. Does that mean you should enter a drinking contest with your life at stake? They’re starting with half a jin of Red Star Erguotou, and we don’t know how much comes next! You heard Hong Long. He can drink at least two or three jin. Can you compete with that?”
“Shu Ke, listen to your father. In the end, this game will be decided among the handful of people with unusually high alcohol tolerance. You and I should stay out of it and save our strength for the next game,” Xiang Meiling urged.
Shu Ke pursed his lips and reluctantly agreed.
“Dad can’t drink that much either. Can you really manage two or three jin?” he muttered.
“No, but if they get so drunk that they fail the final sobriety test, I’ll still have a chance,” Shu Yanjun whispered.
Chen Nuo, Tang Ying, Ruirui, and the three college students shared a table.
“Which of you can hold your liquor?” Chen Nuo asked.
Liu and Guan both pointed at the chubby Zhang. “Him.”
“How much can you drink?”
Zhang scratched his head. “Maybe one or two jin of baijiu. At class gatherings, plenty of people pass out while I’m still drinking. But those dinners last for hours. If I have to down one glass after another without a break, I’ll get drunk easily!”
Chen Nuo understood. Drinking too quickly was something any experienced drinker avoided. Finishing one jin of baijiu slowly over several hours and downing the same amount in a few minutes inflicted completely different levels of harm on the body. Most people knew that rapid drinking was dangerous. Consuming a large amount of alcohol in a short time irritated the stomach and prevented the liver from breaking it down and metabolizing it quickly enough. It could even reduce blood volume and cause unconsciousness.
By proposing half a jin of sixty-five-percent Red Star Erguotou at the very start, Song Xue was clearly trying to intimidate everyone. Anyone with a low tolerance would be frightened into quitting in the first round, allowing her to defeat many people in a single move.
Sure enough, several players did not raise their hands: Liu Dashan, Shu Ke, Xiang Meiling, and Saisi. Presumably, they either had low alcohol tolerance or could not drink at all. They had withdrawn from the game in the first round.
“How well can you hold your liquor, Chen Nuo?” Tang Ying asked.
“About average. In college, I occasionally drank with the guys in my dorm, so I built up some tolerance. What about you?”
“I’m not very good… Except on special occasions, I hardly ever drink,” Tang Ying said.
Chen Nuo sighed. “Then Zhang may be the only strong drinker in our group. I assume Ruirui can’t drink much either.”
“I don’t know,” Ruirui said blankly.
“You don’t know? Do you usually drink?”
“Of course. When I go with Tang Ying to review a restaurant and the business wants us to promote its alcohol, I’m the one who does most of the drinking,” Ruirui said.
“Then how much can you drink?” Chen Nuo asked.
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never been drunk.”
Everyone at the table turned to stare at her.
“Now that you mention it, that may actually be true…” Tang Ying searched her memory. “Ruirui and I have eaten together countless times, but I’ve never seen her drunk.”
“Exactly. Whenever you get drunk, aren’t I always the one who takes you home?” Ruirui asked.
Chen Nuo laughed. “It seems you and Zhang are our table’s two strongest contenders.”
Ruirui had never expected to become one of the group’s greatest assets. Her excitement surged.
“Don’t push yourself too hard,” Tang Ying warned her best friend.
“I won’t. I’ll just do my best!” Ruirui said.
In the first round, the other thirteen players all raised their hands. Only Liu Dashan, Shu Ke, Xiang Meiling, and Saisi did not.
“Anyone who chooses not to drink at all in the first round has withdrawn from the game from the start. You won’t have a valid total or be eligible for the final sobriety test,” Tina reminded them.
The four nodded reluctantly to show they understood.
A server picked up the measuring cup on the bar, poured two hundred and fifty milliliters of erguotou into it for each player, then transferred the liquor to their glasses. The oversized glasses held exactly half a jin of baijiu.
“Everyone, I’d like to offer a toast.” Song Xue raised her glass. “Whatever the outcome of this game, no matter who wins or loses, fate brought us together on the same tour.”
She tilted back her head and drained the erguotou to the last drop. Then she inverted her glass to show everyone it was empty.
“Now that’s how you drink! I never knew you had it in you!” Hong Long laughed heartily. He drained his glass too, then held it upside down for everyone to see.
Neither of them showed much change after finishing the liquor. The others were a different story. Che Dongming frowned and forced himself to swallow. Shu Yanjun drank with obvious agony. The twin sisters gave up halfway through their glasses.
Few ordinary people ever had reason to down half a jin of high-proof baijiu at once. Chen Nuo was no exception. It took him a full minute to force down his glass. At least that delayed the alcohol’s impact slightly; it was better than finishing in five seconds. His throat and stomach burned afterward. His face felt hot, and his head spun. Tang Ying looked no better.
After the tall, thin Liu finished his drink, his face went blank for several seconds. Then he sprinted toward the restroom. The sound of vomiting soon followed. He had fallen in the first round.
The curly-haired Guan was not much better. His eyes had lost their focus, and his body swayed from side to side. At least he managed not to vomit, preserving his score for the first round.
Just as they had anticipated, only two people at their table showed little reaction after the first glass: the round-faced Zhang and Ruirui.
“Chen Nuo, half a jin of baijiu is too much for me… Ugh…”
Tang Ying did not even finish her sentence before rushing toward the restroom.
Chen Nuo slapped his cheeks to force himself to remain alert. He glanced around and realized that most of the players would probably go no further than the first round. The power of half a jin of high-proof baijiu had far exceeded their expectations.
What could he do? Would the outcome of this game rest entirely in the hands of Hong Long and Ruirui?
And even if they outdrank Song Xue, could they pass the final sobriety test?
Chen Nuo had a terrible feeling.