Chapter 264: Then Give Him Courage, Let the Wine Make the Coward Brave
Xia Changyu not only prepared the hot pot. He also brought a lot of alcohol, white liquor, beer, foreign wine, and cocktails.
What exactly was he planning?
At this point, he might as well write “bad guy” on his face. Was he wearing a name tag that says “up to no good”?
Lin Yibai stretched and walked over to help wash the beef tripe and vegetables. She kindly reminded him. “Hey, can we really finish all that alcohol you brought?”
Xia Changyu confidently replied, “Of course we can.”
Lin Yibai added, “But you know me, I’m just a girl who can’t handle alcohol very well!”
“Haha… ahem, Baiyi, what kind of person do you think I am? We’re just drinking a little to lift the mood. A little alcohol is fun, too much is bad for your health, right?”
Oh wow, so drinking with a girl is just to cultivate the mood?
How about we make it simple, just leave out the “cultivate the mood” part?
And it’s not like they haven’t drunk beer together before. Knowing Lin Yibai’s low alcohol tolerance, was this really going to be okay?
She shook the water off the vegetables she’d just washed, smiled slightly, and said, “Alright then, let’s enjoy this ‘mood-lifting’ moment together later.”
Xia Changyu said with excitement, “Great, I love someone like you, full of good taste and culture.”
Lin Yibai teased, “Aren’t you afraid that in the end, my artistic sense will be better than yours?”
Xia Changyu waved his hand confidently, “No way. Absolutely impossible!”
Still, Lin Yibai couldn’t help but wonder, who gave Xia Changyu this terrible idea?
Based on what she knew about him, he usually liked to win a girl’s heart with deep, emotional words. Not by pushing alcohol to “inspire feelings.”
But oh well, it didn’t matter.
Because the main point wasn’t… ahem, wasn’t important to Lin Yibai.
"You do your thing, and I’ll stay calm like the breeze blowing over the hills."
Not long after, a small hot pot was bubbling. One side filled with spicy chili, the other with mild bone broth.
Whether it was fish slices or beef rolls, everything was smooth, tender, and delicious. After dipping some beef tripe in the soup, Lin Yibai gave Xia Changyu a few pieces.
And what did he do in return? He gave her a drink?
Who does that? You get food and return a glass of alcohol? What a sneaky move! And he even said seriously, “It’s winter now, how can you have hot pot without some alcohol?”
Lin Yibai pointed out, “But you know me, I don’t drink strong liquor.”
Xia Changyu asked, “Then… beer?”
Lin Yibai replied, “It’s cold. I don’t want beer either.”
Then Xia Changyu even opened up a bottle of expensive foreign liquor he’d been saving as a decoration in his luxury apartment. He looked at her pitifully and said, “This bottle cost over four thousand. If we mix it with green tea, it tastes pretty good. Want to try it?”
But Lin Yibai still shook her head, “Sorry, I don’t drink foreign liquor. Thanks though.”
And she really wasn’t trying to be picky or difficult.
Maybe because her family wasn’t that well-off, she had only ever tasted cheap foreign liquor. And honestly… how to describe it… Lin Yibai would say it was like mixing traditional herbal medicine into green tea. Her taste buds just couldn’t handle it.
She didn’t like wine either. It always tasted way too sour, no matter how she drank it. Maybe she just didn’t have a talent for alcohol. At her age, the only thing she could kind of enjoy was beer.
But she’d already turned down beer too.
So… was she really going to let Xia Changyu fail tonight?
Looking at the table still full of hot pot ingredients, and how they had only just started eating… was this little gathering already about to fall apart?
Of course not, sweet and thoughtful as always, Lin Yibai wouldn’t let that happen. She said, “Actually… I don’t mind Rio cocktails.”
Xia Changyu lit up with joy, “Good thing I brought plenty of those too!”
Lin Yibai: “But…”
Xia Changyu’s face became serious as he asked, “But what?”
Lin Yibai smiled, then pointed right to the heart of the issue. “Cocktails… their alcohol level is about the same as beer, and each bottle is only 250ml. How many would I need to drink to get drunk? Eight? Nine? Maybe ten?”
Just admit it already! Come on, aren’t you trying to get me drunk?
But of course, a guy wouldn’t admit that at a moment like this. Lin Yibai decided to play along and pretend not to notice.
She tried hard to help him save face, “Have you ever had yellow wine? Or sweet rice wine?”
Xia Changyu was confused, “Yellow wine? Isn’t that used for cooking? I’ve had sweet wine before though, not bad.”
Lin Yibai shrugged and said, “Wrong. Actually, in southern China, yellow wine has been the main drink since ancient times. Don’t let those strong liquors fool you, they’ve only been around for less than a hundred years… ah, whatever, why am I giving you all these weird facts. I just want to ask, want to drink cooking wine. I mean, yellow wine? Sweet rice wine works too. I can drink a little with you.”
Xia Changyu nodded, “Sure.”
To Xia Changyu, it didn’t matter what kind of wine they drank. What mattered was, Lin Yibai would drink too. Then he could get her drunk.
But maybe he had never heard this saying, ‘If you come with a plan and the other person sees through it, you’ve already lost.’
Xia Changyu ordered yellow wine and sweet rice wine online. It was delivered to the apartment in under 30 minutes, while they were still enjoying hot pot.
But they didn’t drink it straight away.
Just like how some people mix foreign liquor with green tea, yellow wine and sweet rice wine also have their own special ways to drink.
Lin Yibai opened the pot, poured in the yellow wine, added rock sugar, and brought it to a boil. Then she cracked in two poached eggs.
Xia Changyu was surprised. “Wha—what are you doing? Just boiling eggs and using that much cooking wine?”
Lin Yibai: “…”
How should she even explain this to him?
She said, “It’s kind of a local specialty dish. As for how it tastes, you’ll find out when you try it!”
The sweet rice wine was also boiled, but it didn’t need extra sugar. She just added two red dates and a few goji berries, poured it into bowls, and chilled it in the fridge.
Ssshhh~
Drinking a bowl of warm yellow wine with egg on a cold winter day, it warmed the whole body.
Lin Yibai hadn’t drunk this before, either. Because for guys, it’s easy to get “overheated” from it. But for girls, as long as you drink a small amount, it’s actually good for you.
Xia Changyu took a small sip, a bit unsure. At first, he tasted sweetness. Then came the alcohol. He thought it would be really strong, but it actually went down very smoothly. He couldn’t help but say, “Hey, this is actually pretty good.”
Lin Yibai smiled and said, “Too bad this kind of wine is already going out of style.”
Xia Changyu: “Pour me some more.”
Lin Yibai warned him: “This kind of wine hits hard later.”
Xia Changyu laughed and patted his chest. “Come on, don’t joke. It tastes like a soft drink. How strong can it be? I can drink five or six bottles of beer, so three or four bowls of this egg wine should be nothing, right?”
Lin Yibai gave him a pitying look, shaking her head, “People who don’t know… have no fear.”
Yellow wine is famous not just for being used in cooking, or for tasting like a mild drink when prepared this way, but also for its strong after-effect.
It’s the kind of drink where you feel fine at first, but by the time the alcohol hits… it’s already too late.
Lin Yibai scratched her head and thought to herself, ‘This guy’s plan was to get me drunk, right? So… should I let him drink more, or less?’
If he doesn’t drink, he can’t make any moves.
If he drinks too much, he still can’t make any moves.
She didn’t want to shut him down completely… but also wanted to give him a little courage.
Oh wise friends, please tell me, how much is just the right amount of wine to make a coward brave?
Who’s the coward? Both of us are, probably.