652 Drunkenness (1/2)
”The Dragon King never drank.”
Looking at Shangguan Ru who had drank almost half of the pot of wine, Queen Ju coldly reprimanded her. But her words couldn't hurt the other side's feelings at all now.
The taste of the wine was quite hot and coarse. Queen Ju did not drink, and Xu Yanwei and Xiao Fengchai had given up after a few sips. Shangguan Ru, however, complained about a lack of fun as she spat out with her tongue.
She was in a perfect state: intoxicated yet sober, cognizant enough to feel all the good feelings and numb enough to laugh at the hurtful words of Queen Ju.
Shangguan Ru held the wine pot alone and went back to the original big tent, where there were only monks living. The monks smelled the alcohol and all of them became flustered in their rush to make way for her. She went straight up to the two monks of the Four Truths Temple and asked, ”Monks, are you interested in drinking?”
Fayan's smile was bigger than usual but Lianqing anxiously waved and hid his hands in his sleeves, pushing Shangguan Ru outside. ”Ridiculous, it's really ridiculous. How old are you? Such a heavy smell of alcohol…”
Out of the tent, Lianqing clasped his hands, saluted, and sighed, ”Little girl is really bold and forthright. It was worth getting to know and making friends with you. If it had been before… Alas, please do not come again. My ten years of cultivation has been ruined by the smell of the wine.”
”Ehh, haven't you only been a monk for two or three years?” Shangguan Ru's mind was still clear.
”My Master said that I have the root of wisdom and I had been a monk for ten years in my previous life, so… Alas, Amitabha, what kind of wine is this?”
Shangguan Ru laughed and left, letting Lianqing keep his ten years of cultivation of his previous life.
But she did not want to drink alone, and also did not want to go back to the tent to listen to Queen Ju's sarcasm, so she held the pot and turned around on the spot, walking towards the soldiers' tent. She shouted to the archers on the watchtower when she was halfway there, ”Come down and have a drink.”
Over a dozen arrows were immediately pointed at her. The soldiers looked at each other and none of them wanted to be the first to shoot.
The soldiers who were resting in the tents all came out after hearing the voice. Looking at the half-drunk little girl, they all couldn't help but smile.
Shangguan Ru also smiled. This wasn't the first time she had gotten drunk, and also wouldn't be the last time. ”Come on, it's my treat.”
The soldiers all looked at the new chief.
The new chief, the only one who didn't smile, surveyed the tents where the prisoners lived before saying, ”What kind of trick are you playing? No one is allowed to go over there. There may be a trap.”
”Haha,” Shangguan Ru laughed out loud, lifted the wine pot with both hands and gulped down a mouthful before saying, ”Everyone says that the men of the Prairie will drink whatever wine comes to them. You are really disappointing.”
”She's just a little girl…” Some of the soldiers defiantly argued.
”Can she get us all drunk?” More soldiers were ready to try.
The chief grunted and turned back to the tent.
Seven or eight soldiers went forward, and each of them produced a wooden bowl from their bags and looked at Shangguan Ru with a smile, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Shangguan Ru filled the bowls with wine and finally lifted the wine pot to her ear and shook several times, smiling, ”Oops, there's only a little left. It seems that we can't fully enjoy ourselves.”
The soldiers did not care. One of them drunk up first, smacked his lips and said, ”Good wine. Share the wine and drink as you like, that's how we'll enjoy ourselves to the fullest.”
The crowd held a bowl in their hands and drank it up all at the same time.
Shangguan Ru threw away the wine pot, her body already swaying a bit. ”I owe you one. I'll make up for it later.”
”We'll pay you back.”
Seeing that the prisoner and the prison guards' little wine banquet was about to end, the chief came out of the tent with a wine jar under each arm, which was much bigger than the one that Shangguan Ru had brought. Then he said with a cold face, ”The people of the Norland are not so stingy, and we'll pay you back now. Those who can't drink much walk away now. Do not let the little girl embarrass you.”
No one would admit their drinking capacity was small. The chief ordered someone to bring out some clean bowls. The host and the guest then stood drinking in the courtyard. At first, it was a bit dull but after drinking two bowls of wine, the soldiers quickly reached the same state as Shangguan Ru, talking and laughing, and some were even singing and dancing.
”Drinking wine without meat is like… is like…” A soldier could not think of anything to finish his comparison so Shangguan Ru helped him. ”It's like a steed without a saddle, a hero without a treasured sword, a beauty without a dowry, a king without a counselor, a general without a soldier, or…”
”A woman without a man.” The one who said this was kicked and punched and bore the burden of going to a nearby camp to ask for meat.
The prison in the forbidden zone covered a large area which included over a dozen camps and kept many prisoners. The camp where Shangguan Ru was imprisoned was actually the best one.
The soldier who went out to get meat soon finished his task and brought back a leg of beef and four legs of lamb which were all prepared and ready to eat, with four curious soldiers following him.
The soldiers were all experienced and they quickly built a simple rack with their long spears and hung those five chunks of meat. Then they took out a knife and sliced the meat of to eat. Shangguan Ru also ate a little but continued to drink most of the time.