The restaurant was noisy. The eight big and strong men at the big round table started to make a lot of noise. Their voices were very loud. There was also a middle-aged man with a pointed face and monkey cheeks who was making a lot of noise nearby. The people at the nearby tables looked at their fierce appearance and did not dare to intervene or stop them.
At the counter in the middle, the shopkeeper wearing a cockscomb hat looked at that table with embarrassment. After all, they were all customers and the store was not like a temple. There was no rule against people talking loudly. He could only bow and apologize on behalf of the affected tables, which always made him appear that he, as the shopkeeper, had done his best.
He put his hands down and glanced to the side, at the aisle leading to the back kitchen. The scholar and the old man who had gone in earlier came out. Just as he was about to go up and ask them to restrain the eight big men, he saw his own chef following behind and talking to the old man and the young man in front.
"… I went back a few days ago, hoping to have some food at the temple, but there was no one there. I guess I wouldn't follow that old dragon and hide under the water to eat fish, would I?"
"Then why are you working as a chef in this restaurant?"
The figure walked out of the aisle. Lu Liangsheng, who was walking side by side with the old man, was quite curious about how a pig demon could run to the kitchen of a human restaurant to cook for people.
"Humph, I'm just greedy."
The Toad Taoist flicked the smoke off his sleeves and interrupted him for another sentence. Zhu Ganglie, who was following behind him, didn't seem to care. He picked his nose and snorted with a laugh.
"I couldn't find your place, and I was hungry again. I had to eat, but I had no money, so I just worked for this restaurant. After a while, I became the chef."
Old Zhu's voice was as deep as the sound of a jar. The eight people around the big round table raised their heads when they heard the voice. When they saw Zhu Ganglie, they showed a look of surprise and gathered around with wine glasses in hand, shouting, "A thousand cups are not enough when we meet again!" "Old Zhu, we must close the two jars today!" "Don't go home until you are drunk!"
Zhu Ganglie accepted all the offers and drank the eight bowls of wine handed to him. The wine flowed over the corners of his lips and wet his collar. After finishing the drink, he generously showed the bottom of the bowl to the people around him, which made the guests at other tables couldn't help but applaud.
"Good!" "This is what a real man is like. He drinks eight bowls in one breath."
"Looking at his stomach capacity, he can drink at least a few jars!"
Amid the cheers, Lu Liangsheng smiled and asked the eight people to stop drinking for the time being, and invited Zhu Ganglie to eat at the same table. The latter nodded and handed the empty bowl back to Lu Qing. When everyone went back, they saw a tall and thin middle-aged man sitting at the big round table. He turned his head and met the eyes of Old Zhu who was wiping his mouth.
Lu Liangsheng returned to his seat and poured wine for his master. He looked up and saw Zhu Ganglie still standing there. "Old Pig?"
“Nothing…” Zhu Ganglie looked away and quickly waved his hand, pointing at the scholar’s table. “There are not enough dishes, not enough for me, Old Pig. I’ll go in and make some more!”
After wiping his palms on his apron and turning back to the kitchen, Lu Liangsheng frowned and looked at the monkey with disdain, thinking that the two might have some grudge against each other. He put down his chopsticks and stood up to go to the kitchen, but was stopped by Sun Wukong and forced to sit back down.
"Don't go. That idiot won't run away."
The monkey grabbed a few roasted beans and threw them into his mouth, then drank a glass of wine and shook his head: "It's still far inferior to the jade-like liquor in the Fairy Palace, and it's not even as good as the monkey wine I had in the Flower-Fruit Mountain back then. Is this how prosperous the human world is?"
Lu Liangsheng picked up a roasted chicken leg with white sauce and threw it into his bowl: "Shut your mouth, this is not the best restaurant. Besides, the prosperity of the world is not just about eating."
"Got it, got it. You'll take me around later!"
After getting used to it for a while, the monkey sitting on the side stopped being picky and ate the chicken leg picked by Lu Liangsheng with gusto. From time to time, he and the other eight people who brought drinks, Lu Pan, took their bowls one by one and drank happily.
Clouds were dim in the west, and the lanterns outside the restaurant were lit and rose above the eaves. The first-floor hall, where many guests had left, was still noisy. A dozen people were sitting at a large round table, toasting each other. The Toad Taoist pulled the monkey to play finger-guessing games together. At the beginning, he won a few times, but then he kept losing. The Toad drank several bowls of wine in a row, and he was sitting crookedly on the stool. If Lu Liangsheng hadn't used a magic trick, the long tongue hanging around outside would have scared the shopkeeper so much that he wouldn't even dare to keep the restaurant.
During this time, Zhu Ganglie also came out several times and brought freshly cooked dishes to the table. From morning to nightfall, the table was piled up in three layers, and there were at least two jars of wine at each person's feet.
The shopkeeper at the counter looked at him with a red face, excitedly counting the dishes and calculating the amount of money in the account book. Lu Liangsheng, who had almost finished eating, finally realized how scary a group of big-bellied men were. He subconsciously reached for his wallet, but no matter how much money he had, he always felt that it was not enough...
It would be embarrassing for a national master to be unable to pay for the meal. Fortunately, Yan Chixia and Zuo Zhengyi did not come, otherwise he would have to go early tomorrow morning to eat.
Another half hour passed, and the group of people finally had their fill of food and drink. The monkey was not satisfied, so he ran out to the street by himself. Lu Liang was afraid that he would get into trouble, so he didn't even count the money in his purse, but poured a handful of it onto the counter, and hurriedly chased after him.
The eight big men from Lujia Village and the Toad Taoist priest staggered together, arm in arm. Zhu Ganglie didn't drink much, so after leaving the restaurant, he turned back and shouted to the shopkeeper who was weighing the silver.
"I'm going to accompany my good friend. I have to come to work tomorrow. Don't replace me!"
The shopkeeper was so eager that he chased to the door holding the account book and said, "Chef Zhu, ask your friends to come tomorrow!"
The long street lights are like stars interweaving above the streets, and the noise is still as busy as in the daytime. People come and go, and the sounds of hawking are endless. Women walking in pairs are selecting the best cloth and rouge, whispering and laughing. The hawkers who are closing their stalls bow and thank the paying customers, and put their money into their waists with a smile. On the roadside, the Hu merchants speaking with a Western accent are arguing with people over prices with gestures and pushing each other.
The drunken monkey staggered here and there to take a look, then moved a few feet away and blew gently, taking the fur hat off the merchant's head. The hat flew into his hand and put it on his own head. He staggered around to look at the bustling surroundings, his eyes blurred, and everything looked so new and strange.
“Fun, fun… Hahaha…”
Soon, I heard the distant sound of Hu music and the light strings of Pipa, and following the music, I stumbled into the attic next door.
… this monkey.
Lu Liangsheng followed him in hastily, thinking that some trouble would arise, but he saw that Sun Wukong had already sat down on the second-floor fence seat. He propped up his chin and looked towards the middle of the suspended second floor. On the red carpeted stage below, a dancer from the Western Regions was shaking bells between her ankles and stomping on the stage majestically. The accompaniment of the pipa and hujia was unrestrained and passionate, and her sexy waist was shaking. Behind the veil, a pair of blue eyes swept around the guests charmingly and winked lightly.
Lu Liangsheng sent the waiter away and sat down next to Monkey.
"Does the Great Sage also like to watch these Western Region songs and dances?"
"I've never seen it before. It's novel." The waiter brought some picked and washed grapes, and the monkey stuffed them into his mouth one by one. After a while, Lu Pan and others also came over, went up to the second floor and found other seats to sit down. Looking at Hu Ji below, they whistled excitedly.
While Lu Liangsheng was talking to Monkey, the latter turned around to look at Lu Pan's table and the fat Zhu Ganglie, and suddenly stood up and walked over with two glasses of wine.
"Idiot, I'll have a drink with you."
Zhu Ganglie stared at the wine glass in front of him for a moment, then took it and glanced at the expressionless monkey, who sat down on the other side and laughed at the bustle around him:
"Let's wipe out all the past grudges with one cup!"
"Haha, you damned bastard..." Zhu Ganglie held the wine glass and stared at the monkey, then looked at Lu Liangsheng's back and clinked his glasses with him reluctantly, "One glass is not enough, at least ten glasses!"
The two monsters looked at each other for a moment, then burst into laughter together, tilted their heads back to drink it all, and then spit it out together, covering the faces of Lu Pan and the other eight people.
"What's with this weird smell of wine?!"
Lu Liangsheng turned his head to look at the two demons arm in arm, then smiled and turned his gaze away, watching the singing and dancing below with boredom. In the corner of the second floor, Hong Lian and Qi You were hiding in the shadows, looking at the scholar lying on the fence watching the Western Region singing and dancing, and they hummed in unison.
"What's so good about Hu Ji!"
Hong Lian's eyes lit up, and she suddenly snapped her fingers, turned around and floated into the curtain, passed through the wall and stairs, and disappeared in an instant.
…
Behind the stage, behind a curtain, a Hu girl sat in front of a bronze mirror, applying rouge to cover her large pores. Just as she was drawing her eyebrows, a woman's head suddenly popped out of the mirror. The Hu girl was so frightened that her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
The body was then dragged and hidden on the ground.