66 Blue and White Porcelain and Vintage Wine

"Hey, I'm still a deputy," said Dai, the deputy county chief.

"Haha!" laughed Tian Tuyuan.

"You said you've brought some good wine," said Dai.

"Yes, please wait a minute, I'll fetch it now," said Tian Tuyuan. One of them was someone casual he had to deal with for business. The other was a mysterious young man who he took seriously. He knew very well which one was more important.

"I'm not going to bother you anymore, Tian, I just came here for some fresh air," said Wang Yao.

"Okay, have you drunk any wine? I'll ask someone to bring some good wine for you later," said Tian Tuyuan before he left.

"No, I have to drive," said Wang Yao.

"Okay, I have to go now, see you later," said Tian Tuyuan.

Tian Tuyuan left with Dai, who nodded to Wang Yao before he left.

"So what does this Wang Yao do for a living?" asked Dai with a smile.

"He grows herbs under your ruling," said Tian Tuyuan.

"Really? How can that be possible?" laughed Dai.

Being a deputy county chief, Dai had dealt with all kinds of people including businessmen like Tian Tuyuan. He knew very well how businessmen were like. The only thing they cared about was money and they didn't mind getting their hands dirty for profit. So, Dai was confused as to why Tian Tuyuan paid all his attention to Wang Yao, rather than those local businessmen and members of the local government. Not many people in Lianshan worth Tian Tuyuan's attention.

"Let's go try the wine I brought," said Tian Tuyuan, who tried to change the topic.

...

"Hi Wang Yao, how come you are here?" asked Yang Ming, who came out of his private room. His face was red after a few drinks and he put his arm around Wang Yao's shoulder.

"I just came out for some fresh air," said Wang Yao.

"Everyone else is drinking. You've got to drink something too," said Yang Ming.

"Sorry, my stomach doesn't feel good, I'll have to skip the drinks for today," said Wang Yao with a smile.

"Don't worry, it's just a little bit of wine," said Yang Ming.

Wang Yao returned to the private room with Yang Ming. As soon as he sat down, Yang Ming took a glass of wine and walked towards Wang Yao.

"Come on everyone, cheers!" He came to Wang Yao directly before proposing a toast to all the schoolmates.

"Hey Yao, cheers!" said Yang Ming.

"Sorry, I really can't drink, can I replace the wine with water?" asked Wang Yao.

"No way! Even the girls were drinking wine, how can you drink water?" said Yang Ming.

"I never drink wine. I really can't," said Wang Yao with a smile.

In fact, since the Department of Transport started to become stricter with drinking and driving bans, fewer and fewer drivers had taken the risk. And people don't normally encourage or force someone who was going to drive to drink alcohol.

But Yang Ming wouldn't let Wang Yao go.

"Why? Do you look down on me?" said Yang Ming grumpily. Wang Yao was the only one who refused to drink tonight.

It became awkward suddenly.

The door opened, a waitress came in with a plate in her hand. On the plate were two bottles of wine; both were wrapped up nicely.

"Excuse me, which one is Mr. Wang Yao? Mr. Tian from the next room asked me to bring two bottles of wine for Mr. Wang Yao," said the waitress.

"I am." After a moment of silence, Wang Yao lifted his hand.

"The two bottles are from Mr. Tian. He would like you to taste it and wish you a long friendship between you and your schoolmates. Where would you like to put the bottles?" asked the waitress.

"Just leave them on the table. Thank you," said Wang Yao with a smile.

"You are welcome," said the waitress who left the room immediately.

"Now I know why you don't want to drink my wine. You are waiting for something better!" said Yang Ming who was obviously not happy. He was the one organizing the party tonight. He brought one of the best wines in the province, which were not cheap at all. And everyone except for Wang Yao reckoned the wine was really good.

"Well, let us try this one," said Yang Ming who picked up one of the bottles from the table.

Wang Yao shook his head. He knew the bottles were given to him by Tian Tuyuan. He was grateful for Tian Tuyuan's good gesture but didn't want to cause any unpleasant situations. But things were out of his control. He knew Yang Ming was not happy with him.

What?! Yang Ming was surprised when he had a close look at the bottles on the table.

He had been to quite a few dinner parties and work dinners since he started to work. Sometimes he had to pay, sometimes he didn't. He had quite a few nice dishes, cigarettes and wine. He could tell what was good wine and what wasn't. He knew that these two bottles of wine were not common.

Although Fenjiu liquor was not as well-known as Mao-Tai Chiew and Wuliangye (both are the most famous Chinese wines), it was very popular in China. The two bottles of wine given by Tian Tuyuan were the most expensive Fenjiu liquor, which the blue and white porcelain bottles were filled with. The liquor was at least 20 years old.

Yang Ming wasn't sure about how much each bottle of Fenjiu liquor exactly cost. He presumed the price of one bottle should be at least hundreds of yuan.

"Wonderful, why didn't you take such good wine out earlier?" asked Yang Ming when he opened the bottle.

"I didn't buy it myself, I don't drink alcohol," said Wang Yao. He started to think he shouldn't have come to the party.

"You don't drink? We'll drink for you," said He Hai, who poured himself a glass of wine and turned to Yang Ming, "Since Wang Yao doesn't drink, I'll drink with you."

Everyone was happy now.

"What wine? Let me try too," said one of Wang Yao's schoolmates in the room.

Quite a lot of Wang Yao's schoolmates enjoyed drinking the wine. The two bottles were soon empty.

"Wonderful wine!" someone said.

"It is vintage wine!" another person said.

Maybe the wine was really good, or some people drank too much but the people in the room started to talk really loudly.

Yang Ming was not happy to hear people praising Wang Yao's wine. He almost lost it. Yang Ming had a good plan for today. Just now he was joking about asking Tong Wei to be his girlfriend and she didn't turn him down completely. Pretty girls like Tong Wei were always reserved. But it upset him when Wang Yao refused to drink the wine he brought. Now, Wang Yao seemed to draw a lot of attention from the other schoolmates with the two bottles of wine given by someone from the room next door.

What was Wang Yao doing? Trying to embarrass him? To show off? He's just a countryman.

Yang Ming started to get more and more upset. He poured himself another glass of wine.

"Nice wine! Wang Yao, do you have any more?!" Yang Ming suddenly turned to Wang Yao and started to shout, "We want more wine, right?"

"Right!" someone agreed.

"Sorry, I don't have any more. These two bottles were given by a friend," said Wang Yao with a smile. He spoke quietly but clearly; everyone in the room heard his voice.

"Really? I think you are just reluctant to buy more bottles for us," said Yang Ming.

"It's true," said Wang Yao.

"It's fine. We have enough wine here," laughed He Hai.

Yang Ming didn't say anything more. He was going to provoke Wang Yao, but he failed.