Chapter 66: Wine, Women, and Song

"That's fantastic! How about we go to Chuxiong to soak in the hot springs?" Xiaotong's eyes sparkled with anticipation.

"Sounds great, I was thinking the exact same thing," Yunfei agreed readily.

Hearing this, Bao Xiaotong grew excited, waved her hand, and said, "Forget about all that for now, today we are going to drink until we drop!" With that, she nimbly popped open a bottle of Yunnan Red wine.

Chen Miaomiao suddenly piped up, "Stop, stop! Let's have something with a higher alcohol content, something with a real kick."

He Yunfei quickly waved his hands. "There's no need for that, isn't this pretty good?"

Bao Xiaotong immediately chimed in, "Miaomiao, you don't even drink anyway, you just love stirring up trouble and making a big deal out of nothing, right?"

Chen Miaomiao truly was someone who didn't drink alcohol yet loved to instigate trouble. She shouted at the top of her lungs, "No way, we must have something with a real kick."

Bao Tianxi joined in the chorus, "That's right, since my brother is here, we definitely have to drink some good wine! Changwang, bring out the best and most expensive wine you have!"

"Wait, whether it's good or expensive doesn't matter, I just want to taste some local wine from Yunnan," Yunfei said, realizing he couldn't win the argument, and voiced his own preference.

Changwang smiled as he explained, "You got it! We have all sorts of wines here in Yunnan. Right now in the shop, we have Yulinquan wine, Yanglin Feijiu, Heqing Qianjiu, and plenty of wines from the Yi ethnic group like Torch wine. Which one would you like?"

Bao Tianxi instructed Changwang, "Bring him the Yanglin Feijiu, the one he hasn't tried yet, which won an award in the early Republic of China period here in Yunnan."

Changwang acknowledged with a nod, strode over to the counter, brought back two bottles of Yanglin Feijiu, uncorked them casually, and filled everyone's glasses in turn.

He Yunfei looked at the jade-green liquor in his glass and exclaimed in wonder, "Ah, why is it green?"

Seeing He Yunfei's look of utter amazement, Bao Tianxi became even more excited and said with beaming enthusiasm, "Getting your eyes opened today, aren't you? Now you finally understand why ancients talked about 'red lanterns and green wine'! Wine is supposed to be green after all. Come on, today we drink until we drop!"

Hao Xiaoyu, with her lively personality, took the lead and broke into an old song called "Red Lanterns and Green Wine": "Tonight nobody is allowed to stay sober, a body full of alcohol feels a little less empty, those with lovers, bottoms up first..."

The ladies also chimed in and sang along: "Consider it a blessing to yourselves, while offering apologies to the lonely ones. If anyone knows any songs that mock love, please sing them out loud to me..."

As a news reporter, Chen Miaomiao possessed an extraordinarily strong curiosity. Her mind was hooked on the mention of those hoodlums earlier, and she couldn't help asking, "What on earth was that story about those hoodlums just now?"

Bao Xiaotong, having downed a few cups of alcohol, had a flushed face and eagerly prepared to recount the events of Mount Wudang back in the day, but He Yunfei quickly cut her off. "Junior Sister, that's a long story, let's not bring it up today. Come, come, let's drink..."

Chen Miaomiao was the type of person who would get to the bottom of things no matter what. Unrelenting, she said, "No, you must tell it!"

Xiaotong hurriedly pulled her aside and coaxed her gently, "Little Miaomiao, Yunfei said we aren't telling it today, I promise to tell you every single detail another day."

Seeing her best friend put it that way, Miaomiao had no choice but to drop it. "Alright, but you definitely have to find time to tell me."

Bao Tianxi suddenly shifted the topic, looking at He Yunfei. "Brother Yunfei, why don't you quit whatever archaeological surveys you're doing and come treasure hunting with your big brother instead? I guarantee it will make you super rich!"

Yunfei's lips curved upward into a slight smile as he bantered, "Big Brother, are you trying to cut off my livelihood and smash my iron rice bowl?"

Tianxi let out a hearty laugh, patted Yunfei on the shoulder, and said, "Working in that bureaucratic agency for that fixed little salary, what kind of great future can you possibly have? You can see the end of it at a single glance."

Yunfei shook his head helplessly and explained, "Big Brother, I'm not like you. You live a free and unrestrained life. But as for me, once I entered this profession, some things are simply beyond my control." Realizing he really didn't want to talk about work anymore, he pivoted, "Let's talk about something else interesting."

Upon hearing this, Xiaotong's eyes lit up and she said excitedly, "Great! Yunfei, let me tell you about something super thrilling. Last time we went to the snowy mountains, we actually ran into a wildman!"

"A wildman?" He Yunfei couldn't help frowning slightly, his face full of astonishment.

As soon as Bao Xiaotong let those words slip, the surrounding area instantly went quiet, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward. It turned out Bao Tianxi had previously laid down a rule that no one was allowed to breathe a word about this matter.

"Ha-ha..." Bao Tianxi suddenly burst out laughing, breaking the deadlock. "Yunfei is one of us, our own brother, so telling him is no harm."

"Right, it really was a wildman!" Little Douzi Miaomiao chimed in eagerly, her eyes flashing with excitement.

"Tell me quickly, what did it look like?" Yunfei pressed, his curiosity thoroughly aroused.

"It was super tall, almost 2 meters high, and covered in hair all over its body, exactly like the American Bigfoot," Miaomiao said while gesturing with her hands.

"That's right! At the time, that creature was charging right at my big brother, but luckily Second Senior Brother reacted lightning-fast and hit it on the head. Yet the monster acted like nothing happened at all. It wasn't until Guzi and the others started shooting that it fled up the mountain." Xiaotong couldn't hold back either, seizing the narrative and describing it vividly.

"Could it have been an ancient ape?" Hearing this, He Yunfei's mind suddenly conjured up the image of a towering australopithecine, and he couldn't help asking.

"It definitely had a ridiculous amount of hair. What did Little Miaomiao call it?" Bao Xiaotong momentarily forgot and asked Chen Miaomiao.

"A humanoid monster," Miaomiao supplied.

"This is getting fascinating," He Yunfei said with keen interest, his face alive with the spirit of exploration.

"Second Senior Brother and I chased it on horseback, and just as we were about to catch it, a wall of ice suddenly appeared right in front of us, and the creature simply vanished into thin air," Xiaotong continued recounting the perilous experience.

"A wall of ice?" Yunfei looked completely surprised, his eyes filled with doubt.

"Yeah, it seemed to pop up out of nowhere, and I almost crashed right into it," Xiaotong said, still shaken by the memory.

"How did that wall appear? Did you see it clearly?" He Yunfei grew even more intrigued, questioning the root of it.

"It was dusk, and the sky near the snowy mountains was very dark, so I honestly didn't see it clearly. I just remember it looked like a vast expanse of seawater that suddenly froze solid into a wall," Xiaotong recalled hard. "I even remember touching it with my hand and feeling that it was elastic."

"That is truly an unprecedented and bizarre novelty," Yunfei remarked. "You haven't told outsiders about this, have you?"

"Of course not," Bao Tianxi said quickly. "This might just be a golden opportunity to get rich, how could we casually talk about it with others?"

Everyone laughed and then continued drinking.

He Yunfei silently tucked this matter away in his mind, planning to find a time to discuss it with them in greater depth...

Acting on Yao Kui's orders, Duan Jinhu and Xiao Biao dispatched their subordinates to search everywhere for traces of Bao Tianxi. However, wary of the influence wielded by Wan Baiwan and Wan Chunyan, they could only operate in stealth.

On this day, getting word that Bao Tianxi was drinking at the Yunnan Family restaurant, they decided to stake out the route to his home. To avoid being spotted by others, they deliberately set up an ambush right outside Bao Tianxi's front door.

Watching as Qumu Gewu, who had driven Bao Tianxi home, turned his vehicle around and left, Duan Jinhu and Xiao Biao emerged simultaneously from the shadows and intercepted Bao Tianxi.

Bao Tianxi had consumed a fair amount of alcohol, leaving his head spinning and dizzy. Furthermore, being right at his own doorstep made it inconvenient for him to shout loudly or put up a fierce resistance, so he had no choice but to let them handle him as they pleased.

Bao Tianxi was bundled into a commercial van where the interior lighting was dim. Duck-bill Chen rasped in his signature nasal voice, conveying Yao Kui's message: "Bao Tianxi, the boss wants you to compensate for the loss of the 'Green Phantom'."

Bao Tianxi was both exasperated and amused. With a bitter face and a helpless wave of his hands, he said, "President Chen, I swear to heaven, this matter genuinely has nothing to do with me! Tell me, would I go that far just for some worthless rock?"

Duck-bill Chen sneered with a sinister, mocking tone, "Boss Bao, cut the act. I refuse to believe you don't know the value of that gemstone!"

Bao Tianxi's eyes widened, blazing with raging fire, and he demanded loudly, "Don't tell me you people staged an inside job!" As the words left his mouth, he inwardly pondered: Could it be that crafty monkey Deng Da who pulled this off?

Chen Houyan wore an ambiguous, nauseating fake smile on his face, his tone dripping with mockery as if every single word was laced with scheming: "Boss Bao, our chairman said that as long as you agree to one condition, there is still room for maneuver in this matter. Otherwise, you should know well enough what the consequences will be. Think about your family..."

Hearing this, Bao Tianxi felt like a powder keg that had just been ignited. His fury surged straight to the top of his head in an instant, and he roared at the top of his lungs, "Let me tell you, I don't buy into threats! If you dare to lay a single finger on my family, I swear I'll make your entire family pay a horrific price..."

Given his naturally reckless, fearless disposition—he was a notorious overlord in the underworld—how could he possibly swallow this insult lying down? Yet, as he quickly swept his gaze across the surrounding situation, a bad feeling arose in his heart. Judging by this posture, today boded ill for him; two fists could not match four hands, and a wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him.

Just as he was thinking this, Duan Jinhu dragged someone over as if lifting a chick, shoved him forward viciously, and hurled him heavily onto the ground. Bao Tianxi looked closely, his pupils suddenly contracting—the person before him was none other than Meng Yang, covered in bloodstains and looking utterly battered. His heart ached so intensely that the rims of his eyes turned red, and he shouted out, "Rat, why are you here? What on earth is going on?"

Meng Yang raised his head with great difficulty. The moment he saw Bao Tianxi, a spark of hope ignited instantly in his dimming eyes, and he cried out for help with all his remaining strength, "Big Brother, save me, please save me!"

Bao Tianxi was thoroughly provoked, his reason instantly swallowed by fury. He thrust his hand out, pointing a finger straight at Chen Houyan, and cursed vilely, "Duck-bill Chen, how dare you lay a hand on my brother! See how I deal with you! I will make you pay a heavy price for what you've done today!"