The rise of the poor

Chapter 2335 Little White Floating Three Cups

"Brother Xu, there's no need for such a grand gesture. Please rise." Zhu Ping'an quickly pulled the fat Xu Wei to his feet.

As soon as Xu Wei got up, he rushed straight for the food box that Liu Dadao was carrying. His eyes were shining red, as if he had been suppressed under the Five Elements Mountain for eight hundred years without eating a single bite. His saliva was dripping down his face, and he was almost ready to bite into it. "My God, it smells so good! You guys are my dad, you don't know? I haven't eaten for two days. I've been drinking cold water to fill my stomach. I can barely stand up now."

"You really are shameless." Liu Dadao was speechless.

"What's the point of saving face now? Once I've achieved fame and success, great scholars will debate the classics for me. Let's hurry inside, I can't wait any longer."

Xu Wei had already wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth twice while he was saying this.

Seeing Xu Wei's starving appearance, Zhu Ping'an quickly invited Liu Dadao into the house to prepare a meal.

As soon as Liu Dadao opened the food box, Xu Wei pounced on it like a vicious dog, not even bothering to grab his chopsticks. He reached out and tore off a chicken leg from the roast chicken and stuffed it into his mouth, tears streaming down his face. "It's so delicious, so incredibly delicious!"

He ripped off a chicken leg in two bites, then tore off a chicken wing and devoured it in two more bites.

"My goodness, there are lion's head meatballs too! The smell alone is enough to tell you it's from Chu Yue Lou. I've been craving it so much!" Fatty Xu practically dove his head into the plate and devoured the lion's head meatballs in a whirlwind.

Fearing that Fatty Xu might choke to death, which would be a historical regret, Zhu Ping'an quickly said, "My dear Brother Xu, eat slowly, don't choke. No one is going to take it from you. It's all yours, all yours."

"Brother Zhu, I understand what you're saying, but with delicious food in front of me and hunger pangs, I can't control my mouth."

Xu Wei mumbled incoherently as he worked away, creating things with great speed and efficiency.

"Hey Fatty, are you really that hungry? Didn't the young master leave you a lot of money last time?! Enough for you to pay your rent and eat your fill every day. You could eat out every day and still have plenty of money. But how come you're so poor that you can't even afford to eat?!" Liu Dadao complained irritably when he saw Xu Wei looking like a reincarnated starving ghost.

"Ahem, you have no idea." Xu Wei pulled his head out of the plate, looking quite disappointed.

"What do I not know?! All I know is that you're a spendthrift!" Liu Dadao said, exasperated.

“One day I went out and I was incredibly lucky. Guess who I ran into?” Xu Wei said to Liu Dadao while tearing into a roast chicken, his belly full of food.

"Who? A woman who sold herself to bury her father?! You softened your heart and gave her all the money?!" Liu Dadao recalled a scene from a storybook.

"You think this is a storybook?" Xu Wei rolled his eyes.

"So who did you run into?" Liu Dadao asked curiously.

"I ran into Old Man Chen from Yibin! My luck is off the charts! He still had three jars of mixed grain liquor left in his car. Don't let the name 'mixed grain liquor' fool you; it's from the renowned Chen family of Yibin! They inherited the famous Yao family's Yao Zi Xue Qu liquor from the Tang and Song dynasties. Although it uses five grains—soybeans, rice, sorghum, glutinous rice, and buckwheat—the yeast is a centuries-old family recipe. Du Fu, the famous Tang dynasty poet, tasted this liquor and wrote the immortal lines, 'Its beauty astounds even an aging body, its wonder inspires awe.' Okay, okay, I'm getting off-topic. You just need to know..." "Just knowing the background of this old man Chen from Yibin is enough. He had three jars of mixed grain liquor in his cart, one of which was already opened. I could smell it from two streets away. When I saw it was old man Chen from Yibin, three jars of liquor! I couldn't miss this opportunity. Humph, some tasteless merchant dared to try and snatch it from me. How could I tolerate him? He's all money and doesn't he know anything about Yao Zixuequ?! He bid me ten taels of silver per jar, and I immediately offered twenty taels per jar. I overwhelmed him with my aura and finally won all three jars of mixed grain liquor." Xu Wei's beaming face and the scene of him munching on roast chicken and gesturing wildly were recreated.

Mixed grain liquor? Brewed from five kinds of grains: soybeans, rice, sorghum, glutinous rice, and buckwheat?! It even received a poem from Du Fu and high praise from Xu Wei, the renowned scholar-official. Could this liquor be the famous Wuliangye of later generations?!

Zhu Pingan stroked his chin. Could it be such a coincidence? Using five kinds of grains to brew wine, there's a high chance it's Wuliangye.

"Sixty taels of silver for three jars of wine?! You spendthrift! If you don't go hungry, who will?" Liu Dadao said, exasperated.

"It wasn't sixty taels. That merchant even tried to bid higher, but I just beat him and subdued him."

Xu Wei continued to beam with delight.

"You're really out of your mind!" Liu Dadao no longer looked at Xu Wei as a spendthrift, but as if he were a spendthrift with a screw loose!

"How many times in a lifetime can one encounter such an opportunity? You have no idea how delicious these three jars of wine are. I drank all three jars in a row and dreamt of meeting the immortal Taibai."

Xu Wei still looked happy when he recalled that time.

"You downed three jars in one go?!" Liu Dadao was speechless. "Even more wasteful than this!"

Liu Dadao suddenly remembered what the neighbors had said to Xu Wei earlier, and it dawned on him, "Oh, I remember now, your neighbors said you were drunk and crying, shouting, singing, and even urinating outside the wall, wasn't that the day?"

“Ahem, what do you mean by crying, shouting, and singing? They don’t understand. That’s called being inspired to write poetry,” Xu Wei coughed.

"Oh, I wonder if Brother Xu has any fine lines to offer?" Zhu Pingan asked curiously.

"Three jars of immortal wine, exchanged for two fine lines of poetry. Though I haven't obtained the complete poem, these fine lines took three years to compose, and reciting them brings tears to my eyes. It's worth it, truly worth it." Xu Wei stretched out his greasy hand, stroked his chin, and was extremely satisfied.

"Let's appreciate these fine lines together," Zhu Ping'an urged.

"It's on the shelf, take a look yourself. I'm going to fill my stomach a bit more." Xu Wei pointed to a scroll on the shelf and said to Zhu Ping'an, then buried his head in his plate and devoured the food in a flurry of activity.

Zhu Pingan followed the direction Xu Wei pointed and walked to the shelf. He picked up the scroll with both hands and carefully unfurled it. On it were two lines of poetry written in a flamboyant style: "Xiao Bai floats thirty cups in a row, his fingertips resound with the thunder of spring." Below were Xu Wei's autograph and personal seal, indicating that he was very satisfied with the poem.

So this is your poem! Zhu Pingan recognized the line; he had seen it in modern times, but couldn't recall its source.

"Brother Xu, would you be willing to part with this masterpiece and give it to me?" Zhu Ping'an asked Xu Wei, who was painting wildly.

"Take it, take it. The poem is already etched in my mind. I'll give it to you when I finish writing the whole poem."

Xu Wei placed his head on the plate and waved his hand.

"Thank you very much, Brother Xu." Zhu Ping'an eagerly rolled up the scroll and held it in his hand, never letting it out of his sight.

We've acquired another calligraphy piece by Xu Wei, further enriching the Zhu family's heritage. (End of Chapter)