Chapter 55: Hangover
Jiang Ce, having easily dealt with the vengeful spirit, did not notice Cao Zheng’s abnormality.
He drank happily, completely exhilarated, and didn’t even think about whether acting rashly in public would attract others’ attention.
And he had no extra reason left to ponder why even the bar was haunted now.
He saw it, so he acted to resolve it. It was that simple.
“Why did you follow me? Go back and keep drinking. There’s still several bottles left unfinished.” Jiang Ce greeted casually.
Cao Zheng found it amusing and couldn’t help saying, “If ordinary people heard Black Gold in your mouth being like beer that costs a few bucks a bottle, just for chugging, I wonder if they’d admire you or mock you.”
“What’s there to mock? I can’t think of anything to admire either.”
Jiang Ce slung his arm around Cao Zheng’s shoulders and dragged him toward the booth.
“Wine is just wine, something to drink. It’s expensive either because of complex craftsmanship or rarity, but that doesn’t change its essence as a beverage.
I’m interested, so I buy it to drink. It’s not for face; it’s just to make myself happy. If it makes me happy, it’s worth more than its price. As for other things, they’re not in my consideration. Don’t overthink it.”
Cao Zheng showed a sincere smile and nodded:
“Mm, makes reason. It’s just something to drink, nothing superficial about it. Our ideas are very similar. I’m increasingly feeling you’re somewhat like me.”
Jiang Ce chuckled nonstop: “You sure know how to gild yourself.”
He clearly hadn’t drunk any alcohol, but Jiang Ce just felt inexplicably buzzed. The two didn’t dance; they just sipped the remaining wine while chatting nonsense.
Though it was their first meeting, Jiang Ce inexplicably felt this seemingly sly and refined scoundrel was very much to his taste. After a few rounds, aside from cultivation world matters, he basically spilled all the trivial matters from his own life.
“Aiya, you big bosses definitely don’t understand the grief in our hearts. My childhood sweetheart junior sister ran off with a rich second-generation. It broke my heart.”
“Weren’t you a monk when you were little?”
“Ah? Then I must have remembered wrong. Maybe it was my junior brother who ran off with a rich lady.”
Until the bar closed in the early hours of the morning, Jiang Ce’s own Black Gold wasn’t finished, but Cao Zheng finished five bottles and still seemed fine.
Looking at Jiang Ce like a puddle of mud, he shook his head helplessly, supported him, took him to Gatekeeper Headquarters, got a presidential suite, and tossed him in.
Closing the door, Cao Zheng twisted his neck, feeling for the first time in a long while that he had become younger.
“Such a young seventh rank, and so interesting. Gotta think of a way to keep him around.”
The next day, Jiang Ce woke up groggily, bleary-eyed.
“Headache”
He held his head, dazedly surveying the surroundings, then slightly narrowed his eyes, realizing things weren’t simple.
Maintaining a grave expression for a while, he suddenly realized something: “Holy shit, did I transmigrate?”
Jiang Ce instantly perked up in spirit and bounced up from the bed.
He first checked his own condition and personal items, then breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately after, memories of last night gradually surfaced.
“Did I black out from drinking? Feels like I drank a ton.” Jiang Ce pondered for a while longer, then suddenly annoyedly slapped his forehead:
“How could I impulse consume? Now I’m a broke person again?”
He suddenly felt thirsty and chugged some mineral water from the bedside table, feeling a bit better.
“I have Golden Bell Shield. Ordinary people shouldn’t be able to do me in the ass, so I’m definitely still clean. Not like I got picked up by a corpse picker. But this Cao Zheng seems like a really good guy, even got me a hotel. Where’d he go?”
Looking at the logo on the bedding, Jiang Ce was somewhat surprised to find he was staying at the clubhouse in Gatekeeper Headquarters.
Jiang Ce looked around but didn’t find any contact info left by Cao Zheng, and immediately got a bit angry.
“That jerk owes me a round and ran? Can’t even spare eighty-eight thousand. Dog thing, can’t hang with him!”
Though the suite wasn’t cheap, the sobered Jiang Ce didn’t think it was worth eighty-eight thousand, and got angrier the more he thought.
People who don’t keep their word, in our cultivation world, are doomed not to go far!
“No basic quality or integrity at all. I, Jiang Ce, am ashamed to associate with him!”
Checking the time, it was already close to the appointed meeting with Wei Lao. Though unhappy, he set aside the grief of being stood up for now, took a shower, and freshened up.
He contacted the person assigned to receive him and went down to the lobby on the first floor.
Because it was a chain, the headquarters’ decor was similar to Luocheng’s branch, just more exquisite and grand.
Meeting the receiver, Jiang Ce stated his identity, and the other led him upstairs.
The meeting place with Wei Lao wasn’t on the floor where gatekeepers usually operated as Jiang Ce imagined, but on the top floor.
Jiang Ce wasn’t cultured and couldn’t say things like “It starts extremely narrow, then opens to a person, after dozens of steps it suddenly broadens, like a paradise.” He simply felt a bit dazed, then exclaimed how awesome it was.
There was a person in the gazebo—Wei Lao, whom he hadn’t seen in days.
Seeing Jiang Ce arrive, Wei Lao beckoned him over.
Jiang Ce approached. This was his first private meeting with Wei Lao; he felt both nervous and uneasy, not knowing what to say at first. After thinking, he figured asking after his well-being would be best.
“Wei Lao, have you eaten? At your age, drinking tea on an empty stomach in the early morning isn’t good.”
Wei Lao’s eyelid twitched, and he set down the teacup he had just raised to his mouth.
“Sit.”
Jiang Ce nodded and sat obediently.
“Xiao Lin told me everything. You did very well. Though corpse raising grounds emerging and causing casualties happened before, now we can basically confirm each one is a piece placed by the gluttonous ghost. They must be uprooted one by one.”
Wei Lao gently pushed a cup of prepared tea toward Jiang Ce: “Try it. Spiritual tea from Celestial Master’s Mansion. It’s good for you.”
“Good for you.” Jiang Ce’s eyes lit up. He first sipped delicately, finding the aftertaste sweet, full of tea fragrance. As it slid down his throat, a warm current seeped into his heart and spleen.
Almost instantly, the discomfort from the hangover vanished without a trace, replaced by abundant physical energy.
“Good tea.” Jiang Ce was delighted, but before he could continue with more praise, he felt a strange bloating sensation in his body.
He immediately frowned, suspecting the spiritual tea also cleared overnight bowels, and felt a bit at a loss.
As the bloating reached its peak, Jiang Ce couldn’t help but expel a breath laced with alcohol stench, then felt his whole body lighten, with a feeling of emptiness refilling his body.
This sensation was all too familiar to Jiang Ce, and his face was instantly full of disbelief.
Even more shocked was Wei Lao. It was originally just to show off. Though he knew spiritual tea’s effect on low-realm people was immeasurable, he hadn’t expected Jiang Ce to advance to sixth rank after one sip.
“You advanced?” Wei Lao suppressed his somewhat quickened breathing, hardly believing his judgment.
Jiang Ce nodded blankly: “Seems like it.”
At that moment, the door to the wooden building by the gazebo was pushed open, and a man in coarse linen short shirt walked out with light steps.
“Who’s breaking through?”
Jiang Ce turned at the voice and locked eyes with the curious Cao Zheng.
Silence between them, then Cao Zheng turned back into the room and closed the door behind him. Jiang Ce also turned back and rubbed his eyes.
The same thought arose in both their minds—probably the alcohol hasn’t worn off yet.
