Xuanqing Guard

Chapter 344: Chapter 344: Unreliable

Shen Hao turned his head in some surprise and saw that the person speaking to him was a guest at the next table.

Male, average-looking, a little over thirty, not tall and very thin, but his skin was unusually fair and his eyes were especially bright. Judging by his clothes, he wasn’t from an ordinary family—at least a wealthy household.

Couldn’t sense any True Qi, so probably not a cultivator.

Shen Hao shook his head and replied, "Not interested."

He thought the other would back off, but to his surprise, the guy was thick-skinned—picked up his own dish and bowl and moved right to Shen Hao’s table, completely unfazed by the Evil Qi coming off Shen Hao.

"Don’t turn me down so fast. This is good liquor too—Immortal Brew—ever heard of it?"

Shen Hao’s chopsticks paused, he sniffed but didn’t catch the rich aroma of Immortal Brew. He shook his head and said, "You’d better go back to your own table." As he spoke, he let out a wave of Killing Intent, trying to scare off this guy bothering his meal.

"Judging by your getup, you’re a Hundred Households Officer of Xuanqing Guard, right?" The guy was still unafraid.

Shen Hao ignored him.

"Didn’t you notice? My cup is a magical artifact. Specially commissioned—it can keep liquor warm or cold by itself, and seals in the aroma so every bit of flavor hits the mouth."

Magical artifact? Wine cup?

Shen Hao looked closer—and sure enough, he’d missed it before. The cup looked utterly ordinary, but if you focused, a faint artifact aura was lingering. Looking at its thick base, it should have a slot for a general spirit stone embedded in it.

"Pour a little, let’s try it."

Now Shen Hao was interested too. He picked up an empty bowl and set it in front of the man, signaling for him to pour some out.

"An exchange?"

"If it’s really Immortal Brew, of course we can. One cup for one cup."

"Fine!"

The man didn’t hesitate. He filled Shen Hao’s bowl from his own flask—only then did Shen Hao notice it was a magical artifact as well, same style and set as the cup.

Sure enough, as soon as the liquor was poured, the fragrance immediately filled the air—not inferior to Wuliangye, and with a unique flavor of its own.

In an instant, the small restaurant was overwhelmed by two competing rich aromas, making the shop boy’s throat work as he gulped.

Shen Hao had tried Immortal Brew before, and he had to pay out of pocket for that. It cost him more than ten thousand taels of flake silver—even now it felt like a loss just remembering it. Never thought he’d get to drink it a second time.

He brought the bowl to his lips and drank it in one shot. Mm...not bad, it’s really Immortal Brew!

"Well? Didn’t trick you, did I? It’s your turn, come on, come on."

"Aren’t you afraid I’ll stiff you?"

"It’s just a drink, what’s there to stiff? You Xuanqing Guard folks aren’t that shameless, are you?" The man was casual in his speech, absolutely unconcerned about mentioning "Xuanqing Guard."

This was rare—at least in Shen Hao’s experience, most people treated the Guard with much more caution.

Is this guy an idiot?

Or maybe he’s got real backing, enough to treat Xuanqing Guard as nothing?

But if it’s the second one, would he be eating in a place like this? And alone, with not even a guard? Or is his cultivation as profound as Nie Yun’s, so much that Shen Hao mistook him for an ordinary person?

Couldn’t figure it out for now, so he tucked the question away and poured the man a bowl from his own flask.

"Fill it up, fill it up! That’s it, that’s it!"

His greedy look was even more intense than Nie Yun’s—like a real drunkard. Especially with both hands cradling the bowl and sipping small mouthfuls, Shen Hao couldn’t help muttering to himself: Really? You drink Immortal Brew and you’re still this desperate?

"Good wine! Good wine! Good wine!"

He called it good three times. His face flushed red as the liquor rushed in, but his tolerance must have been strong—even without cultivation, he downed over seven taels’ worth of Wuliangye without a problem, just turned a bit red.

"This wine—Wuliangye, right?"

"Yeah. Brew from Fengri City. First time drinking it?"

"No, had it twice before. It’s stronger and heavier than Immortal Brew, but doesn’t linger as sweet, and drinking too much goes to your head fast. Heard it’s cheap?"

"About a hundred taels a jar, I think. But not easy to get hold of."

"Right, hard to buy—I hear it’s a limited release. Damn profiteers, so sneaky!" As he spoke, he even swore, not realizing the profiteer he was cursing was sitting right next to him and that the whole "hunger marketing" idea came from this very guy.

"You can’t say that. A hundred taels a jar is ridiculously cheaper than Immortal Brew. How does that make it profiteering?"

"Not profiteering? The folks who can afford this kind of liquor don’t care about money. Immortal Brew’s scarce, but famous. Wuliangye pushes supply-demand by limiting sales—looks cheap, but they still keep up the shortage. There’s probably a hundred or a thousand times more Wuliangye sold than Immortal Brew, and the profit can’t be less."

Hearing this, Shen Hao glanced at the man with new respect—this guy’s mind worked fast!

"But the Wuliangye business isn’t simple either. I heard a lot of people tried to dip into the profits and all got shut out. They’ve got a stranglehold on Fengri City; whoever tries to get involved gets nowhere. They’re raking it in every day!"

Shen Hao didn’t respond, but the guy was right. If he hadn’t bundled Wuliangye with the Black Water Plan’s funding pool, the Zhang Family wouldn’t have kept their brewery safe. But because of this, Wuliangye was stuck in Fengri City’s jurisdiction—plenty of jealous eyes outside, and none of them could be shaken off.

"You being able to get this wine means you’ve got connections. Are you from Fengri City?"

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

"Sir, you may be a Hundred Households officer of Xuanqing Guard, but that’s not a big deal. Here in the Imperial City, it’s downright minor. If you had any, you’d use wine like Wuliangye to curry favor, not drink it yourself. Only someone who’s got plenty lying around would be so casual—so you must be an official from the wine’s place of origin. You have the doors open, so you don’t care."

Shen Hao nodded but didn’t answer, lowering his head and focusing on the chicken. Too many heavy hitters in Imperial City—he didn’t want to chat further. Deep conversations didn’t suit him.

But however much Shen Hao didn’t want to talk, his new companion was a complete chatterbox, mumbling on and on mostly about wine, saying that if Shen Hao brought Wuliangye again, they could trade, and that he often came here for chicken every month so they could meet up.

Shen Hao shook his head with a laugh—this guy had a lively tongue, hinting at buying wine without saying much else? Didn’t even mention his name! Sell you what, exactly?

When the meal finally ended and Shen Hao was about to stand, the man left first, as if in a hurry, but before leaving, he tossed out a name: Yang Qi.

Shen Hao curled his lip, paid the bill, and left too. He put the whole thing out of mind right away—sounded like a fake name made up on the spot. Not reliable.