Chapter 68 Red Wine
Nothing could surprise me more than hearing this from the little witch. I almost fell over. What…what…what does this little witch want to do? She really wanted to shock people with her words!
I saw Qiu Jieqin staring at me with her big eyes, as if she was going to kill me! I struggled to break free from the little witch's hand, hit her on the head, and shouted, "Nonsense! Can you be serious? If you do this again, I will send you to the police station and let the police take you home!" Then I smiled apologetically at Qiu Jieqin and said, "She... is the sister of a friend of mine. She is very naughty and likes to play pranks. Don't mind her."
The little witch was beaten, she cried out "ouch" and rubbed her head, glaring at me, gritting her teeth but not daring to rage, probably because she was shocked by my words of sending her to the police station. After listening to my explanation, Qiu Jieqin was angry, amused and puzzled, and asked: "Why did you bring your friend's sister to me?"
I smiled bitterly and said, "Alas! It's hard to explain in one sentence. Let me go in first and I'll tell you slowly." Qiu Jieqin hummed and opened the door. I walked in first, and the little witch followed. When she passed by Qiu Jieqin, she rolled her eyes at her fiercely. She uttered another "humph", raised her neck, and walked in swaggeringly.
Qiu Jieqin was puzzled, thinking, I don't even know this girl, why does she act like she has a grudge against me? It's so weird! Tang Qian is really something, why did he bring a stranger here?
I saw three cold dishes and a bottle of red wine on the dining table, and a pot of fragrant, steaming hot casserole stewing on the gas stove in the kitchen. I sniffed it hard and said with a smile: "Wow! It smells so good! It seems that I will have a good meal tonight."
Qiu Jieqin closed the door and smiled at me gently, "Qian, please sit down first. It will be ready soon. I will go and cook another fish. By the way, are you thirsty? I will pour you a glass of water."
I said, "No need, just go and get busy. I can't wait to taste your cooking." Qiu Jieqin smiled at me happily and rushed into the kitchen to get busy.
The little witch sat down on the sofa in the living room and imitated Qiu Jieqin's words in a strange voice: "Qian, are you thirsty? I'll pour you a glass of water." Then she did something that I couldn't stand. I walked behind her and said condescendingly: "Let me warn you first, this is my girlfriend's home. If you are obedient and don't make trouble, it's fine. If you make trouble for me and ruin my show, I will really call the police to escort you home. Even if you want to run, you may not be able to outrun the police, right? Then it won't be a gangster chasing a girl, but a police catching a thief. See if you can run away!"
The little witch raised her face and looked at me, angrily saying, "I haven't even settled the score with you for beating me yet? And you still dare to threaten me? You just swore a poisonous oath, and you're going to go back on your word so soon? Be careful it will come true!"
I laughed and said, "I swore not to tell your family, but I didn't say not to tell the police. This oath will never come true. Don't tell me that the police here are all your family members!"
"You..." The little witch was so angry that she couldn't say anything. I suddenly realized that my idea was actually quite good. It didn't violate my oath and I could send her home safely. It was really the best of both worlds. It was much more convenient than sending her home in person as I thought. Oh, why didn't I think of it just now? Now I said it unintentionally, and wasted a good idea.
I couldn't help but regret it. Seeing that the little witch Xu Xin seemed to have lost her momentum, I took the opportunity to increase my strength and threatened her: "What do you think? Do you want to be obedient? Give me a quick answer! Otherwise, I will call 110 and send you away!"
The little witch was so angry that her cheeks puffed up. She said bitterly: "Tang Qian, I always thought you were an honest and good person, but I didn't expect you to be so cunning. You bully a weak woman like me, how can you be a hero!"
I said, "You? You are a weak woman? You are simply a little witch! Others are already praying to Buddha when they are not bullied by you, who dares to bully you?"
Xu Xin first snorted in dissatisfaction, then suddenly laughed. She turned over and knelt on the sofa, looking at me, and said with a smile: "You figured it out too? Little Witch is my nickname. I'm telling you, I'm not bragging. In our school, from teachers to classmates, who does n't bow and tremble in their hearts when they see me? Even the local hooligans in the nearby streets have to call me Sister Xin when they see me! How about it? Isn't it impressive enough?"
I said with a smile, "You call this being impressive? People don't bother to argue with you because you are young, but do you think you are so great? Are the local hooligans afraid of being bullied by you? Even bragging should be done with caution!"
Xu Xin clenched his fists in anger and said, "I'm not bragging! If I want, I can pull out a regiment or even more troops. If nothing else, I can just line them up there and scare those little hooligans to death. How dare they not be afraid of me?"
I was speechless. She was the daughter of a major military commander. Although she had no power to mobilize the army, there were many people who liked to flatter their superiors these days, including some regiment commanders, division commanders, and even army commanders who held military power. With just one word from the little girl, a large army might be dispatched to protect her. Not to mention the army and division levels, a regiment with one or two thousand people, lined up in a few square formations, wouldn't those insignificant little hooligans be scared to pee their pants? No wonder the little witch has been lawless, daring, and evil since she was a child. It's all because of the pampering of these soldiers!
I had no choice but to say, "This is not your home. No army will obey you. Just be honest. And you just promised me to be obedient. If you can't do it, I will hand you over to the police. There is nothing to say. You can make your own choice."
Xu Xin sneered twice and said, "When you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Now that I am in your territory, I have no choice but to listen to you. But I will remember your threat today. Humph! It is never too late for a woman to take revenge. There will be a time in the future when you beg me for help. Why should I be afraid that I can't take revenge on you? Just wait and see!"
As she said this, she turned back and sat back on the sofa, grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the coffee table in front of her, and started eating it without even peeling the apple.
Before I could think about why I would ask her for help in the future, Qiu Jieqin called me from behind: "Tang Qian! Come! Come and help!" I turned around and saw her holding a casserole in both hands, walking out of the kitchen carefully.
I hurried forward and stretched out my hands to take the casserole. Qiu Jieqin said again: "No, it's hot. Go find a mat to put on the dining table. Hurry up!"
I looked around and searched everywhere, shouting, "Mat, mat, where is it?"
Qiu Jieqin laughed and said, "What are you looking for? It's in the drawer of the dining table."
I quickly found the drawer, opened it, took out a mat and placed it on the dining table. Qiu Jieqin put down the casserole in her hand steadily. Then she said to me, "The fish is almost ready, you can sit down. By the way, open this bottle of red wine. The bottle opener is in the kitchen."
I agreed, grabbed the red wine, turned to the little witch and said, "Xu Xin, come and sit here, let's try my girlfriend's cooking." Xu Xin said "Oh" and walked over while moving his mouth. I don't know if he was eating or muttering to himself.
Qiu Jieqin and I walked into the kitchen together. Qiu Jieqin found a bottle opener and gave it to me. She complained to me in a discontented voice: "Whose sister is this? So rude! Also, why did you bring her here? Don't you think having one more person is an eyesore?"
As I slowly screwed the corkscrew into the cork, I sighed, "I can't help it. She's the younger sister of a friend of mine in T City. I don't know what kind of conflict she had with her family, but she ran away from home. I just happened to run into her today. How dangerous is it for a young girl like her to wander the streets alone? What if she runs into a bad guy with ulterior motives? So I had to bring her with me and prepare to notify her family to pick her up. Hey! Guess what? She didn't want to go back. When she saw that I wanted to call, she ran away. It took me a lot of effort to catch her again. Well! In order to keep her stable, I had to promise her that I would not notify her family for the time being. When she gets tired of playing tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I will send her back personally. This girl is crazy. If I don't bring her with me, she might run away again. I thought there was no other way, so I had to bring her here."
While cooking the fish, Qiu Jieqin teased , "Look at this pretty girl. You must be the bad guy with ulterior motives, right?"
I said, "Don't talk nonsense. What do you think of me? I'm still a child!"
"Okay, okay, I know you're a good person, so forget it . Hey! Have you opened it after all this time? I've cooked the fish."
I pulled the corkscrew hard and with a "buzz", the cork came out.
I came out with the wine bottle, and Qiu Jieqin came out with the freshly braised yellow croaker. I smiled and said to Xu Xin who was sitting at the dining table, "Okay, we can start..." Before I finished speaking, I found that two of the three cold dishes on the table had been mostly eaten, and the casserole lid had been opened. The little witch was holding a piece of duck meat and chewing it with relish.
Xu Xin saw the strange looks from me and Qiu Jieqin, made a face and said, "I... am hungry, but it tastes good."
I could only shake my head and sit down with Qiu Jieqin.
After Qiu Jieqin put down the braised yellow croaker, she went to get two tall glass wine glasses, and I poured some red wine into each glass. Xu Xin saw raised her hand and said, "Brother Tang Qian, I want to drink too!" I glared at her and said, "Why should a child drink wine? Eat your duck meat."
Seeing that I disagreed, Xu Xin pouted and muttered, "Who is the child? I will be eighteen next year, and I will be an adult in just ten days. You are stingy, but you are so reluctant to give up a little wine, humph!"
I was so amused by her words that I had to pretend I didn't hear anything. But Qiu Jieqin said, "Let her drink a little. It's red wine after all. A little won't make her drunk."
I thought about it and it was true. It seemed that her Xu family had a fine tradition of drinking. The eldest brother Xu Jian could drink a lot, and he would not get drunk after drinking a thousand cups, and he was happy without alcohol. The elder sister Xu Shu also drank three cups of strong Moutai liquor in a row, and it seemed that she had no reaction at all. She could drink two or three times and drink three cups in a row without any problem. The little sister in front of me was even more amazing. Look at how greedy she was after seeing the wine... I thought since she loved to drink half a cup, after all, it was red wine!
So he said, "Then you can only drink a little, just half a cup."
Xu Xin was so happy when she heard this, she cheered, "Long live! Long live Brother Tang Qian! Haha, thank you!"
