Chapter 1161 — Not Leaving a Single Bit

"Ga?!" An Jianwen's eyes bulged; he nearly choked to death on the spot with rage.

Was a man even allowed to live anymore? Their seafood had been snatched away, and that wasn't enough—now they meant to wipe them out root and branch? The lamb skewers too?

"Oh, right, I forgot all about that! Then, Jianwen-gege, let's hurry over and fetch it!" Shen Yushu smacked her forehead, suddenly enlightened.

"That would be... fine..." An Jianwen gave Shen Yushu a smile uglier than weeping.

And so a strange scene appeared there by the sea.

Wei Zhao feasted with Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, Tang Yun and Feng Xiaoxiao on a splendid barbecue, while An Jianwen, Su Taizao and Yang Ganglou stood far off, watching them with envy, wanting to weep but having no tears to shed.

"Taizao, what have we got left to eat?" An Jianwen asked, his face puckered bitter.

"Everything I had went to them. I don't know what Ganglou still has," Su Taizao said, turning his eyes toward Yang Ganglou.

"I did buy a few cans of beer from the supermarket, but there's no seafood left, and a man can't drink beer and nothing else," Yang Ganglou spread his hands and said with a wry smile.

"Besides the beer, is there really nothing?" Su Taizao asked.

"There are a few tubs of instant noodles..." Yang Ganglou said.

"Instant noodles will do. We'll make do. Isn't there an electric kettle in the car? Boil some water and bring it over!" An Jianwen was thinking that something beat nothing—an empty belly was no joke.

"But... there's no water, An-ge?" Yang Ganglou said weakly. "Instant noodles need plain water. All we've got here is beer. Surely we're not going to brew noodles in beer?"

"Isn't there seawater? You fool, go fetch some seawater and boil that instead—it'll be seafood noodles!" An Jianwen jabbed a finger at the sea before him, furious, thinking Yang Ganglou really was a fool: an ocean of water right in front of his eyes, and he says there's none? What sort of eyes does the man have?

"But seawater's salty..." Su Taizao said, also somewhat perplexed.

"Just put less seasoning in when you make the noodles and it won't be salty," An Jianwen glared at him.

And so the three of them ate their "seafood noodles" and drank their beer, and it did have a flavor all its own.

"An-ge, these noodles are really tasty—so fresh!" Su Taizao finished one bowl, hadn't had enough, and made himself another.

"But of course. Have you any idea who I, An Jianwen, am?" An Jianwen said smugly.

Over on the other side, Wei Zhao and the rest were eating in utter rapture—Shen Yushu and Feng Xiaoxiao most of all. The two of them ate with grease slicked all around their mouths, smacking and slurping, like starveling ghosts reborn.

"Wei Zhao-laogong, try Xiaoxiao's abalone—it's absolutely first-rate!" Feng Xiaoxiao picked up a truly enormous abalone, dipped it in sauce, and held it to Wei Zhao's lips.

"Uh... all right..." Wei Zhao opened his mouth, his thoughts running somewhere he'd best not follow... Xiaoxiao's abalone? Mm... delicious...

On the other side, Shen Yushu was naturally not to be outdone. In her heart she looked at Feng Xiaoxiao with scorn—what the word "abalone" signified in its extended sense, Shen Yushu understood perfectly well; the forums online said it all the time... once they called it abalone, now they call it wood ear...

So whether or not Feng Xiaoxiao had done it on purpose, Shen Yushu, as her number-one rival, launched her counterattack. She picked up a cup of milk tea and pressed it into Wei Zhao's hand: "Arrow-brand-ge, you must be thirsty. Have a little of Xiaoshu's milk..."

"Huh?" Wei Zhao nearly lost his grip on himself. These two were doing it on purpose, weren't they? Yes—they most certainly were.

Wei Zhao took the milk tea Shen Yushu handed him and drank a sip...

Watching how merrily Wei Zhao was eating over there, An Jianwen and his companions burned with even greater envy.

"That was all our food, and Wei Zhao swindled it away. This is bullying us past all endurance!" Su Taizao flung the instant noodle tub from his hand and said in outrage.

"An-ge, are we going to get revenge?" Yang Ganglou asked cautiously.

"Revenge? Revenge for what? Wei Zhao is a Xuan-rank expert, and I'm no fool. The three of us together aren't enough to warm him up!" An Jianwen knew his own situation well enough; Wei Zhao was one of those who plays the pig to eat the tiger. He'd already been fleeced by him several times—even his kidney had been cheated out of him.

"A head-on clash is out of the question, then. How about we play a few dirty tricks?" Yang Ganglou, as Su Taizao's number-one strategist, was rather skilled at playing mind games.

"Dirty tricks? You think you can out-scheme Shen Yushu and Feng Xiaoxiao?" An Jianwen rolled his eyes. "My balls still ache, all right!"

Yang Ganglou fell silent. Force wouldn't do, tricks wouldn't do—this wouldn't do, that wouldn't do; so there was no way left at all?

Yang Ganglou had guessed right: as things stood, An Jianwen truly had no moves left. Until the new expert arrived, he had nothing at all to rely on. An Jianwen did not want any clash with Wei Zhao; he wanted only to use soft, conciliatory means to win Gu Mengyao's favor.

Around noon, the tourists by the sea began to multiply. Though this was not the safe swimming zone of the seaside bathing beach, it had the virtue of a fine setting, and many who came to the shore for a barbecue would choose this spot to grill by their own cars.

Most people, of course, would leave once they'd finished barbecuing here; few would swim or spend the night. They would all go camp over by the bathing beach—after all, there were few as bold as Wei Zhao, who did not fear sharks.

"Driving a Q7 and a Land Cruiser to the beach to eat instant noodles? Whose rich young masters are these? Showing off, are they?"

"Nine to one the cars are rented."

"Not necessarily. Look at them boiling noodles in seawater—maybe they've got some special taste. Maybe that's just their thing?"

"Or maybe they got robbed. Someone took all the good food they brought, so all that's left is instant noodles?" The Truth Emperor had appeared—but at that moment, no one believed a word he said.

"Who'd rob anyone around here? How come we weren't robbed?" someone retorted at once.

Hearing the tourists discussing him, An Jianwen's face darkened. He rose to his feet with a tigerish scowl and glared at the onlookers: "What are you staring at? I happen to like instant noodles, so what? Noodles boiled in seawater—that's what's called seafood noodles. Ordinary folk don't even get to taste it!"

At once a ripple of snickering ran through the crowd, and An Jianwen grew angrier still. But the law does not punish the multitude—he could hardly go pick a fight with each of them one by one, could he? If they all fell on him together, he'd be no match for them either.

Thinking of this, An Jianwen could only swallow his anger and say, "Let's go! We're heading back!"

There was no point in lingering here any longer. Gu Mengyao and the others would surely head back after their meal too—after all, no one camps out here two nights running.

An Jianwen's guess was not wrong: Wei Zhao did indeed intend to call it a day after lunch. It was already the second of May; tomorrow was the last day of the holiday. They would go home, rest and recover—the day after tomorrow, school began.

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