Chapter 318: Or Perhaps It Will Feel Different Again

Chen Changsheng picked up the wine jar and poured for Manager Zhou sitting across from him. He smiled and said, “Let’s drink, you and me. He doesn’t know a good thing.”

Ying Tianze looked down at his own empty wine bowl. Seeing himself so blatantly ignored, he felt a bit unaccustomed to it.

No one had ever been this bold before.

Ying Tianze stayed quiet.

Chen Changsheng then started chatting idly with Manager Zhou, paying no attention to Ying Tianze sitting at the same table.

He seemed like an outsider—though that wasn’t quite right.

He was an outsider.

Manager Zhou spoke up then, “Sir, your friend here…”

“Don’t mind him,” Chen Changsheng said. “He’s a very generous person. He’s often like this.”

Ying Tianze’s lips parted slightly. He coughed once, feeling awkward. “You go ahead and talk,” he managed to say.

Hearing this, Manager Zhou stopped worrying. He and Chen Changsheng talked about everything under the sun.

Mostly about the breathtaking mountains and rivers of the mortal world — the ones they had seen, and the ones they hadn’t.

By the time they were halfway through their conversation, Manager Zhou was already getting tipsy. It was also right then that the finally cooked red-tailed fish was brought to the table.

Xiao’er (Waiter), seeing his manager laughing happily, thought about asking something but changed his mind. He just glanced at the other two men once more before standing quietly nearby.

Chen Changsheng pulled out some chopsticks, gave them a little shake, and said, “Eat the fish.”

Manager Zhou laughed, “Getting spoiled by you again, sir.”

Chen Changsheng pulled out a pair of chopsticks for Ying Tianze beside him too.

Even if this fellow wasn’t so pleasant to talk to, this fish was, after all, sent over because of him.

“For me?” Ying Tianze paused, surprised.

Chen Changsheng said, “Not going to taste it?”

“But what about that bowl of wine earlier?” Ying Tianze countered.

“You didn’t seriously take my joke to heart, did you?” Chen Changsheng replied.

Ying Tianze gave a helpless laugh. He took the chopsticks and said, “Well then, thank you.”

But he didn’t eat much. He just took a couple of bites of the fish meat and set the chopsticks down. For someone like him, what delicacies hadn’t he tasted? This little red-tailed fish was nothing special.

Ying Tianze watched Chen Changsheng talk non-stop to his companion — a mortal sitting right across from him, as ordinary and mundane as they came.

What struck Ying Tianze as even stranger was the content of their conversation.

At first, they talked about the grand vastness of rivers and lakes, but later they drifted into chatting about everyday family matters. Even so, Chen Changsheng still kept talking animatedly with the manager.

This wasn’t how a cultivator should behave at all.

If he hadn’t known beforehand, he might not even have picked this man out from a crowd.

To sum it up, this person was very odd.

Ying Tianze sighed silently inside. His curiosity was piqued now; just how much more did this man have to say?

Manager Zhou’s face was flushed red. He let out a small hiccup and said, “In a few more years, I’ll be old. If you don’t mind, sir, I’ll give you this wine tavern.”

“Surely you’re just talking drunk nonsense?” Chen Changsheng chuckled.

“I mean it,” Manager Zhou insisted. “Didn’t you say once that you wanted to run a wine tavern someday? Well, here’s one ready-made. I’m old, useless now. Apart from this tavern, I’ve saved up a good bit over the years, that’ll go to the younger ones in the family.”

Chen Changsheng ate some fish and replied, “If you really tried to give it to me, I wouldn’t dare accept it. Otherwise, the youngsters would surely call me shameless.”

Manager Zhou burst out laughing at this.

He waved a hand dismissively, “They wouldn’t dare.”

Hearing Chen Changsheng’s words, Ying Tianze felt a sudden hitch in his mind, and a slight smile unconsciously tugged at the corner of his mouth.

He thought to himself, This man really is something.

He seemed so proper, yet sometimes so unfazed, almost careless.

Very interesting.

Manager Zhou had drunk far too much. He was overly happy today and had indulged in several cups over his limit.

His drunken rambling increased too.

Somehow, he ended up turning his attention to Ying Tianze beside him.

“May I ask your honorable surname, brother?” Manager Zhou inquired.

Ying Tianze was taken aback for a second before responding, “Surname Ying, courtesy name Tianze.”

“You’re a friend of Mr. Chen, so naturally, you’re a friend of mine too! Come, come, let me pour you some wine.”

Ying Tianze glanced at Chen Changsheng, unsure what to do.

Chen Changsheng smiled, “Maybe life here in the mortal world is more interesting than what you’re used to.”

Hearing this, Ying Tianze stopped hesitating.

He clinked wine bowls with Manager Zhou and drained his.

Manager Zhou hiccupped again, grinning, “So happy today, drank too much, drank too much. Don’t hold it against me.”

Ying Tianze smiled slightly, “Of course not.”

Manager Zhou leaned closer, “You look a few years younger than me, so I’ll take the liberty and call you ‘Brother Xian’, alright?”

(“Xian Di” – implying closeness with someone younger).

Ying Tianze froze. He opened his mouth, then flicked his eyes towards Chen Changsheng.

Chen Changsheng showed no reaction, just kept drinking his wine.

Seeing this, Ying Tianze nodded once in agreement. “Brother Xian it is, then.”

He was starting to feel a bit confused himself by the strange situation unfolding at this table.

“Brother Xian, are you married yet?”

“Huh?”

The very first question threw Ying Tianze off balance again.

He coughed awkwardly, “Uh… no, no. Not yet… it’s early…”

“That’s no good, Brother Xian, let me tell you…”

Manager Zhou took no notice and immediately launched into wanting to make introductions for him.

He proceeded to praise Ying Tianze for being a fine figure of a man, then started talking about a girl from some family who was very virtuous and also very pretty.

This had Ying Tianze coughing repeatedly.

He never imagined that he, the Crown Prince of the Dragon Palace, would one day have a mortal trying to play matchmaker for him.

Manager Zhou’s enthusiasm was perhaps a bit overwhelming.

Ying Tianze felt somewhat ill at ease and repeatedly failed to get a word in edgeways.

Manager Zhou seemed to run out of steam. He slumped onto the table, looking at Ying Tianze through half-closed eyes. “Brother Xian, let me tell you… in this life… people… they always face things they don’t want. But don’t think that having a family means losing your freedom. Wait until you’re old and can’t walk well… then life’s bitter. When I was young, I thought nothing mattered… now looking back… I realize… sometimes the things you miss… maybe they… come back complete… in a different way… you see?”

He laughed, a weak sound.

“So sometimes… what seems like a mistake… isn’t… isn’t all wrong…”

Manager Zhou’s laughter suddenly faded.

Then came a thud as his head hit the table — Manager Zhou was completely unconscious.

Today, he had truly gotten very drunk.

“He’s drunk,” Ying Tianze observed, looking at the slumped figure of Manager Zhou. Even though their conversation never quite touched on anything substantial.

Yet, Ying Tianze felt a peculiar sensation inside.

Strangely, he didn’t feel repulsed. Instead, he found it rather… intriguing.

Ying Tianze turned his gaze to Chen Changsheng, “Is this what you call… the flavor of mortal life?”

Chen Changsheng replied, “Maybe yes, maybe no. When you come back here next time, when you see him again… you might find things feel different.”

“In what way?” Ying Tianze asked, intrigued.

Chen Changsheng smiled, “You’ll know when you come back.”

Ying Tianze rubbed his chin, “I came here originally because of you. But now I find myself inexplicably curious about a mortal instead. You’re strange, this tavern manager is strange…”

Chen Changsheng smiled warmly, “You’re strange, too.”

Hearing this, Ying Tianze froze for a moment.

He didn’t argue back. Instead, he just started laughing.