Zhang Fan had a bowl of fish soup after he washed his face. The fish soup had some cilantro, salt, and oil to give it a really good taste. After he finished the fish soup, he gave Shao Hua’s mother a big thumbs up. “Ma’am, just with this soup alone, you could open up a restaurant and make lots of money.”

Zhang Fan usually didn’t say much, but every time he did say something, people would really agree. He was pretty skilled at praising others!

Shao Hua’s mother was so happy to hear this that even her wrinkles showed more. “If you like it, then I’ll make it for you every day! I’ll have my husband go to the farm tomorrow and catch some chickens. You don’t like eating beef or mutton, so have some more chicken soup.”

Shao Hua became quite happy as well when seeing her mother happy. Zhang Fan was quite good to her parents. He was filial, never argued with them, and did things in quite a roundabout manner, which made her parents feel really comfortable. Even if he wanted to convince her parents about something, he would guide them in a roundabout manner and be deferential! He would never have a direct conflict with her parents.

It was now about time for Zhang Fan to leave to go to the dinner that Wang Yongyong had reserved for him. The restaurant was a bit far, so he had to drive.

Chasu City’s weather was different from inland China’s. After the first snow here, the mountains would become covered in snow, and the weather would continue to remain cold until next year’s spring.

The Tianshan Mountains were nearby. Chasu City happened to be located in a depression among the Tianshan Mountains. Since the snowy mountains helped to ease Chasu City’s climate, Chasu City was probably the city with the best climate in the entire border province. In summer, it would be humid with lots of rain, while winters here would have much snow. In spring, there would be no sandstorms, and in autumn, there was plenty of fragrant fruits. This place had really nice weather. However, the border province’s climate wouldn’t be anywhere nearly so pleasant in other cities.

For example, the nearby bigger city, Raptor City. There, winters were freezing, while summers were scorching. The pollution there was also really severe. People wouldn’t even be able to see the sun in winter, because of all the smog covering the sky in Raptor City. This made the people in Raptor City particularly pale! Things were even more extreme in the southern part of the border province. How hot could summers get there? Even flies and mosquitoes wouldn’t be able to survive. Spring sandstorms were capable of burying people alive. Winters were extremely frigid. Yet, this place was an abundant producer of grapes and cotton. Although there was also cotton in Chasu City, the cotton here couldn’t even be compared to the cotton from southern China. Chasu City’s cotton was much shorter! There was even a certain area in southern China that could grow especially long cotton. Every year during the cotton harvest, this area would directly sell cotton to the military instead of selling on the market.

The military would have plenty of squadrons in colder areas of China. They had high requirements of their winter wear for climbing ice and trekking through snow. That was why this special cotton was for military use only. The southern part of the border province had a terrible environment, yet it was critically important strategically. It could be called the throat of going westward. Not only would the Chinese government always send talented people from various areas to come support this place, even the northern cities of the border province would send people to support the southern part of the border province.

As China was developing, this southern area of the border province was sure to be filled with conflicts. Every year, many people who came here to support this area would die here. Why was that? It was for the sake of China’s development. The neighboring countries in the area were future trading partners for China to make money from. Of course this border area would be highly valued. Those who made early moves to do business here meant that some would need to pay and some would need to sacrifice! Such people who came here to support the border province while abandoning their wives and children were China’s true nameless heroes! Please respect the heroes who died in the undeveloped southern region of the border province!

Chasu City’s fall was about to make way for winter. More people were now out on the streets. The people of the border province were generous and friendly to guests. However, one of their weaknesses was that they loved to drink alcohol. Maybe it was because of the cold winter? It would be a common sight to see drunk men frozen to death on the streets in winter! Although Sichuan’s wine was popular in all of mainland China, their business wasn’t as good in the border province. That was because the wine here was even stronger, just as direct and strong as the people of the border province! It was said that even the border province’s beer would be enough to kill someone!

Wu Yanchao and Wang Yongyong were smoking as they waited for Zhang Fan at the restaurant’s entrance. Men here in the border province were relatively simple. To them, right was right, and wrong was wrong. When Zhang Fan arrived, Wang Yongyong first punished himself by drinking three glasses of wine which was more than 50% alcohol before the food even arrived. Zhang Fan felt his legs going soft at the sight.

“Doctor Zhang, I apologize for my behavior towards you in our first meeting. I’m a coarse guy who was in sports school ever since young. I joined the professional basketball team afterwards. I never had much proper schooling, so I don’t know the right etiquette. Please don’t mind.”

“It’s no problem, honestly. It’s nothing at all. If I minded, I wouldn’t have come today. Let’s talk slowly. By the way, I really can’t drink alcohol. Otherwise, I’d surely drink three glasses with you. That’s so bold and forthright.”

“Haha, do as you like, Doctor Zhang.”

“Let’s eat, let’s eat. We’re quite lucky today. There’re horse intestines as well as venison. The nomads just brought over fresh meat today. Doctor Zhang, have a taste. You’re not a local from the border province, so are you accustomed to eating such things?” Wu Yanchao turned the circular glass platter on the table and put food on Zhang Fan’s plate.

“I’m used to it, of course I’m used to it. I’m also from the northwest. Actually, there’s no need to be so polite with me. Even if Coach Wang doesn’t know me well, you should know me by now, Teacher Wu.”

“I did tell him, but my senior absolutely insisted on apologizing to you! I told him already that Doctor Zhang is a real man, not someone who would hold a grudge over little things. Now you feel much better, right?” Wu Yanchao chuckled at his senior Wang Yongyong.

“Yes, I feel quite assured now! Please enjoy this food! Have a taste, Doctor Zhang.” The three of them chatted as they ate. Zhang Fan’s cell phone suddenly rang before all the food arrived. He saw from the caller ID that the call was from Ma Wentao.

‘Could it be that there’s a surgery?’ Zhang Fan thought to himself.

“Doctor Zhang, where are you right now? I’ll treat you to a meal.” Ma Wentao told him on the phone. He was actually quite pitiful in a way. While he did have a few friends in Raptor City, he basically had no friends at all here in Chasu City. The only “friends” he had here were the type who had requests to make of his father. Now that Ma Wentao’s hospital business was running smoothly, he was beginning to feel lonely.

His aunt Li Xiao was currently in Raptor City, and he didn’t want to eat by himself. Out of everyone he knew in Chasu City, Zhang Fan was the only person who didn’t try to suck up to him. This made Zhang Fan the only person he could have a normal conversation with. That was why Ma Wentao wanted to have a meal with Zhang Fan.

Humans were such strange creatures. Ma Wentao wasn’t interested in those who were interested in him, and was instead interested in the one person who had no interest in him.

“It’s not like today’s a holiday or anything, so why would you invite me to a meal? Besides, I’m already eating a meal right now with some friends.” Zhang Fan couldn’t be bothered dealing with Ma Wentao if there was no surgery. He felt that Ma Wentao was too proud and elite for him.

“What friends of yours?”

Originally, Zhang Fan didn’t want to say it, but he figured that he still needed to go to Ma Wentao’s hospital to grind more surgeries. “Two sports coaches.”

“Where are you? How about I come join you guys? Will that be convenient?” Ma Wentao really was feeling too bored and lonely. When he heard that the others with Zhang Fan were two sports coaches, he kept asking if he could join in without caring about face. If anyone who knew Ma Wentao saw this scene, they would surely be astonished!

“A friend of mine also wants to come over. Would that be…” Zhang Fan felt rather awkward.

“Tell him to hurry and come. It’s more lively with more people,” Wang Yongyong immediately answered.

“Horse meat is excellent for making new friends! Didn’t you know?”

Some time later, Ma Wentao soon arrived in his Mercedes Benz. In the border province, his type of SUV would be the best car to have, because the roads would ice over during winter, and smaller cars wouldn’t be able to traverse the slightly hillier roads.

Ma Wentao parked his car and brought out two boxes of regular smokes as well as a pack of wine which cost about 200 yuan. Ma Wentao wasn’t the type who would interrupt someone else’s meal while coming empty-handed. Actually, with his status, he should have been bringing much higher-quality smokes and wine, but he had gained much experience overseas and knew how to interact with more ordinary people. It wasn’t like he was joining this meal in order to make everything awkward, so there was no need for him to show off.

Zhang Fan did the introductions for everyone. He didn’t mention anything about Ma Wentao being a hospital owner, and only said that Ma Wentao was his friend. At first, the atmosphere cooled down a bit since someone the two sports coaches weren’t acquainted with had arrived, but the atmosphere soon livened up again because it turned out that Ma Wentao was a big basketball fan. As someone from the border province, it was fine not to be a sports fan, but you absolutely had to be a basketball fan, because only the border province’s basketball team was one of the best teams in northwestern China!

It just so happened that Wang Yongyong had been on the border province’s professional basketball team in its most glorious generation. Everyone got along well with each other. Ma Wentao even began to drink despite normally paying lots of attention to his health. Wu Yanchao and Wang Yongyong were both from sports backgrounds, so they had strong bodies and could drink alcohol as if it was water. Ma Wentao was really happy today as well. He could chat about his interests and didn’t even need to be on guard that the sports coaches wanted anything from him. He let loose for himself after being lonely for so many years!

The two sports coaches really let loose with drinking alcohol, leading Ma Wentao to follow them. Ma Wentao wasn’t really happy that Zhang Fan wouldn’t drink, but the latter had made up his mind that he absolutely wouldn’t drink today. No matter how much Ma Wentao tried to pressure him, Zhang Fan refused to drink.

After so much drinking, the two sports coaches and Ma Wentao all became really drunk. Ma Wentao was the first to get drunk as he was slender and usually led a sedentary lifestyle. Of course he wouldn’t be able to compare to the sports coaches who had strong and muscular bodies. After conquering Ma Wentao, the two sports coaches then began to compete with each other. They finished the entire six-pack of wine that Ma Wentao had brought! Even so, the three of them held on to each other and insisted on continuing.

It was now two a.m. in the morning, yet the three of them were still messing around. Usually, these middle-aged men would really suppress themselves, but they could act even wilder than younger men when letting loose.

“If you want to work at any school, just come find me! I can arrange it for you, it’s so easy!” Ma Wentao claimed while patting himself on the chest. Actually, he really wasn’t bragging here, as it was quite true for him!

“If it wasn’t for my knee injury back then, maybe I would be an NBA coach today! I had a 100% shooting ratio for my 3-pointers!” Wang Yongyong claimed.

“Mike Tyson’s boxing techniques are no good. He doesn’t have a good coach. If only I could coach him, we’d be able to conquer the entire world together!” Wu Yanchao claimed.

Zhang Fan really regretted things now. The three drunk men spouted all sorts of ridiculous rubbish. At this time, Zhang Fan really wished that he himself had gotten drunk as well! The three drunk men refused to leave as they continued to brag about ridiculous things to each other. Although it sounded like they were having a fun conversation, Zhang Fan was listening carefully and could tell that none of the sentences actually had anything to do with each other!

Zhang Fan felt like his head was about to explode from listening to all this rambling. In 2010, designated driver services hadn’t taken off in China yet. Zhang Fan really didn’t know what to do with the three drunk men!

At two thirty a.m., the restaurant’s owner came over. He was a dark-skinned man of H Country ethnicity, who was as muscular as a professional wrestler would be. Although he had such a muscular appearance, he was really friendly and even bowed as he spoke in accented Chinese to Zhang Fan. “Dear friend, there will be plenty of opportunities to get together in the future. You see, even the eagles are returning to their nests. All parties must end sometime. How about we end things here now?”

The restaurant owner was being really polite, which made Zhang Fan feel quite awkward. He also saw that the waitresses were constantly yawning.

“I’m so sorry, owner. They’re all completely drunk.”

“Who’s drunk! Let’s continue drinking! Anyone who quits drinking is my grandson!” Ma Wentao shouted while vomiting lots of digested meat on himself.

Zhang Fan ignored the drunk Ma Wentao and asked the restaurant owner, “Is there a hotel near here?”

“There’s one right next door.”

“Could you please help me carry them over to the hotel? Look at how ridiculously drunk they are. It’s impossible for me alone.”

“Okay!” The restaurant owner was also quite tired as it was getting incredibly late. He also really wanted these last guests to leave. Luckily, he was really strong. He supported both sports coaches by himself, while Zhang Fan did his best to suppress his disgust as he supported Ma Wentao, who smelled really bad after vomiting on himself.

Luckily, the hotel had one free room left. The restaurant owner helped put the three men down as Zhang Fan paid for the restaurant bill as well as hotel bill. Zhang Fan simply tossed all three men onto the big bed and put a blanket over them before returning to his own apartment.