Chapter 335 Family Banquet
Just when they met for the first time, Hou Xiaoliang gave Yue Feng a sick feeling.

His complexion is dark and sallow, which means his liver is most likely not in good condition. Looking at the heavy bags under his eyes, his kidney energy must be insufficient.

Compared with Zou Zhaoguo’s condition, this old Hou is not even a little bit worse.

“Let me introduce him to you first! This is Fusheng’s younger brother, Yue Feng! Xiao Yue, you have to call him uncle too, he’s the deputy director of the Mining Bureau, Hou Xiaoliang!!” Zou Zhaoguo introduced with a smile.

“Hello, Uncle Hou!” Yue Feng hurriedly took the initiative to greet him.

“Xiao Yue, right? Hello! I’m sorry for the trouble you made last time! Not only did you kill the jackal, but you also gave me a wolfskin mattress.

This is a great job. I’ve always wanted to meet you to thank you in person, but I’ve been holding off until now because of too many things to do. No matter what, I have to have a couple of drinks with you today!”

Although Hou Xiaoliang had a somewhat sickly look on his face, his tone of voice was still polite. Standing at the door, before he even entered, he mentioned the last time he helped to hunt the jackals and gave them gifts.

“Hey, you’re welcome! My brother Niu asked me for help, so I can’t be vague about this kind of thing! I’m lucky enough to have caught it when I went up the mountain!” Yue Feng said lightly.

“Come in quickly, the kitchen should be almost ready! Let’s start the feast!
By the way, Lao Hou, you love wine and know a lot about it. Xiao Yue brought two bottles of Moutai today that I have never seen before. Take a look at what version they are!”

When Hou Xiaoliang heard his buddy mention wine, he immediately became interested.

“I’ve never seen Moutai before? No matter whether it’s aged or exported, as long as it comes from the genuine factory, there is no such thing as me not having seen it before! Where is it? What’s wrong with me taking a look?”

“It’s over here! Take a look! I’ve drunk a lot of Moutai, but this is the first time I’ve seen it like this!”

As he spoke, Zou Zhaoguo handed over the Maotai.

“Hey~ What kind of Moutai is this?” Hou Xiaoliang took the wine box handed over by Lao Zou, looked at it carefully, and frowned as well.

It’s another round of checking the packaging, printing, and various details. Everything feels right and there’s nothing wrong with the overall texture. If this thing wants to be faked to this extent, an ordinary workshop wouldn’t have the ability to do so.

Zou Zhaoguo didn’t respond, and neither did Yue Feng.

Although he brought the wine and knew what was going on, he couldn’t talk about the wine in a high-profile manner now, as that would be tantamount to slapping the faces of the two leaders.

To put it in a trendy way, this 13 will be more effective if it is dressed in a low-key way.

After all, only a minority of local coal mining leaders are qualified to attend the state banquet, and they are rarely circulated through ordinary channels, so it is normal not to know them or have ever met them.

Hou Xiaoliang studied it over and over again for a long time but couldn’t figure it out. All the manufacturer’s information matched and he couldn’t find any problems, but he had never seen this version of the style before.

“Shall we try this wine tonight?” Hou Xiaoliang looked up at Zou Zhaoguo before opening the package.

“Come and try it! Xiaofeng brought it to us, it’s for us to drink!” Zou Zhaoguo responded.

“Then I’ll open the package!”

While speaking, Hou Xiaoliang opened the outer packaging box and took out the bottle of wine in a special color.

The sealing film is pink and the glazed porcelain bottle is purple. It does not have the necessary ribbon that comes with Feitian Moutai, but the trademark is the same Feitian trademark as the Moutai exported.

“Tsk tsk tsk, this is really strange! I’ve drunk a lot of Feitian Moutai that’s exported, but this is the first time I’ve seen this!”

Hou Xiaoliang looked around from front to back and up to behind for several times. The more he looked, the more curious he became.

“We’re going to drink it with dinner later anyway, so why not open it and try it now!!” Zou Zhaoguo instigated.

“You can drink wine you’ve never seen before, so just give it a try!” Hou Xiaoliang removed the sealing film and twisted the lid open with a little force.

Old Zou handed over the wine glass at the right time. Hou Xiaoliang took the glass, held the bottle in one hand and the glass in the other, and poured about half a cup of wine.

As soon as the wine was poured out, the rich aroma of the wine immediately spread throughout the room.

The wine used for the state banquet is specially blended with aged wines. It is the best among Moutai in terms of taste and quality.

“This wine is good! Great wine!!!”

Hou Xiaoliang, who loves wine like his life, put the wine glass to his nose, fanned it gently with his other hand, concentrated on sniffing the aroma of the wine, opened his eyes after a few seconds, and gave a very high evaluation.

“How does it taste?”

“Want to try it? Then I won’t be polite!” Hou Xiaoliang didn’t care that the dinner hadn’t started yet, he picked up the wine glass and took a sip.

When you take a sip of the wine, it’s mellow and long-lasting, and a special flavor that only exists in aged Moutai wine fills your mouth and nose, leaving you with an endless aftertaste.

In the eyes of those who truly understand wine tasting, this is the finest nectar.

“Good wine! Great! Old Zou, please try it. This wine is better than the bottle of twenty-year-old wine I had last time!” Hou Xiaoliang said with shining eyes.

“As long as you like it! Xiaofeng brought two bottles. Let’s drink it up tonight, four of us!” Zou Zhaoguo said openly.

“Xiao Yue, where did you get this wine? Did you buy it yourself? Or was it given to you by someone else?” Hou Xiaoliang put down his wine glass and turned to ask.

“A friend gave it to me! I can’t really tell where he got it from! His family should have some channels in this regard. I’ll ask him later!” Yue Feng said half-truthfully.

A wine connoisseur is a wine connoisseur who can taste good wine with just one sip!

Yue Feng had no choice but to accept this.

Yue Feng opened a bottle of this wine at home with his brothers and father, but after tasting it, everyone generally felt that the aroma was richer and the taste was softer, but they could not taste any more subtle differences.

“Oh, is that so? That’s fine. If you bought it yourself, I would have to ask where it was and pay for it! This quality is not common. It is definitely one of the top liquors I have ever drunk!”

“Hehe, if you’re willing to drink, I’ll ask later if there’s any left. If there is, get a few more bottles!” Yue Feng said with a grin.

“Okay! Then your uncle Zou and I will be waiting for your good wine!”

“Okay! Leave it to me!”

There are still a few bottles in the cellar at home. This is not an exaggeration. If I can establish a relationship with the big guy in front of me, a few bottles of wine are still worth it.

A few minutes later, Chef Niu, who was busy in the kitchen, came out with a plate.

“Dad! Uncle Hou, the dishes are almost ready, shall we start the feast?”

“Okay, just make a few simple side dishes to eat. I’m tired of all the big fish and meat out there!”

“Don’t worry, Uncle Hou, these are all the food you and my dad like to eat!”

Soon, the dishes were served. It’s true that the food at home was not as rich as the ones in the cafeteria. They were relatively simple, but suitable for drinking.

Braised pig’s head, fried peanuts, pepper and salt fried dumplings, juicy salted duck eggs, a platter of tofu skin dipped in pickles and fried pickles with lard, plus a large pot of steaming braised female leopard in sauce.

Any one of the dishes served tonight can stand out as a good side dish. Just from the arrangement of the dishes, we can tell that Chef Niu knows the preferences of his father-in-law and Director Hou very well.

“Oh my! It’s so cold today. Where did they get this big female leopard? It’s quite big and fat!” Xiao Liang didn’t react much to other dishes, but was quite surprised to see this braised forest frog.

“This female leopard was sent here by Xiaofeng! The canteen left a portion, I kept a portion, and some was kept at home. Let’s cook these and try them!” Master Niu specifically mentioned Yue Feng.

Hou Xiaoliang glanced at Yue Feng, and his impression of the child in front of him improved a lot.

Even if you spend money, your leader may not take it seriously, but if you put in the effort, they can still sense your sincerity.

It’s not a good job to pick frogs in an ice hole in this weather. Not only did he do it, but he kept it low-key and didn’t show off. This kind of sophistication is rare among his peers.

Yue Feng smiled innocently: “Hehe, I just happened to catch it! I went up the mountain to hunt and accidentally came across a water bubble, so I tried to dig it out, and it turned out that there were quite a few female leopards, so I brought them back and shared them!

I love it. I’ll try it next time I see it! There are a lot of paozi in the mountains. As long as you put in the effort, you won’t be short of this stuff! “

“The dishes are all here, Xiaoniu, stop standing and come and take a seat! Xiaoyue, you don’t have to tense up and feel tired. There’s no one else in the room, so just relax!”

“Hey! Good!!”

……

Soon, the four old men started to eat. Yue Feng, as the youngest one, was on standby almost all the time, pouring wine, tea, getting tissues to wipe mouths, etc., and served Juer very comfortably.

Most of the time, it was Old Zou and Old Hou who were chatting, and Yue Feng and Master Niu could only listen. Occasionally, Zou Zhaoguo would start a conversation and ask Yue Feng about some things about hunting in the mountains, and Yue Feng would take the opportunity to talk about some interesting experiences.

The guests and hosts enjoy a meal together.

There was a table full of delicious food. The two bottles of wine that Yue Feng brought were all drunk. Yue Feng drank two glasses of about 4 liang. Master Niu, who didn’t drink, only drank one glass of about 2 liang. The remaining one kilogram of wine all went into the stomachs of Zou Zhaoguo and Hou Xiaoliang.

This meal was more tiring than a day’s hike up the mountain, but I gained a lot as well.

Old Zou and Director Hou did not treat Yue Feng and Niu Fusheng as outsiders. They talked about many topics that they would never talk about outside on weekdays, such as people and things in the unit.

After the meal, Hou Xiaoliang had a very good impression of Yue Feng.

In Hou Xiaoliang’s eyes, Yue Feng is young, but very smart, quick-witted, and perceptive. Sometimes he pours tea before people even open their mouths, and he serves dinner at a very smooth pace, much better than his assistant.

Yue Feng performed very well at the dinner tonight and successfully left a deep impression on the two bosses.

The dinner started around 7:30 and lasted until 9:40 after eating, drinking, chatting and bragging. When Hou Xiaoliang left, he took one of the Moutai wine boxes and bottles with him.

After seeing Director Hou off, Yue Feng tactfully said goodbye to Zou Zhaoguo and prepared to go home.

……

On the other side, after eating and drinking his fill, Hou Xiaoliang strolled back to his home in the next building.

After entering the room, he didn’t even bother to take off his clothes, but went straight to the study and called a friend using the home phone.

“Old Ma, let me ask you something. You have seen a lot of good wines, but have you ever seen a kind of Moutai wine packaged in a purple porcelain bottle? There is a flying fairy on the trademark, but there is no ribbon on the bottle mouth!
I just drank two bottles at Old Zou’s house today. A younger generation brought them. The wine tasted better than the 20-year-old Moutai we tasted last time!”

“Are you sure it’s this purple bottle of Moutai? The last time Secretary Wang and I went to Beijing, we drank this in the Great Hall! It should be called Purple Feitian Moutai! This stuff is used for state banquets and is not available on the market! Did you drink fake wine?”

“What? Purple-flavored Feitian Moutai? The wine used for state banquets? Is this true? Don’t fool me, buddy!”

“It’s almost ten o’clock now. I’m kidding you. Have you finished the wine? Is there any more? I’ll go take a look later and you’ll know!”

“The wine is gone, but the packaging box and bottle are in my hands!”

“There are only a few versions of Moutai. If you think it’s of extremely high quality, it’s probably the one I mentioned! Bring it to your company tomorrow and I’ll take a look.”

……

After hanging up the phone, Hou Xiaoliang fell into deep thought, and his good mood immediately disappeared.

One good news and one bad news.

The good news is that we drank two bottles of top-grade Moutai, which is suitable for state banquets, tonight.

The bad news is that I drank two bottles of top-grade Moutai, which was good for state banquets, tonight.

Old Hou, who was tossing and turning in bed and unable to sleep, was still thinking about something in his head even in the middle of the night.

This young man, who looks young and steady, can actually get this level of top-grade Moutai. What’s his family background? Does he have any relatives or friends in Beijing?
If Lao Ma verifies tomorrow that it is indeed Moutai for the state banquet, then we have to maintain a good relationship no matter what happens in the future!

……

Let’s go back to Yue Feng. After coming out of Zou Zhaoguo’s home, he rode his bike back under the moonlight.

At this time, there was no one on the road. It was so quiet that it was a little scary. I could only vaguely hear the whistling north wind blowing.

Yue Feng didn’t drink much to begin with, so the wind immediately sobered him up.

Along the way, I rode my bike slowly and leisurely, thinking about some of the conversations between the two bosses during dinner that night, trying to see if there was anything that overlapped with my memory, or any opportunities that could be exploited.

Unfortunately, he did not work in the coal mining system in his previous life, so he didn’t know much about the things here. After thinking for a long time, he couldn’t remember anything valuable, so he had to give up.

Overall, I gained a lot from having dinner tonight. I have become familiar with the leader of the Mining Bureau, and the deputy general manager of the coal mine also calls him “uncle”. From now on, as long as we visit them frequently during the holidays, I can definitely count them as my own network.

What made Yue Feng even happier was that Zou Zhaoguo took it very seriously and expressed his willingness to help Yue Feng’s brother and sister-in-law find jobs.

My eldest brother went to dispatch and my eldest sister-in-law went to the office to do clerical work. This was a task that exceeded expectations. When the dust settled, I would bring my eldest brother and sister-in-law to Zou Zhaoguo’s home to pay a visit.

Just when Yue Feng was feeling happy that his elder brother and sister-in-law had arranged jobs, he suddenly came to his senses.

It seems that, I don’t know when it started, the resentment in my heart towards my elder brother and sister-in-law who didn’t care about me and my hometown in my previous life has slowly faded a lot.

Broken bones are connected to tendons and blood relatives, so how many people can just stand by and watch?
After all, Yue Feng still cares a lot about family affection. Even if the other party had a stain in their previous life, he has done so much, including talking to them and testing them by borrowing money, just to find a reason to forgive them.

(End of this chapter)