This One's Strong, Drink This

Inside Gods’ Psychiatric Hospital, Zhou Meng was walking toward Li Yifei's brewing room.

It had been a while since he'd promised Sun Wukong he'd get him some alcohol, and he wanted to see how Li Yifei was getting on with the brewing.

If Li Yifei was slacking off, Zhou Meng would have to keep doing his job as overseer.

Pushing open the door to a room off the activity room, Zhou Meng called, "Yi Fei! My dear grandson! How's the task Grandpa gave you coming along?"

At the sound of his voice, Li Yifei shuddered in fright, then poked his head out from behind a row of bottles and jars.

"Stop rushing me, stop rushing me! I'm brewing it, I'm brewing it!"

"Here, take it. This is just a preliminary product. With the limitations on equipment and technique, this is the best purity I can get for now. The activated charcoal here isn't very good at adsorption, so there might be some impurities, but it shouldn't be much of a problem for you gods to drink."

Even so, Li Yifei puffed out his chest with considerable pride and pushed two bottles of liquor toward Zhou Meng. They had labels on them.

Vodka (for gods)

"That fast?" Zhou Meng grabbed a bottle and held it under his nose for a sniff.

The mellow aroma of alcohol filled his senses.

He took a closer look at the liquor in the bottle. It was crystal clear, reflecting the faint white light overhead, with no sign of any impurities.

Li Yifei really knows his stuff! How long has it even been? He's already made vodka this pure?

The Mental Hospital's all-around chief steward really lives up to his name!

"Not bad, not bad! Better than I expected! I'll take this liquor, then! When Qiye comes back, I'll put in a good word for you with your dad!"

"Off you go, then! I'm not counting on you to put in a good word. I'll thank the heavens if you don't find more things for me to do and give me extra work, Grandpa!"

Li Yifei grumbled a little, but he was inwardly delighted by Zhou Meng's praise.

Then he went straight back to researching and developing all kinds of liquor.

Zhou Meng turned and left, intending to return to the ward area and pour the liquor into the Great Sage's gourd. But then he saw Nyx in the courtyard, gazing thoughtfully at a Chinese chessboard.

"Advance the pawn? That doesn't seem right. Move the horse? That's not right either. What should I do?" she muttered to herself as she studied the endgame on the board.

Seeing her, Zhou Meng suddenly smiled.

"Still studying Chinese chess? Here, have something to drink!" He poured some vodka into a cup and handed it to her.

"Thank you, dear!" Nyx's eyes lit up as she looked at Zhou Meng.

"But what's this water?"

"Your grandson brewed it. Want to try it?"

"Wow! It's so spicy! But it tastes pretty good!" Nyx frowned at her first sip, but her brow soon smoothed out, and she had Zhou Meng pour her another cup.

Before Zhou Meng could stop her, he saw Nyx drink all the liquor in the bottle in one go.

Wait, Lady Goddess, you can't drink it like that! Li Yifei, did you put something in the liquor that you shouldn't have? Is this how a normal person reacts after drinking vodka?

A flush instantly spread across Nyx's cheeks. Before she could snatch the bottle from his hand, Zhou Meng hurried away.

Let Lin Qiye and Li Yifei deal with the drunk goddess!

He dashed into the ward area and arrived at Sun Wukong's room.

"Monkey, look what I brought you!" With a flick of his hand, he tossed Sun Wukong's wine gourd over to him.

Sun Wukong instantly looked up and caught the gourd. He opened the stopper, sniffed it, and shook it. Then he asked in confusion, "I told you to get Old Sun some wine. What have you brought me?"

"Great Sage, I know you like it strong. Drink this—I guarantee you'll like it!" Zhou Meng said with a smile.

But at the words "Great Sage," Sun Wukong felt as if a heavy hammer had struck his heart. His feelings were a tangled mix, and an indescribable sorrow made him want to unleash his divine power and blast this insolent wretch out the door.

But in the space of a single thought, the sorrow he had just felt vanished without a trace.

"No need to get so angry. I won't call you that again. But if you ask me, what happened that day wasn't your fault, so why put yourself through this?" Zhou Meng merely waved his hand, casually summoned a stemmed glass, and poured a little vodka into it.

Sun Wukong looked up slightly in surprise. Although he knew this fellow had entered his room many times, he had never once looked him in the eye. He only knew that the man could come and go from the room without restriction, which was why he had asked him to bring some wine.

But this time was different. This fellow seemed able to steal his thoughts! And he seemed to know something about his past.

Impossible! All the gods of Daxia turned into the National Guardian Divine Stele that day! No one should know about my past!

Sun Wukong's eyes widened slightly, a golden light flashing in his pupils. He wanted to use his Fiery Golden Eyes to see what this fellow really was!

But even with his Fiery Golden Eyes, he could not see the true form of the man before him.

That faintly smiling face only grew clearer.

Whether god or demon, his Fiery Golden Eyes could see their true form, cultivation realm, and abilities.

But apart from the appearance of the man before him, he could see no other information at all.

Could his cultivation realm be higher than mine?

"Forget it. Whatever you know, Old Sun doesn't want anything to do with you. Put down the liquor and get out! And don't call me Great Sage again!" Sun Wukong lowered his eyes once more, staring thoughtfully at the liquor in the gourd.

"No problem. But a word of warning: whatever you do, don't drink too much of what's in that gourd at once." Zhou Meng raised his glass to Sun Wukong in salute, then walked out the door.

Don't drink too much at once? I'll do just that! Let's see what this stuff you brought actually is!

Sun Wukong's temper flared at once. Who are you to tell me what to do? He immediately tilted his head back and took a deep swig.

"Cough, cough, cough! Why is this liquor so strong?!"

"But it tastes pretty good! Just what Old Sun likes!"

Outside the door, Zhou Meng listened with satisfaction to the coughing inside, grinning from ear to ear.

This monkey really was the foremost of the three great rebels in Daxia mythology. Even with autism, he was still the fearless Great Sage Equal to Heaven at heart. Unless someone had truly won his respect, he wouldn't listen to a word they said. Even with a small gourd of liquor, he had to follow his own impulses and take a deep swig.

Don't you like it strong? Strong enough for you?

Though Zhou Meng had played a little prank on him, if he had to choose the god he admired most in the Mental Hospital, it would be this Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

He was defiant and unruly, dared to think and act, had an extraordinary spirit of adventure, and often played little pranks.

All of that made Zhou Meng feel that he and the Great Sage had something in common in their personalities.

This liquor could offer some small comfort for the loneliness and self-reproach he had suffered for more than a hundred years, even if Zhou Meng had only played the part of a deliveryman.

Zhou Meng left in satisfaction, but what he didn't know was that, where he couldn't see it, Sun Wukong's treatment progress had risen from 0% to 1%.

Just as he was about to return to his room for a while, he suddenly heard Lin Qiye shout angrily from somewhere in the Mental Hospital.

"Zhou Meng! Look what you've done!"