Everyday Life

Everyday Life

Now that he had money, it was time to learn how to splurge.

Jiang Hao pointed at the drink menu. "A dozen beers, one bottle each of Bordeaux Red and Chivas, and one of each of these cocktails."

The bartender uncle's eyes widened. "How many people are drinking?"

"Just one."

"Friend, you can't finish all that by yourself." The bartender kindly reminded him.

"It's fine. Go ahead and bring them. Thanks for the warning."

"And it's best not to mix these kinds of drinks," the bartender added.

"You're afraid I'll get drunk?" Jiang Hao said with a smile. This bartender was quite considerate toward his customers.

"I think mixing them like that would be a waste of good liquor."

Jiang Hao froze for a moment, then smiled. "Why does life have to be so refined?"

Once all the drinks were laid out on the table, everyone around him could not help glancing over. This guy would be a miracle if he could finish all that alone, and he was mixing drinks too. Wouldn't he drink himself unconscious?

Soothing music played in the bar as Jiang Hao slowly drank glass after glass. Spicy, mellow, with a lingering, rich flavor, the alcohol flowed through his heart and warmed his stomach, yet he did not feel that familiar rush to his head.

It felt wonderful. He liked this feeling.

The bartender uncle kept watching Jiang Hao. He found that Jiang Hao was not drinking quickly, but he never stopped either. Empty bottles and glasses had already piled up before him, far more than at any other customer's table.

Yet his expression remained calm. There was not the slightest sign that he was getting drunk, and even his eyes were perfectly clear.

The bartender uncle suddenly found this customer rather interesting. He walked over and said, "You can really hold your liquor."

Jiang Hao smiled faintly and set down his glass. "Not getting drunk when I drink isn't necessarily good news for me. It's too hard to get properly drunk even once."

The bartender uncle burst out laughing. "True enough. At the very least, you spend more than most people. My name's Zhou Di. I own this Qing Bar. Come by often when you have time, and I'll give you a discount."

"Jiang Hao."

Jiang Hao held out his hand, and the two shook hands. That counted as getting acquainted.

"Oh, right. You still haven't told me how much of a discount."

"Ten percent."

Jiang Hao curled his lip and said disdainfully, "Only ten percent? Your drinks are half the price at the supermarket, and your wholesale price is even lower."

"Atmosphere. What we sell is atmosphere," Zhou Di said with a smile.

Listening to music and chatting, Jiang Hao drank over a thousand yuan's worth of alcohol. Beer, baijiu, red, blue, and green drinks all mixed in his stomach, yet he did not feel drunk at all.

Still, it was useful. His mood had indeed eased considerably.

After waving goodbye to Boss Zhou, Jiang Hao did not call a cab and simply walked home. The streets were filled with people: couples strolling hand in hand, best friends linking arms as they shopped, families of three out for a walk after dinner, and passersby hurrying home.

Everyone had their own life.

Jiang Hao suddenly felt that every person was an atom, moving along a different orbit. Some collided and produced sparks, but most remained parallel. Though they lived in the same space, they would never cross paths in their entire lives.

Like the people on the street right now. Their fate with him might be no more than a passing brush of shoulders.

Speaking of which, his fate with Jiu'er had already run quite deep. Though she had vanished, she remained in his mind and had become part of his experiences.

Wasn't life made up of countless experiences? Experiencing spring, summer, autumn, and winter; flowers blooming and falling; the familiar and unfamiliar; those who had once drawn close, then drifted away again.

Prosperity and sorrow would eventually become the past. Time flew like a white colt through a crack. Who was plotting a glorious future with whom?

How pretentious.

Home.

Shower.

Sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already five-thirty the next morning. Dawn was barely breaking. Jiang Hao decided to get up and exercise. He had developed the habit over the past two months. He changed into workout clothes and running shoes, grabbed his phone, put on his earphones, and headed out.

It was October now, and the morning air was slightly cool—very comfortable.

He ran two blocks to the riverside park, where many people were already doing their morning exercises. Jiang Hao did not stop and continued running. After making a lap around the park, he headed back toward home. The whole route was about five kilometers, just right.

There were young women exercising in the morning, and Jiang Hao could not help taking a couple of looks. Of course, they looked at him too. After all, a handsome young man was just as attractive to young women.

He ordered breakfast from the breakfast shop in front of his residential complex and considered things as he ate.

The Red Sorghum mission was finished, but no new mission had appeared. Was he supposed to just wait for one? Last time, nearly half a month had passed between the first mission and the second.

In the first mission, he had been lucky enough to obtain a watch. The second mission had given him a skill. Neither could really be called better or worse. The system manual explained it in detail: items could not be brought into mission worlds, while skills could be used there.

Come to think of it, skills should have been better. They could be used in both the real world and mission worlds. Jiang Hao had been looking forward to it before, but after working so hard to complete a mission, he got a useless drunkard skill—no, that was wrong. The "Thousand Cups Not Drunk" skill.

This thing was truly useless.

That made Jiang Hao feel that item rewards might not be so bad after all. Items could also be very useful in the real world.

Of course, that depended on whether the aliens were screwing him over.

Then there was the fact that, to prepare for the Red Sorghum world, he had learned Free Combat and shooting. They had indeed been very useful in the movie world, but they had also cost him quite a bit of money. Combined with the money he had sent his parents, he only had 230,000 yuan left. He had already spent a third of it.

It sounded like a lot, but money really did not last. Rent alone was over three thousand yuan a month, not to mention his daily expenses.

If the next mission rewarded him with another lousy skill, was he supposed to just live off his savings until they ran out? Should he find a job first?

But what could he do?

He picked up his phone and checked the time. It was already eight-thirty. He decided to go straight to the gym to shower. The gym had shower rooms.

Oubao Lai was considered the best fitness club in Binhai. It was huge. The first floor had several halls for fitness and combat training, the second floor offered body sculpting, beauty treatments, and yoga, while the third floor was for leisure.

He had bought a three-month membership before, and still had over half a month left. There was no point letting it go to waste. He decided to get in some training, especially upper-body strength work.

After taking a shower and changing clothes, Jiang Hao began working with the equipment in the gym. After several months of intensified training, his physique had changed dramatically. He did not have exaggerated muscles, but his body was very well-shaped: square pecs, six-pack abs, the fit and athletic build of a young man.

With that face and height, he could easily outshine young male celebrities. Yet Jiang Hao did not give off the impression of a delicate pretty boy. Instead, he seemed calm and steady.

"Huff, huff, huff—"

Jiang Hao finished two sets of chest presses and was preparing to move on to the next exercise when someone approached. It was Cheng Bo, a coach from the combat department.

"Jiang Hao, you're here early," Cheng Bo said as he sat beside him and began stretching.

"You too, Brother Bo," Jiang Hao replied.

"Still haven't found a job?" Cheng Bo knew a little about Jiang Hao's situation. Jiang Hao had been training here for two months, and Cheng Bo had coached him before.

"Yeah, not yet. Nothing suitable," Jiang Hao said.