Mapo tofu, Twice Cooked Pork, Kung Pao Chicken, Pickled Cabbage Fish, spicy chicken, Dongpo Pork Knuckle, Water Boiled Beef, and so on.
They ordered 20 dishes in total.
The portions at this restaurant were pretty generous.
Too much?
No, no. Never underestimate how much an NBA player can eat. These guys... could put away more than you'd imagine.
The drinks were Budweiser beer and 375-milliliter bottles of Sudihan Private Reserve Champagne.
Su Yan raised a glass of champagne and smiled as he began, "Let's celebrate this incredible game-winning shot.
I hope.
We can keep working hard together in the days ahead, win plenty more games, and prove what we're worth!"
"Cheers!"
"We'll take your word for it, Su Yan!"
Everyone clinked glasses and dug in.
They ate spicy, savory Sichuan food, drank crisp, cold drinks, and relived tonight's unbelievable comeback and game-winning shot.
This feeling... was just awesome!
They ate, drank, and chatted. All told, the meal lasted more than two hours, until well past one in the morning.
Everyone had eaten and drunk their fill.
Su Yan, who was at ease around the table and knew how to keep a conversation going, had already hit it off with everyone on his very first day.
Seeing that everyone had about finished eating,
Su Yan got up to pay the bill at the front counter.
David Lee stood up too and smiled. "Su Yan, I'll come with you."
"Sure."
Su Yan didn't think much of it.
The two of them went to the counter together.
The pretty young woman handed them the bill.
There were 20 dishes, averaging 60 USD apiece, for a total of 1,200 USD. It didn't seem too expensive at first glance.
But converted into Dragon Kingdom Currency,
that came to over 8,000 yuan for one meal. It really wasn't cheap.
Of course... Chinese food was expensive overseas to begin with, and this was Madison Square Garden, where the restaurants were basically tourist attractions.
The portions were generous, too.
So the price wasn't actually that bad.
The drinks were where most of the cost came from.
Everyone could drink a lot and liked to drink. They'd gone through three cases of Budweiser and 20 bottles of Sudihan Private Reserve Champagne.
The Budweiser wasn't expensive, at 60 USD a case. But each bottle of Sudihan Private Reserve Champagne cost 500 USD.
The young woman said politely, "Gentlemen, your total comes to 11,380 USD. Would you like to pay by card or in cash?"
"Yikes..."
David Lee's mouth twitched. "Over ten thousand dollars for one meal. That's really not cheap.
That champagne sure was expensive."
David Lee came from a genuinely wealthy family, so he could tell right away that the champagne had cost a pretty penny.
It still wasn't in the same league as the top champagnes.
But this was just an ordinary team dinner, and they'd managed to spend over ten thousand dollars. Anyone would wince at that.
"Su Yan, let me pay. You're a newcomer, so how can we let you treat us? This one's on me!"
David Lee smiled and pulled out a bank card.
He'd come along specifically to pay the bill.
With so many people there, it just wouldn't do to make a rookie who'd just turned 19 and had only signed a short-term contract treat everyone to dinner.
Besides... this meal really wasn't cheap.
"It's fine.
I said I'd treat everyone, so how could I let you pay? Besides, it's only a little over ten thousand. That's not expensive."
Su Yan waved him off, lowered David Lee's hand with the card, then handed his own card to the young woman at the counter. "Go ahead and charge it."
"Of course, sir."
The young woman politely took his card and charged the bill. Then she handed back the bank card and receipt together:
"Sir, here's your receipt. Please keep it safe. Thank you for coming, and we hope to see you again!!!"
"Sure, thank you."
Su Yan took his card and receipt, and thanked her as well.
Just a little over ten thousand?
Listen to him. Was that really something a person could say?
This was just an ordinary postgame team dinner, for crying out loud. It was really expensive.
Honestly, at Su Yan's age, I wouldn't want to spend that much treating a bunch of people I'd only known for a day.
Now that was generous.
How to put it... his family had to be loaded.
"Come on, let's get everyone back so they can rest."
Su Yan, who'd just spent over ten thousand dollars, waved everyone over and returned to the private room, chatting and laughing as if he'd only spent a hundred or so. He didn't seem bothered at all.
David Lee followed behind.
His opinion of Su Yan had gone up yet again.
He was generous, talkative, and easy to get along with. It was hard for anyone not to like a player like that.
"I only picked a few things tonight, and we were in a bit of a rush, so I might not have been the best host. I hope you'll forgive me!
Next time, I'll treat everyone to even better Dragon Country cuisine."
In the private room,
Su Yan said with a smile.
"Not at all. The food tonight was spicy and delicious, and the champagne was great, too. I'm completely satisfied!" Duhong said with a laugh.
Gallinari rubbed his stuffed, bulging belly and chuckled. "Thanks for treating us, Su Yan. I'm honestly a little embarrassed!"
"You're too kind, Su Yan."
After sharing a meal, they'd all gotten to know each other better. Men didn't need so many formalities, so they exchanged a few simple pleasantries.
Then they headed out with their arms around each other's shoulders.
Everyone went their separate ways, back to their own homes.
Larry Hughes and David Lee still had to return to the locker room to pick up a few things, so the two of them went back together.
On the way,
Larry Hughes asked, "I saw you go settle the bill with Su Yan earlier. That meal must've cost a lot.
At least two or three thousand dollars.
It's not right to let a rookie pay for everyone like that. Maybe we should chip in and make it up to him tomorrow."
"Two or three thousand?"
David Lee shot Larry Hughes a look. "You're way off. That meal cost over eleven thousand dollars."
"Yikes..."
Larry Hughes's mouth fell open. "No way. That was just a simple postgame team dinner, and it cost that much?!"
"Yep."
David Lee nodded. "Those 20 bottles of champagne were expensive. They alone cost ten thousand dollars."
"Shit, bro!"
Larry Hughes was astonished. "It's not that ten thousand dollars is a huge amount of money. It's what this dinner was about.
Su Yan really is generous.
He acted so casual earlier that I thought it hadn't cost much. I didn't expect it to be this expensive."
"Ha..."
David Lee shook his head with a smile. "I thought it was expensive too, but Su Yan didn't even blink when he swiped his card.
You can tell he's rich.
The key thing is... he's willing to spend money on us. That's what matters."
"Yeah."
Larry Hughes nodded. "They say the richer people are, the stingier they get. Su Yan's only known us for a day,
and he treated us to such a nice meal.
He's a really good guy!"
On their way back, all nine Knicks players couldn't stop thinking about Su Yan's generosity and what a great guy he was.
As for Su Yan,
he hadn't thought that much about it. He'd only glanced at the menu prices and figured they were nowhere near ten thousand dollars.
After a rough calculation,
he'd just ordered a few bottles of Sudihan Private Reserve Champagne, which was mid-range for the restaurant, to push the total over ten thousand dollars.
That was just right.
At LV1, he could level up to LV2, which would increase not only his basketball stats but also the corresponding amount.
And there was also the [LV2 Privilege Pack] waiting to be opened.
Before you continue