Of everyone at the New Year's Eve dinner in the temple, only the man from the Zhou family and Shao Zhen ended up drunk. Even the old Temple Keeper was merely tipsy.
The Zhou family's man, a fellow in his thirties, sobbed loudly at the dinner table.
"My boy's life was saved here! Our family doesn't even know how to repay you. Floods one year, drought the next, our elders all gone, and nothing left at home but four bare walls-how can we repay this kindness? Boo-hoo..."
"It's all right, it's all right. As long as the child is safe, there's still hope for everything."
The old Temple Keeper patted the Zhou man's shoulder, his gaze straying toward Shao Zhen, whose face was flushed red from drinking.
"I've let you all down. It's my fault..."
Yi Shuyuan gently waved his fan with a smile. After glancing at Qi Zhongbin, he turned his eyes toward Chen Han and saw that she was rather at a loss over a grown man suddenly bursting into tears.
"Brother Zhou, please don't be like this. We aren't asking you to repay us..."
As Yi Shuyuan waved his fan, he tapped his fingers on the tabletop, first with his index finger, then gradually with all four. The tapping was rhythmic, as though he alone were savoring a song.
The Zhou man had undoubtedly drunk too much, but drinking too much did not necessarily leave a person unaware of what he was doing. At this moment, he was merely borrowing the wine to pour out his sorrow, while also subtly expressing his family's inability to cover certain expenses in the hope of winning sympathy.
It counted as a little bit of "scheming," perhaps.
Of course, compared with the many people who used drunkenness as an excuse to