"Do you know Kunlun?" The man who approached was full of confidence, as if he were showing off the backyard of his own villa.
"Are you talking about mountains or novels?" Mei Ziqing asked.
"It's neither a mountain nor a novel, but a barrier!" the man said, swirling his wine glass. " Kunlun is the largest barrier in the world! The Mount Kunlun of today are not the same as the Kunlun of the past. The Kunlun of the past was the source of the dragon veins, where the Queen Mother of the West lived by the Jade Pool, with two bluebirds guarding the palace day and night. Mount Everest is not the highest mountain in the world either. The true highest peak is Kunlun Ruins, which is 11,114 steps and 2 feet and 6 inches high. That's measured using the steps of an immortal. One step of an immortal is 10 feet, and 10 feet is 3 meters. You can calculate how high that is!"
The man reeked of alcohol, clearly having drunk quite a bit. Bian Ziyuan gave him a disgusted look, deeply annoyed that he had broken the bar's rules—who goes around hitting on a woman with a male companion right away?
But Mei Ziqing seemed very interested in the barrier, asking, "But Shenzhou is clearly there! Everyone can see it, and it only takes a short time to get there by high-speed rail!"
The man seemed to see an opportunity and moved closer. Seeing the sake Mei Ziqing was drinking, he feigned surprise and said, "A sake bomb! Very few people drink sake here. Are you Japan? Or did you study in Japan?"
Mei Ziqing said, "You haven't even drunk it, how do you know it's sake?"
The man said, "My knowledge of wine is as deep as my knowledge of women. No matter what kind of wine it is, I can tell what it's made of just by looking at it."
"Boring!" Bian Ziyuan muttered. He had clearly seen the bartender mix the entire drink, so of course he knew what kind of drink it was. He didn't think Mei Ziqing would fall for it; this kind of trick could only fool an innocent young girl.
But he seemed to have overestimated the female scientist's emotional intelligence. Mei Ziqing actually went along with the man's topic and continued the conversation, "Really? You can tell just by looking at her?"
The man raised an eyebrow at Bian Ziyuan defiantly and said to Mei Ziqing, "Of course! I can not only judge wine, but I can also judge people, read palms, especially women's hands. Just one look at them and I can see their past and present lives."
Bian Ziyuan glared angrily at the man, but to no avail. He was right next to Mei Ziqing, yet he was being ignored. He felt slighted and challenged, but the inherent reserve of an intellectual prevented him from getting angry. In fact, he didn't know how to lash out.
Standing up and telling him, "This is my woman?" Even he couldn't bring himself to say that. Or maybe he should just slap him and tell him to get lost? That's what he really wanted to do right now, but what would the consequences be? Could he really beat him in a fight? Even if he could, wouldn't he get arrested if the police came?
A series of questions kept popping into Bian Ziyuan's mind. This brain, capable of writing the world's most difficult artificial intelligence programs, was unable to solve a simple problem that a brute could solve.
He felt a surge of anger rising within him, but had nowhere to vent it, so he downed his beer in one gulp and slammed the glass heavily on the bar.
Xiao Qi was used to this kind of thing, so he didn't say anything and silently filled Bian Ziyuan's wine glass.
Mei Ziqing didn't let the man's scheme to read her palm succeed. Instead, she followed up on her earlier question, asking, "Why do you say there's a barrier around Shenzhou?"
The man ordered another strong drink, took a sip, and said, "Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, only six or seven typhoons have actually made landfall in Shenzhou, and they were all relatively minor. The most powerful typhoons avoided us. If you were to draw the paths of all the typhoons over the past few decades, you would see a dense network, but there's a huge hole in the middle of this network—that hole is Shenzhou. As long as Shenzhou is alright, Wuzhong won't suffer much damage."
"That's because Shenzhou's latitude and geographical location are special, right? There must be a scientific explanation," Mei Ziqing said.
The man realized that the woman before him wasn't as easy to fool as she seemed, and a flush of alcohol rose to his face. Like a hunter encountering rare prey, he carefully loaded his gun and, displaying his expert skills, said:
"You're right, Shenzhou's geographical location is indeed very special. It's located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and to the south is the mouth of the Qiantang River. Do you know what this is called in Feng Shui? It's called 'Two Dragons Emerging from the Sea'!"
These two dragons are incredibly powerful! One is the longest water dragon in China, and the other is the strongest. They constantly churn the rivers and seas, so in ancient times, this area was a vast expanse of water. To subdue these two dragons, Guanyin Bodhisattva built her sacred site on Mount Putuo. Guanyin originally lived in the South China Sea; the South China Sea Guanyin moved to the East China Sea specifically because of these two dragons.
After Guanyin arrived, the two dragons calmed down and established a boundary at sea to protect this land and water, which led to the prosperity of the Yangtze River Delta. Water represents wealth! Where there is more water, there is more wealth, but water flows downhill and all goes to the sea. You see, before, the richest place in the Pearl River Delta was Hong Kong, but that was because wealth was flowing out. Later, the country reclaimed land in Shenzhou to subdue the dragons, and only then did the Pearl River Delta become rich.
With two dragons guarding the Yangtze River Delta, not only does wealth not flow out of the region, but the dragons can also bring wealth ashore from the sea. Therefore, it has been the richest place in China from ancient times to the present. This is all thanks to Guanshiyin Bodhisattva!
Mei Ziqing held her wine glass, smiling without saying a word.
The man continued, "Don't you believe me? My palmistry and fortune-telling skills were taught to me by an old master from Mount Putuo. He told me not to easily show them off in front of others. I'm only telling you this because I see you have a watery face and you're from Dongying, so you have some connection with those two dragons."
Bian Ziyuan couldn't hold back any longer and cursed, "Nonsense!"
The man wasn't angry; he truly seemed like a sage detached from worldly affairs. He sighed softly and muttered to himself, "The world laughs at me, slanders me, deceives me, and doesn't believe me. I endure it, let it be, let it go, and ignore it. This is the principle the Bodhisattva taught me."
He then said to Mei Ziqing, "In this secular place, discussing Buddhism and Daoism is disrespectful to Bodhisattvas and Tushu. Why don't we find a quiet place and I'll do your fortune telling? That way, we won't waste this opportunity!"
Bian Ziyuan knew exactly where the quiet place he was referring to was. Enraged, he jumped up, shoved the man away from Mei Ziqing, and roared, "Shut your filthy mouth and get out!"
He was blinded by anger and forgot that the best thing to do in this situation was to pull Mei Ziqing away, not to argue with the drunkard in the bar.
Whether the man was truly drunk or feigning it was unclear. When Bian Ziyuan, he fell backward, his hand sliding along the bar counter. He not only bumped into the person behind him but also knocked over the bottles on the bar, shattering them all over the floor.
Those whose glasses had been bumped or knocked over immediately began to voice their grievances, and onlookers gathered around. Bian Ziyuan was about to leave, the man approached him, saying very politely that it was alright for him to be pushed, but he should compensate the other drinkers for their drinks. The onlookers, unaware of the situation, assumed that Bian Ziyuan was the one who was being unreasonable and domineering.
Surrounded by the crowd, Bian Ziyuan felt extremely embarrassed. People's gazes were like sharp knives piercing him. He was extremely bad at handling this kind of situation and didn't know how to explain himself. His face turned red, and his body trembled with anger. He looked more like a drunkard than the guy opposite him.
Several righteous men rushed out, grabbed Bian Ziyuan by the collar, and slammed him onto the bar. These men were strong and looked fierce; they were not kind. Bian Ziyuan tried to resist, but the programmer's weak body couldn't withstand the exertion and he couldn't muster any strength.
Xiao Qi had already anticipated what would happen. The man was clearly a seasoned womanizer, and those guys who seemed to be standing up for him were his accomplices—the kind of old thugs you often see in bars. He came out from behind the bar, put his arm around the drunken man's shoulder, and said:
"Brother, that's enough."
The man paused, glanced at her sideways, his previous gentlemanly demeanor vanished, and he no longer seemed so drunk. His menacing expression turned fierce as he said, "Sell your wine, mind your own business!"
Xiao Qi suddenly turned stern and said, "New here, huh? Do you know who's protecting you here?"