43: Tianhailou banquet

Given his physique, he wouldn't get seasick, so fighting big fish on the boat wouldn't be a problem either.

Coming out from the Fishermen's Wharf, they headed straight for Tianhai Tower, not forgetting to send a reminder message to everyone along the way.

They arrived at Tianhai Tower around 6:30. Chen Xiangbei entered the private room first and asked the waiter to notify the kitchen that they could start preparing the dishes.

At 6:50, Hu Dong pushed the door open and came in. Seeing that Chen Xiangbei had already arrived, he opened his arms and rushed towards him.

Chen Xiangbei stood still with open arms, waiting. The two shared a warm embrace.

Hu Dong's personality was quite similar to his; both were relatively introverted. But once they got wild, they were unstoppable.

The two brothers hadn't seen each other for a long time. They only knew that Hu Dong had found a job working in a financial company.

Chen Xiangbei hadn't told anyone else that he couldn't find a job, except for Li An.

Hu Dong naturally didn't know what he had been doing recently.

Hu Dong said with a smile, "Xiangbei, you've been doing well lately, you can even afford to eat at Tianhai Tower."

"Just so-so," Chen Xiangbei replied. "After leaving school, I stumbled into the Ornamental Fish business by chance and made a small profit. What about you, how's work?"

"Sigh, the more I say, the more tears will flow! I experienced the hardships of a working person in just one month! I'll tell you more when An Zi and Hai Wang arrive."

"Alright then, sit down and have some tea. They should be arriving soon," Chen Xiangbei said, pouring a cup of tea and handing it to Hu Dong.

Hu Dong took the tea with both hands. Before he could sit down, the door was pushed open again.

The two looked up and saw a timid little girl of five or six standing at the doorway, looking like she wanted to come in but didn't dare.

Chen Xiangbei and Hu Dong had seen her before; she was Wang Ziyi's younger sister.

When they were in college, his parents were busy with work and often had Wang Ziyi look after her, so she was frequently brought to school.

Seeing her standing there motionless, Chen Xiangbei asked softly.

"Little Wang Xinyi, why are you standing at the door and not coming in? Come here to Xiangbei Gege, Brother will give you candy!"

As he spoke, he picked up a bag of pre-prepared rainbow-filled soft candies from a nearby table and made a gesture to offer them to Wang Xinyi.

When she saw the colorful candies, her eyes lit up instantly.

Her head tilted slightly, her mouth slightly open, as if she was savoring the sweet aroma of the candies.

Her little legs took a step forward, then retreated. She looked at the candies, then looked at Chen Xiangbei, seemingly engaged in some internal struggle.

After a long time, she finally said, "My brother said eating candy will cause cavities, he won't let me eat it."

"It's okay, Xiangbei Gege is giving it to you. Your brother wouldn't dare scold you. If he does, Hu Gege and I will beat him up," Chen Xiangbei said, pretending.

"No, I don't want that, you can't beat up my brother, he's very good to me, he always buys me delicious things, I don't want your candy, hmph!" Wang Xinyi replied firmly.

"Alright, alright, we won't beat up your brother. How about you hold onto the candy for now, and when your brother gets here, you can ask him if you can eat it, okay?" Chen Xiangbei quickly said.

"Okay then, you promised you won't bully my brother!" she said, taking the candy.

"Your brother and we are good friends. How could good friends bully good friends? We were just joking," Hu Dong explained.

"By the way, where did your brother go? Why didn't he come with you?"

"My brother told me to come in first. He just left something in the car, so he went back to the car to get it," Wang Xinyi said.

After the two chatted with Wang Xinyi for a while, the private room door was pushed open again.

They saw Wang Ziyi and Li An walking in arm in arm.

Each of them held a bottle of baijiu in one hand. As soon as they entered, they placed the baijiu on the dining table.

Then they each hugged Chen Xiangbei and Hu Dong.

After the embraces, everyone took their seats, and Chen Xiangbei signaled the waiter to serve the dishes.

The theme of today's meal was called "The Bright Moon Rises Over the Sea."

There were a total of eighteen dishes, including King Crab prepared in two ways, spicy stir-fried Boston Lobster, lobster baked with cheese in superior broth, stir-fried prawns cut open, steamed leopard coral grouper, steamed abalone with garlic and vermicelli, and so on.

The drinks were two bottles of 15-year-old treasured Moutai wine brought by the two of them.

This series of Moutai was a bit better than regular Moutai; it was aged wine with a richer aroma and flavor.

The waiter opened the wine and poured a small glass for everyone.

Wang Ziyi raised his glass and said, "It's been almost two months since graduation, and congratulations to everyone on finding jobs. Come on, let's drink to that!"

Chen Xiangbei and the other two all picked up their glasses, stood up, and said, "Cheers!"

"Let's agree on this first, although it's the weekend, we shouldn't get drunk. Just a few drinks is fine, eat more dishes, these dishes are really fragrant!" Chen Xiangbei said.

"Definitely not," Hu Dong sighed. "Let me tell you, since I started working, I've realized how important it is to maintain a clear head. After work is just like being at work; you never know when your boss will look for you."

Li An said, empathizing, "Don't mention it, I'm the same. My dad treats me like he's hired a free worker, working me to death. This is the only time I've been able to come out since graduation."

"Hahaha, you're really miserable, aren't you? By the way, did your dad pay you?" Chen Xiangbei laughed loudly.

"Certainly not. He calls it training my business skills. It's good enough if he gives me some pocket money to save up."

"I actually wanted to go out and find a job, but as you can see, as soon as I graduated, my parents went on a world tour abroad and left her with me. I've been looking after the kid for over a month!" Wang Ziyi said pitifully.

The brothers complained to each other, as if they were the most wronged people in the world, and no one was more miserable than themselves.

"Oh right, Xiangbei, how have you been lately? Did you win the lottery and get rich? You're having lobster and abalone," Wang Ziyi asked.

"No, no, I've been dealing in Ornamental Fish lately. I was lucky enough to get a few good ones and sold them for some money."

"Just over ten days ago, I couldn't even afford to eat. If you don't believe me, ask Li An, I was borrowing his money to pay rent before," Chen Xiangbei explained.

"Sigh, I really miss college life. Carefree and unrestrained. Who knew that as soon as we graduated, we'd become wage slaves," Li An said bitterly.

"Exactly! In school, besides necessary studying, the rest was all about having fun, either dating or going out and partying. It couldn't have been happier!" Wang Ziyi echoed.

"Come on, brothers, let's have one! To our student days, to our lost youth, and to our bright future!" Chen Xiangbei shouted.

After a few drinks, they stopped. Adult life didn't allow them to indulge freely.

When they were done eating, they sat and chatted about everything, either cars and houses or women, topics that no guy could avoid.

During the conversation, Wang Ziyi brought up something he needed their help with.

His girlfriend's birthday was tomorrow, and he was going to the neighboring city of Pengshi to celebrate with her. It wasn't convenient to bring Wang Xinyi, so he wanted them to look after her for two days.