In a restaurant at the entrance of the township government, Deputy Township Chief Lou reserved the VIP area on the second floor.
Actually, in a place like this, there were very few people having meals, so whether it was reserved or not didn't make much difference.
When Township Chief Wu took Gu Qiu upstairs, there were already three people in the private room. Besides Deputy Township Chief Lou, there were two young girls. When Gu Qiu saw them, his eyes lit up. The girl he had met at the office stairway entrance was among them.
While Gu Qiu was looking at her, she was also looking at Gu Qiu, and both of them had a bit of shyness on their faces.
The other girl was a bit less impressive in appearance, but her dress was also up to the standards of the city, and there was no trace of a rural flavor at all.
Deputy Township Chief Lou came upstairs and introduced them, "This is Cong Tong, and this is Zhou Xiaojie. They are the two beauties of our Daqiu Township."
Gu Qiu smiled at them and stood up to shake hands with them.
Deputy Township Chief Lou added, "Xiao Cong, Xiao Zhou, this is Xiao Gu from the County Investment Promotion Office. He's here to guide our work. You should be on your best behavior tonight. We can't let Comrade Gu Qiu go back and say that we rural people don't know our manners and neglected the comrades from the county."
Hearing that Gu Qiu was from the Investment Promotion Office, Cong Tong smiled and shook hands with Gu Qiu, "Hello, please take good care of me."
Cong Tong's hand was as soft as if it had no bones, and it felt very comfortable in the hand. Gu Qiu said, "You surely aren't from Daqiu Township. You're here for grassroots training, right?"
Township Chief Wu laughed, "You really have a good eye. Cong Tong is the youngest director in our township government. She's in charge of the Family Planning Commission."
Gu Qiu was a bit surprised. Judging by Cong Tong's age, which was about the same as his own, she was already the director of the Family Planning Commission Office. Deputy Township Chief Lou said beside them, "She's the daughter of Director Cong from the Land and Resources Bureau. Do you know Director Cong?"
"Oh, I've heard so much about him. I've heard so much about him!" Gu Qiu didn't know this Director Cong at all and could only reply perfunctorily.
So Cong Tong had such a background and became the director of the Family Planning Commission Office at a young age.
Impressive!
The other one was Zhou Xiaojie. Although she wasn't as good-looking as Cong Tong, her voice was very sweet. Deputy Township Chief Lou said, "She's the daughter of Director Zhou from the Credit Cooperative and works in our Civil Affairs Office."
After the introductions were done, the dishes were served.
Township Chief Wu pointed at a whole big pig's head that was served and said, "Don't underestimate this dish. It's one of the specialty dishes of our Daqiu Township. The pig's head comes from a wild boar on the Wild Boar Ridge. The whole pig's head is slowly cooked over a slow fire without being damaged. After it's cooked, it's processed with seasonings to make it look, smell, and taste excellent."
On a huge plate was placed a whole pig's head, with its ears, eyes, and nose intact. Beside the pig's head were scallions, peppers, and other seasonings as decorations. A fragrant aroma wafted over, and it was indeed an excellent classic famous dish.
Besides this, there was also a fish head that was as big as two palms. Township Chief Wu said, "This is the bighead fish from the source of the Lian River in our Daqiu Township. It tastes delicious. During festivals, it's definitely a must-have gift for local leaders."
The fish head was big, cut into two halves, and smelled fragrant.
Gu Qiu had eaten quite a few fish heads before, but he had never seen it cooked in this way. Around the fish head was a circle of tofu. Hearing that it was the bighead fish from the source of the Lian River, Gu Qiu couldn't help but salivate.
Another signature dish was stewed free-range chicken.
The chicken soup made by stewing an old rural hen from Daqiu Township with mushrooms and other seasonings was a bright yellow color and smelled so delicious that it made people drool.
After introducing them, Township Chief Wu said to Gu Qiu, "I've long had the idea of promoting these three dishes as our signature dishes, but I just don't know how to start."
Deputy Township Chief Lou brought over a bucket of wine and said, "Let's not talk about this for now. Tonight, we should play the role of good hosts and drink to our hearts' content!"
Gu Qiu said, "I really can't drink."
He had heard that people in the mountains were especially good at drinking, so to avoid making a fool of himself, he said that he couldn't drink.
Deputy Township Chief Lou smoothed his sparse hair and frowned upon hearing this, "It makes no sense not to drink when you come to the countryside. Don't you all agree?"
Everyone agreed. Deputy Township Chief Lou added, "There's another saying. If you don't flirt with girls when you go to the city, you should divorce such a husband as soon as possible!"
Zhou Xiaojie blinked her eyes and asked, "Why is that?"
Deputy Township Chief Lou looked at Township Chief Wu and burst out laughing, "A husband who doesn't flirt with girls when he goes to the city means that he has some problems with certain functions. What's the use of keeping such a husband?"
This joke made Zhou Xiaojie and Cong Tong feel a bit embarrassed.
Gu Qiu knew that he couldn't avoid drinking tonight, so he reluctantly agreed.
The plastic bucket that Deputy Township Chief Lou brought over contained about twenty catties of wine. It wasn't white wine or rice wine. After everyone poured it, at the urging of the two township chiefs, everyone drank a glass.
The wine was sweet and tasted good when it entered the mouth.
Gu Qiu was a bit puzzled and asked, "What kind of wine is this?"
Township Chief Wu looked at him and asked, "Do you like it?"
Gu Qiu said, "The wine is good!"
Deputy Township Chief Lou stood up and said, "Look at you. You can tell whether the wine is good or bad with just one sip, yet you said you can't drink? Xiao Gu, if you don't drink freely tonight, you'll be letting down these two beauties."
Gu Qiu knew that with the identities of Cong Tong and Zhou Xiaojie, the two township chiefs just asked them to join in the fun and add to the drinking atmosphere. Nothing like what happened to Chen Yan would occur.
Gu Qiu asked, "What kind of wine is this?"
Deputy Township Chief Lou replied, "It's water wine, a specialty of our place. It's a treasured item. Ordinary people can't drink it."
Gu Qiu had drunk white wine, beer, red wine, and rice wine before, but he had never drunk water wine. However, this wine was really good and quite flavorful. It wasn't high in alcohol content and was sweet.
After only two glasses, Deputy Township Chief Lou threw away his glass and said, "The glass is too small. Let's use bowls, us three men!" So the three men changed to big rice bowls, while Cong Tong and Zhou Xiaojie still used glasses.
When Gu Qiu had drunk three big bowls, he started to feel that something was wrong.
At first, this wine didn't have much of an effect. It was sweet and nice to drink. But the more he drank later, the stronger the alcohol hit him.
Deputy Township Chief Lou had a smile on his face and said to Gu Qiu, "Come on, cheers, cheers."
Gu Qiu said, "I can't do it. I really can't."
Deputy Township Chief Lou winked at Cong Tong and Zhou Xiaojie, and the two had to stand up with their glasses. Deputy Township Chief Lou said, "Alright, you don't drink when we toast you. Will you drink when the beauties toast you? Will you drink or not?"
Of course, he would drink!
Cong Tong and Zhou Xiaojie each toasted him a glass. Township Chief Wu said, "Xiao Gu, your alcohol tolerance is really not good. Just as Deputy Township Chief Lou said before, it makes no sense not to drink when you come to the countryside. And if you don't flirt with girls when you go to the city, your wife will divorce you in the future. Besides, your attitude towards drinking is not good and needs to be criticized. People say that if you can drink eight taels but drink a jin, the Party can trust such a cadre; if you can drink white wine but choose beer, such a cadre will be transferred away; if you can drink beer but choose drinks, the Party doesn't want such a cadre; if you can drink drinks but choose boiled water, such a cadre is a joke; if you can drink boiled water but only eat, such a cadre should get out of here! Tonight, it's up to you what to do with the wine!"
Stimulated by these words, Gu Qiu picked up his bowl and said, "Alright, tonight I'll drink until I'm drunk with the two township chiefs and the two beauties. Let's make it clear that no one is allowed to cheat!"
Gu Qiu got tough and started to drink bowl after bowl with Deputy Township Chief Lou and Township Chief Wu. From time to time, he also clinked glasses with Cong Tong and Zhou Xiaojie. In the end, the three men basically finished the twenty catties of water wine.
Finally, Deputy Township Chief Lou and Township Chief Wu had to call people to carry them back. Gu Qiu staggered and said, "Your alcohol tolerance is no good!"