The bustling streets of Gusu slightly overwhelmed Cale who almost fell off his horse as a merchant yelled beside his ear.
"Have a taste of Gusu's best wine, Emperor's Smile!" An old man says, offering a cup to Cale as the redhead drinks it in one go.
Cale hums, "It really taste good."
The merchant then smiles, "Isn't it good sir? I see you are from Yunmeng Jiang Sect?"
Considering they wear the crest in their clothes and the clarity bell wearing in their belts, it wouldn't surprise Cale if everyone would know who they are.
Jiang Cheng then furrows his eyebrows before answering, "We are. Do you need anything from us?"
"I dare not to ask something, dear sir. We are just holding an event since disciples from different Sects are coming to Gusu Lan to study, just a simple event that includes drinking."
Cale's attention was focused back to the old man as Wei Ying also perked.
"A drinking contest, I suppose?" Cale says which surprised the old man.
"How smart of you, Young Master. Perhaps you want to join on to our little event?"
Cale just chuckles, a feeling of melancholy washing over when the old man called him Young Master.
"I am just but a mere disciple, they are the Young Master and Young Miss of Yunmeng Jiang Sect." Cale introduces Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli, and if anyone noticed how proud his voice is, no one bothered to point it out.
"But I will take your offer...ahjusㅡmister."
"Oh! Can I join? Gege!"
Cale looks at Wei Ying who have his arm raised like he wanted to answer the question in a teacher's answer.
'Aren't you too young to drink?'
Though the redhead wasn't in the position to refuse since the original Cale Henituse started drinking at the age of fifteen, he just nodded hopelessly before looking at the Jiang siblings.
"We're staying behind to look after you two." Jiang Yanli says after waving goodbye to the other disciples who went to find the inn they reserved in advance.
"Young Master, Young Miss, will you join the contest too?"
"We'll be spectators and look after this two." Jiang Cheng says to the old man.
"A-Xian, A-Xun, the moment I see you become tipsy, I'm pulling you out." Yanli says with a smile, which only earned a nod from the nervous Wei Ying and stoic Cale.
Cale was then seated into a table with four chairs. It was filled with men wearing yellow, white-red, brown and violet robes.
'Ah, this guy...'
Seeing the familiar man in front of him, he could just sigh as he waited for the bartender to serve them their drinks.
The host explained the mechanics of the said event, it was basically the survival of the fittest and whoever finishes a jar first would win.
"Why am I even here?" Cale hears the man in brown robe mutter as he opens his fan, averagely the same as Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng's age.
And there's this timid boy who looks around as if he was lost.
"Then, young sirs. Let the game start!"
A man that seems to be the referee in their table stood beside Cale and the timid boy before serving each a jar of Emperor's Smile.
Cale didn't wait for the others as he have the gall to put a straw and take a sip of the drink leisurely, while the timid boy only choked before started drinking it more smoothly.
He could feel how the man's eyes in front of him squint before drinking his own wine.
Seeing as the jar was left empty, Cale looks at the referee with a stoic face before handing the jar.
"I'm done." Cale says with a red face.
He could hear how the host let out an awed exclaim at how fast he is.
"How many fingers am I holding up, dear sir?" The referee in their table says, holding out eight fingers from both of his hands.
"Eight." Cale says plainly before looking at the man in front of him who slammed the jar on the table with a flushed face.
"Wei Xianghuan had passed this round!"
"Wei Wuxian had passed this round!"
"Wen Chao had passed this round!"
"Nie Mingjue jad passed this round!"
"Jin Zixuan had passed this round!"
"Wen Qing had passed this round!"
Cale smiles teasingly to the man in front of him who was starting to space out.
"Jin-gongzi, congratulations on passing through."
Jin Zixuan just scoffed before standing up and started walking away.
Just then, the man who was holding a fan inched closer to the redhead as he starts talking to him, "You're the famous genius of Yunmeng Jiang I suppose? It is an honor to meet you, Wei-gongzi."
Cale just hums, twirling his cup filled with water before drinking it.
"It is also an honor to meet you, Young Master. Nie Huaisang, I suppose is your name?"
Nie Huaisang just opens his fan and covers the lower half of his face, "Oh? What gave it away, gongzi?"
"Your fan, and the way you look like you're scared to talk with me earlier."
Huaisang just laughs before Cale looks at the timid boy who was starting to doze off.
"Careful now." Cale says as he held the boy's head who was about to slam his head on the table.
"O-oh...thank you...pretty...gege...hmmm...."
Cale just blinks, his face becoming more red as he looks at the drunk boy in confusion.
"A-Ning, you're already this drunk?"
The redhead looks at the woman who resembles the drunk man Cale was touching.
"Oh! You're the famous Wei Xianghuan. Nice to meet you."
Though Cale doesn't know how on earth did he became famous, he just simply returned the greeting.
"It is also nice to meet you."
The Qishan Wen Clan. It seems that some of the people within are not as bad as they are rumored to be, but Cale knew it was too early to judge so hell just shit up about it.
"Gege, they're calling us for the next round." Wei Ying who discreetly went behind the redhead and held his shoulders, looked at Wen Qing who was helping Wen Ning get out of his seat.
"Then, see you again if we ever meet again."
"Yes yes. See you later, gongzi."
As Cale walks away with Wei Ying beside him, he could feel how the younger's grip tighten around his arms as he glares at a Wen from afar.
"Is there a problem?" He asked in a stoic manner, but his reddish-brown eyes were filled with worry.
"No...just...stay away as much as possible...to the Wens."
Cale just looks at Wei Ying.
"Are you already drunk?" Cale asks as a joke, though he's sure that he'll keep Wei Ying's warning in mind.
Wei Ying scoffs, "I should be the one asking that considering your face, gege."
Cale then mutters off-handedly, "The only thing that is in my face is handsomeness."
Wei Ying just looks at him blankly before nodding to himself.
"For the second round! Each have a competitor from four prestigious Sects!"
Cale sat beside Wei Ying and the guy named Nie Mingjue, whom the redhead could almost see the comparison between the man and Tunka from his previous life.
Looking at the larger jar of Emperor's Smile in front of him, Cale couldn't help but smile at how good the owner of the tavern is to throw around such large money to appease the representatives of each Sect and how it boost the sales of the said wine more.
Cale just once again put his straw on the jar before sipping it again leisurely while the others immediately drank the wine like parched men in a desert.
Wei Ying just looks at him funnily before drinking his own jar, the first to fall was Jin Zixuan, then next is Nie Mingjue who was beside him.
The redhead just laughs internally at Jin Zixuan's misery before settling the jar comfortably on the table.
"Oh gege, you're already done?"
Cale just hums at Wei Ying's question.
As the chairs were removed since there were two contestants out, Wen Chao and Wen Qing were each placed beside the two Weis as the younger is getting restless.
So Cale just held Wei Ying's hands under the table before looking at the jar that was placed in front of him.
"So, you're the redhead."
Cale just looks at the man beside him, a foreboding feeling washing over him when he met the latter's gaze.
"Start!" Yells the host.
Cale just bows as a formality before starting to drink on his own jar.
'Please leave me alone.'
"And the Wei Brothers, win this round!" The host yells as the audience started clapping.
Wen Chao and Wen Qing was dropped asleep on the table as Cale just sighed, the tension finally leaving him when the man became unconscious.
Just as Cale was about to stand up, he could feel a hand painfully pull his hair as he cursed out loud.
Looking at the perpetrator, Cale couldn't help but return the scowl Wen Chao was giving to him as he tried pulling his hair back.
"Young Master Wen, let go of my hair."
The redhead didn't bother to plead for such humane action, he could feel the burning sensation making way through head as he hissed in annoyance.
There was then a hand that pushed away Wen Chao's grip from Cale's hair, Wei Ying used his taller stature to hide the redhead from behind him who was fixing his hair with a black tie.
"I believe my gege said to let of his hair." Wei Ying says blankly, before Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli came closer to them.
"Let's go to the inn now, Wei Wuxian." Jiang Cheng says who was now beside Wei Ying, while Jiang Yanli softly caresses Cale's hair roots.
"The sun would suit you the most than a lotus." Wen Chao suddenly says before looking at Cale with a serious look.
The sword that was attached in Cale's hips suddenly started quivering.
- Who the hell is this clown?
'I know right.'
In answer, Cale just smiles as he feigned his best calm voice before answering Wen Chao.
"I rather like lotuses more, Young Master Wen. Thank you for the offer though."
As the four of them started leaving after Wei Ying talked with the host about the prize, they could hear a mocking laugh coming from Wen Chao.
"What a pity."
'Yeah I hope you fall in a manure then.' Cale thinks before leaving in a hurried manner, annoyed at having his hair suddenly pulled.
Fixing his hair tie, he could feel that something was torn in his hair tie as he hurriedly removed it and take a look.
The black hair tie that Wei Ying gifted him has a torn edge, making Cale seethe in anger as he glared back at the tavern.
"Let's go to the inn, I need to sew this before committing genocide."
"Committing whatㅡ"
To say the least, Jiang Cheng managed to stop the redhead from going back and pull all of Wen Chao's hair and possibly make him go bald(even though just the simplest thought of it is nice).
This is a late greeting but Happy new year to all of you, dear readers!
Another year had once again passed by, and I'm thankful that despite all the other incomplete works that I have, you all never fail to read every of my new works. Once again, thank you.
Again, happy new year!
TMI: Gege's Protection Squad is short for GPS and don't worry, I'll write a chapter where Cale reacts to Yunmeng trio's name squad for him lmao.
Someone asked from Ao3 what would Cale look like in a cultivation world, so I just simply searched from pinterest and found one that would fit Cale (Just minus the ornaments since he won't wear that YET).
(Hot damn though I've been staring at it for the whole day hahahaha)
Credits to the owner on Weibo(even though I got it from pinterest xD).
https://pin.it/73tZ3At