Hehe, I'm left-handed, so I had to use my left hand. Zadan, being honest and simple, didn't mind. Amid the cheers of the surrounding crowd, we started wrestling.
I must say, Zadan is incredibly strong. I definitely couldn't beat him with my right hand, but with my left, I had a slight edge.
Wiping the sweat from his face, Zha Dan was unconvinced and said, "Let's have another drinking contest."
There were already people around, carrying up two wine jars. When I saw the shackles, I immediately groaned inwardly, "Hey, don't do it like on TV, just drink directly from the jars like you're drinking plain water. I don't think I can handle that kind of alcohol."
Fortunately, we were drinking from bowls, and someone had already poured them for us. Zhadan picked up his bowl, said "Cheers first," and gulped it down.
Now I have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it. Even if I lose, I have to lose with dignity, like a man. It would be too unmanly to give up before even having a drink.
I picked up the bowl and drank it down in one gulp. I have to say, the Qiang people's liquor is very strong. It felt like being on fire after drinking it. I had to take a couple of deep breaths to feel a little better.
Zha Dan picked up another bowl and drank it all in one gulp. I followed suit and drank mine too. After four bowls, I started to feel dizzy and intoxicated. I looked at Zha Dan, and he wasn't much better off; his face was red and his neck was thick.
"Would you like some more?" I asked.
"Drink, of course I'll drink," he said, and then he picked up another bowl, which I had no choice but to drink as well.
We both struggled to drink this bowl, taking it one sip at a time, while people around us shouted. Just when we were about to finish the bowl, we both sat down on the ground and ran out into the woods to vomit.
The revelry continued, and I was a little drunk. I had just drunk aged Qiang liquor, which had a slow onset but a strong aftereffect. Elder Taji had already arranged accommodations for us in a wooden building in the village.
The houses of the Qiang people are usually built on the mountainside, with stone walls at the bottom, also called watchtowers. Once I got to the room, I fell asleep as soon as I lay down.
In a daze, I seemed to hear someone calling me. The voice was ethereal, sometimes near, sometimes far, and I couldn't hear it clearly or tell if it was a man or a woman. It was like I was dreaming. In the dream, the voice seemed to come from across a thousand years of time and space, softly calling to me.
Suddenly the sound turned shrill, like a vengeful ghost demanding my life. I was so startled that I sat up abruptly, cold sweat pouring down my face. I wiped the sweat from my forehead, and feeling the urge to urinate, I got up to go outside to relieve myself.
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