Chapter 10
Bernie had indeed waited a long time for them.
Berinie did not break his promise and prepared the records and wine.
When Noble and Jesse returned, a "Closed" sign was already hanging at the door. As soon as they entered, they heard melodious music.
The sound of wind chimes was still clear as Bernie came forward. He looked at the two of them carefully and seriously, making Noble take a step back. A rare hint of panic appeared on his calm face. He asked, "Is there something on my face?"
"Yes," Bernie replied immediately, "but less serious than what I thought you would be injured in the situation ICE described."
"So are you satisfied or dissatisfied?" Jesse asked.
“Very satisfied.”
ICE inside was already yelling at them to come in. As they entered, Noble said, "You even cleaned it up?"
Everything on the floor was gathered into the corner, so there was no room to sit down, or even to set up a table to play cards.
"Of course not." Bernie was very proud.
Ice had already started taking out the beer from the bag. Noble squatted beside him and took a bottle of beer. "Just drink it straight away? Without a glass? How generous."
"Hey, you don't want to drink by the glass, do you? We're competing by the bottle today!"
"Want to compete more?" Jesse said lazily. He sat next to Noble and took a bottle.
Bernie sat down on the bed, which creaked after who knows how many years of use. He wondered if it could bear the weight of another person. After distributing the drinks, Ice went to adjust the record player. The vinyl records Bernie mentioned were haphazardly placed next to it. Ice fiddled with them for a while and then switched to a song.
As the gentle prelude came on, ICE started humming along, while Bernie sat there, shaking his head.
Jesse had listened to music properly before, and he thought...it was pretty good. Those two were like possessed people anyway. He turned to look at Noble. He wasn't moving, though he was breathing through his nose, his body moving slightly, and his eyes were open, otherwise he looked like he was asleep. Seeing that he wasn't moving enough for him to notice, Jesse turned back to look at him.
Noble's face wasn't clean; it was covered in dust and dirt. He'd taken a lot of punches with it during fights, and there were bruises on the corners of his mouth. But Jesse bet that was how Noble saw him now. Thinking of this, he felt a little amused again.
A female voice was singing in a language Jesse couldn't understand, and he asked Noble, "Does it sound good?"
"It's okay," Noble commented cautiously.
"Keep your voices down!" Their voices weren't actually loud, but Bernie still wanted to complain about these two people who didn't understand the beauty of music. After he finished complaining, he remembered something: "Oh, right, the bottle opener is at your feet, Noble."
How can we do without wine?
Technically, it was still a bit far from his feet, but Noble didn't bother to complain. He stretched out his foot and hooked it with all his strength. With a click and a press, the bottle cap opened. He put the wine on the ground and held out his hand to Jesse without looking up. Jesse gave him his own bottle of wine, and three seconds later he received a bottle of wine.
"You're quite skilled," Jesse said. Noble didn't look like a drunk, but his movements were so skilled that he looked like a drunk.
"That's great." Noble looked up and saw that Ice and Bernie were some distance away from him, but he didn't want to get up. "Come here."
Bernie didn't want to get up either: "Come here."
Noble tsk-tsk-tsked and threw the bottle opener at him. However, he missed it by a good ten centimeters from Bernie's feet. In the end, he had to stand up to pick it up. "You did that on purpose, Noble!"
"No," Noble said. But Jesse saw that he was smiling, so he guessed that Noble was doing it on purpose.
It seems they're quite familiar with each other. And it's quite interesting: Noble, Bernie, and Chi Ye are all roughly the same age, yet Noble treats them differently. He's noticeably more affectionate with Bernie than with Chi Ye. This isn't about betrayal. Could it be that Noble is acting like the "elder brother" at home?
ICE was still laughing at Bernie, but in the end, the four of them gathered together and raised their bottles in a toast: "Cheers!"
"Cheers to us, Noble, ICE, and Jesse for successfully robbing Doubt today and me being unable to attend!" Bernie said sarcastically.
Good boy, I'm waiting for him here. Noble rolled his eyes. "I'll punish myself... Never mind, I'll punish myself, you guys can do whatever you want." Normally, they'd punish themselves with one glass. But there were no glasses here. A bottle of 0.
Bernie, knowing exactly what Noble was going through, laughed so hard his shoulders shook. Noble emptied the bottle by a third in one gulp. Ice said, "That's about as much as I'll have, too."
He followed Noble's lead and drank about the same amount. Both of them had "punished themselves," and Jesse was in a difficult position. He took a big sip, imitating ICE. As soon as he swallowed, he choked and spit it out. Noble laughed beside him, "Is this your first time drinking?"
This is the first time I've ever heard a record, he thought. But he couldn't say that out loud; it would make him seem unsophisticated. He kept coughing, and Noble was still laughing, patting him on the back. The other two were laughing too, and Bernie laughed so hard his stomach hurt, so he forced himself to pour Jesse a glass of water.
When he finished choking, Noble was still laughing. Jesse looked at Noble, not quite convinced: "Aren't you going to keep drinking?"
"Drink it," Noble said. He didn't drink much, but the wine in the bottle was definitely getting less. He turned to Jesse and said, "There's still some left. Save it for later. You can't drink wine too fast."
Jesse was speechless. From the beginning, he felt that meeting Noble would be like punching cotton. Later, he found that this person was quite complicated. But in short, they were born to be incompatible.
"Naturally Incompatible" patted his shoulder and said, "Drink slowly and drink more times and you'll be fine."
Noble turned back to watch Bernie dancing, but he was still talking to Jesse, "Having said that...you should drink less."
"……oh."
/
Halfway through the drink, we became more familiar with each other.
In addition to beer, Bernie also bought vodka. He has an average alcohol tolerance, but he is very wild. He would add vodka to whoever's bottle has less alcohol. ICE was the first to be added. As a few people were talking, he drank a bottle and a half of beer and then continued to mix.
Jesse drank the least and still managed to talk about serious matters: "Is this the end of the matter?"
Ice was already confused from drinking, and was slow to react: "...Oh, see what Katsuya's group is doing. I'll go ask around."
"If Kaya's team starts, it will be none of our business," Noble said.
"Yes," Ice said, his face already red. One of the main reasons was that Bernie added the most to his drink.
"You're completely drunk," Jesse said. He saw Bernie pouring more wine, and his hand shook, causing the wine to spill. It turned out that he was almost drunk. Looking at Noble again, he was leaning against the wall, very quiet. Jesse asked, "Are you drunk?" He saw that Noble's bottle was also empty.
"No," Noble said, but then added, "A little tipsy."
"Then you are completely drunk." Jesse "judged".
"Pfft." Noble laughed again.
"why are you laughing?"
"Nothing to laugh about. Um... you're right, I'm drunk."
"You can laugh now." Jesse suddenly said something irrelevant. He regretted it the moment he said it.
"I'm human, a normal person. Of course I laugh," Noble said.
Jesse didn't continue the conversation, and Noble didn't say anything either. The two of them sat together and listened to the other two big-tongued people talk.
"Do you know MUGEN...over there?"
"Isn't it just the area that the Kowloon Group failed to take over?"
"The Kowloon Group was really pissed off over there. The Hyuga group under Kowloon went there, but ended up being completely defeated. Noble...why don't you consider taking your sister over there?"
Noble didn't answer, and the two people on the other side quickly changed the subject. Noble closed his eyes, lost in thought. Ice seemed to be asking casually, and he and Bernie were both stuttering by the end of the conversation.
Jesse asked, "Do you have a grudge against Jiulong?"
"A blood feud," Noble replied.
His tone was flat, as if he wasn't talking about himself, but about what happened to someone else. Jesse's heart suddenly turned cold, and the drunkenness he had felt disappeared. Noble wasn't joking, he was sure of it.
"You want to hear it?" Noble asked him.
There were three people fighting in Jesse's mind, one was saying "Noble said that because he is not angry! You can ask! Ask him! I want to hear it!", one was saying "You really have to listen to other people's sad stories?? Do you have a conscience?", and another was saying "Oh my God, aren't you afraid that Noble will kill you after he finishes talking? I think he is a psychopath and I don't know when he will pinch you for twenty seconds like that guy from the daytime."
The three of them got into a fight, and Jesse felt helpless. He felt that this person had a point, and that person also had a point. He initially thought Noble was a kind-hearted nerd with a lot of outrageous things to say, but then he realized he had some brains. Then he discovered that sometimes he was cold to people, and sometimes he was quite vulnerable. Can a person have so many sides? But it seemed to make sense with him. The buffs were piled on top of each other, and now it seemed like he had a grudge against the Kowloon Group? It's hard not to be curious about this person!
In the end, Jesse could only say politely, "I'm curious...if you really want to talk about it."
Noble chuckled, "...I'll tell you about it next time we're drinking."
Something that happened a few years ago... I still often dream about it. It's a story that even Xiaohua doesn't understand clearly. Noble is a little tired.
Jesse uttered an "oh," not knowing if he was disappointed or not. Honestly, he felt like mentioning next time wouldn't necessarily work out. Noble must have been drunken just now, letting him know a little bit, and he might not be willing to talk about it again when he sobered up.
"You're not drinking anymore?" Noble asked.
"Oh, drink." He pretended not to notice what Noble had done just now, and quickly picked up the bottle and drank it in an attempt to maintain the previous friendly atmosphere.
The more he drank, the more dizzy he became. He couldn't remember how much he had drunk. He only remembered ICE changing songs one after another. He felt his body getting heavier and his head getting heavier. Finally, he fell asleep.
/
However, Jesse never waited until the very end for Noble to tell him.
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