I am not Ximen Qing.

He lived a life of constant drunkenness, waking up only to immediately get drunk again, because only Zhang Sheng truly believed that God existed in this world! Only through intoxication could he become the soul of Apollo, the sun god, rather than just a shadow.

This seems to be the second time I've taken a train from Beijing West Station heading south! The first time was with Song Yu on the train to the kiln! Changcheng especially loves taking trains south because he can enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. So far, Zhang Sheng, with Apollo's blessing, is living a life of debauchery. There are many things he doesn't need to understand immediately, like wine. Drinking was an indispensable part of his father's life, but he doesn't understand why he drinks. In *Dream of the Red Chamber*, Grandmother Jia and Granny Liu drink together. The variety of drinking vessels used by Sister Feng truly opened Granny Liu's eyes. Wang Xifeng's love for Granny Liu is shown in their drinking and playing with the drinking vessels together. In that scene, Shi Xiangyun is most beautiful after drinking, and drinking is a form of entertainment for the young ladies and maids, part of various festivals, big and small. If they don't drink, what are they doing with their private activities? Anyway, *Dream of the Red Chamber* is almost entirely about men and women. Drinking is a must for every festival, big or small. In the novel *Jin Ping Mei*, the character Ximen Qing drinks almost from morning till night. No feast is complete without wine. He drinks from his home to brothels. It's been an indispensable part of his life since childhood, regardless of whether it's good or bad wine! The worst wine is sorghum liquor brewed in the forest farm. So, the old lumberjacks in the forest farm never drink bad wine. Zhuyeqing, Wuliangye, and Moutai are nothing to them. Anyway, something always feels off. Beijing is too big. If you visit the Confucius Temple and the Imperial College, you'll see the stele forest of the top scholars (Zhuangyuan, Bangyan, and Tanhua) and pay homage to the great teacher of all ages and his disciples. At least one can appreciate that Yan Song, the man who distinguishes traitors from the ancient tree in front of the Confucius Temple, was definitely a significant figure. In *Jin Ping Mei*, there are numerous connections, large and small, to Yan Song and his son, Yan Shifan. Compared to Yan Shifan, Ximen Qing's extravagant and frivolous life is utterly insignificant. This shows that nothing in *Jin Ping Mei* is deliberately crafted; it exists naturally. Think about it. *Jin Ping Mei* is an indispensable and great literary work. A man who could even have the ancient tree in front of the Temple of Confucius criticized must have been a truly treacherous minister! His son, Yan Shifan, was even more adept at pleasing the Jiajing Emperor with his ballads than Yan Song himself. Perhaps *Jin Ping Mei* even contains some of Yan Shifan's own ballads? From the Forbidden City to Ximen Qing's house, or rather, from the Forbidden City to Yan Shifan's house, would be more accurate. In fact, the Forbidden City in Beijing housed at least two books: *Dream of the Red Chamber* and *Jin Ping Mei*. Beijing is too big, and drinking, because of its vastness, was understood, accepted, and tolerated. Old Ji's drinking style was to down a whole donkey's worth of liquor in one gulp, then leisurely continue his editing career. Old Ji always enjoyed his father's glory; Beijing was a place where seniority mattered most. Old Ji had considerable influence, so he could openly pursue his editing career. Now he absolutely believed that Ji the Big Pipe, author of *Notes from the Thatched Cottage*, could not only smoke a pipe but also eat pig's head meat, and was absolutely inseparable from women and alcohol!

When Ji Xiaolan was editing the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries), even Emperor Qianlong couldn't bear to look at it anymore; it was too unsightly. Ji Xiaolan couldn't live without pork head meat, women, and his opium pipe. A Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion couldn't do editing without women; it would be fatal, he'd die of suffocation. To die of suffocation in the Wenyuan Pavilion without women was inhumane. So, Emperor Qianlong played a prank on Ji Xiaolan, sending him several palace maids to relieve his lust! Old Ji was also a descendant of Ji Xiaolan, a grandson-grandson. He was undoubtedly the epitome of a Beijing playboy. His eldest sister went abroad to study, and when Old Ji returned to China before his death, she was utterly disillusioned by his alcoholism—he was addicted to alcohol! Old Ji was truly the luckiest man in Beijing; how many could down a whole bottle of liquor like him? Even Wu Song and Lu Zhishen paled in comparison! Now, the most important thing wasn't alcohol, but money itself! Wine, women, and money are like brothers—indispensable; otherwise, they wouldn't be brothers. Wine and women require money, and conversely, money obtains wine and women! Shang Kun is now Zhang Sheng's secretary, or assistant, so Shang Kun said...

"You'll have to stay in the middle bunk,"

"Thank you, Shang Kun."

"Don't mention it, Manager. It's always been like this in Harbin, I have to take care of you. I have experience with long-distance travel!"

Did you bring the goods?

"We have plenty of water, but the journey is long, so we can't get drunk like we did in Changchun or Harbin."

"What do you think?"

"They stop talking as soon as they start drinking. But are those two guys chasing girls, or running an amusement park?"

"Wenzhou businessmen who are all making money"

"Something seems off; one is a businessman from Sichuan, and the other is a businessman from Wenzhou."

"Merchants from all over the world share one word: color."

"He's sexy enough to scare the girl away, and now I'm tempted too."

"You scared her boyfriend. There are so many perverts!"

"Do you think the deal would have gone through if that girl hadn't shown up?"

"It's definitely not going to work out, but they're really something else. They knew there was no hope of winning, but they still paid the deposit!"

"That's gentlemanly taste, aristocratic taste. At most, it's the taste of Xiang Yu or Liu Bang."

"Now let's talk about Boss Yan, his path to wealth!"

"The path to wealth also involves an element of luck, and Yan Bing's path to wealth was entirely due to women."

"Why would you rely on a woman?"

"Listen to me, Li Huan'ai. She used to be Yan Bing's girlfriend, and now she's his wife."

"Yes"

"Where's Li Huan'ai? She used to be in Chengde."

"Li Huan's visit to Beijing has made President Yan rich."

"Li Huan'ai used to be President Yan's head of admissions, and another person was his class monitor at Jiaotong University. However, the class monitor was snatched away by Yan Bing's employee. Do you understand what 'snatched away' means? In mahjong terms, he had been eyeing the class monitor's body for years, and it was right in front of him. But because of this snatching, he had been starving for the class monitor's body for years. I've seen that class monitor, though. She was indeed fair-skinned and tender. But he understood one thing. Love, you know, is ruined by time and proximity."

"When the manager talked about how he made his fortune, he inevitably started talking about women's bodies."

"Yan Bing, and then her attention focused on Li Huan'ai,"

"Have you changed your mind?"

"They were soulmates, you know? They'd been eyeing each other for a long time. The key was that he was going through a period of uncertainty in his life. He found hope for wealth in Li Huan'ai. To use an imperfect analogy, Ximen Qing saw that Li Ping'er was a woman born with wealth, a lucky charm for her husband. Li Huan'ai was in charge of the logistics and procurement for the entire Evergrande Group. Evergrande Zhongji was one of the earliest real estate tycoons in Beijing, making money too easily. So, she spent money freely and without restraint. The whole company was overflowing with money that couldn't be spent. Buying and spending, nobody cared about the prices. You see, the company was so rich that everyone from top to bottom was incredibly arrogant and crazy. Buying office supplies at exorbitant prices was just a drop in the ocean."

"Selling houses isn't profitable; I've lost a lot of money."

"That's you, Shang Kun. Your company just happened to catch the wave of the real estate boom. If you can earn hundreds of thousands in profit a day and spend only a few thousand, wouldn't it feel like drinking plain water for you to be with Peace EXO?"

"And who is the second woman?"

"Of course, it's an older woman from Taiwan!"

"Taiwanese girls aren't easy to fool; they're incredibly shrewd."

"When the opportunity arises, even pigs can grow wings and become flying pigs. The opportunity to fly to the moon and find Chang'e is here! The Chinese market is overflowing with money! Store after store keeps opening, hundreds of franchise stores in Beijing alone. After opening hundreds of franchise stores, he's richer than Hai Zi. Hai Zi was a local hoodlum, a small-time hoodlum. He made his fortune through speculation and shady dealings. But this guy, with one move, acquired a building from a developer in Chengde. Local developers say he can practically deal with the ten Kings of Hell, the Black and White Impermanence, and Judge Lu, who's always drinking." Playing cards. How many good people can deal with developers? Hai Zi was just a developer's lackey, and he immediately intimidated Hai Zi. He also bought an apartment in Wangjing, Beijing, in a high-end community, the same community as a famous actor couple. This was his fortune! Now he can have a drink, buy two pig's trotters, drink and gnaw on the pig's trotters. He doesn't need to worry about the bill. He can eat, drink, and have fun with the Wenzhou businessman, and everything will be fine. It's mainly a matter of trust. I still admire him. He didn't even touch a hair, yet he obediently paid up. He has already reached the enlightenment of "form is emptiness," the Zen love in the path of form.

Outside the train window was a large, black river. Along the way, the lakes and rivers were either black or green, or some other strange color. Why were these rivers polluted?

"If only we could fly, and see what the rivers on the ground look like from the sky?"

"If the project goes smoothly and payment is made, okay, then I'll discuss buying plane tickets back to Beijing with General Manager Yan when we go back."

"That's great! Flying back to Beijing is much better than taking the train!"

The protagonists in *Dream of the Red Chamber* loved celebrating traditional Chinese festivals. Modern Chinese people seem to have forgotten their roots, leading South Korea and Japan to desperately localize Chinese festivals and culture. Japan, at least, retains some Confucian dignity, while South Korea, since converting to Christianity, has become increasingly arrogant. They celebrate the Lantern Festival, Lunar New Year's Eve, Chinese New Year, Cold Food Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and even claim Confucius and Qu Yuan as Koreans. However, historically, after King Zhou of Shang, some nobles with backbone fled to the Korean Peninsula. If we consider the past of Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Egypt, and perhaps even their connection to China, if we examine the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, we might find they are related. If we lived in "Dream of the Red Chamber," we'd experience countless festivals and celebrations throughout the year, with drinking, eating, and even hiring opera troupes to perform. Whether in "Jin Ping Mei" or "The Story of the Stone," wine culture was an indispensable part of life. It's one of China's most profound and enduring traditions. In "Jin Ping Mei," Ximen Qing is both a god of wine and a notorious drunkard, a more artistic figure than a womanizer, lecher, or other depraved character. The god of wine emphasizes the revelry of carnal desire, living in a hazy, dreamlike state of love, burning with passion, a state of uncontrollable lust, seemingly neither dream nor wakeful. Only this state is the beginning of what is truly acceptable to people. They were still quite enthusiastic, chatting and looking around. The project in Northeast China was progressing smoothly; although it was a franchise, the investors were very enthusiastic. They also mentioned that the area was quite prosperous in the Tang Dynasty, but now everyone is mining coal, hollowing out the underground world where various forces are vying for profits, causing collapses on the black gold surface. This leads to dislocations and fault lines in buildings, a secondary ecological consequence of coal mining. And what about the great rivers of the Tang Dynasty? They've almost all dried up into tiny streams due to frequent accidents. The female investor even took Zhang Kun and Zhang Sheng to visit a pagoda facing the government compound. And that wasn't all; they built a bridge connecting the government compound to the pagoda on the mountain. This pagoda must contain something like a relic, both good and evil, because since its construction, there haven't been any serious coal mine accidents! Having met them once before, the Wenzhou businessmen treated their visit with great importance; at least, they were happy to have friends coming from afar. Wenzhou businessmen are indeed fond of such things. They were pragmatic; wherever there was an opportunity to make money, they went to develop. Famous examples include Wenzhou's nationwide network of eyeglasses stores, shoe stores, and office supply shops. At the beginning of the reform and opening up, Wenzhou merchants were most active in shoe factories, garment factories, and producing clothes, shoes, and various small commodities, exporting worldwide. Wenzhou merchants even opened several chain office supply stores near the Myanmar border. When they were almost in Kunming, they called Shang Kun and Zhang Sheng, and someone would pick them up. Everything went very smoothly; they arrived at the Wenzhou merchant's house around four or five in the morning. After a proper breakfast, the Wenzhou merchant brought out over a dozen bottles of imported liquor, clearly a womanizer. They both knew that Ximen Qing's drinking sprees from morning till night often resulted in sensual pleasures and wasted time indulging in pleasure. Zhang Sheng and Shang Kun were both in a dazed state.

"Let's get down to business first, then we can drink."

"Yes, let's get down to business first, let's go to the market and take some site measurements."

A Wenzhou businessman owned a floor in the local property. He lent tens of millions of yuan to a developer, so the developer gave him the floor as a reward. Looking closely, he was fair-skinned and looked familiar. A typical Zhejiang businessman, he was only about 1.5 meters tall, with single eyelids and a kind face. However, he was a domineering man; his wife was subservient to him, having no presence whatsoever. What kind of age is this, where women are still so humble! As long as a man can make money outside, indulging in pleasures is no one dares to interfere; it's a business necessity. If you've read the Japanese novel "The Glamorous Family," you'll know the woman with the wristwatch who simultaneously indulges in extramarital affairs with her lover and aristocratic wife. These kinds of affairs, keeping a few mistresses, are something wives are happy to do; they can only turn a blind eye!