Lu Shengnan stared at me with the paper held between her fingers for seconds until she finally uttered, “You said you are neighbors?!” “Urm… Heh heh heh,” I giggled sheepishly and said, “I’m staying in Unit 105.” Lu Shengnan gaped with disbelief at me for another few seconds. “Oh, my God! You’re hiding a huge fortune, are you!? The villas there cost millions each!”

Never to miss out any chance to brag, Lin Feng placed a hand on my shoulder, quipping triumphantly, “Heh, as if that amount would matter to Shiyan! He can easily win that amount of money in a single bet! I’m sure you’ve heard of the children abductions that happened before around Wu Zhong? The case that involved some evil cultists? That was solved by us! One million yuan, piece of cake!”

The hoiden Lu Shengnan watched as Lin Feng carried on with his histrionics with awe, rubbing her hands, her eyes dreamy and mystified. At this, I hurriedly waved my hands and said, “All right, enough there! Don’t take his word for it! He just likes to brag! The house is bought by my mother for my wedding. It’s my parents who bought it, not me.”

“Wait a minute. You told me before that your father is the head person of a National Studies Institute and your mother’s a housewife. How…” “They’re like those invisible billionaires or hidden tycoons. They just prefer to remain out of sight.” Lu Shengnan nodded pensively, taking my word completely without a shred of doubt.

But what’s a couple of million for a villa house, I mused. After seeing Father whisking away the mound of treasures and jewels in the ancient crypt during my time travels, I have now a lucent idea of how much money Father has hoarded and I can swear that any one of the little trinkets from that large heap of treasure was worth even more than that large villa house.

Lin Feng was continuing with his gloating and he had reached the part where we were fighting against the Creed of the Eight Trigrams, albeit his version of the events was rampant with exaggerations and melodramatics. He even made it a point to specifically mention about the one million yuan bet between me and Zheng Shuang’s uncle. As if it was not bad enough, Chongxi even joined in the double act! Finally, when the tale came to a pause, the tomboy Lu Shengnan threw me a coquettish look. “You must need an agent or a manager to handle things for you, Shiyan?”

“Gimme a break!” I grimaced.

Our light conversation in Lu Shengnan’s place lingered on until the sky grew dark outside. She led us to a restaurant where I was subjected to her relentless pestering during the entire meal until I finally relented and paid the bill. By then it was already eight but Chongxi and Lin Feng never stopped enthralling her with more tales about our adventures that she began to develop an interest in joining our band.

With the admiration and pride as if she was speaking to a childhood hero she grew up with, she beamed, “Count me in, Shiyan! Let me join you! Operating a tuition center is nowhere near as fun and thrilling as you! Come on, I’ll join in so we’re now a quartet!” “Nope, you can’t,” Chongxi bluntly rejected her and said, “Each of us is skilled in something. I’m skilled in the magic of divination, astrology, and fortune-telling. Lin Feng is skilled in different styles of wushu techniques, like Southern Fists and Northern Kicks. And Shiyan? He’s even greater; the man’s the son of a demigod who has greater magical powers! But what expertise do you have to offer?”

Lu Shengnan puffed her chest and declared proudly, “I’m a trouble-maker! Look at all movies and stories, they always have a character who is a trouble-maker that lands everyone in new adventures! I’ll be the trouble-maker and I have no fear of getting into trouble! Heh heh heh!” “Nope,” I scoffed jokingly and said, “We don’t need trouble-making talents! If you still haven’t grasp the entirety of Chongxi’s ability, he can divine out almost anything; humans, demons, ghosts, almost anything! He’s the reason we don’t need trouble-doers like you.”

Lu Shengnan sighed at the rejection, looking positively crestfallen. “Come now,” I said to her consolingly with a hand patting her shoulder, “Our job has its risks. One wrong move and we might lose our lives. You would be nothing but fresh meat since you have no ways to defend yourself.”

But that did not discourage Lu Shengnan from badgering us and hounding us until we finally gave in: we would include her into our affair tonight at Huang Li’s place just this one time. I was convinced that the thing Huang Li could concoct would not be difficult for us and the experience of truly experiencing the paranormal, which could be several times more challenging and gripping than continually riding roller-coaster ten times, could well be daunting enough to dissuade her from joining us.

Realizing that we still have time, Lu Shengnan suggested a visit to the local bar. My companions and I traded quick looks and we nodded, although I swiftly regretted my decision when I found Lu Shengnan giving me that Your-treat-not-mine look.

The intense beats of EDM reverberated in our ears like pulsating war drums in the bar that I was almost dizzy by the neon and laser lights flickering and dancing about on the floor. We sat at the bar and the bartender filled glasses of liquor for us. Lu Shengnan threw him a naughty look and yelled above the din in the pub, “Gimme your WeChat ID, Handsome!” That made me narrow my eyes as I wondered, “Since when does this tomboy behave so girlishly?” But… ah! I began to realize that she likes boys that look delicate and soft. On the other hand, a potato-like Chongxi would hardly be the ideal dashing Prince Charming for her whereas I was usually the type that girls would readily swipe left. That left only Lin Feng, the only one out of us three that could barely fit the bill. But he was the tall and stern type instead of the beautiful and gorgeous type laddies that girls these days swoon for.

Lu Shengnan was actually pretty, although her tomboyish appearance and traits were oft-times the deal breakers for her. Expectedly, the bartender only responded with a professional and polite smile before shredding her hopes with a little shake of his head.

Refusing to give in, Lu Shengnan began doing what she always did best: hounding others with unyielding doggedness as if she was venting whatever displeasure and dissatisfaction she felt from our rejection of her joining us on the poor bartender. At the end, when the young man was able to stave her off with a stalwart defense, she demanded to know if the bartender already had a girlfriend. The bartender uttered two words. Two one-syllable words that shattered what remained of her dashed hopes to chips and flakes, “I’m gay.”

It was an answer that none of us expected at all and I could no longer hold back and exploded in an uncontrollable fit of guffaw so great that the bartender blushed furiously. It took almost a couple of heartbeats until I realized that I was behaving rudely and I struggled to control myself, shoving another gulp of liquor down my throat in vain hopes that it would help.

It was a draught that I reeled with anguish to the point of nearly vomiting it out. “What is this?!” I jerked my head back at the bartender and the bartender must have thought I was a snapping snake for a moment that he winced and answered, “Margarita.” Chongxi and Lin Feng saw the ugly expression on my face and took some testy sips from my glass and they frowned just as badly as I did. The taste of Margarita cocktails did not appeal to us, to say the least. The blend of sweetness, sourness, and saltiness swirling in the concoction was hardly our brand of beverage for leisure.

“It tastes weird,” I complained and said, much to the agreement of my companions who nodded profusely. Lu Shengnan glared at us with a look as if we were aliens from outer space. “Come on, you’re a rich second generation of the nouveau riche! You can’t have not heard of Margarita cocktails! They’re famous!” I glowered at her. “Come on”, I almost groaned with exasperation inwardly, “Our combination of a martial-artist, a fortune-teller, and the Spirit of a legendary sword is hardly your ideal mates for a night-out party! We’d do better with a bottle of Chinese baijiu!”

“Give him something vanilla,” Lu Shengnan muttered with a cryptic grin to the bartender. He stopped for a second before he produced another empty glass and filled it with transparent liquid. Pubs and bars did not usually serve Chinese baijiu so it could never be that, but I did not know what it was.

I studied the glass of clear liquid and saw only the tiny bubbles sizzling inside the chilled concoction. I took the glass and before I raised it to my lip, the bartender said suddenly, “Drink it down in one shot.”

I nodded and threw my head back, downing the liquid in one go, feeling an inexplicably strange but pure sensation rushing down my throat. Normal Chinese baijiu is an intense amalgam of tastes and flavors. That was the thrill that only seasoned drinkers of Chinese baijiu would feel: the reflection of one’s life when appreciating the complex jewel of the Chinese crown of spirits. But whatever was this, it was a whole deal different. I felt wholly refreshed by the purity of the chilled liquid and, at the same time, thrilled by the icy burn of the liquid that shot through my body.

“Wow, this is good!” I said to the bartender, “What is this I’m drinking?” Lin Feng, Chongxi, and Lu Shengnan looked at the bartender too, and the young lad smiled mildly. “Absolute Vodka, straight.”

I nodded with an approving smile, gazing back at the empty glass. Vodka seems like my type of drink. But little did I realize that the hangover that came later that night would come as a terrible miscalculation.