CH 14

From the moment he started mixing, Luo Wencheng’s eyes were only on the drinks and utensils in front of him, and he didn’t care about anything else around him.

After he poured in all the ingredients, he closed the cap and shook the shaker with one hand. His movements were not pompous. He didn’t make the flashy moves like passing the shaker behind his back or between his legs like some bartenders, but his arm swayed and vibrated with ease and a sense of rhythm. The sound of ice cubes and liquids in the shaker was crisp and neat.

Everyone was enjoying the wonderful sense of rhythm when Luo Wencheng suddenly let go and the shaker almost flew away from his hand. But the next moment it was extremely smoothly caught with a reversed motion and returned to his palm. His fingers danced, handling the plump shaker so easily as if it was lipstick. Controlled by Luo Wencheng, the shaker turned upside down, leaped and rotated. Every time it seemed about to be lost, it was pulled back as if on a string.

The movements were sharp and beautiful, very fluid.

Whether it was Zhao Jianping and others who were looking for trouble, or those who were purely watching the excitement, everyone gradually was enthralled, their original mocking attitude restrained. The two bartenders were even more stunned.

So the shaker could be handled like this?

Finally, Luo Wencheng stopped, opened the lid and quickly poured the drink into the cocktail glass. In the light milky white liquid strands of light blue were still spinning, like silky ribbons. Luo Wencheng poured another half ounce of soda water and gently added it, embedded a piece of a pineapple slice on the glass rim, smiled and delivered it to Luo Wenjun: “Try it.”

As soon as Luo Wencheng opened the shaker, the sweet aroma of coconut milk, sourness of pineapple juice and liquor, mixed with the intensity of rum, were so warm and mellow that those who stood close were intoxicated, wishing they had an extra nose to absorb the many smells that were there.

Someone next to Luo Wenjun heckled: “Try it and see what it tastes like, the smell is mouth-watering.”

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Luo Wenjun’s face froze.

He didn’t expect Luo Wencheng to be good at mixing drinks, and judging by his gestures he was quite professional. When did he learn it?

But so what? It was not like bartending was a great job. Would anyone respect and like him for it?

Luo Wenjun relaxed again when he thought of this. He refused to admit that he was also attracted by the cocktail in his hand so much that he couldn’t help but take a sip.

This, this taste… He hesitated and said, “It’s, it’s not bad.”

“What do you mean it’s not bad, are your taste buds defective?” Suddenly there was a gruff voice, and the pillar of “Golden Glory”, the bartender Ah K appeared out of nowhere. He was very tall, in his thirties, a mixed-race Chinese-American, with deep features. Because of his profession, he kept himself immaculately tidy every day. Except for mixing and degustating drinks, he had no hobbies and didn’t like to communicate with others.

At this moment Ah K defied his image and came up to Luo Wenjun to take a deep sniff of the cocktail in his hand, then feverishly turned to Luo Wencheng and grabbed his hand: “What was that technique you just used? I’ve never seen itt before. My God, smell it, guys! This explosion of aroma in the air, if the raw material didn’t come straight from the bar, I’d think you added some kind of chemical reagent. I bet this Blue Hawaiian is ten times more delicious than what an average bartender makes!”

Ah K stared into Luo Wencheng’s eyes deeply, his gaze a bit wild: “It’s because of the technique, right? Because of the technique? Where did you learn to do that?”

Luo Wencheng smiled slightly: “Yes, my technique is not only gorgeous, but also more conducive to mixing various drinks, combining flavours and creating more wonderful effects.”

Ah K’s eyes glazed over as he hurriedly asked, “Who taught you that?”

Luo Wencheng shook his head: “Sorry, I can’t say.” Seeing Ah K’s disappointment, he said, “But I can let you taste the charm that comes with this technique.”

He thought for a while: “Would you like a glass of Winter Sunshine?”

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He quickly prepared Grey Goose pear-flavoured vodka, a bag of jasmine tea, lemon juice, liqueur and pure honey. He poured them into the shaker, added ice cubes and boiling water, and stirred the liquid in circles with a stirring stick. The tea and alcohol aromas were released faintly in a delicate blend. He poured the drink into a preheated crystal round-shaped glass and handed it to Ah K.

Ah K took a sip and exclaimed loudly: “Luo, your hands are simply magical.”

Luo Wencheng lowered his head and smiled. The unique technique was one thing; the additional benefits of the grand gift package that allowed him to add a 20% effect bonus to the things he created with his hands were the key.

He continued to mix drinks very quickly; in a few moments another glass was ready. When Luo Wenjun couldn’t drink, Luo Wencheng distributed the drinks to Ah K and the onlookers. There was no one who wouldn’t praise his craftsmanship.

Only Luo Wenjun’s face became more and more ugly. He looked at Luo Wencheng as if he didn’t recognise him.

Luo Wencheng put a glass of martini in front of him, smiled and asked, “What’s the matter, unhappy?”

Luo Wenjun barely managed to squeeze out a smile: “You have changed a lot.” He had already drunk two cocktails, and he was a little drunk. His small, flushed face made him look even sweeter and cuter, but the anxiety and jealousy in his eyes revealed that he was not as harmless as he seemed.

Luo Wencheng knew that Luo Wenjun was not as able to control his emotions when he was drunk as when he was sober, but at this moment Luo Wenjun himself was unaware that he had such a flaw. He was playing the good baby in the Luo family for years and usually almost didn’t drink.

Luo Wencheng said softly: “If you don’t change, you’re just waiting for death, right? Although Big Brother has repeatedly stated that he will continue to treat me as his younger brother, as long as I think about him focusing all his energy on me and neglecting you, I feel quite unbearable.”

Luo Wencheng lowered his head and fiddled with the shaker, then raised his eyes and glanced at Luo Wenjun. His pale amber eyes were as clear as water, but to Luo Wenjun they seemed to be shrouded in a curling black mist, bottomless, revealing superiority and disdain of someone high above.

Luo Wenjun’s eyes were also amber, but his amber colour was bright and almost close to yellow, looking a bit like topaz at first glance. He inherited this colour from his mother, He Mei, the mistress who had become the wife. This was also something that Luo Wenjun was quite proud of – you know, Luo Wencheng’s eyes were almost the same colour when he was a child, very similar to He Mei’s, but who knows why, the older he grew, the paler the colour became, and he gradually became less and less like He Mei, a fake finally revealing its inferior inner quality.

But now Luo Wenjun noticed that the fake’s eyes changed and looked better, and there was an expression of disdain in them!

Luo Wenjun was furious. Without thinking, he threw the drink in his hand at Luo Wencheng: “What do you think you are?! Is it great to be able to mix drinks? It’s something you should hide, not to be proud of!”

Luo Wencheng didn’t expect such a violent reaction from Luo Wenjun. He quickly took a step back, grabbed a wide glass and followed the arc of the splashed liquid, catching it all without missing a drop, in a decisive and beautiful move.

The people around him let out a collective “huh?”, stunned by this scene. Luo Wencheng put down the wide glass with a bang and looked at Luo Wenjun coldly: “What do you mean?”

Luo Wenjun’s inverse scale that no one could touch was Luo Wenhao. Luo Wencheng meant to provoke him into a gaffe using Big Brother’s name, but he didn’t expect Luo Wenjun to be so cooperative.

Luo Wenjun stood up, unsteady on his feet, and pointed at him: “You are the fake that the Luo family picked up. You trash, I am the young master of the Luo family. Do you think Big Brother really cares about you? He just pities you. So what if you can mix drinks? No matter how fancy you do that, you can’t change the fact that you are an inferior person in your bones!”