Whose idea of hospitality is to serve tiger-whip wine to guests?

Dure was naturally aware of the expressions on their faces, but he did not think much of it. With his constitution and the way his organs absorbed things, no tonic wine, whatever its kind, could do anything but be easily absorbed and turned into energy to replenish his body.

"Come, come, eat. Xiao Du, don't stand on ceremony. I heard from your grandfather-in-law that martial artists have big appetites, so eat your fill and don't be shy. We've made plenty of rice."

The meal was remarkably harmonious. The matriarch was simply a little too courteous; her chopsticks were more diligent than anyone else's when it came to serving Dure, so much so that he began to feel somewhat embarrassed.

"Grandfather Xiang, let me toast you. Thank you for the trouble you took in preparing the tiger-bone wine. Otherwise, if I had come into possession of the tiger bones, I might not even have known what to do with them."

Seeing that the matriarch's enthusiasm was a little hard to bear, Dure quickly rose, lifted his cup, and began to toast Xiang Yuanzhang.

"Heh, I didn't really do much this time. It was all Roundy doing the work; I only gave a bit of guidance."

Xiang Yuanzhang did not take the credit, but he still clinked cups with Dure and drank.

What he said was the truth. The reason Xiang Roundy had returned to her hometown was precisely to try her hand at brewing tiger-bone wine herself. Preparing it was a troublesome business, and because of the peculiar nature of tiger bone, she had knowledge but lacked experience. This time, the chance to practice had come at just the right moment.

In earlier years, things had not been so unusual. The Xiang family had relied on secret prescriptions for medicinal materials to win out. But now, many of those formulas had appeared online, so they could only think of other methods.

After a round of toasting, seeing that Dure had become less reserved, the matriarch no longer kept helping him with the dishes so often and began talking about other topics.

Still, most of them revolved around Dure: how many people were in his family, what they did, what he usually did for fun, and so on.

At the dinner table, the matriarch became the center of attention.

Dure could tell what was going on, but he made no comment. Such things should be left to fate.

"Since you've had alcohol, Xiao Du, stay the night. We don't have much else here, but we do have plenty of rooms. I've already prepared one for you. Drink happily tonight."

The matriarch was the only one in the family who did not drink. After all, the whole household was full of drinkers; if everyone got drunk, no one would be left to make decisions should anything happen.

"All right, then. Thank you for your hospitality."

Dure could also see that this family understood martial artists rather well and were very accommodating. So he relaxed and ate and drank freely. Under the astonished gaze of the elder Xiang, he drank bowl after bowl of medicinal wine.

Yet Dure felt that this wine seemed a little different from the others.

With other medicinal wines, after drinking them, the powerful stomach would rapidly absorb them in the abdomen, and then the internal energy would carry them to every part of the body.

But this time it was somewhat different. Less of it was transported to the limbs, and more remained in the dantian. After a few bowls, his abdomen grew even hotter.

Even Dure, whose spirit, energy, and vitality had barely broken past 9.51 and who scarcely broke a sweat unless he exercised strenuously, could feel heat rising within him. At once he only felt that this wine was truly excellent, because it had a very good effect on strengthening his vital energy and could quickly replenish the foundations of his body.

He drank quite a lot, yet he only looked slightly flushed. Fine beads of sweat appeared faintly on his forehead, but his eyes remained clear, and his posture did not change in the least. Across from him, the elder Xiang had also been made to drink quite a bit; by now his face was flushed and his gaze somewhat unfocused.

"All right, Xiao Du, keep drinking slowly, Dad. I'll take him back to his room first. Roundy, later you can take Xiao Du to the guest room to rest."

Saying this, the matriarch led the elder Xiang away, not forgetting to call out as she left.

After Xiang Roundy's parents had gone, Dure quickened his pace and almost finished all the dishes on the table before finally putting down his chopsticks.

"Had enough? If not, Roundy can bring some more snacks to go with the wine."

Xiang Yuanzhang asked with a smile. He had long since stopped using his chopsticks, and only sipped the wine occasionally. He was old now and had already begun to exercise restraint.

"No need, no need. I've had enough."

Dure immediately shook his head, remembering that Xiang Roundy had said her grandfather liked to use dried mice as drinking snacks.

"All right then. Roundy, take Xiao Du for a walk. I'm old; I can't walk far anymore."

"Grandpa, then we're off."

For some reason that night, Xiang Roundy unusually did not drink much. She only had about a pound, and then stopped, or at least that was not much in her own view.

Xiang Roundy said she would take Dure for a walk, but in truth they simply strolled around the house and never even left the enclosing wall.

Her family compound was spacious, like a huge distillery. Facing the main gate of the courtyard was the part where the family lived; to the left were several storehouses containing medicinal materials and a small amount of brewing ingredients.

"These medicinal herbs are all very precious. When I was little, my snacks were all in here. Except for the highly poisonous ones on the top, I've eaten every single kind I could reach below."

As she spoke, Xiang Roundy opened a drawer from among rows of wooden cabinets. Inside were transparent plastic bags. After unsealing one, she scooped out a small handful of goji berries and put them into her mouth.

"These are only part of it. Some of my uncles and grand-uncles send more over regularly."

Tasting something familiar, Xiang Roundy's eyes narrowed with pleasure, and she clearly looked very happy. She also told Dure some things about their family.

"Our Xiang family is like this: my grandfather's branch controls the medicinal-wine technique, while some of the grand-uncles handle the channels for medicinal materials. Others control the brewing technique, and there are dedicated sales branches as well. Each branch handles its own part without interfering with the others. In the end everything is compiled together, and every year the profits are divided according to the share set by the older generation, based on the market. The meeting is held in that hall we were just in."

Taking Dure away from the medicinal-material storehouse, Xiang Roundy led him to the house on the right side of the hall, all the while chattering about family matters.

"That must be lively, with such a big clan and so many people."

Dure imagined it for a moment. If this had been in the prosperous old days, when the population was thriving, what scale and splendor would it have been?

"Not really. Not everyone is qualified to come. Each branch sends representatives, and the matters discussed inside are many. Often they can't be settled in just a day or two."

Xiang Roundy thought for a moment and explained. With such a large clan and such a vast enterprise, every branch was different. Some branches might even split again. There were far too many complexities in every respect.

"Tsk..."

Dure clicked his tongue. Coming from a peasant background, he could not even imagine it, and he could also understand why the Xiang family had such a large house. It really was an ancestral estate.

"It's also a headache. In the past, things were all right, and everyone was struggling, so they helped one another and kept the family going in harmony. But once conditions improved, all sorts of troublesome things began to appear.

Still, the tiger bones you brought this time helped enormously. We took twenty percent, and we'll divide some of it among the various households. The rest will be kept as the family's foundation and sealed away. These top-grade medicinal wines are all part of our heritage. We'll bring them out again only in hard times as emergency reserves."

"Isn't tiger-bone wine sold on the market? I don't think it's that expensive."

Dure asked curiously. Tiger bone was indeed restricted and could not be traded freely, but it was not entirely impossible.

"It isn't the same. Different tigers, different formulas, different amounts of medicinal wine used in the mix, and different aging periods all make a huge difference. The finished product ends up different as well."

Xiang Roundy gave a brief explanation. By then, the two of them had reached the house on the right side of the hall. This was a huge brewing room, with all kinds of jars and vats of every size arranged everywhere.

"Usually, only our own family brews medicinal wine here, and it is all done by hand. If we need to prepare a large batch, then every branch has to send people over to help. Only when each branch does its own part does it become truly lively."

They did not stay in the brewing room for long. Xiang Roundy was the same as ever: whenever she saw a wine that interested her, she would take a small cup to taste it. Now and then she would mention what kind of wine it was, what its effects were, and how much longer it needed. They walked and drank all the way, leaving Dure's scalp tingling.

"Come on, I'll take you to see the cellar. The tiger-bone wine is stored over there."

Xiang Roundy was very relaxed and very happy. This was unlike being in a tavern; it was as though she had regained the simple happiness of earlier days.

"Isn't it a little stuffy in here?"

Only when they were in the cellar did Dure understand what "big" really meant. The cellar was underground, and he suspected the entire area beneath the house had been excavated and turned into a wine cellar. As he walked, sweat began to bead on him, and he could not help asking.

"No, it's only about twenty degrees here. The cellar uses groundwater flowing around it for cooling. Whether it's winter or summer, the temperature stays between the high teens and twenty degrees. When I was little, I loved sleeping here. Warm in winter, cool in summer."

Xiang Roundy reached out to touch a large wine vat to check it, then looked at Dure. Seeing that his face was somewhat red and that sweat was rarely trickling down his forehead, she seemed to remember something and said in a very small voice:

"You drank too much medicinal wine tonight. That's normal. It's tiger-penis wine, after all. If you drink too much, it makes you hot."

"What?"

Dure was a little dumbfounded. No wonder he had felt something was off. He had always thought his five organs were powerful, and with the circulation of internal energy, even the most potent medicinal wine could be absorbed, and even trace toxins could be purified quickly. But no one had told him this was tiger-penis wine.

Just as a person immune to all poisons could not resist an aphrodisiac, Dure's excellent absorption only served to intensify the wine's effects. No wonder his lower dantian felt as though the essence within it was burning ever more fiercely after the meal; so much fuel had been thrown on the fire.

"Well then, we won't keep strolling. I haven't practiced martial arts today yet, so I need to go meditate and train for a while."

Dure wiped his sweat. If he had not known, the Calming Heart of the Primordial Qi Technique could still barely hold things together. But once he knew, his body felt as though it had been set alight, burning with restless heat. Yet his spirit still flowed quietly within him, keeping him clear-headed at every moment.

Still, he did not want to keep wandering around here. If he did not go back and properly absorb and digest that surging essence, then all this excellent medicinal wine would have been wasted.

"Mm."

Xiang Roundy felt a little embarrassed, somewhat resentful that her mother had brought out the tiger-penis wine. After all, who in their right mind would use tiger-penis wine to entertain a guest?

"I'm going back to rest. You... you should rest early too."

Xiang Roundy escorted Dure to the door of a guest room, then quickly ran off. She had never felt so awkward in her life.