Yang Hongtao's expression was very modest, but what he said was quite irritating.
Axi's face turned pale, and he almost lost his temper, but when he looked at Xin Yue who was blocking his way, he could only force himself to hold back.
"Talk is cheap! If you really think Axi's bartending skills are inferior to yours, then please demonstrate right now!" Xin Yue found Yang Hongtao increasingly amusing. She snapped her fingers, signaling the bartenders to tidy up the bar equipment and bring over all the various drinks. Looking at Yang Hongtao expectantly, she said, "If you can really make a decent drink, then... whatever you spend today, it's on me. But... if you're just bragging, then be prepared to pay the price for your ignorance!"
Yang Hongtao knew that if he didn't show off his skills today, he would definitely not be able to let the matter rest. Moreover, Xin Yue's background was extraordinary, and he also had some thoughts of befriending her. So he stopped being coy, immediately stood up, quickly walked to the bar, smiled, took out a clean cocktail shaker, and asked, "I wonder what kind of drink Sister Yue would like to have?"
Xin Yue was taken aback again upon hearing this, realizing that Yang Hongtao was waiting for her to give him a topic, which made her even more unable to understand Yang Hongtao.
A cocktail is a beverage made by mixing various types of alcohol, fruit juice, or ice water. Different types of alcohol mixed together have different names. It is difficult to count how many types of cocktails there are in the world, and a bartender is usually only proficient in mixing a dozen or so cocktails.
Yang Hongtao dared to ask Xin Yue what she wanted to drink beforehand, which is tantamount to saying that there is no well-known cocktail that he cannot mix!
Xin Yue's curiosity was piqued, so she deliberately increased the difficulty a bit more. After pretending to hesitate for a moment, she said, "Actually, I don't really like drinking those foreign drinks. If you really want to mix a drink just for me, then make a... make a cocktail with a strong Chinese flavor!"
Cocktails originated in the United States and developed in the West. For Chinese people, they are a foreign import. Consider that there are very few Chinese people who are truly skilled in bartending, so where did the Chinese-style cocktails come from?
You have to understand that mixing cocktails isn't just about throwing a few drinks together and stirring them a few times. There's a lot of skill involved. If Yang Hongtao wasn't a true master bartender, just this request for a Chinese flavor would have been enough to drive him crazy!
Yang Hongtao was indeed slightly taken aback upon hearing this, but after thinking for only half a minute, he confidently raised his head and said, "Alright! Then I'll make you a cup of 'Yangchun Baixue'!"
Volume 1 The Rebirth of a Prodigy Chapter 28 The Bartender
Among the nearly one hundred remnant souls devoured by Yang Hongtao, one was a genius bartender in life. This bartender was not famous in China, but in France, he was revered as a master bartender. His talent in bartending skills amazed countless bartenders, and he even won the European International Bartending Championship three times in a row, enjoying unparalleled fame for a time.
However, this guy was also a bit unlucky. He became arrogant because of his status in the industry, and somehow offended a high-ranking French government official. As a result, he was inexplicably hit with a series of attacks, and soon he was disgraced and penniless. In the end, he was simply deported and had to slink back to his hometown.
As the saying goes, it's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go back to frugality. That guy had gotten used to a glamorous life abroad, and after returning to China, he thought he should live a peaceful life based on his own abilities. But who knew that when he went to a few high-end hotels and bars and talked to the owners, they were willing to hire him, but the salary they offered was less than one-tenth of what he earned abroad.
In a fit of anger, this guy decided to give up entirely. Relying on the fact that his family still had some savings, he stopped looking for a job and spent his days drinking alcohol, getting drunk every day, and then going to nightclubs to find prostitutes.
Once, he got into a fight with another customer in a nightclub over a woman, and accidentally killed him. That's how he ended his life with a bullet.
Although this guy is dead, his superb bartending skills were not wasted; they were completely inherited by Yang Hongtao.
If you asked a different bartender to suddenly make a cocktail with Chinese influences, they might be in a real bind. But for a master bartender, it's not a problem at all.
After saying that, Yang Hongtao immediately took a bottle of Wuliangye from the liquor shelf, unscrewed the cap, and without raising the bottom of the bottle, he simply shook it gently. The liquor in the bottle swirled and created a vortex. The bottle was full, and with this swirling motion, a stream of liquor suddenly flew out of the bottle spout and landed accurately in the open cocktail shaker nearly half a meter away, without spilling a single drop.
"Wow--"
Yang Hongtao's move was no simple feat; it immediately caused the bar girls in the room to scream, and even Xin Yue was shocked.
Her knowledge far surpasses that of those infatuated bar girls. Her family mainly runs a catering and entertainment business, so she is naturally familiar with the art of bartending and can see just how amazing the difficulty of Yang Hongtao's technique is.
The technique Yang Hongtao just used, where he throws liquor into the pot, has a super cool name in the Chinese bartender community: "Flying Dragon in the Sky".
However, although this technique has a name, almost no one in China has ever seen it; it is merely a legendary skill.
While there are a few top bartenders abroad who can perform such difficult moves, generally speaking, it would take twenty or thirty years of hard work to reach such a level of effortless skill. But judging from Yang Hongtao's age, he should only be in his twenties and is obviously from a wealthy family. How could he possibly have so much time to put in so much hard work on this skill?
Yang Hongtao put down the Wuliangye liquor bottle, then quickly took down a bottle of jackfruit juice and a bottle of fresh cherry wine from the shelf. After opening the caps, he held one bottle in each hand and suddenly flicked his wrists, causing both bottles to swing simultaneously.
Instantly, two more brightly colored liquids flew out of the bottle, arcing through the air before converging at a certain point and merging together to form a ribbon of alternating gold and peach colors, which then fell into the cocktail shaker in the center.
His move also has a super cool name, called "Double Dragons Entering the Sea". Its difficulty level is more than twice that of "Flying Dragon in the Sky". Even Xin Yue, who is well-informed, had never heard of it before. Therefore, this time she was just like those bar girls, so shocked that she opened her mouth wide and couldn't even utter a sound.
Asi had heard of this miraculous technique. Although his own bartending skills were a bit lacking, he had put in some effort in this area. In addition, he had studied abroad for many years and occasionally met high-level bartenders from abroad, so he had some insight into this.
If, after reading this, he still doesn't realize that his bartending skills are miles behind others, then he's practically a fool!
Yang Hongtao's movements weren't fast, but they were swift and efficient. He poured three different liquids into the cocktail shaker in quick succession, then quickly picked up two small pieces of ice and added them to the shaker. He then put the lid on, picked it up with his left hand, and started shaking it rapidly.
Yang Hongtao's shaking of the cocktail shaker was nothing flashy; he simply shook it steadily in a clockwise direction from beginning to end.
His movements were quite fast, but because his shaking was relatively small, one would not have guessed that the speed at which the mixed liquid in the cocktail shaker was spinning was actually quite astonishing if one was not paying attention.
This is the difference between a true master bartender and an ordinary bartender. A true master designs every subtle movement for the final taste of the cocktail, and would never do something as foolish as affecting the taste and color harmony of the drink just to show off his skills.
Novice bartenders often lack the ability to connect their movements with the flavors of the drinks they create, so in order to attract attention, they can only focus on the shaking motion of the bottle.
For example, Axi, no matter what kind of drink he mixes, he will always toss the cocktail shaker around in his hand, doing all sorts of fancy things, but he doesn't care whether the cocktail is suitable for vigorous shaking!
Yang Hongtao shook the cocktail shaker with his left hand, while his right hand was not idle either. He picked up two more ice cubes and threw them into the mini food processor used for juicing. He turned on the power, and after a dozen seconds, the two ice cubes had turned into a small handful of very fine ice particles.
Once the ice was crushed, Yang Hongtao immediately stopped shaking his left hand. With a "thud," the cocktail shaker landed heavily on the wooden bar counter, making the bar girls standing in front of him shudder.
"Sister Yue, this is a new cocktail I designed on the spot. Please try it. It's full of Chinese flavor—Yangchun Baixue (a type of Chinese liquor)!"
After saying that, Yang Hongtao used his thumb to lift the lid of the cocktail shaker and immediately poured the mixed liquid into a pre-prepared glass.
The wine, a blend of three liquids, is vibrant in color, like a flower blooming in spring. As it flows into the glass, it carries an intoxicating sweet aroma.
Surprisingly, a thick cloud of steam appeared as the wine was poured out.
The steam poured from the cocktail shaker neither sank into the glass nor dissipated quickly; instead, it clung to the stemmed glass like a cloud, slowly rising upwards.
This Linglongxin Bar! It's been open for quite some time now, and they've probably hired several bartenders here before! I've seen their skills before, but I've never seen three ordinary liquids mixed together and shaken to create such a thick fog. I was so amazed that I almost dropped my jaw.
Actually, there's nothing strange about this. The reason the condensation in the cocktail shaker was mainly due to Yang Hongtao shaking it extremely fast.
The excessive speed caused intense friction between the mixed liquor and the inner wall of the cocktail shaker, resulting in a rapid increase in temperature of the liquor near the inner wall.
At the same time, Yang Hongtao used a special technique to control the two ice cubes that had been put into the jar to always rotate in the center of the jar and slowly melt, which created a strong temperature difference in the liquid in the jar.
When Yang Hongtao slammed the cocktail shaker onto the bar, the two liquids at different temperatures immediately began to collide and mix. The vapors from the heated liquor condensed into a thick mist when they met the cold liquid.
"Young man, you are truly extraordinary! Your bartending skills are already breathtaking, but..."
Xin Yue suddenly winked mischievously and said, "But...didn't you say this cocktail is called 'Yangchun Baixue'? But I feel like the name isn't quite right! 'Yangchun' is there, but where's the 'Baixue'? You're not saying this white mist represents snow, are you? Hmm...that's not entirely wrong, but it still feels a bit..."
"Who said that mist is snow?" Before Xin Yue could finish her sentence, Yang Hongtao immediately interrupted her, smiling slightly, and said, "Don't worry, the snow is right here..."
After he finished speaking, he suddenly tossed out the ice crystals that had just been ground into very fine pieces, which then slowly fell onto the rim of the glass.
White mist rose, while countless tiny ice crystals slowly fell. When the two met in mid-air, a miracle occurred—
Countless tiny, almost invisible ice crystals entered the dense fog and, incredibly quickly, absorbed it, gradually forming snowflake-like hexagonal particles that drifted down, eventually falling one by one into the vibrant, spring-flower-like wine and disappearing without a trace…
This breathtaking scene stunned everyone present and was destined to leave an unforgettable mark on their hearts.
Even years later, whenever Xin Yue overheard someone mention the phrase "refined and elegant," she would still involuntarily lose herself for a moment, and at the same time, a rare, alluring smile would appear on her sexy little mouth...
Volume 1: The Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 29: What a Novice...
Yang Hongtao wasn't at Linglongxin Bar! He sat there for a while, but was so frightened by the flirtatious glances thrown at him by the bar girls that he fled in panic.
Speaking of which... being too outstanding is also a problem.
Yang Hongtao believed that if he beckoned to the bar girls and personally mixed them a romantic cocktail, at least half of them would unconditionally offer themselves to him.
In fact, Yang Hongtao wasn't just playing the high-minded card. He played the high-minded card in his past life. When he was about to be executed, he was still a shameful virgin. He worked himself to the bone all year round, and all the money he finally earned went to support his girlfriend. In the end, he never even explored the mysteries of his girlfriend's body once.
He wasn't immune to lust at times, but Xiaoya would always pitifully beg him to save her virginity for their wedding night.
Out of respect for women, Yang Hongtao could only suppress the demon in his heart with unparalleled willpower. However, the woman he respected betrayed him without hesitation, and what he had painstakingly preserved had probably already been taken by that beastly Huang Lianshu!
Therefore, in this life, Yang Hongtao really didn't want to play the high-minded card anymore. Even if he wasn't as unrestrained as Zhou Ziwei, at least if he met a woman he liked again, he would never be foolish enough to leave her for someone else. And since he didn't have a woman he liked or a lover yet, perhaps playing around occasionally wouldn't be such a bad thing? It's just a pity that Zhou Ziwei left him with a reputation for being a womanizer, but not with a strong body.
Yang Hongtao's merged memories also included medical knowledge, so he was very clear about his physical condition. If he continued to indulge himself like Zhou Ziwei, it wouldn't be long before he would have to completely say goodbye to being a "man"! Imagine seeing a group of beautiful women flirting with you, but at this moment your kidneys are aching slightly... Yang Hongtao felt that there was no greater tragedy in life than this! He should have known better than to go up and show off!
Yang Hongtao could only sigh silently in his heart, but he couldn't really blame himself. In fact, it was the same as when he saw a sexy woman and couldn't help but have a strong physiological reaction. These changes were somewhat beyond the control of his brain.
Because he inherited the soul memories of a master bartender, when he saw an idiot who could only pretend to be cool by holding a cocktail shaker mixing drinks in front of him, his hands were itching to get involved! As for the consequences afterward, he didn't think about them at the time.
Now that he'd already done it, it was too late to regret it. Helpless, he could only try to avoid the trouble and hastily escape this place of trouble. Fortunately, after being quite taken aback by Yang Hongtao's "refined elegance," Xin Yue was about to invite him to sit in the private room when she received an important phone call and had to leave. Otherwise, if Yang Hongtao had been left facing that alluring mature woman, he really didn't know if he could have left so easily!
After leaving the Linglongxin Bar, Yang Hongtao didn't continue wandering around Rainbow Street. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to move up the plan originally scheduled for tomorrow. Otherwise, if he couldn't resolve that problem quickly, he might have to spend the next few nights keeping watch on Rainbow Street.
After all, this kind of place is rather chaotic and lively. If he plunges headlong into Rainbow Street, even if someone really wants to find him, it will probably take them quite a while. As for spending the night in an ordinary hotel, what's the difference between that and staying at home? There's just as little sense of security there.
If he just wanted to spend the night in Rainbow Street, he'd have to find a beautiful woman with both looks and talent to cuddle with, right? Otherwise, people would think he was crazy! But... if you're sleeping in the same bed with a beautiful woman, you'd have to do something, right? And whenever Yang Hongtao thought about this, he would reflexively feel a soreness and discomfort in his lower back... Sigh! How could he possibly live like this?
So Yang Hongtao decided to go all out, even if his preparations weren't perfect yet! After leaving Rainbow Street, Yang Hongtao saw that he still had time, so he leisurely made his way to the pedestrian street ahead.
The various shops and stores on the pedestrian street are open until late at night, so Yang Hongtao wasn't in a hurry. He started browsing the streets and after walking half a street, he finally bought a Nokia phone worth more than a thousand yuan at a mobile phone store.
With over 100 yuan of phone credit pre-installed in his phone, Yang Hongtao didn't need to get a separate SIM card.
Yang Hongtao is now a millionaire, and nominally the eldest son of a billionaire family. It wouldn't be a big deal for him to buy a phone worth tens of thousands of yuan. But Yang Hongtao really only likes this one because it was his favorite phone in his previous life. It was a gift from his sister to him on his 26th birthday, and he used it until the time of his accident.
Now he owns the same model of phone again, but Yang Hongtao has lived two lives. The moment he touched the phone, Yang Hongtao had an urge to call his family.
He knew that his execution in his previous life would be a devastating blow to his family, especially since his mother's health was already poor. The sudden loss of her son would surely have devastated her. Now, three years later, he wondered if they had recovered from the grief of losing their son.
And... I wonder if that beast Huang Lianshu kept his promise and whether he harassed them again afterward... However, no matter how much he couldn't let it go, after hesitating for a moment, Yang Hongtao still didn't dial that familiar number.
After all, there's not much he can say if he calls now. He can't exactly say, "I'm your son, and my soul is immortal after I died, so I've been reborn," can he? If he did that, he'd probably either get yelled at to death by his parents or scared them to death.
Moreover, even if his parents were truly so accepting and able to acknowledge his existence, he wouldn't dare to expose his existence so openly.
After all, he has only just been reborn and has no foundation yet. If he rashly reveals his secrets, he may find it difficult to deal with Huang Lianshu's methods.
Therefore, even if he wants to contact his family and tell them the truth, he should at least wait until he has the strength to return to Zhongdu City and the ability to trample Huang Lianshu under his feet.
After letting go of this unrealistic idea, Yang Hongtao hurriedly walked out of the pedestrian street and found a quiet place to dial a number with his newly bought phone.
"Beep—beep—beep—"
The phone rang five or six times before being answered, and before the other party could speak, Yang Hongtao immediately raised his voice and shouted in a loud and boisterous tone, "Hey... what are you guys doing? I ordered this takeout almost an hour ago, why hasn't it been delivered yet?"
"You ordered takeout?"
A bewildered voice came through the phone, saying, "It seems like no one ordered takeout from the store just now! Where are you from...? Why are you calling me? How many bowls of beef noodles did you order?"
Yang Hongtao was secretly delighted, but he still said in a rough voice, "Didn't I already say when I ordered the food? Uh...did I say I wanted to order beef noodles?"
"You didn't order beef noodles?" The voice on the other end of the phone paused for a moment, then replied coldly, "I'm sorry, I think you must have dialed the wrong number, because we only sell beef noodles here, nothing else."
After saying that, the phone was abruptly disconnected.
Yang Hongtao slowly put down the phone, a smile playing on his lips. He muttered to himself, "What a newbie! He got his location so easily... Uh... How can such an idiot be an assassin?" Yang Hongtao shook his head, then decisively hailed a taxi. As soon as he got in, he tossed the driver a hundred-yuan bill: "Keep the change. Please take me to the place that specializes in beef noodles in the city as quickly as possible."
Volume 1 The Rebirth of a Prodigy Chapter 30 A Cunning Plan
Yang Hongtao only remembered after getting into the taxi that he had driven this trip, and that Mercedes-Benz was still at Linglongxin Bar! It was just sitting there, completely forgotten about it when he left the bar!