Ethan Wood looked Evelyn up and down: "Evelyn, you and Henry Clark are pretty close, huh?"

Evelyn nodded. "When I first started out, Mr. Clark really looked after me. He’s a bit cold, but he’s genuinely a good person."

Ethan Wood looked at Evelyn in disbelief, unable to picture it. He shook his head. "Forget it, anyway, he’s never nice to me. Do you want to know what he used to—"

Before Ethan Wood could finish, the private room door opened.

Seeing who was at the door, the room instantly fell silent.

Ethan Wood stiffly swallowed his drink, thinking to himself, thank goodness, at least he didn’t come in swinging a steel pipe.

Henry Clark had changed into casual clothes, wearing a baseball cap backwards. After giving the room a cold glance, he walked straight over to Ethan Wood without looking sideways, casually grabbed a can of beer, popped it open, tilted his chin up, and downed the whole thing in one go.

Ethan Wood's Adam’s apple bobbed as he awkwardly said, "Th-then I’ll have a couple with you. I—I drink slow, y-you sit first."

Henry Clark put the empty can on the table, expressionless, then went to sit alone at the bar, asking the server for a few more beers.

Ethan Wood looked stiffly at Edward Grant, whispering in despair, "W-was that him welcoming me?!"

Edward Grant couldn’t bear to look, gave Ethan Wood a push to make him sit properly on the sofa, and said to the newcomers, "You guys go ahead and have fun."

The newbies kept singing and enjoying themselves. Edward Grant glanced at Henry Clark's back, hesitated, but didn’t go over.

The beers in front of Ethan Wood quickly dwindled. Evelyn brought over a few more cans, handing one cold beer to William Harris. William Harris was lost in thought, but smiled politely when he saw it. "Thanks, but I don’t drink."

Evelyn was taken aback. Ethan Wood waved his hand from the side. "Don’t take it personally, he doesn’t touch a drop."

Evelyn quickly said, "No worries, I get it. Honestly, I can’t hold my liquor either, same as you."

"Not quite the same," Ethan Wood finally finished a can and burped. "His drinking capacity…"

Ethan Wood reminisced about the old days, sighing nostalgically, "Back in the day! This one, that one, and that one…"

He nodded with his chin at the people in the room, marveling, "Everyone here, plus the few who retired in the last two years, even all together, couldn’t outdrink him. Who’s Mr. Harris? The little prince of Hengshan Road! I’ve known him for years, never seen him drunk."

Evelyn looked William Harris up and down in surprise, whispering, "Then how come…"

William Harris frowned slightly and glanced at Ethan Wood.

Ethan Wood smacked his lips and continued, "How does that saying go? Right, beauty fades with time! Your Mr. Harris, at nineteen, looked at his health report and decided to quit smoking, quit drinking, quit swearing, and be a good boy from then on, so he could find a good person to marry in the future…"

Evelyn was even more shocked. "Mr. Harris used to smoke?!"

Edward Grant chimed in, "Heavy smoker."

Ethan Wood nodded and added, "The kind who’d sneak off to the bathroom for a quick smoke during breaks in competitions."

Evelyn looked at William Harris in awe. "Such a strong addiction, and he just quit? That’s really Mr. Harris! Was your health bad back then? Was it serious?"

Ethan Wood looked grave. "…Massive bleeding, almost didn’t make it."

Evelyn's expression changed dramatically.

William Harris had to speak up. "…It was a damn stomach hemorrhage."

"Oh right, stomach hemorrhage." Ethan Wood pointed at his own stomach, sighing, "Here, lost a ton of blood, face was pale for a whole month. Luckily, nothing else happened."

Evelyn breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as you’re okay now."

"It’s fine now, but since then, there’s a lot he can’t eat or drink, or it’s another month in the ER." Ethan Wood sat up, took the beer Evelyn had placed in front of William Harris, popped it open and took a couple sips. "If you want to see your Mr. Harris drink, wait till he gets married and does the wedding toast. Only the future Mrs. Harris will have the honor of making your Mr. Harris break his rule."

Evelyn immediately caught the key word. "Married! So he has a girlfriend? He’s getting married?!"

Ethan Wood had just been making conversation, but seeing Evelyn so excited, he laughed, "Isn’t it just a matter of time? I’ll invite you to the wedding banquet, coming or not?"

Evelyn was thrilled. "Of course I’ll come!"

At the bar not far from the private room, Henry Clark, still with his back to everyone, tilted his head back and downed another can of beer in one go.

Meanwhile, Evelyn kept chattering on, "I didn’t know any of this, sorry Mr. Harris, stomach hemorrhages really do require caution. Only Mrs. Harris is worth Mr. Harris taking a risk for. Ah, just imagine how touched Mr. Harris's future girlfriend will be? Mr. Harris will only drink for her! Just thinking about it is so sweet, so sweet…"

Henry Clark's face was icy. He popped open another can, downed it in one go, then squeezed the can flat with a slight flex of his fingers. Without looking, he tossed it backward, landing it perfectly in the hidden trash bin in the private room. The bin was just for decoration and completely empty, so when the can hit, it made a sudden "clang" sound, startling Evelyn, who was chattering away closest to it.

Ethan Wood, sitting farther from Evelyn, didn’t notice anything, and was still cluelessly saying, "He’s so miserable, only gets to drink once in his life. What’s so sweet about that?"