In search of 'value' (I)

I have always preferred draught beer to bottles or cans. And now that I have forsaken the dratted Tsingtao (the local bottled beer most commonly served in bars here), the alternatives are scarce. Luckily, draught beer is far more widely available today than it was a few years ago.

I have recently noticed a worryingly habit-like pattern to my movements on a night out around my local bar district of Nanluoguxiang. I quite often kick off at Fish Nation, because I like the food - and their draught beer is usually well-kept, although a bit pricey at 25 kuai a pint. I typically move on to nearby Salud next, where they have some good live music mid-week - and the beer is only 20 kuai (still a little bit steep for my liking, but you do get the offer of a free plate of snacks with every glass - two or three of these make an adequate meal, obviating the need to expend money on food). And then at some point, I'll almost certainly stroll round the corner to Jianghu - where the draught is only 15 kuai (now, that's more like it!).

Honestly, it's like some sort of gravity well - I am sucked inexorably towards the cheapest draught beer. This bothers me only because it gives me a sense of compromising my status as a free agent; so long as I can maintain some conscious awareness of the reasons why my feet are taking me in a certain direction, I can be content, I think.