Pouring Drinks? Just Getting Drunk for a Moment

Xi Zhen had arrived early. She knew there would be no avoiding alcohol today, so she hadn’t even driven.

When her assistant dropped her off at the entrance, the girl looked at her with open concern. Her name was Lin Runan; she had been with Xi Zhen for two years and was someone Xi Zhen had personally brought up. Sitting in the driver’s seat, Lin Runan kept one hand on the wheel and showed no sign of leaving. Her lips parted, but no words came out.

In the end, she only managed to say, “Sister, should I wait here?”

Xi Zhen knew what she was worried about and smiled as she shook her head. “No need. It’s not far. I’ll just call a car when I’m done.”

“But—” Lin Runan hesitated.

“Go back and rest early.” Xi Zhen pushed open the car door. Just as one foot touched the ground, she heard a soft voice from behind her: “Sister, be careful.”

Xi Zhen turned and looked at Lin Runan. The girl was pressing her lips together, her eyes full of worry; clearly, she had also seen that Xi Zhen’s recent situation was far from ideal.

“Don’t worry.” Xi Zhen curved her lips. “It’s not my first time out handling business.” She shut the car door and waved Lin Runan on.

The window slowly rolled down, revealing Lin Runan’s still-worried face. Obediently, she shifted into gear and drove off.

After watching her leave, Xi Zhen stood at the private room door and looked at the lively scene inside, where glasses clinked and conversation flowed. Suddenly, it felt like a breath had lodged in her chest, unable to rise or fall.

Zhou Ping had finally gotten this chance to turn things around, so of course he wasn’t willing to let it go. He had invited Song Xunqing out and handed her the task of tripping Xi Zhen up entirely. On this matter, Song Xunqing was far more practiced than he was.

Sure enough, the moment Xi Zhen stepped into the banquet hall, Song Xunqing immediately came over.

She was dressed in a gorgeous evening gown, her hair permed into delicate curls that fell over her shoulders. Two tiny diamond studs hung from her earlobes, flashing in the light with every movement. She looked dazzlingly polished, a world away from the pitiful state she had been in at Xi Zhen’s birthday banquet not long ago. Xi Zhen knew this was Zhou Ping’s banquet, but she had not expected him to still be willing to prop Song Xunqing up.

“Zhen-jie,” Song Xunqing greeted her with a wineglass in hand, her tone so familiar it sounded as though they were old friends with a very close relationship. “Long time no see.”

Xi Zhen’s steps faltered. Her gaze swept flatly over Song Xunqing’s face, but she did not miss the anxiety hidden beneath the thick makeup. She didn’t want to get tangled up with Song Xunqing here; she intended to sidestep her and walk past, but Song Xunqing didn’t move aside.

“What’s wrong? Has Zhen-jie forgotten me already?” She smiled, angling her body so that she was perfectly blocking the space between Xi Zhen and the seats. Then, lowering her voice to a volume only the two of them could hear, she said, “Or is life so hard lately that even an old acquaintance isn’t worth your attention?”

Xi Zhen stopped completely and finally looked at her properly.

“Song Xunqing,” Xi Zhen said evenly, “move.”

Unfortunately, Song Xunqing had no intention of leaving. Or rather, she had come here today precisely to humiliate Xi Zhen.

“Still such a temper,” she tsked, taking a sip of wine. “But then again, if you weren’t like this, how would you have offended the new head of the Li Group?” A pleased curve tugged at her lips, just enough for Xi Zhen to catch the schadenfreude beneath it.

The expression on Xi Zhen’s face, which had been still, flickered with a trace of amusement after hearing that. From the way Song Xunqing said it, she apparently didn’t know that the Li Group’s new CEO she was talking about was Li Xingqing, the very same person she had provoked several times before.

“Oh?” Song Xunqing saw that Xi Zhen wasn’t speaking and assumed she had hit a sore spot. She leaned in a little closer, her voice dropping even lower. “Xi Zhen, I never thought you’d end up like this too. Back then you were so high and mighty, looking down on everyone. And now? You’ve offended someone you shouldn’t have, and you can’t even get a decent investment... ”

“The people I offend are none of your concern, Miss Song,” Xi Zhen said as she walked around her toward the seat. “I suggest you worry about yourself instead.”

“What’s there to worry about? Xi Zhen, stop putting on airs.” Song Xunqing followed behind her, speaking at just the right volume for the surrounding people to hear. “Who in the circle doesn’t know your current situation?”

As she spoke, her gaze swept to the side. Over there sat a few people from Starlight Entertainment, along with two representatives from the platforms; they were all honored guests at tonight’s banquet. Song Xunqing walked over with a wineglass in hand, her posture elegant like a peacock fanning its feathers, and stopped among them before glancing back at Xi Zhen.

“Come to think of it, since Director Xi has honored us by coming all this way, shouldn’t we offer her a toast?” Her voice carried a smile, as though she were making the most reasonable suggestion in the world. “After all, Director Xi hasn’t had it easy lately...”

The people at the table exchanged glances. One of Starlight’s vice presidents reacted first, lifting his glass with a genial laugh. “Right, right. Since Director Xi is here, of course we have to toast her.” He stood up, and the others could hardly remain seated. They all raised their glasses as well. The two platform representatives hesitated for a moment, but when they saw everyone else standing, they had no choice but to follow suit.

Song Xunqing stood at the center of the crowd, her glass held highest and her smile brightest. Looking at Xi Zhen, she could barely conceal the arrogance in her eyes, as if silently mocking her: let’s see how long you can keep pretending.

Xi Zhen sat in her original seat and looked at the circle of people who had suddenly risen around her.

Seven people, seven glasses of wine. Starlight Entertainment’s vice president, two project managers, the platform-side editor and producer, and two unfamiliar faces she didn’t recognize; all of them were holding their glasses and staring at her.

Xi Zhen didn’t move. She knew these people were deliberately targeting her. But she wanted to know whether they were merely using Zhou Ping’s connection to Song Xunqing to make trouble, or whether... they had secretly been acting on Li Xingqing’s orders.

If it was only Zhou Ping, she couldn’t be bothered to spare him even a glance.

But what if it wasn’t?

What if Li Xingqing really was behind them?

What if the rumors that said, “Anyone who gets close to Xi Zhen is going against Li Xingqing,” weren’t something the underlings had made up, but Li Xingqing’s real thoughts?

What if Li Xingqing truly hated her?

Xi Zhen’s fingers tightened little by little around the rim of the glass. She remembered Li Xingqing’s words in the parking lot: “Yeah, I’m a madman; I’m so angry with you I’m practically going crazy.”

She remembered the way Li Xingqing had leaned against her shoulder that day and muttered, muffled and sullen, “Don’t go.”

She remembered saying, “We’re not a good match,” and Li Xingqing’s silence afterward, and then that line: “I’ll prove it to you.”

The Li Xingqing in front of her had been real. But what about the Li Xingqing she didn’t see? The one rumored to be ruthless, able to stir up the whole business world in City A with a single wave of her hand; the one who had single-handedly reshuffled the entire commercial landscape. Was it possible that in some late night, in some corner she could not see, Li Xingqing would simply nod and tell the people below: I don’t like Xi Zhen.

In truth, Li Xingqing didn’t even need to speak, didn’t need to say it outright. She only needed to stay silent. She only needed to do nothing when Xi Zhen was being made difficult for; naturally, the people underneath would sniff out the wind direction and rush to act for her. Naturally, they would help her shove Xi Zhen into the mud, then come to her with muddy hands, eager to claim credit.

And Xi Zhen? She had been shoved into the mud again and again, struggling in the mire again and again; all she had was herself.

Xi Zhen lowered her head and stared at the wine in her glass. The transparent liquid swayed faintly under the lights, reflecting her own blurred outline. Suddenly, her throat tightened and her nose burned unbearably.

Song Xunqing’s smile in front of her was as brilliant as it had been more than ten years ago. Then it slowly shifted into Li Xingqing’s face, swaggering before her and swearing she would make Xi Zhen submit.

All at once, Xi Zhen felt that everything around her was unreal.

This scene was far too much like what had happened more than ten years ago, as though the next second the police would rush out from the side and drag her away for questioning. Again and again, everything she had believed to be true had turned out to be lies, while she had become the lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

“Do you know what you’re saying?”

“Do you know what the consequences will be if you say those things?”

“No one will believe you.”

No one will believe you.

Xi Zhen’s knuckles went white where they gripped the glass. She drew a deep breath, trying to force down that dazed feeling. But the lights, the voices, the smells around her all surged in like a tide.

She was wrapped tightly inside it, unable to tell whether she was standing in the present or ten years in the past.

One glass after another went down; raising a toast, clinking glasses, tilting her head back, swallowing. The spicy liquid burned down her throat and into her stomach, igniting a wave of heat. She was starting to lose track of which glass was for whom, and who had poured which one; all she could see was the glasses flashing over and over in the light.

“Director Xi can’t hold her liquor after all?” Song Xunqing’s voice drifted down from above her, soft and sweet, full of laughter.

Xi Zhen looked up at Song Xunqing’s smiling face. Many years ago, this woman had also smiled like that and trampled her dignity to pieces in front of everyone. She hadn’t expected that after so many years, the same thing would happen again; only this time, she couldn’t even tell who her opponent was.

Serves you right. She told herself that in her heart. Then she picked up her glass, tipped her head back, and drank it down.

---

“Fuck.” Li Xingqing slammed her hand hard against the steering wheel. The horn answered with a short, strangled blast.

She leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes, and listened to the rain hammering against the roof of the car, pattering nonstop.

The car had started having problems five minutes ago; first the engine had sounded wrong, then the whole body had become obviously out of control. She pressed the accelerator deeper, but it still didn’t help.

In the end, Li Xingqing had no choice but to pull over, try starting it again, and wait. The engine sputtered a few times, then went completely silent. She tried once more. Still silent. All around her was only the rain and the back-and-forth sweep of the wipers.

She took out her phone and checked the time; it was already 8:30, and Zhou Ping’s banquet had been going on for half an hour.

From here to the destination, there were still two kilometers left.

It was too late. Li Xingqing abandoned the car by the roadside, grabbed her umbrella, got out, and called her assistant. “An Ning, my car broke down on the road. Handle it, and send another one.”

Her assistant was highly professional and immediately understood what Li Xingqing meant.

After giving the instructions, Li Xingqing held her umbrella and walked all the way toward the destination.

The rain wasn’t heavy, only drizzling, but it was maddening. Her mind was full of the person she was worried about, and her pace kept getting faster.

The puddles on the ground mercilessly slapped against the soles of her lambskin shoes, which were not supposed to get wet; yet she didn’t care in the slightest.

There was only one thought in Li Xingqing’s head: faster. Faster still.

---

The burning liquid churned in Xi Zhen’s stomach. She forced down the nausea and set the glass back on the table. The moment her fingertips touched the tabletop, they trembled slightly.

Song Xunqing looked as if she had finally gotten her revenge; she was laughing so hard her whole body shook. Holding her wineglass, her shoulders bobbed, and the little diamond studs in her earlobes swayed with her, as though reflecting their owner’s smugness. “Director Xi really does have a good tolerance,” she laughed, then wiped lightly at the corner of her eye with her fingertip. “I thought after all these years, you’d have learned to be more flexible. I didn’t expect... really didn’t expect...” She bent down and leaned beside Xi Zhen’s ear, lowering her voice to a whisper only the two of them could hear. “But this time, no one can save you, Zhen-jie.”

The surroundings suddenly went quiet, as if someone had hit pause.

Xi Zhen’s head was buzzing. For a moment, she didn’t notice. It was Song Xunqing who first sensed that something was off and looked up to assess the area.

Someone was walking straight toward them. The footsteps were unhurried, stirring the faintest current of wind. The newcomer wore a sharply tailored women’s suit, her hair tied back neatly, her expression unreadable. But when those eyes swept over the wineglasses on the table, over Xi Zhen’s flushed cheeks, over her slightly trembling fingers, they were colder than a deep winter lake.

Author’s Note:

The little dog has come to save big sister