Eldest Zhao's voice was loud and clear.
Even the background music seemed to cooperate perfectly; it had just finished playing the previous song and paused to change the disc, so countless people heard him.
No matter what they were doing, everyone stopped their actions and looked over with excitement.
Upon looking, they saw the two people in conflict.
The eldest son of the rice merchant Zhao family, Eldest Zhao.
And Su Ning.
Those who were ill-informed were completely confused. Did these two have some past grievance? They seemed to have absolutely no connection to each other. After asking around, they shook their heads in amazement, not knowing how to judge the situation.
In all fairness, it was the Zhao family who had acted unscrupulously.
But Su Ning also lived up to her reputation of seeking revenge for the smallest grievance, returning tenfold whatever was done to her. Her retaliation was a bit too extreme and did not conform to the moral standards of the time.
However, no matter what they thought, most people still cast admiring glances at Eldest Zhao—
Although Su Ning, this fierce tiger, was temporarily in a predicament, he actually dared to pluck the tiger's whiskers, even verbally insulting her father.
Tsk tsk, what commendable courage!
............
Eldest Zhao also felt a bit regretful after speaking.
He had just made a few sarcastic remarks, which shouldn't be a big deal. After all, Su Ning was currently at a low point. It was better to avoid trouble, so she would probably just swallow her anger.
Sigh, he was still a bit too impulsive.
"Please don't take offense, Miss Su," he laughed it off. "I had a few too many glasses of wine just now and my head is a bit dizzy. The alcohol here at Boss Duan's place is too strong..."
Su Ning did not lash out on the spot.
In fact, she was discussing a question with her system: "Did you equip me with some kind of protagonist halo? The kind where cannon fodder villains come to provoke me for no reason, and then I slap their faces in return."
The Unscrupulous Rich System stated flatly:
"Such a thing does exist, and it sells quite well with countless good reviews. But you need to purchase and equip it yourself. If you expect us to load it for free... heh."
That "heh" was very expressive.
It was full of the system's arrogance of never doing a loss-making business, and its mockery of Su Ning's whimsical idea that their system would kindly load such an expensive item for free.
Su Ning did not feel mocked.
She thought calmly that in this case... the saying that art comes from life is indeed true. Someone as outstanding and wealthy as her would always attract jealous and reckless fools like Eldest Zhao.
"Do people talk nonsense when they are drunk?"
Su Ning said lightly.
Her voice was obviously not loud, but the venue instantly became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Eldest Zhao, who was interrupted, didn't even have time to be angry; a sudden, inexplicable sense of dread rose in his heart.
But seeing so many people at the banquet, and with the host, Boss Duan, right in front of them, what outrageous thing could Su Ning do out of respect for Boss Duan?
At most, she would just scold him a bit.
He nodded with a forced smile:
"When the alcohol goes to your head, your mind isn't very clear. That's a common occurrence."
"I wasn't asking you."
Su Ning gave him a strange look, and then Lin Sen answered at the right moment. His voice was steady but carried a bit of anger: "As far as your subordinate knows, some people do talk nonsense when they are drunk, but most of them just use the alcohol as an excuse to speak their true thoughts."
"I also think that's probably the case."
She sighed. Looking at Eldest Zhao, whose face already showed a hint of panic, she revealed an extremely polite smile:
"But words alone are no proof, and I am not an unreasonable person. Before confirming whether drinking really makes people talk nonsense, getting angry at you rashly wouldn't convince the public."
"I am really drunk."
Eldest Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and defended himself, adding:
"Besides, what does a lowly assistant know? Before he met you, he probably didn't even have the money to get drunk. Miss Su, please don't be deceived by him..."
"We'll know if it's true or not after a little experiment."
Experiment, what experiment?
Not only did Eldest Zhao's brain freeze, but the other onlookers who were eagerly watching the drama also didn't understand.
The next second.
A few of Su Ning's subordinates, who had a very low presence behind her, lunged forward and restrained Eldest Zhao. "What are you doing? In broad daylight, are you trying to kill someone... Boss Duan!"
Boss Duan, whose name was called.
Sighed inwardly.
But he couldn't just ignore it—he really thought Su Ning was going to resort to violence on the spot. This Miss Su had always acted lawlessly and often did the unexpected.
"Miss Su, please show mercy."
Boss Duan said sincerely, "Eldest Zhao was wrong to offend you, and as the host, I was also wrong for not stopping it in time. But today is my grandson's first birthday catch banquet, and it wouldn't be good to see blood. Miss Su, please do me a favor and spare him this once."
"Consider it that I owe you a favor."
He paused, then added meaningfully:
"As long as you step out of these doors, I won't have any say in the matter."
The implication was that Su Ning could wait until the banquet was over and deal with Eldest Zhao however she pleased.
"Boss Duan, you are too polite."
Hearing this, the bystanders present all thought Su Ning was going to compromise. Those who wanted to watch a good show were quite disappointed, but they also knew they would have done the same in her shoes—she could earn a favor and only had to delay dealing with Eldest Zhao for a few days.
Why not?
"Didn't I say? I just want to conduct an experiment." Su Ning's tone was very leisurely, but her dark eyes exuded a chilling aura like an abyss:
"This... Mr. Zhao, it would be one thing if he only offended me with his words, but he actually offended my father, and then claimed he was just talking nonsense because he was drunk."
She let out two cold laughs:
"Then let's test it out."
"If it's really as he says, and being drunk makes him talk nonsense, then I won't do anything. But if not... both he and the Zhao family will learn the consequences of offending me!"
As soon as her voice fell.
Lin Sen rolled up his sleeves and walked up to Eldest Zhao. He pinched Eldest Zhao's chin with one hand, forcing his mouth wide open involuntarily. Eldest Zhao mumbled indistinctly, "I'm drunk, I'm really drunk, what are you doing..."
The mouth of a wine bottle was stuffed into his mouth.
There was no more sound.
"Don't move around so much, it's too wasteful," Lin Sen sighed, looking at Eldest Zhao as if looking at an ignorant child. Because he wasn't cooperating and kept thrashing around, a third of the liquor hadn't even gone in!
Hearing this, Eldest Zhao struggled even harder.
Lin Sen stopped caring.
If it was wasted, so be it. Anyway, his lady was rich; if one bottle wasn't enough, they would use two, three, or four.
Clatter.
The first bottle of wine had been poured down his throat, and the bottle hit the ground. Only then did the others react, looking at Su Ning in shock and uncertainty before turning to look at Eldest Zhao, who was being force-fed alcohol.
They finally understood what she meant by an experiment.
This thought process... since she couldn't determine if Eldest Zhao was truly drunk, she would just personally force-feed him alcohol until he was completely wasted, and then see if he would talk nonsense, right?
Even Boss Duan smiled bitterly and sighed.
Su Ning indeed didn't let blood be shed at the banquet, but Eldest Zhao would probably rather suffer physical pain right now. Being force-fed alcohol in front of everyone's eyes.
Not to mention the physical suffering, the humiliation was immense!
Assistant Lin was indeed smart. He did even a task like force-feeding alcohol perfectly. By the second bottle, he had mastered the right amount of force—the mouth of the bottle was firmly wedged against Eldest Zhao's teeth, ensuring almost no waste.
By the time they reached the fourth bottle.
They really couldn't pour any more in.
He tried one more time, unwilling to give up. Seeing that Eldest Zhao's face was flushed red, his eyes were unfocused, and most importantly, his hands and feet were trembling, he finally stopped with a hint of regret:
"Miss, Mr. Zhao is drunk."
Others: "...You don't need to tell us that. Anyone with eyes can see it. Eldest Zhao isn't just drunk; if we wait any longer, he'll probably be dead drunk."
"I've heard some people are very good at pretending to be drunk," Su Ning said with a smile, issuing an order:
"Give Mr. Zhao a couple of slaps to test it out."
Slap, slap, slap.
His subordinate went for a 'buy two, get one free' deal.
Eldest Zhao's face was now more than just flushed from wine; it was completely swollen and red—Su Ning's men wouldn't show him any courtesy, slapping him with almost all their strength.
Even so, his reactions were very sluggish.
"It seems Mr. Zhao is genuinely drunk," Su Ning remarked, then turned to look at the others with feigned surprise. "Oh, why is everyone looking over here? Ah, you must be curious too."
Everyone: ...Yes, yes, yes.
We're all very curious!
Su Ning satisfied their curiosity, immediately having his men try various methods. Unfortunately, no matter how they coaxed or tested him, Eldest Zhao, in his muddled state, couldn't utter a single clear word.
They even went so far as to insult the Zhao family right in front of him.
Still no reaction.
"How regrettable," Su Ning sighed. "As you've all seen, a truly drunk person doesn't talk nonsense; they can't even speak clearly. In the future, if there's anyone like Mr. Zhao here who uses drunkenness as an excuse to spout nonsense or act out, don't believe them."
Hearing these words,
some were alarmed by Su Ning's pettiness, while others genuinely took the lesson to heart. The reason Eldest Zhao would use drunkenness as an excuse was because incidents of causing trouble while drunk were common, and many people used this as a pretext.
'I was drunk.'
'Whatever I did wasn't from the heart, so you can't hold it against me. If you do, you're just being petty!'
Those who suffered the wrong had no choice but to let it go.
However, after Su Ning's little "experiment" this time, such excuses wouldn't be so easy to get away with anymore.
