The investment company that Xue Qingyan was working in was of a considerable scale. It consisted the three major departments namely capital management, private equity, and angel investment, Xue Qingyan being the managing director. The fund management department was the department that got into trouble this time. The executive officer for the item in question was her henchmen, who failed to manage the risk and follow up properly due to the instability of internet banking, resulting in the loss of 200 million dollars. This crisis could lead to bad debt anytime. After the board of directors got to know this, they had Xue Qingyan to make to trip to Nanjing to settle the issue.

Du Jiang was once a thug in secret societies that were involved in illegal dealings, but subsequently turned from his ways and gradually built up a company to do legal businesses, which mainly dealt with entertainment, construction, and usury. Subsequently, having observed that people in finance reaped much profit, he decided to go into finance given that he had a wide network so he would not be short of projects. He employed a team of finance people to help run his business. With the reputation endorsement from the government, his businesses took off quickly and grew tremendously. This attracted the involvement of a number of fallen, once-corrupted government officials and these projects subsequently began to fail. Du Jiang, realizing the crisis, decided to launch a scam to attract common investors by promising them high returns, while he himself began transferring out his capital in preparation for his own escape.

The investment company Xue Qingyan worked at had an extensive network as well as well-experienced chairman. In addition, its eight board members were veterans in the financial scene. For this reason, they were able to know about the impending risks before the others and had sent Xue Qingyan to handle the matter.

“This glass of wine is to welcome our beautiful Manager Xue to Nanjing. The area around Qinhuai River had produced many beauties, but none is comparable to Manager Xue,” commented Du Jiang as lifted his glass of wine. Qin Sheng was certainly not supposed to drink the first three glasses of wine on behalf of Ms. Cheongsam, but thankfully, she could still take those first few glasses.

Manager Li played along and said, “That’s for sure! Our Manager Xue is the most beautiful lady in the entire company. Her suitors in Shanghai Bund can make a line from the Bund all the way to Pudong.”

“If I were still single, I would have gone after Manager Xue,” the deputy manager in Du Jiang’s company said with a smile.

Beautiful ladies would be the center of attention wherever they went, especially when they were among a group of players. Xue Qingyan chortled and said, “All of you are too kind, how can I be called a beauty?”

“Regardless, let’s raise our glasses in a toast to the great beauty, Manager Xue!” Du Jiang laughed heartily.

Soon they were done with one glass of wine each.

Du Jiang immediately said, “For the second glass of wine, let’s invite Manager Xue to speak a few words.”

“I don’t have much to say, just I’d like to thank all of you for taking the time to show your hospitality in welcoming me to Nanjing. Secondly, I hope we’ll be able to complete the work we have set out to do smoothly. I’d like to request the cooperation of all of you, so I can go back, having achieved my purpose here,” Xue Qingyan simply went straight to the point, instead of beating around the bush. She downed the second glass of wine. Although she had a better capacity for alcohol than just these few glasses, she knew she should not drink too much tonight.

“Manager Xue is indeed an exceptional power woman,” Du Jiang said with admiration. Apart from admiration, Qin Sheng also caught a glimpse of his lust for Xue Qingyan.

“Manager Xue has a good capacity for drinking, we have to catch up with you, come,” Manager Li encouraged.

Qin Sheng paced his drinking as he sized up the three men quietly. Qin Sheng instinctively began assessing the entire situation, which was his usual habit. Although Xue Qingyan’s company matters did not concern him, he had to protect Xue Qingyan. To do this, he had to find out the relationship between these three men so as not to be caught unexpectedly. He could see they were well-coordinated in the way they complemented each other in what they said.

“For the third glass of wine, let’s invite Manager Li to say a few words. Manager Li had been working very hard in Nanjing without any complaints. It is hoped that Manager Xue can put in a good word for him to the executive management level,” Du Jiang said, thinking that Manager Li was the only one here who was qualified for such compliment.

Manager Li lifted his glass and said, “Manager Du had already made known what I had wanted to say. I shall not repeat it. Toast!”

Soon, they were done with the first three glasses of wine. This was when Qin Sheng observed a slight change in Xue Qingyan’s expression, which indicated that she was not at her best. Fortunately, the dishes arrived at this juncture. Qin Sheng immediately commented, “Finally the food is here. Manager Xue hasn’t had her dinner yet when she rushed over.”

“Is that so? It’s all because of our lack of consideration. Please quickly help yourself to some food,” Li instantly showed his concern for Xue Qingyan, who was after all the company’s general manager. He would surely not want to offend her, lest she gave him a hard time in the future.

Finally, the starving Xue Qingyan was able to take in some food and this made her feel much better.

While Xue Qingyan ate, Qin Sheng did not eat. His goal for tonight was to defeat Du Jiang. Once Du Jiang falls, the rest would not dare to act rashly. Qin Sheng raised his wine glass and said, “Manager Du, let me toast you, forgive me for losing my focus just now.”

Before Du Jiang could turn him down, Qin Sheng downed the glass of wine. “Qin Sheng is such a forthright young man, I like it!” Du Jiang said with a laugh.

Thereafter, Qin Sheng lifted his glass again to toast to Manager Li and Manager Zhao and making up a reason, he said, “I may come to Nanjing to look for opportunities in future and I hope to get your support when I do. Here’s a toast to the three managers for your future help!”

Qin Sheng downed the glass again without giving them a turn to toast Xue Qingyan.

Qin Sheng downed four glasses of wine in one go, without feeling any discomfort. The more a person thinks about trying not to get drunk, the more easily he would become drunk; the more a person tries to enjoy it, the more he would immerse in it. At least this was Qin Sheng’s way of thinking.

Finally, Qin Sheng took a break to start having some food. He also quietly sent a message to Xue Qingyan, saying, “In a while, I will try to call you secretly and you will pretend to pick up the calls, then you go to the washroom afterward, and then you can leave the rest to me.”

When Xue Qingyan took out her mobile phone to read the message, she was taken aback. She had not expected Qin Sheng to be so full of ideas. She nodded her head as an indication to Qin Sheng that she had gotten his message and understood what to do.

After Xue Qingyan had eaten some food, Du Jiang tried to make her drink another three glasses of wine, which she found hard to reject.

At the moment, Qin Sheng began to carry out his plan. While he hid his mobile phone in his pocket, he started dialing Xue Qingyan’s number.

Xue Qingyan got up slowly and said, “Excuse me, I got to answer a call.”

After Xue Qingyan left the table, Qin Sheng started making the three managers drink more wine, making use of many different excuses and even suggested playing games with them. Qin Sheng believed that the easiest way to escape drinking was to play games. All games involve rules and whether a person wins or loses depended on luck. Tonight, luck seemed to be on Qin Sheng’s side and he had been winning the games.

After a while, Xue Qingyan came back to the table. Knowing that Qin Sheng must have already drunk quite a lot of wine, she initiated toasts to Du Jiang and the rest. They certainly would not turn down the beauty’s toast. What Xue Qingyan did took some pressure off Qin Sheng.

During the course of the night, Xue Qingyan and Qin Sheng coordinated with each other a few times and within an hour, the three bottles of white wine were finished, but Du Jiang went on to order another three bottles.

Eventually, Qin Sheng’s tactic was to try to avoid drinking as much as possible, in order to keep a clear mind. Finally, he succeeded in making Du Jiang and the two others drunk. Du Jiang had the greatest capacity for alcohol among the three of them, having drunk almost a litre of wine. The other two hardly drank half a litre before they started to feel dizzy. While Qin Sheng drank about the same amount as Du Jiang, Xue Qinyan drank less than a quarter of a litre.

It could be said that Qin Sheng had successfully carried out his mission for the night.

Du Jiang and the other two were sent home by their subordinates while Xue Qingyan also arranged for an employee from her company to come over to fetch them to their hotel. As they walked out of the restaurant, Xue Qingyan held on to Qin Sheng to make sure he did not fall over. Although Qin Sheng kept saying he was alright, after all, Xue Qingyan had witnessed how much alcohol he drank, so she thought he needed some support.

Xue Qingyan hated the way man behaved when they were drunk, however, strangely, she was not put off by Qin Sheng at all. On the other hand, her heart was aching for him because he did all the drinking for her and she knew how uncomfortable it felt to be drunk.

When Xue Qingyan put Qin Sheng’s arm on her shoulder in order to support him, Qin Sheng felt he had not drunk all the white wine for anything. This was the first time he felt so intimate with Ms. Cheongsam. He took the opportunity to take in a deep breath of the fragrance from Ms. Cheongsam and said, “So nice smelling!”

“What did you say?” asked Xue Qingyan curiously, when Qin Sheng just kept quiet.

He tried hard to keep his consciousness and fortunately, after taking a few more steps, the men sent from the company arrived and took over supporting Qin Sheng.

Once on the car, the two men sat at the front seats while Qin Sheng and Xue Qingyan sat at the back. Xue Qingyan especially instructed the driver to drive slowly and steadily, lest Qin Sheng threw up.

“Are you alright, Qin Sheng?” Xue Qingyan asked with concern.

Leaning on the window, Qin Sheng watched the beautiful night lights and answered, “I’m alright, Big Sister.”

His vision was a little blurred, however, he could feel that he was more clear-minded than a moment ago.

“It was all thanks to you tonight. If not for you, I’d be the one to be drunk. But you do have big capacity for alcohol, being able to make the three others drunk,” the outcome of this meal surprised Xue Qingyan. She would never have expected Qin Sheng to be so capable.

Qin Sheng said plainly, “It’s not that I’ve big capacity for alcohol, but rather, they are too dim-witted.”

“So you’re saying you’re really smart, huh?” Xue Qingyan laughed.

Qin Sheng replied proudly, “Of course I’m smart. My grandfather used to say that if I were to live in the olden days, I would be a capable official to the emperor or some exceptional scholar.”

“Wow, the more you talk, the more energetic you become. Looks like you’re really drunk,” Xue Qingyan said, as she starred at Qin Sheng.

Qin Sheng sighed and continued, “It’s good to be drunk. There are people who wished to be drunk but are unable to do so.”

“Are you drunk?” Xue Qingyan asked, not understanding what Qin Sheng was trying to say.

Qin Sheng turned to look intently at Xue Qingyan, while he shook his head and said, “No, I can drink more.”

Before he could continue talking and before Xue Qingyan could react, Qin Sheng felt a surge coming up from his stomach. There was no way he would want to be blacklisted by Ms. Cheongsam. “Stop the car!” Qin Sheng cried out.

The driver immediately knew that Qin Sheng was about to throw up, so he pressed on the brake. Before the car come to a complete stop, Qin Sheng had opened the door and rushed out, and began vomiting violently.

He started cursing under his breath as he thought his camouflage was not done well…