When Lin Xinyan smiled, her crystalline eyes seemed to laugh as well. “Should I be paying my respects to them since they helped me so much through such an important situation? I can’t really drink though. Would you be willing to help me?”
As she spoke, she filled Zong Jinghao’s glass to the very brim.
Zong Jinghao glanced at the overflowing glass of alcohol before him and smirked. So this all had been a trap just for him.
He smiled tenderly. “Whatever you say.”
Su Zhan blinked. What’s going on between these two? Why are they acting all flirty?
“Jinghao, what’s-”
What’s going on?
“You must have done quite a bit to help out after that little internet incident. This is just my gratitude to you. If you aren’t willing to accept it, you don’t have to.” After she had gotten pregnant, she hadn’t looked at her phone apart from taking calls. She’d only found out because the nurse from her check-up the other day had been stealing glances at her while watching that video.
After that, she managed to direct Aunt Yu away before reading the news for herself on her phone.
Lin Xinyan’s words made it hard for Su Zhan to turn her down. He picked up the glass and eyed Zong Jinghao uneasily. Am I supposed to drink this or not?
Without further ado, Lin Xinyan passed a glass toward Jinghao. He looked at her through hooded lids. He knew what was going on, and yet he chose to play along.
This alcohol was strong and definitely burned going down. They hadn’t eaten anything yet, which made it even easier to get drunk since they were drinking on an empty stomach.
Meanwhile, Su Zhan only had a small shot glass of alcohol and he downed it in one gulp. He frowned at the spiciness of the liquor and quickly stuffed some food into his mouth in an attempt to cancel out the bitter and raw taste.
Lin Xinyan looked at Zong Jinghao worriedly. However, he was as expressionless as if he were simply drinking water. She picked up some dishes that she knew he would like and placed them on his plate. “Wash it down with this.”
Hearing that, Zong Jinghao leaned closer to her and whispered, “Feeling bad for me?”
Lin Xinyan calmed her frenzied heart and whispered back, “As if.” To prove that what she said was real, she filled Zong Jinghao’s glass once again.
“You and Guan Jing should toast together. While you weren’t at the office, he helped a lot.”
“Please don’t say that. That’s what I’m supposed to do.” Guan Jing said, taken aback by the sudden kindness.
It was much easier to get drunk on an empty stomach. After downing two glasses of that liquor straight, Jinghao’s eyes started to become bloodshot. He looked fine, but Xinyan knew how uncomfortable he must be feeling. After all, it was terribly damaging to drink liquor with such a high alcohol content on an empty stomach.
Despite all that, she knew she couldn’t leave without getting Zong Jinghao drunk.
Although her heart ached for him, she filled up his glass once again. “Now, toast to me. I married you when I was 18 years old, and you didn’t have anything to give me. No dowry, no wedding, and even our marriage certificate got signed because someone else dragged me there. Honestly, it’s been pretty rough for me, hasn’t it? Shouldn’t you-”
She hadn’t even finished speaking before Zong Jinghao downed the glass in another gulp.
The veins in his forehead starting pulsating, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he spoke in a raspy voice, “I used to be an a**hole and did plenty of stupid things.”
As he spoke, he filled his glass again. “I’d like to say something in front of all my close friends today. “I…” He paused for a while and suddenly wrapped Lin Xinyan in his arms. “Really love this woman a lot. I have a lot to thank her for.”
The three men before him nodded quietly. “We know.”
“This one’s also for you. You gave me Ruixi and Xichen.” He downed the fourth glass in one more shot and filled it up again. “I can’t apologize enough with just one glass, nor can I properly express how much heartache I felt all those years or my stupidity that led to all this. Thank you for raising them so well.”
These were all words straight from his heart. He’d never said them out loud before this, but he had never forgotten them.
Six years. It had been much too long. More than three thousand days and nights. It wasn’t just time that had slipped by, but plenty of laughter and growth that he had failed to be there for.
He had never experienced the anxiety and hopefulness of a soon-to-be father waiting nervously outside the delivery room.
Hence, he didn’t know what their children looked like as newborns.
Not only that, but he also didn’t know when his children grew their first tooth.
Or when they said their first word, what it was, or if they said “mom” or “dad” first.
He didn’t know the feeling of carrying a newborn in his arms.
He might have purposely been trying to let Lin Xinyan’s plan succeed, or he might have been drowning in his own depressing thoughts. Either way, he downed the entire bottle of liquor all on his own.
With that, he ended up getting drunk.
Holding on to Lin Xinyan tightly, he did not let her go but also did not say anything.
He just wanted to hold on to her. When he held her in his arms and felt her warm body against him, he finally felt like a whole human being.
“You’re drunk.” Lin Xinyan patted him on the back.
He buried his head into the crook of her neck. “I’m not drunk. I just feel bad.”
Then, he held Xinyan’s hand and guided it to his heart. “I feel bad right here.”
Lin Xinyan blinked at him and whispered, “I know. We still have a long way to go together, so for now, you just need to sleep.”
After that, she turned to the three men before her. “Can you bring him upstairs?”
If they hadn’t known before, they definitely knew now. This was all a ruse to get Zong Jinghao drunk.
As for the reason why – well, they still didn’t know.
The two of them were enough to carry him up, so Shen Peichuan didn’t follow. Instead, he looked at Lin Xinyan. “What exactly are you trying to do?”
Yet, Lin Xinyan ignored his question. “Is his alcohol tolerance any good?”
“Under normal circumstances, he’s pretty decent. He’s a businessman, after all. It’s common for him to go out drinking as part of the job.” Even if one had a horrible alcohol tolerance, one could still be trained through drinking often.
“So, is he drunk?” Lin Xinyan asked.
He clearly tried to get himself drunk nearing the end of it. After all, she was pretty obvious about her intentions. He had to have known she wanted to get him drunk.
“He was in a bad mood, so it’s even easier for him to get drunk.” Shen Peichuan’s meaning was clear enough.
After he said that, Lin Xinyan took a deep breath. At this point, there was no going back. She had to follow her plan.
“Aunt Yu, go up and take care of him, please.” A drunk person shouldn’t be left alone. What if he needed to throw up or was feeling thirsty?
Aunt Yu started making some warm honey water, but Lin Xinyan pressed her lips tightly together and said, “Give him some normal warm water instead.”
She was scared that he would wake up too early, and she wouldn’t have enough time.
“Where’s the wheelchair I asked you to get?” She asked Shen Peichuan.
“What exactly are you trying to-?”
“I’m running out of time. I’ll tell you on the way,” Xinyan said, cutting him off.
Aunt Yu stood there, not knowing what to do.
Is she really not even going to let him drink some honey water after he downed so much alcohol?
After hesitating for a while, Aunt Yu went to the kitchen and poured a new glass. She still secretly slipped some honey in, though, managing to hide it from Lin Xinyan.
Shen Peichuan then placed the wheelchair next to Xinyan and helped her into it before pushing her out.
Once they reached the car, he helped her in before folding up the wheelchair and keeping it in the trunk.
After starting the car, he asked, “You can tell me what your plan is now, right? What exactly is this master plan of yours? Who exactly did you have to get Jinghao drunk in order to meet? Or is something else the case?”
