After Zhao Chuchu finished putting on her makeup, everyone was almost ready and followed Fan Jiancheng out.
Fuqiang Real Estate is not a very large company. There are only about twenty people in the branch where Ye Sibei works. A group of them left when get off work ended, and now there are only seven or eight people left.
Fan Jiancheng and Chen Xiaoyang drove the car, and the two sides split into two cars and drove to the hotel booked by Fan Jiancheng.
The sales department is very familiar with this kind of drinking party. Although Ye Sibei has not been there many times, she has gained some experience after working for so many years. Everyone around her is familiar to her, so she is not worried.
Fan Jiancheng booked a large table. When they arrived, he arranged Chen Xiaoyang and himself at the second seat, and then moved them to the back row according to their drinking ability, with the ones who could drink more being closer to the main seat.
Zhao Chuchu was one of the main players, but Fan Jiancheng did not put her in the front row. Instead, he let her sit with Ye Sibei. Zhao Chuchu couldn't help but feel a little strange, and asked Fan Jiancheng in a low voice: "Brother Fan, what do you mean by this arrangement?"
"You are young," Fan Jiancheng glared at her, "If Sister Tao can't drink it, you can make up for it. If you can avoid drinking, don't drink it."
"Brother Fan," Zhao Chuchu became happy when she heard it and made a heart shape towards Fan Jiancheng, "I love you."
"Every day he's out of shape."
Fan Jiancheng was too lazy to pay attention to her and went to make arrangements for other people.
Ye Sibei was sitting next to him pouring tea for himself. Zhao Chuchu turned around and bumped into Ye Sibei: "How is it, is Brother Fan reliable?"
Ye Sibei smiled and didn't say much.
This is not her battlefield, she is just here to make up the numbers.
All she wanted now was to quietly get through this drinking party, go home, get through this night, and then start the next day.
Everyone was chattering while waiting, and Ye Sibei also roughly understood the information about the host and guest of the night.
He is the vice president of Wanfu Real Estate, named Zheng Qiang. It is said that he has been rooted in Nancheng for many years and has deep roots in the real estate industry.
Originally, tonight was a party between Anjia Real Estate and him, but he didn't know how Anjia Real Estate offended him, so he temporarily changed it to a dinner with Fuqiang Real Estate. He heard that he liked to drink and like to be lively, so Fan Jiancheng specially brought everyone he could.
"I guess I'll have to drink a lot tonight."
Zhao Chuchu used her rich experience to judge the situation tonight.
As soon as he finished speaking, footsteps were heard outside the door. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Fan Jiancheng push open the door, nodding and bowing, inviting the three people to come in.
The leader was a middle-aged man in his early forties, dressed in a suit and tie, looking quite imposing.
When he entered the room, everyone stood up.
"Let me introduce him to you all," Fan Jiancheng respectfully raised his hand and pointed to the man who came in. "This is Mr. Zheng from Wanfu Real Estate. Welcome."
As he spoke, Fan Jiancheng began to applaud, and everyone quickly followed suit.
Warm applause filled the entire room. Fan Jiancheng led Zheng Qiang to the main seat: "Come, Mr. Zheng, sit here."
The other two people brought by Zheng Qiang did not sit down, they just stood at the door, like bodyguards.
He sat in the main seat, with Fan Jiancheng and Chen Xiaoyang on his left and right. He looked around at everyone at the round table and laughed, "Oh, Zheng is so lucky today. There are so many beauties at this table."
"Come on," Zheng Qiang stood up and poured himself three glasses of wine, "Ladies, I'm late, so I'll drink three glasses as punishment."
Having said that, before anyone could persuade him, Zheng Qiang drank three cups of wine.
Then he turned the empty cup around towards everyone, looking quite cheerful: "Look, I, Old Zheng, never play tricks. Since you are here today, everyone present must drink to your heart's content and enjoy yourself. Don't say anything like you are allergic to alcohol or you can't drink. Friendship is all in the wine. If you don't drink, then your friendship is not good enough."
"Mr. Zheng is right."
Chen Xiaoyang, who was sitting next to Zheng Qiang, stood up and raised his glass to look at everyone: "Wine is a symbol of deep affection. It is our honor to invite Mr. Zheng to Fuqiang Real Estate today. We must show some attitude. Mr. Zheng, drink three glasses. All of our employees toast Mr. Zheng with three glasses. Come on!"
As he spoke, Chen Xiaoyang poured himself the first cup: "First cup, to welcome President Zheng, welcome!"
After Chen Xiaoyang said this, no one said anything more. They all raised their glasses and drank it in one gulp.
Ye Sibei took a sip in the crowd.
She always behaves in this perfunctory manner in crowded occasions like this, since no one would notice her anyway.
Chen Xiaoyang raised his second glass: "Second glass, thank you Mr. Zheng for coming."
Everyone refilled their glasses and drank from them.
Chen Xiaoyang raised his glass for the third time: "The third cup, I wish Mr. Zheng a prosperous business!"
Everyone poured wine again and raised their glasses. Ye Sibei took a small sip and put the glass down.
After taking the last sip, Chen Xiaoyang turned the cup over and walked around towards everyone. He turned to look at Zheng Qiang and was about to speak when he saw Zheng Qiang staring in the direction of Ye Sibei.
Chen Xiaoyang sensed something was wrong and dared not say anything.
The scene became quiet.
"Old Fan," Zheng Qiang started to speak, and everyone followed his gaze and looked over. He raised his hand and pointed at Ye Sibei's half-empty wine glass that was blocking the bowl and chopsticks. "Your company looks down on me."
Upon hearing this, everyone's faces changed. Ye Sibei was confused, and her mind began to quickly think about what to do.
Zhao Chuchu reacted first and stood up quickly: "Mr. Zheng, I toast you three glasses."
Zheng Qiang didn't say anything, he just stared at Ye Sibei and shook his head.
"Your apology is not an apology. Only when the person who made the mistake speaks up, that's an apology."
As he spoke, Zheng Qiang took the cups from the side and counted the number of cups: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6."
After he finished counting, he took the white wine next to him, filled up the cups one by one, and spread his hands towards Ye Sibei.
"Little girl," Zheng Qiang smiled, "We finally have so many people to eat together today. We can't let you not finish your meal, right? If I finish this row, I will believe that your company still respects me. If I don't do it," Zheng Qiang smiled and looked at Fan Jiancheng, as if joking, "it means that you, Fuqiang, don't give me face."
Upon hearing this, Fan Jiancheng became anxious. He looked up at Ye Sibei and called out threateningly, "Sibei!"
Ye Sibei looked at the row of wine and his face turned pale.
But since Fan Jiancheng had expressed his opinion, everyone would just follow his lead. After all, this was their biggest income this year, and no one wanted to lose this opportunity because of six glasses of wine.
All of a sudden, everyone started urging her to apologize.
Groups always have the power to change the atmosphere, and that atmosphere can even cause an invisible change in people's thinking.
Ye Sibei didn't know what was wrong with her. She had been told countless times that girls should not drink too much, but she could never utter the word "no".
She didn't dare to take the responsibility for not getting the order, fearing being ostracized by the group and also worried about losing her current job.
Everyone was drinking, Zhao Chuchu, Tao Jie, Chen Xiaoyang, everyone was trying their best to get the order. She was not that precious, nor that pretentious.
Under everyone's urging, she gritted her teeth and walked to Zheng Qiang, took the first glass of wine, and bowed respectfully: "Mr. Zheng, I'm sorry, I was ignorant, I apologize to you."
Zheng Qiang looked at her, raised his hand and motioned her to drink quickly.
Ye Sibei closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and took a sip.
The wine glass scraped her throat as she poured it down. She couldn't tell the difference between good wine and bad wine. She just felt a burning sensation scraping her esophagus to her stomach.
One cup, two cups, three cups...
Each cup intensified the discomfort. By the fifth cup, she began to feel stomach pain and wanted to vomit. She covered her mouth with her hand and showed a painful look.
Fan Jiancheng stood up and said hesitantly: "General Zheng..."
"Slow down," Zheng Qiang handed her a tissue, "Don't drink too fast, slow down, there's still one more glass to go."
Ye Sibei didn't dare to speak. She looked up at Fan Jiancheng who was standing behind Zheng Qiang for help. Fan Jiancheng caught her gaze, paused for a moment, and gently shook his head.
She began to regret and blame herself.
If I had just drank the wine, how could I think of cheating in such a situation
Why did Zheng Qiang stare at her instead of others
It's all her fault.
Her mind was in a mess and she tried to convince herself to drink the sixth cup.
But after the sixth cup, her stomach churned and she couldn't help it, so she covered her mouth and rushed to the bathroom.
She retched violently in the bathroom. She heard loud laughter outside the bathroom, but she couldn't tell who was laughing. The physical pain and unspeakable humiliation in her heart surged up at the same time, making her eyes sore.
She felt like there was a string in her mind that could break at any time.
Something was churning in her heart, and everything was shaking.
She breathed softly and heard her cell phone ringing.
She swiped across the screen and answered the call, and then she heard her mother's sharp voice coming from the phone: "Where have you been?"
The sound made her ears hurt. She propped herself up and sat on the toilet seat. She suppressed all her emotions and lied in a hoarse voice: "I'm home."
"Home? Have you learned to lie to me? I'm at your home now, where are you?"
Huang Guifen has a spare key to their house, but she usually doesn't go to her house.
Ye Sibei tried hard to understand Huang Guifen's words. The alcohol made it impossible for her to think. She felt that there were too many things running through her mind, so she kept silent.
She didn't say anything, but her mother Huang Guifen's voice could not stop: "Tell me clearly, is Qin Nan divorcing you because you fool around outside every day? It's so late, and you still don't go home. Is this what a woman should do?"
"Mom, I'm working."
Ye Sibei was a little tired. Something was gnawing at her heart. She unconsciously clasped her wrist with one hand and said, "I'll talk to you when I get back."
"Work? What kind of work do you have? Now that you're married, you haven't told your family anything, right? Do you still consider me your mother? If your dad hadn't gone to Qin Nan's store today and heard his employees say that he hadn't been home for a week, and if I hadn't come to your room today and seen the divorce agreement, how long were you going to keep it a secret from us?! Do you know how big a deal divorce is? Do you know what divorce means to a woman?!"
Huang Guifen's words were like a worm that would gnaw at one's brain. It crawled into her brain, gnawing at it, causing itchiness and pain.
Ye Sibei put his hands in his hair, curled up in pain, and listened to Huang Guifen's scolding: "You are divorced, have you ever thought about how difficult it is to get married again? You either don't get married, or get married and then get divorced, what's the point? How will people outside laugh at us? What will the neighbors think of us? You are shameless, but I still have some. Chuchu and Nianwen are getting married soon, don't do such an unlucky thing, I tell you that I don't agree to divorce..."
"It's not like I want to leave!"
Ye Sibei finally couldn't hold it anymore and she suddenly shouted loudly.
In an instant, it seemed as if countless things were rushing out, and she was trembling all over, unable to control it at all: "He wants to divorce! He knows that I lent money to Nianwen to buy a house and he wants a divorce. What do you want me to do?! You want Ye Nianwen to return the money to me? Let Zhao Chuchu not marry him?!"
"What's the point of you scolding me? Is that what I want?"
Ye Sibei raised his voice and asked, "Is this how I want to live?!"
Huang Guifen calmed down. She seemed to be frightened by Ye Sibei. Ye Sibei realized his loss of composure, supported his head, sorted out his emotions, and stopped talking.
After a long time, there was a knock on the door from outside.
"sister?"
"I'm fine!" Ye Sibei replied in a hoarse voice pretending to be nothing.
After she finished speaking, she turned back and lowered her voice, hastily ending the conversation with Huang Guifen, "That's it, I'll talk to you again when I get home from get off work tomorrow."
"Then..." Huang Guifen hesitated, "You should go home early."
"Um."
Ye Sibei responded quickly and cut off the call with Huang Guifen without hesitation.
She sat on the toilet with her head down for a while, until Zhao Chuchu urged her again. Then she took a deep breath, stood up, and opened the door.
Zhao Chuchu breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her come out. She looked her up and down and asked with concern, "Are you okay?"
"It will be fine once you finish vomiting."
Ye Sibei leaned against the door and shook his head: "It's nothing serious."
"That's good."
Zhao Chuchu felt relieved and helped her back to the private room.
At this time, the atmosphere was already very lively, the private room was filled with wine, and everyone was drinking.
The first glass of wine is the hardest to drink, but after finishing the first glass, it becomes extremely difficult to refuse subsequent urging to drink.
Ye Sibei tried her best to refuse all the drinks handed to her, but if she didn't drink, Zhao Chuchu had to help her block them. She felt bad and forced herself to drink two more glasses.
When Zhao Chuchu was still sober, she was a little drunk, but she felt that there was nothing wrong with her rationality. She knew what she was doing. She even pulled Fan Jiancheng and begged him: "Brother Fan, you must take Chuchu and I back safely."
"Don't worry," Fan Jiancheng nodded, "I will definitely send you back safely. Chuchu, please take care of her. Why is she so drunk? I'll go get her a glass of water."
Zhao Chuchu agreed and sat aside on the pretext of taking care of Ye Sibei. Ye Sibei had never been so drunk before. She felt like she had a lot to say. She thought she shouldn't say it, but she couldn't control herself and kept talking to him.
"My mother forced me, Qin Nan forced me, life forced me, everyone forced me. I don't want anything anymore, I gave up everything, I just want everyone to live a good life, what did I do wrong?"
"Qin Nan said that I shouldn't live like this, but I can't control myself. I have no future and I can't do anything well. What can I do?"
"I had a dream last night. I dreamed about my high school years. At that time, I felt very good about myself. I gave a flag-raising speech and many people watched. But I have never felt this way again in my life."
"I really want to spend my whole life with him," Ye Sibei cried, "I don't know what like or dislike is, I can't feel it, but I really want to spend my whole life with him, why is it so difficult?"
"Drink some water and get ready to go."
Someone handed her water.
After she finished drinking the water, Zheng Qiang's voice disappeared from her surroundings. The drinking party seemed to be over, and she and Zhao Chuchu walked out together, supporting each other.
Fan Jiancheng was waiting for them at the door. Ye Sibei opened the car door and got in with Zhao Chuchu.
After getting in the car, she started talking more and more nonsense and kept saying thank you.
"Chu Chu, thank you for taking care of me all the time. You and Nianwen should be well. My life is coming to an end, and I don't know how to live a good life. You know, as long as you are happy, that's enough."
"Brother Fan, I have always wanted to thank you. Last year, if you hadn't asked the HR department to hire me, I would still be unemployed. People said that I was 26 years old, about to get married and have children, and I had no work experience. I failed the civil service exam for two years. I was dull and couldn't speak. I was also a college student. I was aloof. Everyone disliked me. Brother Fan, thank you, thank you for giving me a way out. I am really, really grateful to you."
As she was talking, she felt a little sleepy and couldn't help but lean on Zhao Chuchu.
She felt dizzy and leaned against Zhao Chuchu and murmured, "Why is it so hard? When will this life end?"
"Sister," she vaguely heard Zhao Chuchu's voice, "There is no end to the suffering in one's life. All we can do is move forward."
"go straight."
She was a little dazed when she heard these words, and vaguely felt Zhao Chuchu standing up. She looked up blankly, watching Zhao Chuchu get out of the car and Fan Jiancheng closing the door.
The last scene in her memory was her leaning against the car window, eyes open, watching the dim street lights shining through the window, flickering in and out of her eyes.
It's bizarre and seems like a dream.