CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54 I’M DONE PRETENDING, I’M LAYING MY CARDS ON THE TABLE (FANS, PLEASE FOLLOW)

Liu Chunming became the deputy general manager of a state-owned enterprise branch before the age of 40, not only because of the help from his father-in-law who worked in the municipal education bureau, but another very important reason was his capacity for alcohol.

There’s this catchy saying, you know.

No drink, no future, nine liangs gets you on the key training list, match your leaders in drinking to be their secretary, complain about too little and you’re hard to replace, run away halfway and promotion is far away, lead the drinking all the way and you’re the future boss.

As a native Shandong man, Liu Chunming is exactly the last line—leading the drinking all the way.

And indeed, his alcohol tolerance lived up to that line, as he had been able to drink two and a half catties of white liquor since his university days, and beer, he could chug endlessly.

Having this skill by his side, Liu Chunming particularly enjoyed using this advantage to flatter leaders and at the same time discipline those subordinates who didn’t comply.

Just now, Zhang Jingdong made him spend nearly twenty thousand, so he planned to give him a good punishing tonight, best if he drank until he got a bleeding stomach.

Liu Chunming had done this before.

It was when he was in his second year of university; he had fallen for a girl in the student union, but later found out that a male senior was also pursuing her.

After some investigation, Liu Chunming found that in all aspects he was no match for his rival, so he sent a rival a challenge to outdrink him.

The importance of drinking may pale slightly later on, but in these days, drinking is a very important skill for a man, its importance even rivaling the ability to last in that particular activity.

Therefore, on the matter of drinking, no one is willing to admit defeat.

And so his rival accepted the challenge.

That night, Liu Chunming drank one and a half bottles of Erguotou, while his opponent was rushed to the hospital after one bottle.

The final diagnosis was a bleeding stomach.

Liu Chunming not only had no regrets but often bragged about it later.

In Liu Chunming’s view, Zhang Jingdong now was also his rival, so he planned to reenact his glorious university days tonight.

Twenty minutes later, two cars parked one after the other in the parking lot of the Grand Tycoon.

The four got out of the cars and came to the entrance.

Liu Chunming was about to keep showing off by taking Zhang Jingdong and the others inside based on his prior visits.

Just then, a male marketer approached them with enthusiasm.

Liu Chunming was initially dumbfounded because he had only been here three times before, and every time he had been following his superiors, never being the main character himself, so he had never enjoyed such treatment.

But soon, he realized it might be because of the BMW car key in his hand, and he also smiled back at the marketer.

But just as he was about to say, "Get me a booth," he saw the marketer bypass him and stop in front of Zhang Jingdong.

"Sir, you’re here!"

Seeing that there was no escaping, Zhang Jingdong nodded: "Get us a bigger booth, closer to the stage."

"Okay, please follow me..."

Zhang Jingdong then took An Lu and walked in front, and when passing Liu Chunming, he mocked: "Mr. Liu, since it’s like this, I’ll be the host tonight!"

At that moment, Liu Chunming suddenly realized Zhang Jingdong seemed like a completely different person than before and tensed up.

But he quickly regained his composure. No matter who you are, tonight I must send you to the hospital.

He then pretended to be relaxed: "Xiao Zhang, you’re really something. Alright, then, let’s do as you say!"

The four entered the Grand Tycoon and were led to a very good booth under the marketer’s guidance.

After sitting down, Zhang Jingdong took the drinks menu handed over by the marketer and directly passed it to Liu Chunming.

"Mr. Liu, I ordered at the Western restaurant just now, here’s your chance for revenge, feel free to choose!"

Instantly, Liu Chunming felt secretly thrilled, thinking this was just what the kid asked for; he was going to use the drinks his money bought to defeat him.

He then said: "Alright, but rest assured, I think drinks are for drinking, not for showing off, the most important thing tonight is to drink to our heart’s content!"

Turning to the marketer, he added: "Bring us two bottles of Chivas and two bottles of vodka first."

Zhang Jingdong joked: "Mr. Liu, both of these drinks are of high alcohol content, and you’ve ordered two bottles of each, are you trying to knock me out?"

Hearing this, Liu Chunming instantly confirmed that his drinking capacity was average.

He mocked: "Xiao Zhang, you’re so young, you should be great at drinking. What, can’t even handle these? Then how can we enjoy ourselves tonight?"

Zhang Jingdong, seeing he had taken the bait, pretended to be a simpleton: "Alright then, let’s get some snacks, plus four bottles of rosehip wine and four bottles of rum, tonight we won’t go home unless we’re drunk!"

Upon hearing this, An Lu hurriedly grabbed Zhang Jingdong’s arm: "Jingdong, why are you drinking so much? It’s bad for your health!"

Seeing this, Liu Chunming became even more certain that Zhang Jingdong’s alcohol tolerance was just average, and he was trying to scare him off.

He then said, "Miss An, don’t worry, if he can’t drink later, I’ll help him drink!"

Zhang Jingdong smiled, took out his wallet, and handed over his card and a 500 tip to the promoter.

Soon, the promoter came over with the drinks prepared.

Liu Chunming instantly became eager with excitement, picked up a bottle of Chivas, and filled both his and Zhang Jingdong’s glasses to the brim.

"Xiao Zhang, I’m drinking it neat, but you can mix yours with Sprite."

Zhang Jingdong sneered, "Who are you kidding? Cheers!"

Saying that, he clinked glasses with Liu Chunming and then downed his in one gulp.

Liu Chunming watched the way Zhang Jingdong drank and was momentarily taken aback before he also downed his glass in one gulp.

After less than a minute’s break, Zhang Jingdong picked up the vodka in front of him and poured full glasses for both himself and Liu Chunming.

Then he clinked glasses with him once more and again finished it all in one gulp.

At this point, Liu Chunming was a bit dazed, but he still believed in his own drinking ability and gulped it down in one go.

Like this, the two men went glass for glass; in less than ten minutes, they had finished two bottles of Chivas and two bottles of vodka.

Liu Chunming was just warming up and felt no hint of drunkenness.

But what surprised him was that Zhang Jingdong’s face didn’t have even a hint of redness from the alcohol.

Moreover, his eyes were still bright, and his consciousness seemed very clear.

Liu Chunming couldn’t help but exclaim, "Brother, your drinking capacity is impressive!"

Zhang Jingdong casually smiled, "You’re not bad yourself!"

At that moment, the host’s voice suddenly rang out from the stage, "Next up is our last auction item for tonight, an ancient hairpin used by women to do up their hair. The starting bid is 18,888 yuan!"

"Everyone is welcome to start bidding!"

Liu Chunming was about to pour drinks for the two of them when Zhang Jingdong turned his head to glance at the close-up of the hairpin on the big screen on the stage, then at An Lu.

Then he suddenly said, "Hold on a moment, let me have a go at this first!"

As soon as these words came out, Liu Chunming instinctively exchanged a glance with Chen Jie.

Who then turned to look at An Lu.

Many nightclubs have such auction segments, which are really just a way for men present to flaunt their wealth for a laugh, and for the club to make some money in the process.

As Jiangdu’s most top-notch nightclub, Grand Fortune’s auction segment was particularly famous.

Firstly because the auction items here were higher end, and the final bid prices were always very high.

The most famous instance previously was someone spending 188,888 on site for a string of ancient coins.

Secondly, most patrons of a place like Grand Fortune are wealthy people from Jiangdu. If one could become the final buyer, they might become a local celebrity in Jiangdu the next day.

So as soon as the host finished speaking, the guests began eagerly placing their bids.

"I bid 20,000!"

"I bid 30,000!"

...

The bid quickly escalated to 100,000.

At this point, the number of bidders started to dwindle, leaving only two or three people still competing, and these few also became the center of attention in the room.

Seeing that Zhang Jingdong said he wanted to join in but had yet to dare to make a bid, especially now that the price had already exceeded 100,000, Liu Chunming was certain that this kid was just bluffing earlier.

He then scoffed, "Alright, brother, stop looking and let’s continue drinking..."

Just as he was about to say "drink," he saw Zhang Jingdong suddenly raise his hand: "I bid 200,000!"

As soon as he said this, the whole place fell instantaneously silent, and those who had been bidding ceased to speak.

The opponent Liu Chunming was immediately dumbfounded on the spot, his drink nearly falling from his hand onto the table and almost rolling off to shatter on the floor.

Chen Jie was also stunned at this moment, looking at Zhang Jingdong with a shocked face, and then she turned to look at An Lu.