Power and Wealth

Early morning.

Midnight.

The small banquet hall is already a mess, with people slouched in all directions.

"Come on!"

"…"

"Keep drinking!"

"…"

"Why is no one responding?"

Dong Xuebing calls out for a while, but no one pays him any attention.

With the collapse of the last person, Lu Weiguo, all fifty officials and staff from the City Investment Promotion Bureau and other district and county investment promotion departments are defeated. They are in no position to answer Dong Xuebing, let alone continue drinking with him. Even those who can speak are lying on the ground, speaking nonsense. Dong Xuebing has single-handedly drunk everyone down. No one remains standing in the room except for the people from Zhen Shui County.

Chang Juan quickly takes away Dong Xuebing's cup. "You shouldn't drink anymore."

Gong Na, fearing he might collapse, has been supporting his arm. "Mayor Dong, there's no one left."

"Director Chang, should we call an ambulance?" Chen Yunsong worries, "They're just drunk, but Mayor Dong is different. How much has he drunk? One, two, three, four." Counting reveals a shocking truth. Chen Yunsong exclaims, "We have eleven empty bottles here. Mayor Dong has drunk eleven bottles of liquor."

"What?"

"What?"

Chang Juan and Gong Na are also shocked.

Indeed, there are eleven empty bottles on the ground. Just looking at them makes them feel drunk.

The door of the small banquet hall is slightly ajar, and the eyes of a hotel staff member outside have been monitoring the situation inside. Seeing that the drinking session has finally concluded and hearing the conversation inside, the young man suddenly inhales sharply, closes the door, and goes out to call for help.

"Xiao Zhang, what's the situation?" A middle-aged man comes over.

Many hotel staff members follow him. After hearing about the situation here, they are all people temporarily brought in by the hotel's management. They need to clean up the aftermath.

The young man hastily says, "Manager Zheng, they've finished drinking."

Manager Zheng asks, "Nothing happened, right?"

"They're all quite drunk. The others should be fine, but Mayor Dong from Zhen Shui County has drunk the most. Although he can still stand, it's a bit precarious. We need to take him to the hospital." The young man explains.

Manager Zheng's heart tightens. Inside are city officials and county leaders. If something happened at their hotel, aside from the potential impact on their business, he couldn't explain it to the city. So, he hurriedly asks, "How much did Mayor Dong drink?"

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The young man smiles wryly, "Eleven bottles."

Manager Zheng furrows his brows, "These people from the investment promotion departments have good alcohol tolerance. Eleven bottles of beer, heh, I can only drink six at most."

The young man corrects him, "Manager Zheng, it's not beer; it's eleven bottles of baijiu with over fifty degrees of alcohol."

"Baijiu?" Manager Zheng, upon hearing this, almost blacks out. He's almost scared out of his wits. "Eleven bottles, 5.5 liters of Baijiu! How can he drink so much? Is he trying to kill himself? Oh, don't say anything, hurry inside, this is trouble. Get ready to call an ambulance." Manager Zheng scolds the young man while rushing toward the hall. "Why didn't you stop them? What were you doing?"

The young man innocently says, "They are city and county leaders; we didn't dare to say anything. They were all in the mood, and we couldn't stop them."

Manager Zheng is annoyed, "You should have reported it to me in advance. I thought it was beer. If something goes wrong, how am I supposed to handle this? Tell me, what should I do?"

The young man apologizes, "I'm sorry, Manager."

"This can't happen during the investment promotion event."

"Let's contact the city and their families, just in case."

"First, assess the situation, and then act quickly to get additional help."

The hotel quickly became busy. Manager Zheng led the way into the small banquet hall.

Upon entering, a strong smell of alcohol and the unpleasant odor of vomit hit their faces. Many hotel staff members covered their noses.

Inside, Chang Juan and Gong Na were each supporting Dong Xuebing.

With his back turned, facing Lu Weiguo and others, Dong Xuebing didn't say anything. After standing up from the chair, he shook off the support of Chang Juan and Gong Na.

"Mayor Dong, be careful."

"Take it slow, let me help you."

Manager Zheng took a deep breath, glancing at the fifty people in a sorry state. It was truly a distressing scene. He then focused his gaze on the person called "Mayor Dong." This is the mayor of Zhen Shui County, who consumed 5.5 liters of liquor. Astonishingly, he is still standing. Behind him, several hotel staff eagerly stared at Dong Xuebing's back, all sweating for him, wanting to see what this extraordinary person looked like.

5.5 liters.

5.5 liters of baijiu.

Is this still within the realm of human alcohol tolerance?

Not to mention meeting him, they haven't even heard of anyone being able to drink so much. According to the hotel staff outside, this person hasn't even made a trip to the restroom.

Even with 5.5 liters of water, someone would be dead!

The expressions of the hotel staff varied as they stared at him intently.

Manager Zheng quickly approached, "Do you need to call an ambulance?"

Chang Juan hesitates, and they are genuinely concerned about Dong Xuebing's current state. Calling an ambulance seems necessary. "Let's go to the hospital for intravenous fluids. Safety comes first."

Manager Zheng immediately turns his head, "Dial 110 and call."

Before he could finish, Dong Xuebing interrupted him, "No need."

Chang Juan is annoyed, "Xuebing, if you keep doing this, I'll be mad."

Dong Xuebing straightened out his messy clothes and took a tissue to wipe his pants and slightly dirty shoes. Then, he takes out a cigarette, lights it, takes a few puffs, and finally straightens his shirt collar. In front of everyone's slightly bewildered gaze, he turns around and says, "Hehe, I'm fine. How much is this compared to the amount of alcohol we just had? No need to go to the hospital." He then looks at the middle-aged man, "You must be the lobby manager. I'm sorry for the trouble we've caused your hotel today. It's a bit chaotic here. Could you please help tidy up? They are all colleagues from our investment promotion department. Just send them to their rooms upstairs. They should have room cards. Check them, and you'll know which rooms they are in."

Manager Zheng is dumbfounded, "Ah."

Dong Xuebing looks at Gong Na, "Xiao Gong, maybe you can stay and help the hotel staff take them upstairs. If anyone has drunk too much, contact their families and consider sending them to the hospital. However, it shouldn't be too serious. They haven't drunk that much."

Gong Na is also stunned.

Manager Zheng's brain is a bit slow to react, and he subconsciously says, "No need to leave anyone. I'll have my staff take care of it."

Dong Xuebing smiles, "Thanks a lot. By the way, did we set alarms for the hotel rooms tomorrow morning? Considering the current state, I think there's no need to wake everyone up tomorrow morning. It's already past midnight, and they probably won't be able to get up tomorrow. Let them rest and recover from the alcohol first. That's probably it. Thanks, everyone, and sorry for today."

Manager Zheng says, "Uh, it's fine."

Dong Xuebing turns around, "Sister Chang, let's go."

Seeing Dong Xuebing standing there confidently, smoking, calmly talking to the hotel staff, Chen Yunsong, Gong Na, and others are astonished. Not only them but even the hotel service staff are looking at Dong Xuebing with expressions of disbelief. Manager Zheng is also repeatedly taking deep breaths.

Dong Xuebing calls Chen Yunsong and Gong Na, "Xiao Chen, Xiao Gong, what are you looking at? Let's go. If you don't leave, I'll return to rest first." With that, Dong Xuebing extinguishes the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray, picks up the remaining bit of his drink, gulps it down, and walks out of the small banquet hall under everyone's stunned gaze.

Damn it.

There's no one left, and he's still drinking.

Chang Juan and others hurriedly catch up.

Outside.

In the corridor.

Chang Juan's first sentence is in astonishment, "So, you're not drunk?"

Dong Xuebing looks at her with a smile, "Not at all. I've always had a good tolerance for alcohol."

In his heart, Chen Yunsong is thinking, "Your alcohol tolerance is not just good; it's downright amazing. Eleven bottles of baijiu, and you're still standing without any issues."

Gong Na stares at him, "You were pretending to be drunk just now."

Dong Xuebing shrugs and, along with them, enters the elevator.

Having figured it out, Chang Juan is also amused. She pats her leg and says, "I thought you fell for their provocation, but it turns out you had a plan of your own."

Dong Xuebing casually says, "Their little tricks were obvious. They wanted to make me drink, right? Okay, I'll drink with them."

Looking at him, Chen Yunsong says, "Are you okay?"

Dong Xuebing says, "Do I look like I have a problem? Although I haven't drunk 5.5 liters of alcohol at once, back in Fenzhou City, I once drank more than 4 liters of liquor in one go. I didn't even sway at the time. This is nothing. Don't mention fifty people; no matter how many come, I can drink them all under the table." Dong Xuebing isn't bragging; he has Reverse, which helps him metabolize alcohol.

After hearing this, Chen Yunsong can't help but say, "Mayor Dong, I truly admire you, really admire you."

Gong Na is also completely convinced. Setting aside everything else, just Dong Xuebing's alcohol tolerance is something no one can deny.

More than fifty people from Lu Weiguo and the district and county investment promotion departments were originally planning to defeat Mayor Dong by overwhelming him with numbers. Still, Chen Yunsong, Gong Na, and the others find it hilarious. These people, with ill intentions, not only didn't get Mayor Dong drunk but instead, every one of them ended up defeated. It seems that Lu Weiguo and the others have had a taste of their own medicine today.

Serve them right!

They brought it upon themselves.

Chang Juan, Chen Yunsong, and others are all in good spirits. They find the situation quite amusing. When the news spreads tomorrow, they wonder if these people will dare to show up. This event finally relieved Chang Juan and the others of the anger that Lu Weiguo and his group had suppressed for several days. It's a bit of payback.