Way back to Our Past

42. Sorry, I Don’t Drink

Translator: hanhan

“How dare this woman ignore him like this! This is way too disrespectful!” Wang Zicheng was really embarrassed this time.

He had intended to test her out in the name of joking but ended up with extreme anger. Wang Zicheng lay down on the chair and said, “I’m thirsty. Go get me some tea now!”

Qu Wan took his cup on the table and left the office. “Crack!” It was Wang Zicheng who threw something on the ground behind her.

This young playboy was merely lousy. He was joking with her just now and turned hostile the next minute. He was no fun at all!

More importantly, she had no idea what she had said that pissed him off.

After this incident, Wang Zicheng became abominable to her again. He always looked sullen when seeing her and even tortured her by deliberately asking her to run a bunch of errands.

Qu Wan thought to herself that Wang Zicheng was surely a narrow-minded man, top among their species. After that, she had secretly made up her mind that she must take extra care in the future to avoid offend this snorty man.

Soon, it was the matchmaking day. Qu Wan went to Wang Zhicheng’s office to ask for leave, who wore a cold face as if others owed him a lot of money.

Fortunately, he cut Qu Wan loose and permitted her to leave.

A photo of Qu Wan’s no-makeup look had gone viral on the internet, so she didn’t wear a mask this time or put on ugly tooth braces but went to the studio in simple clothes.

The minute she appeared there, she was welcomed by long applause. Without wearing any makeup, her face was so clean and beautiful that all the male participants present were stupefied, swallowing hard on the quiet.

Qu Wan sat down in the most eye-catching seat. After the first two shows, she was no longer nervous. She was seated there casually and cast her gaze at the male guests in front of her.

After a brief scan, she suddenly felt a little cold. She looked in that direction and was shocked in an instant.

Ling Mubai?

How could he be here?

Ling Mubai wore a faint smile on his face, but there was no warmth in his eyes. He stared coldly at the woman sitting in front of him and was agitated when noticing her skipping over him to look at those male guests.

Qu Wan, were you so desperate to find another man?

At the moment, the host opened his mouth, “Today is a special event of our matchmaking reality show. After two weeks of preparation, we have selected 50 eligible male guests from 3,000 applicants.”

“We’ve also invited Mr. Ling Mubai, the sponsor of our show today. Please welcome Mr. Ling to address this event.”

The host surely didn’t know that Ling Mubai was Qu Wan’s ex-husband, and it was such a joke to ask him to make a speech at Qu Wan’s matchmaking activity.

But even though it was a joke, Ling Mubai still decided to come. He wanted to see with his own eyes how heartless this woman was and what kind of a man she would choose.

Ling Mubai walked on the stage with a poker face, took over the microphone from the host, then walked towards Qu Wan.

As he drew nearer and nearer, Qu Wan was getting increasingly nervous and she found it difficult to breathe. The invisible pressure made her tense up and her hands clench into fists.

Ling Mubai could tell from her gestures that she was nervous. Every time she was nervous, she would subconsciously tense up and her hands would be clenched into fists.

Hah, you could get nervous too?

Ling Mubai had planned to say something to embarrass her, but when he saw her nervous expression, he couldn’t do it anymore and changed the words that he was about to say.

“This matchmaking reality show is sponsored by Ling Group. It is to help lovers meet and be together. I hope all those who are watching the show can find the other half for yourself.”

Qu Wan didn’t expect that Ling Mubai would speak with such a serious tone like a prude. Her worrying mind was relieved.

Ling Mubai said a few words, shot a meaningful glance at Qu Wan, then returned to his seat.

There were also some changes regarding the matchmaking rules tonight. Because Qu Wan’s information had already been made public and everyone knew about it, male guests would introduce themselves, then share their opinions on matchmaking.

Qu Wan would decide who should stay and who should leave. Those who could stay would go to the next round.

After the first round’s self-introduction, Qu Wan eliminated 20 people from 50, which stunned all the audience there.

In addition, the ones she eliminated were the best among these participants, outstanding in all aspects and coming from relatively good families.

Qu Wan paid no attention to the uproar of the audience. Thanks to the failed marriage with Ling Mubai, she didn’t fancy people from good family and was actually repelled by it.

The better a family a man came from, the more likely he would cheat. It was because they subconsciously saw women as their personal stuff and considered that all women should fawn all over him, due to their strong sense of superiority.

In fact, Qu Wan eliminated some of these people before listening to their introductions.

In the second round, Qu Wan would ask some questions for the remaining 30 participants to answer.

In this round, another 20 people were eliminated, with only 10 being left in the studio.

After two rounds of screening, the rest 10 all met Qu Wan’s requirements and in the meantime, were distinguishing males.

In the third round, Qu Wan would play a game with these 10 guests to see who would be in better sync with her.

Seven were eliminated in this round and there were only three left in the end.

The final round was to make confessions, i.e. three male guests took turns to walk to Qu Wan to share their heart-felt feelings with her and try to impress her in their own way.

However, Qu Wan remained expressionless like a statue from beginning to end.

At last, all three guests were eliminated!

None of them could make it to the end for the matchmaking show today. Ling Mubai smiled for the first time at the sight of this result.

His assistant who was standing next to him walked to the host and whispered something to him when the host nodded.

“The male participants today are all very amazing. It’s a pity that you didn’t be able to couple with our female guest. Our patron Mr. Ling Mubai would like to invite all to dinner tonight. Hope everyone can come.”

Lin Yiyi murmured beside her, “Wanwan, this dude is up to no good!”

Qu Wan didn’t say a word.

Lin Yiyi continued, “Forget about it. Even if it’s a Greek gift, let’s go and order the most expensive dishes. Empty that bastard’s wallet!”

Qu Wan said with a smile, “Ling Mubai wouldn’t frown a bit even if you bought the restaurant. That kind of money is nothing to him.”

“That’s true!” Lin Yiyi changed the topic again and said, “With so much money, he still made you leave with nothing when you two divorced. He is surely the stingiest man in the world!”

“Miss Lin, is there anything you want to share?” A voice suddenly rang by her ear, which startled Lin Yiyi. It was Ling Mubai who had been standing beside them somehow.

“Of course, there are many things I would like to say, but I prefer not to say them now!” Lin Yiyi was furious as soon as she saw Ling Mubai.

“Yiyi!” Qu Wan stopped her hastily for fear that she might offend Ling Mubai and attract revenge.

She curled up the corners of her mouth and sneered at Ling Mubai. “Mr. Ling, thank you for your generosity then!”

“You will have plenty of opportunities to thank me in the future!” Ling Mubai replied calmly, which irritated Lin Yiyi so badly that she was on the verge of calling names.

By the time they arrived at the restaurant, many people had gathered there and filled almost all the seats.

There were only two empty chairs, one beside Ling Mubai and the other next to Ling Mubai’s assistant.

Obviously, they had already made up their mind to let Qu Wan sit beside Ling Mubai and let Ling Mubai’s assistant keep an eye on Lin Yiyi.

When realizing the situation, Lin Yiyi hated to let Ling Mubai get his way, so she swaggered over and was going to sit next to Ling Mubai. “It’s very nice of you to invite us over. Thanks a lot, Mr. Ling!”

Before she could sit down, she was pulled up by Ling Mubai’s assistant. “Miss Lin, your seat is here.”

Lin Yiyi was so pissed that she wanted to curse and was hauled to a seat on the other side in the end.

The waiter then led Qu Wan towards Ling Mubai. “Miss Qu, please.”

It had been introduced as a simple meal, but it turned to be quite a treat. The restaurant manager even came in person and helped entertain guests.

The atmosphere was quite merry. People toasted each other and the site was in a ferment.

Ling Mubai had been concentrating his attention on Qu Wan, even picking dishes for her proactively. “I specially ordered your favorite dishes. Try it.”

Qu Wan nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Ling.”

While saying thanks, she didn’t pick up her chopsticks to eat anything.

Ling Mubai looked a little displeased and his face turned dim. He held his wine and raised it in front of Qu Wan with a smile, saying, “A toast to you. Are you going to refuse me too?”

Qu Wan had remained impassive for a long time and said, “Sorry, Mr. Ling, I don’t drink.”

Ling Mubai’s face stiffened. He knew better than anyone if she drank or not. Besides, he had also witnessed her drinking wine with Wang Zicheng and then being sent home by him.

Ling Mubai couldn’t get anywhere for a long time, so the assistant said for the sake of his boss in anxiety, “Miss Qu, we are here today to have fun. Will you do us the honor and take a sip?”

Lin Yiyi couldn’t sit still when Ling Mubai’s assistant started to give a hand. She immediately walked over and picked up Qu Wan’s glass before saying, “Thanks for offering, Mr. Ling. Wanwan doesn’t drink. I’ll drink this for her.”

Before others could stop her, she had raised the glass and emptied the wine.

Ling Mubai’s assistant walked over and urged her, “Miss Lin, can you please return to your seat?”

Lin Yiyi ignored him and refilled the glass. “Since Mr. Ling likes wine, I should drink three glasses as a token of respect and appreciation for your support of our show!”

With that, she shortly emptied three glasses of wine. Ling Mubai couldn’t turn her down in front of all those people, so he had three glasses in return.

The assistant was getting even more anxious. Ling Mubai couldn’t drink too much wine because of his poor stomach, and Lin Yiyi forced him to drink so much wine even though she was fully aware of his condition.

Seeing that Lin Yiyi wouldn’t back down and was about to propose another toast, the assistant immediately walked over and said to her, “Miss Lin is surely a good drinker. Let me make a toast to you as well!”