Chapter 24. I misjudged it.
The car sped along the road, but Xu Jialan didn't want to go home.
He drove into a hotel, where he decided to stay for the night.
Xu Jialan didn't sleep well that night, tossing and turning until the early hours of the morning before finally falling asleep. He slept until the afternoon, only to be woken up by a phone call from Ma Qi.
Ma Qi: "It's been a while since we last met. Let's get together tonight?"
Xu Jialan didn't even open her eyes, and mumbled, "Okay."
Machi: "See you in Ginno tonight."
After hanging up the phone, Xu Jialan didn't go back to sleep. She got up, washed up, ate something simple, and went straight to Yinye that evening.
When Xu Jialan arrived, Ma Qi had already led a group of people to sit in the booth. Most of them were familiar faces, only a few girls were unfamiliar.
He didn't ask any more questions; he was already used to it. Ma Qi had often brought different girls out for drinks before.
Tonight, Xu Jialan was unusually quiet, just silently drinking and watching them make a ruckus.
He wasn't in the mood.
At first, the atmosphere among the group was quite harmonious, until Ma Qi got a little drunk and pulled one of the girls to drink with him.
Ma Qi was already somewhat incoherent from drinking, and his words were slurred, "How did we end up drinking... juice? Let's... drink together."
The girl had clearly reached her limit and hurriedly waved her hand, "I really can't drink anymore."
"Can't drink anymore?"
Ma Qi was somewhat displeased. He snatched the glass of juice from her hand and slammed it on the table, then forcefully shoved a glass of wine into her hand.
The girl was on her period today, and she had already drunk a few glasses of wine, so she really couldn't drink anymore.
But Ma Qi stared intently at her, as if he wouldn't let her go until she drank, his eyes gleaming coldly.
The girl was scared. After hesitating for a few seconds, she still gritted her teeth and drank the wine in her glass.
She thought that this would make Ma Qi let her off the hook, but he wouldn't let it go. It was as if watching her drink was a very interesting thing. He picked up the bottle again and poured her another glass.
"Keep drinking!"
The girl really couldn't drink anymore and declined, saying, "I really can't drink anymore, I'm not feeling well."
"Not feeling well? Not feeling well... why come out for drinks? You're... disrespecting me!"
The girl was clearly unaccustomed to this situation and sat there bewildered.
Her eyes swept over everyone present, pleading for help, but everyone just watched with amusement.
She realized that no one would help her, and no one dared to offend Machi.
A deep sense of powerlessness welled up inside me.
Maqi urged her again, "Drink it quickly!"
She shrank her shoulders slightly.
At this moment, a slightly hoarse voice rang out, "That's enough. If you want to drink, can't you drink it yourself?"
Everyone was quietly watching the spectacle, so his voice sounded particularly abrupt.
Moreover, Xu Jialan's tone was not pleasant.
Maqi turned to look at him.
"Xu Jialan, what did you just say?" Ma Qi looked like his interest had been interrupted.
Xu Jialan sat up, rested her arms on her knees, and repeated, "I said, if you want to drink, drink it yourself. There's no need to make things difficult for a young girl."
Ma Qi usually gives Xu Jialan a lot of face, after all, he is the heir of Qingbang Real Estate, and he tries his best to flatter him.
However, Xu Jialan was often arrogant, which made Ma Qi very unhappy. He was probably too drunk, so he took advantage of the alcohol to lash out.
"Xu Jialan, who do you think you are?!"
Xu Jialan raised her eyes and looked straight at him.
Maqi showed no sign of stopping.
After spending so much time together, he discovered that Xu Jialan was actually just a good-for-nothing.
His father said that Xu Qingbang's health has been poor in recent years, and he might pass away at any time. With Xu Jialan's limited abilities, the company will never fall into his hands.
Thinking of all this, Ma Qi gave a mocking smile.
"Xu Jialan, what are you pretending to be so high and mighty for! What are you pretending to be a good person for! You're nothing but a useless thing that your father abandoned here!"
The cup in his hand seemed about to be crushed by Xu Jialan. He stared at Ma Qi, his eyes gleaming coldly.
I don't know how things suddenly developed like this.
The people around dared not breathe.
Those who had spent a long time with Ma Qi had all heard him complain about Xu Jialan in private. Some people tried to stop him, but he pushed them back.
Fueled by alcohol, he became unrestrained, saying, "Xu Jialan, you're no good at all, what are you pretending for?"
The atmosphere immediately became tense.
Everyone was on edge, fearing that Xu Jialan would become angry.
Surprisingly, the situation did not get out of control.
Xu Jialan lowered her eyelids and buried herself back in the shadows behind the sofa.
He picked up his glass again and poured the wine into his mouth.
An outburst of anger inexplicably subsided, and someone stepped in to ease the tension, saying, "We're all friends. Ma Qi had a bit too much to drink today and said some things without thinking. Jia Lan, please don't mind."
Xu Jialan lifted her eyelids and glanced at the person indifferently, without saying a word.
The girl who had been harassed earlier tried to escape during the chaos, but Ma Qi caught her red-handed.
Ma Qi staggered to his feet, grabbed the girl's arm, pulled her back, and shoved her onto the sofa. "Why are you running?"
The girl said nervously, "I didn't run away, I just wanted to go to the restroom."
"Why go to the restroom? Come on, let's keep drinking."
Ma Qi forcefully shoved the wine glass into her hand, spilling wine that soaked half of her body.
She didn't dare to utter a sound, her hand holding the wine glass trembling as she weakly brought the wine to her lips, trying to put on a show.
Ma Qi was not so easily fooled. Seeing the girl dawdling over her drink, he simply grabbed her chin with one hand and held the glass in her hand with the other, forcing her to drink.
Xu Jialan glanced at the two indifferently, but couldn't taste the wine in her mouth.
The girl felt uncomfortable from being forced to drink so much, and struggled violently, accidentally knocking the cup out of her hand.
The wine glass broke on the ground, making quite a commotion.
Ma Qi was even more enraged and shouted, "Are you looking for death?!"
Seeing that Ma Qi was about to make a move and was gradually losing control, several people finally stepped forward to pull him back, but he still refused to give up.
The commotion got out of control and alerted Shi Xinyu, who had to come and check on the situation.
"What happened?"
The girl who had been crying earlier looked at Shi Xinyu with pleading eyes.
Seeing that she was scared, Shi Xinyu pulled the girl behind her.
Ma Qi cursed, "It's just asking you to have a drink, what the hell are you being so dramatic about?"
Having run a bar for many years, Shi Xinyu immediately understood the reason from his words: "Boss Ma, it's just drinking, why bother a young girl? You can come to me."
Ma Qi stared at Shi Xinyu for a few seconds, then said, "You? You're not worthy!"
Shi Xinyu's expression stiffened, but she still held back, picked up the wine glass on the table and drank it all in one gulp, quite heartily, "I'll drink with you, and we'll let this matter go, give me some face."
"Your face? How much is your face worth?"
"The landlady is very generous, but I have my eye on the one behind you. I'll have her drink with me."
These words startled the girl, who then hid behind her even more.
Shi Xinyu frowned. Why was Ma Qi so difficult to deal with tonight?
"This girl must be really uncomfortable, otherwise she wouldn't have embarrassed you."
She winked at the girl behind her, who reacted quickly and immediately made a very uncomfortable expression.
"Look at her like this, if something really happens to her, it will be a problem for you, won't it? It won't be easy to handle then."
Maqi finally calmed down, seemingly regaining some of his senses. "Hmm? You seem to be right."
Seeing that he had relented, Shi Xingyu hurriedly told the waiter to take the girl away.
"Then you can drink slowly." Shi Shengyu also planned to leave.
Before she could even take a step, Ma Qi clung to her again, "Hey, where are you going! Come and drink with me."
"Mr. Ma, I have something to do later."
"Just drink it!" Ma Qi said, somewhat annoyed.
What's wrong with him?!
She didn't want to drink with him!
She looked around at everyone present, and the person she knew best was Xu Jialan, so she turned to him for help.
Xu Jialan seemed to sense something and glanced at her. The two stared at each other for a moment.
Shi Xinyu only sensed the indifference in his eyes.
Then, he turned his gaze to the wine glass in front of him, looking as if it were none of his business.
Is he planning to just stand by and watch someone die?
Shi Xinyu snorted coldly in her heart.
Xu Jialan was out of the question, so Shi Xinyu could only drink with Ma Qi.
Fortunately, she was experienced in dealing with these situations. Since she wanted to drink so much, she let him drink as much as he wanted!
Shi Xingyu drank a few cups and was fine herself, but she got Ma Qi completely drunk.
She instructed the others, "Hurry up and bring them back."
So the group had to leave.
Back at the bar, Shi Xinyu grumbled at the bartender, "That bastard, all he does is get drunk and act crazy!"
The bartender joked with her, "The boss lady is getting better and better at handling these kinds of situations."
Shi Xinyu rolled her eyes at him, "And that Xu Jialan, she's no better!"
Half an hour later, Shi Xinyu ran into Xu Jialan again in the bathroom corridor. Shi Xinyu was dissatisfied and her words were naturally sarcastic: "I used to think that although you were a bit promiscuous, you were a decent person. Now it seems that I misjudged you."
Xu Jialan smiled, not annoyed at all, "Then the boss lady will have to keep her eyes open in the future."
He didn't get entangled with her; he simply left after missing her.
Once midnight passes, Yinye becomes quiet. There's not much nightlife in Daixian anyway, so this is a good time to pack up and go home.
At one o'clock in the morning, the store had already been cleaned up, but Shi Xinyu found that Xu Jialan was still sitting in the booth.
She went over to chase people away.
She kicked him with her foot, "Hey, it's time to go, we're off work."
Xu Jialan moved slightly, turning her head from one side to hers, but her eyes remained closed.
Upon closer inspection, he was pale, sweating, and looked to be in great pain.
Shi Xinyu's eyelids twitched violently.
"Xu Jialan, what's wrong?"
"My stomach hurts," he said weakly.
Shi Xingyu then noticed that he was covering his stomach with his hand.
She turned and called out, "Quick, someone come here!"
Xu Jialan was rushed to the hospital.
They took the person to the emergency room, and it took more than an hour to get the results. It turned out to be acute gastroenteritis.
Shi Xinyu breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it wasn't too serious, since the incident happened in her shop.
Seeing that it was getting late, she told the others in the shop to go home first, and stayed behind herself.
She was the only one left in the hospital, and she was at a loss for what to do.
The urgent thing now is to contact his family, but she doesn't know much about Xu Jiajialan, only that he came from Beijing and his family shouldn't be here.
After thinking it over, she finally called Chen Yaoan.
Chen Yao'an had already gone to sleep, but her voice was muffled when she answered the phone. Shi Xinyu said that she was in the hospital and was so frightened that she woke up.
It was only later that I learned that the person who went to the hospital was Xu Jialan.
"Does Xu Jialan have anyone she's close to here?"
Chen Yaoan thought for a moment, gave her Zhang Ting's phone number, and then, still worried about her being alone, asked, "Do you want me to come with you?"
The incident happened in her shop, so she definitely had to stay and handle it.
"No."
After hanging up the phone, Chen Yaoan was wide awake. Still feeling uneasy, she changed her clothes and went to the hospital.
Xu Jialan is still lying in the emergency room.
Chen Yaoan arrived before Zhang Ting, and Shi Xinyu had already completed the hospitalization procedures for Xu Jialan.
Xu Jialan lay on the bed with her eyes closed, a knot forming between her brows, looking pale and fragile.
"Didn't we tell you not to come?" Shi Xinyu complained to Chen Yaoan.
"I'm worried about you."
The two had only exchanged a few words when Zhang Ting rushed over in a great hurry.
Shi Xinyu briefly explained the situation to him, saying that the gastroenteritis was caused by drinking too much alcohol and irregular eating habits.
"The incident happened in my shop, but..."
"It has nothing to do with you, you can go back." Xu Jialan's voice was fragile and hoarse, quite different from usual.
Shi Xinyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Nobody wanted to get into this mess. Fortunately, Xu Jialan was reasonable enough.
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