How can you ascend to heaven when you are a star?

Chapter 404 Have a drink?
"what happened?"

Jiang Li looked at her friends around her, who seemed hesitant to speak, and felt a sense of unease.

Her concert just ended, and now the main character has arrived. Shouldn't everyone be getting excited? Why is everyone acting like they're constipated?
Zhang Wen looked at the man with a half-smile. Although he didn't say anything, his silence spoke volumes, and his mocking expression was more powerful than a thousand words.

Pan Jiang was very annoyed by the look, so he said to Jiang Li, "Jiang Li, this kid is too arrogant and has no manners at all. I just said a few words to Zhou Meng, and he actually called me a simp and refused to apologize. We were planning to boycott the songs he wrote in the industry. And look, he took advantage of your ignorance and set a trap for you."

After listening, Jiang Li showed an understanding expression, but she did not believe Pan Jiang's one-sided story. She turned to look at Zhang Wen on the other side, waiting for his explanation.

In her mind, Zhang Wen was not someone who would actively cause trouble, much less someone who would casually insult another person.

However, before Zhang Wen could speak, Zhao Tong interrupted to explain.

“Sister Li, it’s not like what this person said. We’re waiting for you here. Zhou Meng came to ask Teacher Zhang to write a song, and this person suddenly came over and said that we shouldn’t ask newcomers to write songs. He also said that Teacher Zhang’s songs sound okay at first glance, but they’re actually meaningless and will lose their popularity after a while. Isn’t this just deliberately provoking and putting Teacher Zhang down?”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Li looked at Pan Jiang again. She had long known that Pan Jiang had feelings for Zhou Meng. If what Zhao Tong said was true, then Zhang Wen couldn't really be blamed for this. It was obvious that Pan Jiang had provoked trouble out of jealousy.

But how could Pan Jiang admit it?
Tonight's gathering was organized by Jiang Li to celebrate the successful conclusion of her concert. If he admits it, wouldn't he be accused of ruining the party?

Pan Jiang glared at Zhao Tong, then looked at Jiang Li and explained, "Jiang Li, don't listen to her nonsense. I was just advising Zhou Meng not to be impulsive when choosing a collaborator, but to be cautious. I never said that this guy surnamed Zhang's songs are meaningless."

“You said it, we all heard it,” Zhao Tong said.

Zhang Jiajia, Cheng Sisi, Chen Silu, and Su Jin, who were standing nearby, all nodded to indicate that they had heard.

"Nonsense! When did I mention your Teacher Zhang? Did I name him or look at him while I was talking to him?" Pan Jiang retorted loudly.

"You..." Zhao Tong's face turned red with anxiety, and she didn't know what to say.

"According to you, our teacher Zhang didn't name names or look at you while you were talking, so why do you think he was talking about you?" Zhang Jiajia asked, directly using the same tactic against him.

“Yeah, I’ve seen people pick up money, but I’ve never seen anyone pick up insults,” Cheng Sisi said sarcastically.

Pan Jiang was enraged by what the girls said and said fiercely, "A bunch of sharp-tongued and ill-mannered bastards, you have no right to speak here."

"You interrupt when others are chatting, you swear when others are talking, who is the one who is ill-mannered?" Zhang Wen said with a sneer.

Pan Jiang's face flushed red instantly. He wanted to refute, but couldn't find a point to make, so he could only look at Jiang Li.

"Jiang Li, what do you say?"

He felt that given his friendship with Jiang Li for over ten years, she would definitely stand on his side.

After hearing Zhao Tong and the others' explanations and seeing Pan Jiang's furious appearance, Jiang Li knew perfectly well who had started the trouble.

She had just finished her concert and didn't want this to ruin her good mood, so she said, "Tonight's gathering is my own, and everyone here is a friend of mine. I hope you can all give me face and pretend nothing happened. Let's have a nice meal, drinks, and chat, okay?"

“Okay.” Zhang Wen said after hearing this, “Sister Li, you know that I never offend others unless they offend me.”

Jiang Li nodded, then looked at Pan Jiang.

Pan Jiang was a little uncomfortable because Jiang Li didn't speak up for him. However, he also knew that since Jiang Li had spoken up, he had to give her face, since she was a pop diva.

His status is what it is; this famous lyricist is nothing compared to the diva.

"Jiang Li, don't be so formal. I'm here to celebrate with you. Tonight, whatever you say goes, I'll listen to you." Pan Jiang forced a smile, trying to appear magnanimous.

However, he already harbored a grudge against this man surnamed Zhang and secretly decided that after leaving this place, he would definitely call on the entire music industry to boycott the songs written by this man.

"Thank you." Jiang Li smiled again and said to her friends in the private room, "Everyone, please take your seats. There are no outsiders here tonight, so please make yourselves at home."

Agent Liu Qing immediately instructed the waiter to serve wine and dishes. With wine and dishes, the atmosphere would naturally improve.

Because they weren't familiar with each other, and because they hadn't given Zhang Wen face before, everyone in the room chose to sit away from Zhang Wen, as if they had planned it together.

Zhang Wen didn't pay any attention and remained seated.

Offend?
He is not afraid.

These people weren't afraid of offending Pan Jiang when they chose to side with him, so why should he be afraid of them?
Soon, the table was filled with wine and dishes.

Jiang Li stood up, raised her glass, and looked at her friends in the industry, saying, "Thank you all for coming to my concert. I know you are all very busy with albums and shows, but you still took the time to come. I am really touched. We in this industry don't get to see each other often, but whenever someone has a new project, everyone tries to support them. It feels really heartwarming. I wish our friendship will last forever."

Upon hearing this, the others raised their glasses.

"May our love last forever!"

"May our love last forever!"

The clinking of glasses filled the air as everyone finished their drinks, and the atmosphere became incredibly lively.

Everyone was chatting and laughing, talking about their experiences and gossip in the industry. However, these people chose to completely ignore Zhang Wen and the Future Girls group. No one talked to them, as if they didn't see them at all.

Zhang Wen didn't know these people, so he was happy to have some free time and focus on cooking. After returning to the capital, it would be difficult to find such authentic Cantonese cuisine.

Zhao Tong and the others naturally chose to stand on the same side as Teacher Zhang.

Although this was a great opportunity to get to know senior figures in the music industry, in their opinion, all the musicians at the table combined couldn't compare to Teacher Zhang alone.

Just as Zhang Wen was focused on eating lobster, someone suddenly appeared next to him.

He glanced at it out of the corner of his eye and saw it was the same guy with the mustache from before.

“Zhang Wen, right? We’re all Jiang Li’s friends. Let’s put aside the unpleasantness from earlier and have a drink, shall we?” Pan Jiang said, swirling the wine in his glass.

full.

When others saw this, they all praised Pan Jiang's actions.

"Old Pan, you're so generous!"

"Teacher Pan has a broad mind and is a role model for us to learn from."

"Old Pan is really generous. Little Zhang, you have to drink this glass of wine."

Listening to what the people around him were saying, Zhang Wen felt that if he didn't drink, he would appear narrow-minded, so he picked up his glass and clinked it against the one belonging to the man with the mustache.

"Yeah, forget about all that unpleasantness, cheers."

After saying that, he drank it all in one gulp.

Pan Jiang was delighted to see the young man in front of him finish his drink so easily. He exclaimed, "Good drinking capacity!" and then drank the wine in his glass as well.

"it is good!"

Inside the private room, some cheered and others applauded. No one could have imagined that just half an hour ago, the atmosphere here was tense and confrontational.

Pan Jiang returned to his seat and then winked at his friend next to him.

The man immediately understood. After eating a few bites of food, he looked at Zhang Wen and said, "Xiao Zhang, this is your first time attending our gathering. We hope you can attend our gatherings more often in the future. Come on, let's have a drink."

Zhang Wen glanced at the man, then at the expectant little mustache in his eyes, poured himself a glass of wine, and looked at the other man, saying, "Thank you, I will definitely participate often in the future."

The two raised their glasses, clinked them together lightly, and then drank. "Good!"

"Young Zhang is quite young, but I didn't expect him to have such a high alcohol tolerance."

"Yes."

"Heroes emerge from among the young, I'll have to have a drink with Xiao Zhang later."

"..."

Zhang Wen put down his wine glass, smacked his lips, and said that this was his third glass, which should add up to about half a jin (250ml).

Just as he was about to continue eating the lobster, another person walked over and very familiarly put his arm around his shoulder.

"Xiao Zhang, although this is our first meeting, I've often heard your name mentioned by Jiang Li. Seeing you today, I can confirm that your reputation is well-deserved. Shall we become friends?"

After saying that, he swirled the wine in his glass, his meaning clear: bottoms up, let's make friends.

Zhang Wen looked at the cup, but he understood another meaning from the other person's words.

If you don't do it, it means you don't want to make friends and you don't give people face.

Today, everyone here is a friend of Jiang Li from the entertainment industry. If you refuse to make friends with her, it means you don't approve of Jiang Li's friends and you're not giving her face.

So we still have to drink this glass of wine.

It's fine if one or two people clink glasses with him, but if they all come to clink glasses with him, that's a big problem.

This isn't called toasting; it's called forcing someone to drink.

He knew that the guy with the mustache wouldn't change his mind. Zhou Meng only talked to him for a few words, and he was already jealous. How much more so when he called him a sycophant?

As for the last few, they must have conspired with the man with the mustache to embarrass him.

Originally, he didn't want to argue with these people out of respect for Sister Li, but since they were the ones who started the trouble, he wouldn't hold back.

"Jiang Hong, wait a moment."

Jiang Li suddenly spoke up, "Teacher Zhang has drunk several cups in a row. Let him rest for a bit. I'll drink with you."

After saying that, he picked up his wine glass.

“That won’t do.” Jiang Hong shook his head and said, “We’ve known each other for so many years and have had countless drinks. Xiao Zhang and I just met, but we hit it off immediately. We have to have a drink together.”

"Jiang Li, don't worry about Xiao Zhang." The person who had clinked glasses with him earlier said with a smile, "Look at Xiao Zhang, he's not drunk at all, his face isn't even red, he's obviously fine."

"Jiang Li, this is a matter between us men, you don't need to interfere."

"..."

Jiang Li glared at the group of people, then looked at Zhang Wen with concern and asked, "Teacher Zhang, how are you?"

"fine."

Zhang Wen smiled, then looked at Jiang Hong beside him and said, "I've heard a lot about Teacher Jiang. It's an honor for me to be friends with Teacher Jiang today, but..."

"But what?" Jiang Hong asked anxiously.

"Xiao Zhang, you're not thinking of saying you can't, are you? A man can't say he can't." Pan Jiang used reverse psychology, determined to take down this Zhang guy today.

"No, that's not it." Zhang Wen glanced at the wine glasses on the table and continued, "I just think these glasses are too small. It's fine for the women like Sister Li to use such small glasses, but isn't it a bit inappropriate for us men to use such small glasses?"

Everyone looked at the young man who had spoken in surprise, and for a moment they were all stunned.

Is it because the wine glass is too small?
No one present was a fool; anyone with eyes could see that Pan Jiang and his group had ill intentions and wanted to get Zhang Wen drunk. Sister Li's intervention showed that she had seen through Pan Jiang and his group's intentions.

Instead of refusing, Zhang Wen even thought the wine glass was too small. Was he just stupid or too impulsive?

"Then what do you think we men should drink from?" Jiang Hong asked, secretly pleased. The bigger the cup, the better. Surely the seven of them couldn't outdrink one man?

If you want to make it in the entertainment industry, you can't do without a high alcohol tolerance. They usually drink about a pound of liquor, and if they push themselves, they can easily drink a pound and a half. Let alone all seven of them together, even if they were all alone, they could easily handle this young man.

The remaining male celebrities were somewhat disappointed, as they probably wouldn't have had the chance to appear if the cups had been larger.

Without saying a word, Zhang Wen got up and picked up an untouched bottle of Maotai from the middle of the table.

"A real man chugs straight from the bottle!"

"what?"

Everyone was stunned again.

We're all seasoned drinkers; we've seen people chug beer straight from the bottle, but we've never seen anyone chug baijiu straight from the bottle.

Jiang Hong was somewhat taken aback when he saw the thatch in the young man's hand.

For him, drinking one bottle is no big deal, but drinking one bottle in one go is a bit difficult.

One bottle is a pound; who can drink a pound of baijiu in one go?
Even a drunkard probably couldn't do that.

No, this kid must have sensed something, knows they want to get him drunk, so he's bluffing here to make him back down.

Yes, that must be the case.

Thinking of this, Jiang Hong calmed down a lot and said with a smile, "Xiao Zhang, you're not joking, are you? Are you sure you want to drink it straight from the bottle? A man's word is his bond, and you can't go back on your word once you've made up your mind."

After saying that, he took a bottle from the middle of the table and twisted off the cap.

If you're going to act, you should act as realistically as possible.

"Only a grandson would go back on his word. I really want to be friends with you, Teacher Jiang!" Zhang Wen said earnestly.

Jiang Hong raised an eyebrow. This guy was really into acting. So he said, "Alright, let's chug it straight from the bottle, come on!"

After saying that, he held out the wine bottle.

Zhang Wen twisted open the bottle cap and said with a smile, "The deeper the friendship, the better. Teacher Jiang, how deep our friendship will be depends on how much we drink this time."

"when!"

The two bottles collided with a dull thud, drawing everyone's attention.

Zhang Wen tilted his head back and gulped down the contents of the bottle.

Jiang Hong on the other side was completely dumbfounded, thinking: This kid is serious!
Looking around, he saw that everyone was staring at him. If he changed his mind now, he would seem hypocritical, and his plan would fall through.

So he closed his eyes and started drinking too.

……

(End of this chapter)