At the start, I had to choose one of four options, and I immediately picked the Brahmin from the cou

Gu Mingyuan spoke casually, raising his glass and downing it in one gulp. But the hidden awe and self-deprecation in his tone inadvertently revealed himself without reservation.

Sitting in Zheng Hao's lap, Lin Miaomiao took in the changes in the expressions of the two men.

Her fingers, holding the champagne glass, tightened suddenly, her meticulously manicured nails almost scratching the glass. Who was Gu Mingyuan? He was a true top-tier figure in Jianye, a powerful and influential man. Even wealthy young men like Lao Xu and Wang Lei, whose families had assets of over a billion, had to be subservient to him and act according to his wishes.

But this very man, whom all the girls present dared not even look at directly, actually came tonight just for that person named Li Xiao? And judging from Gu Mingyuan's tone of self-deprecation, he clearly placed Li Xiao in a position several levels above himself.

Zheng Hao had casually mentioned this name at the French restaurant before, only saying he was a boring bookworm and a Puritan. But now it seems that's not the case at all. That man, who hadn't even shown his face, was the real god standing at the very top of the pyramid in this circle.

An indescribable sense of dread crept up Lin Miaomiao's spine; it was the excitement of her ultimate ambition being completely ignited.

Deafening electronic music swirled above the dome of SPACE bar, while dazzling laser lights sliced ​​the entire black card section into bizarre fragments.

"Hao Hao..." Lin Miaomiao whispered in Zheng Hao's ear, her breath sweet as orchids, seemingly casually coquettish.

"Who exactly is this Xiao Ge that Mingyuan is talking about? Even Mingyuan praises him so highly. I thought Mingyuan was the most capable person in your business school."

Zheng Hao was slightly tipsy. Upon hearing this, he smugly pinched Lin Miaomiao's cheek and whispered some stories about Li Xiao to her.

Zheng Hao was talking animatedly, but he didn't notice that Lin Miaomiao's eyes had become extremely deep in her arms.

A few small goals. Turning the tide.

These words exploded in Lin Miaomiao's mind, instantly shattering her previously proud sense of accomplishment in climbing the social ladder. Looking at the glitz and glamour of the booths in front of her, and at Lao Xu and Wang Lei, who were being painstakingly flattered by Chen Xiaoxue and Tang Tingting, she suddenly felt utterly bored.

In this seemingly glamorous food chain, what she thought was the ceiling was nothing more than a stepping stone for others. And Zheng Hao, at best, was just a follower of that god.

Meanwhile, the "hunting for women" game was in full swing at the booth.

"Come on, Xiaoxue, let's play dice." Old Xu leaned lazily against the sofa, shaking the dice cup with one hand, his eyes lingering unabashedly on Chen Xiaoxue's deep V-neck cleavage. "The loser drinks half a cup, and the brother who loses drinks a whole cup, how about it?"

Chen Xiaoxue thought she had the rich kid's mentality under control, so she deliberately acted coquettishly, pretending to be unable to hold her liquor: "Young Master Xu, I can't drink much, so you have to go easy on me."

"Of course," Old Xu said with a wicked grin.

However, in the next half hour, Chen Xiaoxue lost ten rounds in a row. Old Xu's dice game was so skillful that he wasn't "letting" her win; he was like a cat playing with a mouse, slowly eroding Chen Xiaoxue's senses.

After three glasses of strong Jägermeister, Chen Xiaoxue's eyes began to glaze over, her previously composed demeanor crumbled, and she leaned limply against Lao Xu. Lao Xu took the opportunity to put his arm around her waist, a disdainful smirk playing on his lips.

This kind of girl is too cheap and too easy to understand. A few drinks and a few sweet words, and she thinks she can rise to the top. Old Xu doesn't even need to bother remembering her name. After tonight, she'll just be another "entertainment" in his WeChat contacts that he can call out anytime.

The situation was similar for Tang Tingting. With a Ferrari car key and a few dirty jokes, Wang Lei made the girl in the pure white silk camisole completely let down her guard, giggling and snuggling into his arms.

Absolute crushing of class barriers

In stark contrast to the effeminate atmosphere on this side were Wang Yali and Zhou Xin, who sat at the very edge.

The two of them were like ugly ducklings who had wandered into a flock of swans. Although they were wearing new clothes that Lin Miaomiao had bought for them, their awkwardness and inferiority complex, which came from the bottom of their bones, could not be hidden in such a high-class setting.

Looking at Gu Mingyuan, who remained indifferent, Wang Yali felt a surge of resentment and greed, and she carefully picked up a glass of champagne and leaned closer.

"Brother Mingyuan... I'd like to propose a toast to you, thank you for coming tonight." Wang Yali forced out what she thought was her sweetest smile, but her voice trembled slightly with nervousness.

Gu Mingyuan was looking down at the English email on his phone screen. Hearing the sound, he didn't even look up, but simply uttered two words in an extremely cold tone:

"Just leave it there."

There was no mockery, no driving away, not even the slightest emotional fluctuation. But this extreme disregard was like an invisible, resounding slap across Wang Yali's face.

In Gu Mingyuan's eyes, she wasn't even "prey," but just a wisp of dust polluting the air.

Wang Yali's hand, holding the wine glass, froze in mid-air. Her face flushed red, and tears welled up in her eyes. She awkwardly placed the glass on the corner of the table and slunk back to Zhou Xin's side, no longer daring to harbor any improper thoughts.

Lin Miaomiao watched all this with a cold eye, feeling no sympathy whatsoever, only a sense of shared fate. She knew all too well that if she couldn't climb higher by stepping on Zheng Hao, one day she would end up like Wang Yali, trampled into the mud by these truly powerful people with the utmost indifference.

Unexpected changes

Just as the atmosphere in the booth reached its peak, and the DJ switched to a deafeningly loud top 100 electronic music track, a commotion suddenly arose from the direction of the VIP passage.

Several drunken, slovenly-looking young men pushed past the security guards and staggered toward booth number one, the Black Card booth. The one in the lead, with dyed gray hair and wearing an extravagant haute couture jacket, was carrying a half-empty bottle of Louis XIII.

"Hey! Isn't this Young Master Zheng from Huaqing Business School?"

The gray-haired young man, slurring his words, kicked the leather sofa cushions outside the booth with a dull thud. "What's this? Starting a harem here today? These girls are pretty good-looking, want to borrow a couple for me to play with?"

Zheng Hao's face instantly darkened. He abruptly stood up, shielding Lin Miaomiao behind him, and glared at the newcomer: "Sun Kai! What the hell are you doing, drunk? This is my game, take your men and get out of here!"

Sun Kai, the son of the owner of a large chain KTV and underground casino in Jianye, is a typical nouveau riche. He usually clashes with Zheng Hao and his group of business school kids, and the two sides have had many conflicts over fighting over booths and women.

"My scheme? Hahahaha!"

Sun Kai laughed arrogantly and slammed the wine bottle on the table, splashing wine all over Chen Xiaoxue, causing her to scream repeatedly.

"Zheng Hao, what are you pretending to be? Don't think you can act all high and mighty just because your dad has some money in Jiangyang County! I've got my eye on these girls in red and white dresses today, what are you going to do about it?"