Chapter 269

"She's already been waiting for you inside." Mr. Yan slowly pushed open the private room door.

In the extremely luxurious large private room, Ning Jinli wore an exquisite and proper outfit; under the crystal lights, even her hair seemed to emit a halo, making all the lavish, high-end decorations in the room appear dim in comparison.

Piertuo's eyes went wide, and he hurriedly walked in.

"Please, have a seat, both of you." Ning Jinli pulled out the chair beside the table.

Piertuo and the secretary sat down respectively.

Ning Jinli said with a smile, "These dishes are made with top-notch ingredients according to your preferences, carefully prepared by the restaurant's head chef; please enjoy at your leisure."

Faced with a table of delicious delicacies, Piertuo's gaze never left Ning Jinli.

He instinctively reached out to touch Ning Jinli's hand.

Ning Jinli naturally reached for the wine bottle, saying, "Mr. Piertuo, let me pour the wine; I'll toast you both first—this is fine wine, have a drink to liven things up."

Upon hearing the three words "zhu zhu xing", Piertuo's heart was tugged hard, and he smiled with brows raised, saying, "You Huaxia Guo have a saying: fine wine pairs with a beauty; now I finally understand how interesting that saying is."

Ning Jinli poured three cups of wine, first handing them to Piertuo and his female secretary, then picking up one for herself.

The three raised their cups and drank together.

After the female secretary downed a cup, her cheeks flushed; she sucked in a cool breath and said, "This alcohol is strong, Mr. Piertuo—don't drink too much."

"Hahaha! Drink too much?" Piertuo laughed loudly, "Don't you know my alcohol capacity? In your Huaxia Guo's words, it's called 'a thousand cups without getting drunk'!"

"What a 'thousand cups without drunk'—that's a real man," Ning Jinli refilled his glass, deliberately flattering, saying, "Mr. Piertuo, you ought to drink to your satisfaction."

Piertuo, pleased, drank the freshly filled baijiu in one gulp.

Nearly four liang of high-proof baijiu went down in successive gulps, yet his expression remained unchanged.

"Miss Ning, please sit down as well," Piertuo said with a smiling eyes, patting the chair beside him.

As soon as Ning Jinli sat down, that guy's hand reached toward her thigh.

She lifted her hand to take the wine glass without changing expression, naturally blocking his little move, saying, "Mr. Piertuo, you've had two cups; I should also have one to keep you company."

Although Piertuo hadn't gotten to touch her twice, seeing Ning Jinli so proactive still made him happy; he thought this beauty was very sensible, and later, with the alcohol's effect, they could have even more fun.

Ning Jinli also tilted her head back and downed it in one gulp; beside her, Piertuo's female secretary stared, mouth agape.

"Miss Ning's alcohol tolerance is quite good!" Piertuo laughed, asking, "How much can you drink?"

Ning Jinli made a gesture of wiping her forehead, saying, "You flatter me; my alcohol tolerance isn't that great… if I drink a bit more I'll probably get drunk."

Piertuo's eyes shifted, and he told the secretary, "Come, you also return Ning Jinli a toast."

The secretary was dumbfounded, saying, "I can't drink any more."

Piertuo's tone hardened, "I told you to drink, so drink!"

"Yes… Mr. Piertuo…" the secretary said helplessly, suppressing the dizziness from the alcohol as she raised her glass to Ning Jinli.

Ning Jinli didn't refuse, and each of them drank a cup with the secretary.

After the secretary's second cup of baijiu went down, within five seconds her face turned crimson, and she nearly slid off the chair.

"Oh, it seems she's really drunk," Ning Jinli said, standing and walking to her side, supporting her arm, asking, "Are you alright? Do you want to lie down and rest?"

The secretary was so drunk she could barely speak, struggling to keep her hazy eyes open, she nodded.

Thus, Ning Jinli helped her to the large sofa in the corner of the private room, bending over to lay her down comfortably.

Piertuo stared fixedly at Ning Jinli's alluring waist and hip curves, feeling a sudden dryness in his mouth and throat, as if his blood were about to boil.

The female secretary, unable to withstand the alcohol, fell asleep as soon as she lay down and closed her eyes.

Ning Jinli returned to Piertuo's side, blinked at him, and ambiguously said, "Your secretary has fallen asleep; now it's just the two of us—this counts as a private world, right?"

Piertuo was electrified by those words, his whole body tingling, about to reach out, when Ning Jinli picked up her cup again, smiling brightly, and said, "Shouldn't we have a drink to celebrate our private world?"

"Miss Ning, you're really interesting; I like it. Come, cheers!" Piertuo didn't hesitate and downed it in one gulp again.

"Mr. Piertuo, you're amazing—I've never seen anyone who can drink like you. Let's have another cup," Ning Jinli said, continuing to refill his glass.

Piertuo, feeling elated from the praise, drank it down just the same.

In such a short time, having consecutively drunk four full cups of baijiu, a faint intoxication finally appeared in his eyes.

"Mr. Piertuo, you're an honored guest; I can't let your glass stay empty, or else Mr. Yan will blame me for poor hospitality." Having said that, Ning Jinli poured him another drink.

"Wait! Are you trying to get me drunk?" Piertuo's green eyes flashed with a wary displeasure; he began to realize that he hadn't even touched the clothing of this great beauty from Huaxia Guo, yet he'd already drunk several cups—something felt off.

In fact, if Ning Jinli wanted to knock him out, she had plenty of ways.

But if she knocked him out, during the period leading up to eleven o'clock, the Shanbota Guo legislator would call him to inquire about the situation, and he wouldn't be able to respond, inevitably raising the legislator's suspicion.

Therefore, Ning Jinli never even considered getting him drunk.

Ning Jinli smiled, saying, "Get you drunk? Then how would we sign the contract? Wouldn't that delay our important matter?"

That calm remark instantly dispelled Piertuo's doubts.

Piertuo revealed a smile, saying, "You're right… if I got drunk, the fault would lie with your Huaxia Guo. But let me tell you, I'm not that easy to get drunk either; from now on, I'll drink a cup, and you must drink one with me."

"No problem, Mr. Piertuo," Ning Jinli said, raising her cup, "Let's drink together."

Under Ning Jinli's successive tactics, Piertuo gradually entered a half-drunk state.

Unnoticed, it was already past eight in the evening, leaving less than three hours until eleven.

Corresponding to Shanbota Guo's time zone, there was only that much time left until the European stock market closed.

At this moment, the Shanbota Guo legislator was together with an M Guo official, having afternoon tea in the office.

The M Guo official glanced at his watch and reminded, "Legislator sir, has your subordinate Piertuo not sent back any news yet? Should you ask again?"

The legislator laughed, saying, "The new contract will definitely be signed; that's a hundred percent certain. He told me we could even raise the price for Huaxia Guo, so you don't need to worry about any mishap."

Having said that, he nevertheless went ahead and called Piertuo.

In the hotel's large private room.

Piertuo's face was flushed red, his gaze hazy, he was about seventy percent drunk.

On the sofa, after a while he finally heard the phone ringing inside the secretary's bag beside her; he belched alcohol fumes and shouted at the secretary to see who was calling.

The secretary was fast asleep, showing no response.

Peiertuō had no choice but to get it himself, bracing his hands on the chair armrest to try to stand up, but a wave of dizziness nearly made him fall.

Ning Jinli "thoughtfully" went to fetch his phone for him, showed it to him, and asked, "Who is calling?"

Upon seeing the number, Peiertuō became slightly clearer-headed and quickly took the phone and pressed the answer key.

"How's it going? How high did you raise the price?" the councilor's eager voice came from the phone, "Has the contract been signed?"

Peiertuō was momentarily at a loss for words.

Only then did he realize he had almost forgotten the important matter.

"Councilor… I… I… uh…" he slurred, stammering.

The councilor heard that his voice was off, his tone instantly turning stern: "Peiertuō! What's going on! Are you drunk?!"

Peiertuō hurriedly said, "No no… I didn't… I didn't drink too much…"

Ning Jinli leaned close to Peiertuō's ear and whispered a suggestion: "Mr. Peiertuō, the price of 3,000 per box is indeed too high; if you can bring it down to around 2,000, we can still accept it. Just tell your boss that you've confirmed this price and that the contract is already signed… You wouldn't want your boss to keep interrupting us while we're alone tonight, would you? We still have plenty of things left to do…"

Her soft, pleasant voice, together with the warm breath blowing into his ear, instantly made Peiertuō feel as if he were floating on clouds.

Moreover, her words were not only reasonable but also sparked his imagination, so without hesitation he followed Ning Jinli's advice and reported to the councilor accordingly.

"Two thousand per box? The contract's already signed?!" the Shanbota councilor jumped up, ignoring his back pain, "Excellent! I didn't expect you to raise the price by another five hundred! Peiertuō, when you return I'll reward you handsomely! You're fantastic!"

Peiertuō immediately said, "Serving you, Councilor, is my honor! I'd like to request to stay an extra night here in Huaxia Guo, if that's alright?"

The Shanbota councilor was nearly beside himself with joy and, without a word, granted his request.

After the call ended, both parties were very pleased.

Peiertuō casually tossed the phone aside, firmly grabbed Ning Jinli's hand, and leered, "Miss Ning… from now on no one will disturb us—I can do the most wonderful things with you…"

Just a second ago Ning Jinli had been smiling, but in that instant her face turned icy cold and her beautiful eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of frost.

She directly shook off Peiertuō's hand, stepped back half a pace, picked up the wet tissue from the dining table and began wiping her hands.

Peiertuō stared for two seconds, "Miss Ning, what do you mean?"

Ning Jinli finished wiping her hands carefully, dropped the tissue, and smirked, "Guess."

This sudden change in attitude annoyed Peiertuō, and he immediately snapped, "Oh… I get it—you were just pretending to be considerate so I'd lower the price! Hah! Stupid woman! Don't forget, the contract isn't even signed yet! You revealed your hand too early! I'm furious now! Three thousand per box—you'd better not think of getting a single cent less! No! I'm raising it to four thousand!"

"Suit yourself," Ning Jinli said, walking toward the phone Peiertuō had dropped on the floor, "Even if you raise it to forty thousand per box, we don't care—after all, we won't be importing that sustained-release agent from Shanbota Guo anymore."

Peiertuō rubbed his aching, dizzy forehead in disbelief: "Not importing from us? What kind of joke is this? Afterwards, millions of patients in Huaxia Guo will just have to wait to die!"

Ning Jinli tilted her head slightly, the corner of her red lips curling: "No, what you should worry about is that from now on, the medicine monopolized by Shanbota Guo will never sell again."

Peiertuō's head buzzed; after a few seconds of stupor, he finally grasped the seriousness of the problem.

Although he still didn't fully understand what was happening, the fact that they dared to say it with such certainty definitely meant the foreign trade of that sustained-release agent was doomed!

He had to inform the councilor right away!

"My phone… my phone!" Peiertuō lunged after it.

But he could no longer walk steadily; holding onto the table, his left foot tripped his right, and he fell with a thud to the ground.

Without time to get up, he stretched out his arm as far as he could, trying to grab the phone just within reach.

Crack—

Ning Jinli, right in front of him, stomped the phone to pieces with one foot.

Peiertuō's face darkened: "You… you bitch! I'll beat you to death!"

Ning Jinli ignored him, walked to the sofa, picked up Peiertuō's secretary's bag, and also took out the two backup phones inside, then threw them to the ground and crushed them just as thoroughly, leaving Peiertuō no way to contact Shanbota Guo.

Peiertuō flew into a rage, leaping up and lunging at Ning Jinli.

Ning Jinli backhanded him with a slap.

Smack!

Peiertuō's head jerked to the side, his whole body flung backward, hitting the ground and instantly losing consciousness.

Ning Jinli calmly stepped over him and left the private room.

Immediately afterward, a few people came, shut the private room's door and stood guard outside, while the entire hotel was locked down by Mr. Yan's people to make sure Peiertuō couldn't leave.

The last two and a half hours quickly passed.

Domestic time reached eleven p. m., while over in Europe the stock exchange was also approaching the afternoon close.

When Mr. Yan confirmed that, up to the close, the large funds that Shanbota Guo had bought into stocks had not been sold off, his perpetually tense nerves finally relaxed.

This meant that the bunch of scumbags who had been dreaming of profiting from an unequal trade contract for that sustained-release agent and also hoping to make a bloody killing in the stock market from this deal were now completely trapped.

And this was only the beginning; the deadly strike aimed at Shanbota Guo was about to be unveiled.

After the stock market close, the Shanbota Guo councilor prepared to notify his secretary, intending to follow his prearranged plan to have all major media outlets release news and hype up the high-priced export contract for that sustained-release agent newly signed with Huaxia Guo.

"Councilor!" the secretary suddenly burst in through the door.

The councilor said, "I was just about to look for you—hurry! Immediately inform all media, it's time to act."

The secretary's face was grim as he set the tablet he was holding before the councilor: "Sir… just now, Huaxia Guo broke out with shocking news—you… you have a look yourself."

The councilor frowned, his gaze flicking to the news content displayed on the tablet's webpage.

In the next second, his eyes widened rapidly, his face instantly drained of color, and he roared frantically: "No! Impossible! This… this must be fake news! Fake!"