Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 542 - 542 537 The Sour Red Wine

Chapter 542: Chapter 537: The Sour Red Wine Chapter 542: Chapter 537: The Sour Red Wine However, this little episode on the journey was quickly forgotten by Tong Wei after they reached the hotel and ran into Mu Jiawen, who was waiting for them.

She loved lively scenes and had never been to Yunzhou before. Once they finished registering their rooms, she clung onto Mu Jiawen, insisting on visiting some famous spots.

The girls chatted animatedly and played around for an entire afternoon.

In the evening, a restaurant owned by Yu Hang’s family reserved a large private room with four round tables specially to welcome these classmates from afar.

As hosts, Jiang Yan, Mu Jiawen, and Zhu Zhen naturally had to accompany them.

When Tong Wei saw Zhu Zhen, she was startled because he was wearing the same clothes she had seen him in at the traffic light intersection that afternoon. A gray hooded sweatshirt with a dark blue down vest over it.

In the dead of winter, the only person she knew who was hardy enough to not wear a down jacket was Zhu Zhen.

So… did he have a girlfriend back home?

The moment this possibility crossed her mind, Tong Wei’s expression became somewhat complex.

It’s not that she had to be with Zhu Zhen, but she had chased after him for half a year without any response from him, so just how outstanding was this girlfriend from his hometown?

Somewhat irritated, she couldn’t help feeling a bit indignant.

Turning her head, she asked Mu Jiawen sitting next to her, “Jiawen, do you know Zhu Zhen’s girlfriend?”

“Huh?” Mu Jiawen looked surprised, “Zhu Zhen has a girlfriend? Who is it? When did this happen?”

These rapid-fire questions left Tong Wei utterly confused. Wait… could she have guessed wrong?

That girl wasn’t his girlfriend?

After hesitating for a moment, she eventually leaned in and whispered to Mu Jiawen about seeing Zhu Zhen with another girl that afternoon.

With that, Mu Jiawen figured out who it was.

“Not his girlfriend, a classmate. This afternoon, they went to the mall to buy things for Zhu Jin.”

Seeing how certain Mu Jiawen was, Tong Wei silently breathed a sigh of relief, but then she couldn’t stop herself from sneering at her own silliness.

What was she thinking? Just because he wasn’t interested in you doesn’t mean he couldn’t find someone else, right?

What business is it of yours whether he has a girlfriend or not?

She berated herself internally and when Zhu Zhen came over to their table to serve wine and drinks, she pretended to look down and adjust her clothes, avoiding his gaze.

After all, if he’s not yours, he’s not yours; looking is pointless.

Zhu Zhen: …

Zhu Jin’s classmates had seen Zhu Zhen around school occasionally. They weren’t close, but they knew each other. He greeted everyone in turn, but when it was Tong Wei’s turn, she just gave him the cold shoulder. Zhu Zhen gave an awkward smile, put down the drinks, and left.

At the same time, Zhu Jin and Yu Hang were entertaining their classmates at the restaurant, while Yu Hang’s mother and his two aunts were decorating the newlyweds’ room with ribbons.

After talking until they were thirsty, Yu Hang’s third aunt went to the kitchen to boil water. She inadvertently saw a decanter on the counter, still containing quite a bit of red wine, probably more than half a bottle.

She looked at the decanter in silence for a moment, then turned to the kitchen doorway and called out, “Elder sister-in-law, could you come here for a sec?”

“What’s up?”

Yu Hang’s mother, puzzled, came in and saw Yu Hang’s third aunt pointing at the decanter with the red wine and asking, “Is this what Xiao Hang didn’t finish?”

Yu Hang’s mother thought for a moment and said, “Probably. Yesterday his friends were here playing around for most of the day. I saw quite a few empty bottles in the dining room, I guess this is what was left over.”

“The leftovers from yesterday should still be good now, right?”

Yu Hang’s third aunt knew very well that not a single bottle of red wine on the family’s wine cabinet was cheap. Yu Hang’s parents spared no expense for their excellent son, whose wife was a Beijing University graduate. Not to mention them, even the rest of the Yu Family took the marriage of the couple getting married tomorrow very seriously.

Therefore, everything in this room, from the electrical appliances and furniture to the pots and pans, had been meticulously prepared with great care.

And over half of the wine in the cabinet had been collected by Yu Hang’s dad over many years.

So it would be a real pity to waste it when it hadn’t been finished.

She picked up the bottle and sniffed at it. There was a sour smell, but after a day and a night of evaporation, it was no longer as strong as it was last night when it was first mixed.

“It feels a bit sour.”

Yu Hang’s mom laughed and said, “Your brother said that there’s a type of red wine that is sour. I don’t drink this often, so I don’t understand it very well. Why don’t you pour it into a bottle to take home? You have sleep issues, and I’ve told you before that drinking a glass before bed helps with sleep. Didn’t I let Third Brother take home two cases? Why don’t you open a bottle and give it a try?”

Their sister-in-law relationship was good, so even taking away leftover wine was not a big deal, and nobody would think too much of it.

And Yu Hang’s third aunt had actually planned to try using red wine to see if it could improve her sleep, so upon hearing her sister-in-law’s suggestion, she gladly agreed. She found an empty wine bottle and poured all the wine from the decanter into it.

After finishing the busy work at home and before going to bed, she poured the leftover wine into a glass, then imitated what she had seen on TV by swirling it in her hand before lifting it to her lips to take a small sip.

Hissss… so sour!

Yu Hang’s third aunt felt the wine was sour enough to set her teeth on edge, but she couldn’t bring herself to spit out the sip she hadn’t swallowed. Nonetheless, she couldn’t help complaining to her husband, who had just come out of the bathroom, “Big sister said this wine is acidic, but it’s too sour. I’m having trouble drinking it.”

Yu Hang’s third uncle had no interest in red wine; he only liked baijiu (white liquor). He replied while drying his hair, “If you find it hard to drink, don’t drink it. The ones big sister gave before weren’t acidic; you could try those two.”

But Yu Hang’s third aunt was used to being frugal, and she couldn’t bear to pour out such good wine.

So she forced herself to drink the remaining half glass, and she didn’t waste any of the remainder in the bottle either, drinking it little by little over the course of half a month until it was finished.

However, she wasn’t sure if it was just a placebo effect, but after finishing that half bottle of red wine, she felt her sleep significantly improved. She no longer tossed and turned all night and was able to sleep till morning.

Of course, Zhu Jin had no idea about this. When she left the wine behind, she only intended to let Mu Jiawen taste the achievement she had made the next day. Little did she know that Jiang Yan would take her away that very night.

The next day, she slept until after eight before waking up, only to be called away by a phone call from her mom.

As for the red wine in the decanter that she had mixed with vinegar and salt, she had long forgotten about it.

…

On the day of Zhu Jin and Yu Hang’s grand wedding, Mu Jiawen and Tong Wei arrived early at Zhu Jin’s home.

It wasn’t long before Xu Yan and Wang Xiaole also arrived.

“Mu Jiawen…”

With a menacing smile and grinding her teeth, Wang Xiaole uttered three words. She had been quite drunk that night, but she had not blacked out. After waking up the following day, she gradually recalled everything.

She went to the hotel to confront Mu Jiawen and found her looking completely clueless, with no memory of what she had said. Mu Jiawen was very certain that Wang Xiaole had remembered wrong, assuring her that her own memory was good and that if it had happened, she couldn’t possibly have forgotten.

“Adding white vinegar to the red wine? You’re quite imaginative.”

Seeing Mu Jiawen’s confident demeanor had even made Wang Xiaole second-guess herself. Could it be… she had remembered wrong?

She had not connected the dots at the time and didn’t think to ask Zhu Jin or Xu Yan.

But as the day passed, the image of Mu Jiawen pouring white vinegar into the decanter grew increasingly clear, as if it was real!

No, it was definitely real!