Chapter 1900 — Swallowing a Silent Loss

"Ha, this time it's Bai Weituo and me drinking. Bai Weituo, you're not going to have him drink on my behalf, are you?" Seeing that Wei Zhao was about to step in again, Zhang Duopan's expression shifted slightly. His tolerance for liquor was not even as good as Fan Ganhe's; even if what they were drinking was water, he had no confidence in a clean victory, for Wei Zhao drank as fast as he drank water.

"Brother Lin, let me handle this one!" Bai Weituo said.

"Heh, fine then, it's yours." Wei Zhao pushed the two bottles of baijiu over once more.

Seeing Wei Zhao back off, Zhang Duopan instantly breathed a sigh of relief. He picked up the erguotou before him, cracked open the cap, and thought to himself: this Zhang Duopan fellow is quite something—he swapped the contents for water and didn't even damage the outer cap. Not a single flaw. A real talent!

Even if Wei Zhao and Bai Weituo grew suspicious, they would find nothing wrong.

Yet even as Zhang Duopan thought this, Fan Ganhe's expression changed beside him. He distinctly remembered that the bottle of erguotou nearest Zhang Duopan should have been already opened—it couldn't possibly be a fresh bottle. Could something have gone wrong?

Bai Weituo, by contrast, found it rather strange: why did his bottle of erguotou look as though it had been opened and then recapped? Had they run into that legendary trick of blending leftover dregs from several bottles into one? But erguotou was dirt cheap—hardly worth the trouble, was it?

As he puzzled over it, Bai Weituo suddenly felt his foot kicked twice. He turned his head and caught Wei Zhao's reassuring smile. A light went on in his mind—could Wei Zhao have done something?

Bai Weituo quickly poured the erguotou before him into a disposable paper cup, and sure enough, he spotted something unusual! Though this erguotou did carry a scent of liquor, it was not potent—only a faint, mild note. Could it be...

Excitement surged in Bai Weituo's heart. He had no idea how Wei Zhao had managed it, but it must have been Wei Zhao's doing—otherwise why would he have given him that hint?

Across from him, Zhang Duopan poured his own drink as well, but after pouring, he was utterly dumbfounded. What mineral water was this? It was plainly high-proof erguotou, the reek of alcohol overpowering!

Zhang Duopan furrowed his brow. Had Fan Ganhe failed to grasp his meaning? What the devil was going on here?

But at this moment, he certainly could not voice the question—asking would only let everyone know he had intended to cheat. So he could only grit his teeth and raise his cup: "Bai Weituo, come on then. This round, Meiyue judges again!"

Though the liquor had not been swapped for water, Zhang Duopan figured Bai Weituo's situation must surely be worse than his own. A full bottle of baijiu was a bit much for him, but he was certainly still better off than Bai Weituo. No swap, then—so be it!

"Fine, let's go!" Bai Weituo, however, was brimming with confidence. If he couldn't outdrink him, well, if he couldn't even outdrink him in water, he might as well buy a block of tofu and dash his brains out!

Fan Ganhe wanted to say something, but after a moment's hesitation, he held his tongue. He did not know how to put it. Watching the excited look on Bai Weituo's side, he had roughly guessed: that bottle of erguotou he had filled with mineral water had probably ended up in Bai Weituo's hands!

Only, Fan Ganhe was deeply perplexed. He had clearly placed the bottle filled with mineral water in front of—well, in front of himself—so how had it wound up before Bai Weituo? He could not make sense of it. True, Wei Zhao had given the bottle a push at the time, but Wei Zhao could not possibly have known what was hidden inside. Besides, he had watched Wei Zhao closely while he pushed it—how could Wei Zhao have had any chance to make a swap?

"Three, two, one... go!" He Meiyue had already called out the countdown.

Bai Weituo and Zhang Duopan raised their cups at the same time. Compared with Bai Weituo's effortless drain of the cup, Zhang Duopan's was far more agonizing—he got the cup down in several gulps, but down it went at last. When he finished, he stared in something close to shock at the empty cup before Bai Weituo.

"You... finished it?" Zhang Duopan eyed Bai Weituo's unflushed face and steady pulse with some hesitation.

"Yep, all done!" Bai Weituo grinned, though he felt a touch guilty inside—best not let the other man discover he had been drinking mineral water!

"Devilish..." Zhang Duopan thought. Was this Bai Weituo playing the pig to eat the tiger too? How could he look exactly the same after drinking as before? But there was nothing he could do about it. He could only say, "All right, then. Let's continue!"

The cups were filled again. Without question, Bai Weituo won once more, and Zhang Duopan's expression began to sour. By now he too was stripped to the waist, but his physique was nothing like Fan Ganhe's—out came a bulging paunch.

Yet the anxious look that Bai Weituo had been unable to hide had not escaped Zhang Duopan's eyes. Could it be... Zhang Duopan snatched up Bai Weituo's bottle. The liquor left inside was not enough to fill a cup, but there remained a finger's depth at the bottom. Zhang Duopan poured it straight into his own cup, lifted it, and sniffed—and at once a look of dawning comprehension spread across his face.

Bai Weituo's heart pounded. He had cheated, and now Zhang Duopan had caught him red-handed. Would He Meiyue not despise him for it? Losing because his capacity fell short was one thing, but cheating was something else entirely.

Just as Bai Weituo was gripped with fear that Zhang Duopan would expose the truth, Zhang Duopan instead set the bottle down on the table with a dark expression and said flatly, "Brother Bai really can hold his liquor. I'm in awe... I concede."

"?" Bai Weituo stared at Zhang Duopan in bewilderment. What was this? Why hadn't he called him out? Had he not noticed?

In truth, it was not that Zhang Duopan did not want to expose him—he could not! The tampering had been Fan Ganhe's doing. Even if he exposed it and declared Bai Weituo a cheater, the one who had first intended to cheat was himself, and that would make He Meiyue despise him all the more.

So no matter how you looked at it, Zhang Duopan had no choice but to pinch his nose and swallow it.

Wang Xinyan, meanwhile, covered her mouth and smiled. As expected, Wei Zhao had not disappointed her. She had known back on the train that Wei Zhao's methods were deft—otherwise those swindlers' money would never have ended up in his pocket. And now, it seemed, Wei Zhao had used the same trick, swapping that bottle of mineral-water-filled erguotou in front of Bai Weituo without anyone the wiser, leaving Zhang Duopan to swallow a silent loss.

Bai Weituo had never expected to win just like that—yes, truly, out of nowhere.