It was already six at night when they returned to Tonglin County.
The relevant departments from Tonglin County had prepared a grand appreciation dinner for Zheng Lunlun to thank them for their contributions towards the education industry in Tonglin County.
Furthermore, with Zheng Lunlun’s influence, many Internet users indicated that they were interested to make a trip to this isolated county too. This advertisement was good enough.
As long as a celebrity was able to use his popularity in the right way, he would still be able to bring about positive impacts.
The person-in-charge from the local educational system was persistent on having a toast with Zheng Lunlun and Ning Ran, and had a drink first to show his sincerity.
But as Zheng Lunlun had a “sore throat” and could barely speak, he obviously could not have a drink either.
And this was how the attention would all be placed on Ning Ran.
Although Ning Ran was not extremely renowned, she was one of the most good-looking ladies in the dinner that night and naturally, she was the focus of the night.
It was almost a norm in socializing contexts where gorgeous ladies would always have a couple of men coming forward to have a drink with them.
Ning Ran could only drink a little and did not dare drink too much.
Nan Chen and a few other executives of Nanshi Corporation had also attended the dinner. However, they did not share the same table as them as Nan Chen was together with other leaders of higher rankings.
Nan Chen was able to see Ning Ran being asked to drink with some men, and signaled for Jiang Zhe to go over to drink on her behalf.
It was a norm that the smaller a place was, the more the attention would be placed on human relations.
These people offering a toast to others would mostly be for socializing, perhaps only a few of them were really sincere in showing gratitude.
The men were really friendly. Although Jiang Zhe took the drinks on behalf of Ning Ran, they still insisted for Ning Ran to have a sip.
Besides, they always proceeded to drink after raising the toast to show their sincerity.
They then signaled for her to take it easy and did not force her to drink too much.
However, seeing everyone offering a toast to her, she felt bad if she were to reject their offers and hence resorted to drinking a few sips to entertain them.
As Ning Ran had an empty stomach, she got drunk.
Nan Chen had to rush back to Flower City that night as he had an important meeting the next day.
As Nan Chen was afraid that the drunk Ning Ran would create negative news, he ordered people to forcefully get Ning Ran onto his car.
Nan Chen said on the seat next to the driver seat, and let Ning Ran lie flat at the back seat.
After a drive of over ten kilometers, Nan Chen felt sleepy and decided to close his eyes to take a short rest.
Just a while later after he closed his eyes, he heard someone singing behind him.
He listened closely, and heard someone singing a children’s song.
Nan Chen opened his eyes and saw the bodyguard, who was sitting at the driver seat, laughing away.
It was the drunk Ning Ran who was singing.
Was she about to be a crazed drunk?
“Yellow flowers are yellow, white flowers are white, the wildflowers bloom where my hometown is……”
“The cooling breeze, the sound of the flute, daddy and I herd the cattle and sheep……”
To his surprise, Ning Ran sang it beautifully. Nan Chen suddenly felt that this song was rather familiar and that he might have heard it before.
“What song is this?” Nan Chen asked the driver.
“I do not know.” The driver shook his head.
Nan Chen turned around and looked at Ning Ran, “What song are you singing?”
Ning Ran raised her head and scratched her head, “I refuse to tell you!”
She acted extremely different from her usual self. Her voice was rather coquettish and sounded like a spoiled princess.
Nan Chen was shocked. Does getting drunk alter her personality?
But Nan Chen couldn’t care less.
Nan Chen continued to recuperate his health as he closed his eyes.
However, the person behind him continued singing and seemed to be getting more excited as she started to clap her hands along.
Nan Chen listened again and felt that the song she sang was very familiar. He really felt that he had heard it somewhere before.
He felt that this song was just like the orange blossom scent, embedded within his memory for an extremely long period of time and had never disappeared from his mind.
Nan Chen fished out his phone and searched for the lyrics she sang. He typed the lyrics “yellow flowers are yellow, white flowers are white, the wild flowers bloom where my hometown is” but he could not get any search results.
Was this her original? But how is that possible? How can someone as lowly as her have an original? What a joke!
“Mmm……”
Just then, a drastic change happened. The person behind stopped singing but instead, she started to cover her mouth!
Nan Chen instantly realized that this person was about to vomit!
“Find a spot to stop the car, she’s about to vomit!” Nan Chen said.
He then turned around and pointed to Ning Ran, “Hold it back in, do not vomit on the car!”
Thank goodness, there was an emergency parking lot just in front.
Nan Chen was puzzled again. Is this woman crazy? Why is she running?
Just then, Ning Ran stopped and leaned against the barricade on the expressway and started to vomit.
It seemed that she was not crazy, but she wanted to vomit at a distance away to not gross them out.
Although she was drunk, she still seemed to be on her senses.
After a while of vomiting, she returned to the car.
Nan Chen took out a bottle of water from the back of the car and passed it to her. But for no reason, Ning Ran could not open the bottle cap.
Nan Chen had to choose but to take the bottle back and open it for her.
“Gargle the water first, don’t drink it immediately.” Nan Chen reminded her, but in a cold voice.
Ning Ran followed what she was told to do.
Ning Ran then squatted on the floor and refused to get up.
“Get in the car, we still have to rush back.” Nan Chen reminded.
“I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go home.” Ning Ran suddenly buried her head within her legs and started crying.
What is going on now?
Nan Chen looked at the bodyguard, who shrugged his shoulders, “Sir Chen, I am afraid that she is really drunk. We will have to help her up in the car.”
“You do it.” Nan Chen signaled to the bodyguard.
“Sure.” The bodyguard walked towards Ning Ran.
“Come back!” Nan Chen stopped the bodyguard just as he was about to reach his hands out to Ning Ran.
“Let me do it instead, she just vomited.” Nan Chen said.
The bodyguard thought to himself, Sir Chen was a clean freak, why did he not allow me to help Ning Ran but do it himself when she had just vomited?
As he got closer to Ning Ran, he could smell a combination of wine and the unique orange blossom scent.
“Let’s go, it’s time to go back.” Nan Chen held onto Ning Ran’s shoulders and tried to lift her up from the ground.
But Ning Ran refused, “I don’t want to go home, I don’t want……”
“Why? Do you want to spend a night here on the streets?” Nan Chen was getting annoyed.
“I refuse to go home, I have lost my mother, I have no home……” Boo hoo hoo……
Ning Ran got sadder as she cried, with her shoulders bouncing up and down. It did not seem like she was faking it.
Nan Chen was at a loss. Do all women cry when they are drunk? What can I do now?
“Why is your mother gone?” Nan Chen asked.
“My mother’s death was caused by Luo Yi. It is all my fault, I didn’t even manage to see her for the last time before she left, this is all my fault……”
Luo Yi? Who is this?
Didn’t Luo Fei say that Ning Ran was the one who resulted in her mother’s death? Why has it become Luo Yi?
What does she now mean by saying that it is her own fault?
Also, why did she say that she didn’t get to see her mother for the last time? Where was she when her mother passed away?
“Why didn’t you see her for the last time?” Nan Chen asked again.
Ning Ran cried even more hysterically, “I was trying to earn money to pay for my mother’s medical bills. Although I have the money now, my mother is gone, this is my fault……”
Nan Chen got even more suspicious; the version of this story sounded different from what Luo Fei had told him in the jungle!
