In an instant.
All eyes in the banquet hall turned to the three of them.
When Chen Jinzhao was still at his peak, the Li brothers treated him with utmost respect. Now that Chen Jinzhao was in trouble, they outright shunned him.
They completely disregarded their past camaraderie.
Facing the wine cup offered by Chen Jinzhao, Li Tianze said with a blank expression, "Everything is fine. I hope your recent defeat by Bai Zhen hasn't affected your psychology. Victory and defeat are common in warfare; I hope you don't dwell on it."
Li Tianze's words clearly had a double meaning.
By mentioning Chen Jinzhao's voluntary surrender in front of everyone, he was reopening Chen Jinzhao's wounds.
"It's fine, I won't dwell on it, because there are things more worth dwelling on," Chen Jinzhao replied in an equally calm tone.
Everyone's hearts tightened.
More important things, could it be referring to the Li family's betrayal?
Li Tianze smiled and raised his cup, drinking it in one gulp.
Li Tiannan, always following his brother's lead, also raised his cup and drank. What no one expected was Chen Jinzhao dumping the wine in his hand onto the ground in front of everyone. Even Li Tianze, who had seen his fair share of storms, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
He almost lost control of his anger.
Qin Fengwu looked at the three of them with interest, wanting to see what would happen next.
Things were starting to get interesting.
"Chen Jinzhao, you..." Li Tiannan said, annoyed.
"How could you do such a thing? You've disrespected my brother, and you've disrespected me!"
This wine was offered by Chen Jinzhao himself.
Now he had actively poured it away.
Chen Jinzhao said expressionlessly, "My apologies, I sustained an injury just now, and my arm cannot exert force. I cannot drink this cup of wine."
This reason was logical and reasonable.
If the Li family were to press the issue further, it would only give them a bad impression.
Li Tianze stopped the irate Li Tiannan and said in a gentle tone, "Chen Jinzhao is injured, it wasn't intentional. Be merciful where you can."
"Alright," Li Tiannan ceased his pursuit.
Li Tianze stood up and said, "My apologies, I have an urgent matter and cannot continue drinking with you all. Tiannan and I will take our leave."
Before Qin Fengwu could speak, Li Tianze stood up and left.
Li Tiannan followed closely behind.
Seeing this, Bai Zhen felt he had no face to stay either. He gritted his teeth inwardly and quickly fled.
The remaining subordinates of Li Tianze in the banquet hall also lost the mood to stay after seeing Li Tianze leave, and they all departed.
In an instant.
Less than half the people remained in the banquet hall.
Li Tianze and Li Tiannan left quickly. Bai Zhen, wisely, did not follow, lest Li Tianze unleash his anger upon him.
The brothers got into a car and left, the atmosphere inside the vehicle extremely heavy.
Li Tiannan spoke his mind, cursing, "This Chen Jinzhao is too much. He clearly doesn't take our Li family seriously, to do something like that in front of so many people! Brother, you shouldn't have stopped me then; you should have let me teach him a lesson."
"Enough, it was just pouring a cup of wine. Chen Jinzhao is more humiliated than us. He, who has never voluntarily surrendered, has been forced to bow to reality. What's even more laughable is that his strength is now only at B-level. With one less formidable opponent, you and I should be happy," Li Tianze said grimly.
Li Tiannan knew this was the case, but he couldn't feel happy at all.
The two had long followed Li Buyan's lead, intending to suppress Chen Jinzhao's development with forceful measures, making it impossible for him to regain power.
Although Li Tianze claimed not to care, his eyes gradually turned cold.
He said grimly, "However, there is one thing I don't understand. Why is Qin Fengwu trying to win over a useless person like that now?"
If Chen Jinzhao were still at his peak, he would indeed be worth enlisting.
But now...
Clearly, there was no need to try and win him over.
Li Tiannan shook his head, "I'm not sure. My intuition tells me Qin Fengwu is doing this solely to damage our Li family's image. Anything our Li family does, Qin Fengwu will oppose with all his might. This matter with Chen Jinzhao is no different."
Li Tianze nodded, then shook his head again.
Having been rivals with Qin Fengwu for many years, his intuition told him that Qin Fengwu had a deeper motive for this action, but he couldn't pinpoint the key.
"Forget it."
"Let's take it one step at a time and see what Qin Fengwu is planning."
"Also, you give the order for the events in the banquet hall tonight to be leaked. Let everyone see clearly that Chen Jinzhao is at the end of his rope."
Li Tiannan immediately agreed.
In the past, he had indeed been close with Chen Jinzhao, but that was because there were no conflicts of interest. Later, it was because of Yu Mengzhi that they had become intertwined, making him someone worth enlisting. Now that Chen Jinzhao had no further value, it was time to cast him aside.
This was reality.
At that time.
In the banquet hall.
Li Tianze's subordinates all left. Qin Fengwu also noted their faces; many of them were currently his subordinates.
After tonight, Qin Fengwu would not allow these people to remain in his faction.
Qin Fengwu withdrew his gaze and raised his cup to apologize to Chen Jinzhao.
"My apologies, I was unaware that Bai Zhen had betrayed me, leading to this subsequent farce."
"I'll toast you with this cup of wine here."
Chen Jinzhao clinked glasses with him and drank it down. He did not pour this cup away in front of everyone. Qin Fengwu chuckled at this, "Thank you for giving me face and not pouring it away."
"I was injured earlier, it was inconvenient," Chen Jinzhao said.
"Right, right, you were injured," Qin Fengwu echoed with a smile, doing his best to keep the atmosphere in the banquet hall pleasant.
Chen Jinzhao glanced at the messy banquet hall and said to Qin Fengwu, "Thank you again for hosting this welcome banquet for me. With what has happened tonight, it's unlikely to continue. I happen to need to discuss some matters with my two young brothers, so I plan to take my leave."
Qin Fengwu hesitated for a moment and then said, "How about this, after you finish talking with these two brothers, I'll talk with you for a while longer."
"What do you think?"
Chen Jinzhao pondered for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, as you say."
Qin Fengwu personally escorted the three of them out of the banquet hall.
After the trio left the banquet hall, they entered another private room in the hotel. Chen Jinzhao's expression immediately turned grim.
Before the two could speak, Chen Jinzhao frowned and reprimanded, "Shouldn't you two be with your unit right now? Why did you come to the capital?"
The two were taken aback, not understanding why Chen Jinzhao was angry.
Chen Jinzhao continued, "You don't need to say anything. Leave the capital tonight. The situation in the capital is extremely complex and treacherous; it's not something you can get involved in."
The two stood rooted to the spot, showing no intention of leaving.
"Brother Chen, I'm not leaving!" Wu Gang said.
Luo Feng chimed in, "That's right, I'm not leaving either. I want to stay in the capital to protect Brother Chen!"
Chen Jinzhao shook his head and sighed upon hearing this.
"Do you two know you've made a grave mistake? As members of the military, you are not allowed to enter the capital without an order. Otherwise, you will be dealt with!"