Quan Jiu tidied her business card and offered Zhao Ziwen an out, "Teacher Zhao, it's been a pleasure working with you." She stood up, ready to leave.
Ling Mei stepped forward to block her, "You can't leave. Who brought you here? You vixen, I'm Ziwen's companion. Get lost, as far away as possible!"
Quan Jiu couldn't help but laugh, "So, do you want me to leave or stay?"
"I..." Ling Mei, seeing Quan Jiu's stunning beauty, grew even more jealous and roared, "I want you to get lost, stay away from Ziwen."
Her voice wasn't quiet, and it quickly attracted onlookers. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
Quan Jiu didn't intend to argue with someone like that. While she had indeed made Zhao Ziwen act as her introducer for the entire afternoon, from a girlfriend's perspective, Ling Mei's anger was understandable.
However, engaging with such ill-spoken people would only demean herself. Moreover, Zhao Ziwen had genuinely helped her a great deal, and she owed him this courtesy. Thus, instead of ignoring him, she simply tried to leave.
Unfortunately, Ling Mei was not one to let things go. In this setting, she completely disregarded decorum and began to make a scene.
"You can't leave! Who brought you? Who brought this woman? Someone who seduces other people's boyfriends, aren't you going to do something about it?"
Zhao Ziwen's patience had completely run out. He looked at Ling Mei with a cold expression, "Apologize to Miss Quan."
Ling Mei looked wronged, "Ziwen, you're still defending her! What's so good about this cheap woman? She's just a promiscuous slut. How can she compare to my genuine feelings for you?"
"Shut up," Zhao Ziwen's face darkened. "Have I been too lenient with you? If you continue to be unreasonable, you can go home."
Ling Mei, publicly reprimanded and emboldened by two months of favor, continued her outburst, "You're yelling at me! You weren't like this before. You've been bewitched by this woman, haven't you? Is she the one who made you break up with me? I..."
"Ziwen, what's going on?" Zuo Long stepped forward and asked.
Zhao Ziwen's head ached. He apologized, "Sorry, it's..."
"My apologies everyone. She's my sister, and she's not quite right in the head. Please excuse her. I'll take her away now."
Wei Lan emerged from the crowd, taking Ling Mei's arm and speaking softly, "Sister, let's go home."
"You're the crazy one! You're also a leech clinging to Ziwen. Don't touch me!" Ling Mei, in her fury, pushed Wei Lan away.
Wei Lan's heels slipped, and she twisted her ankle, stumbling into the armrest of a sofa.
Quan Jiu reached out to help her up, asking with concern, "Did you hit your head?"
Wei Lan smiled gratefully, then looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, my sister speaks harshly, but she doesn't mean it. She can't control herself. She has bipolar disorder, please don't mind her."
Quan Jiu glanced at Ling Mei subtly and shook her head, unconcerned. "It's alright. Since it's your family matter, I'll be going now."
"Wei Lan, you're the crazy one! You've been clinging to Ziwen for years and still won't leave. How shameless can you be?" Ling Mei, seeing Wei Lan step in to defuse the situation, redirected her anger towards Wei Lan.
Wei Lan, however, kept apologizing to the surrounding guests.
Many of the guests had enjoyed pleasant conversations with Quan Jiu that afternoon. Therefore, they completely ignored Ling Mei's words and instead felt sympathetic, genuinely believing Ling Mei to be suffering from bipolar disorder.
Ling Mei was about to explode. She understood those looks perfectly; they truly considered her mentally ill. Enraged, she grabbed her bag and began hitting Wei Lan with it, shouting, "You're the crazy one! You're the crazy one!"
"Ling Mei," Zhao Ziwen stepped in front of Wei Lan and roared, "If you don't stop, you'll really need to see a psychiatrist."
Wei Lan, looking flustered, continued to apologize to everyone and forcibly tried to pull Ling Mei away.
Ling Mei resisted, kicking, shoving, and cursing, making the scene incredibly chaotic.
Someone suggested, "Call 120. You can't control a bipolar episode."
A kindhearted person then dialed 120.
The ambulance arrived quickly.
Seeing a group of people in white rushing towards her, Ling Mei screamed and dodged, "I'm not crazy! You're framing me! I'm normal! I'm not crazy!"
The more she screamed, the more others believed she was mentally ill, and they looked at her with pity.
The paramedics, seeing her agitated state, asked Wei Lan for permission, "She's too agitated. We need to give her a sedative."
Wei Lan was also somewhat frightened and nodded unconsciously, "You... you be gentle, don't scare her."
With permission granted, the paramedics surrounded Ling Mei, restrained her, and administered a sedative. The previously raging Ling Mei soon fell asleep.
Wei Lan sighed sadly, apologized to everyone again, and then left with the paramedics.
Zhao Ziwen, with a pounding headache, bid farewell to the others and followed.
The ambulance quickly arrived at the hospital. While Zhao Ziwen was registering, Wei Lan made a phone call. Soon, Ling Mei's "psychiatric evaluation" was sent over. She took the report to the doctor and explained the situation. The doctor ultimately issued a medical opinion: recommend admission to a psychiatric hospital.
When Zhao Ziwen returned to the room after registering, Wei Lan explained, "In that situation, I had no choice. I couldn't watch her ruin you while also offending Quan Jiu. You should know better than anyone that she's a rose full of thorns, and you might get implicated by her and incur Quan Jiu's resentment and revenge."
Zhao Ziwen hadn't expected that despite his extensive experience with people, he would suffer such a significant setback in a formal setting. He rubbed his temples and sighed, "Quan Jiu is a discerning person. Just don't provoke her. As for Ling Mei..."
Wei Lan knew what he was going to say. She glanced at her phone and interrupted, "The medical opinion is out. It recommends... sending her to a psychiatric hospital."
"What?" Zhao Ziwen exclaimed in surprise. "Does she really have a mental illness?"
Wei Lan also looked confused, "I just made that up as an excuse. Who knew she actually had a history of mental illness? Look, here are the doctor's orders and the diagnosis."
Zhao Ziwen was stunned for a long time before a wry smile touched his lips. "What kind of misunderstanding is this? Are you alright? Did she hurt you anywhere?"
Wei Lan felt a warmth in her heart and shook her head, "I'm fine. But for her own good, shouldn't we send her to the best psychiatric hospital in City A? It would be a form of compensation from you."
Although Zhao Ziwen was flirtatious, he was actually very good to all the women he had been with, gentle, considerate, and exceptionally generous.
According to his usual practice, even if Ling Mei were to be broken up with, Zhao Ziwen would have given her ample compensation. However, this time, the method of compensation was slightly different, changing to a luxurious package of psychiatric treatment.
Watching Ling Mei being taken away by the psychiatric staff, Wei Lan sneered inwardly, "Fool. Stay in a psychiatric hospital for two months, and let's see how arrogant you can still be."
...
Quan Jiu returned home at seven-thirty. After a quick dinner, she went into her study to start planning her upcoming work arrangements.
First and foremost, expanding her business was something she had long intended to do. The Golden Pen Summit this time served as a small opportunity. She had originally planned to start next year, but since it had come up, there was no need to delay.
Compared to copyright business, publishing business required more preparatory work. Quan Jiu spent over four hours planning the publishing business strategy, working until one in the morning before finally completing it. The next morning, she brought the new plan to the company.