Upon hearing that Wan Shaoling had agreed, Ye Feng's lips slightly curled into a fox-like smile.

When Wan Shaoling noticed the smile on Ye Feng's face, he jerked, and for some reason, a sense of foreboding surged within him.

Could it be that this bottle of wine is some kind of precious item?

Wan Shaoling pondered for a moment and then shook his head, dismissing the absurd thought from his mind.

"Hmph! Acting all mysterious!"

He had already smelled the wine, and its scent was indeed off, not even close to the wine from Château Kelude 1987 Bordeaux.

Previously, he hadn't been concerned when pouring the wine. If he had smelled it as carefully as Ye Feng had, he could have identified the problem with it as well.

Although the wine wasn't the type mixed with alcohol and coloring—the truly fake kind—it was undoubtedly of poor quality, especially the slightly pungent odor, which clearly indicated it was starting to go bad.

Thinking this, Wan Shaoling also felt that Ye Feng's way of betting was quite tacky!

"There's a liquor storage room in the private room. Let's go there to choose our wine, then bring it out for everyone to taste! I believe everyone here will certainly have a more direct judgment on the grade of the wines. Then, who wins and who loses will be decided by everyone!"

Wan Shaoling said to Ye Feng right away.

Choosing wine is a highly skillful task, involving not only the year of the wine but also the label's place of origin, storage temperature, lighting, the color of the wine, the integrity of the cork, and its permeability!

The skills involved are extremely complicated, as wines from the same year and same origin can actually taste quite different!

In fact, one could say that selecting wines is more challenging and unpredictable than tasting them!

After saying this, Wan Shaoling glanced at the server who immediately understood and then said to the people:

"Everyone, follow me!"

Saying that, the server walked straight to a corner of the private room. There, on one side of the corner, was a door—the private room's wine storage.

The server then took out a key, opened the storage room's door, and led everyone inside.

As soon as they entered, everyone felt a slight chill. The entire storage room was dimly lit, and it was filled with wine racks displaying a dazzling array of bottles, all kinds available.

The group was accustomed to such sights and showed no surprise at the scene before them.

Château Baigorri 1985 red wine, Château Sofit 1988 red wine, Domaine Roman Conti's 1978 Montachet, Royal Eagle Cabernet 1992...

Bottle after bottle of red wine caught the eye, especially under the dim lighting, exuding an indescribable beauty.

Bright red young wines, purple-red aged wines!

Wines from inside the world's top ten famous wineries could almost all be found here.

At that moment, Wan Shaoling scanned the storage room and then asked Ye Feng, "Mr. Ye, would you like to choose first, or should I?"

"You go first," Ye Feng shrugged and said with a smile to Wan Shaoling.

Without any reservation, Wan Shaoling immediately proceeded deeply into the array of wine racks to begin his selection upon hearing this.

Wan Shaoling was very serious in his selection, scrutinizing every label and the depth of color of each wine, even observing each line on every cork.

After a full quarter of an hour of selecting, Wan Shaoling slowly picked up a bottle of red wine and walked out.

"Shaoling! What wine did you choose?" Qi Jian asked directly as soon as Wan Shaoling had made his selection.

Qi Jian knew that Wan Shaoling had a deep knowledge of wines, but given Ye Feng's peculiarity, he still couldn't help feeling a bit worried.

While Wan Shaoling watched Qi Jian's tense expression, he smiled slightly and then took out a bottle of wine, pointing to the label:

"The 1992 Royal Eagle Cabernet!"

The 1992 Royal Eagle Cabernet, hailed as the world's most expensive red wine, had sold for a staggering 500,000 US Dollars at an auction decades ago, and as time passed, the price of this wine was sure to skyrocket again. Now, even a million US Dollars might not be enough to purchase it.

"Mr. Ye! I'm sorry! I have looked at every bottle here, and the 1992 Royal Eagle Cabernet is the best one present!"

With a faint smile playing on his lips, Wan Shaoling, having chosen first, naturally held an absolute advantage.

Especially this bottle of the 1992 Royal Eagle Cabernet—back in '92, the global climate was exceptionally suitable for wine production. At that time, this bottle was the highest in craftsmanship, as well as in collection value and influence.

Even now, this wine was extremely rare. In all of China, perhaps only Eastern Pearl had such a bottle.

Moreover, Wan Shaoling had already examined it, and he found that the color and packaging of this bottle were as perfect as ever, stored very precisely. Even if Ye Feng searched any further, he would not possibly find a bottle of wine higher in quality than this one!

Others saw this as well, and at the moment, many looked at Ye Feng with sympathy, thinking that if he hadn't acted pretentiously and chosen first, perhaps he would have picked this bottle.

"Mr. Ye! I've finished looking! It's your turn!"

Wan Shaoling was triumphant, pleased to make Ye Feng lose face and toast him, thus recovering the respect he had previously lost.

However, upon hearing his words, Ye Feng merely chuckled softly:

"Since the selection is finished, let's go."

With those words, Ye Feng started to walk out of the storage room.

Seeing Ye Feng's action, everyone was momentarily stunned, especially Qi Jian, who immediately thought that Ye Feng had backed down.

"Stop right there!"

Qi Jian quickly stepped forward, blocking Ye Feng, and then said with a mocking face:

"Mr. Ye, Shaoling has already chosen his wine! Why are you backing out now? Could it be that Mr. Ye is having second thoughts?"

Qi Jian was overjoyed, feeling that he had completely returned the insult he had suffered earlier.

Especially considering that no matter what red wine Ye Feng picked, he was still going to be overwhelmingly outclassed by Wan Shaoling's 1992 Royal Eagle Cabernet, Qi Jian almost laughed out loud.

Not just Qi Jian—others also gave Ye Feng strange looks. If he backed out now, not only him, but also those who supported him like Jiang Ying and the little monkey, would be looked down upon.

"Yes, Mr. Ye! We had agreed earlier! If you back out now, it will be seen as you admitting defeat, and you must toast me as an apology!"

At this moment, Wan Shaoling also approached, smiling at Ye Feng.

Ye Feng looked at the two of them, and then at everyone else's contemptuous expressions, scratching his head in apparent confusion:

"I had chosen my bottle a long time ago!"

What?

Upon hearing Ye Feng's words, everyone was somewhat stunned, even feeling that Ye Feng must have been confused—he hadn't chosen anything, so how could it be that he had already made a selection?

Ye Feng paid no mind to everyone's confusion, but his next remark left everyone frozen on the spot.

"I had indeed chosen long ago! That fake wine was my choice!"

PS: Sorry, this chapter involves subsequent plot developments and took a long time to conceive. It's 3 AM and I've just finished it. Sorry for making everyone wait!

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