Those people ignored Su Chen, but he had taken note of each of their faces. However, since Lin Ruoxue was present, he had no intention of stirring up any significant trouble—provided they didn't provoke him or Lin Ruoxue. If they did, Su Chen wouldn't mind giving them a memorable lesson in front of these so-called young masters.
Soon after, Lin Ruoxue settled on a sofa, and Su Chen naturally sat beside her, while Zheng Xuan took the seat on Lin Ruoxue's other side. As soon as Lin Ruoxue noticed Zheng Xuan sitting so close, she furrowed her brows, shifted closer to Su Chen, and maintained a distance from Zheng Xuan.
Watching this, Zheng Xuan felt even more convinced of the unusual relationship between the two. "It seems that to win over Lin Ruoxue, this peerless beauty, I'll first have to deal with this Mr. Su," he thought. Without changing his expression, he signaled Zheng Min with his eyes, then casually poured a glass of wine for Lin Ruoxue as if nothing had happened. "Ms. Lin, this is a bottle of 1947 Château Cheval Blanc, valued at nearly 200,000 US Dollars. Please, have a taste," Zheng Xuan said with a slight smile.
Lin Ruoxue was slightly surprised; these people truly lived up to the name of Yandu's young elites—a casual bottle of wine was worth hundreds of thousands in Huaxia currency! Lin Ruoxue, though not short on money, was not so extravagant as to spend so much on a single bottle; this only demonstrated that to these young masters, money truly meant little!
Zheng Xuan, seeing Lin Ruoxue's somewhat astonished expression, couldn't help but feel a hint of pride. His main purpose today was to let Lin Ruoxue see for herself what kind of life his circle led, to demonstrate his extraordinary nature. In fact, Lin Ruoxue had already noticed when she walked in that at least the watches they wore were not below two million! Their clothes bore no brand tags, but the fabric and tailoring were evidently of a superior kind, likely the work of some artisanal workshops!
"Is that so? Let me try it then," she responded.
Just as Zheng Xuan was about to put the wine bottle back on the table, a large hand reached out from the side and grabbed it.
"Do you even know how to appreciate wine? You wouldn't want to waste such a fine wine!" Zheng Xuan said, giving Su Chen a disdainful look.
"Isn't wine meant to be drunk?" Su Chen replied with a faint smile, exerting a slight force, and the bottle came into his possession.
Zheng Xuan was slightly shaken; he had not expected this man to be so strong.
The onlookers, however, were somewhat surprised—this unknown fellow actually dared to snatch wine from young master Zheng right in public like that! What guts! And then there was Lin Ruoxue; including Zheng Xuan's own seat, it looked like a situation of two men vying for one woman! The fact that someone dared to compete with Zheng Xuan, the Zheng Family's heir, for a woman—and that woman was clearly closer to the other man—this was indeed interesting... They had no intention of standing up for Zheng Xuan; if he couldn't even handle such an ordinary man, that would just be too disappointing. Now, all they needed to do was enjoy the show.
"Do you know how to properly taste red wine?" Having just had the bottle taken away from him, Zheng Xuan felt a little embarrassed and couldn't help but speak with a touch of sarcasm. This comment wasn't entirely unfounded. Although many people drank red wine in Huaxia, very few truly understood how to taste it. Even among those gold-collar elites who seemed quite sophisticated, most had only learned the basics and just appeared to know what they were doing. Therefore, upon hearing Zheng Xuan's words, the others laughed and looked towards Su Chen, thinking that expecting a small department head of a corporation to genuinely understand wine tasting was asking too much, wasn't it? How could someone from his stratum possibly know the real rituals?
Su Chen, however, paid no attention to the thoughts of these young masters. He simply took a wine glass, poured himself one-third of a glass of red wine, and went about his business. He first gave the glass a brief look, then gently swirled it, followed by bringing it close to his nose for a quick sniff! These three actions were done in one seamless motion, as fluid and natural as eating or drinking water.
Although these actions might seem quite ordinary, those who truly understood red wine knew that this was the most standard procedure for wine tasting. For instance, when he poured the wine, he achieved a perfect pour without a single drop spilled or wasted, and the surface of the wine remained completely undisturbed! The perfection of his pour might have been a surprise, but the fact that he could pour without creating any disturbance on the wine's surface was truly terrifying! And his grip on the glass was so standard, even perfect. There's a Western saying that goes—"The way you hold your glass reveals your class." From this, it's clear that although holding a glass might seem simple, it is anything but simple in reality! Without a doubt, Su Chen's way of holding his glass was that of a true noble, and not just any noble, but the most traditional and standard style, which is also the most difficult!
Drinking red wine is a profound art, which values 'one look, two swirls, three smells, four sips, and five savoring.' Each step is full of knowledge! Of course, the offspring of these great families would have seriously studied this, as it is an important way to reflect their status! They could certainly tell, even though this stranger hadn't actually started tasting the wine, just from his actions alone, he was definitely no ordinary person! An ordinary person simply could not perform such flawless, even artistic, wine tasting actions! None of them could replicate such skills in wine tasting! Words can deceive, but actions never lie!
All eyes on Su Chen shifted, and especially Zheng Xuan's expression became a bit more serious. They had all thought he was a nobody, a man who couldn't rise to the occasion, but it now seemed he might be hiding his true capabilities. They thought it was no wonder this man dared to compete with Young Master Zheng for a woman; indeed, he did have some skills! However, they still didn't favor Su Chen any more than before because, although this man might be something special, he couldn't possibly be capable of standing toe-to-toe with Zheng Xuan! Being offspring of the Five Great Families, they knew all too well the frightening power and strength of their families! Nevertheless, Su Chen had succeeded in drawing a bit of their attention, though that was all for now.
Lin Ruoxue enjoyed red wine as well, but she only drank it casually and didn't understand the intricacies. She too had found Su Chen's series of actions graceful, pleasing to the eye and heart.