In the eyes of professional wine tasters, Winters Spirits Group's blind tasting event is purely a gimmick.
But what can you do?
The professionalism of the list is one thing, but whether being on the list can boost sales is another matter entirely.
Thus, not a single winery on the Top 100 list missed sending a brand representative, and all attended in full regalia.
The annual white wine tasting event of Winters Spirits, this "amateur" tasting event, known for its showmanship and little else, if it doesn't even put on a good show...
Fortunately, the girl didn't stay on the ground for long.
She stood up calmly and patted her dress.
She checked herself over carefully, ensuring there were no obvious stains or damage.
With a bright, flower-like smile, the girl picked up her bedazzled skull microphone, "Do you know why I fell?"
The self-questioning and self-answering initiate a way to ease the embarrassment.
Laughter at the scene suddenly stopped.
"They say, 'The wine doesn't make you drunk, it's the people who get themselves drunk.' I've just personally experienced the meaning of that saying. Just a tiny taste of the atmosphere of Celestar's Annual Top 100 Chinese White Wine event, and I was so intoxicated I fell straight to the ground."
As a backup host, falling off the stage before finishing a sentence is embarrassing no matter how you spin it.
But the girl's quick thinking soon won rounds of applause from the audience.
Falling in public, the worst thing is if the involved person can't get over it themselves.
If you don't mind it, others at most will just laugh it off.
In this face-conscious era, expectations for pretty girls are never too high.
Especially when over eighty of the one hundred winery brand representatives present are men.
"Are you all wondering why, despite the technical issues with the live feed, Leo Vaughn, the general manager of Winters Spirits, is still sitting in the audience? Why didn't the National Heartthrob himself come to the rescue?"
The moment the girl posed her question, the incident of her fall was turned over.
After the fall, the scene was overturned again: "Including this year, Leo has chaired the committee for the annual Top 100 Chinese White Wines for five years now. I'm dissatisfied with him; he's not the one tasting the one hundred wines, so why does he get to be chair every year? Can't even handle a rescue, what good is he? Let's just take this opportunity to fire him today."
The atmosphere on-site suddenly got a bit eerie.
Joking also has its limits.
Even if beauties deserve special treatment, you must still mind the occasion.
Opening with firing the committee chair, what on earth kind of divine rescue is this?
"I see your bewildered faces and know what you're thinking. How could a girl as beautiful as I am possibly manage to dethrone the general manager and chair of the board of Winters Spirits Group, right?"
The girl turned slightly, displaying her devilish curves in the most pronounced and impactful way possible.
The suddenly-appeared girl not only had excellent adaptability, but her confidence seemed almost innate.
More importantly, she knew exactly where her advantages lay.
The scene, initially solemn due to a silent wine taster, immediately burst into hubbub.
Compared to sitting rigidly, waiting for Sean Lowell to slowly finish writing ten tasting reports, it's clearly more entertaining to await the results while eating popcorn.
"You almost had it. Don't turn the surprise into a shock." Sitting in the singular judge's seat, Leo couldn't help but speak up.
"How am I almost there? I'm fully prepared today. You want to shove me off, but it's not that easy. Even though many girls call you the National Heartthrob, I've long been immune to your face and your whole being, you know?"
When Leo wasn't speaking, the girl's words were more normal.
The moment Leo spoke, the girl's tone carried a playful electricity.
Leo stood up, somewhat helplessly, and moved toward where the girl was. He should never have agreed to let this girl, who besides having a baby-face, also had a "devilish" heart and figure, have the right to appear at the tasting ceremony at any time.
Seeing Leo walk toward her, the girl instantly wore a smug expression, "I ask you one thing, with my status, don't I own as many shares in Winters Spirits Group as you do? Is it fair if you tell me I've had enough, and I abide? Wouldn't I be losing face?"
"Making the Wine Winters Ambassador lose face is my fault." Leo affectionately patted the girl's head, took her hand, and was ready to lead her off the stage: "You just got off a flight, whatever fuss you want to make, do it later at home, okay?"
Everyone witnessing this scene was utterly baffled.
What's happening now?
The annual Top 100 White Wine Tasting hadn't even reached a third, and it certainly wasn't the right time for messing around.
But that wasn't what left everyone in awe.
Five years ago, Leo's father, Winters Spirits Group's founder, passed away unexpectedly.
Leo, just barely an adult and not even a week out, had to interrupt his studies in Scotland to take over Winters Spirits Group.
At that time, no one believed that this wet-behind-the-ears "young boy" could support such a vast Winters Spirits Group.
Consequently, the management team resigned en masse, and major wineries retracted agency rights previously handed over to Winters Spirits Group.
The reason cited was that Winters Spirits Group's performance had been poor in the previous year, and it wouldn't meet sales expectations in the coming year.
Amidst internal and external difficulties, Leo found a way out of the dead end with the help of "The Jilted," Sean Lowell, with 19.8 million followers.
Indeed, Leo is the choice of all young girls' hearts as their "husband."
But he is also, however nonetheless, an enigma to all who know him, a scandal-free gentleman who maintains a dignified distance from all women.
This 23-year-old chairperson of the board.
Gentle and polite.
With countless "wife fans."
Yet never has anyone managed to get into his heart or even just close to him.
In this world, it's not only cold-faced people who are difficult to approach.
Those overly gentlemanly, ever-smiling people, are also unreachable.
Some people express "keep out" with a cold demeanour, while others keep their distance with a gentlemanly smile.