I never imagined that I’d go to Chengdu for a birthday party and come back as a laughingstock across the whole community.

First, let me make it clear: I’m not taking anyone’s side or vouching for anyone. I’m only sharing what I personally experienced.

I’d never met Sanhe before, and we had no business dealings. The reason I had a good impression of him was that I’d seen him do some charity work in the crypto world and stand up for others. He seemed like a pretty principled person, someone worth befriending.

Later, he invited me to his birthday party. I heard Xingchen Tianqing and a few KOLs I knew would be there too, so I bought my own plane ticket and booked a hotel, making the trip all the way from Ganzhou to Chengdu just for the occasion.

At the time I didn’t have much money on me, but since I had already been invited and there were a few acquaintances there, I still bit the bullet and bought the plane ticket.

To be honest, I went there with sincerity. Since I was invited, and everyone there was in the same industry, meeting up and making friends was a good thing.

On the night of the 11th, after landing, Sanhe ge arranged for staff to pick us up at the airport. At that time I arrived together with Ktu @K图先生 . After dropping off our luggage at the hotel that night, we went to a small bar to drink. Those drinking together included Sanhe ge, Jiuye @玺九爺HBJX , Ktu, and me. We kept drinking from evening until after 2 a.m., and then @Btc启航 Qihang ge finally arrived after driving over a thousand kilometers. We all started drinking and chatting together until 3, and then everyone went back to rest.

The main focus was the birthday party on the 12th.

Since I only rested at 3 a.m., I woke up around 10 or 12, and then Sanhe ge came to pick me up after 3 p.m. for this dinner gathering.

The place where we ate wasn’t exactly luxurious, but it did have some prestige. In Sanhe ge’s own words: a big, fancy restaurant doesn’t necessarily have good taste. Although this place wasn’t grand, I had always eaten here and thought the food was good, so I brought everyone here.

I was genuinely happy at the time, because I was attending a gathering full of so many big names, and Sanhe ge also said: ‘I spent over a million on wine for this occasion.’

When I heard that, I was stunned. Anyone would be stunned. How could one gathering end up spending over a million on food and drinks? At that point I was already nearly moved to tears, and I never expected Sanhe ge to treat me like a real brother!

Before the meal, we sat around drinking tea and chatting, and Sanhe ge took out a bottle of Romanée-Conti.

I’m a dentist, and I usually study teeth, so I’m completely ignorant when it comes to red wine. When I heard the price, I was shocked myself. I kept studying the bottle, feeling like I was really融入 into high society.

Then we started eating. Everyone ate and drank, toasting each other, 🍷

By then I was already pretty drunk. Bottles of Romanée-Conti were being opened one after another. As far as I knew, there were three bottles. I never expected that after finishing the third bottle, Sanhe ge, seeing that I still wanted to drink, would call over the waiter and open a fourth bottle. From that point on I started wondering: how could there be so much of such expensive wine? I didn’t think much of it then, I just felt Sanhe ge was being incredibly good to me.

So that day I posted a birthday greeting saying, ‘Traveling a thousand miles to Chengdu has shown me so much.’ Someone in the comments asked about the price of the wine, and I even replied 1.2 million, because at the time I was truly full of confidence. I even posted a Moments update (which has already been deleted). I rarely post on Moments; I only do so when something is of great significance to me.

There’s another detail here: at the table, not many people were drinking red wine. Some said they were allergic to alcohol, others said they were allergic to red wine. Looking back, maybe they really had seen through it but just didn’t say anything, while only I was foolishly enjoying myself, taking sip after sip.

After finishing the meal and the drinks, the second round started. We went to a bar to drink. I was genuinely happy, but drinking too much made me tipsy. Then Tianqing ge’s older brother came to the second round, and after drinking for a while, he arranged the third round.

The third round was in a private room, luxurious, with a dedicated DJ and several waiters on standby at all times. Tianqing ge, Qiyuan ge, and I sang together 🎤

So yes, I was really happy. One after another, everyone stayed until around 3 or 4 a.m. before heading back to the hotel; it wasn’t true that we drank so much we ended up in the hospital, as the internet claimed.

The next day I was groggy the whole time, rushing to catch a flight. By the time I got home I was utterly exhausted. On the 13th I wasn’t really clear-headed all day, and then on the morning of the 14th I saw that everyone online was spreading this story and laughing at me for being fooled by fake wine.

I also asked Sanhe privately, and he told me the wine was real, while hoping I would stop discussing this matter. But what I want to say is that I don’t know whether the wine was real or fake, and I will not vouch for its authenticity based on anyone’s single statement.

What disappointed me most about this incident wasn’t actually how much the wine was worth. I went to the birthday party not because I was chasing some million-yuan wine at all (it was only after arriving in Chengdu that Sanhe ge said he had prepared wine worth a million), and I certainly never intended to ride on anyone’s prestige. I was willing to pay my own way and travel a thousand miles because I respected a person and genuinely wanted to make a friend.

In the end, what started as a happy birthday party turned into this mess, and even we guests became the target of everyone’s jokes. The birthday greeting I posted that day was sincere, but looking back now, it really does feel a bit ironic.

I can accept everyone teasing me for not understanding wine and for drinking fake Conti. After all, if you don’t understand, you don’t understand; there’s no need to pretend. But I hope everyone understands that ordinary guests like us were only attending the gathering with sincerity, and it doesn’t mean we knew or approved of everything behind the wine event.

As for whether someone deliberately used this gathering to package themselves, I have no evidence and won’t jump to conclusions. If the wine was real, I hope reliable proof can be provided to clarify it; if there was a problem with the wine, I also hope the relevant parties can face it honestly.

Sincerity should not be a reason to be mocked, but this experience really reminded me that the persona people build online and how they are in real life eventually need time to be verified. I originally thought traveling a thousand miles was to broaden my horizons, but unexpectedly, after coming back, I also became part of the ‘worldly scene’ in other people’s eyes.

From now on, I’d better honestly stick to contracts and do lead trading. I don’t want to be the biggest laughingstock every time a critical moment comes.