“Tsk, tsk, you’re not picky.”
Li Jinyu smiled perfunctorily, looking at Cheng Kairan with a direct male-to-male gaze. Leaning on the stall door, he knocked twice on the partition with his knuckles and said lazily: “Come out when you’re dressed, don’t dawdle. Brother doesn’t have time to waste here with you.”
Half a minute later, the stall door slowly opened. Ye Meng had changed into a set of women’s hip-hop rock style clothes that Li Jinyu had thrown in from somewhere. Chains wrapped around her, making her feel like cured meat hanging on a drying rack, accompanied by a clanking array of gaudy accessories—completely the image of a little rock rebel.
As soon as the door cracked open, Li Jinyu deliberately looked out the window. Cheng Kairan instinctively followed his gaze and caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the parking lot outside. Without even looking into the stall, he rushed out with arrow-like steps, hastily dropping a line: “Sorry for disturbing your good time, brother. I owe you one.”
After Cheng Kairan’s car drove out of the parking lot empty-handed,
Ye Meng changed back into her clothes with a girl of similar build and height in the bathroom. The girl was called Qiao Maimai. She didn’t have an exaggerated head of green or blue hair; her features were delicate, with bright eyes that somehow resembled Li Jinyu’s, though their temperaments were vastly different. Qiao Maimai was a small-town girl, her Mandarin not very standard, with a local accent—
“I was scared to death just now. When Brother Kai caught me, his eyes looked like they could eat people. What did you do to offend him? If I hadn’t known about the small path leading to the back of the women’s restroom, you would have been done for tonight. He had already made several phone calls and called another group of underlings up, saying he would turn the bar upside down to find you. All the doors were blocked; even a fly trying to escape would be slapped down. The boss was furious. Good thing my brother was here today.”
Ye Meng listened with her heart pounding. Cheng Kairan was even more obsessive than she had imagined: “Hasn’t the boss called the police?”
“Call the police?” Qiao Maimai laughed as if she had heard the biggest joke. “Brother Kai has a good relationship with the police. Besides, he’s very vindictive. If the boss called the police, he would send people to wreck the place every day. Who would dare offend him?”
Ye Meng leaned against the sink where Li Jinyu had been leaning and slowly buttoned up: “So what happened just now?”
Qiao Maimai looked quite pretty, but her voice was low and deep, with a slightly smoky quality. Her expression was that of an innocent, lively young girl, somewhat contrasting with her voice: “Just now, my brother threw your clothes out the window. After I changed into them, I waited in the parking lot. When the stall door opened, I rushed out to divert Brother Kai’s attention. Brother Kai is such a fool; seeing me wearing the clothes he had seen earlier, he would rush out to chase me.”
Ye Meng frowned slightly. Qiao Maimai seemed to know what she was going to say: “Brother Kai may be foolish, but he’s very suspicious. If you hadn’t opened the door and he chased out to find I wasn’t you, he would come back for you. Because you were in there for so long without opening the door, he would surely suspect something. My brother could only pretend to be… with you, completely dispelling his suspicions about why you took so long to open the door. Finally, when you boldly opened the door, Brother Kai dismissed his suspicions about you. When I went out, he came after me. After confirming I wasn’t you, he would feel reassured enough to leave with his men. My brother says he’s just like that, particularly fond of catching others’ psychology.”
“Is your brother on good terms with Cheng Kairan?”
“Not particularly good. My brother is like that with everyone. There’s no particular good or bad,” Qiao Maimai finished putting on her last bits and pieces and looked at her suspiciously: “Hmm, why aren’t you asking me how I knew when the stall door would open while I was in the parking lot? Logically, the stall door opens inward, and you can’t see it from the parking lot side.”
Ye Meng crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the sink waiting for her to finish changing: “Using the reflection between a mirror and a car’s rearview mirror, you could see it.”
“Wow, you’re as smart as my brother. I had to think about it for a long time.” Qiao Maimai said.
Ye Meng: “Junior high school physics knowledge.”
Qiao Maimai: “Really? I don’t remember that.”
“So, why did you go to such lengths to help me?”
Qiao Maimai started braiding her rock-style small braids in front of the mirror: “My brother said you’re very rich and would give us money.”
Ye Meng now felt like she had boarded a pirate ship: “Where did you see that I’m very rich?”
“Don’t think we can’t recognize value. That bag of yours costs at least 20,000 yuan.” Qiao Maimai glanced at the bag at her waist, which could barely fit a phone.
It was just over 10,000 yuan. Ye Meng had found an Italian purchasing agent, and she had bought it several years ago. During those years in Beijing, she hadn’t learned much else, but she had bought quite a few luxury items to maintain appearances sometimes.
“So how much do you want?” Ye Meng asked.
“One thousand per time.”
Very good, this was a sibling fraud team. Ye Meng felt resentful; she hadn’t even slept with him!
Qiao Maimai quickly finished the small braids on top of her head, then slowly applied another layer of powder to her face, telling her: “My brother suffered a big loss this time. Everyone now thinks he’s a jerk who loves hookups. Just now, there were even girls slipping him notes asking if he wanted to hook up. One thousand is already a discount, considering Method Yan’s face.”
Ye Meng thought she had misheard, surprised: “You know Method Yan too?”
Qiao Maimai wasn’t very skilled at makeup. Her makeup was exaggerated, with blush applied thicker than a monkey’s buttocks, and she was adorned with a body full of jingling accessories, looking from a distance like a discounted deluxe Christmas pizza.
She satisfactorily pursed her lips at the mirror: “How could I not know her? You’re Method Yan’s bestie. My grand-aunt is in the next bed to Method Yan, that chubby boy is my real brother, and Li Jinyu is my cousin. If Method Yan hadn’t been worried you’d have trouble tonight and called my brother, he wouldn’t have bothered with these matters.”
Ye Meng hummed: “Then why does your brother listen to Method Yan?”
“Because Method Yan said if you were caught by Cheng Kairan, she would take my grand-aunt to smoke opium.”
“…”
The bar began normal operations, gradually filling with people. A group of people sat scattered around the bar and the center of the dance floor. Colorful lights scattered dreamy beams from above, and the ear shells echoed with sensual music, making one’s consciousness hazy. Ye Meng didn’t particularly like such places; they were too decadent. Although she lacked drive now, she had once been a spirited Beijing drifter.
Amidst the crowd, she spotted Li Jinyu at a glance. Now his black shirt was buttoned meticulously, even his Adam’s apple tightly covered. From a distance, Ye Meng saw him sitting hunched at the bar, his back slightly trembling. As she approached, she heard he was coughing.
Ye Meng snatched away his glass and plopped down beside him.
Sensing the movement, Li Jinyu looked up, gave her a glance without emotion, then lowered his head again to continue playing his game. It seemed to be a room escape mobile game. His long, well-defined fingers slid across the screen, randomly swiping all over, playing rather casually.
Why didn’t he pick up that key just now? It could open the treasure chest on the wine cabinet, and the chest had a password hint for unlocking the bookshelf.
Ye Meng had completed the first season of this game before the New Year.
Li Jinyu gave the impression of not taking anything seriously. If she were a poor student, he would probably be even less than poor—a bottom-feeder.
Seeing he had no intention of speaking first, Ye Meng knocked on the table in front of him.
Li Jinyu had found a map from somewhere and was leisurely studying it on screen, not looking up: “If you have something to say, say it.”
Ye Meng deliberated before speaking, “I came to apologize today. Jiang Luzhi—”
Li Jinyu directly interrupted, not wanting to hear it at all: “Oh, I see. Anything else?”
“Add me on WeChat. I’ll send you the money, tonight’s service fee.”
Li Jinyu gave her a puzzled look: “What service fee?”
“Qiao Maimai said, for tonight’s help, one thousand.”
Li Jinyu finally picked up the key in the game and went to open the treasure chest, saying lazily: “Don’t mind her, just buy her some flowers.”
“What about you? I don’t like owing people favors, and I heard you sacrificed a lot tonight—”
Just as she spoke, someone else slipped a small note under Li Jinyu’s glass. Li Jinyu didn’t even look at it, casually took a sip of his drink, with a pile of similar notes beside him. He hadn’t opened any of them, engrossed in his escape room. He had somewhat puppy-like eyes, a pair of clean eyes that made people particularly sympathetic. But when his brows and eyes lowered, only coldness remained throughout his body.
Ye Meng secretly pulled out two notes and opened them for a look.
—1587823xxxx, available anytime, call me. —Brother Yu, hook up?
Ye Meng might have gone crazy at that moment, or perhaps it was guilt. She suddenly said:
“Li Jinyu, do you want to try dating me? I’m more reliable than Jiang Luzhi.”