By the time they finished eating and drinking, it was almost ten o’clock. Qian Fei and Yao Jingjing had been eating, drinking, and chatting, but instead of getting tired, they became more excited. After their feast, Yao Jingjing said she had slept too much in the afternoon, and now the alcohol was making her blood boil uncomfortably. She insisted on dragging Qian Fei out to sing karaoke.
Qian Fei couldn’t refuse her and had to go along.
Qian Fei asked Yao Jingjing where she wanted to go sing, and Yao Jingjing replied, “Let’s go to Candy near Yonghegong! It’s New Year’s Eve, let’s sing a couple of songs for Buddha to hear!”
Qian Fei’s mouth twitched. “Aren’t you afraid of scaring Buddha? He might make you have bad luck all next year!”
They took a taxi straight to Candy.
Because it was New Year’s Eve, Candy was incredibly busy. When Qian Fei and Yao Jingjing arrived, there were no private rooms available. They sat in the main hall to wait.
A group of young people, whose style was somewhere between Gothic and trendy, walked in through the door. One of them went to the bar, while the rest looked over at Qian Fei and Yao Jingjing. Two of them were whispering to each other.
After a while, those two came over. One of them tried to look cool by turning around and sitting next to Qian Fei, his face full of flirtation as he said, “Beautiful ladies, are you just the two of you? Want to join us for more fun?”
Qian Fei moved closer to Yao Jingjing and said coldly but politely, “No, thank you!”
The guy persisted and moved even closer. Qian Fei could smell the alcohol on his breath, even stronger than her own.
Just as she was thinking about how to smoothly escape the drunk’s pestering, a waiter came to their rescue.
The waiter told them that a small private room had become available and gave them the room number. She quickly pulled Yao Jingjing up and followed the waiter.
Once in the room, Qian Fei asked Yao Jingjing what she wanted to eat. Yao Jingjing tossed her head and said, “Eat what? We’re here to either sing or drink!”
So she asked the waiter for four bottles of Budweiser.
Yao Jingjing pushed her aside and said to the waiter, “No beer, give me Chivas instead!” After a moment’s thought, she stopped the waiter and changed her mind again, “We’ll have both Chivas and beer!”
Qian Fei couldn’t help but hold her head in her hands. “Sister, can you tell me how you plan to drink all this?”
Yao Jingjing picked up the microphone and randomly selected the song “Love for Sale.” As the intro played, she shouted, “I’m going to mix them! Feifei, tonight we’re not leaving until we’re drunk!”
Then she started belting out, “Selling my love, forcing me to leave, when I finally knew the truth, my tears fell…”
Qian Fei’s knees went weak, and she almost fell to the ground.
This wasn’t just about not leaving until they were drunk – they had already been drunk once before leaving home…
After the drinks arrived, Qian Fei witnessed the impressive drinking capacity of the CBD’s top white-collar professional.
Yao Jingjing drank just as she said she would, mixing the drinks.
A sip of beer, a sip of Chivas, then singing a few lines of a song. In this bold yet somewhat disturbing rhythm, Qian Fei lamented that her behavior during her breakup had been too normal and not dramatic enough.
When she and Yao Jingjing were each holding a microphone, with Qian Fei singing the male part and Yao Jingjing the female part as they performed “The Drunken Beauty” together, she felt her phone vibrating in her shirt pocket.
She was extremely annoyed and took it out, intending to hang up.
But looking at the 11-digit number on the screen, she vaguely felt it was familiar, seeming quite similar to the number Yao Jingjing had blocked.
She put down the microphone and walked out of the room to answer the phone.
On the phone, a deep, magnetic voice asked, “Hello, is this Qian Fei? This is Lu Ze.”
Qian Fei answered irritably, “I’m Qian Fei. Who’s Lu Ze? I’ve never heard of you!”
There was a pause on the other end, then he said, “You’ve never heard of me? Alright, I’m Jingjing’s friend. She often mentions you to me.”
Qian Fei mentally scoffed at him.
“Oh, it’s you? What do you want?” Thinking that the person on the phone was the culprit responsible for making Yao Jingjing act as if she were having a manic episode in the room, Qian Fei became even more irritated.
However, the other party was not affected by her bad attitude. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Are you two together? It’s very noisy on your end. It’s so late, where are you?”
Qian Fei noticed his tone becoming a bit harsher as he asked the last question, which made her feel somewhat pleased. “Us? We’re singing karaoke at Candy!”
She heard what sounded like a heavy sigh from the other end. “Just stay there, don’t go anywhere. I’m coming straight from the airport by taxi!”
Then he hung up.
Qian Fei was stunned for a moment.
Had the rich guy followed them to Beijing?
She looked back into the room where Yao Jingjing was hysterically singing the last line, “Drunk in the emperor’s arms, dreaming of love in the great Tang Dynasty.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at her ghostly voice.
Maybe tonight, this little demon might end up “drunk in the emperor’s arms, dreaming of love in the great Tang Dynasty”!
Qian Fei accompanied Yao Jingjing in drinking, singing, and going wild, while waiting for the legendary rich guy to arrive, flying through wind and dust on a carpet of money.
She had thought the alcohol from their earlier drinking at home was starting to wear off, but after coming to Candy and being dragged into drinking chaotically by Yao Jingjing, she was now feeling dizzy again.
They were about to sing Phoenix Legend’s “Free Flying” when suddenly someone pushed open the door.
Qian Fei was startled. She thought it was the waiter, but when she looked closely, she was surprised again.
It was the two sharp-looking young men with the Gothic-meets-trendy style who had tried to chat her up in the main hall earlier.
Yao Jingjing was already drunk, jumping and singing on her own. Qian Fei tried her best to steady herself, striving to not let them see that her vision was blurry.
The sharp-looking young man came over and asked, “Hey beautiful, we meet again! We’re just across the hall. Want to hang out together?”
Qian Fei refused, “I’m sorry, we’re almost done singing and about to leave!” Fearing things might get out of hand, she grabbed Yao Jingjing’s microphone while loudly calling for the waiter.
When the waiter came into the room, the sharp-looking young man looked at Qian Fei sheepishly, “What do you mean?”