"Oh." Qi Sui put down the wine glass, pouting discontentedly.
What a bad-tempered Young Master Lin. If he didn't want to drink, fine, but did he have to be so rude?
The commotion outside gradually faded. Two strangers sat in the room without a word.
Lin Shanghuai reached out, his hand easily encircling the wine glass, as if he could still feel the temperature of the country girl next to him through the uninsulated glass. His fingertips discreetly rubbed the uneven surface of the glass, as if reluctant to let go. But the moment the sounds outside completely disappeared, he reacted instantly, slamming the glass down as if burned. The golden liquid inside swayed precariously, rippling like a lake in a breeze, or like someone's shattered defenses.
"Alright, get lost now. Is this a place for you to be?" Young Master Lin's face was hidden in the darkness, unclear, but his tone and pitch were icy and harsh, clearly very angry.
Qi Sui wasn't one to take that lying down.
She puffed up her face in anger, rooted to the spot, fidgeting. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't swallow this. Suddenly, she stood up, bent over, and got right next to Young Master Lin's ear, using all her strength to yell:
"Who cares?! What crappy wine, what crappy Wanzi Qianhong! Even if you begged me, I wouldn't come! And you! Just now you kicked my leg, it hurt and went numb. I haven't even asked you to apologize yet!"
For a moment, it felt like a tunnel had opened in Lin Shanghuai's head, from his right ear to his left.
This little country girl was full of a reckless energy that inexplicably infuriated anyone who saw or heard her.
"Are you crazy?!" Lin Shanghuai reacted quickly, grabbing Qi Sui's wrist as she tried to escape. He narrowed his eyes, looking quite intimidating.
"Little country girl, do you really think I have a good temper? Do you believe I can walk out now, call some people, and have your little body chopped into eight pieces by tonight?"
And besides, he said, "What do you mean I kicked you? When did I ever kick you? Little country girl, if you don't make this clear, you're not walking out of this door today."
Unexpectedly, the little country girl in front of him pursed her lips, stood up, and unceremoniously lifted her leg, placing her dirty crystal sandal directly on his thigh. She was still wearing white cotton socks stained with mud spots. Lin Shanghuai's veins bulged, and he almost couldn't help but kick her away.
But Qi Sui's next move completely froze him in place, not daring to move.
She reached down, flipped up her skirt, yanked down her shorts, and lifted her leg high, as if afraid he wouldn't see the smooth, slender flesh underneath.
Her body was healthy with a vibrant sense of life. The flesh on her calf wasn't soft from lack of exercise; it had muscle texture and definition, even showing a strong and graceful curve. Her skin wasn't very fair. Lin Shanghuai knew that people like her, from the countryside, probably spent all their time bent over the yellow earth, under a blazing sun that could turn a person into a black coal ball.
Qi Sui's skin certainly wasn't that dark, but she wasn't very fair among women either.
Now, she gripped the hem of her shorts, pulled it up along her calf, revealing a patch of smooth, clean skin. She pointed at the red marks on her calf, caused by external force, her eyes full of accusation.
Of course, if it were just that, Lin Shanghuai would never admit it.
But then Qi Sui pinched that scant flesh and showed him a clear, bright footprint just below her popliteal fossa, smeared with a bit of gold powder from the carpet outside, imprinted on her leg.
Now Lin Shanghuai couldn't deny it. That was unmistakably the pattern of his shoe sole, wrapping halfway around Qi Sui's calf, not even a complete imprint. But just seeing the unique pattern of the heel part, anyone could compare and know—
That he, Lin Shanghuai, had been rubbing his shoe against a country girl's calf under the table, shamelessly leaving his mark on her skin.
He was stunned. For a moment, he even forgot that this little country girl's foot was still pressed against his upper thigh, dirty and filthy, leaving dust and wrinkles on his neatly pressed trousers.
He just stared at that footprint, as if trying to gouge out a piece of flesh, scaring Qi Sui so much that she quickly pulled her leg back, cowardly backing down:
"What... what are you looking at? Isn't this your kick?! You just have it in for me, you want to kick me to death, right? You wicked thing!"
If Lin Shanghuai really wanted to kill someone, this woman wouldn't be standing here now, ranting in front of him. Besides, only he knew that that action was neither a kick nor an expression of dislike—it was an unconscious...
An exposure of his true nature.
When he was rubbing against a not-so-beautiful country girl, he wasn't Lin Shanghuai, nor was he some young master from the provincial capital. He was just himself, a useless waste rotten to the core.
It was like when he was a child, hiding under the covers with his legs crossed, only to be discovered by his mother, who humiliated him in front of the whole family. That shame, mixed with hatred, made him go crazy in the dead of night, repeatedly beating his own legs, but he couldn't fix it, and the old habits would resurface.
The pleasure brought by sex was suppressed deep in his bones, watching him constantly, making him commit shameful and disgusting acts, forcing him to expose himself, making him unable to be that pristine Young Master Lin.
Lin Shanghuai stared at that reddened calf. After a moment, he slowly lifted his head, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed lightly. Finally, his voice hoarse, he said:
"I'm sorry. I didn't notice. What do you want? I'll make it up to you..."
This was better.
Having his disgusting behavior interpreted as violence, his twisted, numb pleasure understood as rage, was better than letting a stranger see him 'take off his clothes'.
He might as well give her some benefits and send her off.
Qi Sui hesitated, then slowly pulled down her trouser leg, her eyes darting around. She didn't look very clever.
Lin Shanghuai was ready for her to ask for a huge compensation, but unexpectedly, she just twisted her fingers shyly, with an embarrassed expression, and said:
"Brother Chen Ping took my hundred yuan... Young Master Lin, please help me. Ask him to give it back..."
Lin Shanghuai frowned, momentarily not understanding her meaning. His expression made Qi Sui think he didn't want to help her, so she sat down, even moving closer to him, thinking she was being friendly, and explained eagerly:
"It's just a hundred yuan! That money was mine! But Brother Chen Ping took it and said he couldn't give it back for a while. I'm afraid, I'm afraid he doesn't want to give it back. That money was for my wedding. Aren't you Young Master Lin? You must be very powerful, able to make things happen in this club—"
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Lin Shanghuai urgently stopped this little bee buzzing in his ear. First he asked:
"You're already getting married??"
Then he reacted, almost incredulously raising his voice:
"Wait, you went through all this trouble just to ask that... what's his name... Chen Ping... for a hundred yuan?"
Looking at the little country girl blushing and nodding, Lin Shanghuai felt an indescribable irritation. Almost with a headache, he pulled out his wallet from his pocket, counted out five hundred-yuan bills, and placed them in Qi Sui's palm, impatiently:
"Isn't this just about money? You don't need to ask him. I'll give it to you. Just take it and leave quickly. The staff will be checking the rooms soon."
Qi Sui hesitantly held the five hundred yuan.
Emotionally speaking, this was five hundred yuan! She had never owned such a huge sum! Unlike with Brother Chen Ping, she hadn't even done any work, yet she was getting five hundred yuan from someone. If she just turned around and left now, she would definitely be making a killing.