"Oh," Sister Liang exclaimed, "Wan Zi Qian Hong?"
She then realized she had lost her composure, calmed down, and nodded, "That is indeed a good place. I heard you can't get in without connections."
Wan Zi Qian Hong, as the name suggests, was an entertainment venue.
Playing cards, karaoke, gambling, and it was rumored to involve some gray industries. To put it nicely, it was an entertainment club; to put it bluntly, it was a brothel.
The people who went there were all rich. It was said that what they spent in one night, leaking through their fingers, could last an ordinary family half a year or more.
Qi Sui looked proud, as if sharing in the glory, "Yes, Brother Chen Ping has been fair-skinned and good-looking since childhood. They picked him at first sight."
She was carefree and naive.
But Sister Liang didn't think so.
After all, this girl was just a temporary hire, but seeing her lack of caution, Sister Liang couldn't help but advise her.
"Xiao Sui, that place might be good, but you need to keep an eye on your boyfriend."
Qi Sui blinked, not understanding.
"Sister Liang, what do you mean?"
Sister Liang beckoned her over, lowering her voice, "You don't know what kind of place Wan Zi Qian Hong is, do you? It's a money pit!"
Qi Sui felt dizzy, "What kind of 'money pit'? I don't get it, Sister Liang."
Sister Liang sighed deeply, "It's a place where people spend money for pleasure."
"They say all the rich kids go there, playing with women and gambling. My cousin's brother-in-law used to gamble there, lost two thousand yuan, and what happened? They cut off his fingers! Scary, isn't it?"
Sister Liang spoke earnestly, "It's fine to have fun. But who knows what kind of people are in there? You need to watch out that your boyfriend doesn't get corrupted by hanging around with them too long!"
Her serious expression, as if it were true, scared Qi Sui.
Qi Sui stared, her voice hesitant, "Sister Liang, is that for real..."
Seeing the round face full of shock and doubt, Sister Liang lowered her voice even more, almost sticking to Qi Sui's ear, "Of course it is! And there's worse!"
She looked around before continuing, "They say the people there have weird fetishes! There was a handsome male waiter who got infected with AIDS, and they threw him out. Last year he died on the street, and the police burned his body. But do you know what? AIDS is a disease from selling blood! Some even say you get AIDS from taking it up the butt! How chaotic must Wan Zi Qian Hong be!"
"Xiao Sui, listen to your sister's advice. If you don't have a job, you can find another one. But don't ever get involved in such bad things."
"Oh my!" Qi Sui's eyes were wide, like a stunned hamster, "Is that true, Sister Liang? What is AIDS?"
Sister Liang continued to indoctrinate her solemnly, "You're still young; you wouldn't know. AIDS is a contagious disease, and it's terrifying. If the health commission hadn't enforced strict controls earlier this year, with the city fumigating and disinfecting everywhere, who knows how many would be infected now. I heard many people in Wan Zi Qian Hong got infected too, and later they all died or ran away. The ones who stayed were tested many times, and only after confirming they were clean did they dare to reopen."
The experience of someone older was worth a hundred warnings, and this speech completely convinced Qi Sui.
She nodded seriously, her round face earnest, saying she would definitely talk to her boyfriend about finding another job. Only then did Sister Liang release her hand with satisfaction and take a small key from the cabinet behind her, pressing it into Qi Sui's hand.
"This is the key to the back storage room. Move your stuff next week. After work, lock up the store for me. If something happens in the middle of the night, don't bother; just sleep."
Holding the small key, Qi Sui finally felt at ease about one thing.
She worked smoothly all day, quick and efficient. She did the same chores at home, just not as diligently as in the store. When Qi Sui straightened up to stretch her back, the sky had turned crimson, and a deep red sunset hung behind the clouds, as if about to fall.
There was a shabby little clock on the wall in the restaurant. Qi Sui looked up; it was almost six. At this time of year, after six, few people came to eat. There would be no evening business, so Sister Liang called the kitchen staff to go home for dinner, and she herself strolled home.
Qi Sui wiped the greasy, shiny tables with a rag until they were clean, then wiped the sweat off her forehead. She planned to go to the east end of town to find Chen Ping and talk to him about what she had learned from Sister Liang.
She hastily stuffed a leftover steamed bun from the restaurant into her mouth. The hard, dry texture made her roll her eyes, and she pounded her chest to swallow it.
She boarded a rickety bus and rode for an hour and a half before finally reaching her destination.
A colorful, towering building, with countless floors, and the four big characters "Wan Zi Qian Hong" outlined in neon lights. At the entrance were several bouquets of vibrant flowers, and several security guards in uniform stood at the door, looking very impressive.
Qi Sui looked up, her mouth wide open for a long time, then pulled two meat buns wrapped in oil paper from her army-green little backpack and tried to enter.
But a dark-faced security guard stopped her.
The guard looked down at her as if she were a scrawny little chick. He frowned, his voice rough with an accent, "Hey, hey, hey! What do you want?"
Qi Sui, blocked, straightened her back and pointed inside, "Big brother, I want to go in and find my boyfriend."
"Your boyfriend?" The dark-faced guard sneered, "Who's your boyfriend? Is he the owner here? You go on about your boyfriend; who the hell knows who your boyfriend is?"
Another guard approached, his narrow eyes full of contempt, "Little girl, are you trying to sneak in? Entry here requires a membership fee—20 yuan per person. Otherwise, you can't go in."
Membership fee? She had never heard of such a thing.
"Huh?" Qi Sui's eyes went wide, full of defiance, "What kind of place is this? You have to pay 20 yuan to get in? Are you trying to rip me off?"
The narrow-eyed guard folded his arms, standing upright, and the two guards blocked the entrance firmly, looking impartial, "We can't help that. If you want to go in, you have to pay the membership fee. That's the rule."
Qi Sui got angry. She frowned and shouted at the entrance, "Fine, I won't go in then! Go find Chen Ping, a waiter named Chen Ping, tell him his girlfriend is here and he needs to come out and talk to me."
"Sorry, we don't run errands. If you want to see someone, go find them yourself," the dark-faced guard said.
Qi Sui retorted, "But if I want to find him myself, you won't let me in either."
The narrow-eyed guard laughed, looking at her askance, with a condescending attitude, and said earnestly, "Little village girl, to tell you the truth, pretty girls like you, I stop ten or twenty of them every day. But I can't let them all in, can I? I know exactly what you village girls want! This is a place for rich people, not for village girls like you. No matter how pretty you are, it's useless!"
The commotion at the entrance attracted a crowd of onlookers.
Some even stood by, enjoying the spectacle, commenting on the scene, shaking their heads with amusement, "Another one trying to sneak in. It's never quiet around here."
Qi Sui, kicked out, sat angrily on the steps, hugging her buns. Her face was red with anger, and her fair ears had turned pink, making her look like a round-faced, red-faced cat.
'Little village girl'—they were clearly looking down on her.
She looked at the buns that had warmed in her hands and suddenly felt dissatisfied with Chen Ping too.
If she had known it would be this humiliating, she wouldn't have come!
But thinking about what Sister Liang had told her, she couldn't stop worrying about Chen Ping, so she had no choice but to wait at the entrance.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she shouted at a fair-skinned man by the door, "Brother Chen Ping! I'm here!"
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Author's Note: Male lead (crouching in the corner): On standby.