Chapter 1 Nightmare: The Richest Man's Only Daughter Turns into a Beggar
Thunder rumbled in the distance, and silvery lightning ripped through the dark night sky. A torrential downpour, accompanied by howling winds, arrived, with large raindrops pounding against the windows, making a clanging noise.
The city has been hit by typhoons these past few days. Aunt Wang is a light sleeper, and she was woken up as soon as the rain started outside. Feeling a little uneasy, she quickly put on her clothes and got up to check if the windows were closed properly.
This is the newly built Cuihu Bay villa area in Shenzhen. It was the dowry house that Bai Chuxiong, the richest man in China, gave to his only daughter, Bai Zhenzhen. She moved here after getting married.
After checking the windows, Aunt Wang returned to the first floor, where her husband, Lao Liu, had just come back from the garage.
The couple had been working for the Bai family for over ten years. After Bai Zhenzhen got married, she had a strained relationship with her husband and lived alone here. Aunt Wang was responsible for taking care of her daily life, and Uncle Liu was her personal driver.
“Zhenzhen didn’t eat when she came back in the afternoon, so I went to the kitchen to see if I could make something for her.”
Once Aunt Wang woke up, she couldn't fall back asleep. She had been taking care of Bai Zhenzhen since she was a teenager and treated her like her own daughter. Afraid that Bai Zhenzhen would wake up hungry in the middle of the night and hurt her stomach, she put on her clothes and went into the kitchen. Uncle Liu followed her to help her.
Outside, a fierce storm raged. Inside the master bedroom on the second floor, a petite figure lay in the middle of a two-meter-wide European-style bed, a summer blanket covering her shoulders, revealing only her porcelain-white face.
Amidst the rumbling thunder, Bai Zhenzhen was deep in a dream. In her dream, she seemed to be taking in the second half of her life, which was utterly tragic compared to her wealthy and carefree first half.
She dreamt that she and her cheap husband finally divorced by a twist of fate. As a result, her most beloved and doting father, the richest man, was so angry when he found out that he died. After her father's death, her relatives, who had always pretended to be kind and benevolent, all turned into wolves and tigers and joined forces with outsiders to seize her family's assets. In the end, Bai Zhenzhen was left penniless and forced to live on the streets, unable to even afford a steamed bun. Those cronies who used to follow her around all came to mock her, the daughter of a former richest man, who was now as destitute as a beggar.
It wasn't until another clap of thunder sounded outside the window that Bai Zhenzhen struggled to wake up. She touched her forehead and found it covered in cold sweat. The warm yellow nightlight by the bedside shone on her face, and her eyelashes trembled. It took her a while to come to her senses.
Bai Zhenzhen really disliked her cheap husband, but today's dream was too eerie; the things that happened in the dream were terrifyingly real.
But a dream is just a dream, and Bai Zhenzhen didn't take it seriously. When she woke up, her throat was dry and sore. The water glass by her bedside was empty, so she got out of bed and went downstairs to get some water.
"Zhenzhen, you're awake!" Aunt Wang came out of the kitchen when she heard the noise. Seeing Bai Zhenzhen coming downstairs, she hurriedly asked her if she was hungry. "I just made some shrimp wontons. Shall I make you a bowl to tide you over?"
Bai Zhenzhen was invited to a karaoke bar by her friends this afternoon, but she didn't find it very interesting. After drinking two glasses of foreign liquor, she asked Uncle Liu to pick her up. Those two glasses of foreign liquor had a high alcohol content. When she got back, Aunt Wang coaxed her to drink a few sips of hangover soup and she fell asleep. She was indeed a little hungry now.
She nodded and then asked Aunt Wang what time it was.
"It's almost nine o'clock, Zhenzhen. You went to bed early today. Are you feeling unwell?" Aunt Wang heard that her voice sounded off and reached out to touch her forehead as she answered.
The lights downstairs were bright, making Bai Zhenzhen's pale face very noticeable. Her once bright and charming almond-shaped eyes were listless, and her delicate and beautiful features had lost their color, making her look quite pitiful.
The temperature of her forehead was normal, but Aunt Wang noticed that the stray hairs on her forehead were a little damp. She thought she had been frightened by the thunder, so she turned around and went back to the kitchen to get her a cup of hot milk to calm her down.
The hot milk with sweet almonds and honey tasted sweet and fragrant, which was a great way to soothe a gloomy mood.
Bai Zhenzhen, holding a glass of hot milk, casually asked, "Aunt Wang, have you seen my phone?"
"Your phone? I didn't see it. It might be in your bag, or you might have left it on the bus. I'll go look for it."
Uncle Liu then came out of the kitchen and replied, "I just went to check in the garage, but I didn't see the phone in the car."
Aunt Wang also brought the bag that Bai Zhenzhen had taken out that afternoon to check, but she didn't see the phone. She even went upstairs to Bai Zhenzhen's room to look for it, but couldn't find it either.
It's probably in a private room at the karaoke bar. It's a shop owned by someone Bai Zhenzhen knows, so they might deliver it to her tomorrow.
Just then, another flash of lightning appeared outside the window. In that fleeting moment of silver light, Bai Zhenzhen suddenly remembered something.
It seems that she also had this small incident of leaving her phone behind in her dream, and what else happened in the dream.
As thunder rumbled outside, Bai Zhenzhen dropped the half-finished cup of hot milk she was drinking.
"Uncle Liu, I need to go to the karaoke bar to find my phone. Let's go now!" Bai Zhenzhen suddenly stood up, not caring that she was still wearing pajamas and slippers, and turned to walk out.
Uncle Liu followed in surprise, "Miss Zhenzhen, there's still a typhoon outside. Why don't I go find your phone? You can just wait at home."
Aunt Wang came out of the kitchen and advised her not to go out at this time. Bai Zhenzhen's eyes darted around for a moment, but after hearing Aunt Wang say that the landline telephone line at home had been broken by the typhoon, she still insisted on going.
She suddenly remembered that in her dream, her sister-in-law would inexplicably go to a karaoke bar tonight to find her, where some bastards did bad things to her. Not long after the incident, her sister-in-law committed suicide due to depression. Her in-laws resented her, and her husband divorced her because of it.
Everything in her dream started from here, and her phone just happened to be left at the karaoke bar tonight, so Bai Zhenzhen couldn't help but think more about it.
Although Bai Chuxiong himself was not superstitious in his business dealings, seven or eight out of ten business people around him were superstitious, so Bai Zhenzhen had heard about such things to some extent.
On her way to the karaoke bar, Bai Zhenzhen's mind was in turmoil. She couldn't stop thinking about the things she had dreamed about. She didn't care about whether she would divorce her husband, but she was very concerned about the fact that the divorce would anger her father to death. There was also her sister-in-law. She wasn't familiar with any of her husband's relatives. She had only met the girl twice and remembered her as a well-behaved girl who was only seventeen or eighteen years old and in high school. If the things in the dream were real, Bai Zhenzhen didn't want anything to happen to her because of her.
"Uncle Liu, could you hurry up a bit?" Bai Zhenzhen suppressed her chaotic thoughts. Now she just had to get to the karaoke bar to see if what she had dreamed about would actually happen.
"We're almost there, don't rush. The roads are slippery in the rain, so let's prioritize safety." Uncle Liu saw her pale face in the rearview mirror. Although he was a little puzzled as to why she insisted on going out in the rain in the middle of the night to look for her phone, he still tried to comfort her.
Fortunately, the typhoon had stopped when I left home, and the thunderstorms and heavy rain turned into light rain. The car arrived smoothly at the entrance of the largest karaoke bar in the city center.
In 1996, the nights in Shenzhen were even more lively than the days, especially the street lined with karaoke bars and nightclubs. The colorful neon signs, like lighthouses in the night, attracted young men and women who longed for the nightlife.
As soon as Uncle Liu parked the car, Bai Zhenzhen pushed open the car door and got out. Not far away, at the entrance of the karaoke bar, two security guards were shoving a girl who looked anxious.
"My friend Shen Qing has been inside for half an hour. I need to go in to see her, why won't you let me in!" the girl shouted. "Another friend of mine has already called the police. If you don't release her soon, the police will be here!"
When Bai Zhenzhen heard Shen Qing's name as she passed by, she stopped. The two security guards recognized her, and after seeing her, they ignored the girl and turned to greet her respectfully.
"You said you're Shen Qing's friend. Is she in the karaoke bar now? When did she go in?" Bai Zhenzhen ignored the two security guards and pressed the girl for answers.
If she remembered correctly, her sister-in-law's name was Shen Qing. Bai Zhenzhen's heart skipped a beat. She saw the girl's eyes light up as she grabbed her and begged her to help save Shen Qing.
Uncle Liu hurriedly got out of the car and came to her side. Bai Zhenzhen led the two of them into the karaoke bar without saying a word. The two security guards did not dare to stop her. They exchanged a glance, and one of them quickly went through the back door to inform the manager.
The karaoke bar was at its liveliest at midnight. Colorful lights twinkled in the lobby, and the passionate dance music was exhilarating. On the central circular stage, some people were dancing and others were singing. Uncle Liu, protecting two girls, walked across the dance floor and headed straight for the private room.
Bai Zhenzhen has been a regular here for the past two years. She went straight to the door of the largest private room in the karaoke bar and gestured with her chin to Uncle Liu to kick the door down.
The karaoke bar manager rushed over upon hearing the news, only to find Bai Zhenzhen, the young lady, having someone kick down the door and force their way into the private room. His eyelids twitched violently. "Miss Bai, wait a minute!"
Uncle Liu wouldn't listen to him. The moment Bai Zhenzhen spoke, his leg had already kicked the door of the private room. With a bang, the lock on the door, which was locked from the inside, broke. The karaoke manager swallowed hard and could only watch helplessly as Bai Zhenzhen walked in.
The music inside the private room was even louder than in the dance hall outside. Few people noticed the loud banging on the door, perhaps because everyone was already quite drunk. In any case, when Bai Zhenzhen came in, the room was still filled with a scene of decadent and joyful revelry.
But what was jarring was that among these men and women, there was a young girl who was clearly panicked and resisting, being held captive by two drunk men, one of whom was about to pour a drink into her mouth.
Someone nearby egged them on, "Brother Wang, hurry up and let this pretty girl try it! Look how eager she is, haha. This foreign liquor is Brother Wang's treasure; others can't even get a taste of it."
"That's right, who in Shenzhen doesn't know Brother Wang? Brother Wang is treating you to drinks because he thinks highly of you, so don't be ungrateful."
Brother Wang is the owner of this karaoke bar. His real name is Wang Yongshun. He is the son of a boss in Shenzhen. He was a spendthrift and reckless child since he was a child. After opening this karaoke bar, he made a lot of money. In the eyes of his elders, he was a success. His cronies all fawned over him.
"No, I won't drink! I'm here to see my sister-in-law! Let me go!" Shen Qing grew up in the countryside and has spent most of her time in the city at school these past two years. She's simple-minded and has never seen anything like this before. She was so scared that tears streamed down her face.
She was tricked into coming. These people used her sister-in-law's phone to lie to her on the phone, saying that her sister-in-law had an accident here and that's why she rushed over. Unexpectedly, as soon as she entered, these people blocked her in the private room and made her drink. No matter what she said, these people wouldn't let her go. Shen Qing couldn't run out and couldn't find her sister-in-law Bai Zhenzhen. Just when she was in despair, the door to the private room was suddenly kicked open.
Seeing these beastly acts, Bai Zhenzhen felt a surge of anger. With a cold face, she picked up a bottle of wine and smashed it hard against Wang Yongshun.
A note from the author:
----------------------
New story started! [Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers]
Zhenzhen is a bright and flamboyant young lady who settles scores on the spot. [Sunglasses][Sunglasses]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
