Chapter 31
Before leaving, Pei Huai was asked by the company to get a new look. Xiang Mingqi described it as... wild: his white hair was elegantly tied up with a ribbon, and a choker necklace reached down to his throat, a mix of leather and metal.
The outer layer is a lightweight motorcycle jacket made of black patent leather, and the inner layer is a crew neck vest.
Before buttoning his jacket, his slightly raised pectoral muscles were thinly outlined in the light. The further down the spine groove went, the more distinct the waistline became. He also wore an extra belt—superfluous because Pei Huai had a belly without a trace of fat.
Because from the shallow indentation of his mermaid line to his thighs, all of them are the charm of this style.
"Does it have to be like this?" Pei Huai spoke for the first time when the stylist painted two lines of charcoal on his cheeks.
The makeup artist put away his toolbox and leaned forward to examine his face. "Alright, no big deal. But honestly, your foundation is too good. Just styling it makes you look like a model."
"I also think that brother is too handsome. If being handsome is a crime, he would have been sentenced to death long ago." Xiang Mingqi popped up out of nowhere and took over the topic. "By the way, sister, do you think there is anything I can improve? I want a look that looks like it was made for him."
"This is good enough for a sunny little boy. It looks good." The specialist took a moment to take a closer look at him. "You don't need to change your style too much. Just stay like usual."
"Oh yeah, we're a couple now, bro—kiss! Give me a hug!" With arms spread wide, like a bear asking for honey, he pressed down on Pei Huai's shoulders. Their chests pressed together, pushing their entire weight downward.
Even though he was pushed away by an elbow later, Xiang Mingqi still had a smile on his face as if his dream had come true.
The commissioner thought about it and reached out to pull the younger generation's bangs a few times.
"not bad."
"Could you please take a picture for us, just once?"
His expression and tone of voice were so persuasive that the commissioner hesitated and nodded. Immediately, Xiang Mingqi made a scissors gesture and put his arm around his senior's left shoulder, trying to bring their lopsided bodies closer together.
"Please give the camera to this couple." He stretched his neck forward, "Three, two, one, che--"
Pei Huai pushed his chin away with the base of his palm.
Despite this incident, the follow-up work was carried out in full swing. Before the operation began, the commissioner handed him a brooch, made of silver, in the shape of a pair of intersecting diamonds, with a centipede with claws and fangs bared etched in the center.
It was a pass for bar customers obtained by the Bangkok hotel through special channels.
Xiang Mingqi was amazed at the efficiency. "Brother, our company is awesome. Last time, it also got someone's VIP card. This time, it's even faster. Wow, did I join some incredible secret organization? Just tell me, CIA, Military Six, or KGB? I promise not to tell anyone. I'm a tight-lipped person."
"That's not your concern."
"I'm just asking. Besides, the law doesn't stipulate that I can only speak a few words a day." He didn't dare to argue, so he could only droop his eyebrows and feel wronged. "Brother, you always bully me, you bad brother."
With Wang Qi's explanation and the information from the Bangkok hotel, they got the detailed address of the Centipede Girl. This address could not be verified in the GPS navigation, which made it even more mysterious.
The block wasn't far from the construction site, two blocks away, in a corner of the red-light district. Heading south, between two gray tower blocks, the high walls of the alleyway were painted with neon lights, depicting obscene patterns of thighs, toes, and puffed cheeks. Amidst the waves of lights, a psychedelic bar pierced the night.
"elder brother."
"……explain."
Xiang Mingqi raised his hand and pointed at the wall, his tone filled with unspeakable fear: "Brother, there is a pervert. I am still a pure boy and I am so scared."
Fortunately, no one paid any attention to him.
Behind a full-length glass window, the window girls sauntered around the sofa. One straddled the armrests, swaying her hips, her fingertips touching lips in a passionate air kiss. Another bent over, leaning on her knees, her long hair tossing freely, her hands clasped around her waist, her elbows curled around a pole in a seductive dance.
Compared to Xiang Mingqi's overreaction, Pei Huai seemed much calmer. The fleshy legs beneath those garterstockings instantly leaped onto the page, into the men's shouting, laughter, and the aroma of their packed lunches.
There was a pornographic magazine on the table that was forcibly thrown in front of him.
A dark and thin man put his hand on the top of his head and asked, "Do you like that woman?"
"...No." The pain in his jaw spread to his cartilage, and he began to feel nauseous and his Adam's apple began to move. But in the end, rationality controlled everything.
"Why would you let her get away? Do you have any goddamn idea how marketable a woman like her is? She's just a bitch from the red-light district. Who cares if she disappears?"
"She is not our target."
"So what if you're not the target? So what? Money, aren't you short of money? If it weren't for money, why would you do anything?" The man's hand holding his shoulder pinched into the flesh, and he laughed angrily, "If the chairman didn't love you and treat you like a young master, I would have killed you sooner or later." Without asking for Pei Huai's answer, the man relaxed his strength, spat on the ground and walked away.
Pei Huai sat back in his chair and rubbed his numb shoulder bones.
At eleven, he found a job at a Bay Area firm, doing credit ratings on borrowers. Across the street from the firm was a strip club. It wasn't busy, but his senior colleagues often frequented it after work.
Because he was young and hadn't signed a contract, the head of the firm turned a blind eye to him. Therefore, the senior staff would assign him the difficult jobs to finish, and then they would chat and laugh while drinking, gambling, or hiring prostitutes.
—It's still about the contract, because we can't sign it. The person in charge only paid half of my salary for the first month, and then for the next two months, he said money was tight and asked me to hold off for a few days. My colleagues weren't surprised by this, and jokingly suggested he take on more work in the evenings and give him a few bucks later.
They calculated that Pei Huai would not tell the chairman about this matter, nor would he use it to ask for help from anyone.
During those days, he worked until the wee hours of the morning. When he opened the door, the sky was already turning pale. He clutched the paper money, which looked like it had been through the washing machine so many times that even the security strip was gone. Suddenly, he couldn't remember what dusk and night looked like.
Why should I let her go?
He asked himself.
Because when everyone reached out their hands to her, she resisted and screamed.
Just like myself a year ago, fighting desperately.
——A hand suddenly appeared in front of him and pulled him out of the whirlpool of memories.
"Brother, are you daydreaming?" A slightly childish and playful face came close before him, his five fingers opening and closing. "You looked so deep just now, were you thinking about something?"
Pei Huai came back to his senses, slapped his hand away and walked towards the bar entrance: "No."
"Hey, I'm just concerned about you--!"
A lot of people gathered at the door of the bar. From what people were saying outside, the general content was: the security guard at the Centipede Girl door was unreasonable and even went a step further by setting up barriers for the contestants, forcing them to prove that they were in a romantic relationship with each other before they could enter. Photos alone were not enough.
Someone asked, "Do we have to perform in public?" The security guard replied in the affirmative.
Several couples were poised for a brawl. Pei Huai nodded and blended in, continuing to gather information from the indignant crowd. He discovered the security guard's logic was simple.
He wanted to exclude those couples who came for the reward and were put together on the spur of the moment.
When Xiang Mingqi heard this, he felt uneasy.
"This is the bar's rule. Many people have tried to cheat during previous selections." The security guard poured wine into an empty paper cup and placed it on the folding table without drinking. "If you can't prove it, or if you're embarrassed to talk about this relationship, then drink this and go home. You're not on the reception list."
"Brother, we..." Xiang Mingqi took a step back with a guilty conscience, wanting to pull his senior over to have a few words in private. Unexpectedly, his hands were empty, and when he looked up at the noisy crowd, Pei Huai had already appeared in front of the security guard.
"What do you do?" The other person scouted him from head to toe with his arms folded, making the question seem like a knowing question.
Xiang Mingqi couldn't stand such blatant and direct staring, and wanted to go up to help, but was pinned to the spot by his senior's peripheral vision.
"Proof." Pei Huai's tone cooled down.
"What about your partner?" The guard leaned over to examine him, the smell of garlic making his breath unpleasant. "Don't tell me you want to go in alone. I've told you many times, show me proof."
As expected. The latter nonchalantly raised his index finger in a certain direction, keeping his gaze level with the security guard. To confront a wild and untamed eagle, one must first overcome subconscious fear. And what would an opponent who overestimates his strength do? The security guard scratched his nose twice and ducked his head to avoid it.
The crowd parted naturally, and for a moment Xiang Mingqi felt like Moses, staff raised high, carrying out God's will under the gaze of the crowd. He stepped forward, glanced at the indignant security guard, then glanced at the onlookers, then walked proudly to Pei Huai's side.
"Of course he's not alone." Xiang Mingqi put his arm around his senior's shoulders, his voice low and dry, and the look he gave to everyone was just the right amount of strength. "I would feel a sense of crisis if someone like my brother was out there alone."
The guard raised an eyebrow, seeming to be still skeptical.
Before anyone could raise any questions, Pei Huai pulled away from the embrace. He placed his hands on Xiang Mingqi's chest, pushed him onto the chair, and, holding Xiang Mingqi's wrists, took the initiative to sit across his lap.
Xiang Mingqi also cooperated by wrapping his palms around his waist and kneading it hard.
His breathing was disordered, and his strong body struggled in his palms, even the butterfly bones on his back became more prominent. With one hand, he grasped the paper cup to his lips, took a sip, and then, holding his chin with two fingers, leaned in and started with a forced deep kiss.
But the kiss was interrupted just as it began when Xiang Mingqi's arms wrapped around his knees.
"...Mmm." Her thighs were rubbed, causing her narrow waist to sway slightly. But once their lips touched, a tingling electric current spread through her bones.
His throat struggled to move, and the wine he couldn't hold back slowly leaked from the corners of his mouth, dripping onto his collarbone and chest, soaking the exquisite contours of Pei Huai's muscular body. His ascetic exterior melted away, revealing the flesh beneath his clothes. For a moment, the entire audience erupted in exclamations.
"Is it okay?" He bit Xiang Mingqi's lips, his eyes swept over everyone present, and there was a hoarseness in his voice after coughing.
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