Gritting my teeth, I had no choice but to hand over some of our tokens to the yellow-haired guy. After cashing out the remaining tokens, Gou Mao and I split about four hundred yuan. We grabbed some cold drinks before parting ways. Just as I was about to hail a cab home, Yan She called, ordering me to buy a fish from the market—she wanted to cook dinner herself.
Honestly, I'd never eaten Yan She's cooking before. On weekends, she usually took me out to eat. Years ago, she once owned a cat and insisted on preparing fish for it herself. A week later, the cat was skin and bones, and Yan She had to give it away. I seriously doubted she could even cook the fish properly.
But her orders were non-negotiable. I took a cab to the market. To my surprise, as I walked out with the fish, I spotted the same yellow-haired guy from the arcade carrying a roast duck and some chicken feet, heading home. He didn't see me, so I quietly followed him into an alley.
Anger flared up inside me. Time for payback. At a corner, I whacked him on the head with the fish.
The guy howled in pain, momentarily dazed. When he turned and recognized me, I didn't give him a chance to react—I bolted. (Genius move.)
Back home, Yan She was busy in the kitchen. "Here's the fish," I said.
"Kill it for me," she replied, shuddering. "I can't do it."
I cleaned the fish, removing the guts and scales. When I finished, Yan She shooed me away. "Go wait outside. I'm making sweet and sour carp."
Later, she proudly announced dinner was ready. "This is my first time making this dish," she said. "Be my taste tester."
"So I'm your lab rat now?"
"Shut up and eat."
I took a bite. It was… surprisingly decent. "Not bad."
Yan She beamed and urged me to eat more. She seemed in unusually high spirits—she even washed the dishes herself.
By 8 PM, Yan She was bored. Her favorite drama wasn't airing, and seeing me happily gaming annoyed her. She slammed my laptop shut. "Online games are lame. Entertain me."
"How?"
She smirked. "Let's go out. Bar or club? I'll call some girls for you."
(Hell yes.)
While Yan She got dolled up, I showered and changed. She emerged in a miniskirt and heels, linking arms with me as we left.
Yan She was loaded—her designer bag alone cost five figures. (Her job? A mystery. She refused to tell me, and I stopped asking.) Her car was a Volkswagen CC.
"Regular bar or club?" she asked. "Clubs are wilder. Easier to pick up girls." She grinned. "Just flash a nice car key, and they'll flock to you."
"Club, then."
"MIK it is. Best club in town—high-quality girls. If you score tonight, I'll be impressed."
On the way, Yan She called her friends—all hot, she promised. (Anticipation overload.)
Outside MIK, the bass throbbed through the walls. Yan She parked, and we snagged a table. Her friends hadn't arrived yet, so she ordered me a Long Island Iced Tea ("for courage") and a Blue Hawaiian for herself.
She wasn't wrong about MIK's clientele. The place was packed with scantily clad beauties. Yan She, radiating allure, quickly drew attention. A polo-shirt guy approached, ignoring me entirely.
"Wanna hit on me?" Yan She cut straight to the point.
The guy blinked. "...Yeah?"
"Unless you're a billionaire heir, forget it."
He fled.
(Brutal.)
Another suitor—a balding middle-aged man—got roasted harder: "You're old enough to be my grandpa. Go home to your wife."
(I died laughing.)
Twenty minutes later, Yan She's friends arrived—four stunning women dressed to kill.
"That's Guan Tingting in the black skirt," Yan She introduced. "Dyed hair is Li Jing, glasses are Zhou Rongrong, and jade-bracelet girl is Huang Fangfei."
Noticing one absence, Yan She frowned. "Where's Xiaowu?"
"Busy tonight," Guan Tingting said.
Yan She shrugged. "Fine. Oh, this is my cousin, Zhang Cheng."
Guan Tingting immediately sidled up to me. "Little brother, wanna be my cousin too?"
(Brain short-circuiting.) My face burned crimson, sending the table into giggles.
Zhou Rongrong fake-scolded her. "Don't bully him! Zhang Cheng, come to this sister for protection."
(More laughter.)
Yan She, amused by my suffering, mercifully suggested dice games. We played a few rounds—Yan She's luck was terrible, so she drank heavily. (So did I.)
On a bathroom run, I spotted Zhao Lin playing Truth or Dare with friends. Our eyes met—oh shit—and I hurried back to Yan She's table before she could sic her crew on me.