Insufficient balance

  Xiao Xiao was pushed out by Yan Ying, and Lao Da reluctantly returned to the second-floor room. When he opened the door, he saw that Lu Ting had already finished his bath and was lying on the bed, staring at Xiang Bei with a look of despair in his eyes, having been defeated by Xiang Bei's snoring.

  Xiao Xiao gazed at the familiar sleeping figure of Xiang Bei, and couldn't help but wonder how his snores could be so curved. Unable to sleep, he got up and did many inverted push-ups. Lu Feng sat up and plucked the strings of his guitar. After a while, the two faced Xiang Bei's snores, still wide awake, and had several times just about to drift off to sleep when they were jolted awake by Xiang Bei's conical snores. The two looked at each other in agony, got dressed, went downstairs, walked out of the hotel, and onto the street.

  It was almost two o'clock in the morning, the weather was cool and refreshing, and Longxin Street was still brightly lit. On the side of the street, there were also some large stalls set up, with some people already drunk, facing the remnants of a drinking party, either laughing and scolding or lost in thought. It seems that this is a village that never sleeps.

  Lu Peng thought for a moment that neither of them was familiar with each other and didn't know where to go to kill time. Why not find a barbecue stall and have another drink?

  "Go ahead, can't sleep anyway. Screw that little bastard's grandpa to the north." Xiao Xiao's worried and confused murmur.

  Two people found a barbecue stall, the boss was over thirty years old, lean and capable, and was shoveling charcoal into the stove.

  Xiao Xiao went up and asked the boss if they were still roasting skewers?

  "Hey, of course I'll roast it. Why wouldn't I? You want to eat and I can make money from it. Sit down, what would you like to have?" The boss immediately became enthusiastic and started welcoming the customers as soon as he saw them arrive.

  Two people sat on the small stall's chairs, ordered twenty mutton skewers, twenty chicken hearts, and two bottles of beer. The beer in their bodies had not been fully digested, they couldn't drink much anymore, just using this to kill time, eating to dispel drowsiness that could not be disturbed by the northern wind, then went back to sleep.

  "Alright, 40 skewers, that's enough to eat." The boss laughed and skillfully grilled the skewers while teasing the two people to prevent himself from getting bored and messing up his work. "You two, look at how you're dressed, you must be in the entertainment industry, you've got the makings of a big star. Tell me, how many movies have you acted in? I'm looking at you two and your faces seem really familiar."

  Xiao Xiao hastily waved his hand and said he had nothing to do with the entertainment circle, but in his heart, he secretly muttered: "Damn it, I'm so handsome, just entertaining."

  The boss raised his eyes, carefully examining the two people's eyes, and put on a expression of recognizing someone, "Oh, I thought you were attending the Dragon Gate banquet." He lowered his head again to grill the lamb skewers and brush them with sauce.

  Lu Feng said he knew about the Hongmen Banquet, but didn't know what the Longmen Banquet was. Was this Longmen Banquet also a trap set by bad people?

  "Haven't you heard?" The boss's small eyes suddenly became proud, with a hint of disdain, he said to the two outsiders in a local accent: "Do you know about Longxin Village's Dragon City Paradise Villa? I don't think so. Each square meter costs 30,000 yuan." He pointed north of Longxin Village and continued: "Inside live celebrities, rich people. Celebrities and rich people. Celebrities who are also rich people. Second wives, third wives, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth wives... The Dragon Gate Banquet is a banquet they take turns hosting."

  Softly following his fingers, looking far away, the lights are bright and the buildings outside are magnificent, very luxurious, and can't help but think of the photos of the Palace of Versailles, which look a bit similar.

  "A banquet? What's so special about it?"

  "What's so special? Hehe." The boss disdainfully said to the two, "They're all stars and rich people. The ones they invite to accompany them for drinks are beautiful young female university students from art schools. After drinking, ice-skating, in the end, everyone takes off their clothes, closes their eyes, grabs one, strips naked and does it right away. You? Can't even imagine." As if he could think of something like that.

  Xiao Xiao never thought that the boss would turn this banquet into a brothel. Suddenly, his heart was surging with emotions, and he yearned for the distant Dragon City Paradise once again.

  "Do you know about the Da Jing Hua Film Group?" The boss arranged the well-cooked dishes on a plate and handed it to the two of them. "The young master of Da Jing Hua, Chu Jia, is in this city's Hang Palace, he is the main organizer of the Longmen Banquet. Every day, he finds some small celebrities, sings and dances, and indulges in feasts."

  "Dà Jīng Huá Yǐng Yè? That film company has produced a lot of crappy movies. Just looking at the subtitles makes me want to vomit." Lù Píng picked up a string and bit into it, morally criticizing this film company. However, thinking about how this film company had made a fortune in recent years through hype, verbal sparring, and large investments, many top stars have now joined under its banner.

  Xiao Xiao heard the boss say that this banquet was so impressive, and immediately asked if the Dragon Gate Banquet had anything to do with the Black Fish Banquet. He wanted to get some information about the Black Fish Banquet from the boss.

  "Hei Yu will? You mean the Black Society, right? Must be related. But hosting such a banquet, of course, there's a security company, strong and powerful security personnel." The boss casually poked at the charcoal fire.

  Xiao Xiao listened to his words, which didn't quite get the point across. It seems that this boss is just a rumor-spreading Jianghu commentator. What he's most concerned about are these rumors and hearsay, some of which touch on certain gang internal messages, but can't be verified.

  The boss covered the charcoal fire, sat on a small stool, picked up a bottle of beer, drank while scrolling through his phone, and suddenly asked if the two people had heard of Butterfly Sister.

  Xiao Xiao and Lu Teng clinked glasses, shook their heads in confusion, and asked if they were raising butterflies. Nowadays, the name "Mei Mei" is everywhere, it's really rampant.

  The boss smiled complacently at the phone screen and told the two country bumpkins that Butterfly Sister was an internet celebrity.

  Xiao Xiao heard the four words "internet celebrity" and immediately smiled inexplicably, stuck out her tongue and made a face, and asked the boss with pride, "Recently there's an internet celebrity named Little Magic Monster who is very famous, do you know?"

  "Little devil? Sounds like an idiot just from the name?" The boss, seeing Xiao Xiao interrupt his words, lazily looked at the decreasing flow of people on the street, wondering if there were any more customers coming to his barbecue stall.

  Xiao Xiao suppressed her anger, clenched her fists, and didn't cry out.

  Lu Deng went crazy with joy.

  The boss, seeing no one around, couldn't help but talk again, like opening a floodgate. He introduced the two of them to Xiaoxiao and Lüting, saying that the butterfly sister was a beauty, with a red butterfly-shaped birthmark on her arm, uniquely beautiful. A classmate took a photo of her and put it online. The photos online were extremely pure and pretty, looking like a fairy. She graduated from high school this year and was admitted to the Tianjing Film Academy. Countless people pursued her. However, I estimate that before long, she'll be ruined by Chu Jia.

  The boss said up to here, as if he remembered something, and suddenly asked Xiao: "Huh? Did you just say little demon?"

  Xiao Xiao heard him say the name of the little monster, overjoyed and clenched his fist, almost jumping up on the spot, holding the lamb skewer and waving his right arm wildly, but all this was suppressed in his heart, only excitedly grinning and asking him: "Do you remember?"

  "Oh, no, not the little monster." The boss patted his head and shook it, "I remember that one wasn't called Little Monster, but Little Fox, who's also somewhat famous online. Judging from the photos, she's quite charming, I reckon even in Tianjing, she wouldn't be able to escape Chu Jia's clutches."

  Gritting his teeth lightly, frowning and concentrating, he thought, "What the hell is Chu Jia? I'll beat him out of the house."

  Lu Peng saw his face was not right and asked: "What's wrong?"

  Constipation.

  "Damn it!" Lu Teng cursed him and raised his glass with him.

  He downed the glass of wine, and suddenly felt something fluffy touching his foot. He looked down and his heart almost burst out of his chest, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as he wildly yelled "What the fuck! How did you get here?!"

  The little monkey stood beside Xiao Xiao's feet, sniffing and sticking out its tongue, looking up at him with shining eyes, and the little monkey's face looked dusty.

  Xiao Xiao looked at it, her heart filled with unceasing amazement and some inexplicable excitement. Today she had walked over a hundred kilometers, never expecting it to follow her. How did it come here? Could it be that it ran all the way, she couldn't imagine it running in the dark mountains, staring with its two green dog eyes, taking small steps, following her footprints and scent, completely disregarding the consequences, pursuing her with such determination and steadfastness, unable to be expressed in words.

  "My god. This is crazy." Lu Teng looked down and couldn't help but shout out loud. He had eaten many dogs, but he had never seen a dog as persistent as this one.

  The little monkey's face was shaking with its tail, without any fatigue, suddenly scolding "What the hell are you doing turning around me? Are you thinking of coming here to freeload again? Don't you know how to work hard and make a living?" As it spoke, its big foot lifted up and stepped on the little monkey's body, pinning it to the ground.

  The little monkey lay on the ground without reflection, like a small sheep, obediently letting him trample his own body, as if he had already surrendered.

  "This dog is probably spiritual, it won't think of following you." Lu Ting pondered whether he would stop eating dog meat from now on.

  Xiao Xiao relaxed his feet, and the little dog stood up straight, circling around his feet. He lowered his head to look at the little dog, "Looks like you're sticking with me."

  The little monkey's eyes were watery as he stared at Xiao Xiao, clearly with complex emotions.

  Lu Peng said, "If not, let's just raise it. Once we've raised it big, we'll eat it together, and have a whole roasted dog."

  Xiao scolded him with a sentence that didn't make sense, then asked the boss to grill twenty more lamb skewers, twenty chicken hearts, and two extra lamb kidneys. After grilling, they were all put into take-out boxes and handed over to Little Monkey Face.

  The little monkey's face was flushed with excitement, and it let out two loud cries, as if to express its gratitude. It lowered its head, swung its cheeks, and in a short while, it had devoured everything. Then it looked up at Xiao Xiao, indicating that it still hadn't eaten enough.

  Xiao Xiao saw its expression, shook his head and thought to himself: "You eat more than the two of us combined. If I really raised you, wouldn't you just drain me dry?" Thinking this, he again asked the boss to roast a set of skewers and waist meat, and gave it to Little Monkey's face.

  The little monkey face ate two waists, suddenly stopped, looked up at Xiao Xiao, stretched out its tongue, licked its own nose, and made its nose wet.

  Xiao Xiao smiled and scolded, "As soon as you lift your tail, I know what kind of crap you're going to pull." Saying that, she took a paper cup, filled it with beer, and placed it in front of him.

  The little monkey saw good wine coming and immediately inserted his tongue into the wine glass, rolled up his tongue, and drank the beer inside in a few mouthfuls.

  Xiao Xiao refilled Little Monkey's cup and placed it in front of him. Then, holding up his own cup, he said to Little Monkey: "Let's have one."

  The little monkey narrowed his small dog eyes, lowered his head and quickly drank the beer. This time after drinking, he didn't want to drink anymore, lowered his head and finished eating the roasted skewers, after finishing, he licked his oily mouth, his belly was full and he felt very comfortable.

  Xiao Xiao waited until it had eaten its fill, then patted its plump back of the head and scolded: "Scram, don't let me see you again, little monkey face."

  The little monkey's face laughed haha tongue, shaking its tail. Turning its head and running away quickly, the speed was incredibly fast. After a few steps, it disappeared into the dawn streets of Longxin Village.