Chapter Eleven Mr. Li

  Lin Fang followed the crowd into the entrance of Huang Cheng KTV, and a waiter came up to talk.

  "We've booked a room, Mr. Zhou," said Zhou Yi to the service staff.

  "Please follow me." The waiter seemed to know exactly where each guest was seated today and led them away.

  "It's really nice." Wu Kaiyue looked at the room here.

  "Alright, let's sing two songs first." Cai Ming said to Wu Kaiyue.

  "Go ahead, you sing first, I'll get them to bring up some wine." Zhou Yi went off to talk to the waiter who had led them in.

  Tsai Ming and Wu Kuiyue selected a few songs from the song list and started singing.

  This is a duet song, possibly because the live atmosphere was not so hot yet, and the two sang a slow song.

  "I have money." Cai Ming sang a sentence, facing Wu Kaiyue.

  "I have the power." Then Wu Kuiyue closed his eyes and sang.

  The two sang a duet, "Why don't you love me?" The last word "me" was sung longer, from heavy to light, probably the composer wanted to emphasize that they loved each other but didn't mean it.

  "The wine has arrived." Zhou Yi saw the waiter carrying two dozen wines walking in.

  "Come on, brothers, let's have a drink first." Everyone opened their wine covers and poured themselves a full cup.

  Except for Xiǎo Yuè, all five of them drank up the wine and then turned their cups upside down to indicate that they had finished drinking.

  "Alright alright, let's get high!" It was rare for Jiang Zhiyuan to say something like this, whether it was due to the atmosphere or the effects of alcohol.

  "I want to sing a love song with you." Siu Sau Yueh said to Chiang Chi-Kuang.

  "No problem, Zhou Yi, help us get a head start on liking you." Jiang Zhiquan said loudly to Zhou Yi.

  "I've already ordered, but it's not because I like you." Zhou Yi said with a light smile.

  "Hey, let's play dice, Lin Fang." Wu Kaiyue pulled Cai Ming and Lin Fang over to play dice as they were being lovey-dovey.

  "How old are you? Big talk, one cup?" Lin Fang heard this and was not willing to show weakness.

  "Big talk dice, open one cup, split two cups, any problem?" Cai Ming's tone sounded like an old hand.

  "Come on, five four." Lin Fang didn't mince words either, directly calling out the dice.

  …………

  "Split, haha, no, drink!" Wu Kaiyue opened Lin Fang's dice cup again, and there was no number that Lin Fang said. Lin Fang took off his glasses a bit unwillingly and tried again.

  …………

  "Opened two houses, unlucky, and they both have." Lin Fang opened the dice cups of Cai Ming and Wu Kuiyue, but he lost.

  …………

  "Cease fire, cease fire! Zhou Yi, come and take over." Lin Fang raised the signal for a temporary truce and called Zhou Yi to replace him.

  "Hey kid, don't run away, keep going." The two men refused to let Lin Fang off.

  "Wait for me to go to the bathroom and I'll come back and play with you guys." Lin Fang hurriedly pulled Zhou Yi over.

  "Alright, alright, let the kid go to the bathroom first." Zhou Yi came to the rescue.

  Lin Fang seemed to have drunk too much and stumbled out of the room with a slightly swaying body. The KTV suite had its own bathroom inside.

  "These little rascals are ganging up on me to get me drunk." Lin Fang shook his head, which was already feeling a bit dizzy, and ended up feeling even dizzier.

  At this time, Lin Fang only wanted to go out and take a breath of fresh air. He didn't know how many corners he had turned when he heard very loud music coming from the front, mixed with people's shouting voices.

  As he turned the last corner, all he could hear was music and no longer any voices. Lin Fang saw a stage with several people playing instruments, the music being rock of course, while below them were a group of people swaying to the rhythm, it seemed like a dance hall.

  Next to it was a bar with no one sitting on it. Lin Fang happened to want to sit for a while, so he walked towards the bar.

  "Sorry, can I have a glass of iced water?" Lin Fang sat down at the bar, his dizziness intensifying, gently rubbing his temples with both hands.

  "A White Russian, 1:1:3, with cream on top." Just then Lin Fang heard someone next to him order a cocktail.

  Lin Fang didn't care and continued rubbing his head, soon his ice water arrived.

  Just as I was about to pick up that cup, my eyes suddenly saw a classic cup pushing away its own water cup, and the owner of that hand was the person who had just called White Russian.

  Lin Fang raised his head and looked at the man in front of him. He was called a man, but Lin Fang was also judging by his voice and physique. Because the light from the bar counter was shining down on him, Lin Fang had to raise his head to look up at him, and the facial features were very blurry. Plus, Lin Fang had been drinking and his glasses had fallen off in the room.

  "Anything wrong?" Lin Fang was already feeling a bit dizzy, his eyes were somewhat lifeless, and his eyelids had drooped halfway.

  "This liquor is a cocktail, but to some extent it can sober you up. Iced water would be bad for your body when you're this hot, and its sobering effect isn't even as good as warm water." The person next to him seemed to maintain a smile on his face.

  Lin Fang shifted his gaze to the cup filled with white liquid, picked it up and took a look. At the bottom, there was still a layer of black liquid. The black and white layered wine glass gave off a light scent of butter when he sniffed it gently, but he couldn't smell any alcohol.

  Picked it up and took a light sip, indeed tasted very fragrant, very sweet, although there was a bit of strong liquor flavor, but it was very mild, the aftertaste was all sweet.

  "How is it? The taste isn't bad, right?" The man said as he looked at Lin Fang after taking a sip.

  "It's not bad, I don't know if it's the master's technique that's good, and I'm not dizzy anymore." Lin Fang said, raising his hand to show respect to the bartender.

  "Right, what's your name?" Lin Fang asked the person beside him, his head no longer feeling as dizzy.

  "You can call me Li," the man said.

  "So, Mr. Li, how did you invite me to drink this cup, huh?" Lin Fang was no longer drunk, and his consciousness was coming back.

  "Belarus, I am the master here. When guests come, invite them to have a drink or two. Is there any problem?" Li still maintained his smile, which seemed familiar somehow.

  "Alright, how about a drink then?" Lin Fang somehow felt something in front of Mr. Li, a very familiar feeling towards the person opposite him, and the other person also seemed to be very familiar with him.

  "I'd rather not, when smoking, one shouldn't drink." Mr. Li pulled out a cigarette from somewhere, lit it slowly, and took a gentle puff. The spotlight on the stage shone over just in time, illuminating the colored smoke as it rose gently, also clearly revealing Mr. Li's appearance.

  Mr. Li wore a pair of black-framed glasses, not very long hair, and his bangs covered his forehead, only revealing his straight nose bridge and the evil smile on his lips.

  "Aren't you going to the restroom? It's over there." Mr. Li said to Lin Fang, but his words were accompanied by a smile, adding a hint of slyness.

  "You just came out of the private room area, looked around a few times, didn't seem to be looking for anyone, sat at the bar and asked for water. There is a bathroom inside the private room, but you don't look like you just used it." Before Lin Fang could speak, Mr. Li had already spoken his words, although they were a bit forced, he was right.

  "Alright, you win." Lin Fang shrugged his shoulders, took another sip of wine, and walked in the direction Mr. Li pointed to.

  "Be careful, after convenience comes a sense of loss." Mr. Li first said be careful, then paused for a moment, waiting for Lin Fang to react, before continuing with the rest.

  Lin Fang nodded and indicated that he knew. After he walked away, he didn't notice Mr. Li's mouth moving a few times behind him, as if saying something.

  "Must be a master of drinking scenes, judging by my appearance you'd know I didn't go to the bathroom." Lin Fang thought about the situation earlier.

  "As expected, I'm a bit dizzy, he really hit the nail on the head." Lin Fang came out of the toilet stall, his body swaying slightly.

  Turned around and walked towards the sink, after washing hands, lifted head up and found something that could be said to be terrifying.

  On the mirror above the sink, a line of English letters appeared with the hot steam flowing from the water: XAYWNABQHKBHE. The words were twisted and crooked, as if written in a hurry.

  "What's going on, this sentence again." Lin Fang subconsciously turned off the faucet and then was startled to take a step back.

  He stared blankly at the line of white mist that formed the words, and didn't know how long had passed. Because there was no water flowing, the line of words disappeared. Lin finally came back to his senses and immediately went to turn on the faucet.

  As the water flowed out again, the gas reappeared, but those words were gone, as if they had never appeared.

  Right, the note. Lin Fang's eyes lit up as he reached for the note, but inside, apart from the key, there was nothing else. Lin Fang turned the entire pocket upside down to take a look, and the note was gone.

  "You should leave." A voice came from behind Lin Fang.

  Lin Fang turned his head in fright. The light in this toilet was very bright, and it was unclear whether the soundproofing equipment was good or not, but he couldn't hear any sounds from outside at all.

  "What did you say?" Lin Fang was still a bit startled. This person suddenly appeared from behind and spoke, really startling him.

  "You should go now, let's talk next time." Mr. Li pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his hand, and a meaning that Lin Fang couldn't understand flashed in his eyes.

  "Where is he going?" Lin Fang looked at Mr. Li in confusion.

  "Get out." The eerie smile reappeared on Mr. Li's face.

  Then a fist swung towards Lin Fang's head. Lin Fang didn't have time to react, and the punch was too fast. Soon, Lin Fang was hit in the head.

  A severe dizziness filled Lin Fang's consciousness, his body swayed, and his vision became blurred and fragmented. Mr. Li's figure in front of him also became blurry.

  In the darkness, Lin Fang's eyes suddenly opened, and it was another dream. From the moment he opened his eyes, he knew that he had had a strange dream again.

  However, his head was still a bit dizzy, and he supported it with one hand, clearing his mind, especially wanting to know what time he had fallen asleep.

  "Lin Fang, Lin Fang, what's going on?" This was what Lin Fang thought of before his consciousness became blurry, seemingly said by Zhou Yi.

  "Zhou Yi, you send him back." Then it was Jiang Zhiquan's voice. After that, Lin Fang didn't know what happened, only remembering being supported as he walked.

  A sharp pain came from his head, Lin Fang didn't think about it anymore, a phone call would make things clear, the surroundings were still very dark, apparently it was around dawn.

  Lin Fang turned on the light in the room, shook his head to clear some of the intoxication, and saw that the clock on the nightstand read 02:24. There was also a note on the desk.

  "Xiao Fang, you're drunk. You have work tomorrow, so don't stay here overnight. When you wake up, give us a call. Wu Kaiyue."

  Lin Fang seemed to have thought of something and was searching everywhere for it. Soon, he found the clothes he wore to the party, and the mysterious note was quietly lying inside.