Chapter 25: Such fair hands
Eight years ago, Yi Ke was not yet eighteen. Five years ago, Yi Ke had just barely turned twenty. He didn’t attend high school or university in Jincheng, so he had never truly been to Yin Bar, though he could find a few of the bar’s VIPs in his circle of friends.
Yi Ke picked up the folder from the table, pulled out a few sheets of paper, and handed them to Zhuang Ningyu. “Before I entered the rule zone, I had someone help me ask around. This is what they just compiled and sent over.”
On the night of the Doll Party, the second-floor VIP section was closed, which is how these few wealthy young masters and ladies luckily escaped the disaster and were able to continue their “healthy” lives of debauchery.
Zhuang Ningyu took the stack of A4 paper. At first glance, he saw that it was densely covered in text. His tiger-like body shuddered; he thought he had received some incredible, detailed clues. He perked up and began to read with reverence. A minute later, he looked up blankly. “What the hell is all this?”
“My requirement,” Yi Ke said matter-of-factly. “I made each of them write at least three thousand words.”
Three thousand words! The national college entrance exam essay is only eight hundred! The rich kids had tried to resist, but failed. Yi Ke’s dominance over them was absolute. After all, looking at their entire circle, he was the only peerless moral paragon who excelled academically, was physically fit, had good character, didn’t gamble, didn’t do drugs or start businesses blindly, and didn’t fight with his siblings over the family inheritance. This guy had an extremely clear life plan.
Right after graduation, he passed exam after exam with lightning speed and secured an “iron rice bowl” government job. His evolution was approaching S-class. He had outstanding scores upon entering his job, went to bookstores after work, and even cooked balanced meals for himself at home.
In the eyes of the elders, he was a “white moonlight” level existence, on par with the bare-bottomed fortune babies holding red carp in New Year paintings.
A “child of another family” like him didn’t even need to do much. Just showing up during holidays in his shabby Order Maintenance Department uniform, carrying abalone, sea cucumber, and Romanée-Conti to visit his uncles and aunts, and then excitedly talking a bit about his work was enough to annoy his peers to death.
So, everyone could only submit to Yi Ke’s tyranny, racking their brains to type out words on their phones. They couldn’t even use AI to expand the text because the young master had repeatedly declared he would run an AI-plagiarism check. If any trace of artificial intelligence was found, he would tour their homes on New Year’s Eve with a bottle of Maotai to share their New Year’s dinner, and express to all his degenerate friends’ elders his beautiful wish to immediately go on blind dates and get married, so that his own parents could enjoy a warm family courtyard and the joy of being surrounded by children and grandchildren.
It was the most malicious plan of sowing discord in history!
“Do the three thousand words include punctuation?”
“No.”
“Damn it, why doesn’t punctuation count as words!”
Five years, it had been a whole five years! How could there be so many details to recall?
Thus, the short essays were filled with high-quality descriptions like, “In the hall, there was a bar made of real brass poles, stocked with various gins, spirits, and long-forgotten nectars. Most of the female guests were too young to distinguish between these types of alcohol,” or, “This radiant face is just a mask; the real face, tilted back, is hiding in the shadow of the false face that has deceived your eyes.”
It was obvious they had searched for keywords like “bar + mask” and then cherry-picked fresh lines they could copy. It wasn’t technically against the rules, since Yi Ke only said no AI, not no search engines.
Zhuang Ningyu: “…”
Yi Ke rested his forehead on one hand, comforting him and himself at the same time.
“Can’t be helped. More words are better than fewer words. Just make do. If I hadn’t set a requirement, the five of them together would have squeezed out sixty words at most.”
Zhuang Ningyu had no choice but to continue his painful reading, trying to dig out a shred of useful information from the jumbled mess of nonsensical Chinese characters. In the end, from five people and fifteen thousand words, only one useful piece of information was gathered—a dozen or so VIP clients had once mentioned to Tong Yishuai that they also wanted to join the Doll Party for the lively atmosphere, but they were flatly refused by You Hong.
“Why would You Hong be the one to refuse?”
“Because You Hong is also an investor in the bar. Normally, she does have the authority to decide on the invitation list and the party’s proceedings,” Yi Ke replied. “At the time, You Hong gave an explanation, saying that the Doll Party and the VIP Night shared many similar procedures, but the VIP Night was of a higher quality. If they attended the former first, it would seriously affect the surprise experience of the next event.”
Zhuang Ningyu hesitated. “That sounds… reasonable?”
“It is reasonable, but not every VIP customer was willing to accept it. You Tu’s ‘industry summit’ was fake, but a friend of mine genuinely had to rush abroad for a conference and couldn’t make it to VIP Night. Even so, You Hong didn’t give him an invitation to the Doll Party, only saying she needed to discuss it further with Tong Yishuai.”
“And the result of the discussion?”
“No result. You Hong never got back to him.”
This rejected friend, though a party animal, came from a genuinely wealthy family and was used to being fawned over wherever he went. Of course, he couldn’t stand being given the runaround by a bar. He immediately announced in his social circle that he would never go to Yin Bar again.
Zhuang Ningyu asked, “Was he a major client for Yin Bar?”
Yi Ke nodded. “Yes, his family is quite rich.”
“So You Hong’s so-called reason of ‘affecting the surprise experience of the next event’ was just an excuse. She simply didn’t want VIP customers appearing at a non-VIP event.” Zhuang Ningyu couldn’t quite figure it out. “What on earth could be the reason for Yin Bar to offend a major client just to keep non-VIPs and VIPs separate?”
Yi Ke looked at the stack of cobbled-together essays and suddenly said, “Have you noticed that in the later stages of the anniversary preparations, all communication with VIP customers was actually handled by You Hong?”
Zhuang Ningyu was slightly taken aback. It was true; in everyone’s accounts, Tong Yishuai’s name never appeared, while You Hong had become the new face of Yin Bar, diligently handling all matters concerning VIP customers.
The glass kettle on the dining table bubbled. Yi Ke stood up and walked over to pour the newly brewed fruit tea.
Zhuang Ningyu frowned. “You Hong spent most of her time at Yin Bar, which means she definitely didn’t have time to manage her own affairs. A leading female CEO in her industry, spending every day at a bar making customer service calls for Tong Yishuai? Even if Tong Yishuai didn’t want to make the calls himself, he had an assistant and a bunch of assistant managers. Why weren’t they making the calls?”
Yi Ke didn’t interrupt his monologue. He poured the tea, checked the temperature to make sure it was drinkable, and then brought it to the sofa.
Zhuang Ningyu, lost in thought, took it and drank without considering if it was hot. The hot tea nicely offset the slightly cool air conditioning in the room. He let out a breath and asked Yi Ke, “What do you think?”
“If she was deeply in love with Tong Yishuai at the time, this would be easy to explain. After all, love can, to a certain extent, make all abnormalities seem normal,” Yi Ke replied. “But You Hong isn’t love-struck. So, there are probably two reasons for her actions. First, she was conquered by Tong Yishuai’s plan on a spiritual level, say, an aesthetic level, and willingly became a supporter. Second, she could profit from it.”
“Aesthetic level?” Zhuang Ningyu held the cup, and those words struck a chord. He suddenly realized, “Wait, I think I know why Tong Yishuai split the anniversary celebration into two events!”
Perhaps it had nothing to do with spending power at all, but was purely a matter of “aesthetics”. The entry requirement for VIP customers was money, but the entry requirement for non-VIP customers was beauty. If Tong Yishuai wanted to have “beauty” without offending “money”, then splitting the celebration into two parts was undoubtedly the easiest choice. Of course, there were certainly customers among the VIPs who met Tong Yishuai’s aesthetic standards, but letting one in would require a reasonable explanation to the other hundred or so. The gain wasn’t worth the trouble, so he would inevitably choose to make a clean cut!
Yi Ke gave a thumbs-up. Finding the VIP customers too ugly—the reason sounded absurd, but it was something Tong Yishuai would definitely do.
Zhuang Ningyu dragged the mouse and hurriedly clicked open a folder. Inside were photos posted on social media by the invited influencers on the night of the Doll Party. At that time, no one knew death was approaching; the venue was filled only with the young, beautiful, and debauched. Yi Ke leaned in and asked, “What are you looking for?”
“Tong Yishuai.” Zhuang Ningyu enlarged a photo. Behind the railing of the empty second floor stood a man in a magnificent robe. The silver-white mask on his face was mottled with colors from the neon lights. Like Jesus Christ himself, he had his head tilted slightly back and his arms outstretched, looking completely immersed in the splendid, ultimate beauty.
“What’s so handsome about this guy?” Yi Ke really couldn’t appreciate this kind of gloomy aesthetic. “In this state, he really looks possessed. No wonder netizens at the time guessed he had gone mad and burned down the bar himself.”
“The police investigated in the direction of a cult. Every piece of Tong Yishuai’s social records that existed was analyzed to death by technicians, but no relevant evidence was found. Before the tragedy, he had been actively preparing for the opening of a new Yin Bar branch. His mental and financial states seemed very normal. To take a step back, even without considering these, just from an operational difficulty analysis, although he could have easily administered poison, the fire that night was set in layers. The third floor caught fire before the first. This means Tong Yishuai would have had to set the third-floor office on fire first, then go down to the first floor to commit arson, and then return to the burning third floor. It doesn’t follow behavioral logic, not to mention he was in a state of deep intoxication at the time of his death.”
Yi Ke nodded and then suggested, “Should we try to contact You Hong in the rule zone? She probably knows a lot.”
“I asked Li Jie for her contact information earlier, but I didn’t get a reply.” Zhuang Ningyu shook his phone. “Now we can only count on Tian Luxin.”
Just as he finished speaking, a bright and sweet “Housekeeping!” echoed from the hallway.
Yi Ke got up and opened the door. Tian Luxin stood outside, pushing a cleaning cart, looking full of vigor. Zhuang Ningyu gestured for her to come in and teased, “You seem pretty satisfied with your job.”
“Most of the staff are still asleep in the dorms, so I can’t search their rooms for clues yet, but the boss’s office is empty.” Tian Luxin held the miniature camera Zhuang Ningyu had given her earlier in her palm. “This. Everything I saw is recorded in here. Captain Zhuang, please keep it safe.” After speaking, she pulled a business card out of her apron pocket. “I swept this out from under Tong Yishuai’s cabinet.”
Zhuang Ningyu took the business card. It was light-colored with silver foil stamping, very well-designed. The production cost was clearly not low. The background image was a gorgeous small building. In the upper left corner was the Star Beauty logo. In the center was the name of the director, You Hong, and her personal assistant’s contact information.
Zhuang Ningyu tried dialing the number. After a short “beep”, a cold, mechanical female voice came through: “Hello! The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number and dial again.”
“Huh, how can it not go through?” Tian Luxin wouldn’t give up. She tried with her own phone, and it also said the number was not in service. She then entered the phone number into a chat app, but couldn’t find a contact either.
Her face fell. “I really found this in Tong Yishuai’s office. Could it be an old business card, and You Hong has a new number now?”
But Yi Ke shook his head. “No, this card is very new. The printing date wouldn’t be more than two weeks ago.”
Tian Luxin was puzzled. How could he tell?
“The building used as the background image is Star Beauty’s west-city campus. I’ve seen the files; it had its ribbon-cutting ceremony shortly before Yin Bar’s anniversary celebration,” Yi Ke said. “So the card must be new.”
“Since there’s no problem with the card, then…” Tian Luxin deflated. “The rules don’t allow us to contact You Hong proactively.”
Zhuang Ningyu opened his chat history with Li Jie. Sure enough, the message asking about You Hong had vanished without a trace.
This path was a dead end. They had to think of another way.
Zhuang Ningyu comforted Tian Luxin a bit and casually pulled a filled candy from his pocket. He was about to hand it to her, but Yi Ke’s eyes were too sharp. He caught sight of the pink, tacky “LOVE” on the wrapper in a second. What a joke! This candy of love could not possibly fall into someone else’s hands. He immediately decided to intercept it.
While thinking, This guy is seriously crazy, Zhuang Ningyu quickly popped the candy into his own mouth.
Tian Luxin, who had been ready to eat the candy: “…”
She had gotten up at the crack of dawn to work. Her nerves were so tense and excited that she had no appetite, so she had been busy until now without even thinking of drinking a drop of water. Now that she had handed over her work, the energy had dissipated, and she belatedly felt a stomachache.
Her stomach rumbled loudly, quite noticeable in the quiet room. Seeing a young lady so hungry, Zhuang Ningyu, who was eating candy by himself, suddenly felt a cloying sensation in his throat. He sent Yi Ke to the kitchen to find her something to eat.
“Are you a picky eater?”
“Not at all. Thank you, Brother Yi. I can eat anything.”
Yi Ke gave a thumbs-up. “Easy to raise.”
Zhuang Ningyu couldn’t be bothered with the passive-aggressive undertones of “easy to raise”. He just crunched on the candy loudly. The sweet hard shell couldn’t withstand the fierce assault and shattered in a few bites.
The 100% pure lemon filling flowed out, sending the unprepared Captain Zhuang’s soul flying out of his body from the sourness. He clutched his cheeks, drooling uncontrollably.
Tian Luxin watched him with bright eyes.
Zhuang Ningyu, having finally recovered, asked with a trembling voice, “Why are you staring at me?”
Tian Luxin exclaimed from the bottom of her heart, “Captain Zhuang, you’re so handsome! Even more handsome than in the New Year’s greeting videos. The quality of those videos is terrible. Doesn’t your Order Maintenance Department have any better cameras?”
Zhuang Ningyu wiped away the tears of sourness. “But I feel like your gaze, full of gossip and inquiry, isn’t just one of simple admiration for my handsomeness.”
Tian Luxin giggled sheepishly. She bit her lip, as if trying to hold back some words that weren’t appropriate to say out loud.
Unfortunately, she failed. She lowered her voice. “I think you and Brother Yi are quite—”
“Shut up!” Zhuang Ningyu’s eyes sharpened. “Don’t talk nonsense. There’s nothing going on between me and your Brother Yi.”
Tian Luxin was very obedient and shut her mouth, but it didn’t stop her face from screaming, ‘I don’t believe you.’
Zhuang Ningyu felt that this kind of thing was hard to explain. He had intended to let it go, but he really wanted to know how this girl could tell.
Logically, they hadn’t spent that much time together, right? So he decided to stoop to ask. Better to find the leak and plug it early, lest he expose himself more and more unknowingly when they returned to work in the future.
He said vaguely, “In short, there is only a simple superior-subordinate relationship between us. First, tell me, through what means did you arrive at this extremely erroneous conclusion?”
Tian Luxin was stumped by his question. She paused before answering, “Didn’t you and Brother Yi chat about it yourselves in the group?”
Zhuang Ningyu was baffled. How could I have chatted about it myself? What did I chat about? The small three-person group for the bar was newly created. From beginning to end, there was so little content that you could scroll through it with one swipe. Captain Zhuang racked his brains for a long time before finally asking in disbelief, “Just those two lines about showering last night?”
“Yeah.” Tian Luxin spread her hands. “Isn’t that obvious enough?”
How is that obvious?! Zhuang Ningyu was speechless on the spot.
But speechless or not, it didn’t stop him from feeling a sense of awe. With such powers of observation and reasoning, what are you doing being a fashion blogger? Pack your bags, sign up for a class, and prepare to take the exam for the criminal investigation bureau. That’s the proper path.
Yi Ke had rummaged up a large bag of food from the kitchen. He came back and handed it all to Tian Luxin. “Go back to the dorm, eat, and rest for a bit. There are still several hours before the staff’s shift starts.”
“Thank you, Brother Yi. See you later, Captain Zhuang.” Tian Luxin left, holding the paper bag. After Yi Ke closed the door, he turned to see Zhuang Ningyu reviewing the footage from the miniature camera. He casually pulled over a chair and sat next to him.
His gaze, however, didn’t land on the computer screen, but stared at that red ear for a long time before asking in confusion, “What’s wrong? Are you hot?”
I’m not hot. Zhuang Ningyu turned his head and met his gaze with a warning look.
Though he didn’t know what had happened, Yi Ke’s sensitivity was always at maximum. “…Okay, okay, you’re not hot.”
Zhuang Ningyu turned back to the computer.
Behind him, Yi Ke raised an eyebrow and mouthed silently, “Hard—to—please—”
Unfortunately, the video player happened to freeze. The black screen of the computer was as bright as a mirror.
Yi Ke in the room and Yi Ke on the screen simultaneously held an “O” shape with their mouths.
Without thinking, Zhuang Ningyu threw a punch backhanded.
Fortunately, the young master was quick-eyed and quick-handed.
He grabbed that slender wrist. His first reaction was, such fair hands. He should just pull it to his lips and kiss it. But his reason still held.
After struggling internally for a long time, he properly placed his arm back, then cleared his throat pretentiously and gestured with his chin towards the computer screen. “Get to work.”
