Chapter 86 (1/2)
Killer Nights
Chapter 86: Li Hongbin’s Deal
Inside the nightclub, Cui Jing followed Li Hongbin and his southern clients into a private VIP room and sat down on one of the plush couches.
The citywide crackdown on prost.i.tution continued unabated, which meant s.e.x workers were a lot harder to come by outside of the alley. Back in the day, throngs of scantily-clad women would have darted in between the dance floor, hallways, and VIP rooms; now, they were nowhere to be seen. However, this didn’t necessarily mean the nightclub had suddenly become some sacred ground of purity and chast.i.ty. In every VIP room, the exchange of money and flesh went on. True, there were no longer any women waiting for customers at the nightclub itself, but that didn’t prevent clubgoers from bringing along escorts they had already paid for. Nightclubs weren’t like restaurants; they didn’t turn down customers who brought in “outside food and beverages,” to put it euphemistically. As long as the nightclub wasn’t the one hiring the women, then it was all good. If a customer was willing to pay for himself and his guests, then he could bring a whole army of prost.i.tutes if he so wished.
Inside the VIP room, Li Hongbin ordered an a.s.sortment of snacks and alcoholic beverages from a nightclub server before finding an excuse and left the room. As a result, Cui Jing was left all alone to chit-chat with his clients. Of course, Li Hongbin hadn’t brought Cui Jing and his southern clients to the nightclub just to talk. All of them tacitly understood that merely chatting with a woman wasn’t going to seal the deal. Although Cui Jing naively trusted Li Hongbin, she wasn’t stupid. She knew that these southerners wanted something from her, so she played a delicate game of verbal cat and mouse with them. However, what she truly hoped for deep down inside was for Li Hongbin’s quick return.
After leaving the VIP room, Li Hongbin stood outside the door for a while and listened in. He heard the southerners starting to flirt with Cui Jing. He rubbed his nose and then walked over to the nightclub’s bar. To say that he had no feelings for Cui Jing whatsoever would be incorrect. No one is devoid of feelings. Besides, Li Hongbin found Cui Jng to be a clever, obedient woman who was also quite beautiful. Therefore, having to give Cui Jing away tonight for the enjoyment of other men was not a thought that he particularly relished. But he’d already taken things this far, and there was no going back now. He could only blame himself for being so dumb and stupid.
As these thoughts swirled inside his head, Li Hongbin leaned over onto the bar. He gestured towards a tall, thin, and smart-looking bartender, who obediently walked over to where he stood. The two didn’t speak; there was no need for words when their expressions already said everything. The bartender very vigilantly looked left and right, before quickly sliding a small paper packet across the bar to Li Hongbin, who responded with a smile and promptly forked over the money. He then casually indicated for the bartender to prepare some more drinks, which he took with him back to the VIP room.
“Hey! It looks like everyone is having a good time here!” announced Li Hongbin as he opened the door to the room and brought in the newly-ordered drinks. Inside, the hasty southerners had already sandwiched Cui Jing in between them and were beginning to place their hands all over her body. For her part, Cui Jing was trying her best to fend off their physical a.s.saults.
“Haha, of course!” When the southerners saw that Li Hongbin had returned, they naturally ceased what they were doing. They were all well-aware of Li Hongbin’s background. Even though he was the one asking them for a favor, it didn’t mean they could treat him like s.h.i.+t. p.i.s.sing off the great Prince Li was not a good idea, no matter who you were. After all, even these southerners knew that his father was the legendary Li Gang.
“Here, try some of this!” Li Hongbin didn’t react to what the southerners were doing to Cui Jing. He placed the tray down on the coffee table and sat next to her, as if he were protecting her. “This is genuine French cognac!” he said as he lifted the bottle of liquor off of the tray and poured everyone a shot. However, when he reached towards one of the southerners, his hand shook a little, and the shot gla.s.s fell onto the floor. “Aiya! This…” Li Hongbin looked at the shot gla.s.s on the floor and immediately put down the bottle before apologizing profusely to the southerner in front of him. “I’m so sorry! I must’ve had more to drink than I had realized!”
“Don’t worry about it!” Even though the southerner was a bit displeased, he nevertheless kept his cool and didn’t lose his temper. He picked up the shot gla.s.s off of the ground and said, “It’s fine! It didn’t break.”
“No, that won’t do!” Li Hongbin promptly responded. “I can’t let you use that gla.s.s anymore!” He glanced at Cui Jing and said, “Jing, go to the bar and grab another shot gla.s.s for Mr. Qian.”
“Ah, got it!” Hearing Li Hongbin’s order, Cui Jing very gratefully stood up, grabbed the dirty gla.s.s, and flew out of the VIP room.
After Cui Jing left, Li Hongbin smiled at all of the southerners in the room, before pulling out the small paper packet from his pocket. He opened the packet so the southerners could clearly see its contents, before mixing it into Cui Jing’s gla.s.s. Finally, he filled up her gla.s.s with more cognac before leaning back onto the couch. “Don’t worry! I’ll make sure to take care of all of you gentlemen tonight, but…”