A song from Chengdu revived a closed-down pub.

Su Fan's group was getting quite engrossed in their conversation with the bar girls.

Both sides knew exactly what was going on, but neither said it aloud; they just wanted to see who could act better.

The attractive bar girl kept calling him "brother."

She would occasionally send a carefully edited selfie.

Add a few lines like "It's so lonely being here all alone" or "I want to find someone to have a drink with."

The tone was just right, neither too harsh nor too weak, yet it made the target feel that they had a chance.

Su Fan's arrangements were also quite meticulous.

He would occasionally reply with, "Little sister, you're so pretty, how can you be lonely?" or "Brother will treat you to drinks, all you have to do is have fun."

He accompanied this with an air of complete infatuation.

She portrayed that covetous yet pretentious demeanor so vividly.

The two sides went back and forth, and the scope of their conversations became increasingly broad, with every word filled with probing and tug-of-war.

To put it simply, if the description were clear, he would definitely be locked up in a dark room.

In short, the two were like dry wood meeting a raging fire, a widow meeting a rogue, Ximen and Jinlian, Cao Wang and Pan Juan.

You might not know what the last story means, so let me explain. Cao Wang and Pan Juan are from our village, and their relationship is exactly what you're thinking.

Meanwhile, Li Qi, the reporter sent by Lin Fang, did not have such a smooth experience.

Li Qi is a young reporter who has been with the company for less than half a year. He wears round-framed glasses, looks very polite, and speaks in a low voice. He is the kind of person who would be easily lost in a crowd.

Lin Fang told him to change his address, pretend to be a tourist from out of town, and deliberately expose himself on those social media platforms, which he did.

He changed his phone's location to another province and changed his profile picture to a downloaded photo of an ordinary person, making him look like a regular office worker.

Then I turned on the "People Nearby" feature.

In less than ten minutes, a friend request came in.

The request read: "Old classmate, long time no see."

Li Qi approved it.

"Hello, who is this?" he sent a message.

The other party replied quickly: "Oh, you must be Han Lei? I'm your junior high school deskmate, Li Xiaoxue! It's been so many years!"

Li Qi looked at the screen and typed: "You've mistaken me for someone else. I'm not Han Lei."

The other person sent a facepalm emoji: "Oops, I'm so sorry, I entered the wrong number. But since we've added each other, it's fate. If you mind, you can just delete me. Sorry for bothering you."

"fine."

"That's great, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello. (Handshake gesture)"

The two had established contact, and Li Xiaoxue asked, "Where are you now?"

Li Qi replied, "I'm in Chengdu."

"What a coincidence! I'm also in Chengdu. I'm a student at Sichuan University. What about you?"

"You're from Sichuan University, and I'm a graduate of Sichuan University too."

……

The two started chatting.

Then, the art style started to go astray.

At first, Li Qi treated the other party as a bar scammer.

As they chatted, Li Qi realized that this wasn't a bar girl at all; she was practically his slightly mischievous junior sister.

During this time, Lin Fang asked him more than once, "Did you add any bar girls? Did anyone invite you?"

Li Qi always answered with certainty: "No."

Lin Fang was puzzled: "That shouldn't be the case. I specifically analyzed the commonalities among those who were scammed online. Based on the persona that big data created for you—out-of-town tourist, single, middle-income, narrow social circle—there's no reason why people wouldn't take advantage of you."

Li Qi didn't know how to explain, so he could only say, "I don't know what happened either!"

Lin Fang didn't have any better ideas either.

On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Su Fan called her.

"Reporter Lin, the stage is set up, are you free to put on a show?"

"So fast? Of course, give me your address."

"Yulin Road, Fan Hua Bar"

Lin Fang was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "Oh, so that's the place you're talking about. What a coincidence, I've been keeping an eye on that bar lately."

"Perfect timing! Today, let's act on behalf of Heaven and expose that veil of shame."

"Restore a bright and clear world to Sichuan Province."

……

The two spoke with righteous indignation, as if they had transformed into ancient chivalrous heroes, with swords at their waists, ready to eliminate evil and wickedness.

There was another important reason why the operation was scheduled for the fourteenth day of the first lunar month: Qi Tongwei called him and said that his classmate from the Public Security Bureau was on duty that day.

As evening falls, the streets of Chengdu are illuminated by streetlights.

Yulin Road was busier than usual; on the eve of the Lantern Festival, it was packed with people.

The three people arranged by Su Fan, Chen, Zhou, and Liu, appeared at the intersection of Yulin Road at different times.

Each of them was accompanied by a girl, dressed in different ways.

But they all have one thing in common: they are beautiful and passionate.

Three groups of people walked on the road, and even if they bumped into each other, they pretended not to know each other and did not even make eye contact when they passed each other.

Both sides shared this idea: each would go their own way, each pursue their own goals, and neither would hold the other back.

They walked along Yulin Road to its end and saw Fangcheng's little tavern.

There was a long queue at the entrance, and the place was bustling with noise.

Xiao Chen stood at the door for a while, trying to squeeze in to take a look, but found that he couldn't move at all.

The girl next to them spoke up at the right moment: "This place is so popular, I don't know how long the line will take. How about we go to the one next door? That one is pretty big too, and the environment looks nice."

Then, naturally, the two went to the Flower Bar.

Three people, at different times, were brought into the same bar by different girls.

At the same time, even more people flocked to the flower garden.

Of course, there are also guests who are invited through other channels.

The hall gradually filled up, the music was so loud it made your eardrums tingle, and the lighting was dim and ambiguous.

Li Qi also came.

He and his so-called junior sister Li Xiaoxue walked into the Prosperous Flower Bar side by side.

Li Xiaoxue linked arms with Li Qi, their movements as natural as those of a couple in love.

"Senior brother, isn't the environment here nice?"

"Yeah, there are a lot of people."

"A large number of people means this place must be good."

The two found a booth and sat down. Li Xiaoxue took the drinks menu from the waiter, flipped through a couple of pages, and pointed to a line of text, saying, "Senior brother, this Royal Salute looks good, shall we try it?"

Li Qi glanced at the price: five thousand eight. His heart began to pound.

But he didn't show it on his face. He smiled and said, "You order, I don't know much about wine."

Li Xiaoxue ordered wine, a fruit platter, and snacks.

Seeing how familiar she was with the place, the term "bar girl" popped into his mind.

To confirm this further, Li Qi began to steer the conversation toward schoolwork.

"Junior sister, you said you're studying hotel management, so what's your opinion on OTAs (Online Travel Agencies)?"

Li Xiaoxue had no idea about this, but she immediately replied, "Senior brother, that's too technical a question. I haven't learned that yet."

After saying that, she picked up her wine glass and said, "Senior brother, I'll punish myself with a drink; you don't need to ask any more questions."