They are still close to me today despite their negative feelings

Honestly, an overly relaxed atmosphere makes it easy for people to speak without thinking!

"Um, what I was just doing was..."

"Don't speak!" Chu Qingya said in a slightly anxious tone that only I could hear, without turning around.

"I'm fine. I just remembered there were still some ingredients I forgot to prepare in the kitchen. I'll head back now!"

Watching Chu Qingya's retreating figure, I scratched my head.

Sigh, I messed it up. Yeah, it's one thing to say these things to a client from a past life, but to tease the boss's wife who's always taken care of me just feels like a twisted form of filial piety.

She sighed softly. It was just the landlady's words; she should understand it was a joke after a while. Perhaps she could apologize after rehearsal. Next time, she should be more careful. Some things are indeed appropriate for elders, but for someone of her lower status, speaking carelessly is extremely impolite.

Once again, I felt the necessity of etiquette as described by the ancients. I picked up my coffee, ready to read the script a little longer, but then I saw Senior Wu Yuehua walking towards me with a rather unpleasant expression.

Speaking of which, right after the coffee was distributed, my senior suddenly took her phone and went outside.

I watched as Wu Yuehua walked towards me, clutching her phone, looking filled with resentment and helplessness. This attracted the attention of Chen Di, who was not far away, who also looked up in our direction.

"...What happened?"

My own side had just been in chaos because I was too casual, but seeing Senior Wu Yuehua's demeanor made me sit up a little more seriously.

"...That's what the school said."

Senior Wu Yuehua paused for a moment, seemingly unsure how to express herself.

"Is it related to 'Wusui'an'?"

I asked tentatively.

She nodded quickly, her previous air of clarity completely gone, leaving only bewilderment and a touch of grievance.

"The school said that the Luda Debate Club proposed to have a friendly debate match with us during the Hundred Clubs Battle. The school has agreed for the sake of publicity and cooperation."

I understand that schools have always been at the forefront when it comes to inhumane behavior.

I looked at my somewhat flustered senior. It was hard to imagine that this guy wasn't behind her making this request at this moment. To her, it seemed like a threat or targeting.

Knowing that we were close to the final stage of the three-way cooperation, I had more guesses about that guy's intentions. However, neither of them seemed to be able to comfort Wu Yuehua, so it was better to remain silent.

"What...what do we do? What exactly do they want..."

The senior student clenched her fists, her tone carrying a hint of unease, but perhaps more so anger.

To her, the guy who was using her brother's name to insult her past was simply trampling on her past life.

"If I don't show up again, that's fine, but I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back during this debate... What will happen to the school, my teammates, and my mom if that happens?"

She probably really wanted to rush up and give that bastard a Rising Dragon combo during the match. I suddenly realized the fundamental error of that rumor—wasn't Senior Wu Yuehua stunned at the time, but rather thinking about how to expose this fraudster?

I always thought my senior was that little girl who refused to accept the truth about her brother's death, living in a story that deceived herself. But in reality, she was probably the one who understood best that her brother was gone, and the one who couldn't accept others taking advantage of that noble spirit.

"If you can't hold back, then don't."

I said this to her.

"But……"

I interrupted her from what she was about to say.

"Senior, I'd like to make a request to you."

[Next chapter preview: "What are you guys up to now?"]

"...I'm not dead yet."

"Of course, I'm the one who broke your sales record."

"Being able to find someone with decent conditions is already considered rational."

"This is the life story of my benefactor."

Chapter 115: A Long Story

"Oh!!!"

The younger, newer colleagues in the distance seemed excited about something.

But since the job is quite boring, everyone starts making a fuss over anything even slightly interesting. Last time it was because someone bought some very exquisite and limited-edition pastries, and the time before that it was because someone brought a cat that could do somersaults... Being a male escort is actually quite boring.

"Brother Ning, boss, you're back?"

I noticed that our employees greeted me and the boss.

What have you guys been up to now?

The boss said with a smile, and also looked inside curiously.

"This is good stuff, boss! I just got some from my buddy today," the surrounded employee said with a grin. "They say it makes you feel hot all over and gives you a strong urge to do *that* kind of thing!"

He made a loose circle with his left hand, poked the center of the circle a few times with his right index finger, and revealed a somewhat lewd smile.

"**?" The boss also revealed a sly smile.

I didn't go over to them; instead, I picked up a water glass and filled it with water. I was dying of thirst after arguing with those guys at the negotiating table.

"Boss, you're so outdated! This is the new era! Ta-da!"

So what exactly is this thing, and what's this "new era" all about?

I thought about it as I drank my water. To be honest, I was quite curious.

But there was only deathly silence. Then came the sound of glass hitting the ground and shattering.

"...I'm not dead yet."

I couldn't see exactly what happened in that instant, but I heard the boss's cold and hateful voice.

"I'd like to see who the hell would dare to use this kind of stuff in their store."

……

"Why make things so tense? It makes the atmosphere in the store feel weird."

The new recruits were scrambling to clean the floor, while I was in the boss's office watching him puff on his cigar. I frowned.

"It's well-known that our store strictly prohibits this kind of thing, but newcomers don't know that."

"More importantly, although this is your office and I have no right to say anything, I still have to work later and don't want to smell like a cigar."

"..." The shopkeeper silently put down his cigar, looked at me, and sighed.

"You know where that thing comes from, right?"

"I can guess a bit. There's been a lot of exaggerated rumors about the black stuff lately, right? Apparently, everyone's tried it. But no matter what, it's just a basic extract. Besides being convenient for bypassing checks and obtaining it, I don't think there's anything to care about."

"What do you think about using it in our business? Most of these things have a stimulating effect."

"Are you serious?" I laughed. "Let me make this clear first, I'm not going to use it."

"Good moral character."

"Is this sarcasm?" I said casually. "It has nothing to do with that stuff. It's just that if I get caught, I'll have to change careers. Going to the white world to become a stain or to the black world to become a desperate criminal, I don't have any plans to switch careers right now."

"And if we're really going to use it for business, I suggest we turn it into an opium den. That stuff is way more appealing than a champagne party. Most of our future repeat customers will be pale and thin and shout 'Ice, ice, ice!' as soon as they walk in."

"...I used to do what Xiaoning does now, you know?"

The boss suddenly said this to me.

"Of course, I'm the one who broke your sales record."

"Haha, the record that had stood for over a decade was broken by you, a newcomer who'd only been in the business for three months. I was sitting in my office at the time, almost questioning my existence." The boss propped himself up on his hands, a nostalgic look on his face.

“When I was working, I once met a divorced widow.”

"...Who told me that students, landmines, and widows are the three most dangerous things to mess with? How could you knowingly violate that rule?"

"You bastard! What were you doing interrupting when the senior was reminiscing about his youthful days?" the boss said with a laugh.

"I was really young back then. Sometimes I would feel shy when chatting with women. You wouldn't believe how young a gigolo could be like that. That lady could probably see how naive I was, so she kept patronizing my business in the beginning."

I... I really wanted to ask if this shy young man's persona was intentionally created? But seeing the boss's nostalgic look, I could only smile silently in the end.

"Honestly, if it weren't for the few bottles of champagne and flower vouchers that lady bought for me, I really wouldn't have been able to keep going." The boss opened the drawer under his desk and took out a stack of slightly yellowed vouchers.

As he caressed these things that have now faded from the scene, the owner seemed to transform back into the boy he once was, feeling somewhat lost in the bustling, brightly lit world, yet secretly delighted to receive a gift from a customer.

Even if the gift was just a small token of comfort, or even a gesture of sympathy, its monetary value was enough to keep him going at that moment.

"..."

I awaited a turning point in the story. The owner remains unmarried and childless, and his former regular customers seem to have all disappeared due to family, work, or even health reasons—at least among those who have been in contact with him, I have never heard of such a woman.

"But sadly, I persevered. She didn't."

The boss sighed.

In an instant, it was as if time had brushed past him, exchanging his former naivety and vitality for maturity and helplessness.

"It's actually a very cliché plot. She came here to relax and de-stress because a colleague or friend recommended it. But you can imagine that people who would recommend a place like this to their friends are a group of people who are quite adventurous."

"Although I think I'm naive and inexperienced, the lady herself was in a similar situation. People in her situation are easy targets, and her colleagues were just irresponsibly egging her on. So, she quickly got together with a man who was quite well-off."

"Finding someone with decent conditions is already quite sensible," I commented.

"I think so too. Back then, she was probably thinking about finding a reliable father figure for her young child, right? After all, she's the kind of woman who's very willing to give, you could even say she's the kind of woman who nurtures a useless man," the boss said with a smile. "Who knows? Of course, it's impossible to know what she's thinking now."

"...Addicted? Is that guy a trafficker?"

"No, not a dealer. But close enough. I became a distributor after trying it out," the boss said casually. "Back then, all industries were in chaos, and no new drugs had been developed yet. Forget about sustainable exploitation, there weren't even standardized dosages."

"Do you know how much people crave that stuff after they're addicted?" the boss laughed. "Then I heard from some bigwig in the underworld that if you're suffocating underwater for three minutes and you're still alive, your craving for oxygen at that moment multiplied by ten is your craving for that stuff when you're having an attack."

"That sounds absolutely terrible."

I said it casually.

“It can’t be described as bad.” The boss shook his head. “If there are only eighteen levels of hell, then that situation is definitely on the nineteenth level.”

"I can pretty much guess what will happen next. It's like those other women in other establishments who get manipulated by those awful male escorts using debt and manipulative tactics. First, they take you to a 'bubble bath' place, then they take your personal information, get a contract, and record your conversations—all in one go—and then they keep exploiting you, right?"

I sighed. The industry is too big, and behind the chaotic regulation of certain host clubs that even we can't interfere with, this practice of exploiting customers to increase revenue is becoming the norm.

"...If only it were that simple." The boss closed his eyes.

"During one of her episodes, she mistook a pen for a needle and stabbed it into her sleeping child's head. After she regained consciousness, the neighbors heard a terrifying scream, followed by a disheveled woman rushing out of the house like a madwoman and disappearing into the alley."

"The child's body was quickly collected and placed in a coffin, but it was much later that people found her body under the overpass. In addition to the obvious X-ray, some of her organs had been removed."

The boss looked at me quietly and said, "This is the life of my benefactor."

……

"To this day, I still remember the night I learned the news. At that time, my performance improved a lot, and my turnover was no longer always at the bottom. But in these commissions, there was no longer a lady who looked at me with a gentle smile and said, 'I really can't do anything with you, you have to work harder.'"

“I sat alone by the river for a long time. The riverbank was brightly lit, and there was a bridge in the distance. Even though her body wasn’t found here, and I didn’t see her body with my own eyes, I still had this illusion that I saw that woman squinting her eyes at the world, looking at it as both vibrant and filthy.”

“I’m not saying she was completely innocent in this matter. But did it have to come to this? Did her actions have to be punished in this way? If she had met a good person, or if her colleague had had a change of heart at some point… if just one person in this story had intervened even slightly, perhaps the tragedy wouldn’t have happened.”

“I can occasionally take a phone call here, listen to her complain about the recent housing prices or her children’s education, and chat about things from when we were young. I might even send her something, like a cake or fruit, to let her know that the kid I helped before has become a big shot. Then she lives her peaceful and happy life, while I continue to fight with the old folks here.”

The shopkeeper picked up his cigar again. This time, I didn't stop him.

"So now you can understand why I don't allow the store to sell this kind of stuff. I'm not a good person either, I need to make money. But I don't want to touch this stuff. Every time I see it, I feel like that woman in my mind is crying out to me in blood. It's too fucking torturous."

The boss exhaled a puff of smoke.

"There's a demon hidden in everyone's heart. Don't talk about getting started or giving it a try. Once a demon is released, it can't go back on its own. I can't control other people, and I can't control this world either."

"But if anyone in the store dares to unleash a demon again, I'll have no choice but to stab them hard. I can't control what happens elsewhere, but if it involves someone close to me..."

The boss, who was usually a nice guy, sounded unusually fierce and vicious when he said this, like a desperate fugitive. "Then whoever dares to make me have nightmares at night, I'll make sure they can't even dream."

"If other stores use it, won't it cause a lot of losses to your business?" I asked knowingly.

“Do you really think I’m dead? I’ll set new rules for the industry. And even if we take a step back, we still have you, don’t we?” The boss laughed. “Let’s just consider these losses as what that lady paid off a dozen years ago with a few bottles of champagne and flower vouchers.”

He said this. Those few bottles of cheap, low-quality champagne seemed to him to be the most precious treasure in the world at that moment.

I nodded, left the office, and closed the door behind me.

This story is too long; it's still not finished, and we need to spend a lot more time saying goodbye to the past.

None of us are good people, and the evil we've done may well lead to a bad end. But even people like us probably have some insurmountable obstacles in their hearts.