The Beauty Trap

Paramount Hall was a three-story building near Jing'an Temple in the International Settlement. It covered a vast area and housed a dance floor, banquet hall, and hotel—a proper establishment for high-end spending.

Only outside Paramount Hall could one truly see Shanghai's prosperity. Multicolored neon lights flashed, cars streamed endlessly through the streets, and rows of rickshaw pullers hurried over with passengers in tow. Children with cigarette boxes slung around their necks hawked their wares everywhere, while homeless little beggars gathered in twos and threes, flattering passersby for handouts. There were also many women wrapped in overcoats, wearing qipaos or Western dresses underneath, glittering with jewels and dressed in dazzling finery.

Where there were beautiful women, there would never be a shortage of men fighting over them. Likewise, where men with power and money gathered, beautiful women were never absent.

As a high-end establishment, most of the men who came to Paramount Hall were undoubtedly wealthy. Naturally, the women who came here did not all have pure intentions. It was much the same as gold-digging and attaching oneself to rich men in later times—they hoped some important figure would take a liking to them and make them one of his concubines, heaven knew which number wife. Of course, quite a few were genuine socialites, merely here to have some fun and relieve their boredom.

But overall, there were still more women of some beauty who had no choice in the matter...

A car stopped near Paramount Hall. He Shaohong stepped out from the driver's seat and eagerly opened the rear door. Wang Yan, now dressed in a tailored suit and leather shoes, got out of the back seat. Fang Yuantu and Zhang Xian, who had come along as well, also got out and moved to stand behind Wang Yan.

With Wang