But that was only natural. After all, he was the brightest star in the bar tonight!
"It's not that I don't want to keep a low profile. It's just that my outstanding charisma won't allow me to blend into the crowd!" Cheng Lang smugly praised himself. The system lay silent in Cheng Lang's mind as though it had crashed, clearly still unable to crawl out of the logical trap Cheng Lang had dug for it.
"I didn't expect you to have that in you." A customer seated in a booth stopped Cheng Lang and said with great interest, "It's a little tacky, but you sing pretty well. Come on, buddy, let me buy you a drink."
Cheng Lang glanced at the customer blocking his way. He was in his twenties, with blue hair and a silver diamond stud in his ear, dressed head to toe in designer brands. A set of Rolls-Royce Phantom keys lay on the table before him. Five or six people sat in the same booth, dressed in styles similar to Blue Hair's, all watching Cheng Lang with eager expressions.
Cheng Lang whistled inwardly and said with a grin, "The bar has rules. Servers aren't allowed to drink with customers..."
Blue Hair's face darkened, thinking Cheng Lang was refusing to give him face. Before he could flare up, Cheng Lang added, "...unless you pay extra!"
The booth fell abruptly silent for a second, then burst into laughter. Blue Hair looked at Cheng Lang. "How much extra?"
Cheng Lang shamelessly replied, "That depends on how sincere the customer is."
Blue Hair snorted, pulled out a black card, and slapped it onto the table. "Ten thousand yuan per glass. Sincere enough for you?"
Cheng Lang raised a brow and eyed him skeptically. "You sure?"
Blue Hair gave a cold snort. "Let's see how much you can drink!"
Cheng Lang snapped his fingers and summoned a coworker. "Bring ten bottles of Rémy Martin first. And remember to count my commission."
Blue Hair was speechless.
A few minutes later, Cheng Lang's coworker brought over ten bottles of Rémy Martin. By then, the commotion at the booth had already drawn the attention of other customers.
Cheng Lang picked up a bottle of Rémy Martin, weighed it in his hand, and asked Blue Hair, "One glass costs ten thousand yuan. How many glasses do you think this bottle can pour?"
Watching Cheng Lang's movements, Blue Hair slowly realized something. His expression changed as he looked at the ten bottles of Rémy Martin on the table.
Cheng Lang briskly uncorked the bottle. Without pouring it into a glass, he tipped back his head and drank straight from it. Under the multicolored laser lights, all anyone could see was the handsome man with his head thrown back, dark red liquor slowly trailing down his chin and over his Adam's apple. His throat bobbed continuously, and before long, Cheng Lang had drained the entire bottle.
Cheng Lang tipped the empty bottle upside down, then said without even flushing or catching his breath, "I can't do it anymore. I wanted to finish all ten bottles, but sadly, my ability doesn't permit it."
Blue Hair secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled and teased Cheng Lang, "I thought you were some kind of heavyweight! One bottle knocked you flat? I was planning to open a hundred bottles or so tonight."
Would it kill you not to brag? Blue Hair's drinking buddies and the bar's other customers rolled their eyes in unison.
Cheng Lang said with a grin, "I know you're generous, bro, but my bladder's authority is limited. Sorry, I need to use the restroom first."
The pink-haired girl sitting beside Blue Hair sneered. "Just say bladder. What's with that 'authority' nonsense? Showing off your vocabulary?"
Cheng Lang chuckled and pointed at the remaining nine bottles of Rémy Martin. "Want me to return these for you?"
Since he had already ordered them, Blue Hair could afford the cost of ten bottles. He waved a hand. "No need. Put them on my tab. The commission is yours."
Cheng Lang gave Blue Hair a thumbs-up. "My bro really is my bro. You sure know how to spend."
Blue Hair was so flattered by Cheng Lang's words that he immediately beamed.
After downing a bottle, Cheng Lang hurried to the restroom. He handed Blue Hair's black card to his coworker and asked him to process the commission and tip.
After relieving himself in the restroom, Cheng Lang ran into Shen Huaiyu again. Shen Huaiyu stood in the VIP lounge not far away, holding a carton of milk and a bag of small cookies. When he saw Cheng Lang, he handed them over. "You didn't eat dinner tonight, and you drank so much alcohol. It's bad for your stomach. Have some milk and cookies to settle it."
Looking at the things in his hands, Cheng Lang could not help sighing. "He's such a fucking little angel."
Shen Huaiyu had not heard him clearly. "What?"
"Nothing. I said you're really a good person." Cheng Lang handed Shen Huaiyu a good-person card, then tore open the cookies and wolfed them down.
"Slow down." Seeing this, Shen Huaiyu inserted a straw into the milk carton and handed it to him. "Drink some milk. Don't choke."
Cheng Lang looked at Shen Huaiyu, and on a sudden whim, asked, "Do you think I'm a very vulgar person? Someone who'd do anything for money?"
Shen Huaiyu shook his head. "You ordered ten bottles of alcohol just now, but only drank one. You did it to give that customer a way out. You probably didn't want to drink with him, but you couldn't refuse a customer's request. You couldn't offend him. So I think you did it deliberately. You wanted those customers to know that they could ask you to drink with them, but they had to be prepared to spend a lot of money. That way, many customers wouldn't ask you to drink with them anymore."
Cheng Lang raised his brows. Looking at Shen Huaiyu, whose features appeared even more refined beneath the lights, he suddenly said, "You're the same."
Shen Huaiyu could not quite follow Cheng Lang's train of thought. "What?"
"Some bad people did bad things to you. That was their fault." Cheng Lang comforted him. "It wasn't yours."
So don't blame yourself, and don't think you're dirty. Most of all, don't think you're guilty. Cheng Lang patted Shen Huaiyu on the shoulder. He remembered that toward the end of the original novel, after Shen Huaiyu's younger brother woke up, he discovered that his brother had become a man's kept lover and angrily accused Shen Huaiyu of changing. He called Shen Huaiyu shameless and willing to degrade himself, saying that if he had known Shen Huaiyu would become like this, he would rather Shen Huaiyu had died in that car accident. Then his outstanding older brother would never have changed.
The accusations from his own younger brother became the final straw that broke Shen Huaiyu. Shen Huaiyu suffered a complete mental breakdown. He attempted suicide countless times, and even Lu Chengxuan tying him up did no good. In the end, Shen Huaiyu smothered himself to death with a pillow.
Cheng Lang did not want Shen Huaiyu to meet the ending he had in the original novel. It was not merely to complete the mission. Cheng Lang truly believed that someone as good as Shen Huaiyu should not end up like that.
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