Qin Ran was working overtime in Shanghai with Lin Su and Wu Han. Qin Changan and Gongsun were busy entertaining the guests and attending to the social activities incessantly in Beijing. Even Nan Gong looked somewhat busy. The atmosphere of the whole Qin Family was tenser, as well as more oppressive. Only Qin Sheng, who was extremely confused, had nothing to do and couldn’t do anything to help them, which certainly made him irritable.
According to the information related to Changan Sect he had gathered online, he knew roughly that since the government implemented stricter and stricter measures to administer the financial industry, various kinds of private financial conglomerates, among which Changan Sect was a typical one, were deterred by the danger—especially the financial tycoons who had invested abroad rampantly using external credit in the past few years. Experts accused them as the vampires preying on the domestic capital, saying that they were on suspicion of transferring their assets overseas, resulting in a large amount of loss to the foreign currency exchange, and so on. Among those financial tycoons, the Changan Sect’s head was the first to bear the brunt.
Quite many financial tycoons with powerful connections had been taken down in the past two years. Various hearsay and rumor spread like wildfire from time to time, such as someone specific had been prohibited from going abroad by the relative border control authorities, and so on. In this case, for those who were still safe and sound, they dared not expand barbarically as they used to anymore. Instead, they sold out a large number of their assets to be more prepared for the hardships ahead.
That was how the situation of the Changan Sect looked like now. Of course, Qin Changan was quite busy.
As the winter went away and the spring arrived in a blink, the temperature went up pretty fast in the past few days. It seemed that although the spring was just here, summer was already on its way. Consequently, Beijing’s nightlife was noisier and more prosperous than what it was on the cold winter days. Many men and women enjoyed their night lives to the fullest, especially the ones hanging out in the bar street at Beijing Worker’s Stadium.
By the time Qin Sheng found Han Xu, the latter had changed their hanging out location to Beijing Worker’s Stadium after the dinner and chosen a bar named VICS, which was said to be the most popular one along the street. It was said that the owner of VICS was the husband of a popular singer, who also got along with others quite well in the social circle of Sijiu City.
However, the business of the bars at Beijing Worker’s Stadium was almost the same. Moreover, the bars there were pretty diversified. After all, speaking of the owners running bars there, every one of them had some connections behind them as well as various shareholders, which was the most interesting part.
Counting Wei Li in, there were five people in Han Xu’s group, who were the classmates they got along with quite well on the usual days. Their social status was almost the same. After Qin Sheng rushed to Beijing Worker’s Stadium along with Chang Baji and Hao Lei, Chang Baji, who was not quite interested in the kind of place like a nightclub, stayed in the car and waited for Qin Sheng. After all, he could put up with the loneliness. Qin Sheng had no choice but to take Hao Lei with him.
By the time they met Han Xu and Wei Li, Han Xu’s group members were holding pretty beautiful girls, who were at different age groups with different temperaments, in their arms. Qin Sheng had gotten used to a scene like this. After all, that was how the night clubs looked like. Back when he had been in Hangzhou, he had been in charge of the kind of entertainment centers like this.
As everybody saw Qin Sheng, they all stood up hurriedly one after another and greeted him. Han Xu even walked over and threw his arms around Qin Sheng’s shoulders. “Lao Qin, do me a favor. I’d like to drink tonight. You should drink with me more.”
Several beautiful girls all eyed Qin Sheng up and down with great interest. Since they had been at the night club for a long time, when it came to examining people’s body language and observing people’s countenance, they were better than anyone else. Based on the dress code and the makeup of people attending the party tonight, the way how they talked, and the topic of their conversations, they could easily guess their relative identities, and so on. For example, after Qin Sheng arrived here, based on those people’s attitudes and the looks in their eyes, they knew that this man should hold an outstanding position in the group.
Qin Sheng replied happily, “In that case, I am afraid you will be carried out.”
Han Xu said boldly, “As long as we all won’t go home before getting drunk, I am happy to be carried out. Haha, haha.”
After Qin Sheng greeted everybody on the scene, he introduced Hao Lei to them without keeping anything from them, directly saying that Hao Lei was his best friend as well as his sworn follower. After that, everyone addressed Hao Lei as their brothers intimately right away. They didn’t ponder over what Hao Lei’s specific identity was, thinking that Hao Lei should be the same as Qin Sheng.
They all drank whiskey. There were two beauties dressed in uniforms at their service from beginning to end. The whiskey probably wasn’t cheap at all. After all, as usual, Han Xu was quite generous.
Knowing that Qin Sheng wasn’t picky, Han Xu didn’t ask what Qin Sheng would like to drink. Instead, he directly called the manager over and talked with him for a while. Hardly had they drunk the first toast to each other when the manager brought seven to eight beautiful girls inside, each of whom could be qualified to be a model.
Of course, Qin Sheng and Hao Lei knew what Han Xu meant. They were just joining in the fun on occasion, and that was all. If they stuck to their principles, they would only embarrass everybody on the scene. Consequently, they each picked a girl randomly.
The girl Qin Sheng had chosen was quite beautiful and looked young. It was not until Qin Sheng inquired about her age that he knew she was born in 1999, and she was a student from the Central Conservatory of Music. Qin Sheng felt embarrassed since he was old enough to be her uncle.
Qin Sheng didn’t ask her any questions, such as why she didn’t dedicate herself to her studies, and so on. Since he was not connected to her biologically, he didn’t need to teach her these things. Moreover, if he did, the girl would despise and loathe him. People at her age should be responsible for their choices.
Speaking of those who got along with Han Xu quite well, they had almost the same characters and temperaments, except for the weirdo, Wei Li. Consequently, the atmosphere of the party was kind of harmonious. They played games, drank alcohol, and drank a toast to Qin Sheng one after another. Of course, Qin Sheng did accept their toasting one by one. If someone insisted on asking Qin Sheng to drink up or Qin Sheng could not hang on anymore due to his constant loss in the games, Hao Lei, who didn’t want Qin Sheng to get loaded, stood up for him naturally and drew the opponent on himself.
They continued drinking after 09:30 p.m. During this period, many acquaintances came over and drank a toast to them, who were all the friends of the people on the scene. Moreover, someone even sent a few bottles of wine over to them. After all, they all hung out often and got used to these occasions early. Consequently, they dealt with different kinds of friends sleekly, did the mutual introduction, got acquainted with each other, and so on.
Qin Sheng also ran into an acquaintance, Yin Hao, who was on pretty good terms with his sister’s group members. This was the third time that Qin Sheng saw Yin Hao. Although they were not quite familiar with each other, it seemed that they got along quite well. After all, the first time when they had seen each other and drunk together, both of them had gotten loaded since they had drunk quite much alcohol that night.
Yin Hao was kind of a pretty moderate rich playboy. Although he was younger than Ma Weiyang and her group members by a few years, he was favored by them, indicating that he got some unknown virtues. It did not occur to Yin Hao either that he would come across Qin Sheng here. It was not until he eyed Qin Sheng up and down and confirmed his identity that he ran over there to him.
Wei Li, who had seen Yin Hao before, knew about his identity. Yin Hao also had some impression of Wei Li. He remembered that Qin Sheng had not respected this man much that day and wondered why they would hang out together now. Even so, Yin Hao didn’t overthink it. After all, it was Qin Sheng’s own business.
After Yin Hao greeted Qin Sheng’s friends and drank with them, he sat beside Qin Sheng, lit up a cigarette, and asked, “When did you come back?”
Qin Sheng replied casually, “Yesterday. Old Master registered the classes for advanced studies in the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University for me before the New Year Holiday. The classes will last for two more months. Today was the first day we attended classes after the New Year Holiday. I accompanied my classmates here for drinking.” Since Yin Hao was at almost the same age as him, he did not feel reserved while talking with him as he did while talking with the kind of people like Fan Dezhi.
Yin Hao took the initiative to ask Qin Sheng, “Haha, you are such a good drinker. They may not necessarily beat you. Although we beat you last time, we did have an unfair advantage since we took turns competing with you for drinking. When can we hold another drinking party?”
Qin Sheng burst into laughter and replied. “Anytime.”
Qin Sheng’s straightforward answer made Yin Hao burst into laughter. As for what had happened to Qin Sheng, Yin Hao didn’t know how to express his feelings in words. Moreover, it was not until the drinking party last time was over that he got to know about Qin Sheng’s experience. However, upon looking back at times, he thought if Qin Sheng had been living in Sijiu City all the time, based on his temperament, he certainly would have accomplished great achievements now.
Yin Hao said thoughtfully, “When will Sister Ran come back? When I saw Sister Ponytail two days ago, she kept mumbling about Sister Ran, saying if Sister Ran were still in Shanghai, she would certainly rush over there. Since Sister Ran and Sister Ponytail have been hanging out with each other ever since their childhood, nobody can break up the connections between them. Although somebody already keeps a distance from your family at this time, never will we do the same. As a result, if you need any help, feel free to tell me.”
Qin Sheng picked up the wine glass and drank a toast to Yin Hao as he said, “Thanks. This toast is on behalf of my sister.”
Yin Hao toasted with Qin Sheng smilingly and drank up. He liked the way how Qin Sheng didn’t go any further than necessary. The pretty girls beside them poured the wine to the brim in a hurry for them and didn’t listen to what they were talking about sensibly. After all, that was how the club rules went. Moreover, they could not hear anything at all in such a noisy environment.
Qin Sheng said smilingly, “Since my sister hasn’t finished her business in Shanghai, she probably won’t come back soon. If she is available some other day, I will ask you to hang out together.” To be honest, Qin Sheng was not qualified to say so since they were his sister’s friends. However, it was due to this layer of connection that Qin Sheng was willing to get closer to them.
Yin Hao picked up the wine glass once again and said, “All right. Then I will wait for your news.”
At that moment, Qin Sheng pulled Hao Lei over and asked him to drink a toast to Yin Hao together, introducing Hao Lei to Yin Hao intentionally. After he addressed Hao Lei as his sworn follower, Yin Hao instantly knew that the relationship between them was different.
Yin Hao greeted everyone on the scene, drank another toast, and left them. After all, his friends were still waiting for him—they were all rich Playboys in Sijiu City. However, they left the night club soon.
Hao Lei asked casually, “Lao Qin, who is this brother?” He could see clearly that Qin Sheng took Yin Hao quite seriously.
Qin Sheng replied honestly, “My sister’s friend. I saw him a few times and got along with him quite well.”
Hao Lei nodded quietly and remained silent. After all, they were clear about some things in their minds.
As Qin Sheng continued drinking with others, he didn’t know that some people at another deck were observing him. The deck was not as noisy as others. Other than three men, there was only one beauty by their side. They neither played games nor competed for drinking. Instead, they chatted away and drunk quietly. The pace at their deck was quite slow.
A man, who held a beautiful girl in his arms, squinted and said gently, “Lao Gu, do you know that guy?” He was about 35 or 36 years old, looking somewhat cynical. The beautiful girl was not someone hanging around in the night club but his soulmate.
The man, who was addressed as Lao Gu, stared at the deck not far away from him, where Qin Sheng’s group members were having fun, and frowned as he said, “Which one?”
He replied casually, “The one sitting in the middlemost position, and has the shortest hair.”
Lao Gu asked in confusion, “No at all. Why did you ask me that? Is he your friend?”
“My friend?” After the man heard Lao Gu’s reply, he burst into laughter and continued, “Lao Gu, if I made a friend with him, I am afraid that my father would beat me hard.”
Lao Gu, who was more confused, asked, “What do you mean? Who is that guy?”
Instead of playing a mysterious game, the man directly revealed the answer and said, “Qin Changan’s son.”
After Lao Gu heard his explanation, the look on his face turned icy cold. He stared at Qin Sheng closely with some homicidal intent in his eyes and said, “Does he have a son?”
The man replied playfully, “Lao Gu, as for that, you have been kept in the dark. I will tell you the details later step by step. However, since it is a rare opportunity for us to come across him today, let’s do something mischievous to him.”
Lao Gu remained silent. The man whispered a few words to the girl in his arms. After that, the girl stood up and left them…