Chapter 156: Sticking to One's Old Trade

"Are you alright, Sister Hong?" Liu Yunfei walked over and pulled her up. Both of her thumbs were tightly bound by a thin cord. It was truly vicious—binding just two fingers was enough to completely immobilize a person. With a firm yank, Liu Yunfei snapped the cord apart.

"Do you really know me?" Sister Hong asked, putting her red and swollen fingers into her mouth to suck on them.

"Yeah, from the Royal Nightclub. I even gave you a hundred dollars."

"Oh, it's you!" Seeing a familiar face, Sister Hong seemed quite pleased, but her expression immediately dimmed again. "Your name is Liu Yunfei, right?"

"You know me too?" Liu Yunfei asked in surprise.

"Of course, you're a celebrity. Who in Huangjiang City doesn't know you?" Lowering her head, she kept sucking on her fingers. Although not an absolute beauty, she was certainly a pretty young thing. If he hadn't seen her at the nightclub, he might have taken her for a pure, innocent girl.

"Well, obviously some people don't. Those three ruffians just now certainly didn't know me," Liu Yunfei joked. He reached out to brush the dirt off the seat of her pants, and as his hand brushed against her soft buttocks, he couldn't help letting out a soft sigh. Such a fine woman, and yet she was a hostess.

"What are you sighing for? Do you think it's such a pity that a nice girl like me became a hostess?" Sister Hong was quite sensitive.

Liu Yunfei blushed. Other women took up the profession with such unblushing boldness; why was he sitting here worrying about her ancient virtues? He forced a smile and said, "It is indeed a pity."

"Sigh." This time it was Sister Hong's turn to sigh, her eyes instantly turning red. "If it weren't for my family being so poor, my mother falling ill, and running into scoundrels, who would ever want to be a hostess?"

*Sigh.* He hadn't expected this Sister Hong to be driven to it by circumstance either. Could she really be blamed for doing this work? "What illness?" Liu Yunfei couldn't bear to see women cry. He hadn't used to be this way, but every time he saw a woman in tears, he would naturally think of Yu Qing's tear-streaked face.

Sister Hong was momentarily startled, then said somewhat unhappily, "What business is it of yours? Men are all the same—once they help me, they want to get something out of me. But you're even more detestable, you're worse than all of them." With that, she turned on her heel and strode out of the grove.

Liu Yunfei was utterly baffled. This was a classic case of biting the hand that fed you! He had just saved her, yet without a single word of thanks, she was getting angry. He took two steps to catch up and asked, "How am I detestable again?"

"Because in your eyes, you look down on me."

"To be honest, I did look down on you a bit before. But now that I know you had no other choice, that you were driven by poverty and the need to cure your mother, to be honest, I just feel a sense of pity and heartache," Liu Yunfei said sincerely.

"It wasn't just being driven by poverty—I was forced by them, too. At first, I refused, so they beat me and took turns violating me. I simply couldn't take it anymore, so I gave in. Sigh." Remembering the past, Sister Hong couldn't help stopping in her tracks and breaking down in tears.

Liu Yunfei had no choice but to step close, stand before her, and say, "They will be punished. I swear it."

Hearing this, Sister Hong cried even harder, burying her face in Liu Yunfei's shoulder and sobbing uncontrollably. Liu Yunfei could do nothing except let her use his shoulder as a crutch.

"What good is your oath? Aren't they still living comfortably?" Sister Hong choked out.

"Haven't you watched the live trial broadcasts? I'm a cop," Liu Yunfei said, gently stroking her back to comfort her.

"Cops are bad guys too."

"Well, then I'm a Mainland public security officer."

"Hehe," Sister Hong couldn't help letting out a small laugh.

"Let's go. There are people waiting for me over there."

"Wait, accompany me to the bank first. They took my card, and I need to report it lost," Sister Hong requested.

Liu Yunfei nodded. "Alright."

Suddenly, Sister Hong smiled mischievously, swung her hand, and asked, "When you were stroking my back just now, did you have a physical reaction?"

"What kind of reaction?" Liu Yunfei hadn't caught up yet; perhaps the question had come too abruptly.

"A physiological reaction, of course. You're so dense."

Liu Yunfei couldn't help sighing inwardly. *True to form, no matter what they talk about, it always comes back to sex.*

Seeing that Liu Yunfei remained silent, Sister Hong reached out and grabbed the zipper of his trousers. Sister Hong's hand was fast, but what happened underneath was even faster. In such an isolated grove, alone with a woman, the intense stimulation made certain things rapidly expand.

Liu Yunfei felt a strange, thrilling sensation, suddenly feeling as though this woman had come here today specifically to seduce him. "Sister Hong, spare this little brother of yours. I won't be able to control myself."

Sister Hong laughed even more merrily, her hand moving with even greater vigor, as if she had switched careers to become a fighter pilot, grasping the control stick and shoving it back and forth. "What are you afraid of? If I remember correctly, I touched it last time too. Consider this my thanks for saving me."

"That time was an ambush by you too. Let go. I feel like the difference between humans and animals is that humans have emotions. If you have no emotions at all and just do *that*, aren't you just like an animal? Besides, I didn't save you expecting a reward." Although Liu Yunfei spoke with high-sounding righteousness, he suddenly, out of nowhere, thought of Yang Huirou from the previous night—didn't they lack an emotional foundation as well? By his own logic, that would mean he was no different from an animal.

Since Liu Yunfei had put it so loftily, Sister Hong naturally felt too embarrassed to continue playing pilot. Her expression dimmed once more as she let go of her grip and sighed, "I'd also love to do that with someone who has feelings for me, but do those men have any feelings? If they actually had feelings, they wouldn't have set their sights on me. I'm destined to live my whole life like an animal."

Not knowing how to comfort her, Liu Yunfei could only silently accompany her out of the grove and back to the small temple.

As for his newly sworn second and third brothers, Tian Xiuji and Yu Xiaowei, they couldn't help but admire his way with women—in just this short amount of time, he had brought back a pretty, voluptuous girl. The two guys immediately recalled their oath sworn during the ceremony: *blessings are to be shared together.*

"Hello, beauty. My name is Yu Xiaowei. Although I'm not as handsome as Liu Yunfei, I pride myself on being loyal and devoted, unlike him with his multiple girlfriends."

"Hi, I'm Tian Xiuji. *Tian* for field, *Xiuji* for graceful talent—doesn't that sound romantic and poetic?"

Liu Yunfei smiled, letting the two of them show off and perform, thinking to himself that if they knew Sister Hong was a nightclub hostess, heaven only knew what they would feel.

Upon leaving the grove, Sister Hong seemed like a completely different person; her previous flirtatiousness and seductiveness had entirely vanished. Perhaps women truly were born actresses. Looking very demure, she extended a small hand to shake theirs politely and briefly, then stood quietly beside Liu Yunfei with her head lowered. Anyone unaware of the situation would have thought she was Liu Yunfei's wife.

After Liu Yunfei finished his visit to the small temple and descended the mountain, Sister Hong stubbornly refused to leave with the others, insisting that Liu Yunfei escort her alone. The two scoundrels exchanged lewd winks at Liu Yunfei, climbed into the Mercedes, and sped away with a roar of exhaust.

"Aren't we going to the bank? It's on the way anyway," Liu Yunfei asked somewhat doubtfully.

"By the time we get to the bank, it'll be almost time for me to head to the nightclub. I don't want other people knowing what I do for a living," Sister Hong whispered with her head down.

"Oh, well, let's go then."

"Actually... actually, I don't take clients anymore. I'm a floor manager now," Sister Hong added. Hearing this, Liu Yunfei felt a sudden pang of apprehension. *What are you telling me this for? Could you have set your sights on me too? I'd better keep my distance from now on. Having a hostess hanging around all day is never a good thing, and my self-control isn't that strong. If something really happened between us, it would only spell trouble.*

By dusk, after being relentlessly panned and coaxed by Sister Hong, Liu Yunfei finally surrendered his cell phone number and managed to break away, hurrying over to the Food Street Police Station.

Zhu Zhicheng didn't say much. "Resume your classes tomorrow morning."

"Don't you think I got out a bit too easily?" Liu Yunfei asked.

"I think so too. Today's Municipal Party Standing Committee meeting was very strange. Normally, Secretary Jin and his son always oppose us, yet he actually took the initiative to speak up for you and help clear your name. The old bureaucrat and I racked our brains for half a day and couldn't figure it out. Since we can't make sense of it, we'll stop trying. There's just one thing to keep in mind: wolves never change their diet to vegetarian. If one day they suddenly start eating plants, you have to be even more careful."

"Right, that makes sense. We can only proceed with caution."