Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Inside the bar, the DJ’s explosive set was deafening.

The girl’s seductive face flickered in and out of view under the shifting glow of the atmospheric lights.

She had a tongue piercing, a head of edgy short purple hair, and a string of star-shaped earrings hanging from her fair, delicate earlobes.

“So, you’re single then,” the girl said softly after taking a sip of beer.

“Of course. If I were married, I wouldn’t be in a place like this.”

I glanced at her tattooed sleeve. Through the chaotic patterns, I could just make out a cat baring its teeth.

“Then you’re definitely going to be the type who’s henpecked,” she teased with a smile.

I didn’t rush to respond. Instead, I pulled a small red square box from my pocket and slowly opened it in front of her.

A gold necklace in a ‘Runaway Princess’ style lay quietly inside.

“It’s not about being henpecked; it’s about being devoted,” I said.

The girl’s eyes froze for a moment. She looked stunned, then quickly turned her face away, picked up her glass, and took a sip of her drink.

“It’s pretty,” she said.

“Do you like it?” I asked.

She didn’t answer.

Bolstered by the alcohol, I stood up, moved behind her, and gently fastened the necklace from the box around her neck.

Throughout the whole process, she just sat there quietly drinking her beer.

After draining the last drop from her glass, she looked at me. Her voice was calm, yet it possessed a strange piercing quality that cut through the noisy thumping of the drums.

“You’re not bad looking.”

“Want to have sex?”

I was a bit surprised.

This was the first time I’d ever met someone so forward.

As the saying goes, haste makes waste. I suppressed my racing heart and sat back down in my seat.

“Don’t get me wrong. I just wanted to make friends with you.”

To my surprise, she let out a dismissive ‘tch’ and muttered that I was a buzzkill before actually standing up to leave.

“Hey.”

I called out to stop her.

“What?”

She looked back at me.

“Could you… not go?” I asked, trying to make her stay.

The corners of her eyes flicked upward slightly. “I’ll give you one last chance.”

“Want to have sex?”

From the booth in the bar to the large round bed in the hotel, the two of us shared a tacit understanding not to ask for each other’s names.

Perhaps we both knew that names were meaningless in a one-night stand.

The girl was wild in bed, incredibly passionate.

We were like two beasts in heat, venting our desires on each other with everything we had.

She didn’t hold back her voice at all, and I completely exposed my primal nature.

Afterward, she lit a cigarette and took a slow drag.

“You performed pretty well.”

I lay on the bed, panting for breath, nearly exhausted.

“I might settle down in this city later. Do you want to exchange contact info?” I asked.

I was satisfied with both her looks and her skills in bed, but her edgy hair color and tattoos made me feel like she might be difficult to control.

It was only after she took off her clothes that I saw she didn’t just have a tattooed sleeve; her entire back was covered.

A tattoo of Songzi Guanyin.

“I have a boyfriend,” she said.

“If he found out about this, he’d 100% throw you into the sea to feed the fish.”

I hadn’t expected a one-night stand to turn into an affair.

“We didn’t use protection that last time. Don’t forget to take the pill,” I reminded her.

She flicked her cigarette ash. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t get pregnant anyway.”

“What if you do?” I said.

She gave a bitter smile. “I’ve had this Songzi Guanyin tattoo on my back for a year now, and still nothing. I can’t get pregnant at all in this lifetime.”

The horizon was gradually turning the pale white of a fish’s belly.

The girl tossed her cigarette butt aside, got dressed, and did a quick wash-up in the bathroom.

“Do you want to sleep for a bit?” I asked, watching her back as she prepared to leave.

“No.”

“It’s Wednesday. My boyfriend comes home for breakfast in the morning. I have to hurry.”

I nodded. “Safe travels.”

The gold necklace she wore out was a high-quality fake I’d bought online. It was made of brass and cost fifty yuan.

Using this trick to pick up girls had never failed me.

But this was the first time I’d managed to get a girl into bed so quickly.

I slept for about five hours before my cousin, Lu Yong, called me.

“Chuanzi, I’m downstairs at the hotel. Get your ass down here. I’m taking you out for dog meat.”