4: Ah Zhen's team

Over the next month,

Li Zhan acted like a dutiful bodyguard, showing up on time every day at the inconspicuous side door of the Phoenix City Nightclub.

Most nights were uneventful.

He would lean against a utility pole and smoke, watching the neon lights of the nightclub gradually fade out.

Occasionally, a few drunken guests would stumble out of the main entrance, supported by security guards who stuffed them into taxis.

A Zhen was usually among the last to leave, sometimes smelling of alcohol, sometimes just with a faint scent of perfume.

There were two instances where trouble arose.

Once, a balding middle-aged man insisted on taking A Zhen out for a late-night snack.

Just as Li Zhan took a step forward, the man let go of A Zhen's wrist.

Another time, a well-dressed young man, emboldened by alcohol, tried to stuff a business card into A Zhen's bag.

Li Zhan walked over and patted him on the shoulder; the young man turned around and saw the faint outline of muscles under Li Zhan's tight T-shirt.

He muttered "misunderstanding" with a sheepish grin and scurried off.

This particular early morning was exceptionally sweltering.

Li Zhan arrived early and squatted by the roadside, fanning himself with a newspaper.

Sweat trickled down his sideburns, soaking the collar of his T-shirt.

His phone suddenly vibrated; it was A Zhen's number.

"Hello?"

"Come up, Private Room 302." A Zhen's voice sounded a bit tipsy.

"Enter through the staff passage, don't use the main entrance."

Li Zhan was stunned for a moment.

In the past month, he hadn't set foot inside the Phoenix City Nightclub once.

Crushing his cigarette butt, he went around to the back alley and pushed open the narrow door labeled "Staff Only."

A gust of warm air, a mix of alcohol, perfume, and cigarette smoke, hit him.

The narrow corridor was covered in dark red carpet, with several gaudy oil paintings hanging on the walls.

Li Zhan followed the signs to the elevator; the lingering perfume inside made him sneeze.

Pushing open the door to Room 302, the deafening music instantly flooded out.

The lighting in the room was dim, with the crystal chandelier casting swaying spots of light on the champagne-gold walls.

About a dozen girls were sitting haphazardly on the leather sofas.

All of them were wearing black suits, with miniskirts barely covering the tops of their thighs and fishnet stockings on their long legs.

"Oh! Is Sister Zhen hiding a man?"

A girl with pink hair was the first to notice Li Zhan and cried out exaggeratedly.

A Zhen sat in the center, holding a glass of amber liquid.

Her makeup tonight was heavier than usual, with sequins at the corners of her eyes sparkling under the lights.

"Quiet down, everyone."

A Zhen clapped her hands. "This is Li Zhan, the bodyguard I hired."

She pointed to an empty seat. "Sit down, there are no outsiders tonight."

Li Zhan sat down stiffly; the sofa was softer than he imagined, and he sank right into it.

A girl with a high ponytail leaned in, her name tag swaying on her chest with "Lily" written on it.

"Bodyguard brother..."

Lily drawled.

"Sister Zhen never lets us see outsiders; you're the first."

Her fingers brushed against Li Zhan's arm, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally.

A soft hum came from the corner.

Li Zhan turned to look; it was a girl with ear-length short hair, skillfully adding ice cubes to a glass.

Her uniform skirt was longer than the other girls', but it still revealed a large expanse of snowy-white thigh when she sat down.

"That's Xiao Xue,"

A Zhen leaned into Li Zhan's ear and whispered, "She doesn't like men and only serves female guests; she's our 'Princess' here."

Xiao Xue seemed to notice his gaze and looked up, coldly scanning Li Zhan.

"Female guests?" Li Zhan lowered his voice.

"The third floor of Phoenix City is the ladies' area, specifically for rich women's entertainment."

A Zhen smiled meaningfully. "Xiao Xue is the top star; her tips in one night are worth half a month's salary for us."

As they spoke, Xiao Xue suddenly stood up, her black high heels making no sound on the carpet.

She walked to the karaoke machine and skillfully selected the song 'Woman Like a Flower'.

When the music started, her silhouette looked exceptionally fragile under the lights.

"Don't be fooled by how cold Xiao Xue is now," Lily chimed in, leaning over.

"Last time, a female guest tried to force her to go out with her, and she cracked the woman's head open with a wine bottle."

She made a smashing gesture.

"Blood splattered everywhere... finally, Sister Hong..."

A Zhen slapped Lily's thigh. "You talk too much."

Several bottles of foreign liquor sat on the coffee table, with labels saying 'Customer Deposit'.

The girls gathered in groups of two or three to play dice, occasionally bursting into exaggerated laughter.

Li Zhan noticed a gentle-looking girl with glasses sitting quietly in the corner.

She was holding a book of some kind.

"That's Xiao Wen,"

A Zhen explained, following his gaze. "A college student, she only comes on weekends."

Lily had somehow moved to Li Zhan's other side and was almost pressing against him.

"Brother, do you want to play Truth or Dare?"

A Zhen pulled Lily away. "Stop being so flirtatious; go change the music."

She handed Li Zhan a glass of wine. "The guests left early tonight, so the sisters want to relax."

The crystal chandelier suddenly flickered, and the pink-haired girl screamed as she jumped onto the coffee table to dance, her short skirt fluttering with her movements.

Li Zhan took a sip of the wine, the spicy liquid sliding down his throat.

In this decadent private room, he encountered another side of A Zhen for the first time... The night wind at 3:30 AM finally brought a hint of coolness.

After the neon lights of the Phoenix City Nightclub went out, only five people walked toward the parking lot.

A Zhen and Li Zhan walked in front, followed by Lily, Xiao Wen, Xiao Xue, and Feifei with her pink hair.

"Where are the others?" Li Zhan looked back at the empty parking lot.

"They've been picked up."

Feifei chewed gum, her long legs under the short skirt dazzlingly white under the streetlights.

"Xiao Mei is going to Macau with that real estate developer tomorrow, and Lulu was picked up by a Porsche..."

A Zhen suddenly pinched Li Zhan. "Watch the road, don't look around."

She pointed to a lit food stall not far away. "Tonight we're going to 'Old Chen's'; his clay pot porridge can sober you up."

Several greasy round tables were set up under the plastic canopy of Old Chen's.

Lily plopped down to Li Zhan's left, not caring as her miniskirt rode up.

She had chestnut-colored long hair, eyes so large they looked like she was wearing contact lenses, and a row of sparkling studs in her left ear.

"Brother Zhan~"

Lily poured a full glass of beer and pushed it over. "Since it's your first time eating with us, we have to drink a cross-cupped wine!"

A Zhen slapped her hand away. "None of that."

She turned and shouted to the owner, "Old Chen! A large portion of shrimp and crab porridge first, and twenty skewers of grilled beef fat!"

Xiao Wen sat quietly at the very edge, taking off her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose.

Without the heavy makeup from the nightclub,

She looked like an ordinary college student, with only the traces of unremoved sequins on her nails remaining.

Feifei was the complete opposite, with her pink hair tied in twin tails.

Even at a late-night food stall, she looked ready to step onto a stage at any moment.

Xiao Xue sat next to A Zhen.

She took off her high heels, rested her bare feet on the crossbar of the plastic stool, and took a pack of ladies' cigarettes from her bag to light one.

Without the lights of the night venue, she appeared even more solitary and cold.

"Do you guys usually do this?" Li Zhan took the beer A Zhen handed him.

"Do what?" Feifei was busy adding chili sauce to her porridge.

"Just..."

Li Zhan gestured. "Gathering together after work."

A Zhen served herself a bowl of porridge. "Depends on the mood. Sometimes we don't meet for a month; sometimes we see each other every day."

She suddenly kicked Xiao Xue's stool. "Did that Hong Kong woman find you again?"

Xiao Xue blew a smoke ring. "She transferred a twenty-thousand-yuan deposit yesterday, saying she wants to book me for Phuket next week."

She sneered. "That old woman's hands are even less behaved than a man's."

Lily suddenly leaned into Li Zhan's ear. "Sister Xiao Xue is actually quite amazing; her clients are all female executives of listed companies..."

Before she could finish, she was hit on the forehead by a chopstick.

"Eat your porridge." Xiao Xue stubbed out her cigarette in an empty beer can.

Xiao Wen hadn't spoken until A Zhen nudged her.

"What's wrong? Thinking about your student loan again?"

"No..."

Xiao Wen pushed up her glasses. "I'm thinking about next week's midterm exams."

She glanced at Li Zhan and suddenly blushed. "I... I'm from the Foreign Language Institute."

Feifei burst out laughing, the beef fat in her mouth almost spraying out.

"Our Little Wen is a top student; she works at the night venue just to pay off her student loans. She's as pure as bottled water!"

"So what did you do before?" Li Zhan asked curiously.

Feifei didn't feel any embarrassment.

"When I first came to Dongguan, I worked in a garment factory. Later..."

She glanced at A Zhen.

"After working in there for a year,

Those of us who looked decent basically all came out to work in the venues."

Li Zhan sighed inwardly.

Many girls were very hardworking when they first arrived in Dongguan, thinking about how to work and earn money to send home.

But gradually, they were attracted by the prosperity outside and then corrupted... Dongguan's factories attracted young people from all over the country to work,

While also providing a steady stream of human resources for various underground venues.

A Zhen suddenly raised her glass. "Alright, a toast to our new friend."

She winked at Li Zhan. "If they get bullied by customers in the future, you have to help."

Lily immediately chimed in, "What if we get bullied by a boyfriend?"

"Where would you get a boyfriend?"

Xiao Xue scoffed. "Didn't that DJ dump you last month?"

The girls burst into laughter, and Li Zhan's glass was clinked in turn.

The 4:00 AM wind blew the edges of the plastic canopy, revealing the sky gradually turning white in the distance.