Chapter 16: Chu Qing.

Human beings, once night falls, tend to give birth to all sorts of desires.

Luxury cars lined up outside the nightclub entrance—Rolls-Royces, Bugattis; even the slightly less impressive ones were Audi A8s.
At the doors of high-end malls, well-dressed young masters came and went alongside girls in their prime, wrapped tightly in coats under the night lights—chatting and laughing, full of interest, putting on their best civilized facades.

Chu Qing had a walkie-talkie clipped to her waist, wore a sharp little suit, and leaned against the railing, watching the men and women dancing wildly below.

If this had been half a month ago, she never would have imagined ending up like this—
unable to go home, unable to return to school, phone bill unpaid, no choice but to pretend to be a nearby college student and take a part-time job here.

On her first day, she’d run into something amusing.
The nightclub’s Mama Zhang had called her beauty “stunning beyond heaven and earth,”
rambling on about commissions and splits, talking until her lips nearly fell off—
praising her tall, slender figure and face that could shame the moon and flowers.
But Chu Qing had simply asked for security work.

First, she despised the idea of sitting at tables and drinking with clients—felt it went against decency.
Second, she genuinely didn’t understand why people kept saying she was good-looking.

In her mind, women should have womanly grace—able to manage the hall and the kitchen.
She still couldn’t break her old habits: smoking, drinking, face always cold, no smile for anyone.
What kind of man would like this type?
She really couldn’t figure out why that old madam kept raving about her being “moon-shaming, flower-embarrassing,” practically praising her to the skies.

“You want me to sit at tables? Fine.
But I don’t care who—anyone touches me, I chop off their finger.”
Chu Qing had said calmly at the end:
“One sentence: if you can accept that, I start work today.”

Mama Zhang had been left speechless and didn’t dare mention table-hostessing again.

So she handed Chu Qing a baton and really let her work security.

At one meter seventy-nine, she was tall even among men.
Compared to these pot-bellied middle-aged guys, she stood head and shoulders above them just by holding herself straight.
Let alone the fact that she was a woman.
She left her shirt collar open, smoked two cigarettes, tucked the baton into her waistband, and silently returned to the hallway.

She wondered what her mother back in the rural hometown would think—
hearing that her only college-student daughter was now working as a bouncer in a nightclub.

…

“Hey, Xiao Li, we already spent the money—perform something, come on!”

“Big bro, we don’t offer that kind of service here.
If it really won’t do, how about I sing you a song instead?”

“I don’t want a song. I just want to see that little body of yours…”

Chu Qing tilted her head toward the sound.
In the kaleidoscope of colorful spinning lights, she saw a group of yellow-haired delinquent boys excitedly crowding around a girl.
Their hands weren’t behaving.
The accompanying girl still wore a professional smile, but anxiety flickered in her expression.
Still maintaining full courtesy, she cooed:

“Brother Wang, I really can’t drink that much more—don’t make it hard on me~”

“I’m gonna make it hard on you tonight.
If you down this foreign liquor in one go, I’ll let you off.
If not—strip and give us a hot dance.”
The yellow-haired guy called Brother Wang slapped her ass excitedly:
“Fuck, five hundred bucks just to drink with you, and no show? No way.”

The whole table hooted.

Chu Qing had been here almost a week now—used to this kind of scene.

She quietly tucked the baton back into her waistband and strolled over slowly, stopping beside their table.

Only when the entire table stared at her in confusion did she lean on the table and smile:

“Friends, you like drinking so much—how about we have one together?”

The yellow-haired guy’s brows shot up.

He thought someone was here to cause trouble.
But when he looked up, he saw such refined features—
this tall girl’s sharp face carried a mocking smile.
He froze.

The whole table exchanged glances, eyes revealing traces of infatuation.

“Sister Qing!”
The girl looked visibly relieved.

“This is Emperor KTV.
Our girls here only drink with you—no table service, no shows.
If you really want our lady to drink, I can tell you’re a real lover of alcohol, friend.
How about you and me—one cup each.
You outdrink me, you can ask her to perform anything you want.
Deal?”
Chu Qing smiled:
“If you can’t, then you’re not much of a drinker and you lose face.
Better behave yourself.”

Hearing the contempt in Chu Qing’s tone,
before the yellow-haired guy could change his expression and retort,
she casually picked up the whiskey bottle from the table and smiled:

“Big man, don’t be scared.
Seeing how much you love drinking, I came to warm things up.
We’re all here to have fun, right?
Want to down a couple?”

Seeing this, the colorful-haired crowd at the table suddenly brightened and started clapping:
“Good! Brother Wang, drink with her!”

“If you finish that, we’ll behave however you want.”

“One word.”
Chu Qing laughed boldly, grabbed a nearby liter beer mug,
and poured more than half the bottle straight in.

The people who’d been cheering instantly went silent, jaws dropping.

Who the hell drinks foreign liquor from a liter beer mug?

That was a full liter.

“Come on, bro—fair’s fair.
Pour yourself one the same.”

Chu Qing grabbed another bottle of whiskey, filled two mugs to the exact same level,
handed one to Yellow Hair, raised hers:
“Cheers.”

The people who came here weren’t short on cash,
and face mattered more than a few hundred yuan for a bottle.

Yellow Hair looked at the liter mug of liquor and instantly sobered up.

He’d been ready to talk big again,
but Chu Qing exhaled sharply, cleared her lungs, raised the mug,
and downed the fifty-proof foreign liquor like water—no chaser—
then slammed the empty mug upside-down on the table with a crisp smack.

The table stared in stunned silence—then erupted in cheers.

“Done.”
Chu Qing wiped her mouth, face completely unchanged.
She knocked on the table:
“Your turn, bro.”

Yellow Hair stared dumbfounded.
His buddies, seeing a girl drink like that, immediately started cheering her on.

They’d come to watch this sudden girl make a fool of herself—
now Brother Wang stared at the pristine empty mug with a bitter face.

“Can’t do it?”
Chu Qing smiled calmly.

“You’re really something.”
Brother Wang stammered:
“I can’t drink that much.”

“Then let’s call it even, bro.
Our girls here work hard—don’t get handsy.”
Chu Qing laughed and patted his shoulder:
“If she complains to me later, you won’t be welcome here anymore.
Everyone’s here to have fun—don’t make it ugly.”

“Forget it, Brother Wang.
We shouldn’t make things hard for her.
Let’s just talk among ourselves.”
Sure enough, someone immediately switched sides:

“We came out to have a good time.
Isn’t this already fun?”

“Right, right—we’re a bunch of grown men.
Bullying a little girl—what kind of skill is that?”

Chu Qing smiled and said nothing.

She wasn’t afraid of causing trouble anyway.

She understood these men’s psychology perfectly.

Bullying women wasn’t impressive.
The more face-conscious someone was, the lower it made them look.
People who came here weren’t afraid of bragging—
they were afraid of looking inferior.
Face was more important than heaven.

When a big group of men went out drinking,
if Chu Qing had been a guy causing trouble, they’d band together against her.
But since she was such a bold woman,
they admired and respected her instead.

Though even if they really tried to fight,
she’d drop them in two or three moves anyway.