Chapter 135: Getting Into Trouble — An Extra Chapter for Hgan

Our seats were quite close to the stage, making them prime real estate in the bar. I could even see the sparkling navel ring on the belly of the pole dancer.

I left the glass untouched, but Guan Erchen narrowed her phoenix-like eyes at me. "What, won't you even listen to your aunt? Do you think I'd sell you off?"

I picked it up and took a tiny sip. It tasted quite good. Just as I was about to put it back down, she wrapped her arm around my neck and pressed down on the rim, forcing me to chug the entire glass of cocktail down to the last drop.

She clapped her hands happily. "You're a promising student. To fight those two stubborn old mules, you need this kind of nerve."

I chuckled, feeling a bit tipsy. She added, "Do you know what this drink is called? It's called 'Forget-Worry Blossom.' One glass, and I guarantee it'll make you forget all your troubles."

Of course, I didn't believe a single glass of wine could have such magical properties. If such a thing really existed, how could Xia Qi have committed suicide?

Because I wasn't used to it, the deafening music soon gave me a headache. There was a suffocating tightness in my chest, but under Guan Erchen's instigation, I unknowingly drank a lot more with her.

I had to admit she knew her foreign liquors well. As she told me about the time she fell in love with a man over a single glass of wine and eloped with him, I suddenly felt as though all the surrounding noise had vanished. It was just the two of us, sitting beneath the dim, warm light, sharing our respective love stories.

She gulped down another full glass and let her head droop onto my shoulder. "You know, back then, I went through hell and back to elope with him. We ran off to Japan, didn't do a single thing, just clung to each other in bed every single day. Back then, I felt like leaving each other for even a single second would mean death. Later... later we started arguing. When we fought bitterly, he told me to get lost, and said that if I ever dared to show up in front of her again, he'd kill me... Lanshan, do you know what it feels like to love someone yet only be able to watch him from afar? Later, I heard there was another woman by his side, heard he spoiled that woman like she was the only treasure in heaven and earth. I wasn't jealous, just heartbroken. Why was all that deep affection, once given to me, handed over to another woman... That brat says I'm a fool. Actually, everyone is a fool when it comes to love. It's just that some people are lucky enough to find someone willing to be foolish right along with them. I wasn't lucky, that's all."

I hadn't expected her to have such a tragic love story. So, was that why she stayed in Lijiang and refused to come back?

When I finally snapped back to reality, the table was covered with a variety of cocktails—at least ten glasses. I asked the young waiter who had been serving us all along why he had brought so many drinks.

He glanced at the woman beside me and told me he was simply following orders.

I told him to take the drinks away, but Guan Erchen shouted, "Don't touch them, I'll drink them."

Seeing that she was about to completely lose her composure, I hurriedly called Luo Ange. The venue was too noisy, so I handed Guan Erchen over to the waiter and ran to the restroom.

Luo Ange asked where I was. After I gave him the name of the bar, something seemed to dawn on him. "Oh no, that's Night Rain's territory."

I asked him who Night Rain was, but he just instructed, "Go keep an eye on her right now, I'll be there soon."

By the time I got back, I couldn't find Guan Erchen or the waiter anywhere.

At that moment, the pole dancer had been replaced by a stripper. A crowd of raucous men and women chanted down from three to one. A woman with the flexibility of a water snake ripped off her black lace bra, held it high, and whipped it through the air. Her twin mounds of pale flesh bounced along with it, and countless men screamed, "Give it to me!" The entire scene was descending into an insanity on the verge of spinning out of control.

I finally spotted the person I was looking for in the crowd near the front of the stage. Guan Erchen had shed her jacket and was trying to charge up there. I thought she was going to steal the dancer's bra, but to my absolute shock, this girl went up there to strip herself. As she writhed and twisted, she shoved the bra-wielding dancer right off the edge of the stage.

The stage was quite high. The girl took a brutal tumble and was pulled up with a face covered in blood.

A roar erupted from the crowd. Someone smashed a beer bottle, rushed onto the stage, and lunged to hit Guan Erchen.

I screamed and tried to push my way through to pull her back, but the surrounding crowd was too dense; I couldn't squeeze through.

Just as the beer bottle was about to come crashing down on Guan Erchen, she seemed to have eyes in the back of her head. With a deft dodge, she executed a shoulder throw that sent the bulky, overweight man flying off the stage.

Some people in the crowd cheered her on, which only fueled her madness. She went right back to her striptease.

Seeing that she was about to strip off her T-shirt, I screamed her name in terror and fought desperately to get onto the stage. Right at that moment, the crowd near the inner edge parted, and several men wielding clubs rushed up.

The situation instantly descended into chaos. A-Yun still hadn't returned, and standing on the sidelines, helpless and unable to pitch in, I could only watch as Guan Erchen ran those hulking brutes in circles.

The music stopped at some point, leaving only spectators watching the spectacle. Someone near me saw how panicked I was and gave me a hand to haul me up onto the stage.

Guan Erchen suddenly pointed at the hulking brutes and screamed, "I'm done playing! Bring your boss out here to talk to me."

One of them let out a dry, humorless chuckle and gave a sweeping wave of his hand. A swarm of thugs poured in from all directions.

They swarmed forward, launching reckless attacks at Guan Erchen. No matter how formidable she was, she was still a woman and couldn't possibly withstand sheer numbers. Within moments, she took a couple of hard blows from the clubs.

I had trained in close-quarters combat, but these men were armed with clubs, making it impossible for me to get close to them. Although I managed to floor two or three of them, my strength was limited, and having had too much to drink, I was quickly pinned to the floor by several men.

Seeing me sitting there pinned down, Guan Erchen roared, "Take it out on me! Let her go!"

The man who had given the hand gesture earlier crouched down in front of me. He pinched my chin, looked me over, and let out a lewd, approving chuckle. "Not bad, little girl. Has the flower been plucked yet? How about big brother shows you a good time?"

I knocked his hand away and spat straight into his face. "Touch me again, and I'll make sure there's nothing left of you to bury."

"Oh? Such a big mouth. Big brother is going to touch you today. What are you going to do about it?"

He pinched my chin again. Someone handed him a glass of wine, and I heard Guan Erchen shriek, "Damn it! You try making her drink that, and if I don't hack you into a million pieces, I'm not human."

I vaguely knew what was in that glass and panic set in. In my heart, I screamed, *Luo Ange, hurry up and come! Hurry up and save me!* The next second, two men pried my mouth open, and that freezing liquid was forced down my throat.

Guan Erchen broke free from the person holding her to come to my rescue, but she took several heavy punches to the stomach. She collapsed to the ground, and just as she tried to push herself back up, someone stamped their foot down onto her back.

The man let out a loud laugh and waved to his subordinates. "Come on, take these two chicks away."

He looked at me with malicious intent. "Especially this one. Take her to my room, and big brother will take good care of her."

Even though my hands were restrained, I kept kicking out at him. Blinded by terror, I could only curse at the top of my lungs—though what exactly I was screaming, I couldn't even remember myself.

Before long, I was hoisted up by four limbs and carried away. I screamed Guan Erchen's name, and she called back to me, but pinned beneath someone's foot, she could only watch helplessly as I was carried off.

I let out one final, desperate scream for Luo Ange. I simply refused to believe I could be this unlucky over and over again.

I had no idea what kind of drugs those people had forced into me. Through a hazy blur, I saw A-Yun burst through the doorway. He was gripping a long, slender blade, looking just like a Japanese samurai, and right behind him, wearing an expression of sheer anxiety, was the man I longed for day and night.

For some reason, I hadn't cried through all of that terror, but the moment I laid eyes on that face, the tears broke free.

The scene erupted into utter chaos. Luo Ange's men fought with bloodshot eyes. With one arm wrapped around me, he used whatever he was holding in his other hand to smash mercilessly against the head of the man who had forced the drink down my throat.

This was the first time I had ever seen Luo Ange resort to violence. After bashing that man, he delivered a vicious kick straight to the guy's crotch.

The man clutched his groin, collapsing to the ground in agony, muttering something—presumably a string of curses. Luo Ange raised his hand to strike him again, but someone stepped in to stop him.

Guan Erchen's eyes were blazing red as she gripped a club. The exact second she raised it without a shred of hesitation, Luo Ange covered my eyes with his hand.

My entire body was burning up with a stifling, restless heat, as if countless tiny bugs were crawling all over my skin, gnawing on my flesh and drinking my blood. I clawed frantically at the collar of my T-shirt.

Luo Ange pinned my hands down, leaning in close to my ear to coax me gently. "Be a good girl, it'll pass in a minute. I'll give you whatever you want once we get back, okay?"

People had already stepped in to clear the scene, and everyone who had given us a hard time was subdued. Guan Erchen kept demanding of the man sprawled on the floor, "Where is your boss? Call him out here to face me."

I felt like I was about to explode. I kept pressing myself against Luo Ange's chest, unintelligible whimpers spilling from my lips as the overwhelming heat consumed me.

He muttered something to A-Yun, who in turn spoke to someone who looked like the manager. Before long, someone ushered us into a private booth.

The air conditioning in the room was on, but it did nothing to cool me down. I tossed and turned, pinning Luo Ange down as I frantically tried to untie his shirt.

He let out a muffled groan and roared—not at me, but at the trembling manager standing before us: "What the hell did you people feed my wife? Where's the antidote?"

The manager was shaking so hard his voice quivered. "Young Master Luo, this is a new aphrodisiac our boss just brought in. As you know... this stuff doesn't have an antidote."

Luo Ange, consumed with rage, redirected his fury at Guan Erchen. "Look at the mess you've made! What do we do now?"

True to her spoiled temperament, she dug her heels in recklessly. "If you want to blame me, go ahead and have your second uncle lock me up, then."

A-Yun managed to track down some ice cubes, wrapped them in a towel, and handed them to Luo Ange, who pressed them against my forehead.

But that was merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause. Soon enough, I plunged back into a state of frantic delirium. He scooped me up into his arms and said to the woman who was sitting nearby continuing her drink: "I'm done dealing with you. You're on your own."

The door swung open, and a woman draped in glittering jewels appeared in the doorway. At the sight of us, she broke into a smile. "Young Master Luo, what wind blew you in here?"

She glanced down at me, and her expression instantly shifted. "Oh my, look at my good-for-nothing subordinates. How dare they lay a heavy hand on your person? I apologize to you on their behalf. Kill them or skin them, do as you please."

Luo Ange let out a cold, chilling snort. "Why don't you ask my aunt whether she's willing to settle with you first?"

The woman turned her gaze toward Guan Erchen. Though my mind was drowning in a hazy fog, I could still feel the air in the room instantly freeze over, as if one could practically hear the sound of invisible daggers and poisoned arrows flying through the air.

Guan Erchen was already fiercely arrogant, but this woman was even more so, dropping straight to the point: "Guan, my dear, what's this? Still pining after my man?"

Guan Erchen gritted her teeth. "Bitch."

The woman didn't care in the least. She simply turned to the people standing beside her and asked, "Did you all lay a hand on Miss Guan?"