Chapter 73: Breaking the Rules

"Hey, Qiao Yu, from now on, don't put on such heavy makeup," Yang Meng teased as she sipped her drink. "They say women are made of water, but after you cry, anyone who knows you would just see your makeup all smeared. Anyone who doesn't might think you're made of cement!"

Qiao Yu was finally unable to cry any longer. "Are you done yet? I'm already this heartbroken and you're still making jokes?"

Yang Meng spread his hands wide. "I'm not the one who told you to cry here!"

Qiao Yu wiped her tears and threatened fiercely, "I'll just sit here and cry! I want everyone to see! I want them all to think you bullied me! What can you do about it? Will you hit me?"

Yang Meng laughed, "Now that's more like a woman! That's right, isn't it exhausting living like a robot? Lighten up, relax a little. Here, take this box of tissues, cry as much as you want. If you run out, I'll ask the waiter for more!"

"I'm not crying anymore! I won't let you laugh at me! I'm going to drink with you!" Without hesitation, she picked up the Hennessy Richard bottle and began to pour herself a drink.

Yang Meng hurriedly covered Qiao Yu's glass to stop her. "Listen, sister, mixing different drinks like this will get you drunk really fast."

Quan Yajing laughed. "Hey, are you worried about us?"

Yang Meng shook his head vigorously. "No, no, I just think it's a waste to drink this liquor. You girls should just stick to champagne. Who knows when someone else will treat me to this kind of drink again!"

If he hadn't said that, things might have been fine, but as soon as he did, Qiao Yu snatched her glass back. "Xiao Jiao, Jingjing, bring your glasses here! Tonight, we'll finish this bottle for him! What's there to be afraid of? At worst, we'll pay for the liquor! If he won't sell it to us, we'll drink his!"

Yang Meng shrugged and kept quiet. Go ahead, drink if you want. Just don't start any drunken drama afterward.

Quan Yajing watched as Qiao Yu poured her a drink, surprised that Yang Meng didn't try to stop her. "Yang Meng, why aren't you stopping Qiao Yu? This liquor is expensive, doesn't it bother you?"

Yang Meng smiled. "If you want to drink, just drink. When I was poor, I never cared about this sort of thing, so why would I now that I'm suddenly wealthy?"

Quan Yajing didn't understand. Yang Meng explained, "I have a few friends who were just as broke as I was. We used to talk about this. None of us ever envied the rich, because we knew if we ever got money ourselves, we'd probably be even worse. Why are there so many 'moral crusaders' in society? It's because they don't have money and can only take the moral high ground to show off. Once they have money, they're all the same!"

"Aren't you afraid of what people might say about you?" Quan Yajing asked.

Yang Meng grinned. "I'm nouveau riche, what do I care? All right, let's drink!"

But he really overestimated the drinking capacity of these three girls. They hadn't had much before they started acting drunk—crying, laughing, causing a scene. Before long, all three of them were sprawled out on the couch, fast asleep.

To be able to fall asleep in such a noisy environment? Yang Meng was actually impressed.

When Zhang Qiang returned after his phone call, he was startled by the scene. "Yang, what's going on here?"

Yang Meng spread his hands. "This has nothing to do with me. They got themselves drunk. What are these people thinking? I used to read news about girls getting 'picked up' after getting drunk at bars and thought it was just for attention. But seeing this, I realize I was naïve—it really happens."

Zhang Qiang sat down next to Yang Meng and laughed, "You're just not used to it, that's all. To be honest, this kind of thing happens almost every day here."

Yang Meng was surprised. "Isn't that illegal?"

Zhang Qiang laughed heartily. "Now let me tell you something, Yang. Never underestimate women."

"I'm all ears."

Zhang Qiang handed Yang Meng a cigarette, lit one himself, and took a puff. "Why do so many people love going to nightclubs? Because modern life is so stressful. People come here to blow off steam. Honestly, there are only two best ways to relieve stress: gambling and sex. Gambling is banned here, but not sex. Our country's traditions, as you know, accept men looking for women, but if women look for men, people judge them. So 'getting picked up' actually gives women a good excuse to let loose—they can blame it on being drunk."

"Then why do some people call the police?" Yang Meng was puzzled.

Zhang Qiang leaned back. "Of course, some people just want a drink to vent. They have no desire to sleep with anyone. Or maybe they regret it afterward, or maybe they're not satisfied with the guy. Who knows what women are thinking? I never 'pick up' drunk girls."

Yang Meng looked at the three women sprawled on the sofa and sighed, "What am I supposed to do now? I have no experience with this!"

Zhang Qiang held up two fingers. "In my experience, there are two possible reasons for this situation."

"Which two?" Yang Meng asked curiously.

Zhang Qiang replied, "First, you gave them a sense of security. They feel safe around you, so they can get drunk without worry."

Yang Meng couldn't hold back and cursed. "Sense of security, my ass! I only met them today!"

Zhang Qiang laughed. "Then it's the second reason."

"What's that?"

Zhang Qiang grinned. "They want something to happen between you and them. Lucky you, three beautiful girls at once! Which one will you choose? Well, that's a silly question—kids make choices, adults take them all!"

Yang Meng flipped Zhang Qiang the finger. "Zhang, stop making fun of me. You see how pretty they are—none of them are easy to handle! Let's just drink. Maybe they'll wake up soon."

But he and Zhang Qiang drank until the club closed, and the three girls still didn't wake up. No matter how hard Yang Meng tried, he couldn't rouse them, and was tempted to splash water on their faces out of frustration. In the end, Zhang Qiang stopped him.

Looking at the three women on the couch, Yang Meng felt overwhelmed. Should he just leave them? After all, they're in the same car club—it wouldn't look good to abandon them. But should he do as Zhang Qiang suggested and "take them all," like an adult?

That idea did sound pretty tempting...

No! Am I the kind of person who takes advantage of others?

Well...

No!

He'd heard jokes about "beasts" and "worse than beasts," and always thought they were just jokes. But now, faced with the situation himself, he realized how real it could be.

Zhang Qiang was so drunk he could barely stand, but still managed to call Gao Pei over. "Yang, don't worry, I've got everything arranged for you!" He then flopped onto the couch and started snoring.

"Arranged? Arranged what?" Yang Meng was dizzy and his tongue felt thick. Staring at the sleeping Zhang Qiang, he couldn't figure it out.

Gao Pei arrived with a few of the bar's women and said, "Yang, just now Boss Zhang booked rooms for you at the hotel across the street. It won't be easy for you to carry these three ladies by yourself, so I've brought some girls to help out."

Yang Meng glanced at Zhang Qiang lying on the couch—no wonder he was the boss, thinking of everything.

What do you find most in the nightclub area? 24-hour convenience stores? Late-night diners? No, it's hotels. Zhang Qiang had reserved rooms in advance and even arranged for girls to help carry the drunk women to the hotel.

Wait—hotel? Rooms? Me and three girls?

Yang Meng looked at Zhang Qiang with a complicated expression. Wasn't this pushing him toward being a "beast"?

But Gao Pei, as if reading his mind, said, "Don't worry, Yang, I've booked two rooms. You and your friends can all rest well. Here are the room cards."

Yang Meng blinked. Now he could be "worse than a beast." Wait, why give him both room cards?

He instantly understood—Zhang Qiang's intentions were clear: with both room cards in hand, it was up to him whether he wanted to be a beast or worse than a beast. They would know nothing.

Yang Meng still couldn't tell if Zhang Qiang was truly drunk or just pretending. Once he lay down, whatever happened afterward had nothing to do with him.

How cunning!

What else could Yang Meng say at this point? Everything had been arranged for him.

Gao Pei and the others helped carry the three women to the hotel and then left. Yang Meng was left staring at the three "corpses" on the beds, his head pounding.

He wasn't exactly a saint, but he couldn't bring himself to take advantage of others like this. Sex was meant to be enjoyed, not just a way to vent! Shaking his head at the three sleeping women, Yang Meng went to the other room, washed up, and went to bed.

Fine, so be it—"worse than a beast."

Wait, did I forget something when I left the club in such a hurry? What was it? Never mind, whatever!

But just as he left the girls' room, all three of them opened their eyes.

No wonder Yang Meng couldn't wake them earlier. The saying was true: you can never wake someone pretending to be asleep.

All three had been faking it—what acting skills! They deserved Oscars.

Chen Jiao pulled a metal hairpin from her pocket and grumbled, "Hmph, he got off easy. Otherwise, I'd have poked a few holes in him! What do we do now? This wasn't part of our plan!"

There was no way they were so naive. In fact, this was all part of their plan—to pretend to be drunk, lure Yang Meng into the hotel, and take action. They'd done it before, and it always worked.

Who would have thought Yang Meng would turn out to be "worse than a beast"—he actually left!

Why wasn't he playing by the rules?