Jian Tong's heart was still pounding with residual fear. Before she had time to feel relieved, she suddenly realized that she was being intimately embraced around the waist by a stranger man.
"Ah ah ah..." Jian Tong panicked. She had grown up so big, and aside from her brother, no man had ever held her so closely... including... him.
Xiao Heng's face darkened, and he quickly stretched out his other hand to cover Jian Tong's mouth: "Shut up! What are you yelling for! You're such an odd woman! Normal people would instinctively scream when they're about to fall, but not you. You didn't make a sound when falling, but now you scream for no good reason!"
"You you you... let go first."
Xiao Heng noticed her stumbling and suspicious manner and a lightbulb went off in his head: "Hey, you weren't screaming just because I hugged your waist, were you?" Seeing the woman in his arms turn a peculiar shade in an instant, the corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably:
"...It seems that really is the case." His eyes shifting, Xiao Heng smirked weirdly: "Hey, woman, could it be that you've never been held by a man like this?"
Xiao Heng found the woman's reaction extremely amusing. Watching her ears turn red, he was tempted to play a trick. The hand that was embracing Jian Tong's waist deliberately tightened a bit.
Whoosh!
Xiao Heng, observing the woman's face flush crimson as if she had discovered a new world, was incredibly amused... In this day and age, to find a woman who would blush and get flustered just from a waist hug! How novel! How interesting!
It was as if he had discovered a new continent, Xiao Heng was brimming with excitement and thrill.
The palm that hugged Jian Tong deliberately pinched the waist under the palm. This pinch pinched the fabric in one hand. Feeling strange in his heart, Xiao Hengcai didn't talk about gentlemanly manners. He reached his fingers to the hem of Jian Tong's clothes and quickly put his palms into the clothes. This touch made his heart tremble.
"What are you doing!"
Jian Tong struggled to push Xiao Heng away. Xiao Heng, on the other hand, looked at Jian Tong in astonishment: "Your waist..." He didn't know what to say. Did he touch a normal woman's waist just now?
Xiao Heng has always been a self-proclaimed lover of the public. He has dated not only a thousand but also a hundred women, including many international supermodels and celebrities. But the waist just now was thinner than the thinnest waist of the women he had dated. He is so thin that he can wrap around half of his waist with one hand!
"You..." He tried to speak several times, wanting to say, "So you wear so many clothes in such hot weather because of this," but looking at the strange woman in front of him who was clearly in severe pain, yet pretending to be indifferent with her eyes, and looking at those eyes that wanted to accuse yet were so humble, he found himself unable to say anything.
Many years later, Xiao Heng was still unable to forget the look in Jian Tong's eyes at that time. He still can't understand how a person's eyes can be both defiant and humble, mixing two completely opposite emotions together.
What kind of experiences can make a person inherently possess two such contradictory qualities?
Jian Tong pushed Xiao Heng away and started to run. She couldn't run fast at all, and stumbled after just a few steps. She didn't care, she pushed herself up, supported herself against the wall, and tried to get as far from Xiao Heng as possible, as quickly as she could.
Her thoughts were in chaos... as if the most unbearable secret had been discovered.
Out of prison, she wanted to live a quiet life, with enough food to eat, a place to sleep, to be self-sufficient, save some money, go to Erhai Lake, and see with these eyes the clarity and azure that could never be seen inside the prison walls.
She couldn't withstand any more turmoil.
Xiao Heng wanted to help her, but every time he quickened his pace, the woman, as if chased by a ghost, clung to the wall, dragging her body along, in extreme disarray.
Xiao Heng had no choice but to slow down.
**Room 606**
Jian Tong knocked on the door before entering.
As soon as she entered, she sensed an eerily strange atmosphere in the private room. Under the dim lights, a few guests were seated on sofas with female models by their side.
The only exception was a girl with an innocent look, standing in front of the crystal table in the room.
Jian Tong knew this girl; she was a new waitress, named Qin Mumu, who shared a dormitory with her, and was a student at S University.
"Jian Tong sister..." Suddenly, Qin Mumu called out to her with a sob in her voice, startling Jian Tong, causing her body to tense up in an instant.
As Jian Tong declared herself a janitor coming to clean from downstairs, all seven or eight pairs of eyes in the room swung towards her in unison. Her statement exposed her rough voice, and several people in the room frowned in dissatisfaction.
Having worked at Dong Huang for three months, Jian Tong knew the importance of keeping her head down and doing her work. As a cleaner, even if some guests were displeased with her voice, no one was likely to take issue with her. But the situation with Qin Mumu was different. Jian Tong could sense she was out of her depth and that meddling in the wrong affairs could mean trouble.
Throughout the encounter, Jian Tong kept her head down, moving past Qin Mumu towards the ensuite of the VIP room. The VIP rooms came with attached washrooms that were well-stocked with cleaning supplies, neatly stored in a cabinet that did not detract from the room's aesthetics.
Armed with a mop in one hand and a pail in the other, Jian Tong came out of the ensuite.
She continued to clean with her head bowed, doggedly ignoring the pleading glances Qin Mumu occasionally cast her way.
Three years of prison had taught her not to overreach, to remember her place in the world. Otherwise, a mere flick of someone's finger could make her life a living hell.
She was not Qin Mumu — who, despite coming from a poor household, still had parents and was a student at S University. Jian Tong, however, was now nothing but an ex-convict, someone who had gone through reformation through labor.
She was nothing at all, unable to withstand the trials and tribulations of life, let alone the slightest disturbance. And she certainly didn't have the means to help others.
"Just sing this song and you can leave," a man told Qin Mumu.
Jian Tong quietly lifted her head to see Qin Mumu biting her lip, looking like she was suffering from the deepest humiliation. "I don't..."
In that moment, Jian Tong's grip on her mop faltered, and the mop head dragged across Qin Mumu's shoes. Startled, Qin Mumu jumped and forgot what she had been about to say, her gaze turning towards Jian Tong.
"I'm sorry, I got your shoes," Jian Tong said, apologizing as she lifted her head.
This seemingly minor mishap drew the attention of the men in the booth.
Jian Tong could hear Qin Mumu speaking indignantly, "I'm not a model, nor am I a 'hostess' in a booth. I won't sing. I'm just a waiter here to serve drinks!"
Jian Tong immediately regretted her action, scolding herself inwardly... Some people you can help, others you cannot.
Jian Tong didn't know how Qin Mumu would choose to handle the situation, but if it were her, she wouldn't have taken the risk of offending these young masters over a song. After all, those who frequented the VIP rooms at Dong Huang had status, and how could they permit defiance from a mere server?
If Qin Mumu refused to give face to these young masters, how could they be expected to easily forgive her? Jian Tong's mistake may have put Qin Mumu in an even more difficult position.
What kind of woman hadn't these young masters seen? In asking Qin Mumu, a girl with an innocent beauty, to sing a song, they were simply giving her a way to exit the situation gracefully. If Qin Mumu complied and sang before leaving, the young masters probably wouldn't have caused her any further trouble.
It seemed to Jian Tong that her attempt to help Qin Mumu had been in vain and had only drawn unwanted attention from the other guests in the booth.
Jian Tong thought to herself: just finish cleaning up and leave. The longer she stayed, the more uncertain things could become. By attempting to help Qin Mumu, she risked getting herself into trouble if she ended up offending the guests. It was best to leave the booth as quickly as possible.
"Oh? Acting all high and mighty, huh?" This time, another scornful voice joined in. "Don't want to sing? Fine, drink this bottle of wine on the table, and you can leave."
"I won't drink! I'm not some drinking hostess!"
"Ha ha ha, not drinking?" the voice filled with scorn chuckled. "I'm afraid it's not up to you to say no. Working at Dong Huang, it doesn't matter if you're a waitress or even a cleaning lady; if a guest requests something, you're expected to comply, right?"
As Jian Tong heard the dismissive reference to "cleaning lady" from the mocking voice, an uneasy premonition washed over her, which was confirmed in the next moment.
"Hey, you over there, yes, you. Cleaning lady, you agree, don't you?"