Chapter 4: Choose Either Your Left Eye or Your Right Ankle
"Your right leg is trapped in the car door, to get it out we have to break the door. If we wait for the firefighters to come with an electric welding saw, it might be too late. If we forcefully kick it open, your bones may break,"
Shen Chaoxi's voice was cold, yet eerily calm.
"Choose between your left eye and your right ankle!"
Gazing at the overly calm face before him, her professionalism yet decisive attitude, made one forget she looked no more than a high school student.
Being told to choose between his left eye and right ankle felt as though he was being asked to pick between cabbage and potatoes!
Shang Jianghan's gloomy mood dissipated at once, and even a trace of a smile appeared on his thin lips.
As he pondered, Shen Chaoxi's index finger began to bleed again. She shook it off and inadvertently noticed the bloodstains on Shang Jianghan's face.
The vivid bloodstains flowed down his right cheek to the tip of his nose, pooling into a small clot, starkly visible against his pale skin.
Without much thought, Shen Chaoxi gently wiped away the blood with her thumb.
In the height of summer, the air was oppressively hot and dry. Her delicate white finger was smooth yet brought a sense of coolness.
Shang Jianghan was momentarily stunned, his thoughts turning melodic.
"Make a decision fast, or it might really be too late!" Shen Chaoxi urged when she saw him hesitating.
If it had been the old Shen Chaoxi, she would never have bothered with such "trivial matters."
But now, she lived as another person, for Shen Chaoxi.
A child of a fireman, with eight years of experience as a firefighter, she held an infinite reverence for anyone's life!
"Save the eye!"
That day, the sun was scorching, the temperature soaring to forty degrees. Shen Chaoxi stood under the blazing sun, slung her black shoulder bag onto the car, and with a lift of her foot she kicked the car door off.
Clean and decisive, without any dragging or delay!
What happened afterward, Shen Chaoxi had no way of knowing, all that mattered was that the man was rescued.
She walked down from the foot of the mountain heading towards the nearest bus station when rescue vehicles with sirens passed her by.
Fire engines, police cars, ambulances, and even several military vehicles, the dust they kicked up lingering long in the air!
**
"Come here!"
Shang Jianghan's voice, deep as a plucked string, interrupted Shen Chaoxi's reverie.
Shen Chaoxi unconsciously gripped the hem of her shirt, thinking about the commission for tonight.
She had just estimated the value of the drinks in front of the few people; her commission for the night could be a few thousand.
For the Yao Family at this time, it was nothing less than a godsend.
Without further hesitation, Shen Chaoxi walked over and obediently sat on the sofa where Shang Jianghan had patted with his right hand.
Song Yang and Zhong Shuoxi exchanged glances.
Although they often frequented such places, they had never seen a girl who could get within two meters of Shang Jianghan, the third young master of the Shang Family.
Song Yang: "Yo! When did our third young master Shang start to have such..."
Song Yang wanted to say "heavy taste," but when his gaze swept over Shen Chaoxi, who was still wearing the face mask, he forcibly swallowed his words.
The girl sitting next to him was dressed in a light white janitor's uniform. Although it was too large and ill-fitted, the clothing was spotless and neatly pressed, not sloppy at all; on the contrary, it had an exotic charm about it, especially the half-exposed forearms from the rolled-up sleeves, which glowed white and delicate under the light.
Then there were those eyes visible outside the white cotton mask—damn inviting!
When did Bai Ye raise their standards again, even the janitors had to be beauties now?
While Song Yang criticized inwardly, Zhong Shuoxi felt this "janitor" looked somewhat familiar.
At that moment, Shang Jianghan used his chin to gesture at the bottles of red wine in front of them.
"Open them!" His two words were succinct and clear.
Shen Chaoxi certainly knew this was the task assigned to her.
She stood up and crouched down, picking up a bottle of imported red wine and searching for a corkscrew, but after looking around she couldn't find one. Suddenly, she remembered that when she had cleaned earlier, the corkscrew had gotten red wine on it and she had carelessly thrown it in the trash bag.
Just as Shen Chaoxi was about to stand and go to the service counter for a new bottle opener, a teasing voice sounded above her head.
"If these few bottles of wine are opened, they'll count as consumed, but if they're not, I'm not paying the bill."
Hearing this, Shen Chaoxi's hand, which was holding the bottle, paused.
Immediately after, there was Song Yang's laughter, watching the scene with apparent schadenfreude.
"I say, Jianghan, don't you have any gentlemanly compassion? She's just a young girl, fair and clear, look at those hands, soft and tender, how could she have the strength to open a wine bottle!"
"Then don't open it; I don't need to drink either. I drove here, might as well just sit for a bit and head back!"
Shang Jianghan's voice was calm, as if he was just making casual conversation.
The wine bottle with its smooth dark brown lines made a turn in Shen Chaoxi's hands, she looked sideways, her thick eyelashes curling slightly, her uptilted eyes glancing towards the other party.
"So if I open it, even if we don't drink, it'll still count as consumed?"
Anyone who'd been a regular at the club naturally knew the rules here.
The drinks all had a commission.
Song Yang raised his eyebrows, "Tsk tsk, interesting!"
Zhong Shuoxi tried to smooth things over, "Forget it, why not just call a waiter to bring a bottle opener?"
Shang Jianghan clearly wasn't persuaded, his languid black eyes lingered on those inquisitive brows and eyes for a moment longer.
"Open it! Whatever amount you open, I'll buy that much. If it's not enough here, have them send more!"
The confidence of the wealthy often came stacked with cash.
With permission given, Shen Chaoxi wasn't in a hurry. She stood and walked around inside the private room, finally finding several toothpicks in the fruit platter.
The gazes of the three men were almost all fixed on her slender fingers.
One minute later.
"Damn! How did she do that!"
High-end red wines often utilized corks made of soft pine for better preservation of the aroma; using mere toothpicks to open the bottles so effortlessly was unprecedented!
Once the first bottle was opened, others followed. When all the bottles were opened, Shen Chaoxi returned to her seat.
Of the three men present, except for Shang Jianghan who still appeared nonchalant, the others wore expressions of disbelief.
"Want more?" Shang Jianghan's mouth curved into an arc as he asked the person sitting beside him.
Shaking her head, Shen Chaoxi certainly wasn't going to really go and open all the red wine in the club.
"This is enough to drink!"
Song Yang picked up his glass and swayed it, then brought it under his nose and inhaled.
The rich aroma of the wine enveloped the area.
"Girl, you're wasting your talents doing housekeeping. How about you name your price to be my secretary?"
Clearly, at this time, Song Yang had a keen interest in this housekeeping girl, and the term 'secretary' he mentioned was just a euphemism.
Zhong Shuoxi took a sip of wine, tasted it carefully, and found it average. He chuckled lightly.
"Don't talk big. If that girl really followed you, could you pass the 'family checkpoint'?"
Scions of wealthy families might laugh and jest, but when it came down to relationships, there were always unavoidable pressures.
"Hey! Don't get the wrong idea, I meant it literally!"
"Is that so? Like I don't know you? Last time with that little actress, you said the same, and when she took it seriously and encountered your mother, she claimed to be your girlfriend, remember?"
Reminded by Zhong Shuoxi, Song Yang immediately bristled.
"Damn it! Can we not talk about the one thing I don't want to discuss? Are you any better than me anyway!"
The two continued their bickering, unaffected as they clinked glasses.
As the person involved, Shen Chaoxi kept her eyes modestly lowered throughout the conversation, maintaining an air of indifference, until Shang Jianghan, looking completely at ease, spoke up.
"Enough, settle your own nonsense later, let me first square things away with my student!"