Chapter 21 Hot Noodles: Let's go watch the play

Fang Xiaocao turned around and saw Song Lin and Wang Qiang sitting at the dining table, smiling at her.

Feeling her face warm up, Fang Xiaocao timidly asked, "Captain Song, Officer Wang, what are you laughing about?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Now that we've eaten, let's not stand around here."

Song Lin waved his hand and said with a chuckle.

"Okay!"

Fang Xiaocao responded and followed the two out of the barbecue restaurant.

Ding-a-ling-a-ling—

The moment they stepped out of the barbecue restaurant, Wang Qiang's phone rang.

"Hello, Wang Qiang speaking."

Wang Qiang answered the call and said.

"Alright, I'll be there right away."

Wang Qiang said sternly and hung up the phone.

"Got a case?"

Song Lin asked.

"Yeah!"

Wang Qiang nodded in response.

"Then hurry over."

Song Lin said gravely.

"I'll take you guys!"

Fang Xiaocao offered.

Upon hearing this, Wang Qiang and Song Lin exchanged a look and both smiled simultaneously.

"Hahaha, we did want a lift from you!"

"Thought the barbecue was on the house, did you?" Wang Qiang joked.

"Stop kidding around, let's go."

Song Lin punched Wang Qiang and said sternly.

"Xiaocao, sorry for the trouble."

"Neither of us drove."

Song Lin said with a smile.

"No problem, I'm free anyway."

Fang Xiaocao said with a smile.

Getting into the Land Rover, Fang Xiaocao asked, "Officer Wang, where to?"

"Sunshine Restaurant, Building 7, Unit 2."

Wang Qiang glanced at his phone and said with a serious tone.

"Alrighty, let's head out!"

After setting up the navigation, Fang Xiaocao drove straight towards Sunshine Restaurant.

Sunshine Restaurant wasn't far from Fang Xiaocao's rental in Xintiandi Restaurant, and they arrived shortly.

She drove into the restaurant and parked right in front of Building 7, Unit 3.

"Officers, we've arrived."

Fang Xiaocao said with a smile.

"Hahaha, thanks."

Wang Qiang replied, still in good spirits.

As he spoke, he opened the car door and hastily ran up the building.

"Huh?"

"Captain Song, you're not going?"

Seeing that Song Lin didn't get out of the car, Fang Xiaocao asked in confusion.

"I'm not officially back at work yet."

Song Lin said with a smile.

"Then where are you headed, Captain Song? I can take you."

Fang Xiaocao asked, a bit clueless.

"I'll wait here for Wang Qiang. You go on back."

Song Lin said with a smile.

As he spoke, Song Lin stepped out of the car.

"Okay, goodbye Captain Song."

Fang Xiaocao waved goodbye to Song Lin with a smile.

"Goodbye!"

Song Lin replied cheerfully.

After driving out of Sunshine Restaurant, Fang Xiaocao headed straight back to Xintiandi Restaurant.

Once home, Fang Xiaocao took a shower.

Sitting in the living room, bored out of her mind, she suddenly had free time and didn't know what to do.

In the past, when she had days off, she was either working a part-time job or on her way to one; she had never been this idle before.

[Ding-dong!]

Just then, the message notification on her phone chimed, pulling the daydreaming Fang Xiaocao back to reality.

Picking up her phone, it was unsurprisingly a WeChat message.

[Hot Noodles: In the dead of night, all alone at home, do you feel especially empty, lonely, cold?]

"Pfft—"

Seeing the message from Hot Noodles, Fang Xiaocao couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"You don't seem like a good person."

She replied with a laugh.

[Hot Noodles: Cough cough, just a joke.]

"Your joke was quite successful, it really made me laugh."

Fang Xiaocao replied with a chuckle.

[Hot Noodles: Clean up and get ready, I'm taking you to watch the fun.]

Seeing the message, Fang Xiaocao instantly perked up.

"Fun?"

"What fun?"

Fang Xiaocao asked curiously.

[Hot Noodles: The Chronicles of a Cheap Girl Eating Humble Pie!]

"Han Xue?"

Fang Xiaocao's eyes lit up, and she asked excitedly.

[Hot Noodles: Smart!]

"Where, where?"

Fang Xiaocao jumped up from the sofa, asking as she ran back to her room to change clothes.

[Hot Noodles: Bar Street!]

Fang Xiaocao was startled for a moment, then she got it.

Han Xue liked 857, and she often went to bars.

So it's not surprising that she was at Bar Street.

After changing her clothes and grabbing her car keys, Fang Xiaocao went downstairs, got into her red Range Rover, and drove straight out of the Xintiandi Restaurant towards Bar Street.

Arriving at Bar Street, Fang Xiaocao hadn't even gotten out of her car when she spotted Han Xue.

Fang Xiaocao parked the car at the roadside, leaning on the window, savoring the drama unfolding before her.

"Whimper, ~"

"Brother Shen, please let me go."

"I really can't drink anymore."

Han Xue, with disheveled clothes, knelt on the ground, tugging at a man's pant leg, pleading.

"Can't drink?"

"Then why the hell did you come out to work?"

"And dare to snub my clients?"

The man looked at Han Xue with cold eyes and cursed furiously.

This man, Fang Xiaocao knew him.

He was the boss of Bar Street, named Shen Tao.

He had a good relationship with Qi Yu, and Fang Xiaocao had seen him a few times.

"I..."

Intimidated by Shen Tao's shout, Han Xue shuddered.

"You what you?"

Shen Tao rebuked her coldly.

"Without Qi Yu, what do you think you are?"

"Still daring to order Lafite?"

"Even if I sold you, would you be worth a bottle of Lafite?"

Shen Tao grabbed Han Xue by the hair, pulling her up and pinching her face, as he asked coldly.

"I'm giving you two choices, pay back the money, or keep the clients company properly."

Shen Tao stared into Han Xue's eyes as he said coldly.

"Brother Shen, spare me, please."

"I beg of you... can I slowly pay you back for the drinks?"

Han Xue's eyes brimmed with tears as she begged.

"Pay back?"

"With what are you going to pay back?"

"Would selling you even fetch that much?"

"I'm running a business here, waiting for you to slowly repay, until when should I wait to break even?"

Shen Tao pushed Han Xue to the ground and pointed at her nose as he berated her.

"Fine, don't say I didn't give you a chance."

"If you want to pay, let me do the math for you."

Shen Tao said coldly.

"The super luxury private room, service charges, fruit platter, beverage packages, ten thousand yuan, a 1982 Lafite, sixty thousand a bottle, and you opened two bottles, that's one hundred and twenty thousand!"

"That's a total of one hundred and thirty thousand yuan, pay up now."

"Once you've paid, I'll let you go."

As he spoke, Shen Tao took out a bill and slapped it onto Han Xue's face.

"Go on, pay it off and you can leave."

Shen Tao said coldly.

Looking at the bill, Han Xue's face turned deathly pale.

One hundred and thirty thousand yuan was an astronomical figure for her.

Previously, relying on Qi Yu's reputation, she never considered how extravagant her splurging at the bar was.

When coming here, all she had to do was order.

Drink and leave, Shen Tao would naturally seek Qi Yu for payment afterward.

But today, since she was the host, she carelessly ordered two bottles of 1982 Lafite to satisfy her vanity.

She never expected that Qi Yu would run into trouble.

Without money to pay the bill, Shen Tao made her drink off her debt.

But she had not anticipated ending up with a filthy old man, being groped right after they started drinking.

Despite feeling nauseated, Han Xue endured it and accompanied him for a few drinks.

She couldn't stand the old man's harassment anymore and, snubbing him, she walked out.

She thought about hiding somewhere until Qi Yu got out, then she would come back and reclaim her dignity.

But she didn't expect that as soon as she stepped out, she would be caught by Shen Tao.

Han Xue didn't know that Qi Yu was in for a long stretch behind bars, the kind that meant he was never coming out.