The man"s forearms were as fat as juicy Jinghua hams. His huge face was completely red from the alcohol while a layer of oil-coated his face. As he gave a drunken yawn, his unfocused gaze seemed to go all over the place — the man was the epitome of ugly.
The ham-like forearm stretched out before landing on a long-haired woman"s shoulders. Then, he forcefully yanked the woman into his embrace. However, he could only pull the woman so close to his morbidly obese body as his bulging stomach was in the way.
The woman"s face was completely covered by her long hair; therefore, Yan Beicheng did not manage to see her face. He was more focused on how the staff of a five-star hotel like Sheng Yue Hotel would allow such inappropriate behavior by their guests.
Yan Beicheng watched as the fatty lowered his head. Then, with one arm hooked around the woman"s neck, he planted a wet kiss on her face before drunkenly burping into it. The woman could clearly be seen freezing in defiance before eventually relenting.
Since the two of them had their backs to Yan Beicheng, he was still unable to see the woman"s face.
Afterward, the fatty raised his other hand and reached over to the front of the woman. The fatty"s actions were obscured behind the couple"s bodies, but Yan Beicheng could imagine what was going on.
Yan Beicheng had a rather important client with him right now who had unexpectedly been forced to witness such an inappropriate act. What would he think? After all, who could imagine that such shameful things were allowed inside Sheng Yue Hotel. This would ruin Yan Hui"s impression.
Yan Beicheng narrowed his eyes and told Zuo Qiu, "Get me He Yaoming now!"
Zuo Qiu stiffened in response. After quickly acknowledging Yan Beicheng"s order, he hurriedly called over the general manager of Sheng Yue, He Yaoming.
At this moment, a couple walked past with hands around each other"s waist. The woman tugged at the man"s forearm and whispered, "What happened to Sheng Yue? It used to have so much cla.s.s back then. Now, there are all sorts of people here. That fatty"s putting his hand in the woman"s blouse collar and... It"s revolting! Things like this will just mislead others into thinking that we"re the same type of people!"
"Take a good look. That woman isn"t anybody decent," The man said with his brows furrowed together. "I think her job is to es… You know… that."
The man did not think it was appropriate to speak about so openly in front of his girlfriend.
Upon hearing this, Yan Beicheng immediately walked over and stood in front of the couple.
The couple froze in shock. The man frowned and asked him in a hostile tone, "What do you want?"
Yan Beicheng had an earnest expression on his face as he bowed slightly. "Please don"t misunderstand, I"m Sheng Yue"s boss. I, too, did not expect our guests to behave like this in our hotel. We at Sheng Yue have always carried out our businesses professionally and earnestly. Please allow me to sincerely apologize for our careless mistake today that had cost you your appet.i.te. As compensation, please tell me your room number so that we can give you dinner tonight on the house. We a.s.sure you that nothing like this will ever happen again. We at Sheng Yue would never allow incidents like this to ruin our reputation nor fall below the standards expected of us. We won"t let our guests be shortchanged out of a proper experience."
The couple did not expect their casual grumble to be overheard by the person in charge of Sheng Yue. After recovering from their shock, they were pleasantly surprised at his politeness and the small compensation.
Although being able to afford a night out here meant that they were not the type to hurt when parting with money, they were still rather pleased to hear Yan Beicheng offer them a free meal.
"To us, Sheng Yue"s standards have always been great. The food here is top-notch as well, which is why we"re very willing to spend here. This is why it"s such a surprise for us to encounter an incident like this today. Hearing your sincere apology has proven to us that this was just an unexpected situation. After all, it"s a huge hotel, and I"m sure you"ve got all sorts of people walking through the hotel doors every day. Besides, no one can truly know what happens behind closed doors," the man said. "You, on behalf of the hotel, managed to handle the problem with impeccable timing. That just goes to show that we made the right choice in choosing this place."
"Thank you for your consideration." Yan Beicheng smiled. "I"d like to wish the two of you a pleasant meal."
After he watched the couple leave with a smile on his face, Yan Beicheng returned to his usual austere demeanor. He turned around to the client next to him and said, "I apologize for the embarra.s.sing incident tonight."
"Don"t worry, as the young man just now said, no one can predict the kind of guests walking through your doors. No one knows who they really are beneath the facade they put on. Moreover, once they"re behind closed doors, one can only imagine the things they do." The client grinned. "I must say, after seeing your response just now, I can"t help but feel that deserve this."
The client gave Yan Beicheng a thumbs-up. "No wonder Yan Hui has reached greater heights under your guidance."
Yan Beicheng controlled himself and said nothing. By now, the trio had walked far ahead of them. Thus, Yan Beicheng squinted and lead the way out with the client beside him.
They walked through the lobby and headed toward the main door. He was just about to send the client to his car outside when the automatic doors slid open, revealing a woman walking in from outside. Her hair was silky smooth, with natural curls that hung behind her neck. Because of the frigidness of the night, she wore a thin khaki-colored woolen coat to keep warm. The coat was the extrlong type that had was trending these days, so it extended all the way to her ankles, where a pair of cla.s.sy black flats wrapped her feet. She was not wearing any accessories, which made the outfit look simple yet elegant.
It was not easy to look good in an oversized coat. One could easily be mistaken for having a short body and legs, which was a big fas.h.i.+on faux pas for most.
However, on her, everything looked fas.h.i.+onable and pleasing to the eyes.
Upon seeing this, Yan Beicheng smiled with s.h.i.+ning eyes. The contrast between the austere appearance that Yan Beicheng wore when he was a.s.sertively dealing with the unashamed trio was so different from his present aura that his client almost failed to recognize him. Was this even the same Yan Beicheng?
The person who had walked in was none other than Lin Chu.
A similarly colored strap was tied around her coat as she stuffed both her hands into her coat pockets. Because of this, her waist appeared slim—absolutely nothing revealed that she was pregnant.
The moment Lin Chu walked in, she froze. Her expression was a mixture of shock and disbelief.
However, this was not because of Yan Beicheng.
Yan Beicheng noticed that Lin Chu"s eyes were fixed on the indecent trio in front of her. Specifically, she was staring at the woman in the fatty"s embrace.
Miss Zhu, the reporter…
Yan Beicheng suddenly remembered something someone had said to him before. He frowned as though he suddenly realized something and hurriedly walked over in long strides.
Zhu Hexuan froze as well. She was already disgusted by the fact that she was being held so unashamedly by this fatty. The hardest thing for her to bear was the way this fatty slid his hand into her blouse despite being in public. He did this in front of everyone.
Her face was burning like a volcano. She was so embarra.s.sed that did not dare raise her head. The only thought running through her head at this moment was just how badly she wanted to kill this fatty right there and then. She felt as though she had just borne herself in front of the crowd; it was like she was stark n.a.k.e.d, exposed without any form of cover.
She never expected to b.u.mp right into Lin Chu when she was at her absolute lowest. The two of them saw each other clearly, there was no mistaking it.
Zhu Hexuan noticed that Lin Chu"s expression was a mixture of surprise and disbelief. Lin Chu"s bleak eyes were tinged with disappointment as Zhu Hexuan glared at her coldly, her heart burning with indescribable anger.
What right did Lin Chu have to be disappointed in her? What right did Lin Chu have to belittle her?
Did it not occur to Lin Chu that she was the one who had put Zhu Hexuan in this position?
If it were not because of Lin Chu, then Zhu Hexuan would not have lost her job, nor would she have been blackmailed by Zhao Zhide and ended up an escort.
How dare Lin Chu be judgmental toward her now?
Zhu Hexuan had also heard the news of Lin Chu"s pregnancy.
To be honest, it was hard to be unaware of it as the Yan family constantly waved the news in everyone"s faces. She still had contacts from back when she was a reporter and at the same time, had kept in touch with her colleagues. Although they had somewhat drifted apart after everything that had happened, they still contacted her whenever they got ahold of juicy gossip surrounding Lin Chu. Zhu Hexuan was unsure if they were doing this because her colleagues knew that she hated Lin Chu, or if they hated Lin Chu as well.
Thankfully, none of them knew about her current state. Nevertheless, she was unsure of how long she could keep it a secret. She shuddered at the way they would badmouth her after they learn of her new job; even so, Zhu Hexuan could do nothing about it.
Now, Zhu Hexuan could not help glancing at Lin Chu"s lower abdomen. Lin Chu"s baby b.u.mp was not yet obvious.
However, anger started to bubble up inside Zhu Hexuan when she thought about it. What did Lin Chu do to deserve such a good life?
Lin Chu was adopted into a rich family when was young and never had to suffer through the general hardsh.i.p.s of life. A few months after graduating, she became Yan Beicheng"s girlfriend. That was the ultimate status symbol, the most sought-after dream! Moreover, she did not get dumped and was instead constantly pampered by Yan Beicheng. Now, just a few months after they had gotten married, she was pregnant!
What did she do to deserve such good luck?
On the other hand, Zhu Hexuan was forced to stand on her own two feet since young. After she finally became a reporter, she went out in search of a meaningful relations.h.i.+p. Yet, she was insulted, humiliated, hurt, and toyed with by Lu Zhenghang. He had never intended to acknowledge her as anyone important to him and merely regarded her as a gold digger.
What made Lin Chu so different that she was not considered a gold digger too?
Why was it described as true love for Lin Chu when she married into a rich family but gold-digging when it came to Zhu Hexuan?
They were both living off rich men, were they not?
Lin Chu managed to get married and then became pregnant, but Zhu Hexuan had to end up as a despicable escort.
Zhu Hexuan glared at Lin Chu with eyes that burned with rage. Suddenly, she exploded in anger and shoved the fatty next to her away before rus.h.i.+ng toward Lin Chu and cras.h.i.+ng right into her.
Lin Chu was taken aback. She tried to evade Zhu Hexuan but did not notice that Zhu Hexuan had already stuck out a leg behind hers to trip her.
Lin Chu"s feet were caught. As she fell backward, her face paled in horror. The helplessness flashed through her eyes and she almost burst out crying.
No, she could not fall! What would happen to her child if she fell?!
Zhu Hexuan watched on coldly with hateful eyes. "Lin Chu, you better fall and miscarry!" Thought Zhu Hexuan. There was no reason why Lin Chu should not have a taste of her misery; maybe then she"d understand what it was like to face hardsh.i.p.s!
Lin Chu turned around and stuck out her hands, hoping to use them to break her fall. There was no way she would let herself land flat on her bottom. Suddenly, someone pulled one of Lin Chu"s forearms.
It was none other than the female lobby manager who had coincidentally been walking past Lin Chu. In a split second, she rushed forward and caught Lin Chu.
Even so, since the manager had rushed over so quickly, she almost lost her own footing. Lin Chu staggered backward for a while before someone else grabbed her from the other side.
When Lin Chu turned around and saw a woman who was a complete stranger to her holding her up.
"Are you alright?" The woman asked.
Lin Chu shook her head. "Yes, there"s no problem. Thank you."
The woman returned a grin. "You"re welcome."
Yan Beicheng had tried to rush over the moment Zhu Hexuan knocked Lin Chu off her feet, but unfortunately, was too far away to reach her. When he saw Lin Chu losing her balance and staggering backward, his anger peaked—he would give everything to grow wings at that instant.
He shoved Zhu Hexuan aside without any reservation and rushed over to hold Lin Chu.
The manager let go of Lin Chu as the woman next to Lin Chu also left. Yet, when the manager saw Yan Beicheng rus.h.i.+ng over, she turned around and glanced at him. She froze for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. Then, she shook her head as if the clear her thoughts before continuing to walk away again with a perplexed expression.
Yan Beicheng held onto Lin Chu"s shoulders whilst his dark brows furrowed with worry and fear. He stared down at her face solemnly and sighed. His heart throbbed upon seeing Lin Chu"s pale face.
Lin Chu shook her head. She wanted to tell Yan Beicheng to not worry, yet she found herself so scared that she could not speak. She parted her dry lips once, then twice, yet, no sound came out.
"Are you okay?" Yan Beicheng asked anxiously. He was panting heavily as his heart palpitated from the shock.
Lin Chu"s silence made him even more anxious. He could only scan her body from top to bottom as he moved his hands upward from her shoulders to cup her face. He touched her carefully and observed her closely. Then, his hands moved from her shoulders to her arms, then to her waist and thighs. He wanted to make sure that he did not miss anything.
Suddenly, Yan Beicheng felt a drop of moisture on his forehead. Yan Beicheng raised his head in confusion when he felt this. No one knew when Lin Chu had started crying since it was completely silent. The tears silently fell from Lin Chu"s eyes as she stood there and trembled. She looked extremely fragile.
Another droplet streamed along her chin and landed on the tip of his nose. The teardrop was already cold when it landed on his nose, but Yan Beicheng felt like it was boiling hot. He shuddered in fear.
Yan Beicheng immediately stood up before even wiping the teardrop off his face and pulled Lin Chu into his arms.
"What"s wrong? Where are you hurt?" Yan Beicheng asked hurriedly.
His delicate palm rested gently against the back of Lin Chu"s head as he held her in his arms and lowered his head over her. Then, he pressed his pale lips—cold from the shock—against the tears that were welling up in the corner of her eye. Her teardrops moistened his dry lips as they slid across the gap between his lips before slowly flowing into his mouth. He swallowed it and tasted the mild saltiness of her tears.
Yan Beicheng tightened his grip on her. "Are you hurt anywhere? Lin Chu, please don"t scare me. Talk to me, okay? Tell me where you"re hurt. We… We"ll go to the hospital now."
He did not bother waiting for Lin Chu"s reply and started to lift her up.
However, Lin Chu stopped him and shook her head. "I"m fine. I"m just… scared."
Lin Chu gripped his s.h.i.+rt with shaking hands, wrinkling up his s.h.i.+rt in the process. His s.h.i.+rt became so wrinkled that one could mistake it for a s.h.i.+rt that had been picked up from a week-old pile of unwashed laundry.
"I"m scared. When I was pushed, I kept thinking of what would happen if I fell, I… I… I got scared just thinking about it." Lin Chu trembled as she tightened her grip on his overcoat. "Our baby... If I fell, our baby…"
Three months had just pa.s.sed. Just when she thought she could relax for a bit as the pregnancy stabilized, this had happened.
"It"s my fault for being careless. If anything happened, how could I…. Ever make it up to our baby…" Lin Chu"s voice shook. Her whole body, from her lips to her voice, trembled like a leaf.
"You"re alright. You"re fine now. I"m here and won"t let anyone come near you." Yan Beicheng cooed and consoled her. "Don"t be afraid. Relax, our baby will feel it if you keep getting stressed out like this."
Lin Chu nodded in distraught. Then, she started taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
"Are you hurt? Anywhere at all?" Yan Beicheng asked gently.
"No," Lin Chu said whilst shaking her head. "The manager and one of the guests caught me in time. Other than the shock, I"m totally fine."
Lin Chu started to calm down. When she turned around, she saw that the female manager was still standing by the side. She had merely moved away to give Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu some room.
Lin Chu had yet to completely recompose herself. Despite being in public, Lin Chu did not push Yan Beicheng away like she usually would.
It felt like her body was wrapped up in a warm bundle as he hugged her. She did not feel like leaving this blanket of comfort just yet and decided to lie there for a while longer whilst pretending that everyone else did not exist.
Lin Chu glanced at the female manager and scanned their surroundings again. The female manager noticed what Lin Chu was doing and said, "The lady from just now left."
Lin Chu nodded. She could only give up for now. Moreover, Lin Chu had already thanked her earlier. Therefore, Lin Chu told the female manager, "Thank you for catching me just now. Otherwise, I really don"t know—"
As Lin Chu spoke, her limbs went cold. Yan Beicheng quickly rubbed his palms against Lin Chu"s hands in his attempt to warm her up.
"Don"t mention it. It"s part of my job. I was just lucky to have been standing next to you, miss." The female manager replied and turned to Yan Beicheng. "Master Yan, how should we deal with them?"
Yan Beicheng had focused so much on Lin Chu that he had totally forgotten about Zhu Hexuan, whom he had shoved aside.
Now that he was reminded of her, he turned around to look at Zhu Hexuan. When he did this, the blood drained from Zhu Hexuan"s face as she finally looked fearful.
Zhu Hexuan only dared to hurt Lin Chu because she had not expected Yan Beicheng to be standing right behind her.
If anything happened to Lin Chu, then it was not like Yan Beicheng could anything to Zhu Hexuan after she made her escape. However, she never expected to be caught red-handed by Yan Beicheng!
In the meantime, Sheng Yue"s general manager, He Yaoming hurried over. Before he had reached the scene, a server had rushed over to him and explained the whole incident to him.
He Yaoming shouted in shock and hurried over. "Master Yan!"
He Yaoming had never expected Yan Beicheng"s trip to Sheng Yue to end up as unpleasant as this. This would not be good for his career!
Despite having never met Yan Beicheng before, both Zhao Zhide and the fatty that was holding onto Zhu Hexuan knew that Sheng Yue belonged to Yan Hui. All confusion surrounding the young man"s ident.i.ty immediately disappeared once Sheng Yue"s general manager yelped out the honorary t.i.tle "Master Yan".
The fatty"s jaw dropped as he released Zhu Hexuan from his grasp.
The fatty witnessed everything when Zhu Hexuan had intentionally b.u.mped into Lin Chu and knocked Lin Chu off her feet.
He had no qualms about Zhu Hexuan bullying anyone. After all, she was just the woman that he was bedding. When the deed was done, they would both go their separate ways. Thus, he was not going to trouble himself with some catfight.
When the fatty first saw Lin Chu, his initial thought was that he would not be fooled by her decent attire. She was dressed like a proper lady, but then again, what escort working at a five-star hotel would not dress themselves up nicely? It was hard to judge a person based on appearance alone nowadays.
Seeing how much Zhu Hexuan hated the lady, the fatty simply a.s.sumed that Lin Chu was someone working in the same profession and that they were competing against each other. Maybe Lin Chu had once robbed Zhu Hexuan of her client.
Therefore, the fatty ignored them. However, he never expected his ignorance to lead to such a disaster!
Yan Beicheng pursed his lips into a thin line. Suddenly, he let out a cold laugh. He did not even bother looking at the trio as he turned to He Yaoming and said, "I don"t remember the last time Sheng Yue"s standards fell so low that we"d allow escorts into our hotel and let our guests do whatever indecent things they want in the rooms! Are you aware of the kind of negative impact it has on Sheng Yue"s reputation when other guests see things like this? Others would a.s.sume that Sheng Yue does not just allow prost.i.tution, we even provide the venue for it!"
Yan Beicheng did not bother lowering his volume. He intended to announce this loudly to insult Zhu Hexuan as much as possible. After all, she probably wanted to defend her last shred of dignity. Thus, Yan Beicheng took it upon himself to announce to the entire world that she was nothing more than a lowly p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e!
The many guests noticed the fatty and Zhu Hexuan as they began to gather around. Yan Beicheng was smart as broadcasting this loudly was also a way to simultaneously clear Sheng Yue"s name. After all, he wanted to keep the guests; he did not want them to feel as though Sheng Yue had dropped their standards.
Suddenly, He Yaoming understood Yan Beicheng"s intention and replied, "Master Yan, I"m so sorry. This is my fault."
He immediately stepped forward to face the guests who had turned to look at the commotion. He bowed and said, "I apologize greatly that something like this has happened at Sheng Yue today and ruined everyone"s leisure and enjoyment. We at Sheng Yue won"t ever support such despicable acts and would like to make it clear that Sheng Yue is absolutely not the place for such dealings. If discovered, Sheng Yue will kick out the relevant parties and blacklist them to prevent their patronage in the future. Sheng Yue is a luxurious hotel, and as such, we"ll never allow illegal acts or any events that might ruin your pleasure or wellbeing whilst staying with us. Tonight, all three of them will be blacklisted."
Then, He Yaoming gestured with his hand. The female manager immediately approached him and He Yaoming said, "Hurry and call the police. We"ll let the police deal with this prost.i.tution case."