Chapter 179: Observations in Honglou

"You really know how to joke!" the girl Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan had casually pointed to said with a smile, sitting between Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan and Yang Yi. "This is a society ruled by law; where does such a thing as coercion exist?"

For some reason, Yang Yi heard a hint of sarcasm in her gentle tone.

She glanced around; the lighting in the private room was dim, deliberately creating an ambiguous atmosphere. The five men on the sofa seemed born to be masters, looking at this self-righteous outsider with half mockery and half condescension.

The expressions of the five "Twelve Beauties of Honglou" on the sofa were all different; some wore mask-like smiles, some were shocked, some were dismissive, and some harbored hidden sarcasm—yet this sarcasm was utterly different from that of the men. They were like the person who had fallen into a well; after countless cries for help had only been met with stones dropping from the well's mouth, when someone later asked if anyone was in the well, all they could do was sneer coldly.

The female waitresses wore numb expressions, as if they had not heard her question.

"Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan, where did you bring this friend from? Why doesn't she know any rules?" Feng Feng Boyuan, the eldest young master of the Renminfa Academy, said discontentedly.

Chen Chen Fengtao, the person whose status was implicitly supreme in this private room, raised an eyebrow to look at Yang Yi, revealing an expression of interest.

Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan immediately jumped up; he sensed he had seized an excellent opportunity to show off. He wanted to draw a clear line between himself and them right this moment—even though just yesterday he had been striving to get closer to these two second-generation political heirs—to restore his crumbling image in front of Yang Yi.

"What the hell rules? Aren't these girls being coerced? Which girl would voluntarily do this line of work? What's wrong with my friend asking this?" he shouted with full force, his tone filled with deliberate indignation, as if he could empathize with these girls' plight.

"You're quite something, Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan; to show off in front of women, have you gone mad?" A friend who usually had a good relationship with him grabbed his arm, repeatedly signaling the two second-generation political heirs on the sofa.

"I'm not mad! Actually, I've long been disgusted with this whole setup; they don't even treat people like humans here! The men who come here treat these girls as playthings; aren't we also just toys ourselves? Chen Chen Fengtao, Feng Feng Boyuan, and the fathers pulling the strings behind you, how much have we merchants secretly offered you every year? Have you ever even looked us in the eye? For how many years has our Jingyuan Group existed, yet we still can't feed your bottomless pits..." As he spoke, he actually became emotional, his tone carrying a touch of genuine grief and indignation.

The moment these words were spoken, the entire private room fell silent, leaving only the sound system echoing endlessly.

The friend who had just been advising him immediately distanced himself from Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan to show he had no connection with him.

Yang Yi watched this scene, lost in thought.

Lin Mu's lips curled slightly upward, as if she found this scene quite interesting.

"Clap, clap—" A sudden burst of applause rang out. Chen Chen Fengtao stood up while clapping his hands and sneered: "Well done! Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan, I don't know if you're stupid or truly have backbone, but I hope you can keep this backbone of yours until tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that..." As he spoke, he glanced at Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan as if looking at a clown and left the private room.

"What bad luck!" Feng Feng Boyuan shoved the girl beside him away and followed Chen Chen Fengtao out.

Seeing this, the other three second-generation rich kids hurriedly followed them out, fearing they would be implicated with Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan if they stayed in the private room.

The girls looked at each other uneasily and also left the private room one by one.

"Let's go! Show us around this Honglou!" Yang Yi stood up, casually brushed off her clothes, and walked out of the private room. Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan immediately followed closely behind, introducing things as they walked.

Lin Mu trailed behind with a half-smile.

Arriving at the second floor, before even entering, explosive music seeped out through the door crack. Pushing the door open, dazzling lights blinded the eyes. On a circular stage in the center, a row of dancers with largely exposed clothing were performing energetic songs and hot dances.

Yang Yi had thought that the dances of certain K-pop girl groups were explicit enough, and the sexual suggestions in those dance moves always made her feel they were eye-rolling, but at this moment, the hot performance on the stage told her what truly qualified as "hot dance" and what truly qualified as "sexual suggestion"—their unified expressions and movements of longing were not suggestions, but naked declarations.

Scattered below were circular booths, where men dressed as either wealthy or noble sat, watching the performance on stage with great interest. Bunny girls wearing only three pieces held trays, serving drinks and beverages to the guests, and were occasionally groped by the guests' outstretched hands.

Yang Yi frowned, turned her head, and said coldly: "How many floors are there here?"

"Five floors above ground, three floors underground, eight floors in total. The five floors above ground are all ordinary entertainment venues; the truly explosive stuff is all on the underground floors... However," Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan paused.

"However what?" Yang Yi's tone grew even colder and more impatient.

Shocked by her tone, Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan fell silent as if frozen: "However, it seems there is a fourth floor underground. My rank isn't high enough; I have never entered it..."

"Lead the way!" Yang Yi signaled.

Exiting this floor, passing another small dance hall, Yang Yi saw on a small stage two women, one wearing a nurse's uniform and the other a white-collar OL outfit, fighting each other.

They were clearly not performing, nor were they trained stage actors; they were just ordinary you, me, and her commonly seen in daily life.

Two women with beautiful faces and graceful figures clearly did not know each other. At first, their movements were somewhat restrained, as if they didn't know whether they should fight. In a short while, driven by some unavoidable will, the two began to fight. Their movements were completely unstructured, just like street brawls between hooligan women: pulling hair, tearing clothes, scratching faces... In no time, their makeup was smeared, their clothes scattered, revealing simple-style underwear.

In a short while, the atmosphere in the audience area grew heated, and someone began to shout encouragement loudly.

Yang Yi glanced at the audience seats. Just like the previous stage, ninety percent of the audience were male. Judging by their attire and appearance, they were clearly people with a certain status in society.

"What is going on here?" Yang Yi stopped in her tracks.

Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan looked a bit embarrassed. "The one in the nurse's uniform is just a nurse; the one in the OL outfit should be a white-collar worker. They probably had difficulties in life, and when they were at their wit's end, someone would use money to lure them here to perform. Whoever wins gets a bigger reward... The audience here sometimes just likes to watch this kind of thing: people who are usually serious in daily life, forced to..." Zhang Zhang Zhiyuan couldn't finish speaking. He cautiously stole a glance at Yang Yi and stammered a quiet defense: "... I don't like watching these things; I just heard them mention it a few times..."

Yang Yi's eyelids half-lowered, and the corner of her eye twitched.

Oh, those who control power are no longer satisfied with playing with people's bodies; they have started to play with people's spirits and personalities.

On the stage, the girl in the nurse's uniform looked to be only eighteen or nineteen, with some ignorance of worldly affairs still lingering in her eyes. She had her underwear strap grabbed by the girl opposite her; her left hand struggled to protect her chest to avoid exposure, while her right hand also reached out to tear the clothes of the girl opposite.

She was already in tears, her mascara and lipstick smeared. Amidst the malicious and excited cheers, she looked helplessly at the audience below, as if unable to distinguish whether this was reality or a nightmare.

The other girl in the OL outfit looked a few years older than the nurse. Her eyes were bloodshot, her teeth gritted tightly, and her strikes were even more vicious. She seemed to have been immersed in society for a few years, knowing some of its darkness and understanding her own insignificance and humility. For some goal that must be achieved, she had thrown caution to the wind.

Only when she occasionally glanced at the audience seats did her eyes shoot out a light of anger, shame, and hatred mixed together. One could imagine that if she had the power to kill these audience members, she would immediately, regardless of the consequences, tear them to pieces.