Special District 9

“Haha, feel free to ask anything of me,” Qin Yu replied with a smile.

“I want to get some cosmetics, but they aren’t available here, and those sold in Special District 7 are way too expensive. So, I hope that you can get someone to buy some for me at Fengbei. It’s much cheaper over there,” Coco said with a bright smile.

“No problem. Give me a list of what you need, and I’ll get someone to buy it,” Qin Yu replied. “I’ll send you my bank account number later on. You can send the money directly in there.”

“I need to pay for it?” Coco asked as she looked at Qin Yu with large, clear eyes.

“Is your father a powerful official or something? What gave you the idea that you don’t have to pay for your own cosmetics?” Qin Yu retorted.

Coco waved her hands in displeasure as she said, “I just did a huge favor for you, so shouldn’t you reciprocate by giving me some rebate? You really don’t know how things work in society, huh?”

Qin Yu looked at Coco speechlessly as he said, “No matter what, you are still the boss of a company. Aren’t you being a bit too…”

“Whether I am a boss or not, I am still a woman. Haven’t you heard that women love their rebate? Never mind, you’ll slowly come to understand that with time.”

“… Don’t ask for too much. If it’s too expensive, I won’t be able to afford it,” Qin Yu threw those words over before hurriedly leaving the room. He was afraid that Coco would try to extort more things from him.

After everyone left the room, Coco took out a bedsheet from her luggage and placed it over the cold bed before sitting down on it.

A few seconds later, she dialed her father’s number. “Hey dad!”

“How is it going?” an amicable voice sounded from the other side.

“It’s all settled. They’ll be paying a deposit for the second round of goods. Qin Yu tried to push down the prices, and I agreed to lower them by 10%. However, the condition is that they need to order at least 200,000 dollars from us every month.”

“Not bad, it’s better than what I expected,” the other party replied approvingly. “Are you coming back now?”

“Nah, I’m staying there for the night,” Coco replied.

“Isn’t the conditions there quite poor? Why don’t you come back and rest instead?”

“Aiyo, it’s not as if I haven’t stayed in worse places before. You don’t need to worry, I’ll be coming back tomorrow,” Coco replied with a slight chuckle. “Oh, tell big brother to rush out the second batch of goods.”

“Alright, I’ll hurry him.”

“I’ll go wash up a bit before heading off to sleep.”

“Un, rest early. Take care of yourself well and don’t tire yourself out,” the voice said with a concerned tone.

…

In the room diagonal to Coco’s.

Old Cat was sitting on a chair. With a mouth filled with the scent of alcohol, he grumbled, “This bed is only one meter wide, how are the three of us going to sleep on it?”

“Bro, can you stop being so picky?” Qi Lin replied speechlessly. “You should be thankful that we have a roof over us. Let’s just squeeze together.”

“I’m not used to squeezing with others,” Old Cat replied as he smoked his e-cigarette.

Qin Yu took off his clothes and lay on the bed before berating the picky fellow, “You really are a load of bullshit. I remember that you were the one who insisted on sleeping on the same bed as me the last time.”

“Forget it, I’m not interested in squeezing with a bunch of men. I’ll find somewhere else to sleep,” Old Cat grumbled as he stood up.

“Where are you going?” Qi Lin asked. “How are you going to find another place to sleep at this hour?”

“Haven’t you realized? Coco has drunk quite a bit, and I bet that she’s feeling lonely right now. I’ll get some wine and counsel her on her life…” Old Cat was already having trouble trying to suppress the flames in his heart.

“You should just drop that thought of yours,” Qin Yu berated on the bed. “Can you stop fooling around? Besides, didn’t you say that you like Lin Nianlei?”

“Is there any woman that he doesn’t like?” Qi Lin scoffed.

“The two of you can sleep without me,” Old Cat said as he walked out of the door.

Qi Lin lay on his bed as he asked worriedly, “Would that fool go overboard and agitate Coco?”

“It’s fine, he knows his boundaries,” Qin Yu replied as he flipped over. He wrapped his hands on Qi Lin’s stomach as he said, “Bro, can you lean in closer a little? I’m feeling a little cold.”

“?” Qi Lin was stunned. “What do you mean by that?”

“Have you heard a phrase called ‘going through the backdoor’?

“Scram!” Qi Lin exclaimed as he pushed Qin Yu away. “Are you so thirsty as to make a move on an injured man? Just what kind of people did I get myself involved with?”

…

Half an hour later.

The lights in the hostel dimmed. Most of the residents had fallen asleep.

Old Cat grabbed some alcohol and side dishes before he knocked on Coco’s door lightly and called out, “Are you asleep?”

A moment later, Coco opened the door in thick pajamas and a pink towel wrapped around her head. She stared at Old Cat as she asked, “What do you want?”

“I haven’t had enough to drink yet, and I think that there are some gaps in our partnership that can be further worked on,” Old Cat said as he assessed Coco from head to toe. “Shall we have a chat?”

Coco was stunned for a moment. Looking at the expression on Old Cat’s face, a smile suddenly formed on her face as she said, “Sure, come on in.”

Old Cat’s heart nearly melted after hearing those words. He immediately walked into the room as he said, “From the first time I saw you, I thought that you were far more valiant than any men, and your business acumen is exceptional…”

“Take a seat first. I’ll go grab something from the toilet,” Coco said as she closed the door.

“Sure, sure. Go ahead.” Old Cat nodded vehemently.

Wearing her slippers, Coco walked over to the toilet before suddenly turning around to ask, “Ah, I just remembered that you have been in my storage room for quite a few days. Do you want to take a bath here? I have hot water.”

“?!”

Those words left Old Cat utterly stunned. His heart began thumping wildly.

“What are you looking at me for? Are you going to wash up?” Coco asked with a chuckle.

“Is this really alright…?” Despite Old Cat’s seemingly hesitant question, he had already gotten up to take off his coat.

“The women of the pugilistic world aren’t too concerned with such minor things. Go ahead and wash up. We’ll have a good drink after that.” Coco looked at Old Cat with slightly reddened cheeks. “Actually, I am also quite in awe of you.”

“In awe of me?” Old Cat was surprised to hear those words.

“You are tougher than I thought you were. You didn’t panic at all during the time you were at my place,” Coco said gently. “I have met a lot of people over the last few years while doing business for my family, but there aren’t many who are like you.”

Blood began gushing through Old Cat’s veins as he took off the windbreaker he was wearing inside. Wearing just his pants, he rushed right into the washroom as he said, “Just wait for me for a moment. I’ll tell you my life story once I’m done…”

Coco didn’t reply. She sat down on a slightly tattered sofa, picked up a book, and began reading it.

In the washroom, Old Cat poured water into a wooden pail before hurriedly scrubbing his body down more seriously than he had ever before.

Twenty minutes later.

Hearing that the sound of water had faded inside the washroom, Coco shouted from the sofa, “Cat, there’s a big towel hanging on the line. You can use it. Also, just leave your clothes in there. I wouldn’t want my room dirty”

Hearing those words, Old Cat pulled the big towel off the string as he remarked deeply, “This is really a godsent opportunity. If I don’t grasp onto it tightly, I wouldn’t be Li Fugui!”

A few minutes later, Old Cat came out with a towel wrapped around his waist and a coat draped around his upper body, only to realize that Coco was standing in front of the door, fiddling with the doorknob.

“What’s wrong?” Old Cat asked.

“I don’t know why, but I suddenly can’t lock the door anymore. It opens by itself as soon as the wind blows.”

“Come, let me fix it for you.”

“It’s fine, I just need you to support the door from the outside. We’ll pull up the door lock up a little, and it should work after that,” Coco said.

“Alright.” Old Cat immediately rushed out of the room and pushed the door up a little.

Coco fiddled with the lock a bit more before saying with a smile, “I think it should work now. Stand back a little, I’ll see if I can close the door shut.”

“The door latch must have frozen due to the cold weather. You lock the door, I’ll try pulling it from the outside,” Old Cat said with a grin.

Coco reciprocated with a smile before closing the metal door shut.

Old Cat passionately grabbed the doorknob from the outside and tried to pull it outward. When he saw that the door was budging at all, he shouted, “The lock is working. It won’t open by itself anymore.”

There was no sound inside the room.

The cold wind blowing through the corridor made Old Cat shiver. With awkward laughter, he shouted, “Open up, it’s really cold out here. Let me in.”

There was still no sound from the room.

Taken aback, Old Cat began banging the door with his fist, “Open up!”

Inside the room, Coco had already dived into her bed, and her body was trembling in laughter. She shouted out, “You don’t respect me at all. You should cool down a little outside.”

“?!?!” Old Cat’s mouth was agape, causing cold wind to blow right into his stomach. “The wind is too loud outside! Speak louder, I can’t hear you!”

Coco laughed to herself once more before shutting off the lights.

Old Cat knocked for a whole three minutes before realizing that he had been duped. He roared loudly, “Miss, aren’t you going to overboard here? Even if you don’t want to drink with me, you should at least give me back my clothes! How am I to return like that? Shit, it’s too cold out here!”

Coco ignored him.

“Goddamnit! No wonder they say that there’s nothing more poisonous than a woman’s heart!” Old Cat berated under his breath before scanning his surroundings.

A sudden draft of cold wind assaulted the corridor, causing goosebumps to rise all over Old Cat’s body. He quickly wrapped his own arms around his shoulders, hoping to protect himself from the cold. Yet, the sudden movement caused the towel around his waist to fall to the ground.

Having his bottom chilled under this weather made Old Cat’s face turn pale. He quickly lowered his body to pick up his towel.

Huaji!

The door by the side suddenly opened. The hostel’s boss had just returned with a torchlight after checking the compounds. When he saw Old Cat exhibiting himself in the midst of the corridor, he froze in place.

Old Cat was stunned as well.

The boss was shocked for a good whole ten seconds before he asked with a confused tone, “Bro… What kind of new play is this?”

“Don’t talk crap. Do you have any clothes?” Old Cat asked as he picked up his towel.

The boss glanced downward a little, and a word blurted out of his mouth, “Tadpole!”