pjbooks Chapter 5: Owe Money?
Chapter 5: Owe Money?
Simply because her wine glass had been refilled.
The amber-colored liquor shimmered under the light, reflecting a forced smile on a face. A fawning curve played at the corners of her lips, but there was no genuine joy in her eyes.
She didn't even flinch or make a sound; she simply ran her fingertips lightly along the inside of the cup, as if counting how many times this cup had been used.
Chen Mo walked to the booth and stood still.
He didn't speak, but looked down at the people at the table, his gaze as calm as a stagnant pool.
The bald man was the first to notice him. He looked up, squinted, and sized him up: "Who are you?"
Lin Shiyu also looked up, and when she saw who was standing in front of her, the expression on her face instantly froze.
The heavily made-up face was first shocked, then incredulous, and then a visible panic welled up in her eyes.
She instinctively lowered her head, trying to hide herself like a frightened cat.
"Chen...Chen Mo?" Her voice trembled, almost squeezed out from between her teeth.
"Long time no see." Chen Mo's voice was very calm, as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.
But he didn't look at Lin Shiyu; his gaze remained fixed on the three men.
"Shiyu, is this your friend?" The bald man's hand was still on her waist, showing no intention of removing it.
Lin Shiyu opened her mouth, unsure of what to say. Her fingers gripped the hem of her skirt tightly, her knuckles turning white.
Without waiting for her reply, Chen Mo took out his phone from his pocket, opened Alipay's QR code, and handed it to the bald man.
"I'll pay you double for how much she drank with you tonight."
There was a two-second silence in the booth.
The three men looked at each other, then the bald man laughed, a greasy laugh: "Brother, what do you mean?"
"The literal meaning." Chen Mo's tone remained calm. "She's here to work, not to be taken advantage of. I'll pay for the drinks, and that's it for tonight."
The bespectacled man pushed up his glasses, his expression turning somewhat unfriendly: "Who do you think you are? We were having a nice drink with Miss Lin, and you suddenly showed up and ruined it—"
"Thirty thousand," Chen Mo interrupted him.
The three men were all taken aback.
"What?"
"I'll pay three times what you spent tonight." Chen Mo waved the QR code on his phone. "Transfer now, and you can leave."
The bald man's expression changed, from impatience to a complex scrutiny. He looked Chen Mo up and down, his gaze moving from the unassuming black jacket to the faded sneakers on his feet, a hint of disdain appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"Kid, what are you pretending to be?" he sneered. "Look at what you're wearing, does it even cost a thousand yuan? Three times that? Can you afford to pay for it?"
The other two men also laughed, their laughter full of sarcasm.
Lin Shiyu's face paled even more. She bit her lower lip, her eyes reddening, and her voice was so low it was barely a whisper: "Chen Mo, you don't need to... I'm fine, you can go..."
She didn't want Chen Mo to see her like this.
I don't want him to get into conflicts with others because of me.
Chen Mo ignored Lin Shiyu and the three men's mockery. He simply looked down at his phone, tapped a few times, and then showed the screen to the bald man.
The screen displays a transaction record.
Recipient: Muse Bar.
Amount: 50,000 yuan.
"Fifty thousand dollars, pre-deposited at the bar." Chen Mo put away his phone, his tone as calm as if he were reciting a shopping list. "Is that enough to cover your drinks tonight? If not, I can add more."
The booth fell silent again.
The smiles on the three men's faces froze.
Fifty thousand yuan is enough to buy three bottles of Royal Salute at the Muse Bar in a second-tier city like Jiangcheng. And this young man, dressed in cheap clothes, deposited it into the bar's account without batting an eye.
The bald man's Adam's apple bobbed. He re-examined Chen Mo, his gaze becoming cautious. Someone capable of such a thing was either truly powerful or a reckless fool. But judging from Chen Mo's composed and confident aura, the former seemed more likely.
"Alright, brother, you've got guts." The bald man stood up, removed his hand from Lin Shiyu's waist, and dusted off non-existent dust from his clothes. "I'll give you face today."
He glanced at Lin Shiyu, then at Chen Mo, a hint of resentment flashing in his eyes, but still left with the other two people.
As he passed Chen Mo, he lowered his voice and said, "Kid, next time you try to show off, remember to wear something nicer."
Chen Mo ignored him.
Only he and Lin Shiyu remained in the booth.
The music was still playing; it was a slow-paced jazz piece, the saxophone sounding languid and melancholic.
Lin Shiyu sat there motionless, head bowed, like a statue. Her fingers were still gripping the hem of her skirt, her knuckles white from the force. Her shoulders were trembling slightly, but Chen Mo could see it clearly.
"You... how did you get here?" Her voice was hoarse, with a tremor she was trying hard to suppress.
"Su Wan told me." Chen Mo didn't hide anything and sat down opposite her.
Lin Shiyu's body visibly stiffened for a moment.
"Senior Su..." she murmured the name, then gave a wry smile, "I knew it... how could it be such a coincidence."
She finally raised her head and looked at Chen Mo.
Those eyes appeared unusually large and bright under the dim lights of the bar, almost unnaturally so, like a reservoir full of water, ready to burst at any moment.
"You saw it all?" she asked, her voice unusually calm.
Chen Mo nodded.
"So now you think I'm pathetic?" Lin Shiyu's lips curled into a smile, it was hard to tell if it was laughter or self-mockery. "The campus belle from university, now working as a hostess in a bar, being groped by older men and not daring to say a word... Isn't that ridiculous?"
"It's not laughable," Chen Mo said. "I just feel it's not worth it."
Lin Shiyu was stunned.
not worth.
Those two words were like a needle, precisely piercing the softest spot in her heart. Her eyes instantly reddened, her lips began to tremble, and the composure she had been maintaining shattered like glass.
"What do you know..." Her voice choked with sobs. "You know nothing... Do you think I wanted this? I was scammed out of over 300,000 yuan in Shanghai. Credit cards, online loans, and money borrowed from friends—I can't even pay off the monthly interest... My parents have used their retirement savings to help me pay off my debts. What can I do? What can I do!"
Her voice grew louder and louder until it was almost a shout.
Tears finally broke free, streaming down her cheeks and washing away her makeup, leaving two black streaks. She tried to wipe them away haphazardly with the back of her hand, but the more she wiped, the worse it got; her eyeliner and mascara smudged into a mess, making her look utterly disheveled.
Chen Mo didn't say anything, but simply took a few tissues from the table and handed them to her.
Lin Shiyu took the tissue and covered her face, her shoulders trembling violently. She cried in a suppressed manner, holding her voice in her throat, with only intermittent sobs escaping.
After a while, her crying gradually subsided.
She took the tissue off her face; her eyes were swollen from crying, and her eye makeup was a mess, but she didn't seem to care anymore.
"I'm sorry..." she sniffed, "I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"It's nothing." Chen Mo leaned back on the sofa in the booth, looking at her. "How much money do you owe?"