Chapter Eighty-Nine: Heaven and Earth

As one of the most exclusive entertainment palaces in all of Skysea, Sky Paradise was still a little inferior to the famed one in the capital, but in Skysea it had nonetheless created many legends. Open for seven years, it had remained packed year after year, and there were reasons for that.

First of all, the owner of Sky Paradise was said to be a man named Ding Lifeng. The name bore a faint resemblance to the old Bund boss Ding Li, and Ding Lifeng’s true identity was that of the supreme leader of the Green Gang. Naturally, he possessed the power to summon wind and rain in Skysea. Of course, the reason he could make Sky Paradise so wildly successful had much to do with Chen Xin as well. In this day and age, a gang could no longer make money merely by collecting a bit of protection money. Put bluntly, only second-rate or third-rate gangs treated that as their main business. If one truly wanted to feed the thousands of Green Gang brothers, one still had to rely on large entertainment venues like Sky Paradise. And to open a place like this, without a powerful backer, it was absolutely impossible.

In seven years, Ding Lifeng had made a great deal of money. As for how much of it eventually found its way into the Green Gang’s pockets, no one knew. But Ding Lifeng was indeed skilled at business. When the place was at the height of its popularity, he actually shut it down for renovations, spending ten months and nearly a hundred million to refit Sky Paradise.

What a lavish undertaking. He had spared no effort. The original 108 private rooms were reduced to 69, making each room significantly larger. The floor height was raised from four meters to four and a half, so the corridors, nearly three and a half meters wide, no longer felt oppressive. Naturally, the interior decoration was also greatly improved, and the sheer money burned in the process was alarming. Just the two chandeliers in the grand hall, which covered an area of about 200 square meters, cost 1.5 million.

Just after the car pulled up at the entrance of Sky Paradise, a crowd came swarming over. Leading them was, of course, Chen Xin, with Luo Hongli behind him, and then several young men whom Long Fei did not know at all, though their clothing and bearing made it obvious they were no ordinary people.

Yang Batian opened the door and grinned. “You came pretty early, huh? Ha ha. Chen Xin, Luo Hongli must’ve told you already, right? On your turf, I nearly got hacked to pieces. Today I’ll see how you plan to make it up to me!”

“Brother Tian, how could we be early? It’s you who are late,” Luo Hongli said with a sly smile, greeting Long Fei as well. After learning of Long Fei’s connection to Yang Danni, he always felt a touch uneasy around Long Fei and dared not slight him in the least.

Chen Xin was also briefly taken aback when he saw Long Fei, but he merely nodded and, in an instant, said with a broad smile to Yang Batian, “Brother Tian, you’re too kind. This is my fault. Tonight I’ll make sure you have a wonderful time. By chance, I know a few fresh arrivals here, all authentic goods, and they’re even graduates of Fudan. Their looks and bearing are beyond reproach. Why don’t I have them help cool your temper?”

“Forget it, you brat. They’re probably for your own use, aren’t they? You know I’m not into that. Ha ha. But my friend here does like beauties. If you really mean it, just take good care of him for me,” Yang Batian said, patting Long Fei on the shoulder.

“Of course, of course. Long Fei is my schoolmate now, so naturally I’ll see to it that he’s well entertained,” Chen Xin replied. He was pursuing Ye Qian, something everyone knew, but when he saw Long Fei, he did not display the kind of bitter, enemy-faced expression one might expect. Still, it was also impossible to say his attitude was especially warm.

Long Fei smiled. “We’ll see after we’ve taken a look inside.”

As the saying goes, one drinks for loyalty, and one visits prostitutes for affection. If there is not even a trace of feeling, if it is merely womanizing for the sake of womanizing, Long Fei had little interest. And even if Long Fei liked beauties, even if he were lecherous to the extreme, he still had no interest in the women who came here. No matter how lovely or refined they were, he simply did not care.

“Brother Tian, let me introduce you. This is Ding Lifeng, the leader of the Green Gang, the biggest gang in Skysea!” Chen Xin smiled as he pulled a middle-aged man out from behind him.

Yang Batian glanced at Ding Lifeng. The latter looked composed, but there was a faint gloom in his eyes. Clearly, he was no simple character. Then again, if he had been simple, Chen Xin would never have valued him so highly.

“Oh? You’re Ding Lifeng?” Yang Batian asked flatly, as if he had not even seen the hand that Ding Lifeng extended toward him.

Ding Lifeng did not get angry. He withdrew his hand and said respectfully, “Yes, I am. Tonight my men have offended Brother Tian in many ways. I hope you will be magnanimous and not take it to heart.”

“Ha ha, I’ve already forgotten about that. If there’s anything, talk to Luo Hongli about it. All right, let’s go inside together!” Yang Batian threw the matter entirely onto Luo Hongli. Joke or not, they had swung a knife at him and now expected the matter to end there? Dream on. Besides, Luo Hongli was exactly the kind of man who lived for fights. Could he possibly let go of such ready-made targets? Without tormenting them for ten days or half a month, would he ever let them leave?

Chen Xin had originally intended to introduce the young men behind him as well, but seeing this, he could not say much more and instead gestured invitingly, allowing Yang Batian to walk first toward the entrance of Sky Paradise. Of course, in front of Yang Batian was Ding Lifeng, who, as host, took the lead in guiding the way.

Two pretty girls dressed as bunny girls pushed the doors open, and the gilded splendor of the hall appeared before everyone.

“Welcome!” After the two rows of hostesses greeted them warmly, they bowed. Eight stood on each side, forming two neat lines. On the left were handsome young men in purple shirts and black dress trousers; on the right were lovely girls in white formal wear, each carrying a small red purse, presumably for tips.

Long Fei nodded inwardly. He had visited Sky Paradise before. Although it had once ranked among Skysea’s top entertainment palaces, compared with the present one, it was truly far behind. He specifically looked at the two enormous chandeliers, said to have cost more than 1.5 million, but he did not feel there was anything especially remarkable about them.

Past the hall was a spiral staircase, and almost every other step had a beautiful, heavily made-up girl standing on the right. Each was properly dressed, yet still displayed her sex appeal to perfection. Then, every few steps, someone would coo in a sweet, sing-song voice, “Welcome!”

Once they reached the second floor, it became even more extravagant. There were another two rows of girls. Though their appearance was much the same as those downstairs, their bearing and allure were unquestionably superior. To put it plainly, the girls downstairs were greeters, while these were the real service ladies. Each had a round badge at her waist marked with an Arabic numeral. Long Fei glanced over and saw that some numbers had already reached the 480s, which meant there were at least five hundred service girls here.

Of course, the number working here was far greater than the few visible to the eye. It was already past nine, and of the 69 presidential suites, nearly all were fully booked except for one reserved in advance, so most of the service girls had already gone off with customers. Naturally, only a small number remained.

A coquettish woman came forward to greet them. She was probably at least in her mid-thirties, with two breasts standing high and proud. After exchanging smiles with the group, she listened to Ding Lifeng whisper something to her, quickly answered, and left. Only then did Ding Lifeng lead everyone toward one of the suites near the corner.

The suites at Sky Paradise ranged from a minimum of 1,600 yuan to a maximum of 10,800 yuan. The one Long Fei was headed to now was, of course, the most expensive. And that price was charged by the hour. As for drinks, it was buy two get one free. Tips were left to the customer’s discretion. Though there was no written rule, they generally could not be less than 500 yuan. It was said that not long ago, a wealthy man from Wenzhou had come to Sky Paradise, and merely because a girl had accompanied him for a meal, he gave the owner ten thousand yuan in tips. For a time, that incident greatly stirred the hearts of the girls in the trade. It was said that during that period, the number of girls wanting to work at Sky Paradise increased markedly, to the point that the madams had to conduct interviews every day.

The other side of the second-floor hall was an open seating area. A stage had been set up in the middle, and at the moment a group of models in three-piece outfits were dancing on it, each holding a fan. At one corner of the stage, a raised platform had also been built, where a professional band was performing.

The music being played was not the wild, frenetic sort of disco, nor was anyone shouting into the microphone. Instead, an elegant atmosphere drifted out with the soft, flowing melody. On three sides of the stage were more scattered seats. Some were occupied by the rich without status, some by the powerful without money, and of course some by those who had both money and status. They sat below, drinking and pointing toward the stage. If you liked one in particular, it was simple: note her badge number and tell the service lady standing by the wine table. Before long, you could receive the most enthusiastic and attentive service from the girl you wanted.

You could ask a girl to drink with you, or to sing with you. Of course, if you had enough money to tip generously, you might even get a little physical affection. But if you wanted to take things further and make improper demands, then you would have to go to a private room and discuss it there. And it could not be one of the rooms below 5,000 yuan. If there was no room available tonight, then you would have to come early tomorrow to reserve one. Sorry, the girls of Sky Paradise never go out on the town. Sorry, reservations at Sky Paradise can only be made for the same day, and anything earlier or later is invalid.

The group arrived at the presidential suite, and it truly deserved to be the most luxurious room in Sky Paradise. Its arrangement gave one the unmistakable feeling of being an emperor. It lacked the gold-and-jade brilliance of the first-floor hall and the noise of the second-floor hall. Because the soundproofing material had been imported from abroad at great expense, nothing from outside could be heard at all. Under the somewhat dim lighting, romantic love songs played on the projection screen, and a faintly ambiguous mood seemed ready to erupt from within. In such an environment, if one did not have a girl for company, if one did not indulge in a little intimacy or do something else entirely, one would feel one had done wrong by the room itself.

Yang Batian was invited to the seat of honor. Just after everyone sat down, the madam behind them led in more than ten girls whose faces looked especially innocent, the sort that were clearly untouched. They each had their own distinctive charm and elegant bearing. Though they still fell a bit short compared with Liu Ruoyi or Ye Qian, they were certainly worthy of the title of beauties.

Seeing so many beauties at once, Long Fei felt a little overwhelmed. He had truly not intended to actually call for a girl to keep him company. But at this point, if he did not follow suit, it seemed as though even he himself would feel awkward. So when he saw Chen Xin and the others calling girls over, he did want to choose one as well. But then he thought that his future brother-in-law was sitting right beside him, and if he looked too eager at such a moment, it would be rather indecent, so Long Fei smiled and declined.

What he had not expected was that Yang Batian himself did not call for anyone, but instead insisted that Long Fei choose one. From the look of him, if Long Fei kept refusing, he would have called one on Long Fei’s behalf. Long Fei had no choice but to keep the most plain-looking one among them.

Actually, with all the girls dressed uniformly, it was rather difficult to tell who looked plain and who did not. Yet Long Fei could pick them out. Of course, his choice came from instinct, or from the subtle details in the way the girls lifted a hand or moved a foot. For instance, the girl now sitting beside him, Long Fei could guarantee was absolutely plain and understated.

“I say, brother-in-law, when men are out having fun, they need to be bold. What are you afraid of? I’m not going to snitch on you to my sister, am I? Of course, you mustn’t tell her about my affairs either!” Yang Batian leaned close to Long Fei’s ear and said with a sly grin.

Long Fei gave Yang Batian a somewhat contemptuous look. Damn it, this guy was truly sinister. He had called for his own mistress and still had to drag him down too. Wasn’t that just trying to seal his mouth? But that mouth-closing trick was a good one. He liked it.