The girl dragged her suitcase, following closely behind Ou Yunchen, all the way to the back door of the club. Ou Yunchen instructed her to wait for him by the door, and she obediently nodded.
The waiter at the back door saw the girl standing by the door and curiously followed Ou Yunchen. This girl didn't look like someone here to spend money.
"Where is Sister Hong?" Ou Yunchen asked.
"In the office upstairs. Who is she? She's quite pretty," the waiter replied, glancing at the girl.
"I don't know. Get me something to eat."
The waiter scurried off to the kitchen to get food. Ou Yunchen ordered a bottle of mineral water at the bar. When the waiter returned with a bag of food, they both opened the back door, only to find the girl gone.
The waiter scratched his head, "Strange, where did she go?"
Ou Yunchen frowned. The girl's suitcase was still on the steps. Where could she have gone in such a short time?
The waiter peeked his head down the stone steps and looked around until he exclaimed, "Ah!" summoning Ou Yunchen to come quickly.
The waiter: "She's over there! They're fighting!!!"
Fighting?
Ou Yunchen's head buzzed. He dropped the mineral water and ran down quickly!
Indeed, not far away, the girl was desperately clinging to a man's leg.
Upon seeing their faces clearly, the man hitting the girl's head wasn't the thief Ou Yunchen had kicked with a soda can that day?!
"No!"
Ou Yunchen shouted and rushed over. The girl had already been kicked to the ground.
Despite this, her hand still clutched the man's pant leg. The man kicked her body forcefully, cursing loudly.
"Damn it, you lunatic!!!"
Ou Yunchen threw a punch. Every nerve in his brain seemed to come alive. He hadn't thrown a punch in a long time.
The man couldn't stand firm and staggered back a few steps. He prepared to retaliate but had his outstretched fist caught by the agile Ou Yunchen. With a snap, the man's arm twisted grotesquely. He cried out in pain, "Spare me!"
At this moment, the waiter also ran over.
Ou Yunchen told the waiter to hold the thief's shoulders and make him kneel on the ground so he couldn't escape.
He then walked to the girl's side, helped her up, and checked her injuries.
Unfortunately, the girl's face had been kicked. Her eye socket was already red and swollen.
Wiping away tears, the girl quickly felt around the man on the ground, searching through his pockets and pants. She sat down on the ground in despair.
The waiter didn't understand and asked softly, "What's going on?"
Ou Yunchen asked the girl, "Did he steal your wallet?"
The girl nodded. The man kneeling on the ground suddenly understood.
Ou Yunchen kicked the man, "Where's the wallet?"
"Threw... threw it away."
This sentence seemed to rekindle the girl's hope. She quickly took out a pen and paper, "Where did you throw it?"
The thief and the waiter looked at the girl strangely, but she was used to such gazes. They were probably just surprised that this girl was mute.
Ou Yunchen kicked the man again, "I'm asking you!"
The thief covered his head fearfully, "In... in the garbage heap in the back alley."
The girl was about to run towards the back alley but was stopped by Ou Yunchen.
He wondered if the money in the wallet had already been spent by this scoundrel. Was there something important in the wallet that made her so insistent?
"Aming, take her to find Sister Hong to treat her wounds. I'll help her find the wallet."
Ou Yunchen picked up the thief and walked towards the garbage heap in the back alley. The thief, beaten and scared, knew he wasn't a match for Ou Yunchen and followed obediently.
However, Ou Yunchen wasn't sure if he could find the wallet. After all, there were homeless people who rummaged through the garbage heaps in the back alley, and garbage trucks occasionally came to clear them. The possibility of not finding it was even greater.
When they reached the garbage heap, a pungent odor assaulted them. Both the thief and Ou Yunchen were choked by the nauseating smell.
"Where?"
The thief vaguely pointed and turned his head away, gagging dramatically.
Looking at the garbage heap, which resembled a mountain, Ou Yunchen was also troubled. The good thing was that it looked like no one had collected the garbage for a few days. But the difficulty was that finding a palm-sized wallet from here would likely take hours.
Ou Yunchen shoved the thief into the garbage heap with a palm strike.
"If you don't find the wallet, you can wait here to be collected as a corpse."
The thief, terrified, immediately buried his head in search. The more it was rummaged, the stronger the stench of decay and foulness from the garbage heap became. Even Ou Yunchen, standing far away, couldn't bear the smell.
On the other side, when the waiter brought the mute girl into the club, both guests and male escorts looked at her with confusion. She was a dirty girl who had entered from the back door, a stark contrast to the world of desire and money.
The mute girl timidly followed the waiter. This scenery was probably something she had never seen before.
The waiter knocked on the door. As soon as it opened, it seemed like a different world.
Sister Hong's office was luxuriously decorated with red velvet curtains, golden wallpaper, and even a wool carpet under a dark purple checkered chaise lounge.
The waiter recounted the events in detail. Sister Hong ordered someone to fetch a first-aid kit and asked the girl to sit on the sofa. She examined the girl, whose eyes were filled with confusion.
"You can't speak?"
The mute girl nodded.
"Since birth?"
The mute girl took out her pen and paper again, "No, something happened when I was a child, and I was so scared..."
"Poor child, what's your name?"
The mute girl wrote down her name, "Mo Qingyun."
Sister Hong tucked a strand of hair away from the mute girl's face, "You are indeed quite delicate. Why did you come here?"
The mute girl lowered her head, thought for a moment, and then wrote, "I'm looking for my brother..."
Sister Hong laughed, "Looking for your brother around here? Do you know what kind of place this is?"
The mute girl shook her head, meaning "I don't know."
Sister Hong had a rough idea. She was likely tricked here by a unscrupulous taxi driver. The male escorts in the numerous clubs around here could all be called "brother."
"Once you get your wallet back, I'll have someone escort you home."
The mute girl quickly waved her hands and wrote, "I'm an adult now, and the welfare institute won't take me in anymore..."
This made Sister Hong feel a pang of sympathy for the girl, "What if you can't find your brother?"
The mute girl's eyes welled up with tears. She had been searching for a long time. A voice in her heart had always supported her reason for continuing the search; he was her only family.