Chapter Six: An Unexplained Chill
The bar Guan Hai ran was very small, with only a few tables. He was a hands-off boss, idle all day, leaving everything to the manager. He only came to the bar every so often to settle accounts and check the liquor inventory.
Though small, the bar had a good atmosphere. When Yang Haoran and the two men stepped inside, the few existing tables were already packed, business quite good. Besides women, this small bar was Guan Hai's only source of livelihood in this world.
As soon as he entered, Guan Hai was surrounded by several beauties, chattering incessantly at him, laughing and jumping with excitement.
Music played in the bar, not deafeningly loud, so it didn't disturb the patrons' chit-chat. However, after entering, there was some distance between Yang Haoran and Guan Hai, so he couldn't quite hear what the girls were chattering about to Guan Hai.
Finding no empty tables, Yang Haoran took a seat at the bar, ordered a bottle of beer, and began to drink casually by himself.
As for Mr. Liu, the alcohol seemed to have fully kicked in. His face was flushed, he swayed unsteadily, and his eyes were fixated on the women clinging to Guan Hai.
"Yang, have a seat first. I'll be over once I'm done with these ladies," Guan Hai said with a grin, approaching Yang Haoran.
When they were alone, Guan Hai addressed Yang Haoran casually, but in front of others, he usually called him "Yang Ge."
Yang Haoran shot Guan Hai a disdainful glance and uttered just two words: "Piss off."
Seeing this, Mr. Liu immediately became extremely agitated and quickly shouted to Guan Hai, "Hey, hey, hey! We came together! Can you really bear to leave me here alone? Don't worry, I'll treat you later. I'll treat these Western beauties to a good drink!"
Guan Hai had been about to say, "Isn't Yang here with you? " when Mr. Liu immediately started trying to cozy up to a woman next to him.
The woman wasn't at all impressed with Mr. Liu, but knowing he was Guan Hai's friend, she didn't say much. Guan Hai, of course, couldn't say much either; after all, he was still planning to fleece Mr. Liu later, so he might as well let him taste some sweetness first.
And so, Mr. Liu successfully squeezed into the group of women, making the guy so happy his mouth wouldn't close.
Yang Haoran watched it all with a speechless expression. Mr. Liu was already quite drunk, having trouble walking, but as soon as he saw beauties, he was instantly invigorated, like he'd been injected with chicken blood, damn him. He was lively as a dragon and vigorous as a tiger again.
Such are people, such are men, Yang Haoran mused. He smiled faintly, shook his head, and then ignored Guan Hai and Mr. Liu, continuing to drink his beer, a heavy look on his face.
Unknowingly, Yang Haoran had drunk quite a bit alone. His face showed some intoxication. People entered and left the bar sporadically, both passing by him, yet he paid them no mind, absorbed in his own thoughts and drinking his own beer.
"A man establishes himself at thirty. I seem to be far from that. I wonder if the path I've chosen is right or wrong. Should I really stick to this path until the bitter end? " Yang Haoran asked himself inwardly. At this moment, he couldn't help but feel a hint of confusion, unsure if his persistence was correct, or if he should continue to hold on.
Doing his current line of work, pretending to be a ghost exorcist all day, was not a long-term solution. Sooner or later, he would be exposed. If by some bad luck he encountered a real supernatural entity, then he would truly have "hit the jackpot. " He understood the saying: "If you often walk by the river, how can your shoes not get wet?"
"Does one always get what they want as long as they work hard? " Yang Haoran asked himself, but then he gave a bitter smile and shook his head, his expression somewhat helpless. His answer was naturally no.
"Working hard doesn't guarantee rewards, but if I don't work hard, will I live an easier life? " A thought suddenly popped into Yang Haoran's mind, one that even he found amusing.
However, before this thought could take root and sprout, he strangled it in the bud. He was indeed very disappointed with his current self, but he hadn't reached the point of despair. Deep in his heart, he still held onto a seed of hope.
It wasn't surprising that Yang Haoran felt melancholy after drinking. He was already thirty, had achieved nothing, and hadn't settled down and started a family. He was somewhat anxious, after all, his starting point was very low, incomparable to his peers who had higher starting points. If he didn't achieve something soon, he might just muddle through this life, perhaps even remain single forever, spending his days accompanied by his "Unicorn Arm."
Draining the last sip from his glass, Yang Haoran set it down. His head felt a little dizzy. He rubbed his temples, then pulled out his phone to check the time. It was already past ten. When he entered the bar, it was around nine. He hadn't realized that over an hour had passed unknowingly.
"Damn it, that kid Guan Hai must have completely forgotten about me by now. " Yang Haoran cursed under his breath with a chuckle, preparing to leave the bar. But just then, a beautiful figure passed by him, and his body involuntarily shivered.
The woman who had suddenly passed by Yang Haoran was exceptionally beautiful, tall and slender. Even in the dim lighting of the bar, it couldn't hide her exquisite face and graceful figure.
However, Yang Haoran's sudden slight shiver wasn't due to being stunned by the woman's figure or beauty. It was because, as she passed him, he suddenly felt a chill, and it was this sudden chill that made his body involuntarily shiver.
The woman didn't notice Yang Haoran; she merely walked past him. Before he could react, she had already taken a seat, and the seat she chose was at Guan Hai's table.
Yang Haoran snapped out of it, and the chill on his body disappeared as the woman moved away. He glanced at the seated woman, then shifted his gaze to the bar's entrance, his brow furrowing slightly.
It was currently winter, and past ten o'clock, so the temperature outside the bar was naturally low. Could that inexplicable chill have been because the woman opened the bar's door when she entered, letting in the cold wind from outside?
Thinking this, Yang Haoran couldn't help but laugh mockingly. It seemed he was getting too deeply into his act of faking supernatural abilities. What was a naturally normal phenomenon was startling him unnecessarily. He even wondered if he would become insane if he continued this pretense.
"Looks like I've had too much to drink. I should go back and get some proper sleep. " Yang Haoran rubbed his temples again, ready to nod to the bartender and leave. But just at that moment, a woman stopped in front of him.
Looking at the woman before him, Yang Haoran offered a friendly smile, a greeting of sorts. He knew this woman; she was a waitress at the bar. Because of his good relationship with Guan Hai and his frequent patronage, all the waitstaff, the manager, and even the regular customers at this bar knew him.
"Yang, Brother Guan asked me to invite you over to sit. He's tied up right now, so he sent me to get you," the waitress said with a smile to Yang Haoran.
Yang Haoran's friendly smile didn't falter, but he was cursing Guan Hai inwardly. The bar was so tiny, he could hear him with a simple shout. Why make it so complicated? Anyone who didn't know might think some big boss was summoning him.
However, Yang Haoran knew that Guan Hai didn't do that because he didn't want to shout and ruin his image in the eyes of the beauties.
Guan Hai had once told him that to pick up girls, one needed to be bold and meticulous. Boldness meant not being shy, not being hesitant, and not caring about one's "face."
Meticulousness, on the other hand, meant paying close attention to details. Being careless wouldn't do. If a detail wasn't handled well, it could easily cause a beautiful woman to feel disgusted, lowering one's image in her eyes. But if it was done well, it would also leave a good impression. And if the detail one handled happened to be something the woman cared about, the impression left would be even deeper.
Currently, Guan Hai was so entangled with the girls that he couldn't break free, and he couldn't just shout without ruining his image, so he had sent the waitress to invite Yang Haoran over.
Although Yang Haoran was cursing Guan Hai inwardly, he wasn't truly angry, because he understood.
Smiling, he thanked the waitress and walked towards Guan Hai's table. He had no intention of continuing to drink; he was just going over to say goodbye to Guan Hai before leaving.
As soon as Yang Haoran got close, Guan Hai grabbed him and, with a happy expression, gave a brief introduction to the beauties at the table.
In response, Yang Haoran politely smiled at the women, including the one who had just passed by him.
However, these women weren't particularly impressed with Yang Haoran. They merely returned polite smiles and then ignored his existence.
Yang Haoran had long been accustomed to this. After all, he was average-looking, average-built, and terribly poor. Even he couldn't find anything about himself that would attract girls, let alone others.
Yang Haoran didn't care about the women's attitudes. He looked at Mr. Liu, who had passed out drunk, then at Guan Hai, and finally spoke to the women at the table: "He's drunk. I'll take him back. You all have fun."
The women, who hadn't been impressed with Yang Haoran before, suddenly found him exceptionally pleasing to the eye upon hearing his words.
They were thoroughly disgusted with the drunken Mr. Liu. As soon as he sat down, he'd used his drunken state to take all sorts of liberties. If it weren't for Guan Hai, they would have kicked Mr. Liu out long ago.
To make Mr. Liu behave, the women had taken turns, each toasting him with a full glass. In just one round, they had directly knocked him out.
Although Mr. Liu had been completely subdued, his presence still bothered the women. Now that Yang Haoran offered to take him away, it was exactly what they wanted.
However, Guan Hai stopped Yang Haoran at that moment. "No need. I've already made arrangements for him. You sit down first. I have something important to tell you."
With that, Guan Hai, without waiting for Yang Haoran's consent, dragged and pulled him into a seat. Yang Haoran's seat was opposite Guan Hai, with no one to his left near the aisle, and the woman who had just entered to his right.
As soon as Yang Haoran's butt touched the seat—no, to be precise, as soon as he got close to the woman on his right—the chill he had felt before reappeared. . .
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