Chapter 023: A House of Pleasure and Entertainment

Pulling on our clothes, Luo Feng and I hurried to the convenience store. This place was remote, the shop sitting just outside a deserted alley. From a glance down the alley, I saw several scantily dressed women squatting on the curb, smoking. Even in such frigid weather, they wore almost nothing.

Luo Feng saw them and sneered, saying these women were fighting desperately for survival. One of Luo Feng’s men told me that an entertainment den had been operating furtively in the alley for years. Ordinary people had no idea; customers were brought in by the staff, and apparently quite a few of the brothers from the underworld frequented this place.

I thought for a moment and remarked that this entertainment den was a little different from the others. Luo Feng’s man nodded, telling me that calling it an “entertainment venue” was putting it mildly—in truth, it was just a group of women selling their bodies. He added that some people of certain standing in society would come here, mainly because it was so hidden and hard to investigate.

Once we’d gotten the lay of the land, we walked into the convenience store at the alley’s edge. I noticed that the women squatting and smoking were still watching us, casting flirtatious glances our way. The shop itself was simple, the owner warming his hands over a small heater. The place was deserted; apart from the owner, there was no one else.

When we entered, the owner didn’t even look up, simply muttered that the things we wanted were in the back and told us to help ourselves. I paused, glanced toward the back of the cramped shop, and realized what he meant: adult paraphernalia. The entertainment den in the alley had brought the shopkeeper plenty of business.

I smiled faintly, walked to the counter, braced my hands on the tabletop, and called the owner. Only then did he look up, asking what I wanted. I told him to recount in detail what he saw of Lao Jiu and his companions that day. At first, the owner seemed unwilling to engage, but when he noticed Luo Feng, his expression changed at once. Smiling ingratiatingly, he began to speak about what had happened.

It was the dead of winter, a slow season for the entertainment business, so not many people came by, but the owner had a vague memory. The date he mentioned was the very first day Lao Jiu and the others arrived in the harbor district. Hearing him confirm this, my heart sank. I hadn’t expected they’d set aside what I’d asked them to do, choosing instead to indulge themselves in a place like this.

Luo Feng patted my shoulder and quietly suggested that in the future, I simply use his men. I nodded and asked the owner to continue. The owner recalled that back then, one of the four men wanted to come into the shop, but the woman accompanying them kept pulling them away, insisting that everything they needed was already inside.

He remembered one of them asking to buy water, but the woman still insisted they had water inside as well.

At this, I felt something was wrong. The four of them had already been brought here, business was certain, yet the woman was so eager—something I’d never heard of in this line of work. Clearly, the woman was deliberately preventing them from entering the shop. I suspected she had something to hide, afraid the owner would notice.

I asked the owner if he recognized the woman. He shook his head; though the shop was close to the alley, he kept his distance to avoid trouble, only running his shop. During the incident, he’d been warming his hands, head down, and had only glanced up briefly.

He recalled that the woman was wearing a furry hat and kept her head lowered while tugging at Lao Jiu and the others, so he hadn’t seen her face, only vaguely remembered the appearance of the four men. Luo Feng rapped his knuckles on the table, warning the owner not to lie.

The owner panicked, swearing he wouldn’t dare lie to Luo Feng even if he had a hundred lives. Luo Feng then asked if he remembered the woman’s voice. The owner scratched his head anxiously, saying all the women sounded alike, speaking in coy tones, and he couldn’t tell them apart.

Getting nothing more from him, we left the shop and headed into the alley. The women who’d been squatting outside immediately stood up. Luo Feng had only brought one man with him this time, but in the harbor district, few would dare cross him. The women came over at once, linking their arms with ours in a show of intimacy.

Though Luo Feng lived on the edge, he was upright in his demeanor, and quickly shook them off. I, however, did not. Pinching one of the women’s cheeks, I feigned delight and walked in with them. The alley was long, and I deliberately slowed my pace. Soon enough, I struck up a conversation with the woman holding my arm.

She told me that lately, perhaps because of police crackdowns or because clients were too busy, few people came to the alley, and many of her colleagues had temporarily left. In other words, there weren’t many women left inside. After we reached the end of the alley, the women pulled open an iron gate and led us up a dim staircase.

At first, the corridor was filthy, but as we reached the second floor, I noticed it suddenly became spotless. Another door opened, revealing a well-decorated interior. Several women, wrapped in bath towels, were emerging from small rooms. Luo Feng stated bluntly that he wanted to see the boss.

Most people recognized Luo Feng. Soon, a plump woman in her forties appeared, cigarette in hand. She looked at Luo Feng and winked suggestively, “Brother Feng, this is your first time here. Take your pick of the girls—satisfaction guaranteed.”

Luo Feng and I had already discussed matters before coming in. Luo Feng said sternly, “A few of my brothers came here and vanished afterwards.”

At this, the woman was startled, claiming she didn’t know what had happened. Her expression was genuine, not an act. I took out photos of Lao Jiu and his companions, asking if she recognized them. She examined them closely but shook her head, saying too many people passed through for her to remember.

Luo Feng pointed at the empty hallway, “Does this look like a place with crowds?”

The woman, somewhat aggrieved, said that until recently, business had been booming, but for some reason, customers suddenly stopped coming. She was still trying to find out why. I was taken aback and asked when the downturn began. She thought for a moment and gave me a date.

I realized that the date coincided precisely with a few days after Lao Jiu and his companions arrived in the harbor district.

At our request, the woman called out all the women present. We questioned each in turn, but none admitted to having served the four men, nor did they know if anyone else had. When Lao Jiu came, business was brisk, and no one paid attention to who dealt with whom.

Money was taken directly by the women, but they paid the boss a fixed fee each month—her way of making money. This was different from other places. She said the system encouraged the women to hustle: if they brought in too few clients, they couldn’t pay the fee and would be forced out, but pulling in more meant they could keep more for themselves.

There were few women left. The boss said she couldn’t force them to stay when business dried up, as causing a scene wouldn’t do her any good. When business picked up again, she said, the women would return.

She handed us a list of more than twenty contact numbers—the women who had recently left. We searched every room but found nothing. However, at the end of the hallway, I discovered a back door.

It was a passageway out of the building, leading to an even more secluded spot, but the iron door was locked. The woman told us it was an emergency exit, used only if something happened, and she alone had the key. The door had never been opened since she started the business, as nothing had ever happened.

After hearing her explanation, I went to inspect the door. The lock was intact. I asked the woman to unlock it, and she did as I asked. We left through the back door.

Luo Feng asked if I’d noticed anything. I told him I was certain Lao Jiu and his companions’ deaths were connected to this entertainment den.

Moreover, the suspect was likely among the women who had temporarily left.

The sudden quiet in the place and the exodus of so many women might have been a ploy to prevent us from finding the suspect. At my request, Luo Feng immediately called his men to investigate why business had suddenly dried up, and to keep a close eye on the boss.

When Lao Jiu and his friends came, the place was bustling. Everyone was there to have fun, and with the den’s peculiar management style, no one would have noticed four unfamiliar faces. I was convinced that they met their end right here; otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone silent for days.

I suspected that after entering the den, they had been restrained. Unless the entire den was complicit, it was unlikely they left through the alley. The back door was isolated and deserted—much more likely that the suspect took them out through there.

“That door was locked,” Luo Feng said. “The key’s only with the boss. You think she’s involved?”

“We need to look into her further,” I replied. “Don’t forget, Fat Kee died at home, but the lock wasn’t broken. The suspect may have lock-picking skills.”

Luo Feng nodded. By now, we’d finally left the remote area and reached the bustling street.

“If Lao Jiu and the others were taken out this way, someone might have seen it. I need to ask around,” I said.