CH 94

The bar was small but complete in every detail.

Contrary to its shabby and dirty facade, which made it seem as if it had been squashed in a tight grip, when it came to the greeters, valets, and whatnot, they had the full array. 

When Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan stepped through the door, the greeter welcoming them… no, the King Kong lookalike, stared at them closely for a good while, his bulging arm and pectoral muscles practically about to rip his clothes.

This had to be a hitman in disguise, right?

He squeezed out a smile that looked more like a facial twitch, saying gruffly, “Welcome! Hearts or Spades?”

Hearts? Spades? 

They’ve got to be placing such a blatant hint for fear that no one would suspect something fishy here.

Despite saying this in his head, the expression on Yan Suizhi’s face stayed neutral. He said with a smile, “What? I don’t quite understand.”

Then, he took a step back and raised his head, checking the name of the bar again. “We were just passing by and decided to come in after seeing the name. Why, is this a game you play at this bar?”

He had a slight lilt in his cadence, seemingly interested, yet not overly so.

At this time, Gu Yan also frowned to a suitable degree, showing faint repulsion towards this bar. He gently tugged Yan Suizhi, saying, “Shall we go to another one?”

His voice wasn’t loud but it was sufficient for the greeter to hear him. Also, induced by the small motion he made, the greeter’s gaze shifted downwards, glancing at his hand—

He didn’t tug Yan Suizhi by interlacing their fingers, but only hooked his hand gently with two fingers in a relaxed and natural gesture, even carrying a slight intimacy with it.

The bull-necked greeter was immediately and thoroughly convinced by their acting skills, all of his doubts dispelled. He cracked a grin in an attempt to appear jovial. “Yeah, it’s a themed event. Pick between Hearts or Spades by feel, and you’ll be presented with a corresponding gift later.” 

“…”

The two lawyers silently listened to his cooked-up story.

Such bars could have stringent checks, but they wouldn’t completely turn away passers-by; they welcomed them, even. The reason for this was that they needed passers-by as customers to hold the charade when being watched by the police.

“What gift is it?” Yan Suizhi asked. 

Unable to keep it up, the greeter winked, deliberately enigmatic, “I can’t tell you that now, of course.”

Yan Suizhi raised his brows at Gu Yan, saying, “You pick? My luck has never been that great.”

Gu Yan still seemed as disinterested as before, saying dismissively, “Anything will do, just pick what you like.”

The colder his attitude was, the smaller the greeter’s doubts became. He readily chimed in, “Yeah, just pick what you like and that’ll do.” 

“Really? Then I like Diamonds.”

The greeter, “…”

A sliver of suspicion immediately flitted across the brawny man’s face, but he soon straightened out his expression, duly playing his part. “Uh… we only have Spades and Hearts.”

Nodding, Yan Suizhi smiled again. “Are there really no Diamonds?” 

The gaze Gu Yan directed at him was tinged with helplessness.

If it were someone else, the greeter would probably have felt that this customer was being a jokester. But Yan Suizhi’s expression was immeasurably sincere and his smile was gentle, unable to draw any fire at all.

However, the greeter’s reaction was a bit odd. He seemed even more hesitant, and seemed to also carry a little more… respect that wasn’t there before?

His gaze swivelled back and forth between Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan several times. Finally, as if setting his mind, he said, “‘Kay, ‘kay, I got it… guests for Area E!” 

As an usher led them in, Yan Suizhi discreetly slowed his pace.

That greeter stood expressionlessly by the door behind him, tapping on his earpiece. His tone was without a billow as he started grumbling to someone, “A couple just came in, I almost thought… but it’s fine, they look like the real deal.”

With that, he complained again, “Speaking of which, where’s boss? I’ve been blinded by little sweethearts at the entrance for three days now; can’t he let me go back to being a bouncer?”

The other end replied something. 

The greeter said, “Fuck.”

He tapped the earpiece again, cutting off the line. Right after, he raised his head and said to the customers that had just stepped in, “Welcome! Hearts or Spades?”

The customer, “…Hearts.”

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The design of the booth lived up to the promise of the bar signage. It was curved in an arc such that its occupants were partially enclosed, remaining open-concept while affording them some privacy. 

Yan Suizhi had quickly scanned the bar when he walked in and found that it was divided into five areas, A to E, with a water curtain partitioning each area.

They picked a seat close to a water curtain, close to the boundary between Area C and E.

From their angle, they could see all of the booths in Area E and some of the booths in Area C.

The moment Gu Yan entered the bar, he immediately felt that he was scammed by a certain someone… 

There were obviously other guests dressed more formally than they were.

“The gentleman in the third booth of Area C didn’t even take off his hat and mask,” Gu Yan said, glancing pointedly at Yan Suizhi.

He had sufficient reason to doubt that someone had mussed his hair purely out of an itch in his fingers.

When Yan Suizhi raised his head to look over, that guest happened to be angled away, talking to the person next to him, and he was unable to see much of him. 

“Attractive people have to dress with the crowd a bit,” Yan Suizhi glanced away and winked at Gu Yan, amusement in his eyes. “Don’t learn from those two hippies, you’ll attract attention easily.”

“…”

Entirely hogwash to delude people.

With how difficult it was to make out any features under this bar’s lighting, who cared how attractive someone looked? 

A waiter enthusiastically handed them the drinks menu. “When you’ve made your decision, I’ll serve it to you. The bar counter doesn’t accept direct orders.”

Yan Suizhi casually ordered a couple of drinks, and the waiter left to serve another pair of customers that had just taken their seats.

While the waiters in each area seemed to be randomly assigned, the density of guests in each area varied greatly.

Area E was packed. Area A was the noisiest, with the occasional raised voices interspersed with cursing, and Area B was only slightly better. On the other hand, only a sparse handful of people populated Areas C and D; empty booths were everywhere. 

Just like that, the three pairs of customers that came after Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan were arranged to sit in Area A.

“Do those that pick Hearts go to Area A?” Yan Suizhi said, then checked his own surroundings. “Area E should all be pedestrians.”

Several sweethearts hadn’t stopped kissing since they came in. The pair closest to them was even so loud that it was impossible to ignore them. It was apparent that they were nothing more than pedestrians.

What of Spades, then? 

And what about the remaining three areas?

If it was only split by Hearts, Spades, and Pedestrians, then why would there be five areas? Three would be enough.

Gu Yan unobtrusively raised his chin towards the booths in Area C.

On the way to get a drink, one of them nodded and chatted to someone seated elsewhere, then, when passing by another booth, he jokingly tapped that person’s shoulder. 

They probably knew each other.

“Could it be because of the offbeat answer I gave?” Yan Suizhi guessed.

When the greeter asked him to pick Hearts or Spades, he conversely said that he liked Diamonds.

Gu Yan asked, “Why Diamonds?” 

Even though Yan Suizhi’s answer sounded like a quip to the greeter, at that time, his finger had unconsciously curled in a movement so minute that only Gu Yan could feel it.

This seemed more like him reacting to something he thought of that led him to say that.

“When at Tian Qin, Chen Zhang told me that he was instructed to say something when he went to get his genetic modification done in the black market.” Yan Suizhi said, “He said, ‘I’m here on Mr Diamond’s recommendation.’ I didn’t quite hear him clearly, at that time, but when the greeter asked that question just now, I suddenly recalled it…”

“What if it wasn’t in reference to the shape, but the playing card suit, Diamonds?” 

If there were two more hidden answers apart from Hearts and Spades, Clubs and Diamonds, that would explain the five areas—the four suits and pedestrians.

This would also explain the reaction the greeter had when hearing Yan Suizhi’s answer.

Not long later, a young bartender with braided hair suavely shook the cocktail shaker with flamboyant style, smiling merrily as he poured the drinks into the prepared glasses.

There were already two rows of cocktails in front of him. 

He clipped the shaker to one side, then collected those two rows of drinks onto two trays, held one in each hand, and carefreely walked over to Area E.

“The door gift you chose has arrived~”

Two young couples started cheering, whistling in excitement.

“Thanks, we’ll start from you first then.” The bartender winked, walking over to one of them. “Did you pick Hearts or Spades?” 

“Spades.”

“There ya go.” The bartender offered the tray in his left hand. The drink in every glass on it was black. “A Nebula; try dropping an ice cube in.”

That couple took a glass and did as instructed.

When the ice cube was dropped in, fine effervescence bubbled like a cloud of starry mist, changing colour as it reacted with the black liquor, blooming bright blue, tinted with violet on its edges. 

It really bore a striking resemblance to a cosmic nebula.

That young couple cooperatively gave a startled cry.

The bartender was immensely satisfied, turning to the other couple.

“Spades, too? Alrighty.” He offered the tray in his left hand again. 

After giving out three Nebulas, one of the couples said that they didn’t choose, and the bartender smiled. “I’ll give each of you a kiss, then.”

Right after, he handed the trays to a passing waiter and really did pull them up by their hands, pecking both of them once each.

The guests, unable to react in time, were amused and embarrassed.

Soon after, he arrived in front of Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan. 

“How about you guys?” he asked. “Hearts or Spades? There ought to be a Hearts by now, right…”

Yan Suizhi said with exceptional candour, “Diamonds. Is there a present for that?”

“Diamonds?”

Sure enough, the bartender gave a start, his eyes unwittingly darting towards Area C before flying back. 

The two men understood.

The bartender quickly caught on that Yan Suizhi was telling a joke, and he laughed raucously, “What should I do, I didn’t prepare any drinks for Diamonds. How about this, I’ll give you a French kiss!”

“…”

Lawyer Gu, leaning back in his seat, suddenly deigned to open his mouth, his voice glacial, “Hearts. Thank you.” 

Yan Suizhi smiled, reaching out to take a cocktail glass from the untouched tray on the other side, politely sweeping a hand to one side.

It was a gesture for the bartender to hurry off on his way.

The bartender unconsciously turned to leave, but not more than a few steps later, he turned back, as if suddenly thinking of something. “Ah, right. That glass is the Heart of Nature, you need to—”

Before he finished his words, Yan Suizhi had already picked up a scented candle which was placed at the table to set the mood, using its flame to heat the wall of the glass. 

Originally, the base layer of the liquor was transparent, whereas the layer floating above it was red. After being scorched, the layer of red suddenly tumbled down, imbuing the clear liquor.

“—heat it with a scented candle.” A beat late, the bartender mumbled the rest of his words, sighing sadly as he left.

Yan Suizhi pushed the glass to Gu Yan. “Drink what you picked.”

Then, right in Gu Yan’s face, he projected the interface of his address book from his smart device and changed the contact name to ‘Vinegar Gu Yan‘. 

“……”

He probably found delight in seeing Lawyer Gu swallow down words unseemly for the occasion.

Shameless scourge.

Gu Yan didn’t speak, calmly raising the glass and downing the Heart of Nature. His eyelids flicked up, and the look he gave Yan Suizhi was weighted. “I feel compelled to remind you that I have an exceptional memory.” 

“Is that a threat?” Yan Suizhi raised his brows.

“No,” Gu Yan said indifferently. “Just so you know.”

With that, he set the empty glass back to the table and said, “Is it not possible to achieve our purpose for coming here tonight?”

“Mhm,” Yan Suizhi hummed in slight regret. “It does seem to be the case.” 

They had initially planned to glean some usable information from the general chatter and complaints of those shopkeepers, but if they were segregated to a different area like this, they obviously wouldn’t be able to overhear anything.

Gu Yan stood up. “Let’s go, then.”

As he spoke, two people walked out of Area C, among whom was coincidentally the one Yan Suizhi wasn’t able to see much of just now, still wearing his hat and mask.

They seemed to have to walk through Zone E. A beam of light glimpsed past his face, briefly illuminating it. 

Yan Suizhi caught sight of a pair of blue eyes.

It was the doctor!

The beam of light, swiftly after, grazed Yan Suizhi’s and Gu Yan’s figures. Those blue eyes glanced over.

Previously in the stairwell, though Yan Suizhi was wearing a mask, the upper half of his face was exposed. He didn’t know if the other had managed to get a proper look at him under the dim lighting and form an impression. 

If, by any chance, he did leave an impression, then running into each other again now would be rather untimely.

A more vigilant man would definitely have his suspicions raised.

When the doctor turned his line of sight in this direction, he visibly jolted.

“…” 

Yan Suizhi thought to himself that he really couldn’t have worse luck, for it was obvious from the look in those blue eyes that he was recognised.