Chapter 19 : I’ve Never Been to a Nightclub

“Come, come, try this one on!“

In the clothing store on the fourth floor of the mall, Chengzi shook out a pleated miniskirt adorned with metal chains and held it up to Bai Ling’s waist.
“Hot girl out on the street, a must-have for slaying men!“

“Isn’t this too short…“

Bai Ling pinched the corner of the skirt.
The cold air from the air conditioner coiled up her calves and into the skirt.

The floral dress she was wearing contrasted with her cheeks, which were so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

The feeling of the cold air drilling into her skirt was chilly, with an inexplicable sense of unease.

“Stop talking nonsense and try it on!“

Chengzi pushed her into the fitting room without taking no for an answer.

Bai Ling, who had been pushed into the fitting room, stared at the swaying skirt in the mirror.
The thin gauze lining rubbing against her skin had a fine and strange sensation.
This was the first time in her nineteen years of life that she had been stuffed into a dress with a bow sash.

“I have to live as a girl anyway…“

She bit her lower lip.
The lipstick Lin Xiao Xia had just applied to her lips filled her mouth with a peach flavor.

The bow on the person in the mirror’s chest rose and fell with her breath.
She slowly took off the floral dress she was wearing and put on the JK shirt and pleated skirt that Chengzi had just given her.

On the changing stool were piled the spoils of her first three costume changes, from polka-dot puff-sleeved dresses to sailor-collared dresses…

Her three roommates were treating her like a mannequin, trying out seven or eight different styles on her in less than an hour.

“This doesn’t suit me at all…“

Bai Ling muttered.
‘Hot girl style and all that, she had never even been to a KTV.’
‘She was an introverted person with no friends. Places like nightclubs, movie theaters, and KTVs were naturally at odds with her personality.’

When she looked up again, the person in the mirror had completely changed.
If the girl in the floral dress with flushed cheeks from just now was the kind of pure and innocent girl next door who you would see every day, then the person in the pleated skirt and slim-fit shirt now was the kind of super extrovert who would hang out in all sorts of social circles and was popular in every group.

“It doesn’t suit me at all!“

The person in the mirror screamed, covering her face as she rushed out of the fitting room.

“It really doesn’t suit her. It feels like their personalities clash.“

Su Jiu Li pulled down the sunglasses on her nose and commented.

“Come, come, try this set!“

Lin Xiao Xia rushed over with three fluorescent-colored crop tops and pushed Bai Ling back into the fitting room.
“Crop top with denim shorts, hot big sister style!“

A minute later, Bai Ling, in the hot big sister style, wailed again that it didn’t suit her.

After a long time of messing around, Bai Ling finally resignedly bought several sets of women’s clothing suitable for summer and autumn.
The afterglow of the setting sun was filtered into a honey color by the floor-to-ceiling windows of the mall.
Bai Ling carried a large paper bag full of clothes, her fair thighs sticking out from under her denim shorts.

“Tsk, it’s a pity those legs aren’t pedaling a tricycle.“

Su Jiu Li said, looking at Bai Ling on the escalator in front of her, who was about to be fully loaded.

“I should buy insurance for those legs and make myself the beneficiary.“

Chengzi directly took out her phone, and the lens aimed at the fair legs on the escalator with a “click, click.”

“So what’s the next item on the agenda?“

Lin Xiao Xia was also carrying two paper bags.
She had also bought two sets of clothes, but compared to Bai Ling’s full load, hers was just a taste.

“The next item on the agenda!“

Chengzi suddenly lit up her phone screen.
A neon-style nightclub poster on the screen illuminated the three faces.
“Neon Genesis Evangelion Theme Night! Free Apostle fluorescent bracelet upon entry!“

“A nightclub?“

Lin Xiao Xia moved closer to the phone screen.
The review app interface was on the homepage of a nightclub called “Ming.”
“I’ve never been to a place like this before…“

“Eileen Chang once said that the only way to forget a relationship is through revelry…“

Chengzi raised her wrist and began to explain the thought process behind choosing this nightclub as the next item on the agenda.
But before she could finish, Su Jiu Li had already stuffed her mouth with a lemon tea.

“If Eileen Chang said that, I’ll change my name to Su Ailing tomorrow.“

(TL Note :Eileen Chang, also known as Chang Ai-ling or Zhang Ailing, or by her pen name Liang Jing, was a Chinese-born American essayist, novelist, and screenwriter)

Su Jiu Li looked at the poster on the phone screen, then at Chengzi’s pure and lovely face.
“Have you been there before?“

Chengzi shook her head innocently, a straw in her mouth.

Bai Ling suddenly rushed up from the escalator below.
“I haven’t been there either!“

This was the first time.
The first time she had the opportunity to go to a place like this.

Actually, she had always been curious about places like KTVs or nightclubs because she had never been.

Every time she wanted to go, she was always alone.
Just seeing the flashing neon signs was enough to scare her away for miles.

Today was different.
Today, her three roommates were with her.
She could finally satisfy her curiosity.

“Let’s go, let’s go!“

She blinked her eyes, her long, curved eyelashes almost sparkling.

But soon, Bai Ling regretted it.
She felt that having unreasonable expectations for a place like a nightclub was her biggest mistake of the day.

The laser light spots refracted by the crystal chandelier in the nightclub exploded in her pupils.
The bass shook her liver, and her heart nearly skipped a beat, almost causing scales to crawl up her skin.

“Hey! It’s so noisy!“

Bai Ling shouted at the top of her lungs, the vibration in her throat being chased all over the place by the bass.

“What?! It’s so hype?!“

Chengzi clearly didn’t hear her.
Her cheeks flickered in the laser beams.
Lin Xiao Xia was bouncing beside her, her hairpin having flown off somewhere.

The two of them were crowded in the crowd on the dance floor, bouncing randomly to the music, as happy as two fools.

The DJ on stage was working hard.
The lights on the dance floor flickered.
Every inch of air here was filled with throbbing hormones.
Even the marble tabletops were trembling with the beat.

The mixed smell of smoke, alcohol, and various perfumes and cosmetics made Bai Ling feel a little sick.

‘This kind of place was indeed not where she should be.’

‘She would never come to a place like this again.’

Su Jiu Li was huddled in a booth with a low-alcohol cocktail, chewing on a straw and occasionally glancing at the two fools on the dance floor.

“I don’t think we should have come to a place like this…“

Bai Ling threw herself onto the booth sofa next to Su Jiu Li and said to her over the deafening music.

“Scared?“

Su Jiu Li lit a women’s menthol cigarette, a mischievous smile suddenly appearing on her face.
“Don’t worry, a place like a nightclub isn’t as scary as you think.“

“No, it’s just that it feels so noisy…“

Bai Ling muttered, picking up a colorful cocktail from the table.
“Do you often come to nightclubs?“

The minty white smoke drilled into Bai Ling’s nasal cavity.
She was surprised that Su Jiu Li actually smoked.
It seemed like she often came to places like this.

“My family owns a nightclub.“

Su Jiu Li lay back on the leather sofa of the booth in a relaxed manner.
“A place like a nightclub is really nothing special.“

“Miss, would you like to have a drink together?“

A voice suddenly appeared next to them.

Bai Ling turned her head to look.
It was a man with his hair dyed grayish-white.
He had a complex smell of whiskey and cologne mixed together.
The curls at the end of his hair were so precise they looked like they belonged to a mannequin for a perm model.

He looked like the kind of trendy guy who would often hang out in places like nightclubs.

In a place like a nightclub, everyone knew what this kind of man wanted when he came up to a girl and tried to strike up a conversation.

“Want to try a special mix?“

he said, swirling the blue flame cocktail in his glass.

“No, thank you.“

Bai Ling refused.

“Don’t be like that. I’ll buy you two ladies a drink.“

But the gray-haired man completely ignored Bai Ling’s refusal and was about to sit down next to them.

“I said!“
But before he could sit down, a fair hand suddenly grabbed his collar, the silver bell on the sophora flower bracelet on her wrist tinkling through the deafening music.

Bai Ling yanked him in front of her.
Her pupils instantly constricted into golden vertical lines and then returned to normal.

“No, thank you! Don’t you understand?!“

At this moment, she naturally showed the posture she had as a boy.

“S… sorry!“

The gray-haired man stumbled back as if frightened, his back hitting the edge of the marble table before he belatedly fled in a panic.

“So fierce…“

Su Jiu Li teased her with a mischievous look.
“Aren’t you afraid of scaring away your true love?“

“Give me a break…“

Bai Ling took a sip of the cocktail, the bitter alcohol making her face wrinkle up.
“So bitter…“

Su Jiu Li was amused by Bai Ling’s expression.
“Even a cocktail is still alcohol.“

Bai Ling stuck out her tongue, trying to dispel the taste of alcohol in her mouth.
But she suddenly smelled a familiar scent, faint and elusive.

Her snake demon’s instincts told her that it was the scent of her own kind.

“Don’t tell your sister I brought you to a place like this!“

Under the deafening bass, Xu Zhi grabbed Lu Qingtian’s shoulder and leaned in to say,
“This is my compensation for helping me cover my back last time. Don’t sell me out!“

“Mmm, mmm, I definitely won’t!“
Lu Qingtian was drooling over the fluorescent bracelet with the Unit-01 logo.
“That’s between us! Even if you’re not my brother-in-law, you’re still my big brother!“