Chapter 102: The Outcome
The garden was secluded and quiet, bathed in a dim, hazy yellow light.
A transparent screen emitting a faint blue glow hovered in front of Gu Wanrong. This was the World Character Information Database she had summoned, an interface visible only to her.
Skillfully navigating the interface with her mind, she input the real names of the four individuals. The screen immediately populated with their complete histories.
With a clear objective, Gu Wanrong filtered the timeline to show everything the four had experienced at the Four Seas Club after that specific night.
Information scrolled continuously before her eyes. Gu Wanrong read through it line by line, her mood plummeting with every sentence.
“So that’s how it ended…” she murmured softly.
When they were in front of her, the four of them had distinct personalities, but none seemed inherently bad. However, after receiving that massive tip, whether they let it go to their heads or simply revealed their true natures, it was as if they had become completely different people.
Yi Huan, relying on his connection to Gu Wanrong, became incredibly arrogant. When the manager assigned him to receive guests, he would make excuses and refuse. Only when guests offered exorbitant sums would he reluctantly agree.
Even then, he acted high and mighty, ignoring the guests and putting on airs.
Naturally, the people who could enter the Four Seas Club were not ordinary citizens; they had their own tempers and dignity. Whenever Yi Huan sensed trouble, he would use Gu Wanrongâthe mysterious top-floor guestâas a shield. In most cases, the guests chose to endure the slight rather than risk offending someone powerful.
Using this method, Yi Huan raked in tens of millions a week.
He assumed Gu Wanrong would return soon, allowing him to continue riding her coattails. But before she reappeared, he crossed a violent, drunken guest. The guest lost all reason and forcibly took Yi Huan away, consequences be damned. Three days later, the manager finally contacted Yi Huanâhe was lying in a hospital bed.
Unable to find Gu Wanrong to back him up, Yi Huan had no way to retaliate against the guest who had hospitalized him. In the days that followed, those who had previously suffered his cold shoulder and threats came one after another to exact revenge.
Yi Huan had been so arrogant that he looked down on everyone in the club. Now that he was being targeted, onlookers either enjoyed the show or looked the other way. As for his wealthy former patrons, a small fry like him didn’t register on their radar.
Eventually, someone resigned on his behalf. He now checks into a private hospital abroad periodically to treat his lingering injuries.
Xia Qingmu chose a different path. Unlike Yi Huan, who demanded high fees directly, Xia Qingmu used the “million-yuan tip” fame to inflate his market value. He excelled at maintaining ambiguous relationships with guests but rarely agreed to private sessions.
This strategy made him particularly popular among wealthy matrons and heiresses, who considered it a badge of honor to invite him out. In reality, Xia Qingmu was biding his time, waiting for Gu Wanrong while secretly assessing the backgrounds of these women, hoping to find an opportunity to marry into wealthâto turn from a sparrow into a phoenix.
After waiting in vain for Gu Wanrong, Xia Qingmu gave up. He immediately began juggling several female guests to choose the best prospect.
These women were wealthy, older wivesâsome even grandmothers, though well-maintained to look thirty. Their husbands and families generally turned a blind eye to their affairs.
However, while these women could afford to play, they were not to be trifled with. They had family interests and reputations to maintain.
But one woman was so charmed by Xia Qingmu that she lost her head. Seeing only him, she demanded a divorce and asset split to marry him. This provoked the wrath of her husband and children, who unleashed every weapon they had against Xia Qingmu.
The families of the other women he was juggling intervened as a precaution, leading Xia Qingmu into gambling and drugs. He and his family lost their house and life savings overnight, and any job he tried to get was sabotaged. With no way out, they were forced to flee City J.
The infatuated woman was packed off abroad to “retire” and hadn’t returned since.
Then there was You Ai. Sweet and cute, her “million-yuan” status attracted a specific crowd.
She soon hooked up with a young master, the only son of a famous industrial tycoon in City J. Bombarded by his sweet words and holiday gifts, You Ai was blinded by a fog of what she believed was true love.
However, this young master didn’t take her out of the Four Seas Club, nor did he ask her to stop working. Sometimes, he even brought friends to the club specifically to have You Ai service them. It was obvious he didn’t respect her.
Things were stable until he quickly grew tired of her. Although he abandoned her, her status in the club remained high, and she still had many suitors.
Unwilling to accept her rejection and relying on the club’s lack of oversight, You Ai began tormenting the new companions the young master chose. She forced alcohol on them, filmed compromising videos, physically fought them, and exposed them to their families. If they resisted, she deliberately pushed them toward guests with sadistic habits.
Initially, the young master didn’t care. But eventually, few people in the Four Seas Club were willing to accompany him because of her interference. That was when You Ai learned the consequences of annoying the rich and powerful.
The young master blindfolded her and took her to a party at an undisclosed location. She became a waitress available for anyone to abuse. In just one week, she was tormented beyond recognition, cut off from the outside world, with no escape.
Finally, there was Yan Ran. Her outcome made Gu Wanrong’s eyelid twitch.
She had been the most sober and “clean” of the four, yet she was now in prison.
Yan Ran’s goal at the Four Seas Club had always been clear: to become rich. The million-yuan tip gave her instant fame. Relying on her beauty and high emotional intelligence, she ingratiated herself with several older, wealthy businessmen.
They all proposed making her a mistress, but Yan Ran refused. She wanted to marry one of them. She reasoned they were old and would die soon; even a small slice of inheritance as a legal wife would set her up for life. Then she could find the next old man and repeat the process.
This path seemed much easier than struggling on her own.
But as the saying goes, the older the ginger, the spicier it is. These businessmen saw right through her. If she didn’t want to be a mistress, fineâshe was beautiful and provided good emotional value, so they kept her around as a companion.
Eventually, one businessman caught her accompanying a rival. He hatched a plan. He hinted that if she could steal commercial secrets from his rival, he would marry her.
Yan Ran knew it was high-risk and that he might not honor his promise. But driven by desire, she did it anyway. She failed, was caught, and sent to prison. The businessman who set her up wiped his hands clean, completely uninvolved, turning a deaf ear to her pleas from behind bars.
After reading their endings, Gu Wanrong’s heart churned.
Although these four had acted on their own desires and behaved deplorably, their fates were undeniably tragic.
The catalyst for this entire chain of events was her one million yuan.
Gu Wanrong felt lost. Did this mean they deserved it?
“Do their outcomes count as… partly my fault?” Gu Wanrong closed the database, staring blankly into the distance.
Tong Shenba stood silently behind her. She didn’t know why her boss’s mood had shifted, but she knew the low murmur wasn’t a question meant for her to answer.
In the secluded garden, only the breeze and the chirping insects intertwined. No one could answer the doubts in Gu Wanrong’s heart.
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