Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

“Boss, look, I’m still young and my thinking is still relatively simple. When you suddenly bring up such an adult topic as ‘gigolo’ with me, it makes me feel like I’m being forced to grow up prematurely, and I can’t help but feel a little panicked.”

“The three of us have nowhere else to go,” Caesar said in a low voice.

“The safe haven has been destroyed, all our communication channels are being monitored by Princess Kaguya, and our arrest warrants are being played on TV 24/7. We have no money, no valid credit cards, and forget about passports. We can’t even speak Japanese fluently. Chu Zihang and I are dragging you, who is unconscious, like three stray dogs. Only a place like this might take us in without asking where we came from.”

Chapter 614 Soaking the pig cage

Caesar paused, "We made up a story, saying we were brothers who illegally entered Japan to look for opportunities, but now we're desperate and want to try our luck finding work here. They looked at us, and well, our appearance was acceptable, and we really did seem to be down on our luck, so they agreed to let us stay temporarily. Host clubs, you know, they don't really care if their employees are undocumented, and language barriers can be overcome, anyway..."

He pointed to his own face, then to Chu Zihang on stage, who was receiving toasts with a cold expression but whose chest was soaked with wine. "To a large extent, this is a place where people make a living from this. In this respect, we Gattuso family members, well, including Chu Zihang, are quite confident."

"Boss! This is really not the time to show off your good looks!" Lu Mingfei was practically going crazy, feeling his worldview collapsing and rebuilding repeatedly. "Hosts! We're being hosts! My first real job, if you can call it a job, is being a host in Japan?! If this gets back to my hometown..."

He could even picture his parents fainting upon hearing the news, and the jaw-dropping expressions on his classmates' faces. But then, without warning, another face suddenly and clearly entered his mind: Frillie. Frillie, always with a calm expression, her eyes as clear as an autumn lake.

Their relationship was subtle, closer than ordinary friends. They shared many private feelings and late-night conversations that no one else knew, but they tacitly stopped at a certain boundary, neither of them crossing it easily.

An unprecedented panic gripped Lu Mingfei's heart.

He absolutely couldn't let Frilian know! This thought was sharp and painful, even more so than the worry of his family finding out. He couldn't imagine how Frilian would look at him if she knew he was working at a host club, even if it was out of necessity.

Disappointment? Surprise? Or disdain? Just thinking about that possibility made Lu Mingfei feel breathless, as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand.

"Do you think we, with our family backgrounds, have ever had any experience with part-time work while studying?" Caesar's words pulled Lu Mingfei back from his panicked imagination. "This is also Chu Zihang's and my first job. Lu Mingfei, you are not growing up alone."

"Growth my foot!" Lu Mingfei cried, on the verge of tears. "According to us Chinese, it's true that we're stepping into society, but we've barely taken a step before we've plunged straight into the deepest and muddiest quagmire of society! This isn't growth; it's drowning in the big melting pot of society, drowning at the very bottom!"

“Hey, don’t be so pessimistic,” Caesar patted him on the back, trying to comfort him. “You can try to remain untainted by the mud.”

"Wow! You even know such an old idiom! Boss, you're getting better and better at using Chinese idioms! But even if you recited a whole 'Ode to the Cowherd' right now to praise the greatness of this profession, I would never stoop to your level!" Lu Mingfei put on his most sincere pleading face and began racking his brains for reasons.

“Boss, you know us Chinese, we're very conservative! Unlike you Italians, who are so passionate and romantic! Where I'm from, being a gigolo means being drowned in a pig cage! Do you know what drowning in a pig cage is? It's stuffing a person and a pig together into a bamboo cage and sinking them to the bottom of a pond!”

"After you die, you can't even enter your ancestral grave. You'll become a wandering ghost, never to be reincarnated, boss!" Lu Mingfei was going all out, thinking that Caesar only had a superficial understanding of Chinese folk customs anyway, so he would scare him as much as possible.

"Oh? Is that so?" Caesar looked thoughtful, even becoming somewhat serious. "If I marry Nono in the future, according to you, I'll be considered half Chinese, right? My goodness, according to you, if I become a gigolo, will I be stuffed into a pig cage and sunk into a pond?"

"This, that, I..." Lu Mingfei was choked by this sudden logical counterattack. He blinked, speechless for a moment, his mind racing but unable to come up with a suitable explanation.

"So, you understand now, right?" Caesar looked at Lu Mingfei's hesitant expression with satisfaction, put his arm around his shoulder again, and said in a more persuasive tone, "You see, you and Chu Zihang are pure Chinese, and I may be half Chinese in the future."

"According to your ancient and solemn family rules, if we unfortunately engage in such a disreputable profession as male prostitutes, all three of us may face the terrible fate of being drowned in a pig cage. Therefore..."

Caesar emphasized, "This experience must be kept absolutely secret. We must maintain an unwavering, ironclad narrative: we didn't do it, we didn't know, we are innocent. Right?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Boss, of course you're innocent! How could I, Lu Mingfei, a brother, betray you? If I betrayed you, I'd make my uncle's family suffer!" Lu Mingfei quickly pledged his loyalty, almost making a solemn oath, but changed his mind at the last minute.

“Very good,” Caesar smiled. “So, Lu Mingfei, are you familiar with our student council’s induction tradition? Male students need to complete a small ceremony to join the student council.”

Lu Mingfei was taken aback, recalling some rumors: "Naked on the mountain in the middle of the night, running naked?"

Once, while walking with Frilian on a secluded path on campus, he caught a glimpse of a white figure in the distance. Frilian simply looked away calmly and remarked, "Kassel has a lot of nighttime activities," which made him so embarrassed he almost wanted to dig a hole and disappear.

“That’s right,” Caesar readily admitted. “I’ve actually run around naked too, and I’ve been photographed. Have you ever wondered why no one has ever dared to expose those nude photos on the Night’s Watch forums? Not even in anonymous sections?”

"Why, why?" Lu Mingfei vaguely guessed what was going on.

“Because,” Caesar leaned closer, “everyone has run it. If everyone has done the same thing, then it’s as if it never happened. If anyone dares to break this agreement and expose someone else’s photo, then he will become everyone’s enemy and be collectively silenced, both in terms of public opinion and social standing.”

He patted Lu Mingfei on the shoulder, his smile like that of a fox spotting its prey. "So, do you understand? The safest thing to do is to do it together. It's hard for one person to keep a secret, but with three people, especially when we all have something on each other, the secret is rock solid."

Lu Mingfei stared blankly at Caesar, then glanced at Chu Zihang on the stage, who was being wiped of his drink by a waiter, expressionless but the center of attention, and then felt the decadent and mind-blowing environment around him. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, not a metaphor, but a real, physical throbbing pain.

He clutched his chest and murmured, "At this moment, only Andy Lau's song 'Ice Rain' can slightly express the sorrow in my heart. 'My heart feels like it's being brutally stabbed by a bayonet.' Boss, you must have been a bayonet in your past life, the kind that specializes in stabbing people in the heart."

Chapter 615 Ukyo!

The wildly flashing lights in the dance floor suddenly went out.

In an instant, the extreme noise was replaced by absolute darkness and silence, leaving only people's rapid breathing and the rustling of clothes, as if a grand ceremony was about to begin.

Lu Mingfei hadn't fully recovered from the shock of the "gigolo" and the "threat of being thrown into a pig cage" when this sudden change caught his attention. He gripped Caesar's arm tightly, like a startled quail.

"Boom--!"

A heavy, penetrating drumbeat, like the heartbeat of an ancient giant, shook the air. Immediately afterwards, a taller, more slender, lighthouse-like black platform slowly rose from the center of the circular stage, which was already higher than the dance floor.

A spotlight, with an astonishing diameter and pure white light like holy light, suddenly shone down vertically from the extremely high dome, enveloping the figure that had just appeared at the top of the platform.

He was an exaggeratedly burly man; even at such height and distance, one could feel the power contained within his body.

He wore an extremely exaggeratedly tailored black sequined suit, his shoulders padded like a rugby player's, the collar open to reveal thick chest hair and a heavy gold chain. He gripped a microphone erected on a high stand, his posture less like singing and more like an ancient general brandishing his invincible halberd, ready to unleash a battle cry upon a thousand armies.

"Angels!!"

A thunderous roar exploded through the top-of-the-line sound system, its deep, husky, and viscerally provocative sound drowning out all the remaining noise in the venue. The man abruptly tilted the microphone stand forward, leaned back, and struck a classic rock star pose, the lights flashing a blinding halo on his slicked-back hair and gleaming suit.

"Are you happy tonight?!"

"Whoosh—!" "Joy—!" "The shop manager is the most handsome—!"

He was met with a deafening roar of screams, whistles, and waving arms. The female guests' emotions were ignited by his entrance; the atmosphere that had just been immersed in Chu Zihang's aloof performance was immediately replaced by a more direct, wilder, and more collective frenzy.

"Did our flower arrangement make you feel the warmth of Eden?!"

"I felt it!" came an even more enthusiastic response.

The male escorts who were originally scattered around now stood up, whether they were entertaining customers or not. They smiled and clapped vigorously at the man on the platform, their eyes filled with a mixture of awe, flattery, and industry recognition.

The appearance of this man heralded the official arrival of the climax of the night's revelry.

"Tonight—!" The shop manager abruptly pulled the microphone back to his lips, his voice drawn out, creating immense suspense, "Our flower arrangement has gained another new flower—a stunningly beautiful, thorny, and heartbreaking one!"

He paused, his gaze sweeping across every upturned, mesmerized, or excited face below the stage like that of a hawk.

"Shout his name out to me! Loudly!!"

Almost no guidance is required.

"Ukyo! Ukyo! Ukyo! Ukyo—!"

A unified, fervent chant swept through the space like a tidal wave, louder and longer than before. The women's cheeks flushed and their eyes shone, as if the very act of calling out the name brought them immense pleasure.

"That's right! It's Ukyo! Our beautiful, lost, and lonely young man who wields a sharp blade!" The shopkeeper's voice was full of dramatic flair as he pointed to Chu Zihang, who was still standing alone in a corner of the main stage, his clothes still damp with alcohol and his expression calm.

"He is Basara King's brother! He is the blade that pierced your hearts last night! Tonight, he comes to your side! He embraces you with hands that are accustomed to wielding a killing knife, hands stained with blood and frost!!!"

His voice suddenly rose, almost a roar:

"Would you accept his embrace?!"

"Yes!" came the enthusiastic response.

"Are you willing to use your deep affection and burning love to keep this lost young man here?!"

"We're willing! Keep him! Ukyo!" The shouts almost lifted the roof off.

"Tonight! Right now! With your love! With your tenderness! Keep him here!" the shop manager shouted, raising his arms and pushing the atmosphere to its peak.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Backstage, the rapid, rhythmic beating of a small drum rang out at just the right moment, like the beating of war drums urging soldiers to charge. Two solemn-faced waiters dressed in black kimonos carried a huge, gilded, carved wooden box that gleamed under the lights, and solemnly walked onto the main stage, placing the box in front of Chu Zihang.

Chu Zihang remained expressionless, bowed deeply to the audience, and then stood quietly, like a warrior awaiting judgment.

Meanwhile, another group of well-trained waiters moved silently between the booths like fish. On their black trays, they carried neatly arranged special props: cherry-red, finely crafted cardboard envelopes.

The guests understood immediately, requiring almost no explanation. They pulled out 1,000-yen bills from their handbags and wallets, tossed them onto the tray, and then took one or more cherry-red envelopes. Their movements were so practiced, as if they had done it countless times before.

The drumbeats started slowly and clearly, like a heartbeat. As the first envelopes were taken away, the drumbeats began to accelerate, becoming more and more intense and rapid, gradually merging into a torrential downpour that made one's heart race.

At first, guests might have bought envelopes one or two at a time simply out of support or to follow the crowd. But as the drumbeats intensified, the glances exchanged between people at neighboring tables revealed a subtle competitive spirit, and the increasingly frenzied atmosphere became infectious, their involvement began to escalate.

Five, eight, ten... the thousand-yuan bills on the tray quickly piled up.

A wealthy woman wearing an ornate gemstone ring didn't even glance at the bills; she simply pulled a thick wad of ten-thousand-yuan notes from her Hermès handbag and casually tossed it onto the waiter's tray. The waiter, without batting an eye, quickly counted them and then practically ran over with a mountain of cherry-red envelopes, presenting them respectfully.

"A little more!" The shop manager on the platform had knelt on one knee at some point, raised the microphone high above his head, and roared to the sky, as if communicating with the gods, "Love more! Let your love turn into a raging tide! Lift our Ukyo high!"

The drumbeats reached a frenzied climax amidst the shouts, like the final thunder before a storm. Banknotes fell like snowflakes, only to be quickly collected and replaced with more cherry-red envelopes.

Waiters carrying golden boxes bowed deeply to each table in turn, while guests, with smiles ranging from reserved to hearty, dropped handfuls or even piles of envelopes into the golden box.

Whenever someone dropped in a large number of envelopes, Chu Zihang would stand on the stage and bow slightly in that direction. His movements were always restrained and distant, yet strangely, they only fueled the enthusiasm of the audience.

Soon, the huge gold chest was stuffed full, and the envelopes were even overflowing.

"Ukyo, stay! We love you!" The woman's voice, trembling with excitement, suddenly jumped up and shouted, as if lighting the final fuse.

"Boom!"

The final, deafening drumbeat fell, its echo trembling and dissipating in the air.

All sounds are silent.

The nightclub fell into absolute silence. Even breathing seemed to be deliberately suppressed. Everyone held their breath, their eyes focused on the golden box and the silver scissors in the manager's hand on the platform.

The waiters hung the heavy gold chest on a pre-prepared steel cable and slowly lifted it into the air. Another steel cable lowered a long string of "firecrackers" made of countless small cherry-red paper tubes, which hung in front of the manager who was kneeling on one knee.

The store manager calmly pulled out a pair of extravagantly designed, silver scissors inlaid with fake gemstones from the inside pocket of his suit and displayed them to the entire room. The blades of the scissors flashed a cold light under the spotlight.

"Before tonight," the shopkeeper said, "our Ukyo has already received 320 flower tickets."

He paused deliberately, letting the number settle in everyone's mind.

“Then tonight.” He leaned forward and pulled out handfuls of cherry-red envelopes from the hovering golden chest, casually scattering them down at Chu Zihang below. The envelopes fell like a rain of red petals, landing on Chu Zihang’s hair, shoulders, and feet. “Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty.”

As he called out the numbers, a waiter on the side of the stage, holding a huge gold paintbrush, carefully wrote the character "正" (zhèng, meaning tally) stroke by stroke on a large, upright, cherry-red cardboard sheet. Each "正" represented five flower tickets, or five thousand yen, representing "love".

The box was almost empty, and the tally marks on the cardboard were densely packed, approaching one hundred at a glance. This meant that Chu Zihang had obtained nearly five hundred flower tickets tonight alone!

Based on a price of 1,000 yen per bill, the female customers spent nearly 500,000 yen to express their admiration and desire to keep the taciturn, naked, and handsome young male host who cuts fish! This money cannot buy a single piece of sashimi he cuts himself, nor can it buy him a minute of his company. Its only purpose is to create a number that represents popularity and face.

The entire arena was deathly silent, the air as tense as a taut bowstring. Everyone awaited the final number, a number that would likely break Takamagahara's historical record, or at least become the most dazzling topic of conversation tonight.

"Five hundred and eighty tickets!" the shopkeeper announced the final number, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Adding to the previous three hundred and twenty, our Ukyo Tachibana has amassed a total of nine hundred flower tickets in just three days! This is the second most glorious achievement in the history of Takamagahara!"

He jumped to his feet, brandishing the scissors, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "His brilliance is second only to last night's record of 925!"

Chapter 616 We're No Longer Pure

Applause, exclamations, and whistles erupted.