Chapter Twelve: The Golden Age of the Past
Later, when the chubby boy and Lin Ji were playing, he heard her say that she envied the children who could wield steel swords, directly experiencing the beauty of steel. But to wield a steel sword meant needing to buy a whole set of armor to resist steel blades.
He remembered this day and asked Lin Ji why she didn’t agree to her parents’ conditions back then.
“You mean that thing?” Lin Ji recalled slightly and said, “Since it was supposed to be fun playing together in the interest class, but I only felt unhappy when I was with you, then it wouldn’t be meaningful to play together.”
The chubby boy felt a bit guilty.
Lin Ji didn’t care; she patted her second-hand skirt and said, “It’s better than forcing a friend to go to a show, right?”
Friend? I don’t have any friends; I live alone in this world.
In the vibrant and noisy bar, colorful lights swept back and forth, landing on the “rioting” crowd in the dance floor. On the brightly lit stage, men and women with heavy and light makeup flaunted their exposed bodies, while the music thumped, pounding against the eardrums, like a hammer, thumping to bring out all the passion within your body.
Lin Feng twirled a strand of her dyed black hair with her hand, crossed her legs, and leaned against a customer’s shoulder. She possessed the youthful appearance that all the women present envied, with a petite figure but long legs, dark skin yet smooth.
She didn’t have to sit on the customer’s lap like the other hostesses; merely leaning against him was enough to excite the customers.
“Little sister, you’re as beautiful as a witch.” The customer reached out to touch Lin Feng’s face.
Lin Feng grabbed his wrist, lazily saying, “Brother, don’t be so impatient; if you keep hurrying, you’ll scare your little sister away.”
The customer shifted from trying to touch her to embracing her, and the annoying smell of smoke and alcohol grew closer. His mouth opened and closed, words in the air fractured into bits under the powerful music, becoming inaudible.
But Lin Feng knew this provincial guy was definitely boasting about his capabilities. Really provincial; I would have glanced at him a few more times before.
Thinking this, Lin Feng picked up a glass filled with alcohol poured from a fanciful bottle. It had a very expensive label on it, though she couldn’t tell if it was real or fake.
But after this unknown expensive drink slid down her throat, everything in the bar momentarily blurred. The transparent bottle reflected sparkling gem-like colors, the men and women wildly shaking their heads on the dance floor, and the booming music pounded against her eardrums.
In that moment of haze, Lin Feng felt as if she had returned to the past.
At that time, a customer beside her tugged at her, and she awakened from the illusion of the past, falling from the clouds of fantasy into the harsh reality, covered in annoying dust.
Though she was reluctant deep down, this customer was a VIP, which meant he could bring in a lot of money. If things went smoothly, perhaps she could buy Lin Ji a piece of clothing.
Lin Feng thought and followed the customer to stand up; he generously opened a private room. He was overflowing with confidence, almost wanting to grab everyone by the ears and tell them, “Look! Lin Feng is mine!”
Lin Feng understood his thoughts well; the introducer, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call her a madam, should have told him that she rarely sold herself, only doing it out of necessity; at her core, she was still a decent person.
Decent person?
Lin Feng couldn’t help but laugh; she was just lazy.
This customer must be thinking that Lin Feng doesn’t vibe with others but gets along with me, so I must be amazing.
As Lin Feng pondered his thoughts, she leaned slightly closer and said:
“Did you know? I actually have a daughter; she’s in fourth grade now.”
Fourth grade? After stepping away from the dance floor and avoiding the thundering music, her words weren’t smashed into pieces in the air; they became clearer. The customer’s expression changed slightly as he sized Lin Feng up: “You look like you just turned adult… do you have an ID?”
Lin Feng chuckled, “Of course! How interesting; very few people actively ask to see my ID; they don’t care whether I’m of legal age.”
The customer merely thought Lin Feng was telling a poor lie to cover up her young age, but to his surprise, she was seen as someone who cared.
No.
The customer looked at Lin Feng’s cute and beautiful face; he grabbed the little concern in his mind and magnified it. She’s so pitiful; I’m caring for her.
Lin Feng took out her ID, and upon seeing the numbers, she realized they were approaching a thousand. The customer was taken aback, and the friends of the customers in the room looked over; Lin Feng quickly tucked away her ID, pressed her finger to her lips, and said, “This old woman generally doesn’t let others see my real age.”
The customer’s heart raced, feeling a bit elated.
Inside the private room, the two chatted happily. The customer complimented, “Qingfeng, you look like a beautiful witch.”
Witches are typically beautiful and follow the demon king Ji Ma to maintain their youthful looks, and now three years had passed. The cultural symbol of the witch gradually came to represent youthful beauty and enjoyment of life, to which people assigned various positive meanings.
Lin Feng smiled and said, “Today’s witches are either hunted or have lost their powers and everything, and have long turned into old women.”
“I’m old! I’m old!”
A blonde old witch looked at herself in the mirror, her finger brushing across her face, repeatedly smoothing out the wrinkles, but her skin had lost its elasticity, and each attempt revealed more wrinkles.
She sadly grasped a strand of her golden hair, its luster gone, now just split ends.
Thinking of the past, she used to receive a bottle of youth potion every year, which made her skin elastic and her hair shiny and smooth.
But now… her master, Ji Ma, had left for ten years. Her palace was abandoned, shrouded in fog, and everyone inside had lost their way and wandered outside. Since then, no one could enter her master’s palace, where rooms still contained the youth potions.
Thinking of how her master had cruelly abandoned everyone and disappeared, the blonde old witch couldn’t help but wipe away a tear, feeling both resentment and sadness.
Once the sadness passed, one still needed entertainment.
The blonde old witch stood up, her back slightly hunched, picked up her phone, and casually scrolled.
A video popped up on her phone, accompanied by a popular yet overly played BGM that many still liked. A black-haired girl was skipping rope with a dog; she was incredibly cute. Even though the blonde old witch’s heart had been fermented with hatred and sorrow, resembling rotten meat, she still felt a slight warmth enter her heart.
“So cute.”
After watching, she instinctively swiped away the video. But suddenly thought of something.
The blonde old witch hurriedly scrolled back, her eyes widening, staring at the girl’s face. The more she looked at the girl’s profile, the more she found traces of her former master.
She jumped up from her chair, calling for her smart assistant to find the highest definition video, playing it on the big screen, almost pressing her face to the screen.
She felt both resentment and joy, “Master?”
Her hands trembled with excitement, and she quickly posted the video in a group where no one had been active for many years.
