Golden Scale [EN]: Chapter 144

“Zai Zai isn’t a stranger,” Yao Lina muttered again.

“Are you kidding me?” Hou Longtao twisted his body away. His strong reaction stemmed from his dissatisfaction with Vic Zhou [a popular Taiwanese singer and actor] for several days, though he hadn’t realized it himself.

“What’s with all the arguing? We just won’t go. I didn’t want to in the first place.” Xue Nuo first placated her man, then turned to her sisters, waving the signed album and digital camera in her hands. “Brother Tao wouldn’t harm us. Besides, we got what we wanted.”

Hou Longtao was immediately pleased. His darling was so sensible; he hadn’t spoiled her for nothing. “Really not going?”

“Really not going, right?”

“Yes, we’re not going.” Xue Nuo was the leader in this matter, and the other three girls had no choice but to follow her lead after she compromised.

As soon as Xue Nuo got home, she received a call from Yao Lina.

The girl on the other end of the phone was almost frantic. “We’re really not going?! Nuo Nuo! If you don’t go, I’m going with Jingjing and the others. Zai Zai wants us to go. Can you really not go!?”

“What’s with all the yelling?” Xue Nuo took the phone and ran to the living room, saw her mother cooking in the kitchen, and then returned to her room. “You’re so dumb.”

“How am I dumb?”

“My darling husband loves me the most and is afraid I’ll be bullied outside. He doesn’t understand Zai Zai like we do, so of course, he doesn’t want us to go to his party. Even though he’s worrying unnecessarily, it’s out of kindness, so I can’t blame him. You don’t know, my husband is so stubborn. If we argue with him, he’ll definitely go directly to Zai Zai, and things will get messy. We’ll just go ourselves then. If he doesn’t know, he won’t worry, and everyone will be happy.”

“Phew,” Yao Lina exaggeratedly sighed in relief. “I knew you couldn’t possibly not go to Zai Zai’s party. Okay, okay, it’s fine now. See you Monday.”

“Okay, bye-bye.” Xue Nuo hung up the phone. This was the second time she had lied to Hou Longtao, but she really didn’t mean any harm. She truly didn’t want her lover to worry about unnecessary things.

Dongxing’s air purifier business was managed separately from its other entertainment ventures, so the separation went very smoothly. All three work permits were completed, and now Dongxing Group was a joint-stock company solely focused on the air purifier business.

On Wednesday at noon, Hou Longtao and Tian Donghua were having a working lunch outside, and the topic naturally revolved around the listing issue.

Hou Longtao had decided to follow Tian Donghua’s plan. “Whenever you think is appropriate is when we’ll do it.”

“The visas should be approved in two weeks. I’ll book the tickets in a couple of days,” Tian Donghua put down his chopsticks.

“No need to rush so much. We’re not in a hurry.”

“It’s not a matter of rushing. If the preliminary preparations go smoothly, it will still take about four or five months. If there are any problems, it’s not uncommon for it to take a year. I think it’s best to start as soon as possible.”

“Alright, you know more about this than I do. Just handle it as you see fit.” Hou Longtao still felt that Tian Donghua was a bit too eager.

“Mr. Sha, congratulations, congratulations,” the director of the Tianhe District Public Security Bureau in Guangzhou, dressed in plain clothes, shook Sha Bi’s hand. “Grand opening, I wish you prosperous business.”

“Thank you, thank you, please come inside.” Sha Bi had someone lead the director to a private room. This was the third restaurant or nightclub he had opened in the past month under Liu Chun’s guidance and investment. With Dongxing’s name overhead, both the official and underworld figures had to give him the green light.

“Brother Bi, hello,” several well-known local figures from Tianhe District also came to offer their congratulations. “Congratulations, congratulations.”

“Hello, hello, please come in.” Sha Bi’s words were still polite, but his face had already taken on an arrogant expression. As Dongxing’s representative in Guangdong, he was the leading figure in the underworld and naturally couldn’t be too friendly to his subordinates.

Around 8:00 PM, Sha Bi, accompanied by two fierce-looking bodyguards, arrived at a high-end bath center. He chose a masseuse and entered a dimly lit private room with her. Inside, a naked man was lying face down on a massage bed, and another masseuse in a revealing outfit was massaging his back.

“Why are you so late?” The man turned his head to look at the person who had entered. It was Liu Chun.

“Hey,” Sha Bi took off his clothes and lay down on the massage bed as well. “I was dragged to dinner by the boss from Yuexiu [a district in Guangzhou]. If he hadn’t suddenly had something to take care of, I wouldn’t have been able to make it here tonight.”

“Hmm…” Liu Chun sat up and stretched. “I’ve been kneading for half a day. Massage yourself. Come find me at the bar later.”

“Okay,” Sha Bi waved his hand.

Liu Chun went to the bar alone and saw a long-haired woman in a tight miniskirt sitting alone at the bar. Her breasts were huge, like a cow’s, and she was quite attractive. He sat down four chairs away from her.

The woman slightly turned her head and nodded at the man. After that, the two of them had no further interaction, neither physical nor verbal.

About an hour later, Sha Bi also arrived at the bar and sat to Liu Chun’s right.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Liu Chun reached out and pushed Sha Bi’s upper body back. “Don’t block my view.”

“What are you looking at?” Sha Bi followed Liu Chun’s gaze and immediately turned his head back. “Damn, they’re really big.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Sha Bi turned his head again, staring at the woman’s deep cleavage out of the corner of his eye, and licked his dry lips. “Damn it.”

“I want to pick her up,” Liu Chun suddenly stood up.

“Don’t,” Sha Bi turned around and grabbed his stomach. “Let me have her.”

“I’ve been eyeing her for almost an hour.”

“I haven’t played with such big tits before.”

“Neither have I. How about we go together and see who she chooses?”

“Okay,” Sha Bi also stood up.

The two of them sat down on either side of the woman without asking for her consent.

“Is the lady waiting for someone?” Liu Chun leaned in to look at the woman’s face.

“No, just sitting here.”

“Can I buy you a drink?”

“No need,” the woman raised the glass in her hand. “I already have one.”

“What’s your name, lady?” Sha Bi didn’t bother with being a gentleman and asked bluntly.

The woman glanced at Sha Bi. “We’re just strangers passing by. Why do you need to know my name?”

Sha Bi looked at the woman’s indifferent expression and felt extremely annoyed. He had been looked down upon by women in Beijing before because he didn’t have any money back then. Now that he was a powerful businessman in Guangdong, he couldn’t let women embarrass him again. “Do you know who I am?”

The woman turned her head and looked at Sha Bi properly after hearing this. “Who are you?”

“I’m the top dog of Dongxing Group in Guangdong.”

“Dongxing Group?” The woman sized up the unremarkable northern man in front of her. “You’re the top dog of Dongxing Group in Guangdong? What’s your name? Liu Hongda? Ma Ming? You’re not Hou Longtao, are you?”

“No, my name is Sha Bi.”

“Never heard of you.”

“My business card.” Sha Bi took out a business card and pushed it in front of the woman.

The woman picked up the card and looked at it. “Manager of the Catering Service Department of the Guangdong Office. Top dog? You’re just an employee. I know all the famous people from Dongxing. I’ve never heard of you.”

“What do you mean?” Sha Bi heard the sarcasm and belittling in the woman’s words and felt his self-esteem had been greatly hurt. Any man would feel this way.

“The people who come here are all big bosses, high-ranking government officials, or underworld figures. I could tell you weren’t qualified as soon as you opened your mouth. Now I know, you’re just an employee of Dongxing, not even a high-level one.” The woman got off her chair as she spoke. “If it were one of Hou Longtao and the others, I would already be going to a hotel with him.”

“You…” Sha Bi’s face turned pale with anger.

“If you want high-end goods, you’re not even close.” The woman swayed her large hips towards the bar’s entrance.

“You f

“You’re crazy? No, no, Brother Bi,” Liu Chun grabbed Sha Bi’s arms from behind. “Don’t cause trouble here. The owner here is a foreigner.”

“Hmph… hmph… hmph…” Sha Bi put down the ashtray, panting heavily, and shouted at the bartender behind the bar, “Liquor, beer.”

“Don’t get angry. It’s not worth it for a slut,” Liu Chun patted Sha Bi’s shoulder. “Those kinds of people only recognize big shots.”

“What kind of talk is that? We are big shots. She should recognize us.” Sha Bi downed a pitcher of beer in one gulp. “We’re so awesome, yet we’re still being embarrassed by a woman. Damn it, how can I swallow this?”

“What kind of awesome are we?”

“What do you mean we’re not?”

“That woman wasn’t wrong. I just have a little money, nothing else. You, you just get that fixed salary every month, and a pitiful bonus. To put it bluntly, no matter how much you earn for Dongxing, it’s not yours. We’re only so arrogant now because of the name Dongxing. In other people’s eyes, we’re still just pawns.”

“Aren’t you kicking me when I’m down?”

“What? Hou Longtao is the one who’s awesome. Only someone as awesome as him can have whatever he wants.”

“It’s easy to say. I want to be like Hou Longtao too,” Sha Bi ordered another pitcher of beer. “But I don’t have his ability.”

“What ability does he have?” Liu Chun frowned. “He’s just luckier than the average person. He managed to get that air purifier. Why is he so awesome? Isn’t it because many officials rely on him to make money? Those officials value Dongxing, not Hou Longtao personally. They don’t care who the head of Dongxing is. As long as you control the air purifier, anyone can be as awesome as Hou Longtao. Who doesn’t know how to give gifts and suck up?”

“You’re just talking nonsense. How many air purifiers are there? Just that one. Hou Longtao’s holding onto it. Would he let go? Would he give it to us? Give me something reliable.”

“Why isn’t it reliable? Why can’t he give it to us?”

“You have a way?” Sha Bi’s heart stirred when he heard that the other party didn’t sound like he was joking. If there really was a way to reach Hou Longtao’s level, he would try anything.

“Do you know the saying ‘riches are found in danger’?”

“Nonsense. I’ve also heard ‘the bold eat their fill, the timid starve to death.’ Just tell me what your plan is.”

“I don’t have one yet. Let me think about it. It mainly depends on how much you want to get rich. As long as you dare to do it, there will always be a way.” Liu Chun took a hard puff of his cigarette.

On Friday afternoon, Hou Longtao led Ruyun to the new house. The renovation work was nearing completion. As the future mistress of the house, he naturally wanted her to see if there was anything she wasn’t satisfied with.

As the two of them stepped out of the elevator, they happened to see several security company personnel installing a security system at the front door.

“How’s it going?” Hou Longtao asked.

“Just finished installing it,” a technician pointed to a keyboard on the wall. “Each door has an electronic lock. You can reset the password yourselves. No need for keys.”

“Not bad, thank you.” Hou Longtao pulled Ruyun into the house and led her around the huge “villa.”

Ruyun saw several large massage bathtubs in the “water park” and smiled charmingly at the man. “Monkey, you’re so thoughtful.”

“I know you like it,” Hou Longtao kissed the woman’s face. “There are five bedrooms with en-suites inside. Pick one. Is this place alright? Can it hold my golden phoenix [a term of endearment for a beautiful and cherished woman]?”

“Hmph, hmph, hmph, I don’t care where I am. Nuo Nuo and Xi will definitely like it. I bet they’ll be soaking in the pool every day.”

“Mothers and daughters can come together.” Hou Longtao grabbed the woman’s butt.

“Are you trying to die?” Ruyun pushed the man away. She was relieved when she saw that the workers who were still renovating in the distance hadn’t noticed them. “You dead husband, there are so many outsiders here. Don’t make a fuss.”

The two of them spent more than an hour looking at all the rooms. After they left, they found a restaurant in the newly opened SOHO [a mixed-use development] to have dinner.

Hou Longtao held the woman’s hand and tilted his head to look at her.

Ruyun knew that her lover was admiring her stunning beauty and was happy to let him stare at her.

A waiter interrupted their silly staring contest.

Hou Longtao added several rolls of high-quality, finely sliced fatty beef to the woman’s alcohol-fueled hot pot. “I’m going to be the chairman of a listed company.”

Ruyun glanced at the man through her glasses. “Can you make it in time?”

“What do you m… oh…” Hou Longtao suddenly realized and quickly took out his phone to call Tian Donghua, urging him to go to the United States as soon as possible.

“No need to rush,” Ruyun stirred her orange juice with a straw.

“How can I not rush?” Hou Longtao put away his phone, rolled his eyes, and counted on his fingers. “Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, there are only five months left. Even if everything goes smoothly, I might not make it in time.”

“You can beg me,” Ruyun maintained a noble and elegant expression and twirled the tip of the straw with her tongue. “If you beg me, I might consider giving you an extension of one or two months.”

“I can also keep raping you until you agree to give me an extension of one or two months.” Hou Longtao’s expression was completely that of a womanizer.

“Mom, Sister, I’m leaving.” Xue Nuo slung her black bag over her shoulder and ran to open the door.

“Wait, wait.” Situ Qingying chased after her from the inner room, pulled up the girl’s jacket collar, and helped her fasten the top two buttons. “It’s quite cold outside. Do you want me to go with you? It’s not safe for a few girls to be out at night.”

“No need, it’s not unsafe,” Xue Nuo didn’t dare to look Situ Qingying in the eyes. She was terrible at lying and was afraid she would give herself away as soon as she looked up. “We’ll get out of the car and go straight inside, and get out of the house and get straight into the car.”

“Then be careful, okay?” Situ Qingying lowered her head and kissed the beautiful girl’s lips.

“I know.” Xue Nuo opened the door.

He Liping also came out of the room. “Nuo Nuo, come back early after the movie. Don’t wander around outside.”

Although the college entrance examination was getting closer and closer, the girl’s grades had recently made a leap, and it shouldn’t be a problem for her to get into Peking University [a prestigious university in China]. She wanted to go out with her classmates to see a movie on the weekend, and no one had a reason to refuse her.

“I know.” Xue Nuo rushed out the door and ran downstairs.

Situ Qingying took her coat from the coat rack. “Mom, I’m going out for a bit.”

“Where are you going?”

“Something suddenly came up. I’ll be back in a little while.” Situ Qingying also went out. She had been so close to Xue Nuo just now and intuitively felt that the beautiful girl was up to something. That younger sister was everyone’s darling. It would be better for her to follow and see what was going on. It was always better to be careful beforehand than to regret it later, but she didn’t want He Liping to worry.

Hou Longtao and Ruyun walked out of SOHO just after 7:30 PM. They could turn around and see the chocolate-colored China World Trade Center [a prominent skyscraper in Beijing] across the street.

“I haven’t been up there in a month,” Hou Longtao held the woman’s hand and strolled along the street. It wasn’t good to get in the car right after eating. “I really miss it a bit.”

“You can also rent an office in the China World Trade Center. Anyway, Guangda [likely referring to a specific building or area] doesn’t have a place for you.”

“There’s no rush. I estimate that I can move the office from Guangda after a while, and then move over here.”

“Is he going to make a move?” Ruyun leaned against the man’s side.

“Supposedly.”

“Why bother?” Ruyun grabbed the man’s hand and kissed it. “Just resolve it quickly. It’s not like you can’t resolve it. Why take the risk?”

“It’s not a risk. Everything is under control. Just let me have some fun. It’s not easy to find an opponent with some weight, especially since he has real talent and learning, and a good head on his shoulders. Let’s have a competition.”

“I can’t do anything with you. Just don’t play with fire.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Hou Longtao turned his head and bit the beautiful woman’s ear. “Sister Chang’e [a reference to the Chinese moon goddess, implying beauty], let’s go to the office. I want to f*** you in the company right now.”

“Sigh.” Ruyun shook her head helplessly, but there was a bright smile on her face. She took the man’s hand and walked towards the parking lot.

Xue Nuo got out of the taxi and ran into a coffee shop to meet her three sisters. “You’re all here early?”

“Yeah, we’ve been waiting for you.” Yao Lina was applying lip gloss with a mirror. She looked up and saw Xue Nuo’s outfit. “Yo! Why are you still wearing jeans and a sweater?”

“What’s wrong?” Xue Nuo didn’t understand what she was talking about.

The other three girls stood up. They were all wearing short skirts, some were dresses, some were two-piece outfits. Anyway, six straight white legs were exposed.

“Why do we have to dress like this?”

“Why? It’s Zai Zai.”

“It’s Zai Zai, not my husband.” In Xue Nuo’s heart, an idol she admired was not the same as a lover.

“Hey, hey, hey, stop talking nonsense,” Liu Ying glanced at her watch. “Let’s go quickly.”

“How did your family let you out?” Xue Nuo asked Liu Ying.

“I have tutoring at school tonight. Let’s go quickly. I have to be home before 10:30. Seriously, Nana’s family doesn’t care about her. She’s so free.” Few children these days understand that being cared for is the happiest thing.

“It’s okay,” Dai Jing picked up her bag. “We’ll call your family together later. I’m afraid to live alone. If you accompany me, I won’t be afraid no matter how late we play.”

“OK, OK, let’s go, let’s go.”

Not far from the coffee shop, an Audi A4 was parked on the side of the road. Situ Qingying was sitting behind the steering wheel. She had already followed Hou Longtao’s advice of “a meat bun wrapped in iron is not as good as iron wrapped in meat” [a saying that suggests investing in oneself] and switched to driving a four-wheeled vehicle.

Situ Qingying saw four beauties file out of the coffee shop and hail a taxi. She stepped on the gas and followed.

“Kuang Fei.”

“Oh, Manager Hou.” Kuang Fei saw Hou Longtao and the number one beauty of the China World Trade Center, Xu Ruyun, walk in together. He quickly turned around from behind the security desk in the lobby to greet them. In a place like this, he certainly couldn’t address him like he would on the street.

“Help me turn off the monitors on the sixteenth floor.”

“No problem.” Kuang Fei naturally complied with his master’s requests.

Hou Longtao took a couple of steps closer to the young man and whispered a few more words.

“What did you tell him?” Ruyun pressed the elevator button.

“You’ll find out in a little while.”

At this time, no one was going upstairs anymore. There were only Hou Longtao and her in the spacious elevator.

Before the elevator doors had completely closed, Hou Longtao’s hand was already kneading Ruyun’s butt through her dress.

Ruyun crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at the man with a flirtatious look, as if to say, “Let’s see what tricks you can pull off.”

Hou Longtao leaned over and pressed the elevator’s stop button, then returned to his original position, his expression nonchalant in the bright elevator doors.

“You just told him not to pay attention to the alarm signals on the security desk, right?”

“Smart.” Hou Longtao grabbed the woman’s skirt and pulled it all the way up, exposing most of her snow-white buttocks and black T-back panties. The black garter belt and stockings were incredibly sexy. “President Xu, how busy have you been with work lately?”

The corners of Ruyun’s mouth turned up, and she immediately understood the man’s intentions. She reached her left hand down to his crotch, took out his hard-on that was already straining his pants, and stroked it back and forth like she was holding a handle. “It’s been alright, President Hou. How about you?”

“Hiss… not… not very busy.” Hou Longtao felt his bones go soft as his beloved wife’s soft and smooth jade hand grabbed him. He quickly stopped fondling her plump buttocks, joined his ring finger and middle finger together, and poked them into her butt crack, vigorously rubbing her hot flesh.

“Hmm… hmm… ever since you… you left, I… ah… I’ve lost a… a good helper… ah…” Ruyun desperately squeezed her eyes shut and shifted her weight downwards, as if she was sitting on the man’s hand.

“Without… without President Xu’s guidance… huff… guiding me, I’m not very used to it either.” Hou Longtao felt that the beautiful woman’s juices had already soaked her panties, so he pushed the fabric aside and sent two fingers into her slippery, wet, and hot pussy.

Both of them were trying hard to suppress the pleasure that was building up inside them, as if they were in a competition to see who would give in first…(The golden scales are not things in the pool) [a Chinese proverb meaning someone destined for greatness will eventually rise above their current circumstances]