"Watch your mouth," Li Yang said, slapping him before the man could finish speaking.
Stung by the blow, the man grew angrier. "You son of a— Ouch!"
This time, Li Yang didn't just hit him; he kicked him in the face. The man cried out in pain and rolled onto the floor.
"I told you to watch your mouth, why didn't you listen?" Li Yang said with a smile, dusting off his pants. "Do you want me to slap you again?"
"No, no more!" the man said, backing away fearfully.
Lin Xiaoyu grabbed the money from the glass table and shouted, "Wait, take your dirty money too!"
With that, she threw the money at the man.
The man, already terrified and jumpy, flinched violently when something was thrown at him. He immediately crashed headfirst into a nearby potted plant, getting stuck in it.
Several people around them burst into laughter. "Haha, that's hilarious."
"A human potted plant, I must say, it's quite something."
"That was satisfying!" Lin Xiaoyu felt her anger dissipate. She looked at Li Yang with her clear, bright eyes and smiled. "Brother Li, thank you so much for helping me. Otherwise, a little lady like me would have been bullied!"
"Thank you for speaking properly," Li Yang said, torn between amusement and exasperation. He found it strange that such a pure-looking girl would speak so coquettishly and resort to such "tea art" tactics.
"Hehe."
Lin Xiaoyu giggled, then linked her arm through his. "I heard men like this, but it seems you don't, Brother Li. I won't act like this anymore then."
"Speaking normally is more likable than anything else," Li Yang replied with a smile.
Jin Buhuan looked at the two of them and smiled. "Mr. Li, your friend, would you introduce us?"
"Allow me to introduce you. This is Boss Jin Buhuan, a major jade supplier," Li Yang said with a smile. "And this is Boss Lin Xiaoyu, who is also in the jade business."
"Oh, hello Boss Jin. Sister Shui mentioned you. She said you're an expert and a man of principle," Lin Xiaoyu said, immediately extending her hand.
Jin Buhuan looked slightly surprised, but considering she was Li Yang's friend and knew Shui Xiang, it seemed normal. He smiled. "Hello, Boss Lin. But let's skip the handshake; my hands are quite sweaty. Shall we all have dinner?"
"Okay, I'll treat everyone to dinner," Lin Xiaoyu said, retracting her hand with a smile.
Jin Buhuan replied, "That won't do. I invited Mr. Li to Kunming as my guest. All expenses for dining, accommodation, and entertainment for these few days should be on me."
"Boss Lin, you mustn't compete with me on this."
"But Brother Li also helped me," Lin Xiaoyu said, blinking her eyes.
Jin Buhuan suggested, "Then let's prepare some special gifts for Mr. Li. That's also a way to express gratitude."
"That's right! Boss Jin, you truly are an expert, so clever," Lin Xiaoyu said, nodding with a smile.
Li Yang watched them and said with amusement, "You two are discussing me right in front of me without even asking for my opinion. Is that appropriate?"
"Hehe, Brother Li definitely won't mind," Lin Xiaoyu said, leaning her face against his shoulder with a giggle.
Feeling her soft cheek against him, how could Li Yang mind?
Any man wouldn't mind!
Unless he was abnormal!
"Alright, let's go eat."
"This way, please," Jin Buhuan said with a smile.
After they were seated, Lin Xiaoyu began to recount the earlier incident. "Brother Li, Boss Jin, it's not that I was being so emotional. That man kept insulting me, saying all sorts of things about me selling myself. No matter how I explained, he wouldn't listen. In the end, he even tried to force me into a room. It made me so angry!"
"I can understand," Jin Buhuan nodded. "She's a decent, pure girl, and you go around calling her a prostitute. If she doesn't leave after a couple of warnings and you try to lay hands on her, anyone would get angry."
"However, Boss Lin, I can't speak for other places, but in this area, girls selling flowers usually sell flowers for other girls. It's best not to buy flowers here and carry them around with you. Otherwise, people will be familiar with the routine and assume you're selling yourself."
"What do you mean?" Lin Xiaoyu's face changed, gradually turning red.
She understood without Jin Buhuan needing to explain further. "Are you saying that the girls selling flowers around here are actually... doing that?"
"I wouldn't say all of them, but eighty to ninety percent are," Jin Buhuan replied with a nod.
Occasionally, there were a few girls who were not involved in such activities. Seeing many flower vendors on the street, they wanted to emulate them, thinking there was a business opportunity here, only to be misunderstood and run away crying.
But none of them had ever reached the extent of this incident.
Ultimately, it was because Lin Xiaoyu was too beautiful. Despite her repeated explanations, that man still refused to believe she was innocent. He might have even wanted to make a false accusation a reality.
Once something like that happened, what was there to say about her not being in that line of work?
Even a respectable woman could be dragged down.
And this was precisely one of the great hobbies of certain men.
Lin Xiaoyu was simply unlucky this time.
After hearing Jin Buhuan's words, she felt uneasy. "Boss Jin, in this day and age, it shouldn't be too difficult to make a living. Why choose to do this line of work?"
"It's quick money, and it earns a lot," Jin Buhuan said, looking at her and explaining earnestly. "Some are vain and materialistic, wanting to make money quickly without putting in the effort, so they enter this profession."
"Some are forced into it. Not to mention those girls who are deceived or threatened into it. In some areas around Kunming, the economy is not developed at all, let alone comparable to inland cities or coastal metropolises. Some girls, in order to support their brothers' education and give them a future, enter this profession."
"Others do it for sick family members, out of desperation. Without money, hospitals won't treat them."
"How can this be?" Lin Xiaoyu's eyes welled up with tears of anger upon hearing his explanation. After graduating from high school, her family couldn't afford to support her education any further, so she started from scratch. With her intelligence and shrewdness, she earned over five million yuan in the jade business.
She felt her own situation was already quite difficult, but she never imagined there were even worse circumstances.
At least her parents never asked her to support them, nor did her siblings ask her to fund their education. They only asked her to postpone her studies. As for the situations Jin Buhuan described, she didn't know how to react.
Seeing her eyes redden, Li Yang was taken aback. He had always thought of her as a well-behaved and clever girl, but he hadn't expected her to have such a side.
In the end, she was just a young girl.
"Ahem. Let's end this topic and order our food."
"Yes, yes, let's order. Don't hesitate to ask for whatever you want," Jin Buhuan said, seeing that she was on the verge of tears. He realized he shouldn't have said those things and quickly asked the waiter for menus.
However, Lin Xiaoyu closed her eyes and rested her head on Li Yang's lap. "Brother Li, I want to sleep for a bit."