But there was nothing Meimei could say at this point. All she could do was blame Shen Ruoxi’s luck for being too good. She might have escaped this time, but she couldn’t escape the next or the time after that. As long as Shen Ruoxi remained at the Red Gate, she would never allow this new singer to make a name for herself.

“Sister Meimei.” A singer came hurrying over. “Something’s happened — Foreman Hu has been dismissed.”

“Who had the nerve to dismiss her?”

Foreman Hu had worked at the Red Gate for five or six years — ever since it opened, she’d been there managing the singers. She had personally brought up three or four singers to fame. Foreman Hu was known for her smoothness and gift for persuasion, and the regular clients would give her at least a token of respect. Even the manager often shirked his duties and left the dance hall in her hands.

On the surface the manager was in charge, but everyone treated Foreman Hu as the one who really ran things. Whether the singers or the servers, they all answered to her.

“The manager just came back, then turned around and let Foreman Hu go,” the singer said, her face full of anxiety. “With Foreman Hu gone, what are we going to do?”

“I’ll go take a look.”

Meimei had no more attention to spare for Shen Ruoxi at the moment. She made her way quickly to the manager’s office.

She nearly collided with Foreman Hu in the doorway.

Foreman Hu was crying so hard her face was a ruin of tears. When she saw Meimei, she broke down and wept even harder.

“Foreman Hu, what on earth happened?” Foreman Hu had a wide network of contacts, and with her around, Meimei could rest easy. If Foreman Hu left, she might take a lot of clients with her.

Foreman Hu’s face, streaked with ruined makeup, turned toward her. “I’ve been let go, Meimei. Work hard with the others from now on.”

“Who dismissed you?” Meimei’s face darkened with anger. “I’ll go talk to him.”

Foreman Hu shook her head. “Never mind. I’m going.”

Ignoring Meimei’s calls, she fled the dance hall as though something were chasing her.

She actually had her own plans already. Another dance hall had long been trying to poach her at a high price — bring her resources over and they’d make her assistant manager.

“Manager.” Meimei pushed the door open without ceremony and demanded directly, “Who dismissed Foreman Hu?”

The manager had grown so used to his leisurely life that Foreman Hu’s sudden departure left him completely at a loss. Even with Meimei speaking out of turn, he could only accommodate her, given that she was the top act.

“Meimei, don’t keep asking about this — the show is about to start. Go get your makeup on.”

But Meimei dropped into the sofa, crossed her legs, and reached for a cigarette to light.

“Manager, my schedule, what songs I sing — Foreman Hu arranged all of that. Now that she’s gone, what am I supposed to do? What are all the girls supposed to do? Does this place even want to keep running?”

Faced with Meimei’s barrage of questions, the manager was equally frustrated. He rose and walked over, speaking earnestly. “Meimei, this wasn’t my decision. I had no say in the matter.”

“Then why not bring Foreman Hu back.”

“Meimei, the person who told Foreman Hu to leave is someone neither of us can afford to cross.” The manager sighed. “It was Mr. Xie who gave the order.”

“Mr. Xie?” The cigarette in Meimei’s hand froze mid-air, her expression one of pure disbelief. “Hasn’t Mr. Xie always been uninvolved in the dance hall? Didn’t they say he has so many businesses he doesn’t even remember he has a place like this? Why would he suddenly interfere?”

She asked the question and then abruptly widened her eyes. “Was it because of Shen Ruoxi?”

She had heard from Foreman Hu that Shen Ruoxi had been brought here through Xie Yan’s introduction. She was one of his many women.

Foreman Hu had also said she had clearly fallen out of favor — otherwise she wouldn’t have been sent to the dance hall. So everyone had dismissed Shen Ruoxi’s origins without a second thought.

A woman that Mr. Xie had grown bored with — a discarded consort — was worth less than a stray dog on the street.

“Mr. Xie didn’t say why. He just had someone pass along the word. When Mr. Xie sends a message, how would I dare ask questions? I could only follow the order.” The manager said, “Meimei, whether or not Mr. Xie’s feelings for Shen Ruoxi have been rekindled — the fact is, this whole incident was triggered by Shen Ruoxi and Brother Qiao. So don’t push the matter of Foreman Hu any further. Right now, if the two of us can just keep our heads down and stay safe, we should count ourselves lucky.”

Meimei listened, and stopped smoking — letting the cigarette burn itself down.

If the one who’d dismissed Foreman Hu had been anyone else, she might have had Lord Fan step in and help manage things. But if the order had come directly from Xie Yan, she had no choice but to accept it.

“It’s not anyone else’s fault — it’s Foreman Hu who brought it on herself. She knew what kind of person Brother Qiao was, and still sent Shen Ruoxi to him. Of all the bad luck, she had to do it the one time Mr. Xie showed up and saw everything. As far as I’m concerned, she should be grateful she still has her life.”

Meimei had just stepped out of the manager’s office when a server came sprinting toward her.

“What is it?” Meimei stopped him.

The server’s face was pale with shock. “Sister Meimei — something’s happened to Foreman Hu.”

“What happened to her?”

“The moment she walked out the door, she was hit by a car. She was thrown completely off the ground.”

“Is she still alive?”

“They say she still has a breath left. She’s been rushed to the hospital — but from what people are saying, even if she survives, she’ll likely be bedridden for the rest of her life.”

“The car that hit her?”

“It’s long gone. It was dark, nobody could make out the plate. And it happened so suddenly — there wasn’t a single person nearby to witness it.”

“I see.” Meimei’s legs nearly gave out beneath her.

It seemed the manager had been wrong. Foreman Hu’s life might not even be worth keeping.

She had planned to go to Lord Fan and have him stand up for her — but after hearing what happened to Foreman Hu, she quickly dropped the idea.

She needed to know whether Shen Ruoxi had truly fallen out of favor, or whether Mr. Xie had deliberately put her out in the cold as a form of punishment and intended to bring her back once he’d had enough.

Until she had that figured out, she wasn’t foolish enough to make a move. She didn’t have the courage to go against Mr. Xie.

Just as Meimei was still reeling from the shock, news arrived the following day that shook her even further.

The hospital ward where Brother Qiao was being kept had caught fire. By the time the flames were put out, Brother Qiao had been reduced to a charred heap.

Two people tied to the Shen Ruoxi incident — one critically injured in the hospital with her fate unknown, the other burned to nothing. And if there was going to be a third victim, might it be her?

The shock sent Meimei asking for leave at once. She retreated directly to Lord Fan’s mansion to seek protection.

When Meimei heard the news of Brother Qiao’s death, her feeling was fear. When Xie Yan received the same news, his feeling was shock.

In a small shop somewhere in the black market district, Xie Yan reclined on a sofa, cradling a wine glass in his hand. The glass was now empty.

A young man with a fair, soft complexion came over and refilled it with a small pour.

Xie Yan swirled the glass gently, watching as the deep red liquid traced a beautiful path along the inside of the glass. His eyes drifted into a faraway expression.

“Qiao Dahu is dead — and burned to death at that. What does that tell us?”

The young man shook his head with a blank look.

Xie Yan took a slow sip of wine, a dangerous light flickering in his eyes.

“Destroying the evidence.”