A Valiant Life

The workers who were scrubbing the customers were shocked. “What’s up today? Why are there so many customers?”

“There are so many of them queuing. This is a little scary.”

At that moment, a group of people was inside the bath. They were all discussing and were very curious about Lin Fan’s back-scrubbing techniques. They wanted to see if it was really as mystical as the forums had said.

“My god, this is a little ridiculous.”

“Yeah, there’s a certain part of that guy that doesn’t seem quite right.”

“To be able to get turned on just from scrubbing, how long must that guy have held it back?”

“Look at his expression. It’s so exaggerated that it’s scary.”

The surrounding customers who had come out of curiosity all squatted inside the bathing pool, whispering amongst themselves. When they saw that the person had gotten turned on by the scrubbing, they burst into laughter as they felt that it was unimaginable.

But when their turns came, they found out just how perverse this back-scrubber’s techniques were.

At that moment, Lin Fan was busy working. A little bro went forward curiously, “Big Bro, about that culprit, did you advise him to turn himself in?

“It wasn’t me. He came to see the truth himself,” said Lin Fan with a smile. He now understood why these people were here. It was probably because of that incident that they wanted to come and take a look.

The little bro was taken aback. “Wow, something like that could happen?”

Lin Fan nodded with a smile, “There’s nothing wrong with that happening.”

The other back-scrubbers said cheerfully, “Little Boss is very mystical. If you guys stay near Cloud Street, there’s no way you wouldn’t know Little Boss.”

The little bro shook his head, “I don’t stay here. I stay very far away. It’s just that I saw the forums actively recommending this place, so I came to take a look.”

The other people in the bathing pool shouted, “Little Boss doesn’t want to sell scallion pancakes, but comes here to do back-scrubbing instead. No matter what, we have to experience it.”

The other back-scrubbers all had to make a living as well. After going through Lin Fan’s technical guidance, they had significantly improved and their techniques became much more comfortable. Compared to before, it was simply incomparable.

The customers were enjoying it very much. In particular, the service was on point and the duration was not short either. Even if they couldn’t experience Lin Fan’s techniques personally, they were already satisfied.

The price was cheap and it was very comfortable. This kind of back-scrubbing technique was nothing they had ever felt before.

…

Outside.

Liu Xiao Tian was done with the hearing, so he came to the bathhouse to look for Lin Fan. He hadn’t met Master Lin in a while, mainly because he had quite a number of things to do recently. Shanghai was a big city and it had a high safety rating but there were still a number of crimes. There were no longer many murder cases nowadays but fights, conflicts and internet scams were still very common. At times, when he got busy, it wasn’t easy for him.

“Is Master Lin inside?” Liu Xiao Tian asked at the front desk.

Xiao He was busy working here and there as she kept checking on the situation in the private rooms. At that moment, she replied without looking up, “He’s here, he’s here. All these people are looking for Master Lin. Queue up. Once, there’s a room, I’ll let you know immediately.”

Liu Xiao Tian took out his ID. “I’m a police officer. I’m looking for Master Lin to ask about yesterday’s incident.”

Xiao He was puzzled. “Yesterday? What happened yesterday?”

Liu Xiao Tian was startled. Had this lady not seen the news? Everybody knew about yesterday’s incident. As the bathhouse’s staff, how could she not know? Then, Liu Xiao Tian shook his head helplessly, “Go look for him. Tell him Liu Xiao Tian is here.”

Xiao He saw that he really was a police officer and didn’t say much else. However, she couldn’t go into the men’s bathhouse, so she told someone to go in and call him.

…

Lin Fan finished scrubbing, then informed the customers who were waiting, before going to the changing room and putting on his clothes. Then, he went to see Liu Xiao Tian.

“Inspector Liu, why are you here?” asked Lin Fan with a smile.

Liu Xiao Tian hadn’t seen Lin Fan in a long time and had missed him a little. “What? Can’t I come and see you? I’ve brought what you wanted.”

Lin Fan received the thing, then opened it and took a look. ‘Good Citizen Award’. Lin Fan was delighted. “I really have to thank you, for you to personally come over here to deliver it.”

Liu Xiao Tian shook his head, “I can’t figure out why you would want these. You already have so many Good Citizen Awards.”

Lin Fan said with a smile, “These are good things. Each one of them represents a good deed that I’ve done. But really, this case has just been cracked. Inspector Liu, you can’t be here just to chat with me, right?”

Liu Xiao Tian glanced at Lin Fan, “What? Just because I’ve been busy for a period of time and I haven’t been able to come look for you, you don’t want to see me anymore, Master Lin? When we have the time, let’s go for one or two cups of beer.”

Lin Fan shook his head, “I can’t do that right now. I’m still scrubbing people’s backs. Next time, I’ll call you.”

Liu Xiao Tian gave in to Lin Fan. Why would he come and give people back scrubs all of a sudden? But after some thinking, Liu Xiao Tian decided not to say anything. He just couldn’t figure out this Master Lin’s personality. Moreover, the reason that he was able to be in his position, he believed, had very much to do with Master Lin.

At a distant location.

A car stopped.

Elder Zeng had been hesitant and restless the whole way. He still hadn’t made a firm decision. He was a pessimist. He kept thinking about what would happen if the police found out or if somebody reported him.

Would he be sent to jail?

Would his shop be closed?

At that point, he was a little afraid. However, he thought that if his business didn’t change for the better, it would eventually have to close as well.

“This is the place, right Boss Zeng?” said the skinny man with a smile.

Zeng Wei nodded, “Mmm, we’ve reached.”

The skinny man looked up at the shop and shook his head, “The name is already not very good. The entrance doesn’t seem luxurious enough and it gives a first impression that this isn’t a place with good service. That’s why it’s hard to attract people.”

Zeng Wei was a little taken aback, “There’s even an issue with the name?”

The skinny man said with a smile, “Of course. You have to add the word ‘Sauna’ or ‘Club’. As for this ‘Elder Zeng’s Bath Centre’, I feel that it’s no good. But it doesn’t matter now. It would be expensive to change it now. With my great source of customers, I just have to give them a notice and it’ll be fine.”

The skinny man realized that Zeng Wei was still a little hesitant, so he said with a smile, “Boss Zeng, you don’t have to feel any burden. Although the government doesn’t approve of such a thing, this isn’t an unvirtuous thing. Think about it, it’s mutual consent, isn’t it? I see so many bathhouses in Shanghai now that can’t even survive. There are so few bathhouses like yours that follow the regulations. Moreover, just a few months and you’ll be able to earn a large sum. If you ever don’t feel like doing it anymore, you can stop anytime. Actually, doing this line of work is a good thing.”

Zeng Wei looked at this man. This was the first time he had heard someone say that this line of work was a good thing.

The skinny man said, “Have you seen that news before? A migrant worker who knew nothing tried to rape a passer-by because he had restrained himself for too long and he didn’t know about prostitutes. In the end, he accidentally killed the person. It was only when he was arrested that he found out about prostitutes and was filled with regret. If he had known earlier, he would have been able to resolve it with just a hundred dollars. There was no need to take someone’s life. Do you think that we really don’t contribute to society at all?”

Zeng Wei shook his head after hearing this and didn’t say much else. These were evil and crooked doctrines but he had nothing to say in rebuttal.

Since his business was doing so badly, he could only rely on this.

He could only let the man keep talking while he bet his all on this.