Soon, the food arrived. Sun Tiger spared no expense and ordered luxurious and delicious-looking food for us. Despite that, I had no appetite at all, perhaps because Huang Xiaotao was there but Dali was sitting in between us, so we hadn’t said a word to each other since we took our seats.

Sun Tiger and Wang Yuanchao were particularly lively. Halfway through the meal, they started a drinking duel. Although Wang Yuanchao was only a low-rank police officer at the moment, the way Sun Tiger interacted with him did not reflect that at all—it looked more like they were equals!

Both of them were seasoned players in this game as they were more than able to hold their liquor. After a while, they were locked in a stalemate and the game turned boring, so they turned their attention to us rookies.

I told them I never drank or smoked in order to protect my senses, so I politely refused. As a result, they switched targets to Dali.

Sun Tiger’s...