Alex found Weite sitting in exactly the same spot he had left him.

The dude did not notice Alex approach until the latter tapped his shoulder; then, he almost fell of the bar stool:

“Don’t scare me, man.”

“I am glad you followed my advice and bought some drinks.”

The bar girl who had taken the spot to Weite’s left after Alei’s departure quickly vacated the spot, and so Alex sat down and ordered a Buzz for himself.

When the barkeeper put down the keg, Alex asked Weite,

“Have you tried this before?”

The dude must have consumed quite a bit, because his answer was half in Central and half in English:

“Ger, course, course. Just as you wrote in se message, I did not hold back, haha.”

After he had things under control, Alex had taken the time to shoot* Weite a response.

“You missed out brother, already drank half se menu, e.”

“He is a lot less reserved when drunk, but I better get him a sober soup at the other place,” Alex thought and decided on the next spot: Club Yishan.

“Better to skip the other venues this time and get to the highlight.”

He had lost quite a bit of time, after all.

As to why Club Yishan would be considered the highlight…

They had the most refined hostesses entertaining their guests; and if one ‘bought the full hours’, they could be taken home… or so it had been stated in the file.

The Organization had no interest in raising eunuchs; furthermore, both Alex and Weite were young men with ‘boring’ orientation.

Of course, such a place was exceedingly expensive and had some standards for attire…

“Use this chance to get him a change of clothes and sober him up over there,” Alex thought.

Weite the while had been quietly rambling on about this and that, finally falling silent after finishing his drink.

Alex quickly downed his and asked,

“Ready to move on?”

“Sure, sure, let’s get oo-outta here!”

This time, they took the descendor and accessed the district’s side road network.

Unlike the ambassador’s son, Alex could use the emergency lane without a hassle, markedly shortening their travel time.

Shortly after they got in the car, Weite, who had fallen silent, started talking again:

“Alex, tell me honestly, are we friends?”

“We are.”

“Right, I fought we are brosers. Ger, haven’t known each other for long, but…

“You are a real broser, I feel it.”

Alex was unsure where this conversation would be heading.

“But broser, you cannot just go off ‘lone. I’m no coward, yoo ‘now?

“Do you fink I am useless?”

“Can you fight?”

“Course, course! Deizh isnd Central, but we have yoodoo and karatea!”

“You can do judo and karate?”

“No karatea, just yoodoo.

“Sa’s not what I mean, I mean let me help next time, oh kay?”

Alex inwardly sighed,

“So, he needs alcohol to have some backbone.”

“That needs to change pronto*,” he thought.

To Weite he said,

“Now that I know you can fight, I will naturally plan accordingly.”

Weite’s file had not mentioned any martial arts training, that was something that he would have to investigate.

“How long did you study judo?”

Weite was silent for a moment before responding,

“Let’s keep sis topic for… more sober times, oh kay?”

It seemed there was a story to tell.

“Alright.”

 

After a few minutes of silence, the car arrived in front of a clothing store near Club Yishan.

Weite only spoke up when they had already left the car:

“Is sis se club?”

“Seems he is still drunk, but he is not truly asking…” Alex observed silently.

“No, this is a clothing store.”

“You… want to buy clohs?”

“Yes.”

From Weite’s gaze he could tell that the other was still curious, but Alex ignored it and went to the identify at the entrance.

Weite did not ask him another question and, after identifying himself, just followed him inside.

Alex had read Weite’s file and was well-educated on the various styles of the different circles.

Club Yishan belonged to the circle of the rich on a national level.

For example, Sonji Gao, the father of the Chao girl’s boyfriend whom he met earlier, would be regarded as small fry in Club Yishan; even if his boss Ray Jin went there in person, he could only be treated as an ordinary guest.

Only people like Glaisdon whose name Alex had borrowed earlier could be considered bigshots in this circle.

In other words, …

“A taller ant hill is still an ant hill.”

“That’ll be all,” Alex said as he finished selecting from the holos.

Just by the fact that they had actual human employees serving customers, even at this hour, you could tell that this was an upscale store.

“Sir, would you like to try them? In our store you do not have to make due with holos and feeling the fabrics, we offer trying on the actual pieces,” the employee, a well-proportioned blond, explained.

“Ho, this is indeed his taste…” Alex observed when he caught his drunk friend staring at the girl’s cleavage.

To the girl he said, “No, but my friend here would.”

The girl immediately understood and turned her attention to Weite,

“Sir, may I show you to the dressing room?”

When the dude found the girl addressing himself, he quickly moved his eyes away from her chest to her face.

Shocked, he replied,

“M-me?”

“Yes Sir, right this way please.”

The girl, having already noticed Weite’s drunken behavior, politely guided him to the changing room.

 

A different girl quickly took her place serving Alex,

“While my colleague helps your friend try on the clothes, may I offer you a drink?”

She was especially tall with long golden hair, slightly darker than her colleague but just as lustrous.

Of course, not everyone who entered this store received this high a level of service:

Although Weite was dressed poorly and Alex’ clothes could not be considered ostentatious, this was an elite clothing store, after all.

Its employees all had expert knowledge in fabrics and styles; they could tell that Alex’ clothes were all custom-made and from the most expensive materials at that.

They were on a level that even their store could not match, so it was quite understandable that he would only buy clothes for his friend.

The store employees could definitely not neglect him.

Fearing that they might stay here for longer than planned at this rate, Alex addressed the golden-haired girl:

“We are planning to leave for Club Yishan in twenty, thirty minutes.”

A hint of envy flickered through the girl’s eyes before she freed herself of her futile dreams.

Working in a high-class men’s clothing store like this could not even compare to cleaning the floor at Club Yishan.

“I will let my colleague know. In the meantime, thirty minutes is quite a long time. I can recommend our store’s sour, or a gizzy perhaps?”

Alex chuckled,

“Are you not selling clothes?”

The golden-haired girl was not flustered,

“I can assure you that we greatly care about the quality of every item in this store.

“Of course, the drinks are a courtesy of our store.”

Alex thought for a moment before replying,

“Then I will try a sour.”

 

Alex savored the sour*, it seemed to be a whiskey based one.

Although most peers his age preferred sweet and effectful drinks such as the fizz, he quite liked the classics.

Unlike a fizz, there was no fancy fuzzy sensation on his tongue, only the tingling sourness of the lime juice.

The cocktail was well-prepared; although one would think with the recipe as straightforward as it was, it would be impossible to mess up, but he had tasted quite a few too sweet sours.

The sourness was not biting either but quite balanced thanks to the slight amount of glowing red wine added.

 

He was a little surprised to have such a well-made drink in a clothing store.

The girl had accepted his invitation to sit down and was graciously sitting to his right, ready to attend to him.

Alex slowly sipped the drink and when it neared the bottom, Weite finally finished.

Dressed in expensive clothes, he locked upscale; as they say, clothes make the man.

If not for the flushed look on his face, with his red hair, he might look like a Western noble.

It looked like it had been the dude’s first time.

Alex chuckled.

“Alright, this looks fine.”

Although these clothes would only be considered decent in Club Yishan, Alex only needed to give this brother of his a chance.

“Will this be all?” the girl asked Alex.

“Yes, you can add 30% and send the code.”

The joyful girl sent the code for payment to his Wristpie and he quickly confirmed.

Then Alei sent her Weite’s address and asked,

“Sent his old clothes to this address, do you need any more data?”

The girl confirmed and saw them out of the shop.

 

Club Yishan was within three-, five-minute walking distance and this area had a good air, thus, Alex sent the car away.

Weite seemed to flustered to speak.

Finally, he managed to ask,

“Did… Have you also？”

Alex chuckled and replied,

“Haha, I have standards. You might also want to work on your resistance to women, or you will easily be taken advantage of.”

In the world of business, there was no lack of sly women more than willing to use their bodies against their competitors; many a well-kept business secret had been uncovered this way.

The Organization too employed such methods where necessary.

Weite laughed, his voice full of self-mockery,

“What do I hab sat women would frow semselves at me?”

Alex sighed,

“Usually, your brain.”

He knew the dude’s circumstances did not endow him with an adequate level of self-confidence.

Some more conservative readers might ask themselves why Alex had not chosen a stronger approach to build up the youth’s self-esteem; such methods usually let to a stoic, perhaps rigid character but Alex needed Weite’s creativity and genius.

Thus, he could only choose a careful, gradual method.

Just as the silence threatened to turn stiff, the two brothers arrived at Club Yishan.

 

*to shoot someone a message = to send someone a message

*very quickly

*whiskey sour example with red wine: here or below