—
Yun Jiao crouched in front of the four men.
They were all upright, technically, which she appreciated. It showed resilience.
"I'm going to say this once," she said, very kindly, very gently, like a teacher addressing a slow student she still believed in.
"You're going to go back to the people who hired you." She tilted her head. "And you're going to do to them exactly what you came here to do to me."
The first man — dried blood at his temple, pride completely destroyed — stared at her trembling "You want us to—"
"I want you to deliver a message," she said simply. "From me." She smiled. "Tell them — I return kindness for kindness."
A pause.
The smile stayed exactly in place.
"And I return evil a hundredfold."
She straightened up.
Picked up her shopping bag from where it had dropped.
she added cheerfully. " I'd really recommend doing what I said, offending me twice isn't something you can handle"
She turned and hopped toward the convenience store, with a lollipop in her mouth and her bag slinged over her shoulder, while humming a song like a little innocent lolli.
Behind her the four men looked at each other.
Then at the small device sitting on top of the nearest car that had definitely not been there before.Then at each other again.—
Yunjinna's phone rang at nine forty-seven PM.
She was in her room.
Skincare done.
Ready for bed.
Feeling, if she was honest, deeply unsatisfied with how the day had gone.
Unknown number.
She answered.
What she heard made her sit up straight.
"Who is this—" she started.
"The deed has been done, she's locked up in a warehouse, I'll text the address" said the person on the other end of the line and ended the call abruptly.
She got a text almost immediately stating the address, she was confused but excited, she told them to beat her up and record her being raped, they were supposed to send a video, why did they ask her to come over.
Anyways her excitement took over her reasoning, she got ready and prepared to see yunjiao In her miserable state and give her a warning.
10minutes later, dressed in a pink gown, and her wavy hair cascading downward she looked beautiful and out of place in that kind of depilidating warehouse.
Opening the door,
The four men surrounded her immediately, held her down.
"What do you— stop— STOP—"
She was on her feet. Screaming.
The men poured out their anger on her, beat her up mercilessly, stripped her naked and took pictures and videos of her.
They left the warehouse after they were done.
Yunjinna whimpering with a badly bruised face, picked up her phone and made a call crying—"MOTHER—!"
—
Ruan Suyin arrived at the warehouse in 5mins.
Yunjinna was sitting on the floor, shaking, phone clutched in both hands, face white and bruised.
"They did this to me mum," she cried.
Her voice was strange. Hollow. "They— Mother, they called me and they—"
Ruan Suyin looked at her daughter.
Hatred and pity flitted pass her eyes.
Something else that might, in a different woman, would have been guilt.
but disappeared quickly.
After listening to what her daughter said, hatred burned in her heart while she felt sorry for her.
She pulled Yunjinna's up on her feet.
"Stop crying," she said, low and controlled.
"Stop. Listen to me." She waited until Yunjinna's breathing slowed.
"Was it recorded?"
Yunjinna stared at her.
"Was it—" She laughed. High and cracked.
"Mother, is that really—"
"Was it recorded." asked again firmer.
"I don't— I don't know— they said something about—"
She put her face in her hands.
"She did this. It was her. I know it was her—"
"You can't prove that."
"I KNOW IT WAS HER—"
"Lower your voice."
Ruan Suyin stood. Smoothed her dress. Looked at her daughter with eyes that were calculating even now, even here.
"She's a girl from an orphanage. She has no connections, no resources, nothing. No one will believe she had anything to do with this."
Yunjinna looked up at her mother.
Her face was a wreck of tears and fury and something else underneath it all — something that looked, if you looked closely enough, like the very first thread of fear.
"Then what do we do?" she whispered.
Ruan Suyin looked at the wall in the direction of the city "Nothing," she said.
"For now." Her voice was even. Quiet.
"Liang Boshen's meeting is in two days. We do nothing and we wait."
She walked her to the door.
"And Yunjinna."
Yunjinna looked at her.
"Not a word of this to your father, let's go to the hospital to treat your wounds"
—
On the other side, Yun Jiao was in fact not sleeping.
She was sitting cross-legged on her bed with a bag of chips from the convenience store, reading through Hawk's compiled file on Liang Boshen, making small quiet notes in a notebook with a blue pen.
"Master,"
Hawk said."Mm."
"The recording has been backed up to four separate servers."
"Good."
"Yunjinna's phone showed activity at nine forty-seven. Elevated vocal stress detected through the warehouse wall sensors."
A pause.
"Liang Boshen,"
she said quietly. "Tell me about his schedule the night of the meeting."
Hawk told her.
She listened.
She wrote.
Outside the window the city was dark and quiet and full of people sleeping peacefully through all the things that were about to change.
She ate a chip.
Turned another page.
In two days, Liang Boshen walked into this house expecting a transaction.
She had a different ending in mind.
She always did.