*****Content warning: torture, murder
“Your sorry ending would be ⸺ Pah!”
Thinking back to these words, Li Ai instantly deflated. She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to be shot…she didn’t do anything wrong, so why should she get punished as a scapegoat? Teacher Jiang was right, people like that should die…she wasn’t the one who was wrong!
“Hm? What did you want to say?”
“No-Nothing…um, did you have anything to ask?”
Xue Yunxin shook her head, smiling: “I simply wanted to have lunch with a lovely girl like you.”
It sounded like character dialogue from a manhua. Li Ai looked at Xue Yunxin, reluctant to agree. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to. Rather, she didn’t dare to. At times like these, if she agreed, then the other would say something like: “Wow! You really don’t have a clue, do you?”
“Thanks…”
“You remind me of my friend. She also didn’t have good relationships with her classmates, always targeted by those perpetrators. The ones back then were, in my view, even more malicious than the ones today.”
Li Ai didn’t understand: “Perpetrators?”
“I call the ones who bullied her ‘perpetrators’. Back then, I had a manhua that I really liked, and it used this word. I know, I know, with today’s sensibilities, it really is very chuunibyou!” Xue Yunxin revealed her signature grin.
When she smiles, she really is beautiful…
“Officer Xue, the friend that you were talking about. Was it Teacher Jiang?”
“Hey, how did you know?”
“It was just a hunch…” Li Ai felt guilty. Teacher Jiang had said that they were the same kind of person, and Xue Yunxin had told her before that Jiang Qinglan was her friend from school. Combining this information didn’t take much brainpower.
“There were a few reasons Qinglan wasn’t welcomed in school back then, but I still really liked her. Because her eyes were beautiful. And, I’m telling you this as a secret, her waist is very soft, perfect for holding!” Xue Yunxin, as she spoke these last few words, gave a sly smile. Li Ai began to envy Jiang Qinglan. At the very least, she had someone like Xue Yunxin by her side. Who did she have? She’d never met her father, and her mother got a new boyfriend almost every day and eventually left too.
Should she be resentful? Who should she resent? She envied Jiang Qinglan for having Xue Yunxin.
The two of them sat like this for a time, then Xue Yunxin proposed that they go for a walk around.
Xue Yunxin paid out of her own pocket and bought her a fashionable, aqua blue dress.
Xue Yunxin pulled her in front of the mirror: “See, you’re so pretty, be confident!” Li Ai looked at herself in the mirror. The person in the mirror looked like a most familiar stranger. Her clothes were neat and tidy, and by her side was a person strolling the streets and buying clothes with her.
Jiang Qinglan…
Unexpectedly, this name appeared in her mind. Suddenly, the person in the mirror transformed into Jiang Qinglan. She lowered her head: “These clothes don’t suit me…Thank you, Officer Xue.” She was just thinking about going and taking the clothes off, but she was pulled back by Xue Yunxin’s strong arm: “Believe in my vision! Wear this one, I’ll go pay!”
……
Li Ai looked at her clothes, standing in front of the entrance of the school, not quite awoken from her beautiful dream. Just as she got out of the car, she had heard Xue Yunxin say to her: “If you don’t mind that the two of us aren’t of the same generation, I could be your friend!” Thinking of these words, Li Ai’s face unconsciously lifted. If there was a mirror there at that moment, she would’ve discovered that her own smile was truly beautiful.
She raised her head to look at the clouds in the sky, greedily drinking in the happy moment. Her phone rang at the inopportune time.
Seeing the caller ID “Teacher Jiang,” her heart suddenly quivered. She knew very clearly that she feared this woman. She picked up the call cautiously: “Hello, Teacher Jiang…the suburbs to the north? Okay…”
Jiang Qinglan had only said one sentence during the call: “Come to the abandoned brickyard in the northern suburbs, I have a gift.”
Li Ai had a hundred reasons not to go; who knew what sort of bad end she would have…but her gut told her that if she didn’t go, it would be even worse. And so, she followed her intuition, going to the northern suburbs.
The northern suburbs had many unfinished buildings with no one around. There were also some factories, but because the economy had been stagnant in North City for the past few years, these factories went bankrupt one by one.
There was only one brickyard in this area. When Li Ai arrived, it was almost nighttime. The northern suburbs were next to a mountainous area, which made people think of “The Wicked Ghost.” Also, that the killer “Jack” remained on the loose in North City, who knew if he would come to the northern suburbs to hide out…
Li Ai gritted her teeth, but now she was scared to death. As they say, ‘with no skeletons in your closet, no ghost will come knocking at your door.’ Instead of being concerned about Jack, Li Ai was more afraid that Xin Zhiying’s ghost would come after her!
“You came.”
Li Ai whipped her head around and saw a sinister person wearing a black-and-white smiling mask. She was paralyzed by fear, staring at the masked figure. Right…Jack! The person in front of her was Jack!
“Jack…”
“You guessed correctly, darling. However, calling me Jack is also not completely accurate.” The figure pulled off the mask, revealing the face behind it. Li had already started crying. Jack was actually her German professor ⸺ Jiang Qinglan!
“I thought you wouldn’t come. Sure enough, you really are obedient.”
The Jiang Qinglan in front of Li Ai felt like a stranger. Li Ai’s impression of her had always been of a gentle, soft, fair lady, but the person in front of her now, from her outfit to her bearing, was starkly different from the Jiang Qinglan she knew!
“Du siehst heute abend wundervoll aus” You’re beautiful tonight.
Jiang Qinglan gracefully pulled Li Ai along by the hand into the brickyard. The brickyard was so dark, you couldn’t see your fingers if you stretched out your hand. That sentence, “Du siehst heute abend wundervoll aus,” was like a curse that bound her limbs.
After walking for a while, Jiang Qinglan brought her to a small room. She turned on a flashlight, but the sudden illumination made her eyes, which had grown accustomed to the dark surroundings, temporarily blurry.
“Look at my gift. Do you like it?”
Li Ai looked over and saw a man with his hands tied behind his back. Li Ai remembered him; he was Xin Zhiying’s boyfriend. She’d heard that he was a high-level executive of a company.
The man also recognized her. Because there was something stuffed in his mouth, he could only make vague, muffled sounds. It looked to Li Ai like he was begging her to save him.
Jiang Qinglan went over and pulled the item out of his mouth, her gaze playful.
When the man’s mouth was free, he roared at Jiang Qinglan ferociously: “Fuck you! You’re the one who killed Xin Zhiying! You have some fucking guts, just wait till I get out of here, you’ll be the first I kill!” To Jiang Qinglan, these words sounded like a piece of prey’s dying struggles. From start to finish, Jiang Qinglan’s face had a smile of unknown significance. The man saw that she wasn’t intimidated by his words, so he turned to Li Ai and yelled: “You! I remember you! You’re Xin Zhiying’s roommate! Quick, call the police! What are you doing standing there like an idiot?!”
Seeing that she still hadn’t responded to him, the impeccably dressed man started cursing her: “Do you have shit for brains? You’re just standing there like a complete moron! Go call the fucking police⸺hey! I know! You two are partners! You teamed up to hurt Zhiying! I know you, you’re Li Ai! I heard you’re mom was a prostitute! I guess you must be a disgusting thing, too! How much per night? Just wait till I’m free! How about we play around a bit? Yo, new clothes! Looks brand-name, expensive too! Did a man buy them for you?! How many times did he get for it?”
Perhaps for his useless, annoying speech, Jiang Qinglan pulled out a long needle from her pocket: “As for me, I have this needle. It’s new, too. But, it’s a little sharp, and I’m worried about hurting my Uriel. It doesn’t have to be a waste, though. So, I’d like to ask Mr. Jing to help me make up for this loss.” Jiang Qinglan grabbed the man by the jaw, pinching so that his mouth was agape, and she plunged the needle into his tongue.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” The man screamed in agony. Jiang Qinglan unhurriedly pulled out another long needle to continue: “See, I have many.”
“Spare me! Spare me!” The man’s words slurred together, the jumbled mess difficult to understand: “I have money, I can give you as much as you want!”
“Shhh! You think someone will come save you if you yell loud enough? You should save your strength.” Jiang Qinglan pulled out needle after needle to pierce the man’s tongue. Li Ai witnessed everything with her own eyes, not daring to utter a sound.
……
“The last needle.” Jiang Qinglan said as she pierced the final needle through the man’s tongue. The man had already lost consciousness, and he sat on the ground, his eyes rolled up into his skull.
“Come, this is the last part. It’s up to you.” Jiang Qinglan put a knife into Li Ai’s hand: “This man isn’t actually second-gen rich.1 He’s just a scoundrel that cheats people by playing fancy. Many girls have already been hurt by him. This ⸺ is a service to the people.”
A service to the people, a service to the people, a service to the people! This kind of man should die!
Li Ai walked up to the man, the knife in her hand. She stabbed the knife into his brain…
……
“It’s a bit cold tonight, isn’t it? You still wore so little?” Jiang Qinglan looked at Li Ai beside her. The girls today really do think of nothing but beauty…
“These clothes…my friend bought them for me…” Li Ai said quietly.
“Friend?”
“Teacher Jiang…Officer Xue, she’s…really nice! She’s like a big ball of sunshine!” Hearing these words, Jiang Qinglan’s brow wrinkled. She stared at Li Ai, like she wanted to drown her in the abyss. Her hand slowly stroked Li Ai’s neck, then suddenly gripped with force: “I’m telling you now, Xue Yunxin is mine! No one can have designs on her!” She used a leg to kick her.
Jiang Qinglan walked next to her, looking down at her commandingly: “You’re smart, and I like you. I hope you won’t disappoint me.”
1 富二代: second generation rich, pretty much connotes a spoiled kid that grew up with wealthy parents