Chapter 4

In the video, Yang wept before the camera, looking full of remorse and apologizing over and over.

He'd been young and ignorant, he said. He'd made a mistake.

He kept assuring everyone he'd changed completely.

He became an internet celebrity.

Yet he'd never apologized to my daughter.

Online, people praised his “return to the right path.”

Some even used him as proof that exempting juvenile offenders from punishment was the right policy.

Had he really changed?

“Then they started livestreaming,” Chen told me. “In a few months, they made more money than other people earn in a lifetime. They've even hired bodyguards. It'll be harder than ever for you to get near them.”

I lowered my head and said nothing.

My expression must have been bleak.

Surely this was beyond anything Mr. Jiang had anticipated.

The boy had hurt my daughter. Caused her death.

Then he'd turned around, shed a few tears on camera, manipulated public opinion—and become a winner at life.

“Live well when you get out.”

Chen rose to leave.

He paused for one final sentence.

“You have to trust Teacher Jiang. Wait to hear from me.”

I didn't understand what that meant.

I only felt that something inside me had gone completely cold.

What came next was more absurd still.

After my release, I asked to visit my husband.

They refused because of my mental condition.

And Yang's family was coming back.

The village committee told me.

Their newfound fame had won them a contract with a large company.

Alongside the endless money-making livestreams, they wanted something truly moving.

They were coming back to reconcile with me.

Deeper content.

More attention. More heat.

For a moment, I couldn't tell.

Had they truly repented and come to seek forgiveness?

Or...

Even with my daughter dead, did they still want another bite of bread soaked in her blood?

The day arrived soon enough.

A crowd gathered in the village committee's large courtyard.

Yang's father wore an immaculate suit.

His mother was dressed lavishly.

Even the little demon himself looked radiant.

Nothing about them suggested an apology.

Committee members stayed beside me.

I had nothing sharp on me.

Several burly men stood with the family. Bodyguards, presumably.

I couldn't do anything.

I stared, dazed, as though caught in a dream.

The performance began.

A professional host introduced it. Several cameras recorded everything.

Watching the family pour out their emotions for the lenses, I found it so ridiculous that I burst out laughing.

A camera turned toward me.

I saw pity in the cameraman's eyes.

He must have thought I really was mad.

No.

Perhaps I really was.

The show went on a long time.

So did my laughter.

Then came the crucial moment.

Yang was to apologize to me in person.

Smiling, he approached and recited a string of touching phrases.

Youthful ignorance. Endless remorse. Finding the way back. Turning over a new leaf. From now on, he'd do this and that...

I kept laughing.

For one moment, the camera at his side moved away. The main camera was behind him, pointing at my face.

He leaned close.

Very close.

“Thanks to your daughter. Without her, I'd never be living this well.”

My laughter stopped.

Tears spilled from my eyes. I couldn't even keep pretending.

He quickly stepped back twice.

His expression changed instantly.

He began to cry.

What the camera captured was the two of us silently weeping.

Through my blurred vision, his face seemed to become a demon's, its smile twisted.

I struggled to stand.

The committee members immediately held me down.

All I could do was sit and sob, so hard that it looked as though those around me were supporting me.

Utter defeat.

The next day, the story was everywhere.

“Moving Reconciliation: Reformed Juvenile Offender Makes Peace with Bereaved Mother!”

That night, Chen came to my house and found me sharpening a knife.

I knew he must have something important to say.

His answer was:

“Teacher Jiang anticipated all of it.”

I laughed.

Really?

Even Yang's family's spectacular rise?

I didn't believe it.

Then Chen produced evidence.

A lawyer, all right. He never made an unsupported claim.

He showed me a photograph of about ten people eating together.

“We took this at a small gathering after Teacher Jiang's funeral. Everyone here was his student. And everyone had been in contact with him during the previous six months.”

“Most of his students went on to postgraduate study, so we've ended up in all sorts of professions. I became a lawyer. This one joined the television station in Province X after his master's. He's in management now. This one caught the new-media boom and did very well in livestreaming. He owns several companies. This one's family has a major pharmaceutical business. And this one owns businesses in information security, private security, supplying guards... There are others.”

I looked up at him, stunned.

He put the photograph away and took out his phone.

“Even the people sitting beside you today are old friends of Teacher Jiang.”

The village committee members?

He tapped the screen.

A video played.

That little demon.

Leaning close to me.

“Thanks to your daughter. Without her, I'd never be living this well.”

His smug expression, his sly manner—everything was clear.

Chen put the phone away at once.

I sat speechless.

He continued calmly.

“There are many other places you wouldn't notice where former classmates are quietly making arrangements. Naturally, they won't be directly involved. Neither will I.”

“Take today. The family was successfully brought back, wasn't it? They aren't in the village, but they're nearby, at a county hotel. According to the program's schedule, they'll stay at least three days.”

“As it happens, someone we know runs that hotel.”

“And the bodyguards are only hired workers. They aren't police. They can leave their posts if they choose. At worst, they've failed to do their jobs.”

“I told you to trust Teacher Jiang.”

“He left this family until last because he wanted to prove the path he'd chosen.”

“He saw clearly. He probably knew he hadn't chosen wrongly. He'd already given his students instructions about a great many things.”

“The law protects order. Lawyers protect their clients. Whether the client is insane or a murderous maniac, a lawyer will do everything possible to defend them.”

He turned to leave.

“If I have another chance to be your lawyer, I'll do my utmost to defend you too.”

He left.

I sat where I was, tears covering my face.

It really had all been within Mr. Jiang's calculations.

I wiped my face and hurried after Chen.

He was long gone.

But a black bag had been left there.

Inside was everything I needed.