Chapter 2

Mr. Ruan’s face remained dark.

“She’s just taken her medicine. Go and sit outside. Don’t disturb her.”

“Yes. Of course.”

Wu Ye got up and left at once.

Dinner began at six.

Running a breakfast shop had made Mr. Ruan a capable cook. He said almost nothing throughout the meal, silently putting meat into his daughter’s bowl while eating only vegetables himself.

The atmosphere was oppressive enough before he spoke.

“Xiao Wu, I still don’t approve of you seeing Xiao Jing.”

Ruan Jing slammed down her chopsticks.

“Could you stop? Do you intend to keep me beside you for the rest of my life?”

Her father gave her a long, complicated look.

But he said nothing more.

The meal ended in suffocating silence.

At precisely six twenty, Ruan Jing cleared her throat.

“There isn’t enough room for us here. We booked a hotel when we got in this afternoon.”

Under the table, she nudged Wu Ye’s foot.

He understood immediately. His ears turned red.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Ruan replied quite calmly, “Xiao Wu and I will sleep at the hotel. Xiao Jing can stay here and look after Grandma.”

Wu Ye could only sigh over the lost opportunity.

5

The little town’s hotel was old and poorly equipped. It had virtually no soundproofing.

An amorous couple in the next room could be heard clearly through the thin wall.

Meanwhile, Wu Ye sat opposite Mr. Ruan over Moutai and a few dishes of food.

The situation was bizarrely uncomfortable.

Ruan emptied his cup. His face was already flushed.

“You and Xiao Jing... have you slept together?”

Wu Ye hesitated, then nodded.

Ruan glanced sideways at him and asked an offensively intimate question.

Wu Ye felt immediate disgust.

What sort of father asked about his daughter like that?

It was sick.

Assuming the older man was drunk and talking nonsense, he hurriedly raised a hand.

“Xiao Jing was my first, and she’ll be my last. I’ll love her for the rest of my life.”

He meant it.

Wu Ye was obsessive about fidelity. He could scarcely tolerate the thought of betrayal. To him, Ruan Jing was a white lily, so pure that he couldn’t bear to hurt her.

Mr. Ruan drank two more cups. His bloodshot eyes fixed on Wu Ye as though he were an enemy.

At last he murmured, “Traitors... deserve to die.”

Wu Ye hadn’t quite heard.

“Sorry? What was that?”

Ruan rubbed his aching temples.

“I said, if you ever betray Xiao Jing, I’ll kill you.”

Wu Ye hurried to refill his cup.

“That will never happen. You have my word.”

Between them, they finished the Moutai and nearly half a case of beer.

By the time the alcohol began to wear off, it was almost midnight.

The neighboring room had finally fallen silent.

Beyond the window, the night was impenetrable. The town lay deathly still. Snores drifted from rooms up and down the corridor.

At six the next morning, Mr. Ruan shook Wu Ye awake.

His head throbbed. He checked his phone and mumbled, still half drunk, “It’s... a bit early, isn’t it?”

“Early?” Ruan said, pulling on his trousers. “I’m usually up at four kneading dough and frying youtiao. Come on. Breakfast at home. My mother’s waiting for me to empty her chamber pot and change her.”

Wu Ye reluctantly dragged himself up and dressed.

Winter dawn came late.

The streets were still dark and deserted. Only the scrape of a sanitation worker’s broom broke the silence.

With flashlights to guide them, the two men passed through several alleys, returned to the old apartment block and climbed to the third floor.

At the door, Wu Ye sensed something wrong.

It was ajar.

He looked instinctively at Mr. Ruan, who was frowning too.

“Xiao Jing’s up already?”

They went inside.

The living room was dark, but the light was on in the larger bedroom.

“Xiao Jing?”

No answer.

They entered together.

Both froze.

The room was empty.

The bed was in disarray, as though there had been a violent struggle. Used and unused condoms were scattered over the white sheet, along with unidentified stains. A man’s belt lay on the floor.

To them, the scene suggested an intense sexual encounter.

Mr. Ruan erupted.

He seized Wu Ye by the collar.

“You bastard! Did you get me drunk and sneak back here to see her?”

Wu Ye shook his head frantically.

“No! I was drunker than you! I slept like the dead!”

Ruan released him.

He knew Wu Ye couldn’t hold his liquor. The young man really had been unconscious.

If it hadn’t been Wu Ye...

Who had spent the night with Xiao Jing?

Ruan slowly turned toward him.

At that moment, Wu Ye looked up.

Their eyes met.

Both had reached the same conclusion.

Ruan Jing had been unfaithful.

6

Wu Ye bowed his pale face and said nothing.

Then hurried footsteps broke out in the corridor.

“Ruan! Come quickly! Something’s happened to your Xiao Jing!”

7

The next time Wu Ye saw Ruan Jing, she was lying in an abandoned rubbish pit in the deserted eastern district.

She had been stripped and brutally assaulted. Belt marks covered her body. There was evidence of severe bleeding, and her eyes had been removed.

Wu Ye’s head spun. His chest seemed to close around his heart.

Only one thought remained.

Ruan Jing was dead.

Someone had tortured her to death.

Who had done it?

Beside him, Mr. Ruan screamed in agony. He rushed forward and gathered her into his arms.

“Xiao Jing! Who hurt you? Who?”

Wu Ye retained enough presence of mind to try to stop him from disturbing the scene.

Then he saw Ruan press a hand to her chest.

“She has a heartbeat!” the older man cried. “She’s alive! Call an ambulance!”

Wu Ye called both 120 and 110.

An ambulance.

And the police.

The county hospital had limited facilities. Ruan Jing repeatedly went into shock; more than once her heart stopped and was restarted.

The doctors said she had to be transferred to the city immediately.

With police assistance, the ambulance raced away, siren wailing.

This was an exceptionally serious attempted murder. Ruan Jing was both the victim and the only surviving witness. Whatever it took, they had to keep her alive.

Wu Ye’s mind was still shrouded in fog.

He remembered the county doctor’s bloodstained hands and frown as he spoke to the police and family.

“The patient is approximately two months pregnant. The assault caused a miscarriage. The environment at the rubbish dump also puts her wounds at high risk of infection. And... our examination suggests she’s had at least three previous miscarriages or terminations.”

Wu Ye lowered his head.

A bitter smile tugged at his mouth.

They had been together for a year.

They had first slept together ten days ago.

Then whose was the two-month pregnancy?

And the three earlier ones?

Was the man who had attacked Ruan Jing the child’s father?

Without knowing why, Wu Ye turned toward Mr. Ruan.

While the doctors worked to save her, the police took statements.

They asked Wu Ye about his relationship with her. Had they argued? Where had he been the night before? With whom? What had he done? When had he last seen her?

Then they asked Mr. Ruan about his daughter’s social circle, her previous boyfriends, and anyone with a grudge against her.

Weeping, Ruan said she was a good, dutiful daughter. Plenty of boys had pursued her at the local high school, but he had strictly forbidden dating.

Suddenly he pointed furiously at Wu Ye.

“This animal got my daughter pregnant!”

An officer turned to Wu Ye.

“Was the baby yours?”

Clinging to the last scraps of his masculine pride, Wu Ye gritted his teeth.

“Yes.”

The officer looked him in the eye.

“Xiao Wu, this is a murder investigation. I need the truth.”

Wu Ye was silent for a long time.

Surely the police knew something already. Otherwise, why ask?

At last he lowered his head.

“Xiao Jing was my first. That was ten days ago. The baby... couldn’t have been mine.”

“Did you ever notice her seeing another man while you were together?”

It was salt in the wound.

Wu Ye felt stripped of every shred of dignity.

He broke down.

“No! Never! She acted so innocent with me! No wonder she wanted me to meet her father. She wanted someone to pass the baby off on! Fuck! I nearly walked right into it!”

The officer gave him a stern look.

“If you remember anything else, call me immediately.”

Given the nature of the case, the police could reveal little. They told them only two things.

First, none of the neighbors had heard anything unusual from the Ruan apartment. Its doors and windows were intact, with no sign of forced entry. But at about half past midnight, someone had seen Ruan Jing enter the building arm in arm with a man.

It had been too dark to see his face.

Second, the belt injuries were not life-threatening. Repeated kicks to the abdomen had caused the miscarriage. The critical injury was to the back of her head: five blows from something like a wrench or another heavy metal object. Her eyes had been removed while she was still alive and had not been recovered.

Finally, the officer addressed Mr. Ruan.

“We also tried speaking to your mother at the scene. Unfortunately, she couldn’t give us any useful information.”

At six that evening, Wu Ye sat on the curb beside the inpatient building and lit a cigarette.

He inhaled deeply.

The smoke burned his throat. He coughed until he nearly vomited.

All his life, his mother had warned him that smoking damaged his health and could cause lung cancer.

But now he wanted it.

Nicotine seemed the only thing that might numb him before he fell apart.

Smoke stung his eyes.

He rubbed them hard.