The Quagmire of Desire: From Gambling Addict and Village Flower to Movie Queen

Meanwhile, in the mountain village...

The man slept until midday when he was woken up by the urge to urinate. He swayed as he stood up and looked at the bed.

empty.

His heart skipped a beat.

Where are they!?

He rushed out and saw a woman squatting in front of the stove cooking, while a little girl was feeding chickens.

"Where is she?!" He grabbed the woman's hair and dragged her to the ground.

The woman screamed, "They ran away! They ran away in the middle of the night!"

"Run away?!" The man slapped him across the face. "Why didn't you call me?!"

"I called out, but you didn't wake up..." The woman covered her face, her voice trembling.

The man kicked her in the stomach: "Bullshit! I think you let her go on purpose!"

He kicked her a few more times, then charged at the little girl. The little girl shrank back against the wall in fright, but couldn't get away, and he picked her up.

"Do you know she can give me a son?!" he roared, throwing the little girl to the ground.

The little girl hit her forehead on the threshold, and blood started flowing.

The woman rushed over and hugged her daughter frantically, crying, "Stop hitting her! Stop hitting her!"

The man was about to hit him again when a voice came from the doorway: "Hey, fourth brother, you're doing pretty well, huh?"

The man turned around and saw it was a neighbor.

The neighbor said, "I saw a woman in your house yesterday. Did you buy her?"

"None of your business!" the man said irritably.

The neighbor chuckled. "I'm just reminding you, yesterday a few people in the city were asking around about a woman in a cheongsam. I think she looks a bit like yours."

The man's expression changed.

……

A mahjong parlor in the city.

Liu Meiling hadn't slept all night, and her eyes were red.

Li Yan sat next to her, also looking exhausted.

All the other girls in the shop were told to go and rest, but the two of them were still waiting.

Just as dawn was breaking, a subordinate rushed in: "Sister Yan, we have news!"

Li Yan jumped up: "Speak!"

"I found out yesterday that the man who sells water nearby, Li Laosi, bought his wife. They haven't shown up for a long time since Xiaoyan went missing that day."

Liu Meiling's eyes lit up: "Is Xiaoyan at his house?"

"It's not certain yet, but I've already had people keeping watch outside his house. This morning someone saw that Li Laosi came back from outside, and he seemed very angry."

Li Yan immediately called Li Chun: "Brother, where are you?"

Li Chun's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Almost there, about twenty minutes."

Half an hour later, Li Chun arrived at the chess and card shop with Erhu and his three brothers.

"Where is he?" Li Chun asked as soon as he entered the room.

Li Yan explained the situation. After listening, Li Chun said without hesitation, "Let's go to that village."

Erhu asked excitedly, "Brother Chun, should we bring some weapons?"

"Take it with you," Li Chun said coldly, "just in case."

A group of people drove two cars straight to the mountain village.

Upon arriving at the village entrance, Li Chun had the car parked outside and led his men inside.

The neighbor was squatting at his doorstep eating a steamed bun when he saw so many strangers arrive, and he shrank back.

Erhu walked over, squatted down in front of him, and smiled: "Brother, can I ask you something? Where is Li Laosi's house?"

The neighbor pointed ahead: "The third house from the back, there's a locust tree in front of it."

Thanks.

Li Chun led his men to the door of that house. The door was closed, and they could hear a man cursing and a woman crying inside.

Li Chun kicked the door open.

In the courtyard, a man was straddling a woman and beating her, while a little girl, her face covered in blood, huddled in a corner.

Li Chun frowned.

The man looked up and saw a large group of people barging in, then froze: "Who are you looking for?"

"Li Laosi?" Li Chun asked.

"It's me, what's wrong?"

Li Chun ignored him, went inside to look at the house, and then looked at the yard to make sure Sun Xiaoyan wasn't there.

"Where is that woman in the cheongsam?" Li Chun asked.

The man's expression changed: "What woman in a cheongsam? I don't know!"

Erhu walked over and grabbed him by the collar: "Don't play dumb, where's that woman you kidnapped a couple of days ago?"

"I didn't tie you up! I didn't know!"

Li Chun reached out to stop Erhu, squatted down in front of the woman, and asked her, "Where is that woman?"

The woman raised her head, her face covered in wounds, blood flowing down her chin from her mouth.

"I...I don't know..." Her voice trembled.

Li Chun looked into her eyes and sensed something was wrong.

Just then, the little girl in the corner suddenly spoke up: "That lady is gone! We let her go last night!"

The man slapped him across the face: "Shut up!"

Erhu kicked him to the ground, yelling, "You fucking dare to hit me!"

The little girl cried out, "She ran west! She said she was going to the city! My mom gave her the steamed buns and water!"

Li Chun stood up, glanced at the man, and said, "Tie him up."

Several brothers stepped forward and pinned the man down.

Li Chun said to Erhu, "You come with me to find it, the rest of you stay here and watch over this place."

He turned to the little girl and said, "Little girl, are you sure she ran west?"

The little girl nodded: "She ran along that dirt road!"

Li Chun patted her head, turned around, and led Erhu out the door.

Under the bridge in the west of the city.

Several homeless men huddled together, looking at the woman lying on the ground.

"Where did this woman come from?" a homeless man asked.

"I don't know, it ran in last night," another said.

An older homeless man squatted down and reached out to check Sun Xiaoyan's breathing: "She's still alive, just asleep."

The man who had just assaulted Sun Xiaoyan laughed: "This woman should just die. She doesn't even move when I fuck her, she's like a dried-up corpse."

Several homeless men let out lewd laughter.

Just then, footsteps could be heard outside.

Li Chun, along with Erhu and several of his brothers, were searching for them. As they passed under the bridge, they heard men laughing and talking inside.

Erhu looked inside and his expression changed.

"Brother Chun! I'm here!"

Li Chun rushed in and saw Sun Xiaoyan lying naked on the ground, surrounded by several homeless men.

A homeless man was touching her breasts.

Li Chun didn't say anything, walked over and punched the homeless man to the ground, then kicked him in the chest.

"You fucking—"

The other homeless people were so frightened that they scattered and ran away.

Erhu quickly took off his coat and covered Sun Xiaoyan with it.

Sun Xiaoyan was woken up by the noise. She opened her eyes groggily, saw Li Chun, paused for a moment, and then smiled: "Brother Li Chun, what brings you here? Where's Meiling? I won some money, let's ask Meiling to play another round..."

Li Chun's heart sank.

He crouched down and gently patted her face: "Xiaoyan, it's me."

Sun Xiaoyan's eyes were unfocused, and she was still muttering, "Playing mahjong... I won money... a lot of money..."

Erhu looked at Li Chun: "Brother Chun, something's wrong with her."

Li Chun picked up Sun Xiaoyan and walked outside.

"Let's go back and talk about it first."

When they reached the bridge arch, Sun Xiaoyan suddenly stopped talking and stared blankly at the sky.

Then, she buried her head in Li Chun's chest and began to cry.

She cried very softly, like a cat meowing.

Li Chun hugged her tightly and strode forward.

Behind him, Erhu kicked the homeless man who had been knocked down again: "You fucking want to die!"

Then he followed Li Chun and they walked together toward the car.

.........

Liu Meiling was smoking one cigarette after another when she suddenly saw the car stop.

Li Chun carried Sun Xiaoyan out of the car.

The cigarette in Liu Meiling's hand fell to the ground.

She rushed over and saw Sun Xiaoyan's gaunt face, the wounds on her body, and the tattered clothes she was wearing, along with cloth shoes that exposed her toes.

Liu Meiling opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out.

She simply took Sun Xiaoyan and hugged her tightly.

Sun Xiaoyan fell asleep again in her arms.

She was sleeping soundly, muttering something under her breath:

"Meiling...I won money..."