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

Sun Xiaoyan felt the string that had been taut in her mind snap.

Xiaoya held her phone up so high that the screen was almost touching her nose. The obscene images on the screen were playing on a loop, and the comments below felt like needles pricking her eyes.

"Juejuezi! That sobbing voice is so pitiful!"

"The other one was dancing pretty energetically too, Ya-jie, when are you going to organize a gathering?"

"Saved, I have the material for tonight."

Xiaoya's voice was still chattering in my ear: "Did you see that? It's trending! It's trending!"

Sun Xiaoyan suddenly raised her head, her eyes bloodshot, staring intently at Xiaoya's excited yet cruel face.

"Delete it!" her voice was hoarse and choked with sobs. "Please delete it! Please... delete it!"

She lunged to grab the phone, but Xiaoya nimbly jumped back, scoffing, "Delete it? Dream on! This is my 'work,' my 'data'! Do you know how hard it is to create a viral video these days?"

"I can't take it anymore... I really can't take it anymore..." Sun Xiaoyan collapsed to the ground, covering her face with her hands, tears streaming through her fingers. "I want to leave... I want to get out of here... I want to leave right now!"

Liu Meiling quickly squatted down, hugged Sun Xiaoyan's shoulders, and whispered, "Xiaoyan, Xiaoyan, calm down..."

"How can I stay calm!" Sun Xiaoyan cried, shaking off her hand. "We've been made a fool of! Filming that kind of stuff... and then posting it online for everyone to see! Aren't we human? Are we even less than dogs? I'm leaving! I'm leaving right now!"

As she spoke, she tried to get up and rush towards the door.

The door was pushed open at that moment.

Old Ma, the farm owner, stood at the door with a sullen face, holding the small book for keeping accounts in his hand.

"Go? Where to?" Old Ma's voice was icy cold.

Like grasping at a straw, Sun Xiaoyan rushed over and grabbed Old Ma's arm: "Boss Ma, please let us go... We'll pay you back slowly, we'll go out and work, we'll definitely pay you back... Please..."

Old Ma flung her hand away with great force, and Sun Xiaoyan staggered back a few steps.

"Pay it back slowly?" Old Ma flipped open his notebook, pointing to the numbers with his finger. "Look at how much you two owe me now? Last night's 'high-end custom photoshoot,' the imported drugs used, the venue fee, my compensation for emotional distress... plus what came before, it's a total of eight thousand seven!"

"Eight thousand seven?" Liu Meiling was also stunned. Wasn't it only five thousand three yesterday?

"Too much?" Old Ma closed his notebook. "This isn't a charity! You eat my food, live in my house, use my 'resources' to entertain clients, and you think you can just walk away? Let me tell you, Sun Xiaoyan, and you, Liu Meiling, you're not going anywhere until you've paid off your debts! Stay put and entertain clients! We'll talk about leaving when these numbers are cleared!"

Sun Xiaoyan's face turned pale. Eight thousand seven... relying on a hundred or two at a time, how long would that take?

Her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to even cry, left only with an empty despair.

Liu Meiling quickly went to help her up again and said to Lao Ma, "Boss Ma, Xiaoyan just can't take it right now. We'll work hard, please don't be angry."

Old Ma snorted, glanced at the distraught Sun Xiaoyan, and said to Liu Meiling, "You should talk to her; we have guests coming this afternoon. If she makes a scene again, she'll be in big trouble!"

After saying that, he slammed the door and left.

Xiaoya pouted and went out, waving her phone. Before leaving, she said, "Dress up nicely this afternoon. I might need to record some more footage. The girls in the group are urging me to update."

The room fell silent.

Sun Xiaoyan leaned against the wall, staring blankly at the dirty ceiling, no longer crying or making a fuss.

Liu Meiling sat down next to her and sighed, "Xiaoyan, don't be like this... a head-on confrontation won't work, we have to think of something."

"Think of a way?" Sun Xiaoyan murmured. "What other way is there? Eight thousand seven hundred... we can never pay it back in this lifetime... we're just going to rot here..."

Liu Meiling didn't reply. She secretly pressed her hand against her bra, the hard edge of the business card digging into her skin.

Her thoughts were completely different from Sun Xiaoyan's.

Eight thousand seven? If Old Ma keeps squeezing money like that, he'd never be able to pay it back in his lifetime. But what if he didn't rely on Old Ma?

In the afternoon, Old Ma indeed brought people again.

This time it was a new face, wearing an ordinary jacket, looking like a truck driver.

Sun Xiaoyan was like a wooden doll; she did whatever the guests asked her to do without resisting or responding, her eyes always unfocused.

Liu Meiling roused herself, dealing with her customers while taking the opportunity to chat quietly with the driver.

"Brother, do you often run this route? How's it outside now?"

The driver chuckled, his hands already wandering: "Outside? It's a wonderful world out there, very interesting. What, little girl, want to go out?"

"I was just asking..." Liu Meiling forced a smile, trying to suppress her discomfort. "You must be very knowledgeable and know a lot of people, right? For people like us... are there any other ways to make money faster?"

The driver sized her up and lowered his voice: "Well... we do have connections, but you need someone to introduce you. What, you want to go it alone? That's not easy. Without connections, you'll easily be taken advantage of."

Liu Meiling's heart skipped a beat, and she feigned curiosity: "Introduction? Who do I need to ask?"

"That depends on what kind of high branch you're trying to climb," the driver said vaguely, clearly not wanting to discuss it further.

Liu Meiling didn't press the matter further, but she was even more certain that there were other "paths" outside, but they required "introductions".

Mr. Chen's business card held even more weight in her heart.

That evening, Xiaoya came again, this time without the medicine, but with her phone.

"Come on, sisters, let's film a 'Sisterly Bond' special tonight. The sisters in our group love watching this."

Xiaoya set up her phone. "You two, hug each other, cry a little, and say some lines like 'We'll depend on each other for survival' and 'We'll never be apart.'"

Upon hearing the words "never to be separated," Sun Xiaoyan trembled violently and abruptly pushed Liu Meiling away.

"I'm not filming! Get out! All of you get out!" she suddenly snapped, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at Xiaoya.

Xiaoya was startled by the unexpected resistance and, enraged, rushed forward and slapped Sun Xiaoyan across the face.

"You think you're so great? Take pictures! You're not sleeping until you finish taking pictures today!"

Sun Xiaoyan's head was turned to the side by the blow, her face burning with pain. The little strength she had just mustered was instantly dissipated, and she slid to the ground, no longer moving.

Liu Meiling quickly stepped forward and grabbed Xiaoya, saying, "Xiaoya, don't hit her, don't hit her! She's confused. I'll film her, I'll cooperate with you!"

She turned to Sun Xiaoyan, winked at her, then forced a smile at the camera, uttered those cheesy "sisterly lines," and even took the initiative to hug the limp Sun Xiaoyan.

Sun Xiaoyan was at her mercy, like a rag doll.

Looking at Liu Meiling's "dedicated" performance and Sun Xiaoyan's despairing and numb face on the camera, Xiaoya nodded in satisfaction: "Sister Meiling is so sensible. Alright, that's enough for today."

After Xiaoya left, the farm was quiet in the dead of night.

Sun Xiaoyan curled up in the corner of the bed, her back to Liu Meiling, motionless, as if she were asleep, or as if she were dead.

Liu Meiling, however, kept her eyes open.

Listening to the faint barking of dogs and the sound of wind outside, she gently lifted the covers and got out of bed barefoot.

When the driver left in the afternoon, he was smoking at the door. He flicked his cigarette ash and knocked over a broken beer bottle on the windowsill, which shattered on the ground.

Old Ma only swept up the large pieces hastily, leaving some glass shards in the corners and cracks.

Liu Meiling squatted down and, using the dim moonlight from outside the window, carefully pried out a relatively sharp shard of glass from the crack between the bricks. The shard had a relatively clean edge that wasn't too sharp.

She held the piece of glass in her hand; it was cold and rough.

Looking back at Sun Xiaoyan, who was lying motionless on the bed, Liu Meiling clutched the glass shard tightly in her hand and hid it under her pillow.

Then she gently lay back down and closed her eyes.

The phone number on Boss Chen's business card kept replaying in my mind, along with the driver's words from that afternoon, "I need an introduction."

We need to find an opportunity as soon as possible.

She couldn't wait for Sun Xiaoyan any longer.