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

Not long after dawn, Xiaoya came shuffling over.

As soon as the door opened, she held up her phone, her face beaming with joy.

"Hey, you two, wake up! Look! This is hilarious!" Xiaoya shoved the screen in front of Sun Xiaoyan and Liu Meiling, who had just sat up.

Inside were long, tearful voice messages from her ex-boyfriend, along with messages begging for reconciliation.

"He said he watched your video and cried so much, saying he was wrong before and begging me to get back together! Hahaha!" Xiaoya laughed so hard she almost fell over. "Do you think I should agree? Huh? Hahahaha!"

Sun Xiaoyan lowered her head, her fingers gripping the edge of the blanket. Liu Meiling quickly forced a smile and replied, "Of course we can't agree! Little Ya, you're so amazing now, he's not good enough for you."

"Exactly!" Xiaoya proudly raised her chin. "He used to ignore me, but now he can't even dream of begging for my attention! All thanks to my two older sisters' 'wonderful performance'!"

"You're too kind, Xiaoya," Liu Meiling said with a smile, casually asking, "By the way, where's Boss Ma? Is he going out again today?"

"My dad?" Xiaoya pouted. "He went to town early this morning to buy supplies. He won't be back until the afternoon. What's wrong, missing my dad?"

"No, no," Liu Meiling waved her hand, "I was just asking. Were you the only one looking after us this morning? It must have been quite boring."

"Otherwise what?" Xiaoya rolled her eyes. "Just the two of you, do you really need a few people to watch over you? Just stay put, I'll bring you lunch."

She shook her phone again, "I need to go chat in the group again, I'm so happy."

After saying that, she turned and left, leaving the door ajar.

Liu Meiling and Sun Xiaoyan listened quietly as her footsteps faded into the distance.

"She was the only one this morning," Liu Meiling said in a low voice, her eyes bright.

Sun Xiaoyan nodded, her palms sweaty.

"Proceed according to plan." Liu Meiling pulled the shard of glass out from under her pillow; it was ice-cold.

Sun Xiaoyan looked at the glass and swallowed.

Without hesitation, Liu Meiling used a shard of glass to measure her left wrist, gritted her teeth, and made the cut.

Blood beads immediately appeared.

"Ah!" Sun Xiaoyan exclaimed softly.

"It's alright, the cut isn't deep." Liu Meiling inhaled, smeared the blood on the sheet, and squeezed it to make the bloodstains look more frightening. Then she handed the shard of glass to Sun Xiaoyan.

Sun Xiaoyan's hands trembled violently as she took the shard of glass and lightly scratched her wrist. The sting brought tears to her eyes.

The two quickly stuffed the bloody shard of glass under the mattress, then lay back down on the bed, sticking their wrists out and closing their eyes to pretend to be unconscious.

The room was so quiet you could hear your own heartbeat.

About ten minutes later, footsteps were heard outside the door again.

Xiaoya hummed a song as she pushed open the door, muttering, "The girls in the group all say my ex-boyfriend deserved it..."

Before she could finish speaking, she saw the bloodstains on the bed and the two people looking "unconscious".

"Feed?" Xiaoya paused, then moved closer. "What the hell?"

No one answered.

Xiaoya panicked a little. She went to the bedside, leaned down, and nudged Liu Meiling's shoulder: "Meiling, wake up! Don't scare me!"

Just as she bent down and leaned closer, Liu Meiling suddenly opened her eyes, grabbed a pillow in her hand, and used all her strength to cover Xiaoya's mouth and nose tightly!

"Ugh—!" Xiaoya's eyes widened instantly, and she scratched wildly with her hands.

Sun Xiaoyan immediately jumped up from the bed and pounced over to hold down Xiaoya's kicking legs tightly.

She was trembling all over, but her grip didn't loosen at all.

Xiaoya struggled desperately, making whimpering sounds in her throat, her face turning bright red.

Her hand scratched Liu Meiling's arm, causing Liu Meiling to wince in pain, but she pressed the pillow even tighter against her skin.

The strength of the struggle gradually diminished.

After another ten seconds or so, Xiaoya's body went limp and she stopped moving.

Liu Meiling didn't dare to let go immediately, and covered it for a while before slowly removing the pillow.

Xiaoya lay sprawled on the ground, her eyes closed, motionless.

"Is she...is she dead?" Sun Xiaoyan's voice trembled.

Liu Meiling reached out and checked Xiaoya's breathing; she was still breathing.

I'm dizzy.

Both of them breathed a sigh of relief, slumped to the ground, and gasped for air.

"Quick, search her!" Liu Meiling got up first.

They found an old-fashioned cell phone and a set of keys in Xiaoya's pocket.

"Go to Lao Ma's room!" Liu Meiling grabbed the keys.

The two of them, barefoot, slipped out of the room and ran to Old Ma's house next door.

I tried the key a few times and opened the door.

The room reeked of cigarettes and alcohol.

They rushed to the locked drawer and opened it with the key.

There were several stacks of banknotes inside, mostly loose bills, totaling about three or four thousand.

There was also an old military green backpack.

"Pack it up!" Liu Meiling stuffed the money into her backpack, then ran to the kitchen and stuffed the remaining steamed buns and two bottles of water on the table into it as well.

With their backpacks on, the two returned to the room where they were being held.

Xiaoya is still lying on the ground.

Liu Meiling looked at Xiaoya, a flash of hatred in her eyes. "We can't let her get away with this so easily."

"What else do you want to do?" Sun Xiaoyan asked.

Liu Meiling didn't say anything, but started to take off Xiaoya's clothes.

Xiaoya was wearing a dress, which was easily peeled off, leaving only her underwear underneath.

Liu Meiling didn't even spare these, tearing them all off.

Xiaoya lay naked on the ground.

Liu Meiling tore off a few more bed sheets, twisted them into strips, tied Xiaoya's hands and feet, and then laboriously dragged her outside and tied her to a wooden post used for drying clothes at the door.

The morning breeze blew by, and Xiaoya's fair body was tied to the pillar.

Sun Xiaoyan felt a chill run down her spine. "Meiling, isn't that enough? Let's go."

"Wait a minute." Liu Meiling took out Xiaoya's phone. "Take a few pictures, keep some evidence against us."

She handed the phone to Sun Xiaoyan. Sun Xiaoyan took the square-shaped phone and pressed buttons for a long time, but the screen didn't light up.

"How...how do I use this?" Sun Xiaoyan asked anxiously. She had only ever seen others use it before, and had never touched it herself.

"Forget it, forget it!" Liu Meiling snatched back her phone. "There's no time to learn!"

She pulled the bloody shard of glass from under the mattress, walked to the pillar, slashed Xiaoya's wrist hard, and then threw the shard into the nearby bushes.

"Let's go!" Liu Meiling slung her backpack over her shoulder.

The two walked to the large iron gate of the farm.

The door was bolted from the inside.

Liu Meiling reached out to pull the latch.

The instant her hand touched the latch—

A loud male voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard:

"Xiaoya! Xiaoya, is your dad home?"

Sun Xiaoyan and Liu Meiling froze instantly.

The sound grew closer, followed by footsteps, indicating that there was more than one person.

"I've come to find those two women and have a go! I heard your dad got some good stuff recently?"

The footsteps were already outside the gate, very close.

Sun Xiaoyan began to tremble all over, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

She looked at Liu Meiling, her eyes filled with terror.

Liu Meiling's face also turned pale, but she reacted quickly, grabbing Sun Xiaoyan and retreating behind the door.

She quickly pulled the backpack off her back and stuffed it under the bed.

Then he rushed out and used all his strength to loosen Xiaoya, who was tied to the pillar, naked and unconscious, a little, dragged her, and stuffed her behind a pile of messy broken wooden boards and waste cardboard boxes in the corner of the house.

I just hid it.

"Knock knock knock!"

The farm's large iron gate was banged on.

"Xiaoya! Open the door! Are you fast asleep?"

Sun Xiaoyan and Liu Meiling squeezed behind the door, not daring to breathe.

Sun Xiaoyan's legs were shaking so badly she couldn't stand. Liu Meiling gripped her arm tightly, her fingers pinching her so hard it hurt.

There were a few more knocks on the door.

Then, the people outside seemed to be muttering something.

Then they heard the sound of the iron gate being shaken.