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

Sun Xiaoyan was restless the whole time she went out to buy groceries in the afternoon.

"Meiling, are we really not going to do anything about it?" she asked softly, clutching the money Chen Ge had given her for grocery shopping.

"How do we manage it?" Liu Meiling looked at the traffic on the street. "Go to the police? Say our employer might have killed someone? What are we supposed to say when the police ask us what we do for a living?"

Sun Xiaoyan fell silent.

"Let's leave it at that for now," Liu Meiling patted her, "and see how it goes. At least for now, you have a place to stay and some money."

Passing by the shopping street, the clothes in the shop windows were colorful and vibrant.

A black halter dress with a low-cut neckline and a hem that only reached her thighs.

Liu Meiling stopped, her eyes lighting up.

"Xiaoyan, look at this."

Sun Xiaoyan looked over, and her heart stirred.

That dress was different from the ones they used to buy in the city.

More fashionable, more...like what city women on TV wear.

"Shall we buy a new outfit?" Liu Meiling said. "Anyway, Brother Chen paid for it. We look too dowdy like this, not like city nannies."

Sun Xiaoyan hesitated: "Isn't it too expensive?"

"What's so expensive about it? We're not using his money, we're using our own." Liu Meiling was referring to the 8,000 yuan advance on her salary. "Let's go in and take a look."

The store was brightly lit, and clothes were hanging everywhere.

The proprietress was a woman in her forties, wearing heavy makeup. When she saw them come in, she looked them up and down.

"Feel free to look around, they're all new models."

Liu Meiling picked up the black dress, then chose a pair of skinny jeans and a pair of high heels.

"Shall we give it a try?" she asked Sun Xiaoyan.

Sun Xiaoyan bit her lip and nodded.

In the fitting room, the two changed their clothes.

The woman in the mirror has her curves fully revealed.

The sundress accentuated her deep cleavage, and the tight pants hugged her hips, making her legs appear long and straight.

Sun Xiaoyan looked at the person in the mirror and felt a little unfamiliar.

"Looks great!" Liu Meiling twirled around her. "That's more like it. Come on, let's get our hair fixed."

They went to the hair salon again.

"Get a perm with big waves," Liu Meiling told the hairdresser, "the most fashionable kind."

Sitting in the chair, with the hot machine covering her head, Sun Xiaoyan watched herself slowly change in the mirror.

The curling iron curls the hair strand by strand, making it fluffy and wavy.

Finally, after blow-drying and setting, the person in the mirror looked completely different.

Her hair was curly and draped over her shoulders. Paired with a newly bought sundress, she was completely unrecognizable as the woman who had been soliciting customers at the hair salon just a few days ago.

"This is amazing, sister!" Liu Meiling put her arm around her shoulder. "When we go out like this, everyone will say we're proper city folks!"

Sun Xiaoyan touched her hair, and the fear in her heart seemed to have been temporarily suppressed.

Yes, now they have a place to live, money to earn, and the freedom to dress up like this.

The secret of the study... perhaps they're overthinking it.

The two returned home carrying large and small bags and began preparing dinner.

Liu Meiling took out her phone: "Let me check out those cooking videos on Douyin and learn a couple of impressive dishes."

She searched for a long time and finally found a recipe for braised pork ribs.

"This one, it doesn't look difficult."

Sun Xiaoyan came over to watch, and the two of them followed the steps in the video one by one.

Slice the ginger, blanch it, caramelize the sugar, and then stew it in a pot.

A delicious aroma wafted from the kitchen.

At 6:30 p.m., Brother Chen and Xiao Hui returned on time.

Four dishes and a soup were served.

Braised pork ribs, braised prawns, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, cucumber salad, and a bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup.

Brother Chen picked up a piece of pork rib, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and nodded.

"Hmm, not bad. You've improved since yesterday."

Xiao Hui ate his meal in silence, but he picked up food very quickly, especially the ribs, one piece after another.

Liu Meiling laughed: "As long as Brother Chen likes it. We learned it on the spot, by watching videos."

"Watching videos?" Xiao Hui suddenly looked up, his eyes fixed on Liu Meiling's phone. "What videos?"

Liu Meiling was taken aback, then quickly said, "It's... a cooking video, there's a lot of shaking in my hands."

"Shaking your hand?" Xiao Hui's lips twitched. "You guys even know how to use shaking hands?"

"Xiao Hui!" Brother Chen frowned. "Just eat, why all the fuss?"

Xiao Hui lowered his head and stopped talking, but Sun Xiaoyan felt that his gaze was still sweeping over her and Liu Meiling.

Sun Xiaoyan felt a chill run down her spine after eating that meal.

After dinner, Liu Meiling insisted on washing the dishes, while Sun Xiaoyan wiped the table.

Brother Chen sat on the sofa and lit a cigarette.

"By the way, some friends of mine are coming over tomorrow." He exhaled a smoke ring. "Prepare plenty of food, make it a big feast. With so many people, it'll be lively."

Liu Meiling poked her head out from the kitchen: "Okay, Brother Chen, no problem. How many people are there? Any dietary restrictions?"

"Five or six, I guess. They don't have any dietary restrictions, spicy food is fine too." Brother Chen flicked his cigarette ash. "The main thing is to keep them company. You guys prepare the food, and when they arrive, you should drink and chat with them to keep the atmosphere lively."

Sun Xiaoyan paused in wiping the table.

Be good to them.

Drinking and talking.

Images from her past experiences at the hair salon and the hotel flashed through her mind.

Liu Meiling readily agreed: "Okay, Brother Chen, don't worry, I'll definitely make your friends happy."

Brother Chen nodded in satisfaction, got up, and went back to his room.

Xiao Hui had already gone into his room and closed the door tightly.

After tidying up, Sun Xiaoyan and Liu Meiling sat on the sofa in the living room.

The TV was on, but no one was paying attention to it.

"Meiling," Sun Xiaoyan whispered, "is she... entertaining guests...?"

"What is it?" Liu Meiling glanced at her. "It's just drinking and chatting, why are you thinking so much? Brother Chen treats us well, he's generous with money, and we stay in nice places. We just do whatever he tells us to do."

Sun Xiaoyan opened her mouth, but didn't say anything.

She wanted to talk about the photos in the study, and about Xiao Hui's strange look.

But seeing Liu Meiling's "this is normal" expression, she swallowed her words.

Perhaps she's overthinking it.

Brother Chen seems quite upright, unlike someone like Guo Daqiang.

As night deepened, time passed.

The TV program ended, and the screen turned into static.

Neither of them went back to the bedroom to sleep.

I can't explain why, I just don't want to reply.

The living room lights were off, with only a sliver of streetlight shining through the window.

It was so quiet that they could hear each other breathing.

Sudden--

A suppressed sob came from Xiaohui's room next door.

It sounded like someone had covered his mouth—short and painful.

Sun Xiaoyan froze.

Liu Meiling also sat up straight.

The two looked at each other but said nothing.

Then came the dull thud of a heavy object falling to the ground.

"Thump!"

The sound wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet night.

Then, everything fell silent.

No sound came out after that.

Sun Xiaoyan's hands began to tremble.

She looked toward Xiaohui's door.

No light shone through the crack in the door.

It was pitch black inside; you couldn't see anything.

Liu Meiling grabbed her hand, holding it very tightly.

Both of their palms were sweaty.

They sat there in the dark living room, staring at the closed door, neither daring to move or make a sound.