When Wei Zhi strode into Wei Lai’s room, he was sprawled across the bed in a pair of blue floral beach shorts, absorbed in a mobile game. Seeing her uninvited entrance, he immediately sat up defensively, his brows knitting together in a look of pure disgust.
"Who gave you permission to come in? Get ou—"
Before he could finish, Wei Zhi’s palm had already connected with his face.
The slap left Wei Lai dazed. Before he could react, Wei Zhi held up the tiny black pinhole camera.
"What is this?" she asked, her voice dropping an octave, each word heavy with a fury that seemed almost physical.
As Wei Lai processed what she was holding, the anger that had been building on his face vanished instantly, like a reservoir bursting its banks.
"This... that..." Caught completely off guard, he stammered, "How the hell should I know..."
Wei Zhi wasn't interested in his excuses.
Police and judges were the ones who waited for a complete chain of evidence before passing a verdict; she was neither.
Wei Lai’s cry of pain drew Wang Lin from the shop and Wei Shan from his sleep. Wang Lin opened her mouth to ask why Wei Zhi had struck him, but Wei Shan had already shoved Wei Zhi aside, shielding his precious son. He roared:
"Wei Zhi! You’re crossing the line lately! Is this your enemy or your own brother?!"
Four people were suddenly crammed into the tiny bedroom. Wei Zhi and Wei Lai stood in similar corners, but looking at Wei Shan and Wang Lin standing between them, Wei Zhi felt as though she was the only one being backed into a wall.
"This is what my 'own brother' did—he put a camera in the bathroom to film me." Wei Zhi held out the black camera, which was already warm from the heat of her grip.
Wang Lin stared at the device in shock. Wei Shan merely spared it a brief, surprised glance before immediately turning to Wei Lai. "Did you put that there?"
"None of my business! I don't know anything about it!" Wei Lai shouted, instantly playing the victim.
"See? Your brother says he doesn't know. What proof do you have that he did it?"
Wei Zhi pulled out her phone, tapped in the digits 110, and turned the screen toward the three of them.
"Wei Lai, I’m giving you three seconds to think. You can admit it yourself, or you can admit it after the police pull your fingerprints off the camera. Three, two—"
At the very last second, Wei Lai’s face turned a deep crimson, and he screamed at her.
"Call them then! Go ahead! Let everyone know what kind of family we are! Let Ji Qikun know what kind of trash you are, what kind of trash we all are! Let's see if he’ll still marry—"
Wang Lin hovered anxiously, her hands fluttering as she tried to soothe both sides. But Wei Shan’s expression had already shifted violently. He swung a heavy hand, snapping Wei Lai’s head to the side.
"Who are you calling trash? Your old man is trash too?!"
Wei Lai clutched his head and shrank into the corner, his eyes still glaring hatefully at Wei Zhi. Having accidentally insulted Wei Shan and earned a beating for it, he became much more cautious with his next words.
"You think I wanted to do this?" Wei Lai hissed through gritted teeth. "You forced me! Didn't you hook up with a rich guy? You only care about spending money on yourself, but you're so stingy with your own family. I don't know why Mom and Dad even bothered raising you!"
"No matter what, you can't go down such a crooked path. How could you do something like this?" Wang Lin frowned, her scolding little more than a whisper.
"Shut up! It’s because you didn't raise them right that they have so many conflicts!"
Wei Shan glared at her, his bulging, goldfish-like eyes full of brutality. His hanging hands were clenched into tight fists as his patience reached its limit, veins bulging across his contorted, furious face. Wang Lin’s body went rigid instantly. Whatever courage she had gathered to speak up for Wei Zhi vanished.
Not just Wang Lin—even Wei Lai and Wei Zhi reflexively held their breath, their bodies tensing. In that moment, the previous argument no longer mattered.
Those who live long-term with violence develop a reflex where their muscles tighten before a blow lands, an instinctual attempt to lessen the coming pain. It was a survival mechanism everyone in the Wei family had learned, except for Wei Shan.
Even though her mind no longer feared Wei Shan, that terror was etched deep into her bones and blood. It was an instinctual dread that could still surge back at any moment to seize control of her body.
But she wouldn't lose again.
Wei Zhi’s hands slowly clenched, her neatly trimmed nails digging deep into her palms. Pain inflicted by others brought fear, but pain inflicted by oneself brought clarity.
She looked Wei Shan directly in the eye and said slowly, "If I don't marry Ji Qikun, I can find another way out. But what about you? Who’s going to pay off your and Mom’s loans? And a useless waste like Wei Lai—if he doesn't have the Ji family looking out for him, what hope does he have for the rest of his life?"
"Who are you calling a waste?!" Wei Lai straightened up from the corner.
Wei Shan’s expression shifted into contemplation.
A moment later, he delivered a sharp kick to Wei Lai.
"Apologize to your sister."
"Huh?"
"Apologize!"
Before Wei Lai could recover, Wei Shan’s fists and feet began to rain down on him like a storm. Caught off guard, Wei Lai froze.
His body was already much stronger than the aging Wei Shan’s, but the shadows and habits left behind by years of abuse meant he could only do what he had done ten years ago: cover his head and endure the violence.
"Mom! Mom! Sis! Sister! Save me!" Wei Lai shrieked.
Wang Lin stood like a clay doll, frozen in place, a faint flicker of terror on her face.
"Enough!" Wei Zhi snapped, unable to bear it any longer.
Wei Lai was a scoundrel, but that didn't mean she felt any pleasure watching him be brutally beaten by their father.
Everything about the scene before her was sickening.
"...Enough," Wei Zhi repeated.
Wei Shan stopped, breathing heavily as he looked at her.
Wei Zhi looked at Wei Lai. "Did you put cameras anywhere else?"
"No... no more..." Wei Lai curled into a ball in the corner.
"...If there is a next time, I’m going straight to the police. I won't care if you end up with a criminal record," Wei Zhi said.
She pushed past Wang Lin and walked out of Wei Lai’s bedroom.
The narrow balcony felt more oppressive than ever. She grabbed her bag and phone and walked out without looking back.
"Xiao Zhi, it’s so late, where are you going?" Wang Lin’s anxious cry came from behind her, followed by the sound of her stumbling footsteps.
Wei Zhi did not turn around.
Just for tonight, just for this moment, she needed to leave everything behind and escape this venomous swamp.
As she passed an open sewer, she threw the pinhole camera she had ripped from the vent onto the ground, crushed it into pieces with her heel, and kicked the remains into the filth.
Then, she dialed Ji Qikun’s number.
"Can I come to your place?" she asked as soon as he picked up.
Half an hour later, a black Bentley Bentayga pulled up to the curb. Under the dim, yellow glow of an old streetlight swarming with insects, Ji Qikun stepped out of the car. He spotted Wei Zhi hidden in the shadows of the night immediately.
She was sitting on a park bench, her knees pulled to her chest, curled into a small, fragile ball.
Ji Qikun walked up to her and lifted her chin, revealing a face stained with tears.
He knelt down so he was eye-level with her, his right hand gently wiping away the tear tracks.
"You can lean on me as much as you want," he said softly. "Because I am the person who loves you most in this world."
***
In the year they had been dating, this was the first time Ji Qikun had brought her home.
He lived in Egret Island Mansion, one of the most expensive residential complexes in Jiangdu City. Uniformed greeters with perfect posture stood twenty-four hours a day in glass booths, and the labyrinthine underground garage was filled with luxury cars worth millions.
The average annual salary for a non-private sector employee in Jiangdu this year was only about fifty thousand yuan—roughly four thousand a month. After social insurance deductions, the take-home pay was barely over three thousand. For private sector employees, it was even less.
Someone like her, who earned nearly four thousand before deductions, struggled to clear three thousand after the "Five Insurances."
How many years would she have to go without eating or drinking to afford a car like that?
When did the paths of different people begin to diverge so sharply?
At employment? The college entrance exam? Middle school?
Or was everyone’s fate already worlds apart from the moment of birth?
Wei Zhi didn't know the answer, but she refused to accept it.
Ji Qikun quickly tapped a code into the electronic lock and pushed the door open, inviting her in.
"The place is a bit of a mess, don't mind it," he said with a smile. "There’s coffee and mineral water in the fridge. What would you like?"
"Just water," Wei Zhi replied.
As Ji Qikun walked toward the island in the open kitchen, Wei Zhi began to scan the layout of his home. Except for the living room and the bathroom, every other door was tightly shut, each fitted with a digital code lock identical to the front door.
In the five-star hotel suites they usually frequented, there were vast floor-to-ceiling windows that seemed to be cleaned daily. Every time, they clearly reflected the overlapping shadows of her and Ji Qikun.
She used to wonder why he was so fond of those hotel suites; now she knew.
It wasn't the facilities or the service he loved—it was the mirrors.
In Ji Qikun’s home, mirrors were a primary decorative element. No matter where Wei Zhi walked, there was a mirror to capture her silhouette.
Cold moonlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, refracting off countless mirrored surfaces. The entire home, decorated in cold grays, was scattered with fragmented moonlight.
Ji Qikun returned with a bottle of mineral water. He twisted the cap off before handing it to her. As Wei Zhi took the plastic bottle, the chill of the refrigerated water seeped through her palm and traveled up her arm.
She took a few slow sips.
"Do you feel better?" Ji Qikun watched her intently.
"...Yes."
"I’m always by your side, baby." Ji Qikun’s expression was tender, his voice low and magnetic. "You just need to depend on me."
Wei Zhi leaned against the cold glass of the window, her right hand happening to rest over the distant silhouette of a brilliantly lit skyscraper. It was so far away, so ethereal, that it gave the false impression that a mere mortal could grasp the world. Her right hand slowly curled into a fist, a sound of suppressed endurance escaping her throat.
She didn't ask him why he had always gone to hotels before and never brought her home.
She had always been obedient and sensible; that was exactly why she had finally been allowed to step inside this place.
The next morning, before dawn, Wei Zhi quietly got out of bed.
She shut the bedroom door softly, her gaze sweeping over the silent surroundings. Her reflection stared back at her from an irregularly shaped mirror on the wall. Driven by a certain curiosity, she placed her hand on the handle of one of the closed doors. The motion sensor caused the input interface to light up. She stared at the digital panel, wondering what Ji Qikun would use as a password.
After a moment, she released the handle and walked toward the kitchen island.
The marble countertop was spotless. In the corner sat a bag of whole-grain cereal sealed with a clip, and there was an opened carton of milk in the fridge.
Having deduced what Ji Qikun usually had for breakfast, she began to prepare it.
Her phone, which she had left carelessly on the counter, began to vibrate. A strange number appeared on the screen. Wei Zhi knew who it was. She set the phone to silent and placed it face down, ignoring it.
But that call had already shattered her inner peace.
Her time was running out.
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
鹭岛府 | Egret Island Mansion | A high-end, luxury residential complex in Jiangdu City.
添越 | Bentayga | A luxury SUV model by Bentley.
五险 | Five Insurances | Refers to the five mandatory social insurance programs in China (Pension, Medical, Unemployment, Work Injury, and Maternity).
110 | 110 | The emergency telephone number for the police in mainland China.
江都市 | Jiangdu City | The fictional or real city setting of the story.
