Turning the Tables on My Black-Hearted Best Friend

To steal my boyfriend, my best friend sold me to human traffickers.

She wanted me trapped in a poor mountain village for life, a tool for carrying on someone’s family line.

But how could I let her have her way?

Later, she reaped what she’d sown and was tortured to death by those villagers…

1

Many people said I was the reincarnation of a lone star of calamity, with a fate too tough to kill.

Only I knew that wasn’t true at all.

Both my parents died when I was little. With few family ties, I grew up eating at a hundred households.

Because of my crow’s mouth, those lovely elders and neighbors in my village both loved and hated me.

The year I got into college, they pooled enough money and tearfully sent me to the city.

As for whether those tears were real or fake, I couldn’t say.

A child from the mountains inevitably showed her timidity and was often laughed at.

That was when I met Xu Youyou, who also came from the countryside.

She seemed completely unconcerned by other people’s opinions.

She told me to be confident and not be afraid.

Right. Why should I be afraid?

Other people were the ones who should fear me.

Xu Youyou took me browsing in luxury stores, but she never bought anything, and I had even less money.

She said it was broadening our horizons. Once we earned money, we could come back and buy things.

She taught me makeup and gave me a lipstick in a beautiful shade.

Gradually, I learned to make myself look polished and glamorous too.

After that, Xu Youyou and I became inseparable best friends.

Until another person’s arrival broke that peace.

Meeting Jiang Bei was an accident.

He hurt himself playing ball, and I took him to the infirmary.

Soon, our group of two became three.

Jiang Bei’s family was quite wealthy. Both his parents were in business.

At first, we couldn’t understand why he mixed with us.

On my birthday, he suddenly confessed to me.

I was stunned.

I’d been single since the womb.

I had no idea how to respond.

Xu Youyou froze too. After a long while, she said with great solemnity, “You can pursue Gan Ning, but you have to get past me first. I’ll agree only if you pass my tests.”

At first, I didn’t hear anything wrong with it.

Only later did I learn she’d long been harboring ulterior motives.

2

Jiang Bei began pursuing me fiercely.

Whenever he wanted to ask me out, Xu Youyou used testing him as an excuse to shut the door in his face.

“Men are all the same. You’ve never dated. It’s easy for people to trick you. If he really likes you, he won’t be afraid of this little test.”

“Is that so?”

I half believed her.

No one had ever taught me about romantic relationships as I grew up.

I was an idiot in love.

“I’m more experienced than you. Would I lie to you? From now on, I’ll screen them for you. You can’t go wrong.”

In the end, Jiang Bei compromised and simply invited both of us.

At the movies, Xu Youyou chose the seat on his other side.

If he tried to secretly take my hand, she’d suddenly jump between us to block him.

Several times, I saw him nearly lose his temper.

Then he’d look at me and force it back down.

Even slow as I was, I sensed something wrong.

Was this really how best friends should be?

Not even allowing each other personal space?

Until that day, when Xu Youyou mysteriously told me she wanted to take me somewhere.

On the way, she handed me a drink she’d bought.

Unsuspecting, I opened it and drank.

I knew nothing of what happened next.

When I woke, I was in a van.

My hands and feet were tied. I’d been dumped in the back row, with a thick cotton cloth over me, probably to avoid discovery.

The van jolted violently.

I guessed we weren’t on a paved road.

A man’s voice suddenly came from the front.

“Boss, this one’s way prettier than the last two. We should charge extra.”

The one called Boss spat at him.

“You don’t know shit. This time, the client specifically told us the girl was for her own older brother. Raise the price however you like, and how will we work together next time?”

“Right, right. I’m new to this business, aren’t I? I don’t know better.”

“Then learn.”

So I’d run into human traffickers?

No.

There’d been something in that drink.

Xu Youyou had sold me?

I really…

After running rampant in my village for years, I’d barely reached the city before someone trapped me.

Clearly, I was too kind.

3

The van traveled for several more hours before finally stopping.

Soon, the rear door opened. One of them hoisted me onto his shoulder and walked away.

Tape sealed my mouth. I could only let them move me.

This rotten village didn’t even have a paved road.

There were three of them. One look told me they were desperate criminals.

Perhaps because I was so quiet, neither resisting nor struggling, one repeatedly checked beneath my nose to see whether I was breathing.

I rolled my eyes at him.

He paused.

“Thought you were dead. Know what we’re going to do?”

Remembering that my mouth was sealed and I couldn’t answer, he added with a nasty grin, “Women are born to serve men. What do you need college for? Go back to a village and carry on the family line. That’s what you should be doing.”

If looks could kill, he’d have been torn into ten thousand pieces.

I swore that once I got the chance, I’d curse every one of them to death.

By the time they delivered me to a household, it was completely dark.

The dirtiest transactions often take place at night.

They threw me into a room and muttered outside for a long time.

Straining my ears, I heard something about inspecting the goods.

Then several people came in.

One was a dark-faced man in his thirties.

He looked greedily at my face, then nodded in satisfaction.

After they left, I heard money being counted.

I wondered how much I could sell for.

Or rather, whether they’d regret abducting this lone star of calamity.

Because if I wished it, everyone would suffer bad luck.

4

Once the traffickers left, the house quieted.

Only then did I examine my surroundings.

It was an old earthen house with roof tiles.

When the wind blew, branches scraped and rustled.

The room was dimly lit and simply furnished.

There was even a layer of straw beneath the bedding.

Even my old village had long abandoned that.

Thanks to me, everyone there lived in red-brick houses.

A woman’s voice came from outside, faintly excited.

“Tiezi, let your mother see whether the wife your sister found you is pretty.”

Then a slightly plump village woman appeared.

The dark-faced man followed behind her.

He was Tiezi, the man who’d bought me.

An old bachelor in his thirties.

The woman pulled the tape off my mouth.

“Girl, this is your home from now on. We’ve bought you, so you must behave. As long as you don’t run, we’ll treat you well.”

“Pah.”

I spat straight into her face.

She raised a hand to hit me, but Tiezi stopped her.

“Mother, give her some time to adjust.”

I shouted, “Do you know this is human trafficking? It’s illegal! You can go to prison!”

His mother laughed dismissively.

“Illegal? We know. But can you escape? If you can’t, who will know you’re here?”

I’d heard of abducted college students.

None had good endings. Even if they escaped, they ended up dead or disabled.

Fine.

Then I’ll stay and play with you lot for a bit.

Tiezi sat beside me.

“You’ll be my wife now. I won’t treat you badly. But let me tell you, Li Erniu’s wife tried to run a couple days ago. They broke one of her legs. She’s still lying in the cowshed.”

“But you’re different. You’re prettier. My sister specifically told me to treat you a little better.”

“Who’s your sister?”

Something was about to become clear.

Tiezi slapped his forehead.

“Forgot to tell you. My sister’s really accomplished. The only college student in the village. She goes to your school. It’s all thanks to her that our bachelors can get wives. Her name’s Xu Youyou.”

5

Sure enough!

Certain I couldn’t escape, they simply told me everything.

So I wasn’t the only one trafficked here?

What a Xu Youyou.

Black-hearted. Rotten through.

Whoever ended up as her classmate had eight lifetimes of bad luck.

I reined in my emotions and said to Xu Tie, “I won’t run. Untie me. My hands and feet are numb.”

The two exchanged looks, as though assessing whether I meant it.

“You just said you’d treat me well. So you were only fooling me?”

Hearing that, Xu Tie hurriedly untied my wrists and ankles.

“I’m hungry.”

“Mother, get her something to eat,” he said.

Only Xu Tie and I remained.

The intention in his eyes was so obvious it disgusted me.

But escape was definitely impossible for now.

“Tiezi-ge, have those three traffickers left?”

Translator’s note: Ge means “older brother” and can be attached to a man’s name as a familiar address. She uses it to placate her captor.

“Why’re you asking?”

“I just think people who’ve done so much evil must come to a bad end. Their van will fall into a river, and they’ll soak for three days and nights until they rot and stink.”

“You little girls sure curse viciously.”

“If they dare do it, why wouldn’t I dare curse them?”

He seemed to think of something.

“No use refusing. Next year, once you’ve given me a big, fat son, you’ll obediently accept your fate.”

Accept fate?

Parents hold their newborn daughters like treasures.

Then those girls grow up and are trafficked to miserable mountain valleys where even birds won’t shit, made into breeding tools for life.

No freedom.

No dignity.

And you tell me that’s their fate?

LOL, what a joke.

Every one of these stupid villagers deserved a miserable death.

6

Xu Tie’s mother was called Wang Guifen.

She brought me a steaming bowl of noodles.

“Eat.”

When she turned and left, I heard the door lock.

Xu Tie couldn’t hide his excitement.

My scalp prickled as I silently considered what to do.

After a few mouthfuls, I really couldn’t swallow any more.

The noodles were clumped together and unbearably salty.

“Can’t eat any more.”

I pushed the bowl away.

“You little girls have such small appetites.”

Picking up my used chopsticks, he began slurping great mouthfuls.

I put on a shocked expression.

“Tiezi-ge, I’ve eaten from that! There’s my saliva in it. You’ll definitely get diarrhea. The kind that lasts half a month. Don’t disbelieve me. Last time, a younger boy I know stole some snacks I’d eaten. Afterward, he had diarrhea until he nearly collapsed.”

That was a true story.

When we were little, the village chief’s son always bullied me.

He put stones in my schoolbag and stole my things.

After I’d taught him a few lessons, he became very well-behaved.

Now he called me Boss whenever he saw me.

Xu Tie didn’t care.

“I’m not so delicate. My stomach’s strong.”

I only smiled and said nothing.

Finishing, he set down the bowl and chopsticks, rubbed his hands, and moved to grab me.

Suddenly, he jolted.

I knew it had arrived.

Feigning concern, I asked, “What’s wrong, Tiezi-ge?”

“Wait a moment.”

Xu Tie hurried to open the door.

But Wang Guifen had locked it.

He could only shout.

Covering my nose, I hid in a corner.

Fortunately, Wang Guifen opened it at the last moment.

And so I didn’t see Xu Tie for the rest of the night.

I should be able to sleep peacefully for a few days now.

7

The next morning, I woke to Wang Guifen scolding Xu Tie.

“At such a crucial moment, you get diarrhea! You’ll be the death of me!”

“If it weren’t for your sister, you’d never get a wife in this lifetime. If only you were half as capable as her!”

“Mom, what’s the use of saying that? We’ve bought her. Sooner or later she’ll be mine. What’s the rush?”

“I’m just afraid that the longer the night, the more dreams…”

Seeing me emerge, both fell silent.

“Tiezi-ge, are you feeling all right?”

I’d barely asked when Xu Tie clamped his legs together and ran for the latrine in an extremely peculiar posture.

“Don’t idle around either. Come wash clothes in the river,” Wang Guifen ordered.

Reluctantly, I followed.

In the countryside, where was gossip most abundant?

Where women gathered, of course.

There, I saw another female college student, Zhou Jing.

She’d arrived before me.

Her features were delicate, but unhealed wounds covered her body.

When I came over, she only glanced up once, then quickly lowered her head and scrubbed hard.

As soon as Wang Guifen sat down, she began boasting.

“As expected of someone my Youyou picked personally. So obedient! Arrived yesterday, and she’s already helping today.”

“Guijuan, isn’t your son nearly thirty too? Just spend some money and buy him one. Saves so much trouble.”

“I’ve been thinking the same. I’ll talk to his father in a few days. Make sure Youyou picks an easy one for our Hanzhong.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Ah!”

A scream came from Zhou Jing opposite me.

I saw with my own eyes as her mother-in-law twisted her flesh hard.

The woman snarled, “Hear that? You’re the only troublesome one. Learn from her and you’ll suffer less.”

Zhou Jing’s eyes reddened. She jumped up and seized the washboard to strike back.

Guijuan grabbed her waist.

Wang Guifen joined in.

Several women pinned her down.

Seeing this, the men working nearby all stopped, ready to step in.

Only then did I truly understand.

Once they trafficked someone in, they feared nothing.

Because there was no chance to escape.

The villagers were united. Everyone watched you constantly.

Once abducted, you could only remain trapped in this mountain valley for life.

8

“Mother-in-law, why not let me talk to her?”

I spoke at the right moment.

Only then did they release Zhou Jing.

Her mother-in-law jabbed at her temple.

“Look at her. You came from the same university. How can you be so different?”

Zhou Jing looked at me with complicated eyes.

I took her beneath a tree.

Of course, still within the women’s sight.

“What do you want to say? That I should stay here forever? I’d rather die,” she said first.

“Of course not. Who wants to stay in this hellhole?”

“I wanted to ask how Xu Youyou tricked you here.”

Hatred filled Zhou Jing’s face.

“I’d barely been at school a few days when she deliberately approached me. Like a bootlicking dog, following me every day. That day she gave me a bottle of water. After drinking it, I lost consciousness. When I woke, I’d been sold here.”

From what the traffickers said in the van, Xu Youyou was their partner.

She tricked college students.

They transported them.

She profited while winning over her fellow villagers.

Two gains with one move.

All those years of schooling had been wasted on her.

Of all the things she could do, why choose such heartless evil?

After Zhou Jing returned home, her mother-in-law fell down the mountain while gathering firewood that afternoon.

She was instantly paralyzed.

When I heard, I was miserably chopping pig feed.

Fortunately, I’d come from the countryside myself and was handy at rough work.

Xu Tie’s diarrhea had taken him to the village clinic.

Wang Guifen had accompanied him.

When they returned that evening, Xu Tie looked terribly pale.

Wang Guifen hurried me off to cook again.

After dinner, Xu Tie came into the room to look at me, practically grinding his back teeth to pieces.

Wanting to act but having no strength must have felt awful.

In the end, he left reluctantly.

The next day, Zhou Jing’s man suddenly developed seizures and was rushed to the hospital.

Her lame father-in-law went to care for him.

Zhou Jing remained behind to tend her mother-in-law.

Sitting there, Wang Guifen kept saying it was uncanny.

“A perfectly fine family yesterday. How did all of them collapse overnight?”

I answered calmly.

“Did they do something bad and get their retribution?”

“Pah, pah, pah. What bad thing? That girl deserved a beating. Who told her not to obey? The Zhang family spent a full sixty thousand yuan buying her.”

“Then how much commission did Youyou get?” I asked tentatively.

“That I really don’t know.”

“When someone in the village wants a girl, how do you contact Youyou?”

Yesterday, while they’d been at the clinic, I’d turned the house upside down.

I hadn’t found any device that could contact the outside world.

Wang Guifen eyed me warily.

“Why’re you asking? Planning to run? Let me tell you, once you’re here, forget any other ideas.”

“I’m just curious. With so many of you, wouldn’t you beat me to death if I ran? Not worth it. Not worth it.”

“At least you know what’s good for you.”

Where she couldn’t see, I silently raised my middle finger.

I’ll play with you a few more days, then.

Apparently, word of my talking Zhou Jing around had spread.

That afternoon, I was invited to Li Erniu’s house.

In his cowshed, I met the girl Xu Tie had mentioned, whose leg had been broken for trying to escape.

She said her name was Lin Ruoruo.

The moment I entered, the stench nearly made me vomit several times.

Two cows were penned beside where she slept.

It was summer. Mosquitoes and other insects flew everywhere.

Red bites covered her body. She lay motionless.

Until I spoke to her.

Hearing my fluent Mandarin, her eyes moved.

My gaze shifted downward and stopped on her broken leg.

“Your leg… did they set it?”

Lin Ruoruo only cried.

And cried.

Clumsily, I wiped her tears.

What had these girls done wrong to deserve this?

She clutched me, pleading.

“Kill me. I really don’t want to live. Those beasts won’t leave me alone even with my leg broken. If I get pregnant, I’ll go mad. Better to die now and end everything.”

I froze, horror crawling through me.

These people couldn’t even be called human.

“Hold on a few more days. You must stay alive. Wait for me.”

Looking firmly at her, I wiped her face clean.

“And your parents. They’re waiting for you to come home. Don’t ever give up.”

9

This time, I couldn’t act immediately.

It would raise suspicion.

Then even I’d be in danger.

In this unfamiliar place, no one regarded us as human.

We were objects.

Tradable objects.

Unless absolutely necessary, I mustn’t expose myself.

As soon as I came out, I saw a crowd at the village entrance.

They were talking over one another about a vehicle falling into the river.

Several days.

Everyone inside bloated from the water.

Feigning curiosity, I went over to ask.

Exactly as I’d expected.

Later, I heard the village chief had taken some villagers to hastily dispose of the bodies.

No one dared speak up.

Wang Guifen returned preoccupied.

Despite injections and medicine, Xu Tie still hadn’t improved.

He’d lost a great deal of weight and sat weakly by the door.

When I passed, he even reached out to take advantage of me.

I’d long seen through him.

Pivoting on one foot, I turned away.

He grabbed empty air and nearly fell.

“Tiezi-ge, are you all right?” I asked with false concern.

Embarrassed, he withdrew his hand.

“Fine, fine.”

Let’s see how long you can keep this up.

That day, Guijuan came over and pulled Wang Guifen into a room.

Probably afraid I’d listen, Wang Guifen deliberately sent me away.

With a grass basket on my back, I considered what they’d discuss.

If I remembered correctly, Guijuan wanted to buy a daughter-in-law too.

But the problem now was that the traffickers were dead.

Wang Guifen would definitely contact Xu Youyou outside immediately.

Sure enough, the next day, she and Guijuan went to town.

They’d barely left when I tied Xu Tie up.

Only after I’d finished did he open his eyes on the bed.

“What’re you doing?”

I smiled.

“Tiezi-ge, this is why I say you’re old-fashioned. It’s a new city game.”

Xu Tie stared at me.

I fetched a low stool, sat beside him, and began my plan.

“Do you think your mother might have an accident going to town?”

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

He was visibly beginning to panic.

“Oh, right. I heard the village chief say there are quite a few rabid dogs in town lately. Wang Guifen and Guijuan going now are sure to get bitten a few times. There’s no cure for rabies. Tsk, tsk. Terrible.”

As though realizing something, he began struggling.

“It’s you. It’s all you. Are you human or a ghost?”

His face twisted as he tried to break the ropes.

But with his current strength, it was impossible.

That evening, neither Wang Guifen nor Guijuan returned.

So I kept Xu Tie with me and talked all night…

10

Human or ghost?

Of course I was human.

Just a little different from other people.

When I was three, I followed my parents into the mountains to gather firewood.

At that age, all sorts of thoughts sprouted in my head.

Looking at the dense forest, I wondered whether wild beasts might appear.

So I actually said it.

My mother hurriedly slapped my mouth several times.

Not hard, but I still cried.

“Children mustn’t talk nonsense.”

Yet unexpectedly, my words really became a prophecy.

That time, both my parents were killed by wild boars while protecting me.

For a long time afterward, I didn’t speak.

My grandparents had died early.

My father was an only child, and my mother an orphan.

So only I remained.

Pitying me, the village elders and neighbors began taking turns raising me.

At the village chief’s house, his especially naughty son always bullied me.

After enough bullying, I began resisting.

If I couldn’t beat him, I’d curse him.

Then I discovered that every curse struck true.

He refused to believe it and continued provoking me.

The last time, he had diarrhea until he doubted life itself.

He had no energy left to bully me.

He began telling everyone I had a crow’s mouth.

I kindly corrected him.

This was called a consecrated mouth.

Understanding, he immediately cried, “Dage, spare me!”

Translator’s note: A “crow’s mouth” brings bad luck by saying unlucky things; a “consecrated mouth” jokingly suggests that whatever it says comes true. Dage means “big brother,” also used here to plead with someone he treats as his boss.

From then on, the story spread through the village.

Everyone wanted me to try saying good things.

Sometimes it worked, sometimes not.

Because only I knew: it worked when I meant it.

I knew perfectly well who treated me kindly.

But to avoid being completely exploited, most of the time I wouldn’t sincerely say auspicious things.

Even so, I became a godlike existence in the village.

Naturally, some people still couldn’t stand me.

Then cows went lame, pigs ran away, chickens stopped laying, and dogs barked wildly.

These headaches became common.

After all, I wouldn’t hurt people for no reason.

Even those who made life difficult for me received only a little lesson, out of consideration for our being fellow villagers.

The one bug was this:

I had to say it in someone’s presence for it to work.

And it had no effect on me.

Once, I’d secretly cursed the village chief’s son at night, wishing his face would swell like a pig’s head.

The next day, it hadn’t.

That was why I’d kept Xu Tie listening to me all night.

11

That night, Li Erniu’s house caught fire.

Apart from Lin Ruoruo, who lived in the cowshed, everyone burned to death.

The next day…

The village chief’s entire family got food poisoning and went to the hospital.

Guijuan’s remaining family were all stung by venomous wasps…

Almost all the village’s twenty-odd households suffered.

By then, no one had time to watch us.

I found Zhou Jing.

Together, we rescued Lin Ruoruo.

From my memory of arriving, the village was an hour or so along a mountain path from the road.

We’d have to take turns carrying Lin Ruoruo.

I was all right.

But Zhou Jing was simply too weak. After only a few steps, her legs began trembling.

So I volunteered to carry her myself.

By the time we reached the road, I was nearly collapsing.

“Gan Ning, thank you. I’ve burdened you both,” Lin Ruoruo said apologetically, sitting by the road.

“I carried you too. Why not thank me?”

Zhou Jing put her hands on her hips, a little dissatisfied, but not much.

“Okay, okay. Thank you too, Big Beauty Zhou.”

I watched them with a smile.

This was how they were supposed to be.

“Let some good person come along and give us a ride,” I said, pretending to sigh.

And so we smoothly caught a ride back to the city.

We took Lin Ruoruo straight to the hospital.

After notifying her family, Zhou Jing and I sat in the corridor.

Only then did it truly feel as though we’d escaped.

As for what had happened in the village, both of them probably found it unbelievable too.

So, by tacit agreement, we didn’t bring up reporting it to the police.

Because everyone involved except Xu Youyou had already received the retribution they deserved.

Soon, Zhou Jing’s family came for her too.

As she left, she seemed to want to say something.

I hugged her and whispered in her ear.

“Get a physical examination. Once you’re home, treat it as a dream. Forget all of this and start living again.”

“As for Xu Youyou, leave her to me. She’ll get the punishment she deserves.”

12

I returned to school.

Having lost my phone, I asked around for ages before learning that Xu Youyou was out on a date with her boyfriend.

Right now, I particularly wanted to see her reaction when she learned the outcome.

I wondered whether Jiang Bei had looked for me after I disappeared.

Apparently, I’d overthought it.

At that moment, Xu Youyou appeared at the school gate, arm linked through Jiang Bei’s.

Both froze when they saw me.

Joy flashed over Jiang Bei’s face. He ran toward me.

“Gan Ning, it’s really you.”

Uncertainty still lingered in his eyes.

I stared unblinkingly at Xu Youyou, missing none of her expressions.

First shock.

Then crazed jealousy.

True. Jiang Bei was handsome and came from a good family.

It was perfectly normal for her to like him.

“Pick somewhere yourself. Let’s talk.”

In the café, Xu Youyou still tried to pretend.

“Ningning, where have you been all this time?”

I looked at her coldly.

“Shouldn’t you know best?”

She instinctively glanced at Jiang Bei, panic flashing over her face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really? Then surely you know Zhou Jing and Lin Ruoruo?”

She stared in disbelief.

Right. I’d returned after only a few days.

She probably couldn’t have imagined it in her dreams.

Jiang Bei had remained silent. Now he heard something wrong too.

“What exactly happened? Where have you been these past few days?”

Xu Youyou suddenly caught my hand and spoke so quietly only we could hear.

“Ningning, you’re back, aren’t you? As long as you’re fine. Please, don’t say it.”

Don’t say it?

What a joke.

Did she think I was some holy mother?

I intended to strip off her mask before the man she liked.

“Xu Youyou, do you really think you can still fool me?”

I turned to Jiang Bei.

I hadn’t forgotten that their posture earlier was hardly innocent.

“You two…”

Jiang Bei showed no panic.

Instead, his face was completely open.

“Ningning, it really was a misunderstanding. She said she’d twisted her ankle. I was only supporting her.”

“Then why did you go out together?”

“I’ve been looking for you and contacted the police too. But there hasn’t been any progress. Today Xu Youyou said she had news of you. That’s why I was with her.”

I looked at Xu Youyou’s wounded expression.

Couldn’t take even that?

“Jiang Bei, didn’t you want to know where I’ve been?”

I pointed at Xu Youyou.

“She sold me to human traffickers. I escaped only after a narrow brush with death.”

“Human traffickers?”

Jiang Bei immediately pulled me close to check me over.

“Are you hurt?”

Xu Youyou interrupted.

“Enough! You came back throwing barbs from the start. After saying all that, what proof do you have?”

I smiled.

She must have learned the traffickers were dead.

True. Words alone weren’t evidence.

The dead couldn’t testify.

“Did you get a call from your mother asking you to find a way to send another college student home?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Do I have to bring Zhou Jing and Lin Ruoruo here to testify before you’ll admit it?”

“You all escaped?”

Perhaps she was too shocked. The question slipped out.

Realizing she’d exposed herself, Xu Youyou lowered her head and suddenly laughed in a deeply chilling way.

Jiang Bei immediately gripped my hand.

I gave him a reassuring smile.

Now I wasn’t afraid at all.

“Xu Youyou, when you sold those girls to traffickers, did you ever think how horribly they’d suffer?”

“Heh. Suffer? All they did was reincarnate well and choose good parents. What right did they have to act so superior? They looked down on me and ordered me around like a dog.”

“I was jealous. Why could they live glamorous lives and get whatever they wanted just by asking?”

“I wanted them to try living without dignity too. To taste being lower-class. Didn’t they look down on country people? Then let them stay trapped there forever, tools for carrying on the family line. Have a heap of children. Die there in agony. Hahaha…”

“Lunatic,” Jiang Bei couldn’t help cursing.

I thought of when I’d first met her.

She’d seemed so confident and composed.

Only now did I understand that it was a facade.

On the surface, she didn’t mind being from the countryside.

Inside, she minded desperately.

People were so contradictory.

The most frightening thing in this world wasn’t others looking down on you.

It was looking down on yourself too.

If you didn’t belong in a circle, don’t force your way in.

Even if you got in, it might not be as good as you’d imagined.

But whatever the case, deciding to harm people was wrong.

13

“What about me? Search your conscience. I’ve never wronged you.”

“I treated you as my best friend. You sold me to that disgusting brother of yours.”

If Xu Youyou hadn’t been a woman, Jiang Bei’s fist would probably already have landed.

She glanced at Jiang Bei, and her eyes suddenly reddened.

“Originally, I really did want to be your friend. After all, we were both people fallen on hard times. But why did Jiang Bei like you instead of me? Why could you all get so easily what I dreamed of? Where exactly did I fall short?”

I was totally, utterly speechless.

“I still treated you differently. That’s my biological brother. I specifically told them to treat you a little better.”

“Should I thank you too? Xu Youyou, the beads on your little abacus came up empty. If you’ve got time, go home and see your family.”

“What do you mean?”

I’d said all I needed to.

I pulled Jiang Bei out of the café.

Outside, he refused to go farther.

“Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“Not yet…”

14

After returning, the more Xu Youyou thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

On the third day, she returned to the birthplace she’d always despised.

But the village, usually full of people everywhere, was terrifyingly quiet.

An inexplicable unease rose within her.

She quickened her pace.

At home, she called several times.

No answer.

She pushed open the unlocked door.

The main room was empty too.

A strange stench filled the air.

Seeing her brother’s bedroom door ajar, she gently pushed it open and entered.

“Ah!”

At the sight on the bed, Xu Youyou screamed in terror.

She stumbled backward repeatedly, caught her foot on the threshold, and fell to the floor.

On the bed, Xu Tie’s eyes were open.

His face was sunken.

Clearly, he’d been dead for some time.

“Ge…”

Xu Youyou’s agonized cries rang out.

Soon, the few villagers remaining heard the noise, gathered, and came to her house.

Among them was the lame old man of the Zhang family.

His son had inexplicably developed epilepsy. Now he was like an idiot, unaware of his surroundings and convulsing every day.

His wife was paralyzed in bed. Apart from her open eyes, she might as well have been dead.

The daughter-in-law he’d spent all his savings buying had escaped too.

He was left alone, an isolated old man, caring for two patients every day.

All of it was Xu Youyou’s fault.

She’d urged the villagers to buy those uncanny college students.

Ever since they arrived, strange things had happened one after another.

Some villagers died.

Others were disabled.

Now not a single person in the village was unharmed.

“You rotten bitch. You still dare come back?”

Only after a long moment did Xu Youyou snap out of her grief.

“What do you mean?”

Old Zhang was the only one among the households that had bought college students who could still get around.

“What do I mean? Were you trying to help the village, or slaughter it? Ever since you sent those students, nearly everyone here has died. Oh, you don’t know yet, do you? Besides your brother, your mother died of rabies too. Her body’s still on the hill by the village entrance. Wild dogs have probably eaten it by now.”

Xu Youyou rushed forward like a madwoman and grabbed him.

“What did you say? How is that possible? How could three girls escape? Was it you? Did you fail to watch them and let them kill my mother?”

“Oh, you crazy woman! We haven’t even demanded an explanation, and you’re blaming us? I didn’t buy a college student. I only helped catch Li Erniu’s runaway wife a few times, and I suffered too. Fucking rotten luck.”

Old Zhang was so angry his beard bristled.

He shoved Xu Youyou away.

“We’re here to settle accounts today. They’ve run off. You have to return our money. And all these things that happened to our families—do you dare say you’re not responsible?”

“What does it have to do with me? I didn’t force anyone to buy college students. Didn’t you all do it willingly?”

Xu Youyou screamed hysterically.

All she knew now was that her mother and brother were dead.

Why had things become this way?

“So you won’t take responsibility?”

Everyone watched her like tigers eyeing prey.

Alarm filled her heart.

“What do you want?”

“Aren’t you a college student too…?”

“Lunatics! Beasts…”

Agonized screams, one after another, echoed through the whole village.

All that rage and resentment was vented on her.

In fewer than ten days, Xu Youyou was tortured to death by the people of her own village.

15

A month later, Lin Ruoruo was discharged.

Zhou Jing and I went to the hospital to get her.

The three of us found somewhere quiet to sit and enjoy a proper reunion.

Perhaps because we’d shared hardship, we’d naturally become much closer.

After Xu Youyou died, her village was exposed.

What followed was left to the police.

When Zhou Jing and Lin Ruoruo heard, they didn’t gloat as I’d imagined.

Instead, there was a long silence.

This experience had also taught us that misfortune lies hidden in good fortune, and good fortune rests within misfortune.

“Let the past turn its page. Every day from now on is a new life.”

Lin Ruoruo suddenly thought of something.

“But there are so many other trafficked people like us. Traffickers are hard to eradicate. Who can save them?”

Zhou Jing abruptly pressed her palms together.

“I hope every human trafficker in the world dies.”

I hurriedly agreed.

“They will. At this moment, every human trafficker in the world will receive the retribution they deserve and meet a miserable end.”

16

Jiang Bei and I parted.

He didn’t understand.

Only I knew.

We weren’t suited to each other.

At least, not now.

I still had many things to do.

Being trafficked had made me grow up rapidly too.

With a heavy responsibility on my shoulders, I would forge ahead and make this life count.

(The End)