I smile, genuinely, though it doesn't reach my eyes, and say word by word, "I said, this is a question. Do you think there's anything wrong with it?"
I squat halfway down in front of them, tapping the iron bar against the palm of my left hand, and look at Fourth Brother Tan.
Fourth Brother Tan's gaze follows the movement of the iron bar almost entirely.
I stand up and drag the iron bar across the floor. The sound of metal colliding with wood is piercingly harsh.
I walk from in front of them to the window, from the window back in front of them, and then stop.
"This large mansion has only myself. There is a basement here, which is where my grandfather stored wine. He passed away many years ago, so that basement has fallen into disuse. The four of you broke in last night; I'm sure it was done without a sound. If I throw you into the wine cellar—tell me, would anyone come looking for you?"
I cradle the iron bar and walk back toward the window. "Someone should come looking, I suppose, like the people who hired you. But if it were me, I wouldn't look. Business like this usually involves paying a deposit first and the final balance later. If the people I hired to do dirty work lose touch, it's most likely something went wrong. Of course I wouldn't go looking for them; I'd just need to protect myself, and I'd even save on the final balance."
I walk back toward them. "Would the people who want to buy me look for you? I don't think so either. First, they don't know my identity, and if they did, they probably wouldn't dare buy me. Second, in your line of work, messing up is normal, and breaking promises is probably normal too. Since no deposit was paid anyway, if you don't show up to deliver, you just don't show up—why would they go out of their way to look for you? Are they out of their minds?"
I drag the iron bar back to the window again. "Who else is there? If your gang loses people, they're bound to look for them. If you took this job privately, they wouldn't even know where to start looking. If you were assigned this task, they'll observe for a few days—no, for a period of time—and then come to the old mansion to look for you. By that time, I'll have already left the old mansion, and no one will lead them to the wine cellar."
I think for a moment. "Even if they do make it to the wine cellar, what of it? I'll put you into those uncovered fermented grain pits so you die faster. The erosion of your corpses by the fermented grains will make it impossible for the coroner to determine your time of death, meaning it won't overlap with the time I was here. How is that? Is it perfect?"
The expressions in the eyes of the four men are filled with terror.
Fourth Brother Tan is utterly dumbfounded.
"Beauty—no, Gracious Lady, Ancestor! Ancestor! Please spare us! We were wrong, we'll never dare do it again! As long as you spare us, from now on we will follow your lead in everything!"
"Oh, Fourth Brother Tan knows quite a few idioms."
Fourth Brother Tan turns completely solemn. "Ancestor! Dear ancestor, please spare us! Spare us! We all have elderly parents and young children to support; it's truly not easy for us."
I sneer. "Elderly parents and young children? Not easy? Fourth Brother Tan, if I had been caught and sold by you today, what kind of life would I be living? Have you thought about that? Don't try to use moral kidnapping or emotional appeals on me; I don't buy that routine. Answer my question first."
This time, Fourth Brother Tan doesn't look at A Hu; he blurts out hastily, "It was a young lady who placed the order. We don't know who she is either. We took the money, which means we accepted the job, and once the task is done, we send her proof, and she gives us the final balance. Usually, this kind of thing involves selling people to Southeast Asia, but this is our first time doing it, so the specific details aren't clear yet. We didn't even contact the buyer ourselves—our gang's boss contacted them personally. Our boss is Han Cheng, the Number One of West City. The four of us belong to a single team, and Brother Hu is the leader. There are eight such teams in total, each with anywhere from four to ten members."
Fourth Brother Tan spills everything like beans pouring from a bamboo tube.
I am very satisfied and nod.
Fourth Brother Tan looks at me with eager, pleading eyes. "Little ancestor, we were wrong. Please let us go, we'll never dare do it again."
I smile. I don't believe words like that.
A dog can't change its habit of eating feces; if it could, it wouldn't be a dog. Let them go now and wait for them to fetch reinforcements and launch a counter-attack?
I pick up my cell phone. The greatest advantage of the internet age is that as long as you're alive and have ever gone online, you leave a trace. Of course, the biggest disadvantage is that there is nowhere to hide.
Without much effort, I find the information on Han Cheng, the Number One of West City, and dig up his entire ancestry eighteen generations deep.
I didn't expect this tiny organization to actually have a computer center. Ha, I've practically struck gold.
I hack into their completely undefended data center and find a lot of useful things.
I untie Fourth Brother Tan and signal him to eat the breakfast on the table.
Fourth Brother Tan picks up a steamed bun and devours it ravenously, then grabs another one and reaches out to feed A Hu.
I extend my iron bar and block him. "Take care of yourself first."
Then I say to the three on the floor, "Whether you live or end up in the fermented grain pits depends entirely on whether this fool knows how to behave. As for eating, a meal or two doesn't make a difference; skipping a meal won't kill you. What I want is the right attitude."
Fourth Brother Tan, food still in his mouth, freezes in place, not knowing whether he should continue eating or stop.
I glance at him. "Rest assured, it's not poisoned. Eat your fill first, then do a few things for me. Whether your brothers live or die depends entirely on how much affection you have for them. If you get the things done, I'll let you all go. If you don't—"
I stop talking.
Fourth Brother Tan struggles to swallow the food in his mouth, choking so hard his neck stretches out, looking as ridiculous as a big goose.
"Just tell me, Miss, what you want me to do, and I will do it with all my heart!"
I say indifferently, "You can try not putting your heart into it, and these three on the floor won't have a way out."
He is too terrified to speak.
I retrieve my computer and do some research.
Then I tell them my first step of the plan: I want them to send a task-completion message to the buyer, using evidence of other business dealings I found in their database, which I've photoshopped to look like me.
I won't take a single cent of the final balance paid by the buyer—it will all go to the four of them. Of course, that's on the condition that they obey me, manage to leave the old mansion alive, and live long enough to spend that money.
"B-But the employer's money was wired to our boss," Fourth Brother Tan stammers.
He still looks a bit dazed, unable to tell whether the pie falling from the sky is a windfall or a boulder.
A Hu gives him a light kick from behind, and after kicking, cautiously glances at me.
This time I don't hit him. He nods at Fourth Brother Tan.
Fourth Brother Tan catches on and hastily says, "I'll do whatever Miss says."
I nod. That's more like it. "I'll change the account number to yours without letting your Number One find out. Contact the employer and send the photo right now."
It's a photo of me being forced onto a small boat, photoshopped based on a girl with Asian facial features.
Fourth Brother Tan is completely stunned by my photoshopping skills.
Soon, the final balance appears in Fourth Brother Tan's bank account.
Two hundred thousand!
Damn!
Following the virus I embedded in the photo, I track down the ruthless person who sold me out for two hundred thousand.
It is Huo Yan.
This completely exceeds my expectations.
I originally thought it would be Li Tian or Tian Ting, instigated by Nan Yang. They are both close with Nan Yang and have obeyed her every command since they were kids; even Nan Yang's farts probably smell like roses to them.
Lately, my grades have been rising so fast that they've had it in for me for a long time.
Yet I never expected the person behind this to be Huo Yan, someone who has nothing to do with me.
How did I ever offend her? She could actually harbor such vicious intentions and come up with a method to sell me abroad.
Could she possibly not know what kind of fate awaits a girl who gets sold off?
I am keeping score of this debt.
My tracking skills leave the four-man hoodlum gang in deep amazement, and I can see the admiration in their eyes.
But this isn't enough.
I pull up all the useful information from Han Cheng's database and play it for them on the computer.
"You said earlier that you all have elderly parents and young children to support? Let me ask you: who supports the elderly and the young by trading away other people's lives? Look at these girls, in the prime of their youth, being sold to Southeast Asia—what are they sent there to do? Manual labor? You know full well in your hearts whether money earned through such wicked deeds is something you can actually make use of or have the nerve to spend. Aren't you afraid it will shorten your parents' lifespans?"
All four of them stare at the screen, refusing to look at me.
"Being in a gang isn't something I oppose, but you have to follow the right boss, understand? Even being a hoodlum requires some standards. As for this Han Cheng, I'm going to take him down. You don't have any objections, do you?"
The four of them stare at me with wide eyes.
Fourth Brother Tan can't speak even without covering his mouth, and the ones with their mouths covered can't squeeze out a single syllable.
They look at me in utter disbelief, likely thinking I've lost my mind.
Operating the computer, I bundle together everyone in the gang who is close to Han Cheng and complicit in his wicked deeds, and then hit send.
I clap my hands. "Next, we just wait. Don't worry, we won't have to wait long."
Fourth Brother Tan stammers cautiously, "Miss... what did you do to Boss Han?"
I arch an eyebrow and continue packing up my things. "I'm finding the right authorities to take him off your hands. From now on, your gang will be disbanded. However, I see that many of you don't have criminal records and were completely unaware of the truth in this incident. What happens to them next is up to you guys."
Just as I finish speaking, the food delivery arrives.
I bring the delivery inside, remove the tape from everyone's mouths, and instruct Fourth Brother Tan, "Untie them. I'm treating you to takeout—once you're done eating, get lost!"
With those calm words, I walk into the study. I've wasted way too much time this morning; I still haven't done my practice problems!