Tea Leaves and Red Silk

Family Crisis (1/2)

Match Twenty-Two: Family Crisis (1/2):

December 27th, 2013.

The police looked for the men who assaulted Junjie two days before Christmas. The spoiled heir was found by two officer workers on their way home from a long night at work. They got him to the nearest hospital. By the next morning, the mother called the police when their son didn't come home the night before. They were used to him staying out all night, but something didn't feel right to his mother.

"Honey," she said at breakfast. "I think we should call the police." The big boss man glanced up from his newspaper.

"Why?" he asked. "He'll wander back in when he gets hungry." Zhong's wife's hand trembled in her lap.

"Please?" she asked. "What if he's hurt and in trouble?" As if on cue, the phone rang. One of the maids walked into the dining room.

"Sir," she said. "It's for you. It's the police." Zhong sighed and rolled his eyes.

"What the hell did that boy do?" he muttered under his breath. The boss man held out his hand. "Hand it here!"

"Yes, sir," the maid said. Zhong yanked the phone out of her hand.

"Hello?" he asked. The call didn't last long. Zhong rose to his feet. "Honey! We're going down to the hospital!" All of the color drained from his wife's face.

"No..." she said. Her husband muttered something bitter under his breath.

The police asked around any possible witnesses. Not many people saw the attack that night. All clues lead nowhere. Junjie couldn't tell them much about the guys who attacked him either. Everyone who knew had a good guess of why he was reluctant to talk to the police. His father gritted his teeth.

"What the fuck did you do now?" his father asked.

"Nothing!" Junjie wailed.

"Don't lie to me, boy!"

"I'm not, I swear!"

His father's face burned tomato red. "You!"

"Honey, please!" his wife screamed. Zhong sat back down, nostrils, flaring. He muttered something nasty under his breath. Junjie and his mother pretended to not to hear him.

The police asked around in the underbelly of Beijing. Again, no one could answer their questions. In fact, some of the party animals were happy that Junjie got his ass handed to him by a group of thugs.

"He was an asshole."

"That bastard owed me money."

"Zhong stole my girlfriend."

"Can we bow down to the guys who did it?"

The police could only nervously chuckle at how much these shady "ladies" and "gentlemen" hated the spoiled heir. Some of them even agreed with the underbelly. Would they have their man soon?

Please soon, they got an anonymous tip.

"Hello?" the police chief asked in the middle of the night.

"I know who beat up Zhong's son," a small voice whispered. At first, the chief rolled his eyes.

"What is it?" he asked.

"He was beaten up over a girl who he raped back in October."

"So, what? Many girls claim that he raped them. It's usually just a way to shake for money."

"This girl is different."

"Oh, how so?"

"She was a girl from a powerful clan."

The police chief sat up at his desk, all ears. "Go on..." The anonymous caller then proceeded to tell the story of Szu's attack, the planning, and the brutal beatings. Only, there were no names or particular ideas mentioned. Still, it was enough for the police to connect the dots.

This was the beginning of Zhong Junjie's downfall.