Chapter Five: Between Four Hands

"Is he really Xingyao's father?" Shen Yan asked. "Mingxi loved a journalist who was investigating the Gu corporation." Minglan watched the stretcher leave. "Father said he took money and ran. We all believed him." "You too?" "I was better at believing useful versions of the truth then." The chain had cut her palm. As Shen Yan bandaged it, they stood close enough for him to smell rain in her hair. She did not withdraw her hand. "How old were you in the photograph?" she asked. "Seven. I remember nothing before I lived with my mother." "Room Seven. You at seven." Her voice softened. "Perhaps that isn't a coincidence." At one in the morning, Zhou was released outside his bar.