Chapter 3: Confrontation at the Inn

 

"My name is... Nima," the Tibetan boy stammered, his face flushing crimson.

Cheng Jia choked on her cigarette and turned away, coughing violently. The fit was so intense that her pale neck soon bloomed pink.

The inn's off-white lighting cast a pearlescent glow across her fair skin. Unlike the local women—weathered by wind and sand, their skin dark and bodies sturdy—Cheng Jia possessed the delicate refinement of someone raised in the misty regions south of the Yangtze. Slender and smooth-skinned, she looked as though water might seep from her flesh at the slightest touch.

Even during the search, Sixteen had stolen glances at her. But her eyes remained glacial, perpetually mocking, creating an impenetrable barrier around her.

"Wait." Stone, who had reached the corridor, turned back sharply. "There's something under her bed."

A camera case.

Cheng Jia lifted her eyelids. "You have no right to search that."

Stone ignored her completely. He gestured to Sixteen, and they squatted together to drag the box out.

Cheng Jia leaned against the wall, motionless, watching.

Sixteen rubbed his nose, catching an unfamiliar scent. He sniffed his hand once, then again.

Cheng Jia observed him coolly. "I just rifled through my clothes. Like the perfume?"

Sixteen's face stiffened. He stepped aside, whispering to Stone, "Seventh Brother, this woman's dangerous. She's all thorns."

"She's unnaturally calm too," Nima muttered, turning to their leader. "Brother Ye, your call?"

Peng Ye said nothing.

On the other side of the bed, Stone addressed Cheng Jia perfunctorily. "Cooperate with the inspection. Open the box."

Cheng Jia uttered one word: "No."

Peng Ye approached. "Please cooperate and open the box."

Cheng Jia studied his face for half a second, then curved her lips. "No."

Before the word finished echoing, Stone pried the box open.

Cheng Jia didn't intervene or react. She didn't even glance at the box. Instead, she kept her gaze fixed on Peng Ye with a half-smile, her eyes stripping him bare with unsettling intensity.

Peng Ye couldn't decipher her expression—cold as some unknowable object.

He turned to watch Stone search. The box contained numerous black velvet bags, meticulously arranged.

As Stone removed them one by one, Peng Ye sensed Cheng Jia's gaze still burning into his face.

He couldn't fathom what she saw. After enduring it for a long moment, he glanced sideways at her.

Her eyes traveled slowly downward, scanning him from head to toe.

Peng Ye's expression remained utterly composed. He stood there another second or two before walking out of her line of sight to observe Stone's progress.

When more than a dozen bags were opened, they revealed cameras and lenses of various styles and sizes.

Nima remained silent for a long time, exchanging whispers with Sixteen while staring at the equipment. Sixteen shook his head. Nima stepped back and said nothing more.

After an exhaustive search, Stone finally conceded defeat. Though frustrated, he couldn't deny the truth. Suppressing his irritation, he told Cheng Jia, "Nothing. We found nothing."

Cheng Jia's voice dripped with mockery. "Why not search again? Be thorough."

Stone's embarrassment was palpable. Unable to respond to her directly, he addressed the others. "Let's go."

"Just like that?" Cheng Jia asked.

Stone forced the words out. "Sorry. Wrong room—"

"I wasn't speaking to you."

"You—" Stone nearly exploded, but Sixteen restrained him.

Cheng Jia's eyes found Peng Ye. "I was talking to him. You barge in during the middle of the night, and that's your conclusion?"

The three men looked at Peng Ye. "Sorry. We identified the wrong person."

"Is an apology sufficient?"

Stone's patience snapped. "Don't get cocky. The guy I've been tracking for months came from your room. You're accomplices. He slipped away tonight, so I'm letting you off easy. Don't push—"

"Then don't let me off. Search. Keep searching!" Cheng Jia slammed her lighter onto the bedside table. "If you don't find anything tonight, nobody leaves!"

Stone's face burned red as he pointed at her nose. "You're—"

"Sangyang, take him out," Peng Ye interjected.

Nima pulled Stone from the room.

Silence descended.

Peng Ye knelt by the bed and began carefully returning the cameras and lenses to their velvet bags.

Cheng Jia noticed his hands—broad palms, even skin tone, fingertips thick with calluses. She drew a deep breath and extinguished her cigarette.

He finished organizing everything, closed the box, and slid it back under the bed.

His face came level with the bed's edge—and with Cheng Jia's feet, exposed beyond the quilt. Pale as jade, one ankle bore a delicate black snake pattern that wound around the bone, cold and mysterious.

Cheng Jia curled her toes.

He looked at her through dark eyes for one second, then rose and moved to her suitcase. He folded and sorted each garment, laid out her belongings, and closed the case.

"Sufficient?" he asked.

"No," Cheng Jia replied.

She refused to relent. Before Peng Ye could respond, Sixteen appeared behind him.

"Miss, we're patrol members from the reserve, tracking a poaching ring. My teammates and I have been following these suspects for a long time. One of them definitely entered this inn. The landlady confirmed he stayed in this room. But something clearly went wrong. We found the wrong person, and the lead we finally uncovered ends here. Tonight's intrusion was my mistake, not his. I should apologize. Please accept our regrets. We're willing to compensate for any harm we've caused."

Cheng Jia remained silent.

Stone somehow reappeared. After hearing Sixteen's words, he blurted anxiously, "Compensate? Our team's funds are already stretched thin. We spend everything on fuel and vehicle repairs. Otherwise—"

Sixteen yanked him backward, silencing him.

"I'm not unreasonable, and I'm not trying to extort you," Cheng Jia said. "That debt can be forgiven. But there's another that cannot."

"Which is?"

"Which of you groped me just now?"

The two men stared, speechless.

"One of you took advantage. When you rushed in, someone grabbed my breast." Cheng Jia's eyes found Peng Ye. "Unless you identify this person, none of you leave."

After several seconds, Peng Ye spoke. "It was me."

A sneer flickered in Cheng Jia's eyes.

The other two turned to Peng Ye simultaneously, expressions shifting through multiple emotions.

"I was trying to pull someone from the bed," Peng Ye continued. "I grabbed something I shouldn't have."

"No wonder you hid in the shadows when the lights came on. Fast retreat."

"..."

Peng Ye's lips thinned. "I didn't expect it to be a woman."

"Who knows whether you didn't expect it or did it deliberately?"

"..."

"Sorry."

"I don't accept apologies."

"I can compensate financially."

Cheng Jia's voice hardened. "Do you believe violating a woman can be solved with money?"

Silence.

Sixteen attempted mediation. "Miss, we genuinely believed a man was in this room. He had absolutely no knowledge of the situation. It wasn't intentional, and he's apologized. If you won't accept the apology or compensation, tell us how to resolve this. We'll cooperate. Fair enough?"

"He has to let me touch him back," Cheng Jia stated. "That's fair."

The room fell silent.

"No," Peng Ye said.

"What's wrong with you?"

Peng Ye met her gaze through dark eyes.

"Girl, that's inappropriate," Sixteen protested.

Cheng Jia's laugh was sharp. "He knew his limits. It felt appropriate when he touched me, didn't it?"

Peng Ye's lips compressed into a thin line.

The patrol team, accustomed to deserts and mountains but not to women speaking so bluntly, lapsed into uncomfortable silence.

A nervous shout shattered the tension: "Seventh Brother! Next room!"

Everyone's demeanor shifted instantly. They withdrew.

Peng Ye moved toward the door.

"Stop!" Cheng Jia commanded.

Peng Ye slowed fractionally, took another step or two, then halted. Without turning, he said, "I have a mission now."

"With all that commotion, whoever was here is long gone. You know that better than I do."

Her words struck home. Peng Ye fell silent.

She climbed from the bed and pulled on a long light-blue shirt that barely covered her thighs.

Cheng Jia walked up to him, studied him briefly, and asked, "What's your name?"

Peng Ye regarded her with an expressionless face, silent.

Cheng Jia waited, then frowned impatiently and reached toward his chest.

Peng Ye dodged instantly.

Cheng Jia actually understood that Peng Ye hadn't intended it. She'd felt it in the force he'd used when rushing in and grabbing her—too much strength, because he'd expected a man on the bed.

But lack of intention didn't erase the wrong, didn't mean she should be understanding and forgiving and swallow her anger.

When she'd dressed beneath the quilt, she'd discovered a red handprint on her breast and only then registered the pain.

Honestly, though, Cheng Jia didn't know what she wanted.

A man had violated her without cause, and she couldn't strike back, couldn't scold him, couldn't slap him. She needed to do something, but the problem was she couldn't determine what.

Because he was so damned straightforward!

Originally, Cheng Jia had only intended to vent her anger symbolically, perhaps touching his clothing. But his dodge irritated her profoundly.

Outside, Stone shouted, "Seventh Brother, something happened!"

Peng Ye's frown deepened. "I have urgent business."

"Violating me was evil business," Cheng Jia retorted. "Even if someone dies out there, it's none of my concern."

Peng Ye looked at her with near-disbelief. After a moment, he said, "Move."

Cheng Jia folded her arms and planted herself directly in his path.

Peng Ye stepped sideways; she mirrored him backward, blocking his way. He changed direction; she followed. After two or three steps, they'd nearly reached the door. Another step and she'd be pressed against him.

Peng Ye retreated and raised his voice. "Move."

Cheng Jia's smile was cold. "You could pick me up and throw me out like you did before."

Peng Ye inhaled deeply, attempting patience. "What do you want?"

"Slap me," Cheng Jia said.

Peng Ye stared at her for several seconds, eyes dark and unreadable. Suddenly, he raised his hand and struck himself hard across the face. "Satisfied?"

Cheng Jia fell silent. This wasn't what she'd wanted, but she couldn't articulate what she actually desired.

She stared at the red mark blooming on his face, speechless. After several seconds, she stepped aside.

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