Chapter 4: The Prodigal Leaves Home (Part 1)
Under my persuasion—or rather, my threats—Wendy Xu unlocked the door. When it swung open, I could hardly believe my eyes.
The apartment was a disaster zone. Bloodstains hadn't yet been cleaned off the floor. The glass coffee table had been shattered, shards and trash scattered everywhere, leaving no clear place to step.
It wasn't hard to imagine what kind of violence had taken place in this room.
I closed the door and studied Wendy Xu. She'd removed her sunglasses and mask, revealing a face covered with cuts and bruises. Blood caked the corners of her mouth, one eye socket was dark purple with swelling, and she could barely open one eye.
She limped to the sofa and sat down. Her legs were battered too—big patches of scraped skin visible through torn fabric.
"Who did this?" I asked in shock.
She looked down at her legs. "You did. You pushed me to the ground yesterday..."
"I'm not asking about your legs. I'm asking about your face."
Wendy Xu gave a bitter laugh. "When you lose that much money, do you think life is going to treat you well?"
My mind flashed to the companion who'd abandoned her yesterday. I hadn't realized he would be this brutal—the swelling around her eye was severe. A little more force and he might have blinded her.
I kicked debris out of my way and stepped closer to Wendy Xu, fixing her with a hard stare. "Where did you get those gold bars? Listen to me—you'd better not lie again. I've nearly lost my family over this mess. If you jerk me around one more time, I'll take you down with me. And don't think I'm bluffing!"
"I know. I saw..." she said. "When I was coming back last night, I saw your wanted poster on the side of the road. The arson case that everyone's been sharing around—it's you."
"I didn't set the fire. I was framed! Those gold bars from the case suddenly ended up in your hands—who gave them to you?"
She was silent for a long moment, then finally began to tell me her story.
She was a "premium hostess" at an upscale nightclub. A businessman named Tai Sun had taken a particular liking to her—he'd book her table regularly, give her spending money, even take her on trips to Hong Kong and Macau. Their relationship grew increasingly intimate, and eventually they became a couple.
With Tai Sun's patronage and generosity, she'd believed she'd landed herself a sugar daddy. He arranged no-show jobs for her, bought her gifts through his company, and let her enjoy the high life.
Those pure gold zodiac figurines had been delivered by Tai Sun. He'd told her plainly that they were hot goods and could only be sold through black-market channels. If she helped him move them, he'd reward her handsomely.
Wendy Xu knew this was illegal, but what moral standards did she have? All she could see was a chance to line her own pockets.
Blinded by greed, she helped Tai Sun fence the gold—and then everything went sideways. After last night's fiasco, Tai Sun had flown into a rage. The tender, doting lover was replaced by a violent brute, punch after punch shattering Wendy Xu's fantasy of being a rich man's kept woman.
Now Tai Sun was gone. He might come back, but she didn't dare see him again. She knew the truth: this man had never loved her. She was nothing more than a rich man's plaything.
Listening to Wendy Xu's story, my mind reeled—because I knew Tai Sun. He was the supervisor at the stalled project!
Tai Sun's life story was theatrical in the extreme. He'd started as a drifter, a beggar who wandered from place to place, until one day he found himself begging at Victor Li's construction site. Instead of running him off, Victor Li had let him stay and eat at the site kitchen—told him whenever he was hungry, just come by.
Over time, Tai Sun settled at the construction site. Maybe the guilt of freeloading got to him; he started helping out with odd jobs. Victor Li was pleased, even paid him wages, and Tai Sun threw himself into the work with even more energy, his gratitude toward Victor Li deepening into genuine loyalty.
He was different from the other workers. They labored for their families, but Tai Sun was a lone drifter who viewed Victor Li as his personal savior. He was willing to do absolutely anything—the dirty work no one else would touch. Nobody cared about a man with no connections and no reputation.
Stealing materials from rival sites. Running interference for overloaded trucks. Intimidating homeowners who refused to vacate. Fronting shell companies to take the fall for Victor Li's legal exposures. Ordinary people feared prison; Tai Sun feared nothing. He used to joke that if he ever got locked up, it'd be a sweet deal—three square meals, a sewing machine, and free medical care. Compared to life on the streets, prison sounded like paradise.
A man like that—rootless, fearless, willing to break any law—was the perfect instrument for someone like Victor Li, whose own hands were far from clean.
Slowly, through his willingness to commit crimes, take the fall, and serve as a front, Tai Sun was elevated from homeless drifter to site supervisor to "Boss Tai."
I never would have imagined he was living this kind of double life. Victor Li must have paid him handsomely, transforming a beggar into a man who could keep a mistress in luxury.
But one question gnawed at me, and no amount of thinking could crack it: how had Tai Sun gotten his hands on the pure gold zodiac figurines? Had Victor Li given them to him before he died?
Impossible. I could swear that I'd been the only person in that room with Victor Li, and I'd sealed the front door myself. Whoever took those gold figurines out, it defied all logic.
If I wanted to get to the bottom of this, I'd have to find Tai Sun. Fortunately, I knew where he lived—the apartment right near the stalled project, convenient for his supervisory duties.
Wendy Xu sighed as she finished speaking, then looked at me with something close to pleading. "I've gotten myself into serious trouble. Tai Sun wants me to pay him back—he says the loss is all on me. That's over a million! Where am I supposed to come up with that kind of money? I want to go to the police, but I'm afraid they'll arrest me too. So I decided to run."
I glanced at her bags of luggage. The woman was planning to disappear.
After a moment's thought, I said, "Don't run. You won't get away. Come with me."
"What?"
"Let me ask you something—if Tai Sun is caught by the police before you are, do you think he'll sell you out?"
Wendy Xu said, "I used to think he loved me. But when the man who was supposed to pick me up saw you yesterday and just floored the gas pedal—and then started hammering my face with his fists—I finally woke up. If he gets arrested, he'll definitely drag me down with him. You have no idea how I felt. He could have saved me. Instead he drove off and left me behind."
"So he was the driver last night. That explains it... He probably ran because he recognized me. He couldn't risk letting me see his face."
"I hate him! The only reason I got caught was because he abandoned me—and then he threw all the blame on me! When he was beating me, I wanted to kill him!"
She spat the words through gritted teeth. I could picture it: she'd fled back, bruised and terrified, expecting a sympathetic ear, only to be beaten for her troubles.
I said, "Then we strike first. Those gold bars are stolen property—he gave them to you to fence. You help me find more leads, and we'll turn state's witness. If Tai Sun was the one pulling the strings, cooperating will give you an excellent chance at a suspended sentence."
Wendy Xu couldn't help herself. "A suspended sentence? Really?"
"You didn't steal the gold—you just helped sell it. And you'll be turning yourself in immediately. The odds of a suspended sentence are very good. Even in the worst case, your charges are light—you were an accessory, not a principal. The judge will consider mitigating factors. Let me be blunt: neither of us has power or wealth. We're not bright enough to outmaneuver the police..."
"Maybe I can find a way to avoid getting caught. If I can just figure out how to destroy the evidence..."
"Stop overestimating yourself. If you were genuinely clever, would you be in this mess? Recognizing your own limitations is a kind of wisdom too. Did you get into a top university? Did you get rich on your own merits? You're an ordinary person—what intellectual resources do you have to fight the police? I'm ordinary too, and I still managed to track down where you live."
Wendy Xu had no comeback.
I pressed on. "We can't beat the police. Since we both know we're out of our league, what's the smartest move?"
Wendy Xu said quietly, "If you can't beat them, join them. We turn ourselves in—and before Tai Sun can sell me out, I sell him out first. Use him to buy my safety!"
"Now you're using your brain."
At last, Wendy Xu came around and agreed to work with me.