Twisting the Truth

The door was shoved open with a bang, and three police officers walked in.

Their leader was a stocky man in his early forties, not particularly tall, with a square face, thick eyebrows, and tightly pressed lips.

He glanced over everyone, his gaze finally settling on Wang Dahai and Sun Deming.

Two younger officers followed him, one tall and thin, the other short and stout. Both looked to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

"I'm Zhao Jianguo, deputy chief of the Lotus Police Station. Who called the police?"

Manager Zhou stepped forward. "Director Zhao, I asked someone to call. I'm Zhou Hai, the hotel manager."

Zhao Jianguo nodded and turned his attention back to the room.

Wang Dahai lay sprawled on the floor, broken glass still embedded in his knees. His blood had stained a patch of carpet red.

Sun Deming sat against the wall, his face smeared with blood from his nose. A large red stain covered the front of his T-shirt, and his lips were swollen like sausages.

Li Yan sat by the bathroom door, wrapped in a bath towel. The blood from a cut on her forehead had already clotted, coating half her face.

Zhao Jianguo frowned.

Wang Dahai lifted his head, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Liu! Liu!"

He shouted at the tall, thin officer,

"Liu, it's me! Wang Dahai from Xingda Labor Services! We've had dinner together!"

The tall, thin officer paused and glanced at Wang Dahai, a flicker of awkwardness crossing his face.

He turned to Zhao Jianguo. "Director Zhao, that's Wang Dahai, the head of Xingda Labor Services. It's a business in our jurisdiction. We've had dealings with him before."

Zhao Jianguo grunted in acknowledgment, his expression unchanged.

As though he had found a lifeline, Wang Dahai struggled to get up. The moment he put weight on his knees, the glass dug deeper, making him grimace in pain.

"Liu, Chief Zhao, you're finally here!"

Wang Dahai's voice trembled with tears,

"I was assaulted! Look what they did to me! You've got to get justice for me!"

Zhao Jianguo glanced at him, then at Chen Yuan. "What happened?"

That question set all three people on the floor clamoring at once.

Wang Dahai spoke first:

"Director Zhao, this woman is our employee, Zhang Xiu'e. We brought her out to dinner with a client today, but she got drunk and went wild. She attacked our client, Mr. Sun, and injured another of my employees! Her younger brother is even worse. He barged in and started beating us without a word! Look what he did to me!"

Leaning against the wall and clutching his nose, Sun Deming spoke in a muffled, nasal voice:

"Director Zhao, I'm Sun Deming, the HR director at Dacheng Electronics. I'm a respectable man. I came here today to discuss business with Xingda Labor Services. This woman kept throwing herself at me. When I ignored her, she got angry and started smashing things and hitting people. Look at my face. My nose might even be broken!"

As he spoke, he lowered his hand, revealing a blood-smeared face and a crooked nose. His injuries certainly looked serious.

Li Yan got up from beside the bathroom door, tugged the bath towel around herself, then staggered over to Zhao Jianguo to show him the cut on her forehead.

"Director Zhao, look at me!"

Her voice was shrill and piercing,

"Zhang Xiu'e ambushed me in the bathroom and hit me over the head with something! She tried to kill me! She tried to kill me!"

Li Yan pointed at Zhang Xiu'e, her finger shaking violently,

"We brought her out to dinner out of kindness, and what did she do? She smashed things and attacked us, then called someone over to beat us up like this!"

The three voices tangled together, each taking a turn as though they were performing a comedy routine. Their coordination was remarkably smooth.

Zhang Xiu'e sat on the sofa, trembling with rage.

She sprang to her feet, her face flushed bright red:

"That's not what happened! Director Zhao, it wasn't like they said!"

Zhao Jianguo looked at her. "Go ahead."

"Wang Dahai forced me to come! They made me drink. When I refused, they forced the alcohol down my throat! I wanted to leave, but they wouldn't let me. They held me up and dragged me from the private dining room to this room!"

Zhang Xiu'e's voice shook uncontrollably, but her account was clear and coherent,

"Li Yan covered my mouth so I couldn't shout. Wang Dahai said he was going to let that man Sun rape me! I had no way out. I went into the bathroom, and Li Yan followed me in to watch me. I was terrified, so I hit her when she wasn't looking!"

As she spoke, tears began to fall:

"They're bad people! They were going to hurt me! My younger brother came to save me!"

"Bullshit!"

Still sprawled on the floor, Wang Dahai suddenly raised his voice,

"Who forced you to drink? You drank it yourself! Who dragged you in? You walked in on your own! You're just some country woman who saw that Mr. Sun had money and tried to throw herself at him. When he wasn't interested, you turned nasty. Now you're trying to pin the blame on us!"

"Exactly!"

Li Yan chimed in,

"Zhang Xiu'e, have you no shame? You were leaning all over Mr. Sun at dinner. When he didn't respond, you went crazy and ambushed me in the bathroom. Now you're saying we tried to hurt you? Is this cut on my forehead fake?"

Sun Deming covered his nose, his voice muffled:

"Director Zhao, I've seen plenty of women like this. They throw themselves at rich men, then make a scene when it doesn't work. I came here for an ordinary business meeting, and she turned it into this mess. I'll have to raise this with your superiors."

The tall, thin officer Wang Dahai had called Liu glanced at Wang Dahai, then at Zhang Xiu'e, and cleared his throat.

"Zhang Xiu'e, right? You reek of alcohol. Don't you know how much you've drunk? You beat them up like this, and you still think you're in the right?"

Zhang Xiu'e froze, her lips trembling. "I... they forced me to drink..."

"Forced you? You're an adult. If you didn't want to drink, who could force you?"

Liu's tone was measured, but his words carried a very different implication,

"Look at these three. Each one's injured worse than the last. Whatever happened, couldn't you have talked it out? Why did you have to resort to violence?"

Tears spilled down Zhang Xiu'e's face. "I didn't... it really was them..."

"All right, enough." Liu waved a hand. "You can say whatever you have to say at the station."

Chen Yuan sat on the sofa without saying a word.

His fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles had gone white. Regret gnawed at him.

I went too easy on them!

With the Baji Fist his grandfather had taught him, he could shatter a brick with an elbow strike and break bones with a punch. Afraid of seriously hurting them, he had held back.

Wang Dahai looked awful, but the glass in his knees was his only real injury. The rest was just bruising and soreness that would heal in a few days.

Sun Deming's face was covered in blood, but his nose wasn't even broken. The nosebleed just looked frightening.

If I'd known these three were so good at twisting the truth, I should've put them in bed for three months.

Chen Yuan stared at Zhao Jianguo, waiting to see what he would say.

The deputy chief's expression hadn't changed once since he entered.

He hadn't said anything when Wang Dahai protested his innocence, nor when Liu berated Zhang Xiu'e.

Chen Yuan couldn't quite figure him out.

Zhao Jianguo looked around the room and spoke.

"All right. Stop arguing."

His voice wasn't loud, but the room immediately fell silent.

"Take everyone to the station for statements. Have any injuries examined and investigate whatever needs investigating."

With that, he turned to leave.

Wang Dahai panicked. "Director Zhao! Look at my legs. I can't walk! Can you let me go to the hospital first?"

Sun Deming hurried to add, "Chief Zhao, my nose hurts terribly. I'm afraid it's broken. I need to go to the hospital too."

Li Yan was even more dramatic. She clutched her forehead and crouched on the floor. "I'm dizzy! I feel sick! I've got a concussion! I need to go to the hospital too!"

Zhao Jianguo stopped and glanced back.

"All right."

His gaze settled on Liu,

"Liu Ming, arrange for someone to take those three to the hospital to have their injuries examined first. Bring them back to the station afterward."

Liu Ming nodded. "Yes, Chief Zhao."

At that, Wang Dahai could no longer suppress the smugness on his face.

Bracing himself against the floor, he slowly stood up. Blood trickled from his knees, but he seemed no longer to feel the pain.

Wang Dahai glanced at Zhang Xiu'e, his eyes filled with triumph, mockery, and malice.

"Xiu'e,"

He sighed, his voice dripping with feigned regret,

"Why did you have to do this? You had a perfectly good job, but you just had to make a mess of everything. Don't worry. I'll get my injuries documented, and I'll press every charge I can. You just sit tight at the station."

Sun Deming also got up from the floor and walked to the door, holding his nose. He glanced back at Chen Yuan.

"You little punk. You dared to hit me?"

"Just you wait. I'll teach you what regret means."

Wrapped in her bath towel, Li Yan headed out. As she passed Zhang Xiu'e, she stopped.

"Zhang Xiu'e, just you wait."

She lowered her voice,

"Wang has plenty of ways to deal with you. You're not getting away this time."

The three followed Liu Ming out.

Wang Dahai limped along. At the doorway, he turned back, pointed at Chen Yuan, and silently mouthed, "Just you wait."

Zhang Xiu'e stood beside the sofa, shaking with anger, her face as white as paper. Her lips quivered, and tears streamed silently down her cheeks.

"Yuan..." Zhang Xiu'e's voice was barely louder than a mosquito's buzz. "What do we do...?"

Chen Yuan stood up, walked over to her, and reached out to take Sister Ezi's hand.

Her hand was ice-cold and still trembling.

"It'll be all right."

Zhang Xiu'e looked up at him, her eyes red and her face covered in tears.

"They know the police... that Liu was taking their side too..."

"That Zhao Jianguo didn't say anything," Chen Yuan said quietly.

Zhang Xiu'e paused.

Chen Yuan looked toward the doorway. Zhao Jianguo was standing in the corridor, making a phone call with his back to them. His voice was too low for them to make out what he was saying.