Have you heard of "a hundred tigers surrounding a village"?

It was already three days later when Song Ning gave her statement.

Two Comrade Public Security Officers questioned her. The young officer taking notes was surnamed Yang.

When recording her name, Officer Yang carefully checked, "Song Ning? Ning as in 'peace,' right?"

"No, it's Ning as in 'gaze,'" Song Ning replied.

"Ning as in 'gaze'?"

Officer Yang looked surprised. He checked his earlier notes and asked, "You just said you're from Yakou Village, Yanling County, Zhucheng, Hunan Province?"

"That's right!"

"Oh! That character isn't very common! Does everyone where you're from name their children like that?"

After writing the character for Ning several times and still being unsure whether he had the strokes right, Officer Yang showed a strong desire to learn.

"No! Um, Comrade Public Security Officer, have you heard of 'a hundred tigers surrounding a village'?" There was a hint of mystery in Song Ning's voice.

When it came to questions about her name, she knew the answer.

She knew it all too well.

Ever since childhood, the original owner of this body had also found the character for Ning difficult to write and had asked her grandfather about it many times.

"A hundred tigers surrounding a village?"

The officer beside him was considerably older. He chimed in, "Do you mean the Tiger Disaster in Hunan Province back in the fifties? It was in the newspapers at the time."

"A Tiger Disaster? Were they actual tigers? What happened?" Officer Yang was intensely curious.

"Yes! Real tigers attacked people. Supposedly, it started when some villagers killed a tiger cub. Then tigers surrounded the village. Firecrackers couldn't drive them away, and neither could artillery. They only left after the villagers handed over the cub's body. Anyway, quite a few people in that area lost their lives to tigers over the course of it. People came from all over the country to help. It caused quite an uproar for a while!" the older officer said with a sigh.

Officer Yang's eyes widened, and he was about to ask more.

The older officer waved a hand. "All right! You can learn more about that later. Let's finish today's work first."

"Oh!"

Only then did Officer Yang turn back and continue questioning Song Ning. "So? Does your name have something to do with those hundred tigers surrounding a village?"

"Yes!"

Song Ning hurried to reclaim the floor and said solemnly, "The village those hundred tigers surrounded was ours. The year I was born was the worst year of the Tiger Disaster. My grandfather originally named me Song Xing, because I had an older brother named Song Wang-Xing for 'prosperity,' and Wang for 'flourishing.' An official sent to our village to help deal with the tigers injured his foot and stayed at our house while he recovered! He objected to my name, saying a little girl should have something more literary. Why not call me Song Ning? Ning as in 'gaze'-it had more depth and meaning!"

"Later, my grandfather decided that official was an educated man. Not only did he name me Song Ning, he changed my brother's name to Song Wang too, but with the character for 'hope.'"

"Oh! So that's how it happened! It's a nice name, but the character is a bit hard to write!" Officer Yang was still bent over his notes, battling with the character for Ning.

"So your village was the one hit by the Tiger Disaster! Things must have improved over the years!" The older officer sounded both reflective and curious.

"Much better! The tigers have disappeared from the area! They're protected now, too. People aren't allowed to kill them as they please anymore."

Song Ning happily steered the conversation toward her next point. "Um, you two probably wouldn't know this unless I told you, but because of the Tiger Disaster, our village had government approval to openly keep hunting rifles. Back in those days, practically every villager knew how to shoot! Um... I actually learned too!"

"Also, my grandfather served on the battlefield as a medic when he was younger. Later, he became the village's barefoot doctor. He was very good at treating people! So I-I know a little martial arts and a little medicine. My grandfather taught me all of it! Um... Officer Yang, was I speaking a little too fast? Did you get everything down?"

"Ah-oh-yes, yes, I got it all!"

Although Officer Yang had no idea how the conversation had veered toward "shooting" and "my grandfather," or what either had to do with their questions, he paused for a moment and then dutifully recorded everything Song Ning had said.

Aside from that character for Ning giving him some trouble earlier, he considered his note-taking quite professional.

Song Ning breathed a sigh of relief and sat up straight again.

"Um, officers, please go on with your questions."

The original owner had run away from home without even a letter of introduction, leaving her identity documentation a complete blank.

The information the Comrade Public Security Officers recorded now would effectively become official proof of her background.

She had to get the Comrade Public Security Officers to write down everything she could think of, heading off as many future questions as possible to make things easier for herself later.

Only then did the questioning return to its proper course.

After asking about and recording the circumstances of her abduction and trafficking in detail once more, Officer Yang asked the standard question. "Comrade Song Ning, according to your account, you were abducted while on your way to find your intended husband. We'll respect your wishes now. Would you like to return to your village, or continue on to his place?"

Almost all the young women they had questioned earlier had been abducted while traveling. Some had been visiting relatives, some had been going to stay with someone, and others had left home in search of a livelihood. When asked what they wanted to do afterward, most had requested to go home rather than continue their journeys.

When it was Song Ning's turn, she answered without hesitation. "I'd like to continue on to my intended husband's place."

She would return to that "home" too, but not now.

She was penniless at the moment. First, she needed an identity, and then she needed to give that identity some weight.

Clearly, going to her intended husband was the wiser choice.

"All right!"

Officer Yang continued asking questions as he wrote. "Can your intended husband be contacted? Is there any chance he could come to An Ping to pick you up? Or could someone from your family escort you there?"

My intended husband?

Song Ning recalled how confidently her grandfather had spoken about the marriage. She figured this "intended husband" really did exist, but two years had passed since the agreed time, and he still hadn't come to the village to marry "her." That made the whole thing sound rather dubious.

There was even less chance of him coming to pick her up.

As for someone from her family escorting her? Ha! That was pure fantasy.

If her uncle and aunt learned she had been abducted by traffickers, they would probably sell her off that very night-and somewhere far away, too, for fear they wouldn't get a good price otherwise.

They were every bit as bad as the traffickers!

Song Ning immediately shook her head. "No! No one will come to pick me up, and no one can escort me."

"All right!"

Officer Yang gave a routine response. "Then please give us your intended husband's full address. Since your luggage and identity documents were all lost, we'll issue you new letters of introduction from the Anping City Public Security Bureau! Don't worry! They'll be valid wherever you go!"

This was Song Ning's favorite part.

She had been waiting for that letter of introduction!

Following her memories, she gave an address: Lu Changqing, 7th Regiment, 13th Army, Southwest Military Region.

"You're a military dependent?" Officer Yang nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Um... no! No! Not yet!" Song Ning waved her hands repeatedly.

He was only her intended husband. They weren't married!

The marriage had been arranged between the original owner's grandfather and Lu Changqing.

Back then, Lu Changqing had been the one to propose the engagement.

Only after arriving in An Ping had Song Ning taken her first proper look at all the scars, large and small, on the original owner's body. There were scratches, cuts, and burns. Most had come from working in the hills and fields or doing housework, while some had been inflicted by her aunt and younger cousins...

The original owner had lived worse than a dog all these years. She had always hoped this marriage would rescue her from her misery, but Lu Changqing had failed to keep his promise...

Because he had broken his promise, her uncle and aunt had looked down on Song Ning even more and treated her even more cruelly, until they drove her into a corner. With nothing but desperate courage, she had fled-only to die of illness while being trafficked!

In other words, unless he had a reasonable explanation, he bore some responsibility for the original owner's death!

As for Lu Changqing himself... she would reserve judgment until she met him.

But this marriage involved the original owner's grandfather. She would never let it slide without getting to the bottom of it.

The long questioning session finally came to an end.

Song Ning thanked them and left.

The older officer beside Yang picked up Song Ning's statement and read it carefully again. When he reached the address she had given, he murmured, "This address... hey! Isn't this the unit Regimental Commander Gu belongs to?"

He slapped his thigh. "If we'd known earlier, we could have had Regimental Commander Gu take the girl back with him!"

"Regimental Commander Gu?" Officer Yang chimed in. "Come to think of it, Regimental Commander Gu asked my mother to buy clothes for Song Ning earlier. I thought they knew each other well!"

"Buy clothes for Song Ning?"

"Yes! You know my mother works at the department store! She helped buy several complete outfits for her, underwear and all!"

The older officer looked down at the statement in his hand again, puzzled. "Then does Regimental Commander Gu know Song Ning is his comrade's fiancée or not?"

Officer Yang leaned closer. "Well, think about it... if he knew, wouldn't he have taken her back with him?"

The old officer and the young one exchanged glances, a faint gleam of gossip sparking between them.