The Numbers in the Account

Wang Cuihua had not slept a wink all night. The packet of money beneath the rice jar was like a red-hot branding iron, burning her into a panic. At first light, she finally dozed off for a little while, only to dream that several men in black came pounding on her door, demanding to take her and her daughter away. She sat bolt upright in a cold sweat, her heart pounding.

Outside the window, the sky was gray. Her daughter Xiaohua was still fast asleep in the little bed beside hers. Wang Cuihua crept up and, like a thief, plunged her hand deep into the cold rice. Only when her fingertips touched the rough edge of the envelope did she breathe a little easier-the money was still there.

But a greater anxiety seized her the next moment. What was she supposed to do with the money?

Keep it? She didn't dare. The icy looks in those two men's eyes yesterday still hovered before her.

Take it back? She didn't know who the two men were. Where would she take it?

Give it to the police? She dismissed the thought at once. Her husband was still inside, and the money had come from who knew where. If it really was stolen money, wouldn't she be walking straight into a trap?

That left only one thing... depositing it.

She hastily put together some rice porridge and pickles for herself and her daughter, watched Xiaohua finish eating, and took her to school. Then she took half a day off work and left home with the envelope tucked against her, a hot potato that felt like a ticking time bomb.

The road to the bank seemed unusually long. Every time she saw a man in dark clothes, her heart clenched. She kept feeling that someone was watching her from behind, but whenever she looked back, there were only passersby hurrying along. The sunlight was dazzling, yet she felt cold all over.

There weren't too many people at the designated bank branch, but more than a dozen were waiting in line. Wang Cuihua hunched at the back of the queue, her head lowered, afraid to meet anyone's eyes. Sweat from her palms had soaked the envelope's edges until they were soft and soggy. She could clearly feel the corners of the bills inside.

The two little figures in her head were still fighting like mad.

Deposit all of it? It's tens of thousands of yuan! Does Huzi need that much? He's a prisoner. How much can he eat and use? Keep a little, just one bundle, five thousand yuan, to pay Xiaohua's school fees and buy her new clothes. No one would ever know...

No! Those people found their way to the house, so they know how much money there is! If they find out some is missing, will they retaliate? Will they hurt Huzi? Hurt Xiaohua?

How could they possibly know? There are so many people at the bank. Are they going to watch you count the money? Just keep five thousand and deposit the rest. That's already plenty!

How did that man yesterday know you were Li Hu's wife? They know everything! Don't lose something big for a small gain!

Fear and greed tangled in her heart like two venomous snakes. The line inched forward, and her heart beat faster and faster, until she could almost hear it thudding.

When only three people remained ahead of her, she gritted her teeth and made her decision: I'll deposit half! Hide the rest! If those people ask, I'll say that's all there was! Yes, that's what I'll do! With trembling hands, she quietly opened the envelope and, going by feel, fumbled the money into roughly two halves. She stuffed the thicker half into the inside pocket of her coat and carefully fastened it with a safety pin. By the time she finished, her forehead was covered in beads of cold sweat, and she felt utterly drained.

"Next!" the uniformed female teller called from behind the counter, her face expressionless.

Wang Cuihua took a deep breath and stepped forward as if heading to the execution ground. She passed the half of the money remaining in the envelope through the window, her voice dry and trembling. "Comrade, sorry to trouble you... please deposit this into this account, at the detention center, Li Hu's." She handed over the slip of paper with the account information as well.

The teller deftly picked up the stack of money and placed it in the counting machine. The machine rattled as the red bills flipped rapidly through it. Wang Cuihua watched nervously, her fingers digging into the cold countertop. She didn't dare look back, but she could clearly feel the gazes of the people waiting behind her, like thorns in her back.

The teller finished counting, checked the number, and prepared to enter it into the system.

Just then, a man standing behind her stepped half a pace forward, almost pressing against her back. He wore a blue baseball cap and gray work clothes, and looked like a laborer just off the night shift. He seemed a little impatient from waiting. Lowering his voice to a volume just loud enough for her to hear without attracting anyone else's attention, he said:

"Sister-in-law, Brother Scar has it pretty hard in there too. What you're doing isn't very nice, is it?"

Boom!

The blood in Wang Cuihua's body seemed to freeze solid in an instant! Her mind went blank, and her limbs turned icy cold! She whipped around, pupils dilated, and stared at the man in utter terror!

The man lifted his eyelids. Beneath the brim of his cap, his eyes were calm and unruffled, even a little weary from a night without sleep. But the chill deep in his gaze was exactly the same as the one in the eyes of the two men yesterday!

He knows! He knows everything! He even knows I secretly kept half the money! They really are watching! They're everywhere!

Boundless fear doused her pitiful greed like ice water, leaving only a bone-deep chill and lingering terror. These people were too frightening!

"S-sorry! Comrade! Wait! Wait!" she practically shrieked, her voice cracking. Flustered and almost frantic, she pulled the still-cold bundle of money, fastened with a safety pin, from the inside pocket of her coat. In her panic, the pin caught on a loose thread, but she paid it no attention. She shoved it all through the window along with the stack already in her hand, shouting incoherently, "Deposit it! This! Deposit all of this! Don't leave a single cent! Deposit it all!"

Startled by her sudden loss of composure, the teller stared at her in astonishment, then looked at the money shoved through the window, now clearly more than twice as thick, and frowned. "What's going on? Wasn't that all of it just now?"

"Sorry, sorry! I took out the wrong amount just now! This is all of it! It's all for his account!" Wang Cuihua's face was deathly pale, and her voice was thick with tears. She was almost ready to fall to her knees.

The man behind her said nothing more. He merely tugged down his cap and stepped back half a pace, looking as though he simply thought the woman was acting a little strangely, as if he had said nothing at all.

The teller gave her a few suspicious looks but counted the money again. This time, the number was evidently consistent with an amount Wang Cuihua had mentioned earlier. Wang Cuihua sagged against the counter as if she had just been pulled from the water, her underwear soaked through with cold sweat. When she finally received the feather-light deposit receipt, she didn't even look at the exact amount. She rushed out of the bank as if fleeing for her life, ran to the roadside, and braced herself against a tree. After dry-heaving a few times, she could no longer hold back her tears.

A few days later, visitation day arrived at the detention center.

Scar picked up the intercom phone. Through the thick, slightly cloudy plexiglass, he saw his wife's pale, haggard face, still stricken with fright, and frowned. "What's wrong, Cuihua? Did something happen at home? Is Xiaohua sick?" His heart sank, and he was terrified that his own troubles had dragged his family into them.

Wang Cuihua looked around. The other visitors were all talking excitedly with their loved ones, and no one was paying attention to her. Only then did she bring her mouth close to the receiver. Her voice was extremely low, as if she feared even the air might overhear, and still carried the lingering fright. "Huzi... a few days ago, some people came to the house and gave me a huge sum of money!"

"Money?" Scar was taken aback, his mind full of questions. "How much? Who gave it to you? What did they look like?"

"Tens of thousands! A great big, thick stack! I didn't know them! They all looked perfectly ordinary, except their eyes were frightening!" Wang Cuihua's voice trembled as her fingers picked unconsciously at the phone cord. "They told me to deposit it all in your account, said it was for you to use to make arrangements... I was going to... but then at the bank, someone was watching me, so I... I didn't dare. I deposited it all!" She left out the part about trying to keep some for herself, feeling only lingering fear.

Scar's brows twisted into a stubborn knot. Tens of thousands? That was no small sum. Who was so generous? When he had been out on the streets, he had plenty of fair-weather friends, but not a single one who could actually come up with tens of thousands to help him in a pinch. And they had even watched his wife deposit the money? The way they did things...

Suddenly, Lin Feng's seemingly casual question from a few days ago flashed through his mind like lightning: "Has your family... sent you any money?"

That calm, unruffled gaze, those casual words... like a bolt of lightning splitting the fog!

A frightening yet utterly clear suspicion struck him! He jerked his head up, trying to see through the visitation window toward the detention center's cell block. Though he couldn't see cell 107, he could almost feel those calm, unruffled eyes that could see through everything watching this place with an indifferent gaze.

It's Brother Feng! It has to be him!

Only he could have revealed the details about my wife and daughter so easily!

Only he could do things in a way that's impossible to figure out!

He has people outside, and he can even learn the details of the deposit in here? Such precise control and terrifying power... Recalling the rumors in the cell that Lin Feng was a crime boss's only son or a high official's illegitimate son, Scar's palms were instantly drenched in cold sweat. How is this a college student? He's clearly a fierce dragon crossing the river!

"Huzi? Huzi? Say something! What's going on with this money? Could it be stolen? Are we going to get into terrible trouble? I'm scared..." Hearing no response from the other side, Wang Cuihua grew so anxious that her voice turned tearful, and tears welled in her eyes.

"Shut up!" Scar abruptly lowered his voice and scolded her, his eyes filled with unprecedented awe and fear, even a trace of fervor. "This money... is fine! It's completely clean! It's... it's from a big brother in here looking after me! That's an enormous favor! You did the right thing! Depositing it all was right! You did the right thing!"

He kept repeating himself, as if that could dispel his wife's fear and convince himself too. "Listen, Cuihua! From now on! As long as it's those people... the ones who gave you the money, or anyone who sounds connected to that big brother in here, do whatever they tell you! Don't ask a single question, and don't hesitate for a second! You hear me! This is our good fortune! A blessing from heaven!" He was so worked up that he was becoming incoherent.

Startled by her husband's sudden excitement and sternness, Wang Cuihua nodded in a daze. "Oh... oh... I understand... Huzi, are you... all right in there?"

"I'm great! I've never been better!" Scar even forced a twisted smile onto his face. "I've got big brother looking out for me! Things will get even better! You and Xiaohua don't need to worry! Go home! Hurry on home!"

After putting down the phone, Scar felt as though the ground beneath his feet were floating, as if he were walking on cotton. He walked back to the cell block with his arms and legs almost moving in lockstep, "tens of thousands," "watching the deposit," and "big brother looking after me" echoing over and over in his head. Back in cell 107, he went straight to Lin Feng's bunk and bowed until his back was almost at a right angle. His smile was a mixture of gratitude, fear, and flattery, and even his voice trembled. "Brother Feng... thank you, thank you for looking after me! For such immense kindness, I, Li Hu, will be grateful to my dying day!"

Lin Feng was leaning back, reading a dog-eared copy of Zhiyin magazine that someone had somehow brought in. Hearing this, he didn't even lift his eyelids. He merely gave an extremely slight, almost imperceptible nod and let out a barely audible "Mm" through his nose.

Scar, however, acted as though he had received the greatest affirmation and an imperial decree. So excited he didn't know what to do with himself, he rubbed his hands and carefully stepped forward half a pace. He lowered his voice, which was full of ingratiating deference:

"Brother Feng, look... there's... there's a little money in the account now. Is there anything you need? Shall I arrange it for you right away? Food? Drinks? Cigarettes? Or... just say the word! I'll make sure everything's taken care of properly!"