My name is Ye Lanxin. When I was three, my grandmother took me to the street to see the lanterns. I was lured away by a human trafficker with a string of candied hawthorns and sold to my current adoptive father.
My adoptive father is the owner of a bar. As a child, I knew that every day there were many young people with tattoos and worn jeans who came to see him, showing him great respect. Later, I gradually learned that he had another identity. He was the boss of An County's most badass gang, the "Returning Justice Gang". They called him "Ye Old Tiger."
Ye Old Tiger was alone, without a wife or children, but he had many women. These women were beautiful and dressed provocatively. They frequented the bar, sometimes singing on stage, sometimes they left, and sometimes they stayed to sleep with Ye Old Tiger.
However, they usually cycled through like a carousel. The ones that stayed by Ye Old Tiger’s side the longest stayed for just two to three months.
Ye Old Tiger was not a long-standing affectionate man towards women, and he had a bad temper and was rude to women, but they were still willing to linger around him, perhaps because he was a big spender.
I have witnessed him beating people. Once, someone sent a girl who was only a few years older than me to him. Seeing her being thrown out after being beaten up for resisting, her face was completely ruined, I instinctively developed a fear of Ye Old Tiger.
Ye Old Tiger didn't avoid me when beating people, but he never beat me. He said I was his little princess.
He treated me well, bought me many beautiful clothes and shoes, dressed me up like a little princess. Then, he sent me to an expensive private school, hired teachers to teach me dancing and piano, giving me the best education from a young age.
However, his demands on me were strict. He did not allow me to go outside to play, I could only go to school and home. He told me many stories about children being kidnapped and killed by bad guys, saying there were many bad guys outside, and he was afraid I couldn’t tell them apart. As a child, I believed him and obeyed his instructions obediently.
So, until I graduated from elementary school, I had never attended any class gatherings or school parties, and I had never left home alone.
Ye Old Tiger spoiled me too much. He had people following me every day, blatantly following me into school and taking me home. My classmates were afraid of their intimidations and dared not come close to me. So, I had no friends and had almost no conversations with my classmates.
Receiving envious and jealous gazes from my classmates, I was the most prestigious student in the school. Neither the teachers nor the principal could do anything about me, for they did not want to upset Ye Old Tiger.
Usually, as long as there wasn't anything particularly important, Ye Old Tiger required me to stay by his side, follow him, and watch him deal with "Returning Justice Gang" matters.
He’d hold my little hand, happily introducing me to others as his little princess. At that time, he did look like a loving father.
He liked to hold, especially tease me with his beard. The scars on his face were terrifying and would often make people scared, but when I was little, I was never afraid of him because as long as I behaved, he was never harsh to me.
However, on occasion, if I even doubted his intentions slightly, I would be punished by him. He has never beaten me, nor scolded me, only looked at me as if viewing a piece of artwork.
At these times, he would carry an odd smile, his face twisted grotesquely by a scar, and he would make me stand for hours on end.
When I was younger, I never resisted, because I thought that all fathers treated their daughters this way. But by the time I turned ten, I began to resist. He didn't like my resistance. Each time I resisted, I would be punished with an even longer standing time.
He had a peculiar hobby, whenever he had time, he would wash my feet with dedication, seemingly never tiring of it. Sometimes, I would need to wash my feet five to six times a day. Each time he washed my feet, his gaze would be focused, especially obsessed. I began to strongly resent this sense and always wanted to escape. Yet, for some reason, each time I planned to act, the image of Ye Laohu
"Old Tiger Leaves"
with his scarred face would ghostly reappear, the scene of him beating people into a bloody pulp seemed to reoccur in front of me, sending shudders down my spine.
I dared not escape, I feared that he would suddenly turn that grotesque face towards me and start beating me.
Moreover, several people were always following me to and from school, I simply had no chance to escape. Even if I did, where could I hide in An County that he wouldn't find me?
Eventually, I found a temporary way to escape, which was burying myself relentlessly in study. Only when I mentioned that I had to study, would Ye Laohu slacken his oversight and attention towards me. He enjoyed seeing me come home with stacks of certificates. He said a girl should have culture, it gave them elegance.
So, studying became a way for me to forget my troubles. So, my grades got better and better, to the point that after middle school graduation, I ranked first in the entire school and was accepted into a provincial key high school, Qiu Zhen No. 1 High School.
As there were no private high schools in An County, so I followed the logic and enrolled into Qiu Zhen No. 1 for high school.
Qiu Zhen No. 1 was famous for its strict discipline and I believed that, even with his abilities, Ye Laohu could not have his people follow me into Qiu Zhen No. 1. So, I thought that I could finally get away. In a new school, perhaps, I could make friends, participate in class gatherings and parties like other girls, maybe even laugh and chat happily like others.
However, what I hadn't expected was that Ye Laohu was more capable than I'd ever imagined. Although the person who'd dropped me off had returned after the enrollment and the payment, two boys approached me just as I had barely stepped into the classroom.
One was tall and burly, sporting a buzz cut and another a bit shorter, still sporting an innocent face.
The taller one said, "My name is Su Zheng Ye, this is Liu Tian Cheng. We're in the same class. Mr. Ye has asked us to look after you."
Staring dumbfounded at them, I could clearly envision under Ye Laohu's arrangement, they would become my new followers, guarding me every moment of every day, from dawn till dusk. Even if I went to the restroom, they would persistently wait for me outside of the women’s restroom.
This was my first meeting with Su Zheng Ye, he only said one sentence. Yet, that simple sentence crushed all my previous hopes. It seemed like, there was no escape from Ye Laohu's clutch.
