Little T Lurking in the Beauty Salon, What's the Purpose of All the Flirting? - Chapter 1

What follows is Lao Mi’s rambling story. BUT, you’ll find it flows smoothly and seamlessly now because I’ve edited it. If it still seems long-winded, well, I’m just padding the word count to brag about how much I wrote during my two-day strike.

I have a younger sister, a biological sister. She’s seven years younger than me and doesn’t like me. She saw me kissing a woman once and called me disgusting and perverse, just like you did at the beauty salon that night.

Is that the girl in the photo in your wallet? Qiqi?

Yes, she’s very well-behaved. She’s had asthma since childhood and doesn’t socialize much.

What’s her relationship with Xixi? Were they…? I wondered if this had happened years ago, Xixi would have been quite the cradle robber.

No, Lao Mi interrupted, his thumbs sliding down my shoulder blades. I yelped in pain and buried my face deeper into the pillow.

Xixi and I were college classmates, roommates even. You wouldn’t have guessed, would you? We got along really well at first, kindred spirits who loved stirring up trouble. She was a violent type, and I was a twisted prankster. One day during our sophomore year, we were drinking at a small restaurant near campus. She’d had a bit too much and started telling me about her family. Her dad was a real piece of work, always messing around. She said she hated men, that she’d written an essay in high school about falling in love with a man and wanting to seduce him…

Ah, I interrupted, unable to contain myself. You mentioned that before…

Right, that was Xixi’s story, not mine. Her hatred for men was twisted, Lao Mi continued. She said after that incident, people started calling her a slut. We were both drunk that night, and I said, ‘Yeah, you’re kind of a slut.’ Xixi swung a beer bottle at me, and we got into a fight. The restaurant owner called the police, and they took us back to sober up. To keep the school from finding out, we had the police notify our families to pick us up. My mom came, and her dad came. After we were released, we went back to campus together. You’d think that would be the end of it, but then her dad and my mom fell in love at first sight…

I shot up from the bed and yanked the blanket over myself. Stop pinching me, it hurts! I’ll sit up and listen.

My dad works overseas, while my mom manages several beauty salons here. Their relationship isn’t great, but when he comes home each year, we still have a happy family time. My younger sister loves to draw, and my dad always promised to take her abroad after high school graduation. I only found out about Xixi’s dad and my mom later, when Xixi discovered it herself and told me. From that moment on, Xixi became cold and distant towards me. She said she hated her dad and every woman he was with. She insulted my mom right in front of me, and we inevitably got into another fight. She demanded I stop my mom, but I refused. I’d rather pretend I knew nothing, I didn’t want to face it… She told me, ‘The wicked will get their due,’ and said they’d face retribution…

What does this have to do with your sister? Is she abroad now? The words had barely left Lao Mi’s mouth when tears streamed down his face.

I never imagined Xixi would go to such lengths to control her father. One day, while her father was visiting our house, she lured my younger sister, who was on her way to school, back home. When my sister opened the door, she witnessed the most depraved scene imaginable her own mother and another man naked and entwined on the sofa. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have meant to her. She fled the house, tripped on the stairs, and tumbled down. The injuries weren’t life-threatening, but she had severe asthma. By the time she reached the hospital, it was too late.

My jaw dropped. I had assumed this was about hatred stemming from romantic rivalries, but it was about family, conspiracy, and death.

My mother was deeply traumatized by the incident and cut off all contact with Xixi’s father. I tried to find Xixi, hoping for an explanation—why she would use an innocent child as a pawn. But by the time I returned to school after arranging my sister’s funeral, she had already dropped out. She left a note in her dorm room ‘I’m sorry, Qiqi…’ My mother later told me what had happened that day. She said she couldn’t continue her affair with Xixi’s father. Every night, when she closed her eyes, she saw my sister’s terrified eyes and Xixi standing behind her, smirking coldly. She felt utterly guilty… Isn’t this exactly what Xixi wanted all along? How despicable. I hadn’t seen her since the incident, until you first went to the beauty salon and I saw your photo on your phone…

And then you started plotting your revenge? I asked.

Her father abandoned her and her mother. If she was willing to ruin my sister, and she cares so much about you, why shouldn’t I ruin something for her too? I wasn’t thinking that far ahead; I just wanted her to feel the pain I felt back then.

Lao Mi… Before I could finish, Xixi’s phone, which she had left in my room, rang. When she answered, Grandma Li, our neighbor, said, Xixi, it’s Grandma Li next door. Come home right away—your house has been robbed!

I hung up and told Lao Mi. She grabbed my clothes for me. Let’s go. She’s not home anyway. I’ll go with you.