Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4567 | Page 194

“Who cares?” With that, Xing-ke hauled himself at Guang-hong in outrage, and nailed his cheek with a nasty
punch before the other six could restrain him. With two men holding his arms back, Xing-ke turned to me,
flushed with anger.
“Sir, you must not allow the Russians to do as they please! As heir, you must protect the interests of Shanghai!" I
clenched my fists, feeling cold sweat How could I even begin to tell them that I wasn’t the heir that they spoke
of?
Just at that moment, I saw Guang-hong narrow his eyes at the door, and before I could understand what he was
trying to do, a servant burst into the room, out of breath and panicked.
“I-I apologize for disturbing, sirs! But police have shown up asking about some smuggling of weaponry and is
looking for Master Xing-ke!” Xing-ke visibly paled at this, nervousness creeping into his face.
“T-the police, you say? W-well, this is a surprise. I don’t recall anything about smuggling weaponry.” Xing-ke
mopped his eyebrows with a handkerchief and stood up. “I must excuse myself, sir. It appears that I have to sort
out this…horrible mistake.” His eyes darted around nervously. “I shall… sort this out and return to the meeting
as swiftly as possible.” Without waiting for a reply, he dashed out of the room as though being chased out.
An awkward silence maintained before it was broken by Guang-hong’s mad laugh. “That pig talks big about
protecting Shanghai, but he’s got his hands full with his own illegal business.” He wiped tears from the corner of
his eye. “Police trick works like charm everytime.”
Warily, I glanced around at the other six, who made no attempt to defend Xing-ke or protest. Guang-hong
had under control as well, I suppose. Brushing off dirt on his suit, Guang-hong breathed a sigh as he walked
over to me.
“Now, about you ,” He bent down to stare at me in the eye dangerously. “I left you at the auction without the
circlet. It was still with me when I entered the casino. When did you steal it?”
I tried to explain. “I’ve been trying to tell you this, but I don’t remember any-” It was almost fate that it was at
this precise moment memories chose to wash up like waves hitting shore. The terror of being thrown on a stage
naked and chained. The shame at being sold like toy to the rich of Shanghai. The humiliation of being violated
by another male. The amnesia I experienced was probably a side-effect of the trauma.
I grabbed my arms to stop the trembling, as my breathing hitched. The feeling of another man’s hands on my
body still lingered on my skin. My memories were a haze, but I clearly remembered a face in my head that I
would not ever forget. The face of the person who took from me a circlet and threw me into an auction for
prostitutes. My blood ran colder than the rings of Hell as I recalled the experience. I would do anything to leave
right now.
The same face was smirking into my face. “But I guess that doesn’t matter now anyway. I need circlet more than
you do. Hand it over now. You don’t know how much that’s worth. Or would you like to shipped to some rich
Russian pervert? You didn’t seem to like that a lot the last time, or so my client told me.”
Silently, I unclasped the circlet from my wrist and pressed it into his palm while maintaining eye contact with
him and making sure he knew I absolutely loathed him. Guang-hong’s lips turned up into a gleeful grin as he
inspected the gold circlet.
He held the circlet carefully in the light, biting his lip to contain his excitement. “With this, all of Shanghai’s
most powerful bourgeoisie will have no choice but to obey me, and now Xing-ke won’t be around to stop
me!” He shrieked maniacally, slipping the circlet on his wrist with shaking hands, expression crazed with lust.
With a snap of his fingers, the remaining six circles left the room at his command. As a servant handed him his
coat, Guang-hong raised an eyebrow at me, pondering. “I could have you shipped to Russia, but I’m feeling
generous today. Someone show him out before he pukes all over me.”