Bullying initially starts as joking tests—whether on the level of life, spirit, or the entire existence.
…
The alarm clock let out a piercing shriek. Lu Shimiao bolted upright at the sound. The air conditioner was blowing directly on her; even kneeling on the sofa, she broke out in a cold sweat from the scare.
Fortunately, this nightmare ended before it even began. She really had to thank the never-ending work alarm.
Lu Shimiao put on her watch, found a clean summer duty uniform from the entryway, and dressed neatly in front of the mirror. She was naturally broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, a perfect clothes hanger. At 170 cm, the uniform stretched tight and wrinkle-free. If you lifted the shirt, you could faintly see some muscle definition on her abdomen and a still-reddish long scar on her side waist.
She looked down at the scar, her dark eyes freezing. The wound was already inconspicuous, but looking at it still made her heart ache.
She had thought four years were enough to stretch out these memories, and most of the joys and sorrows had been buried by the annoyances of life. But when she saw Xue Tong again, she realized the door to those emotions and feelings wasn’t tightly sealed. That woman easily opened a crack in her heart, allowing fragmented sadness to seep in, which then coalesced into a fist that swung at her. For a moment, she couldn’t tell if it was a dream or reality.
It was like the look Xue Tong gave her this morning, as if everything about her had nothing to do with Xue Tong. But she hated that kind of indifference. She wanted to escape again.
Lu Shimiao shook her head, forcing herself not to think, and quickly went out to her car. The black leather seats were scorching from the blazing sun; the car was like a steam basket, nearly suffocating. She cranked the AC to max and quickly drove to the Procuratorate.
Slacking off was not only a joy for workers, but also Lu Shimiao’s only way to avoid Xue Tong.
She took her sweet time driving, and once inside the Procuratorate, she started slacking. What could have been done in thirty minutes was dragged out to two hours. When she returned to the City Public Security Bureau, it was already four in the afternoon.
Only half an hour until she could clock out… oh, she forgot. She and leaving on time were always in a bad ending.
“Little Lu, why are you so late?” The colleague on duty in the lobby let out a long sigh of relief when he saw Lu Shimiao. He pointed to the man sitting on the bench. “This guy has been making a fuss here all afternoon, insisting on waiting for you.”
“Wait for me?” Lu Shimiao raised her eyes to identify him, but before she could see clearly, the man stood up, furious, and strode up to stand right in front of her. His face was pressed close to hers. Those vicious eyes made her catch her breath.
Perhaps because she had seen too many dead bodies, or because those eyes reminded her of a terrible nightmare, Lu Shimiao, feeling utterly unsafe, instinctively reached for her waist, only to realize she had forgotten to put on her tactical belt when she left at noon.
“Please step back,” she said calmly.
“You’re the one who appraised the case.” The man ignored the warning and spoke without any kindness. “Did you take dirty money? My son was stabbed, how can it be classified as a minor injury?”
This man was the victim’s family from the stabbing case that Brother Chen had mentioned on the phone that morning. She had investigated this case with the forensic doctor, and she knew the facts.
The case was that this man’s son got drunk at a bar, argued with someone at the next table over a girl, and after leaving the bar, felt he had lost face. So he picked up a fruit knife and went back to threaten the person, only to end up being stabbed in the stomach with a wine bottle.
After the forensic doctor’s injury assessment, along with her on-site investigation and video analysis, the evidence indicated it was a non-justifiable defense case. They had written it clearly in the case file.
“If you have objections to the assessment results, you can have your lawyer request a review at the Procuratorate. We can conduct a supplemental investigation at any time, but please follow the proper procedures and don’t cause trouble at the police station,” Lu Shimiao patiently told the man.
“Follow procedures?” The man glared and bitingly mocked, “Did you follow procedures?”
It seemed their city bureau police force’s legal education campaign still wasn’t thorough.
Remaining composed, Lu Shimiao clearly stated, “Our department re-examined your son’s medical imaging and wound, and found that only the abdominal wall was damaged, with no injury to major organs. Classifying it as a minor injury is correct.”
“Just what? His abdomen was torn?” He looked at Lu Shimiao’s indifferent expression and flew into a rage like a mad dog, jumping up and grabbing her uniform collar. “Say that again! What do you mean ‘just torn’?”
Lu Shimiao was grabbed by the collar and dragged forward a step. The duty colleague immediately rushed out from the window and, together, flanked the man, forcing him to let go.
“My son was stabbed, and you just say it’s a minor injury!!!” The man was tall and strong, with great strength, shaking the criminal police officers from side to side.
Hah—Lu Shimiao’s head ached from the man’s shouting, and she could only maintain her composure by taking deep breaths. She thought that sooner or later, the chaos at work would drive her to a nervous breakdown. Might as well let this man punch her to death; at least she’d die a heroic death.
“In legal terms, injury assessment is based on medical criteria. A seemingly serious external injury doesn’t necessarily—”
Ptooey— Before she could finish explaining, the man spat a mouthful of thick phlegm onto her freshly changed police uniform.
Lu Shimiao looked down, her hands tightly clenching the seams of her trousers, but she still persisted in finishing her words. “It doesn’t mean it meets the medical criteria. We evaluate comprehensively based on medical imaging, wound healing, and the treatment process.”
“I don’t give a damn about medical standards. You’re corrupt and bending the law!! You must redo the assessment for me.” The man thrashed about, trying to shake off the officers holding him.
The duty colleague was shaken like a fluttering moth and issued a stern warning: “Sir, if you continue like this, we will detain you for obstructing official duties.”
“Detain? You think I’m scared of you?” The man felt provoked by the warning and completely lost his mind, shouting at the top of his lungs. He suddenly squatted down, feinted, and threw the two police officers behind him to the ground, freeing himself. Gaining his freedom, he took a big stride toward Officer Lu and raised his fist to strike.
—Going through the procedure for assaulting an officer was really troublesome, and she’d have to write a ton of reports. If she got injured, she wouldn’t have to come to work. Not coming to work meant she wouldn’t have to face complaints or Xue Tong. So go ahead, hit her; at least she wouldn’t die.
Lu Shimiao didn’t dodge; she stood there numbly, silently cursing a whole list, but the punch never landed.
Looking up, she saw the man’s wrist suspended in mid-air, caught by someone. By the time she came to her senses, she was enveloped in a familiar perfume. Xue Tong was now pressed against Lu Shimiao’s back, encircling her in her arms, reaching out to stop the storm.
“Do you enjoy being hit?” Xue Tong’s tone was indifferent. She pressed on an acupoint on the man’s wrist, forcing his upper body to twist in pain and temporarily unable to retaliate. She turned her head to look at Lu Shimiao, meeting her gaze, and calmly added, “Do I need to teach you all over again?”
Lu Shimiao avoided her gaze and lowered her head.
“Fuck his mother.” The man tried to pull his hand back but couldn’t, and seeing the woman chatting casually while he was repeatedly provoked, his anger peaked. He clenched his other fist and swung hard.
Lu Shimiao was startled and instinctively tried to protect Xue Tong. But before she could move, her body was already pushed half a meter away by Xue Tong.
While pushing Lu Shimiao away, Xue Tong nimbly sidestepped and circled behind. Her combat boot kicked the back of the man’s knee, forcing him to kneel. The hand she was holding was pushed back against his back, wrist twisted, pinning him firmly to the ground. A reverse takedown, smooth as flowing water.
The troublemaker still tried to struggle but found his ankle pinned by the woman’s foot. His face twisted in pain from his wrist and ankle, but he still persisted, “I’m going to complain about your violent police conduct!!”
Xue Tong grabbed the man’s hair, forcing him to look up at her. “Then you better not complain to the wrong person.”
The flung-off duty colleagues were dumbfounded. From their perspective, they only saw the man rush at Officer Lu, then the superintendent from Hong Kong charge in from the main entrance. By the time they got up to intervene, the situation was already under control.
Meanwhile, the chief stood awkwardly at the door, looking at them as if they had lost face for the whole family, which frightened them into rushing over to handcuff the man.
The police station was thrown into chaos by the man. Shouts, warnings, and even the chief’s angry scolding echoed in the lobby.
Xue Tong paid no attention to the others. She raised her head and fixed her gaze on Lu Shimiao, her expression full of helplessness. “Learned it?”
Lu Shimiao didn’t want to answer, keeping her head down and not responding.
Acting cowardly again… Xue Tong stood up in disappointment and walked step by step closer to her. She reached out and gently tidied the stray hair in front of Officer Lu’s face, and in a voice so soft only the two of them could hear, she said lightly, “Look at me.”
Lu Shimiao’s body stiffened, her heart clanging loudly in her chest. Obediently, she raised her head and met her gaze.
“Did you not learn police academy discipline? Don’t you answer when a superior asks a question?” Xue Tong watched her quietly, and after a long pause, asked again, “Did you learn to fight back?”
Dammit! Dammit! This woman was poking at her sore spot again. Lu Shimiao gritted her teeth and glared for two seconds, then exaggeratedly performed a Hong Kong police foot drill, her voice especially loud: “Answer, madam! Learned it.”
The chief stood by, watching Lu Shimiao being scolded by the Hong Kong superintendent, and felt very uncomfortable. He turned to the officers on duty in the lobby, and his anger flared up: “What is this place? This is the City Criminal Police Unit lobby! Do you want to dispatch right here?!”
Several duty officers were new interns at the bureau; they had never seen the chief so furious and were scared pale.
“How many times have I told you to learn communication when receiving cases, to be warm with the public? Haven’t you learned the enforcement system?”
“Tomorrow, go back and retrain on regulations and rules, and write a self-reflection for the Political Commissar.”
“Yes, sir,” the intern criminal police officers answered helplessly.
“Alright, dismissed.” The chief waved his hand and walked alone toward the upstairs meeting room. “Little Lu, come join the meeting with us.”
“Okay,” Lu Shimiao said weakly.
Xue Tong glanced at Director Chen, waited until he was some distance away, then turned and headed upstairs. Only the two of them were left in the stairwell.
“Your clothes were covered in blood this morning. Were you injured again?” Xue Tong walked on, tossing the question behind her without a ripple.
Xue Tong’s intonation was always soft, her phrasing very polite. But her tone was always cold, combined with an almost imperceptible expression and an unflappable demeanor, which always made the listener nervous, especially Lu Shimiao.
Lu Shimiao followed behind, glaring at her back and making faces, then sullenly replied, “No.”
“You don’t need to make faces behind my back,” Xue Tong spoke again.
So annoying! Did this person have eyes in the back of her head, always able to handle her? Lu Shimiao refused to accept it: “You know it again…”
Xue Tong stopped walking upon hearing this, paused for two seconds, and turned around. They were now less than half a meter apart. She was already a few centimeters taller than Lu Shimiao, and with the boots, she now loomed over the other by half a head.
“Officer Lu, do you know what your greatest strength is?”
Xue Tong stood on the higher step, her black hair coiled on top of her head. As she looked down, her half-open zipper revealed her tube top, her pale neck and collarbone directly swinging in front of Lu Shimiao’s eyes, making her so embarrassed she didn’t know where to look. She had to tilt her head up to meet Xue Tong and weakly said, “Hm?”
“Your mouth is very tough, but your body…” Xue Tong said, leaning close to her ear, “is very honest.”
Xue Tong’s scent and voice were like a silver thread, worming into Lu Shimiao’s ear and tickling her, making her restless. Most annoyingly, images of Xue Tong with her in bed flashed through her mind… Unbearable!—Xue Tong was definitely getting revenge!! Lu Shimiao’s face flushed red; she straightened up and retorted, “The one whose body was honest in bed was you.”
“Bed?” Xue Tong feigned shock, then said slowly, “Sorry, Officer Lu, perhaps my Mandarin isn’t good and made you misunderstand. I was only trying to say you’re not good at lying. How did we get to bed?”
“Or…” She leaned back to seek the other’s eyes, and when she spoke again, it was flirtatious, “you can’t forget what I looked like in bed.”
…
Lu Shimiao was completely choked up on the spot. Realizing she had been toyed with by Xue Tong using this, she was filled with hate! She swore she must win one back today.
“Of course I won’t forget.” Lu Shimiao used all her acting skills to feign ease, hands on her hips, mimicking the other’s tone. “Superintendent Xue is, among my fuck buddies… the one with the most satisfied expression, the fastest, and the loudest moaner. How could I forget?”
“Fuck buddies?” At the clear word, Xue Tong’s smile instantly vanished, and her tone dropped several degrees as she said coolly, “Lu Shimiao, you’d better not be lying.”
“What am I lying about?” Feeling a dark cloud pressing overhead, Officer Lu unconsciously shrugged her shoulders but still stubbornly said, “I’m complimenting you. Don’t you like it?”
Xue Tong lightly scanned Lu Shimiao’s demeanor. This kind of flustered retort wasn’t the ostrich’s style. She was still the same as before—one more question and she’d immediately give herself away. Xue Tong smiled calmly, “I like it. After all, you’re the most skilled one I’ve ever encountered too.”
…
Xue Tong, what a devastating woman. Lu Shimiao’s fingers tightened on the duty uniform fabric at her waist, suppressing the sour juice about to surge from her heart. She mentally grumbled: Not only had she failed to win one back, but she had almost lost half her dog’s life in the process. Also, it had been four years. Who would still be hung up on someone like her? Besides, her petty need to win was nothing against Xue Tong. In the end, she’d be crushed so badly she’d piss herself and die without a complete corpse. So she resolved to go home tonight and seriously reflect, starting with writing a self-criticism: 《Three Things Learned After Facing Xue Tong》.
She had already thought of a title for the first chapter—Never test the limits of your tolerance just for a moment’s satisfaction.
Xue Tong always made her lose her limits.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll go to the meeting first.” Lu Shimiao feigned ease and walked past Xue Tong.
Seeing her deflated and dejected after being outmaneuvered, Xue Tong’s mood lifted considerably.
She folded her arms, trailing behind her, thinking to herself: After all these years, her sharp tongue had actually improved, but when she chickened out, she was still the same as before—like an ostrich.
