Song Wei stared at Su Yiling for a long moment, her face cycling through emotions - fear, anger, hope, and finally, exhaustion.
"Qing'er," she said quietly, not taking her eyes off Su Yiling. "Go to your room and do your homework."
"But Mom
"Now."
Song Qing hesitated, clearly wanting to stay and hear whatever conversation was about to unfold. But something in her mother's tone brooked no argument. She gathered her school bag and disappeared into a room down the hallway, though Su Yiling noticed she didn't close the door completely.
Song Wei walked to the window and pulled the curtains shut, her movements careful and deliberate. Then she turned back to Su Yiling, her arms crossed defensively over her chest.
"Sit," she said, gesturing to a worn but clean sofa.
Su Yiling settled into the cushions, placing her school bag beside her. The apartment was quiet except for the distant sounds of life: children playing in the courtyard below and the rumble of vehicles on the narrow road.
"You're very young," Song Wei said, remaining standing. "Too young to know the things you claim to know."
"Age doesn't determine what someone can learn," Su Yiling replied calmly. "Especially when they know where to look."
Song Wei's laugh was bitter. "Where to look. As if it's that simple." She moved to an old cabinet and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, her hands shaking slightly as she lit one. "Li Ran made sure there was nothing to find. No evidence. No witnesses. No trail."
"But there was evidence," Su Yiling said quietly. "Wasn't there?"
The cigarette froze halfway to Song Wei's lips.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"The recording she made. The one she used to control both you and Chen Minghua."
Yin Minghua is the investor whose wife's family owns half the entertainment companies in the province. The man who had unknowingly been drugged and manipulated into a compromising situation that Li Ran had orchestrated down to the smallest detail.
Song Wei's face went completely white. The cigarette slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor, scattering ash across the worn carpet.
"How do you..." Her voice was barely a whisper. "No one knows about that. No one."
"I know about a lot of things," Su Yiling said gently. "I know that Li Ran drugged you both. I know that she set up cameras in that hotel room. I know that she's been using that footage to blackmail Chen Minghua for years and threatening to release it if you ever try to tell anyone what really happened."
Song Wei sank into a chair across from Su Yiling, her entire body trembling.
"She said... she said if I ever talked, she would tell everyone that I was willing. That I was sleeping with married men for money. That I was a prostitute." Tears began sliding down her cheeks. "My daughter... my daughter would have to live with that shame. People would think..."
"People would think Li Ran was lying," Su Yiling interrupted firmly. "Because she was. And is."
"You don't understand." Song Wei wiped her face with the back of her hand, smearing her tears. "Li Ran isn't just some actress. She has connections everywhere. Media, police, and government officials. She's untouchable. She married into a rich family."
"No one is untouchable."
Song Wei looked at her with the expression of someone who had learned the hard way that the world was not fair or just.
"You really are very young," she said sadly. "Li Ran destroyed my life with a single night. Ruined my career, my reputation, and my future. I was her assistant, completely dependent on her for everything. After that night, I had nothing. No references, no connections, no way to prove what she had done."
Su Yiling leaned forward slightly. "What happened to the original recording equipment? The cameras she used?"
"I don't know. Probably destroyed years ago." Song Wei lit another cigarette with shaking hands. "Even if they still existed somewhere, how would I ever get to them? I'm nobody. Just a woman living in a village, working part-time jobs to support my daughter."
"You're not nobody," Su Yiling said firmly. "You're someone who knows the truth about Li Ran. Someone who can expose her for what she really is."
"And destroy my daughter's life in the process?" Song Wei's voice rose slightly. "You saw those men outside today. That's what happens when people think you owe them something, when they think you're vulnerable. If Li Ran's story gets out, if people believe her version instead of mine..."
She didn't finish the sentence, but Su Yiling understood. In a society that often blamed victims more than perpetrators, Song Wei's fears weren't irrational.
"What if there was a way to expose Li Ran without putting you or Song Qing at risk?" Su Yiling asked.
Song Wei studied her face. "What do you mean?"
"What if someone else had access to evidence that could prove Li Ran's crimes? Evidence that didn't depend on your testimony alone?"
"What kind of evidence?"
Su Yiling was quiet for a moment, calculating how much she could reveal without sounding completely unbelievable.
"Financial records," she said finally. "Li Ran has been receiving regular payments from Chen Minghua for years. Payments that don't match any legitimate business transactions. If those could be traced..."
"How would you know about financial records?" Song Wei's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Who are you, really?"
Su Yiling met her gaze steadily. "Someone who has very good reasons to want Li Ran exposed. Someone with resources you don't have."
"Resources," Song Wei repeated skeptically. "You're a high school student."
"High school students can be very resourceful when they need to be."
Song Wei stubbed out her cigarette and leaned back in her chair, studying Su Yiling with new attention.
"Let's say, hypothetically, that such evidence existed. What would you want from me in return?"
"Your testimony. When the time is right. When it's safe."
"And when would that be?"
"When Li Ran has bigger problems to worry about than silencing one former assistant."
Song Wei was quiet for a long time, her eyes fixed on some point beyond Su Yiling's shoulder. When she spoke again, her voice was barely audible.
"There's something else you should know."
Su Yiling waited.
"The night it happened... I wasn't the first person Li Ran did this to." Song Wei's hands clenched into fists on her lap. "There was another girl before me. A young actress who was competing with Li Ran for the same role."
This was new information. In her previous life, Su Yiling had never heard about anyone else.
"What happened to her?"
"She disappeared. Just... vanished from the entertainment industry overnight. Li Ran got the role she wanted, and the girl was never seen again." Song Wei's voice was hollow. "I always wondered if Li Ran had done something similar to her."
"Do you remember her name?"
"Zhao Mei. She was very talented, very beautiful. Everyone said she was going to be the next big star." Song Wei's laugh was bitter. "Instead, Li Ran became the star, and Zhao Mei became a cautionary tale about girls who couldn't handle the pressure of the entertainment industry."
Su Yiling write down her name the name. Another person to investigate, another Li Ran's crimes that can be ise to cripple her.
"If I can find evidence," she said carefully, "real evidence that can't be dismissed or covered up, would you be willing to tell your story publicly?"
Song Wei looked toward the hallway where her daughter was supposedly doing homework.
"If you can guarantee my daughter's safety," she said finally, "if you can promise that she won't suffer for my choices... then yes. I would tell the world what Li Ran really is."
Su Yiling stood up and shouldered her bag.
"Give me your phone number," she said. "I'll contact you when I have something concrete."
Song Wei hesitated, then rattled off the digits. Su Yiling entered them into her phone and sent a brief text so Song Wei would have her number as well.
"Don't do anything dangerous," Song Wei said as Su Yiling headed toward the door. "Li Ran is more ruthless than you can imagine."
Su Yiling paused with her hand on the doorknob.
"So am I," she said quietly.
She walked down the stairs and out into the late afternoon sunlight, her mind already working through the next steps of her plan. Song Wei's testimony would be valuable, but it wouldn't be enough on its own. She needed more evidence, more witnesses, more leverage.
She needed to find Zhao Mei.
The bus ride back to the city gave her time to think. Li Ran had built her career on the destruction of other women, using her beauty and cunning to eliminate competitors and silence threats. But every predator left tracks, and Su Yiling intended to follow every single one.
Her phone buzzed with a message from Lin Xiaoli: Where are you? Your second brother called looking for you.
Su Yiling typed back quickly: On my way home. Had to take care of something.
As the bus entered the city limits, Su Yiling allowed herself a small smile. Phase one of her plan was complete. She had her first potential ally in the war against Li Ran, and more importantly, she had new leads to investigate.
Aunt Li thought she was dealing with the same naive girl who could be manipulated and controlled. She had no idea that Su Yiling was building a case that would destroy everything she had worked for.