BMEC – Chapter 5.4: Martial Arts Instructor

The next day, XiaoXiao was the first to get up, her biological clock not allowing her to be lazy, and as usual, she took a morning run with Sesame and bought breakfast along the way.

When she went back after jogging, Jing Sa and An Hui hadn’t woken up yet. She took a shower, changed her clothes, and began to clean up the garbage left over from the girlfriend’s night. She sorted the cans and wrappers on the coffee table into the garbage bags. She threw and swept the floor clean. When she picked up Jingjing’s briefcase that was left lying on the floor, the unlocked briefcase dumped and scattered some files inside.

She bent down and was about to stuff them back, but when she looked down, she saw a photo of a boy who was about 7 years old. His clothes were covered with dirt and his face was almost unrecognizable. There were bruises on his neck, both his hands and feet were tied with a hemp rope, eyes closed, pale, apparently dead. The photo was glued to a file of paper with the boy’s name, place of origin, time of disappearance, time of death, and forensic appraisal.

Xioxiao’s hand shook as she realized that there was more than one picture of a similar case underneath. There were at least five children, all of the same age, and died exactly the same way.

These children turned out to be victims of kidnappings.

It’s not uncommon for kidnappers to kill a hostage, but in their cases, there was no ransom delivered.

She flipped through the information with notes saying that the kidnappers had demanded ransom by mail, with the amount, place and time clearly written. But on the day the ransom was to be delivered, the kidnappers did not show up and all contact was lost after that.

“Xiaoxiao, have you seen my slippers?”

Jing Sa rubbed her short bed hair, came out of the room, and was asking. But upon seeing the files in Xiaoxiao’s hand, she froze.

Xiaoxiao also stiffened and her eyes flashed with chagrin. She quickly shoved the files back to Jing Sa’s briefcase.

“I bought breakfast, eat while it’s still hot!”

Jing Sa wanted to open her mouth to say something, but hearing her divert the topic, she swallowed it back.

At this time, An Hui also woke up. Upon hearing the word breakfast, she perked up and ran to the table. Seeing only soy milk plus buns there, she complained, “Why is there no soup dumplings, I want to eat soup dumplings!”

“I’ll go buy some!” Xiaoxiao quickly put on her coat.

“I want salted soy milk, remember to add more soy sauce and spicy oil,” An Hui ordered.

Xiaoxiao nodded, opened the door and walked out. After closing the door, she leaned against the door, looking up at the ceiling and a faint arc rose at the corners of her mouth, as if laughing at herself. It faded away in an instantly and returned to her usual indifference.

After breakfast, the three went their separate ways. Jing Sa headed for the Public Security Bureau, while An Hui and Xiaoxiao rushed to the airport.

After the assistant handled the check-in, An Hui led Xiaoxiao to the first class cabin through the VIP channel. She knew that Xiaoxiao can’t stand too many people in sight, so she avoided the crowd.

An hour and a half later, the plane landed steadily. The assistant had arranged everything. Xiaoxiao just had to follow An Hui. The two quickly got into the crew’s service car and rushed to the film studio.

B City’s Film Studio is a large-scale comprehensive tourist destination integrating tourism, vacation, leisure and sightseeing. It is a well-known landmark in China and has become the country’s largest filming location. It has the largest filming sets, the most complete supporting facilities and the longest history.  This filming base has attracted many film and television directors at home and abroad, and so many popular movies and TV series have been produced in the location.

At the location, every set has crews filming. On the windshields of several cars in the parking lot were names of the crew posted.

An Hui, wearing a large pair of sunglasses and a mask, pulled away from the crowd. Apart from tourists, most of the people there were also actors and actresses waiting for the shooting to start and also perhaps looking for opportunities to achieve their dreams.

The assistant paved the way for them, and they soon entered a rather large yard.

Looking at the architectural design, it resembles the Song Dynasty. On the right was an ancestral pagoda, on the left are shrines. There were pavilions, halls, red walls, yellow tiles,  cloud-like jaded steps, it was simply a magnificent sight. 

An Huai found a secluded corner where she has a full view of the crowd, and went to find the martial arts instructor.

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