Officer Ji, help me!

Wen Shuang left the apartment in a daze, her soul seemingly lost. She knew that after this disaster, she would never cross paths with Ji Shen again. She had seen the disgust in his eyes as clearly as daylight.

She did not come home all night. When she finally returned, chaos awaited her. Aunt Chun lunged at her the moment she walked in, nearly hysterical, “Wen Shuang, where were you last night? You didn’t come home! Those debt collectors came again this morning. I was nearly killed by them all by myself!”

Wen Shuang glanced around at the mess. “How much do they want this time?”

“Five million! How could we possibly pay that?” Aunt Chun’s wailing was unrelenting. “Wen Shuang, have you found anyone to help us yet? If this keeps up, Yao Yao and I will be left to starve!”

Wen Shuang remained silent.

Aunt Chun shoved her. “What was the point of the Wen family raising you all these years? When trouble comes, all you do is fool around outside. What a sin!”

Wen Shuang had spent days enduring humiliation from strangers, only to come home and be met with more scorn. Her spirit was already at its breaking point.

“What’s the use of blaming me? It’s not as if I was the one who ruined the Wen family!”

“If not for you, would Qin You have sent your father to prison?” Aunt Chun’s tone softened as an idea came to her. “Shuang Shuang, why not agree to be Qin You’s mistress? If you do, he’ll let our family go, and your father can come home. Isn’t that good?”

“Never!” Wen Shuang’s answer was firm as steel.

Qin You had betrayed her, playing both sides, then pushed the Wen family to this abyss. Wen Shuang’s dignity would never allow her to crawl back, begging for mercy.

“Wen Shuang! At this point, what use is your laughable pride? Don’t you care if your father lives or dies? The Qin family is wealthy—he won’t mistreat you!” Aunt Chun, who once played the demure, gentle wife before Wen’s father, now raged like a shrew.

Wen Shuang had no desire to argue. She turned to leave.

But Aunt Chun clung to her, shrieking, “I don’t care what you do! If you refuse to be Qin You’s mistress, you have to earn money and provide for me and Yao Yao. Yao Yao is struggling at school—you still need to send him his monthly allowance!”

Wen Shuang finally broke. She shook herself free with all her strength, her patience exhausted. “Why? Can’t you use your own hands and feet to work?”

Aunt Chun stared at her in disbelief.

Wen Shuang had had enough. “You are still members of the Wen family. My father cared for you all these years, but now that he’s in trouble, you just lie around and leave everything to me. I am not made of iron, and I have no obligation to support you!”

She tore herself from the woman’s grasp, her voice cold and resolute. “From tonight on, if you want food or clothes, earn them yourselves. We’re done. From now on, you go your way, I’ll go mine!”

She slammed the door behind her, ignoring the venomous curses that followed. So be it. She’d had enough of this family. The mother and daughter only knew how to take, never how to be grateful.

Wen Shuang rented a cheap, cramped room near her dance training studio. Fortunately, with Tang Yan’s help, she wasn’t forced onto the streets. Now, to earn money, she spent every waking moment outside of school working odd jobs, contacting lawyers.

But every lawyer in the city, upon seeing her family's case, refused to help. Whether it was too difficult or someone was pulling strings behind the scenes, she didn’t know.

After class, Wen Shuang received a text from Qin You.

“Wen Shuang, in two days your father’s trial will begin. If you don’t make up your mind soon, your family will be finished.”

A chill pierced her heart. Bill collectors at the door, Ji Shen’s rejection, her stepmother throwing her out—it seemed there was no light left in her world.

Everything conspired to press her into submission, to force her to surrender. Was being Qin You’s mistress the only way left to save her family?

Doubt began to gnaw at her resolve.

Wen Shuang: “What do you want me to do?”

Qin You: “Ten o’clock tonight, Rose Hotel.”

Her hand clenched around her phone so tightly her knuckles turned white.

After sending the message, Qin You smiled to himself, certain of victory. Xia Anran noticed and called out, “Brother Qin, my father wants to see you in the study.”

Qin You hurriedly set his phone aside and went upstairs. Since their engagement, the Qin and Xia families had begun collaborating on a major project—an opportunity he would not let slip.

When he was gone, Xia Anran glanced at the phone on the table.

At nine-thirty that night, Wen Shuang arrived by taxi near the Rose Hotel. Just as she was about to enter, someone stopped her.

“Are you Miss Wen?”

She hesitated, then nodded.

“Mr. Qin says he’s changed the location…”

The man whispered in her ear. Wen Shuang frowned—Qin You must have thought the hotel too conspicuous and chosen somewhere more secluded.

“Fine.”

She got into the car, but soon realized it was heading in a different direction. The driver wore a mask and kept glancing at her in the rearview mirror.

A sense of unease crept over her.

Quietly, she took out her phone and sent her location to Tang Yan. She was halfway through typing a message when the driver braked violently.

Her phone flew from her hand.

“What… what are you doing?”

The driver grabbed a sack and pressed it over her face.

Darkness closed in.

...

Tang Yan had just finished a meeting with a wealthy client when she received the message from Wen Shuang. It contained a location, and only a fragment: “I’m being…”

And then nothing.

She called back, but no one answered. Then the phone was switched off. A sense of dread seized her—she called the police immediately.

Ji Shen was at his desk when the call came in.

“Officer Ji! A woman named Wen Shuang has been kidnapped and taken to West Taishan. We need to move out right away!”

Ji Shen sprang to his feet, the name striking a faint chord of familiarity.

“Wen Shuang?”

“Yes! That’s the name the informant gave.”

He gathered his gear, donned a bulletproof vest, and strode out quickly. “Who reported it?”

“I did!” Tang Yan was beside herself in the police station, pacing anxiously. “You have to hurry! My best friend sent that message half an hour ago—her phone’s off now. If you don’t act fast, anything could happen!”

Ji Shen frowned. “Has she gotten into any trouble recently?”

Tang Yan racked her brain. “Her family’s been dealing with some disputes over assets… Oh God, do you think she was kidnapped by those debt collectors?” The thought of the ruthless kidnappers from crime dramas made her burst into tears right there in the station.

Ji Shen had Tang Yan calmed and assembled a SWAT team at once. They raced toward the location.

“The victim is a woman in her early twenties. During the operation, do everything possible to keep her safe.”

In his mind flashed an image of a face as delicate as a rose.

“Yes, sir!”