Chapter 256 - 160: Case Closed! A Prostitute’s Account: ’A Whore’s Life’ (2)

It was a hotel. Lin Miao was crying. Her petite body was covered by the bedding, a burning pain pulsing beneath her.

There was no one beside her, but there was a thousand yuan.

Lin Miao cried for a long time.

But it also seemed like it wasn’t that long.

She didn’t know what time it was. She sat before the mirror, wiped away her tears, and after cleaning herself up, took the money and limped outside.

She used the money to buy some hawthorn fruit, candy, cotton candy, and a tanghulu.

She loved sweets.

When she returned to their depressing, dilapidated rental home, her younger sister, Lin Miao’s, head popped out.

Her sister took the items, pulled out the cotton candy and the single tanghulu, and held them out to Lin Miao.

"Eat, Sister."

Lin Miao ate. She sat on the sofa, holding her ten-year-old sister in her arms.

There was no television in the living room.

She sat for a long time, her eyes vacant, just staring at the wall, her mind empty.

’Or maybe there was something.’

’But it was all illusory. She felt like this was a dream, but if it were a dream, it was far too painful. She should have woken up by now.’

The candy melted in her mouth, but its faint sweetness couldn’t wash away the bitterness of her fate.

Lin Miao sat on the sofa for the entire day, dazed, her mind a complete blank, tear tracks still visible at the corners of her eyes.

She only snapped out of it when her sister Lin Miao’s stomach started rumbling that evening.

Lin Miao was very well-behaved. She didn’t bother her older sister, quietly doing her homework. After she finished, she started previewing her textbooks.

Lin Miao watched her in silence. Then, for some unknown reason, she forced a smile onto her haggard face. She looked at her sister and clutched the money.

"Xiao Miao..."

"We have money now."

"I’m going to go buy you some candy."

...

...

"Maybe. Maybe I was born to do this kind of work."

"After that, it was like my true nature was exposed. I just stayed at the clubhouse."

"The women at the clubhouse have their little cliques. I knew they all excluded me. Occasionally, I’d overhear them talking about me, not even bothering to be that secretive."

"They said I was a naturally promiscuous woman. At my age, giving myself away on my first night as a hostess."

"They said I was a pretentious bitch. So quick to give it up, yet I acted so coy during the selection..."

"Perhaps."

"Whatever."

"Like I said, maybe I was born a bitch, so I just did what a bitch is supposed to do."

"But I have a sister."

"My sister isn’t."

"I remember, the first time I mentioned my sister, they said..."

...

...

July 16, 2000.

In the Baihan Clubhouse, Lin Miao, wearing bright red lipstick and a sexy, revealing red dress, was backstage, reading a book out of sheer boredom.

Someone nearby suddenly spoke up, asking:

"Why are you all in this line of work?"

As soon as the question was asked, others began to respond.

"Money, of course. That bag I want is too expensive. Seventy-five hundred!"

"Tsk, have you guys seen that new outfit? The shoes alone are over four thousand!"

"You mean the ones on display at the mall? I have them. I ran into a big spender a few days ago, and after I took good care of him, he bought them for me right then and there!"

A few women gathered together, chatting among themselves.

After a while, the topic turned to Lin Miao.

"Sister Lin, why are you in this line of work?"

Someone asked Lin Miao, their tone dripping with sarcasm.

Lin Miao knew what they meant. ’I’m only nineteen, yet she’s calling me ’Sister’ like a veteran...’

But she didn’t care.

"I have a sister. My sister is beautiful and smart. She’s thirteen this year, in middle school..."

Lin Miao went on and on.

She shared the news with her colleagues as if she were showing off.

"She’s so well-behaved. She never makes me angry, and she even helps with the chores!"

"Her grades are great, too! She’s in the top twenty in the whole school—a top-tier middle school, and she’s in the top twenty!"

"Next year, she’ll get into a top high school, and then she’ll get into a university..."

As she spoke, the women around her fell silent and just listened.

Until one of them suddenly blurted out.

"She’ll get into a university."

"Her classmates will say, ’My parents are civil servants.’ The upperclassmen will say, ’My parents own a company.’"

"And your sister will say her older sister is a hostess, a whore?"

"Ha. She’ll probably be too embarrassed to even mention you. After she graduates in a few years, she won’t even try to find you!"

"You won’t be able to contact her even if you want to!"

The woman’s words were harsh. She glanced at Lin Miao’s cheap clothes, a flicker of disgust in her eyes.

The others fell silent, standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

Lin Miao was the same. After a moment, she sat down before the mirror, took out her lipstick, and started touching up her makeup.

"Is that so?"

"That’s not so bad."

"If she disowns me, she won’t have a stain on her name. Otherwise, she’ll be bullied..."

The others were taken aback. Then, feeling like they had made things awkward for no reason, they quickly dispersed.

...

...

"Even though I didn’t get along with a few of them, nothing major ever really went wrong."

"The days passed, one by one."

"And life gradually got better."

"I even met a few interesting clients. One of them looked really familiar."

"’Was he a classmate from middle school? Whatever, I can’t remember clearly. He did look a bit like some boy, though.’"

"He was very strange."

"Do you know what he wanted from me?"

...

...

Perhaps Lin Miao was unwilling to recall it, because the timeline was blurry. She couldn’t remember when it had happened.

She only remembered this.

It was a winter. A client who had never been there before came to the clubhouse. His face was very familiar.

Lin Miao, being a ’veteran’ by then, did something unusual when she saw him: she lowered her head.

But the client specifically requested her by name, asking her to stay.

Nothing happened that night.

The clubhouse was quiet.

Lin Miao only remembered that it was the quietest she had ever seen the entire clubhouse, the quietest private room she had ever been in. The client didn’t say a word.