Chapter 257 - 160: Case Closed! A Prostitute’s Monologue: ’A Whore’s Life’ (Part 3)

He just kept drinking, one glass after another.

It was almost funny. Lin Miao was a paid escort, but the client wasn’t making her drink.

Only when the gloom of his solitary drinking became too much did he break the silence and ask a question.

"You’re not going to get married anymore? You used to talk about love..."

Lin Miao froze. A flicker of distraction crossed her eyes, and she stood there, stunned, for a long time.

Marriage?

’How long had it been since she’d heard that noble, pure, immaculate word?’

Marriage?

Lin Miao fell silent.

’Could she ever have something like that?’

Love?

’Was she even worthy?’

After a long while, she managed to force a smile and said:

"I’m just a whore."

"Who would take a whore home to be his wife?"

Without waiting for him to reply, she reached out and moved her hand toward his groin.

The client stood up.

He tossed down a stack of cash, took a drag from his cigarette, and left without his jacket, not saying a single word.

Inside the private room.

Lin Miao was stunned for a long time. The money he’d left felt scorching hot, hotter even than the first one thousand yuan she had ever earned.

She sat frozen on the sofa, motionless, not even touching the money, stunned for a very long time.

Lin Miao cried, but then she tilted her head back and wiped the tears away.

After a long while, she left the private room.

Draping the jacket over herself, she walked out of the club.

It was snowing outside. It seemed like the snow always fell whenever she was in a bad mood, but it didn’t matter.

Lin Miao wandered aimlessly down the dark street. She didn’t know where she was going, what her destination was, or why she was even walking.

But still, she walked.

She came across a few street urchins.

The kind of urchins that every clean, well-dressed passerby couldn’t avoid fast enough.

They were rummaging through a trash can. Lin Miao watched for a long time, then approached. They were startled and ran, but she beckoned to them, showing she meant no harm, and they cautiously came back.

She took something out and looked at the grimy, hesitant children before her.

She said softly:

"I’m a whore. I’m even dirtier than you are."

"I’m not here to bully you. Go on, eat."

From then on, she developed a habit.

Using her filthy body to trade for stinking money, all to feed a few dirty, disheveled street urchins.

...

...

"Later on, my little sister was a great student in high school."

"She told me that when she grew up and started earning money, she would take care of me. I told her, ’Okay.’"

"Honestly, by the time she got to high school, my financial pressure had eased up. I’d saved some money by then."

"Xiao Miao was in the top five of her entire school. The school was begging her to take the college entrance exams, even offering to waive a lot of the fees!"

"She told me to quit this line of work, to get a normal job. She said the money wasn’t that important, that she’d make plenty once she grew up."

"But I’m a worthless whore... I wanted to buy our old home back."

"That would take a long time to save for. But I didn’t want to wait until Xiao Miao was grown up and brought a boyfriend home, only for him to see my room."

"I didn’t want him to know that Xiao Miao had a sister like me..."

"So I just gave up and let myself fall apart. I became a complete and utter whore, taking private jobs, flaunting myself everywhere."

"Perhaps."

"It was also because I’m just a worthless person."

"Then came the retribution."

"It happened with a client... one I’d taken on for private jobs several times before..."

...

...

Year 2003

"First time at your place. Not a bad atmosphere."

"Who’s that?"

"Your little sister? Why don’t you have her join us? I’m not short on cash. The two of you sisters together..."

Lin Miao, dressed gaudily, was held in the arms of a pot-bellied man.

It was the afternoon. The man raised his eyebrows at the girl inside the room, who had just come home for the holidays, a trace of desire in his eyes.

Lin Miao’s heart leaped in alarm as she cursed herself internally.

’Lin Miao was in college now, her schedule was different. I can’t just judge the time based on her old habits...’

She had seen this man many times—at the slaughterhouse, the club, or even her own home. He always paid well.

But today, Lin Miao had seen them...

She said:

"My little sister isn’t in this line of work! She’s not like me!"

"She’s a college student! She’s still just a kid..."

"A kid? She looks about the same age as you..."

"But... is she still a virgin?"

The man paused, then suddenly spoke.

"Sir, I’ll give you a discount, I’ll give you a discount! Please, don’t make things difficult for a child."

Lin Miao forced a smile, gave Lin Miao some money, and quickly told her to leave.

She embraced a pile of flab that would sicken any normal person and closed the bedroom door.

...

Later, Lin Miao disappeared.

She still remembered their last meeting. Her sweet, obedient Lin Miao had gotten angry, begging her to stop working in this industry...

And then she vanished.

Lin Miao thought she was just angry and sulking, but after searching every place she could possibly be, it became clear that she was truly gone.

Her school, her friends, even the club...

There was no trace of Lin Miao anywhere.

Until a neighbor mentioned a strange stench in the street on the day she disappeared. Used to foul odors herself, she suddenly remembered that client.

Her body and soul trembling, she didn’t care that it was the middle of the night and ran toward the location she remembered.

It was far, but Lin Miao couldn’t feel her exhaustion. She fell, scrambled back up, and fell again.

She walked for a very, very long time, until she reached the place from her memory.

As she passed the courtyard, as if by some ghostly intervention, some strange premonition, she stopped in her tracks, her vacant gaze turning...

Trembling, she looked toward the veterinarian’s room.

She felt herself suffocating, her brain starved of oxygen, as she reached for the hidden door.

She saw Lin Miao.

She saw her little sister, skinned, her blood-drenched corpse hanging upside down...

Her mind went blank. A violent ringing filled her ears, her vision went black, and she couldn’t breathe.

...

Later, Lin Miao...

Went insane.

...

...

December 24th, 2003.

’Lin Miao’ was completely naked in the early hours of the morning, treading upon the snow-covered ground.

Little by little, she made her way toward a place in the Capital City that she had once called novel.

Afternoon. Three o’clock.

Lin Miao stood before a rearview mirror.

She looked in the mirror, tracing her own face. Images seemed to flicker in her mind. Her eyes were empty, her expression dull, as her fingertips brushed her skin.

A man walked up to her side.

...

(The Human Skin Blood Robe Case)

[CASE CLOSED!]