Chapter 5: shadows

Taking the stairs to the second floor, they met a man on his way down. He has a scholarly aura about him, his calm eyes behind his thin eyeglasses, and his wet slick hair neatly combed to the side, even though he was wearing a boilersuit, and walking with a toolbox in his hand. He was one of the few people who treated her nicely in this house, no, in her whole life. He was the only one who visited her in prison but she refused to see him, she wasn't in the mood to see anyone at that time. As he was descending he smiled gently at her and nodded. She smiled back, a warm smile.

"Mr. Gubi is everything ready," Meili tactfully asked him.

"Yes, madam," his deep voice let one open up, and relax.

Meili looked at her, "Lanru, this is our jack of all trades, he takes care of all kind of miscellaneous things in the house,"

Lanru said, "Nice to see Mr, Gubi,"

"Nice to see you, miss, call me if you have any problem."

She nodded at him again and followed Meili to the second floor.

"So, how do you like it? I personally took care of preparing your room."

She took deep nostalgic breaths looking around her room, this room gave her hope in her past life, she thought her life finally changed for the better, she felt like a lost princess. The room was even bigger than her mother's house, there was even a personal toilet inside. There were two big windows wide open making it bathe in the sunlight, with shutters to control the light.

Before she could say anything her sister jumped in, "mom, don't take all the credit, I helped you as well."

Meili rolled her eyes at her daughter, "all you did is disturb me, I gave you that."

"Come on, mom."

Lanru smiled looking at the pair, "thank you, auntie, sister, I love it."

"Actually sister, I prepared a small gift to welcome you, wait for me, I'll be right back," she stuck her tongue out at Meli before she disappeared in a jiff, Lanru could even finish her words, "Thank you sis..."

"My daughter beat me on this, what do I do… Instead, do you like anything special, we still have time, we might be able to prepare it, ah, do you have any allergies."

"No I don't, I'd like anything you prepare for me."

"Great.. I'll leave now, rest well."

Before she could leave Lanru said, "wait, auntie," she thought the time was ripe.

"Auntie, do you find me uncomfortable? I can leave."

Weili's smile disappeared, her mouth was wide open, "I, what..."

Lanru looked at her resolutely, "I'm really sorry that you have to go through this," even though she wasn't the one at fault, good people like her stepmom deserve an apology.

After struggling for a while, Meili collected herself. She said with a bitter smile, "you, you must have a lot on your mind."

Lanru didn't deny, it was the right time to settle some scores, and claim her position in the house this time. She doesn't have to deal with these maids' impudence. She said, "I don't want to disturb the peace here, and..I heard some maids talking, I realized maybe It's wrong of m..."

"Who was it?" Meili's brows furrowed as she stepped forward.

Lanru waved her hands, "Ah, forget it, auntie, I just want to make sure I'm not a bother..."

Meili interrupted her again, "just tell me, this is unacceptable, you're a miss of this house, they can't treat you like this."

After staying silent for a moment, "It was the one with the glasses."

"Ok, let me deal with her," she stopped on her way, "and don't worry, it's a mistake in the past, I'm not bothered," before Lanru could say anything, Maili added, "OK, rest well for now," and left.

Not long after Meili left, her sister came back. She gave her a small box. Even though she knew what's inside she was touched when she saw it. She never removed this bracelet in the past until she lost it in her boyfriend's house.

She put it on her wrist right away, "It's beautiful, thank you, sister."

"It looks beautiful on you," Rubi admired it for a bit, and stood silently for a bit before she held Lanru's hands, "I'm really happy to have you, sister, my brother is too cold, we don't get along."

Lanru smiled back at her, and warmth spread from her chest, "I feel the same, sister."

Rubi smiled and said, "OK, I'll leave first, rest well."

Lanru waved at her sister as she walked away, her smile remained even after the latter disappeared. Left alone for a while, her smile eventually faded. She was still frustrated, her unknown enemy was haunting her.

'Just who could it be?'

She knew that there were just some vicious people, but even they won't elaborate such a big plan just for fun, there's always a motive, otherwise, police won't always look for it. It should be a strong one though. She has no big enmity with anyone, so it could only be about benefits, and those documents she signed were a good clue in that direction. But in this case, it has to be a big fortune, which she hadn't.

Recalling that day, even though the thugs' boss didn't let her read the documents, she could remember a "..land something.." on one of the documents, but she never owned any land. It would have been kind of them if they were of the type she read about in novels. Those sadists who enjoy blabbing to see the rage and helplessness of their victims before eliminating them.

She laid on her bed and took her smartphone out, she checked the available wifis, there were 2 on full signal, the one she recognized was below them, NingNet, she still remembers the password to this day. She rapidly typed it, and looked things up, it pointed toward the same people she had in mind. Most planned crimes are committed or involve none strangers, especially relatives.

Her inner alarm suddenly rang in her mind, something was odd.

'What are these wifis?'

She remembered she asked Mr. Gubi before, she wanted to use one of these wifis since they had more signal strength, but he said they had to do something with the smart house setup, and that only NingNet was for the Internet. She didn't think too much about it back then, but now she can see that things didn't add up.

'Why were they with a full signal in her room?'

Unless the signals are inside her room or pretty close, it wouldn't make sense, but she doesn't know of any wifi device in her room, or nearby. She roamed her head around her room, and couldn't see anything special.

She went outside after checking her room carefully, it doesn't seem like there was anything close either, and the wifi signals even dropped. She was sure now there is something hidden in her room, but what the heck could it be?

'It must be hidden on something that could supply it with electricity.'

She looked at the bulb, it had just a simple light shade. She checked the electric switches and plugs, none of them looked odd. She racked her brain but she couldn't find anything.

She lay on her bed helplessly and head roamed the room with her eyes, when her head turned to the left and she saw the lamp, something clicked in her mind, and her eyes automatically fixated on a small circle on the foot of the lamp that looked like a decoration, 'a camera,' this idea sent shivers down her spine.

Fortunately, the lens wasn't pointing toward the bed. To make sure her assumption was right she turned to look at the other lamp, her eyes widened as the camera eye was looking back directly at her. She looked away slowly trying to control her breathing, her heart booming in her ears.

'What the hell is this?'

She stayed in her place looking at the ceiling for a while, her eyes wide open, 'Just what in the bloody hell is the meaning of this,' she really didn't see it coming.

'No, I have to make sure,' she took out her phone charger from her bag, unplugged the lamp that pointed in her direction, and put the charger instead. She connected it to her smartphone and checked the wifis, and indeed one of the wifis disappeared. Cold spread on her body, freezing her body, and thoughts.

'Who is it? WHY?'

Doubt swept her, were they on to her the moment she stepped in here, but why, it doesn't make any sense, It's not like she's a scientist, or has a big secret. Why would anyone go that far to spy on her? It wouldn't make sense if it's her father or brother, it would be too creepy otherwise. That would only leave her mother, or her step-sister, she could fathom that either. Maybe be a servant, why would they target her of their own will, it made even less sense.

Why though, what reasons could there be, this kind of invasion of privacy could only be done with malicious intent. Unless… she thought of the past, how her boyfriend ruined her reputation by leaking the intimate video he took behind her back. Was this the same, are these incidents connected? But nothing happened because of this in the past.

Her head burned trying to find a reasonable assumption, but all she had was more and more questions. One thing was clear though, she can't trust anyone.