Couple of Mirrors - Chapter 7: Protection

 

'What are you doing, Yan Wei?' asks Xu Youyi, bursting into the room where Yan Wei is very intently watching a piece of paper burn.

Yan Wei looks up. 'Xu Youyi?'

Without really waiting for an answer, Xu Youyi catches hold of Yan Wei's hand. 'There's a fire! Come with me, quickly.'

As she rushes hand-in-hand with Xu Youyi through the smoke-filled corridors, Yan Wei wonders: She came here especially to save me...? Since I was a child, this is the first time anyone has ever protected me...

Yan Wei flashes back to a childhood memory of running away from a fire with a group of other terrified children. An unseen speaker harangues them: 'Run faster! If you don't run fast enough, you deserve to die!'

Another child bumps into Yan Wei, and she falls over. The other children trample her in their rush to escape. As Yan Wei starts to pick herself up, she remembers being told, 'The strong will be spared! The weak have no way of surviving here!' and 'Compassion towards the enemy is cruelty towards yourself!'

She kicks one of the other fleeing children in the chest, and breaks free of the crowd, running ahead of the other children. Just as she escapes out into the open, the fire suddenly gets even bigger and hotter. Yan Wei, exhausted, collapses onto the ground.

Eventually, the tap-tapping of a pair of military boots approaches. Yan Wei looks up into the face of a soldier, who tells her, 'You've passed the test.'

Back in the present, Yan Wei is still running hand-in-hand with Xu Youyi through the police station. When someone is protecting you, she realises, even the heat of a sea of flames can feel like the warmth of a stove...

The two of them finally make it outside, where Xu Youyi inspects Yan Wei up and down. 'Are you all right?' she asks. 'Did you inhale any smoke? Are you hurt?'

Yan Wei responds by wiping soot off Xu Youyi's face and tidying her hair.

She's satisfied once Xu Youyi has been restored to her usual sparkling self.

Xu Youyi smiles.

The two of them stand smiling at each other as the rest of the crowd complain about the police. 'We just came here to assist with their enquiries, we could have died!' says one witness, while another adds, 'These police are far too careless!'

Zhou Heng comes rushing up. 'Youyi, are you all right?' he asks. 

'I am,' says Xu Youyi, her smile disappearing.

Zhou Heng looks at Yan Wei. 'You rushed in there just to save her?'

'Yes,' says Xu Youyi, putting her arm through Yan Wei's. 'She's my new friend.' 

They start to walk away, and Zhou Heng runs after them. 'In that case, let's all get into the car. We can drive her home.'

'There's no need,' says Xu Youyi. 'We have something else to do. You should go home first.'

Xu Youyi and Yan Wei walk hand-in-hand down a deserted cul-de-sac.

Here, Xu Youyi lets go of Yan Wei's hand. 'Yan Wei, tell me the truth...' she begins.

'What?' asks Yan Wei.

'What were you doing in the filing room?' asks Xu Youyi.

'I ... I ... I didn't...' Yan Wei stammers. Then she gets a brainwave. 'I didn't ... I don't have identity papers!'

'You're undocumented?' Xu Youyi exclaims.

'Yes,' says Yan Wei. 'I'm an orphan, I don't have a household registration, and I'm afraid of the police. So in all the confusion, I went to the filing room to destroy my witness statement.'

She observes Xu Youyi's response very carefully, but she needn't have worried, because Xu Youyi is gazing with her with wide compassionate eyes.

She takes Yan Wei's hands again. 'I'll help you apply for your papers,' she tells her.

Meanwhile, at the police station, Jiang Bin is getting an update from his subordinate. 'What's the situation?' he asks.

'More smoke than fire,' his subordinate responds. 'A false alarm.' And then he adds, 'For some reason, a few records from the filing room were destroyed ... Although they weren't anything anything important. Just post-mortem identification records?'

This seems to make Jiang Bin agitated. 'Post-mortem identification records?' he asks.

Please view the original manhua here.

Translator's note:

• It was very difficult to stop myself from rendering the title as 'SHE PROTECC'.