Lin Yue woke up early the morning like she always did.
She did not sleep well it was always a bit of sleep and then she was awake again. Lin Yue lay in bed for a moment she was listening to the city waking up outside her window.
Then Lin Yue got out of bed she made herself a cup of tea. She unlocked the door to the research room.
Today she would go over everything she knew about each family member again. She wanted to know the family members well. She had to know them well that she knew more about them than they knew about themselves.
She always started with Zhang Wei. He was the one I needed to get to know reall well so she could figure out how to get what she wanted from him.
Zhang Wei was a successful guy he was fortytwo years old. People thought he was doing great because his architecture firm was, in a lot of magazines.
His buildings looked nice they were simple and modern. Sometimes he added some old Chinese style to them. Zhang Wei liked to use lines and new materials when he designed things.
When you look at Lin Yues observations of Zhang Wei on media and at public event it is clear that Lin Yue has formed an opinion, about Zhang Weis personality.
Zhang Wei is a person who likes to be admire even though he tries to appear humble. He post picture of himself at event and he is always standing in a way that makes him look good.
Zhang Wei wants people to think he is great. At the same time he wants to seem like he does not care about what other people think of him. Lin Yue has noticed that Zhang Wei is trying to get attention from people. He is also trying to hide this fact.
Zhang Wei is someone who wants admiration and Lin Yue has figure out that this is a part of Zhang Weis personality.
He seemed sure of himself but deep down he was not so sure. You could see this when people said things about him he would get a little angry and start talking about all the big people he knew.
He needed people to tell him he was doing a job to feel good about himself. This was the thing that could really hurt him.
Lin Yue would make him feel like someone finally understood him in a way that his wife did not. He would get the feeling from Lin Yue that he was a person and that would make him feel better, about himself. Lin Yue was the one who would give him the validation he needed.
The marriage between him and Xu Qing was not doing well. It had been that way for a time. You would not see any pictures of them together.
When Xu Qing and he mentioned each other on media it was only because they had to. They did this for their kids. So people would not talk about them..
The truth is, they did not really care about each other anymore. Xu Qing and he were just going through the motions. A man in a marriage, like him, who wanted someone to pay attention to him was very vulnerable.
Zhang Weis relationship with his father is really important to understand.
His father, Zhang Guoqiang was a strong person who had built a good business by making smart choices and working very hard.
Zhang Wei grew up watching his father. Never felt like he was ever good enough.
When he was around his father he would often stand with his shoulders bent his head down like he was waiting for his father to say something, about him.
Zhang Wei wanted his father to like him. Be proud of him but his father never did.
Zhang Wei and his father had a relatoinship and Zhang Wei was always trying to get his fathers approval but it seemed like Zhang Wei would never get it from Zhang Guoqiang.
Lin Yue moved to Xu Qing. Her file was not as thick as others. It was still pretty big. Xu Qing was 40years old. She worked as a cardiac surgeon at Suzhou First Peoples Hospital.
Xu Qing came from a family, in rural Anhui province. She worked hard and used her brains to get where she is today. Xu Qing even had wrote some research papers. Talked about them at conferences.
What really got to Lin Yue was that Xu Qing was never around her family. You would hardly see any pictures of her with the kids. When you did she looked really tired or like she was not even there.
Xu Qings social media pages did not talk about her family much it was about the medical work she was doing. This made a gap in the family that Chen Mei could easily fill.
The kids were desperate for attention from their mom. The father felt like he was being ignored too. Chen Mei was just going to give them what Xu Qing was not giving them.
The kids needed someone to take care of them. Xu Qing was not doing that. Xu Qings absence was the reason Chen Mei could get close, to the family.
The children were really hard for Lin Yue to think about. They were innocent which made things tougher.
The adults were different they knew what was going on. The children had no idea they did not pick their family. They did not help with the coverup. Lin Yue thought about the children. How they were not involved in any of this they were just kids.
Zhang Ming was sixteen years old. He was really strugmgling. There was a lot of pressure on him.
His parent and grandparent had big expectations. He went to a good high school where all the students were very competitiv. Over the year his grades were not as good as they used to be.
If you looked at his media you could see that he was really angry and he did not like being told what to do.
He changed the color of his hair. Wore clothes that showed he did not care about what other people thought. He wrote comments about people, in charge.
Zhang Ming was trying to get people to notice him. His family did not seem to care. Zhang Ming just wanted someone to pay attention to him.
Chen Mei would notice these things. She would. Listen to him without saying anything bad and she would make him feel like his feelings are okay.
Chen Mei would do this for a while and slowly but surely he would start to trust her. Then Chen Mei would use this trust she had built with him to make him like his family less.
Zhang Xiao was twelve years old. She was a girl and very artistic. Lin Yue found it really tough to go through her file. The reason was that Zhang Xiao was the age as Tiantian would have been.
Zhang Xiao loved to draw all the time.. Her drawings were not happy. They were dark. Made you feel lonely. Zhang Xiao drew pictures of people who were all alone. She also drew spaces.
It was like Zhang Xiao knew that something was not right, in her world. Zhang Xiaos drawings showed that she understood this in her way like a child would.
Xiao was often forgotten because her parents were never around. Her mother was always working.
Her father was too busy dealing with his issues. Her brother was going through a time as a teenager. It was easy for people to ignore kids who were quiet..
Chen Mei noticed Xiao liked the things she created and gave her the attention that Xiao really needed.
When Lin Yue thought about how she was taking advantage of a kid like Xiao she felt a pang of guilt in her heart.. Lin Yue could not stop what she was doing now. Xiao needed her. Lin Yue was going to be there, for Xiao.
The grandparents were really different, from people. Zhang Guoqiang and Wang Lian did some bad things to help their son.
They used the people they knew and the money they had to make sure their son did not get in trouble for what he did. Zhang Guoqiang and Wang Lian did not want their son to be punished.
They wanted to protect him. Now Zhang Guoqiang and Wang Lian are going to face the consequences of their actions. They are going to get what is coming to Zhang Guoqiang and Wang Lian.
Zhang Guoqiang was seventy years old. He was a retired factory owner. Zhang Guoqiang had worked hard to build his wealth. He was also very ruthless when it came to business.
Zhang Guoqiang was a man who liked things done in a certain way. He was also very strict. Liked people who were strong. Zhang Guoqiang did not like people.
He was not happy with his son. Zhang Guoqiang thought his son was too soft and liked art much. Chen Mei knew how to deal with Zhang Guoqiang. She could make him think that she understood what it meant to respect your family and be loyal, to them.
Wang Lian was 68 years old. She was the one who really controlled the family. Wang Lian took care of the household.
Made sure the family looked good to others. Wang Lian said she was a Buddhist. She went to the temple a lot. Gave money to Buddhist causes.. Wang Lian did not really follow the teachings of Buddhism.
Wang Lian liked to judge people and tell them what to do. She would criticize Xu Qing for being too modern. At the time Wang Lian let her son do whatever he wanted.
Wang Lian cared more about how things looked than, about what was really important. Wang Lian liked tradition more than she liked the truth.
Chen Mei would be great for Wang Lian. Chen Mei would show Wang Lian a lot of respect Chen Mei would know a lot about things and Chen Mei would be very polite.
Wang Lian would think that Chen Mei is the daughter-in-law. Wang Lian would never think that Chen Mei is actually ruining everything Wang Lian has worked for. Chen Mei is very good, at pretending to be a woman.
Lin Yue closed the file and sat back. She knew these people well. She really understood what made them tick. Lin Yue was ready to enter the lives of these people and completely tear them apart, from the inside.
She looked at the picture of Zhang Wei on the wall. Really looked at his smile. He looked so sure of himself. In a months she would meet Zhang Wei. She would make Zhang Wei want her she would make Zhang Wei trust her. She would make Zhang Wei need her. Then she would take everything away, from Zhang Wei.
Lin Yue said this to the photograph, in a voice. "You took everything that belonged to me " Lin Yue told the photograph. Lin Yue will do the same to this person.
Lin Yue will take the persons wife, the persons children the persons parents, the persons business, the persons reputation and the persons peace of mind. Lin Yue will take everything that belongs to this person.
The photograph didnt answer just kept smiling that confident, oblivious smile. Lin Yue stared at it for another moment, then turned away and left the room locking it behind her.