Chapter 5

Crack. I slapped him across the face.

Flushed with anger, I accused him:

“What gives you the right to insult me?”

He turned his head and lightly touched the corner of his mouth. He wasn’t angry, but his expression cooled.

“Yesterday, during rehearsal, you and the director slipped into the storeroom. What were you doing?”

I froze.

How had he seen what happened yesterday?

The director was a balding middle-aged man who groped me from time to time.

I had no connections. As long as he didn’t go too far, I endured it.

But I knew that, in Lu Yan’s eyes, I was now a vain woman sleeping her way to the top.

Suddenly, I didn’t even have the strength to defend myself.

“I didn’t. Believe me or don’t.

“One day, I’ll prove to you that money can’t buy everything.”

I walked away.

Halfway back, I took off the fake Prada heels and threw them in a bin.

When I was little, I saw the Golden Boat Best Actress ceremony on television. The star Wu Mengni won. She was wearing Prada.

From then on, Wu Mengni became my idol, and the Golden Palm became a guiding star in my bleak life.

I wore fake Prada because I hoped it would bring me a little closer.

But now I understood. A fake was a fake. It could never become real.

Sharp stones cut my bare feet until they bled. I walked that way for two hours, back to the dorm.

On my eighteenth birthday, my father came to see me.

“I have no money,” I said coldly.

Rubbing his hands, he gave an awkward laugh.

“Listen to you. It’s your birthday. Dad’s taking you out for something nice.”

I’d been raised in my aunt’s home. My father only returned after gambling away all his money.

He was a bottomless pit. Most of what I earned from part-time jobs went into his pockets.

He brought out a cake. I found it strange, but ate it anyway.

The cake was drugged.

When I regained consciousness, I was lying in a hotel room.

The balding, greasy director sat beside me.

I screamed and pulled away.

He leered.

“Jiang Li, your father sold you to me.

“I know it’s your first time. I’ll be gentle.”

I told him to get out.

“Don’t you want to perform?

“It was wrong of me to replace you without your consent.

“Be with me, and I’ll make you a star. How about it?”

I spat at him.

He slapped me. My head rang.

He lunged at me, kissing and biting. I fought desperately.

At last, I grabbed a wine bottle and smashed it against the back of his head.

I shoved him away and ran out.

Outside the hotel, I found my father.

He was still haggling with a cigarette seller.

Hysterical, I screamed:

“You sold your own daughter?”

He looked guilty.

“Li, I didn’t want to. But I owe loan sharks. If I don’t pay today, they’ll chop off my hand. Can’t you understand?”

I began slapping him over and over, too furious to speak.

He shoved me away and shouted:

“Enough! You’re my daughter! I gave you your life! Can’t you think of this as paying me back?”

I laughed bitterly, laughing and crying at once.

I asked him how much it would take to repay him for bringing me into the world.

“Five hundred thousand!

“Give me five hundred thousand, and I’ll disappear for good!”

A downpour began without warning. Like a madwoman, barely clothed, I grabbed at passersby and asked:

“Will you buy me?

“I’m cheap. Only five hundred thousand.

“I’ll do anything you want.

“Please. Please, any of you.”

They hurried away.