Wenjie didn't know whether it was day or night. The room in which he woke up had as few windows as the previous one. He was lying on a soft surface and his head was humming as if he'd drunk too much alcohol. He felt dizzy, but he could make out the outline of a nightstand and a lamp. It wasn't just his head that hurt. His body hurt, too, and he had no idea what had happened after he ate the soup. His heart was pounding irregularly and he felt a pang of panic in his chest when he noticed Mister Xu sitting on a chair a little way from his bed. 

Nausea constricted his throat, which was why he couldn't bring a sound past his lips. What had Xu Zhengqing fed him? And what had he done to him in the past few hours? Wenjie wasn't sure he really wanted to know. His body was sending him signals that increased the retching in his throat. He coughed and crawled to the edge of the bed. There was a bucket on the floor. 

Mister Xu had probably expected him to vomit when he woke up. Wenjie bent over it and choked out the last of his meal. He felt a hand patting his back until he finished. There were tissues on the nightstand. Wenjie reached for them to wipe his mouth. A bitter taste spread through his mouth. 

"Are you all right?", he heard Mister Xu saying, who had sat down at the edge of the bed. "I'll take you to the bathroom. You should rinse your mouth and wash up."

Wenjie wanted to ask him what he had given him, but he still couldn't get a word out. Mister Xu stood up again and looked down at him. Wenjie would have liked to crawl under the covers, but he really needed something to rinse off. A shower wouldn't be bad either. His clothes were sticking to his body, as if he'd fallen into the water. He was sweating to no end, which was surely an after-effect of what Mister Xu had fed him to do things to him he would never have allowed if he would have been conscious. 

Wenjie didn't resist as Mister Xu helped him out of bed and took him out into the hallway, from where they reached the bathroom. All the rooms he'd seen so far were apparently in the basement area of a building he was unfamiliar with. The bathroom was equipped with a bathtub, a toilet, and a sink. Towels were hanging from a bar. There were cups at the sink. 

Wenjie dragged himself to the sink. He didn't dare to look in the mirror. Instead, he reached for the cup and filled it with water. From the background, he heard the sound of running water. When he glanced at the bathtub, he saw that Mister Xu was filling it. 

The bathroom door was open. Wenjie put the cup back on the edge of the basin and didn't think twice. He just wanted to get away, far away from Mister Xu and as fast as possible. The pain in his body and his dizziness slowed him down, so his hasty escape did not go unnoticed.

He barely made it to the door when Mister Xu caught up with him and grabbed him roughly by the arm. With a jerk, he pulled him into the room and pushed him onto the carpeted floor before closing and locking the door behind him. 

A sharp pain drove through Wenjie's flanks as he hit the carpet. Instinctively, he crawled backwards until his back hit the wall. He was shaking all over, desperately looking for an escape route that didn't exist. 

Mister Xu crouched down in front of him and regarded him with a serious expression. "Do you still want to escape? Do I have to get your little friend here? Or would you rather have Ding Wei deal with her?"

Wenjie paled and he shook his head in panic. "No." No more than a whisper passed his lips. "You said you weren't interested in her." 

Mister Xu laughed derisively. "Since you still resist, that will change. If you want us to leave her alone, you'll have to beg me."

Wenjie breathed heavily. "Please don't hurt her."

Mister Xu grabbed his chin with one hand and forced him to look at him.

Tears swam in Wenjie's eyes.

"You will call me Uncle Xu. Do you understand?"

Wenjie stared at him, aghast. He heard the words, but his mind refused to accept them. Mister Xu had killed his parents, had kidnapped him, taken his necklace, which was the only memory he had from his mother, probably done something unspeakable to him, and was threatening his friends simply because he could. And he was supposed to call him his uncle? No. He couldn't. Nor did he want to. 

The hand on his chin tightened its grip. 

"How important is your girlfriend to you?" asked Mister Xu. 

Wenjie wrestled with himself. Under no circumstances did he want to put Zhiyue in danger. But he couldn't call Mister Xu uncle. He would never consider him family, not after everything this man had done to him and his family. 

Mister Xu pulled out a smartphone from his pocket and called someone. "Ding Wei, I have an assignment for you."

"No," Wenjie gasped. He gathered the last of his strength to swat away the hand on his chin, get back to his feet, and reach for the smartphone. "No. please." 

Mister Xu stood up and shook him off before he could have caught the smartphone. Desperate, Wenjie sank back to his knees. "Please don't, Uncle Xu."  

Xu Zhengqing smiled in satisfaction. "Wenjie didn't keep the food. Stop by the pharmacy and get some medicine for his stomach," he instructed Xiao Dao instead.

Wenjie breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes briefly. He could hear the sound of water lapping in the background. 

"Wasn't so hard after all," Mister Xu said. Shortly after, the faucet fell silent. "Now get undressed and get into the bathtub."

Wenjie blinked and chewed his lower lip uneasily.

"Don't be like that. I've already seen all of you."

With that, he confirmed his horrible suspicions about what had happened during his blackout and encouraged him to go bathe alone. 

Xu Zhengqing crouched down in front of him. "Or do you need help?" Suddenly his voice was gentle again, almost affectionate.

Wenjie shook his head. "May I please bathe alone, Uncle Xu." It took him an enormous effort to speak like this, but he saw no other way out. He needed rest to regain his composure, to clear his head, even if that seemed almost impossible at the moment.

Mister Xu put a hand on his shoulder. "You learn fast. But you're not doing well. You shouldn't be alone right now."

Wenjie pressed his lips together. He understood. Mister Xu wanted to break his inner resistance completely. 

to be continued...