A month later, I had finally recovered. I was cowed, silent and did as I was told. Like a robot. No, like the doormat they had wanted me to be. So much for rebellion and standing my own ground. So much for having a bottom line.
Mrs Jun pretty much ignored me most of the time, treating me as if I didn't exist. Mr Jun controlled us all tightly. Even Siming had become silent and pensive, worried that if he continued messing around, I would be implicated. For the most part, the family seemed to still feel that I belonged to Jun Sihao and so after I recovered, I was sent to live in his room and share his bed.
Even so, I felt isolated. Everyone avoided me where possible. They wouldn't even look into my eyes.
"There are security cameras everywhere in the house," Jun Sihao had explained to me one night in bed. "Mum doesn't want Dad to think we're ganging up on him behind his back. She's trying to protect you by staying away from you, so don't feel too bad."
I nodded and just rested my head on his chest.
"Has your period come this month yet?" Jun Sihao asked and I looked up at him in alarm.
That was right. I'd forgotten all about that.
"Dad's going to give it another few weeks and if your period doesn't arrive, you'll be taken for a checkup. If your period comes, once it's over, Dad's going to make a schedule to make you spend every night with a different person."
I shuddered at the thought of spending an entire night with Mr Jun. The thought was too horrible to contemplate and left a terrible feeling of dread in my stomach.
"Let's hope you're pregnant. He'll go easy on all of us if you are. Especially you."
"Sihao," I whispered into his ear. "Let's take Mum and Siming and run away together."
"Yes," Sihao kissed the tip of my nose. "What took you so long to think up such a simple plan? That's not like you."
"I was injured and sick," I made a face into his neck.
"Whose fault was that?"
"Shut up," I sniffed.
"I still need him to pay for the treatment for my legs," Sihao whispered in my ears. "Be patient a while longer. When I'm healed and can walk again, just wait for me. I'm already planning for it. He discovered my last plan. That's why he broke my legs. This time, he won't find anything out until we're all long gone. Start saving up all the cash you can and pack your bags. Keep it hidden. Mum and Siming are doing the same. When we leave, it may be in a rush, so make sure not to miss anything out. We'll be taking Dr Feng and Geannie with us as well or Dad will take revenge on them."
"There is another way. One that would put him behind bars for good," I said.
"Knowing you, you'll be thinking of something stupid. Something like provoking him into a rage and sacrificing yourself for us. Yina, please don't take your own life or health so lightly. Your life is important as well."
I snorted.
"Yours is more important. Let me tell you a secret," I whispered. "I'm not my parents' biological child. I was taken in but I don't know who my parents are. My parents don't know that I know. I heard them talking late one night. I didn't get to hear everything because Big Sis came by and I had to hide."
"We'll investigate," Jun Sihao said. "We'll find out one day. But no matter who you are or who your real parents are, it won't stop our family from loving you and protecting you. For the moment, the most important thing is for me to recover. And then for us to get out of here without leaving a trail for Dad to follow. We'll leave everything behind and find somewhere for us all to start a new life again. Ok? You can't tell anybody or let Dad become suspicious."
I think Mr Jun was already suspicious. When I went about the household chores with Mrs Jun in silence, Mr Jun's eyes were always following us. It was a good thing I had been in charge of the house chores at home before coming here and that Mrs Jun had already been having me help her out whenever I came over in the past, so Mrs Jun didn't have to teach me too much or say too much to me.
Now that I understood what was going on, I was able to recognise Mrs Jun's attempts to reach out to me. I wondered how she had survived in this sort of environment for so long. Did she resent me? Hate me? Did she really care about me? Her husband kept eyeing me in a lewd way. Did it make her angry? Jealous? It didn't seem like it. I couldn't read her face or attitude hidden behind the strong, thick mask she wore everyday.
Now that I thought about it, I had never really had a clear picture of her character. The memory of her was vague and blurry - like a cardboard cut out. A person with no stand out features or real soul. She had always been aloof and impersonal. I guess I had never really taken notice of her or cared enough to look closer.
During a silent dinner one day, Mr Jun put down his chopsticks before any of us had been able to take a few mouthfuls. Reluctantly, we also put our chopsticks down. We were only permitted to eat if he was eating, and if he was done, we weren't allowed to continue eating. We all sat in silence, looking at the uneaten food.
"Yina, go and get my cane," Mr Jun said, making a shiver run through all of us.
I went to fetch the cane from above the door lintel and presented it to him in two hands.
"Kneel down, Yina," Mr Jun commanded while looking around the table and I immediately dropped to my knees. I didn't dare make a sound.
I heard the swish of the cane and felt the sting when it landed on the back of my shoulders. There was silence while the rest of the family watched Mr Jun punish me for no reason. I could see the hidden, tightening fists they were all hiding under the table.
"You're all hiding something from me. What is it?" Mr Jun said after a long time. He twisted and stretched the wrist he'd been using to hit me with. "If none of you talk, I will continue."
There was silence and I gritted my teeth when the cane fell down on my back again.
Siming had told me that Mr Jun used to use a thick wooden rod as thick as a baseball bat. That rod had been what broke Jun Sihao's legs. Sihao had then been put in a car and the car accident had been orchestrated. Sihao had almost died. What a ruthless father.
I guessed Mr Jun didn't want to have to do something so risky again and so he had switched over to this thinner bamboo cane.
Prickles of sweat stood out on my body and I knew without being told what the others were doing. Sihao had explained it to me before when we were hidden in bed one night. Mr Jun, being a suspicious man, would pull someone out and beat them until someone finally made a confession. If the confession was made too early, he wouldn't believe it. If the confession wasn't believable the punishment would be worse. Only after the person he had chosen suffered for a bit would Mr Jun believe whatever confession they had decided to make up.
"It was me," I blurted out, not wanting any of the others to suffer. Why should they suffer as well? One person bearing the pain was enough. "It was my fault. I slipped in the kitchen last week and spilled the soup, breaking a bowl. I nearly made dinner late that day. They were trying to cover up for me."
"Oh?" said Mr Jun with disbelief.
"And I spat in your bowl before serving it to you," I added.
"And they knew about it?" Mr Jun snorted in disbelief.
"I tried not to let them see," I lied.
"So I haven't beaten you into submission yet," Mr Jun growled, making me shrink down. He released a short laugh. "Good. Very good. You are all ganging up on me behind my back. You probably all know about it. I knew it. You want to protect her? Very good."
I was hauled up by the hair and pressed down onto the table. Mr Jun knocked his rice bowl off the table, sending it flying into the wall with a crash.
"Eat," he seethed at the rest of the frozen family. "Eat every last piece of food on the table. Eat while you watch your favourite girl being punished for you."
The cane fell on me with careful measured blows. Mr Jun hadn't flown into a frenzied rage like I had expected. I clenched my eyes shut and gritted my teeth some more, determined to swallow any cries of pain.
I heard a thud of knees.
"Dad, it was me. I failed an assessment in uni again. They didn't want to tell you and make you angry," I saw Siming kneeling and trying to hold back his tears. "Don't beat Yina."
"If I don't beat her, how will you learn to improve your grades and give me some face?" Mr Jun sneered. "From now on, for every failed test or assessment, Yina will be punished."
"But it's not her fault," Siming cried. "Dad. Beat me. Don't beat her for my mistakes."
"Beating you in the past didn't work. Perhaps seeing someone suffering the price for you will make you pull up your socks," Mr Jun said, without stopping the cane.
"Dad, it was me," I heard Sihao move his wheelchair. "I lost my temper and broke grandfather's fountain pen that you gave me without thinking."
"That fountain pen belonged to my grandfather. I gave it to you as a sign of my recognition," Mr Jun's growl grew louder. "And you broke it?"
"It can still be fixed," I said hurriedly with a strained voice. "Sihao, I told you not to say anything until we got it fixed. We just need to replace the barrel."
"Replace the barrel? You might as well replace the whole pen!" Mr Jun roared and his fists landed on me, making me gasp with pain. "It won't be the same pen anymore! Since only seeing Yina being punished will move you, then she can carry your blame as well," Mr Jun snarled.
"Husband, don't hit the girl. It was my fault. I made our son angry with my nagging," Mrs Jun said with another thud of knees on the ground.
"Good. Very good, all of you," Mr Jun laughed.
He didn't beat us all up like I had expected, nor did he keep caning me.
"Eat!" he roared. "Why aren't you all eating? You want to see this bitch be beaten up some more by me? Want to see me strip her? Fine."
Just like that, I lost the skirt of my dress and underwear. Just like that, I was pushed down onto the table.
"As long as you all don't eat, I will not be finished with this little bitch who has dared to harm our harmonious family life and disrupted the peace. Wife, when you are done, cook me another meal. A clean one. Then you can feed me while I break this little whore open."
It was a tortuous and probably tasteless dinner for everyone. I watched and scrunched my eyes up tight every now and then when things were getting too unbearable. They ate in a hurry and then almost ran to the kitchen with Mrs Jun and all the empty dishes. I lay on the table wishing I could faint. The meal Mrs Jun brought out was thrown at her.
"What is this pig swill?" Mr Jun roared. "Make it again!"
Siming cleaned up the mess with shaking hands and tears streaming down his face. Sihao sat by the telephone, looking at it with clenched fists every now and then.
"Go on," Mr Jun goaded him. "You always want to report me to the police. Go on. Pick up the phone and make the call. See what will happen."
Mrs Jun brought out a steak. It was rare and bleeding from the middle when she cut it. She fed Mr Jun with it. Her hands trembled so hard that I was worried she might cut herself. Mr Jun seemed to be enjoying himself, making noises of contentment in between grunts.
Suddenly she turned the knife on Mr Jun whose vigilance was better than expected. He roared in anger.
He caught her wrist, wrested the steak knife from her grasp and backhanded her hard enough that she fell a distance away. Mr Jun pushed me to one side and I saw Jun Sihao dialling on the house phone in a shaky hurry.
Mr Jun stalked toward Mrs Jun and tossed Siming aside when he tried to stop him.
"You want to kill me?" he hissed, raising the knife over Mrs Jun. "In your dreams!"