A Woman Scorned

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bao-wei_icon.gif xiulan_icon.gif

Scene Title A Woman Scorned
Synopsis Xiulan is pissed off, and decides to do something about it. This includes laying a golden egg.
Date June 12, 2009

Cong Medical Clinic


It is morning in the city; not too early, but not yet time to be thinking about a midday break. The clinic at this hour is generally alive, and the usual faces happen to be people with children, from Chinatown or not. A doctor is a doctor, and there is at least one traveling parent from another part of town. But for the most part, the waiting of a couple older patients is mingled with the squeaks and bothersome chatter of two toddlers with their respective mothers. This must be why some children are afraid of going for appointments- they end up going to one of the scariest doctors on the block.

The nurse at the station seems to be doing her busywork, and meanwhile there is at least one person being seen back down the hall. Every so often there is a slight yelp of pain that spooks the kids into worried faces for about five seconds, until they go back to what they were doing together.

Xiulan's appearance as she steps into the clinic probably doesn't do much to reassure uneasy clients. It is clear in a glimpse that the petite female has had little or no sleep. It is also clear that she has been crying. She is not, however, crying now. Instead, there is a slow burning anger hovering in her eyes, the expression of the sort found in people who are more then ready to do something unforgivably painful to the poor soul foolish enough to get in thier way. It is that look that that is turned on the nurse as Xiulan leans in to brace her hands flat against the woman's desk. "I need to speak to Doctor Cong," she informs the woman. "Please tell him Xiulan Song is here and that is urgent."

The nurse may be the same size or even smaller than Xiulan, but when she approaches the station with that aura of hot-headed readiness, Xiulan is met by a strange sort of steeliness on the nurse's sleeve. She didn't get this job just by looking cute and filing medical records at the speed of light. It takes a deliberate sort of person to work with Bao-Wei, and for a moment it seems like the nurse gives miss Song the same, familiar, scornful look, rising from her chair with a marked dignity in doing so. "Doctor Cong is with a patient. If you have an emergency I will tell him, but that does not mean he will see you next." Pah, she does this all the time.

The older people in the waiting room do watch Xiulan with apprehension; the old man across the room even seems to shrink a little bit in his seat out of what might be instinct.

"Tell Doctor Cong," Xiulan notes flatly. "That it is urgent business. If he cannot make time to see me, I will find another 'doctor' who is more willing to hear what I have to say." Apparently, she isn't playing games. Of course, she has very little time in which to play games. Instead, she stares unflinchingly at the nurse, her shoulders rising and falling in a fluid shrug as she slides her hands off the desk. "I will not wait long," she repeats. "As I have said, it is an emergency."

It is as if the other woman can read quotation marks in speech, because her expression soon thins, and she simply nods in apparent understanding before stepping back to go down the hall to the exam rooms. This leaves Xiulan in the waiting room for a minute or so, up until a man walks out with his right arm in a plastic sling, followed by the nurse telling him something in Cantonese. Probably something to the effect of 'get out, you goon'. When she turns back to Xiulan while in the waiting room, her small hand curls up in the air to beckon her to go down the hall alone. "Straight to the back, go straight through."

It does help that the doors are both open, and from the front one can at least glimpse into the office of Doctor Cong. He is in there, due to Xiulan's calling for him, though judging by the ambling hands plucking things off of the desk, it seems as if he is a bit displeased with her timing. But, nonetheless, he waits for her to come back.

Sparing barely a glance for the patient emerging from the back, Xiulan steps past the nurse and makes her way down the hall toward Doctor Cong's office. And, while she is wise enough to know that snapping at the dragon would be unfortunate, she is still operating out of a necessary sense of urgency. So it is that the normally politely obedient young woman waits until she has closed the door behind her before offering a bow that is both respectful and apologetic. Sadly, she cannot manage to force the expression into her dark eyed gaze, she is simply too angry and too wound up to manage that feat. She does, however, wait to be addressed before speaking. Apparently, Doctor Cong warrents more instinctive self-preservervation then his nurse.
Bao-Wei offers a short bow of his head to Xiulan when she comes into his office and promptly offers that wordless apology. He still seems displeased, but thankfully not as much as he could be. He waves a hand at one of the seats across the desk as he swivels in his own chair to better watch her. "Sit." A soft demand of his own. "Something must be bothering you greatly, to come in here unannounced and demand to see me." Also thankfully, Xiulan has a favorable place already; if she were lesser, he may have simply turned her away.

An sigh, albeit barely audible escapes Xiulan's lips at the response, the tip of her tongue moistening her lips as she responds with another polite bow before slipping into one of the empty chairs. "I would not bother you if the matter were not urgent, Doctor Cong." Her assurance is coupled with her hands folding atop her knees, ankles crossing and tucking beneath the chair upon which she is seated. "A… friend of mine has been taken and injured by a man called Logan on Staten Island. He… my friend… has escaped, but has not been heard from since." And despite her attempts to be discreet, it is obvious her 'friend' is more then a friend. It is also obvious that she is fully aware that he may very well be dead. "I must have this friend found, Doctor Cong. If he is still alive… Well, obviously, it is urgent. If he is alive, or if he is dead, I wish to see this Logan bleed, scream, and die a horrendous death." It is there she pauses, drawing in a long, slow breath. "I know that such things cost a great deal of money." She has lived amongst the Flying Dragons her entire life. "I can offer the Flying Dragons access to more money then they could ever, possibly, need." Well, that is new.

It is not hard for him to note the difference between a friend and someone more than a friend- Bao-Wei may be a relative loner, but he always seems to know everything about what comes with not being one. His expression is rather unreadable at first, and he waits until Xiulan has finished her explanation. Only then, do his eyes seem more keen on observing her.

"Logan. You would not happen to mean the proprietor of The Happy Dagger, John Logan?" Sure, there is always more than one Logan of any kind, but only one that he knows about that might be enough of a weasel to make even Xiulan hate him. "You do realize that your friend is quite possibly dead, if he has been dealing with mister Logan?"

And lastly, he removes his glasses, keeping them between his large fingers and leaning his bearded chin onto his knuckles. "Can you, now?" Needless to say, he is extremely skeptical.

"That is the man I mean," Xiulan notes frankly. "And while I realize that my friend may be dead, if he is, I intend to make Mister Logan suffer for that for a very long, very unpleasant time. My friend, however, is crafty and possessed of certain skills that make it possible that he might have survived. If he has, however, he is likely very injured which is why my urgency to get matters under way."

It is response to Doctor Cong's last, a completely expected reaction, that Xiulan dips her chin in a single nod. "I can and I am prepared to prove my words, should you require." Of course, she /knows/ will require it, there was never any doubt of that.

"To be straightforward with you, Xiulan- mister Logan is someone that we do make business with, but on somewhat minor levels." In other words, Song Ye likes to damage his goods, and the thought makes Bao-Wei close his eyes with a degree of consternation. Alas. "If what you claim to be able to make happen for us is not a worried, lovesick little girl clawing at straws… then perhaps we can figure something out in terms of dealing with mister Logan on your behest. The thing is- you must prove more valuable to management than John Logan. Can you do that?"
Meanwhile, the explanation is coming with Bao-Wei drawing out a small legal pad and a pen, sliding them over the surface of his desk. "As for finding your friend, I believe that you have accrued at least a favor or two over the years. Describe him there and I will send out a party."

"I can." Xiulan states frankly. "However, I will not do so for 'dealing' with Logan, Doctor Cong. He has come into my circle of friends with violence and brought this upon himself. I require seeing him hurt. I require his blood, his screams and eventually, his head." Drawing in a slow breath, she moistens her lips with the tip of her tongue, her palms smoothing over the knees of her jeans. "I will require a one dollar bill and a hundred dollar for my demonstration, Doctor Cong. As for my friend, you know him, I believe. Richard Cardinal, he was at the poker game you attended not so very long ago."

"Mister Tucker's friend. Ah." The doctor seems to take Xiulan's bloodthirst in stride, for some reason. She may want Logan off the map, but he remains simmering. Bao-Wei is not oblivious to the fact that sometimes women can be emotional to the point of being overzealous. "I remember him, yes."

When she asks for bills to use in a demonstration, he pauses to look at her before fishing into the drawer on his right. Knowing somewhat of what she can do, the gears in his head are already turning. Out of the drawer comes his sheepskin wallet, and without a word he opens it, fishing out a couple of bills. "What say you to a twenty instead of a one?" What kind of self respecting man carries singles- oh, wait, that kind. As for Cong, however, Rocket would have had a great haul if he hadn't of been caught trying to swipe it all.

"A twenty will work just as easily as a one or any other bill, Doctor Cong. Please retain the hundred dollar bill for your own reference." As for the twenty? She scoots forward to the edge of her chair, reaching out until only her finger tips are touching the very edge of the twenty dollar bill. "It could be yen, or pounds, or franks, for that matter." It hardly matters, really. It as she takes a deep breath and focuses her energy, that the twenty dollar bill starts to alter before Doctor Cong's eyes.

Everything on the altered bill is exactingly crafted, from the color of the inks, to the details on the portrait, to the color-shifting tones on the numbers in the corners. If checked under a magnifying glasss, even the microprinting ('The United States of America'embedded around Ben Franklin's lapel and the words "USA 100" are printed within the lower left "100."). and the old green Treasury seal hidden behind the "100" has long been part of U.S currency and will remain an important security feature is present in exact detail. And, of course, because the 'new' hundred dollar bill has been crafted from the twenty dollar bill, there is no doubt of the authenticity of the paper. It is, without a doubt, as perfect a counterfeit bill as has ever been crafted.

It is only once the transformation is complete, that Xiulan draws away and neatly folds her hands back atop her knees. "I want," she notes quite frankly. "Him dead. Although I am willing to have death take considerable time coming. So long as the coming is accompanied by constant and intense anguish."

One arm leaning on the desk, and the other hand on his knee, Bao-Wei seems oddly still during the entire process. It would be rather crude to be gleeful, but in the back of his thoughts, it happens in a drove. After she moves her hands back, he keeps his eyes on the bill to inspect it from afar. Almost as if it could revert at any second- but he knows very well that Xiulan's changes do not wear off. He clears a bit of his throat, reaching out to take the changed bill and with the other hand put his glasses back over his face. Time for a closer inspection. He knows the small details as well as any good criminal, and so these are the first things that he looks for.

"I'll be a monkey's uncle." He says this with a deadpan sort of expression, so the words sound somewhat absurd coming from it. "Physical or emotional anguish?"

"Both," Xiulan states in tones far colder then any might imagine her capable of. "I believe, Doctor Cong, you can clearly see that I have the potential to be far more valuable to the Flying Dragons than any two bit thug on Staten Island. Besides," she adds in reasonable tones. "I've every confidence that with enough money, you would be more then able to replace him with someone more ameniable to the way you might prefer things be done. But," she adds with quiet intensity. "I want to see him suffer. I want to make absolutely certain that he knows he sealed his own warrent of execution the moment he laid hands on Richard Cardinal."

"Any man's pain can be given a price. And you obviously know this." Doctor Cong keeps his eyes on the bills to compare them now. "I think that the best way to get this done is to do so through business- possibly set him up to fail while he happens to already owe us something more. The setting up of a fall too painful to get up from. In time, we could take him to do as we please, and no soul will be the wiser." How? The large man does not particularly seem to want to elaborate, but the measured way in which he speaks is evident of some silent plan already moving around. There are ways to make the most of a woman scorned, and even more ways to make sure some manner of retribution comes. Eventually.

"So long as I get his head, I have no complaints, Doctor Cong." Drawing in a slow breath, she gives a faint shake of her head, one hand raising to scrub over her face. "I am tired of being underestimated and thought a harmless non-entity. As you see, I have skills that can greatly benefit Flying Dragons. It is time, I think, that I learned more of the skills required to be a proper part of this family. If, of course, you believe that Liu and Song Ye would find such an agreeable arrangement."

"I am certain that you could be given a better role, Xiulan. That, however, is going to be up to Liu…" As much as it pains him to say so. "I am sure you already know that he and his sister are becoming partial to those like them- people with abilities such as yours." He tucks the two bills into the drawer now, creasing the real one on the corner so that he can run them past an actual counterfeiter later.

"I could potentially mark a date for a proper meeting, if that would please you?"

"I will trust your judgement on the matter, Doctor Cong. Frankly speaking, it is more an interest being an active part of the family then continueing on the edges as I have been." Relieved now, Xiulan draws in a slow breath and releases it on a sigh. "I have anguished over keeping this secret for some time now. So long as Logan pays and pays dearly, I will be content to do my part as is seen fit. In time, perhaps, should he still live, you may wish to meet more intimately with Richard. He has skills that I am certain you would find more then ample use for."

At this point, his nodding is cursory. "Perhaps. But currently, I think that I do need to get back to business here-" Bao-Wei motions towards the door, rising from his seat as he does so. "-because I do have two appointments with mothers, and they can be quite sour if something does not happen on time. Especially appointments." Oh yeah, this is a clinic, remember? Xiulan walked in on the middle of office hours. Oops.

"Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Doctor Cong." Rolling to her feet, Xiulan offers another polite bow before taking two backward steps to the door. "I apologize for the unseemly manner of entrance, my temper was uncustomarily high." Again, she offers a respectful bow before slipping out of the office and making her way out of the clinic.


OOC Note: The nurse at the beginning is still up for possible adoption, if there is anyone interested in a premade Triad character!


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