Chapter 13: The Commit Log

Tang Yu did not scream.

She stood by the desk with a bound sheet in one hand and the laptop open behind her.

She had always been quiet when a test failed badly.

"You're awake," she said.

Jiang Lü sat up on the low bed with the quilt pooled at her waist.

She looked at the page in Tang Yu's hand.

She looked at the red string, and the stacks, and the screen.

Her face lost its color in one slow wave from forehead to chin.

"You opened the first file," she said.

"Lin Jie sent the key."

"Yes. I thought he might."

"You thought he might?"

"I did not stop him."

"I could have."

Jiang Lü's voice was very low.

"I think I wanted you to find it before I found the words."

Tang Yu set the page down on the desk, square to the edge.

It was the only way she could keep her hand from shaking.

"Say it plainly," she said. "I want it in the smallest words you have."

Jiang Lü swung her feet to the floor.

She stayed sitting, with her hands open on her knees.

"Two years ago Granny Bai dared me," she said.

"She said I had read one woman's comments for a month and should speak to her or stop."

"I did not know how to speak to you. I did not know how to use a phone."

"So I learned from your pages, one line at a time. And then I was still too afraid to speak."

Tang Yu thought of the number in the header.

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