Attack
It was the girl's weary footsteps that gave her away. Mipeng was wending her way home through the deserted dockside in the last of the evening light, just as Di Chou happened to emerge from an alleyway, coming to check on the new cargo brought into port, to see if there was anything interesting to err… look at.
There she was, lost in her own little 'medium world', picking her way through the stacks of crates and completely oblivious to anything else around her. Not exactly a wise move, Di Chou thought, for a rather pretty girl, (some might say nigh on beautiful, with those glossy locks of hers) such as herself. There were all sorts of bad men out at night, he concluded, and she was but a rather frail, albeit tall, girl-easily overpowered.
It was with that thought that Di Chou decided no money would be needed, and made his way, with surprising stealth for a man of his stature, after the girl.
Suddenly, the girl spun round. Di Chou flattened as much of himself as was possible against a large stack of crates just behind him, while her sharp eyes darted all over the place.
Di Chou waited with baited breath. Not now, he thought, not now. The girl looked fast and had too much of a lead on him. He would not catch her, and then she would avoid him as much as possible. No, he must take her by surprise.
She turned back round and started to walk once more, this time a good deal more carefully; stopping every few steps to glance around her. She did not see him, however, and with every passing second he drew closer, closing in on his prey.
Di Chou leapt. He fastened his right arm round her throat and lifted her clear off the ground.
"Listen up, girl," he hissed, "Qing'an is to be mine. You had better tell everyone at the séance that Gou Pei is in want of a new husband for his widow, or I swear to the gods that I will personally make sure you go the same way as him."
With that, Di Chou let go. Mipeng dropped to the floor, retching and desperately gasping for air to fill her burning lungs. She stood up, shakily so, and Di Chou saw the evident fear in her eyes, but it was masking something different, something oddly like the steely light of defiance. This made Di Chou angry, and he brought his arm back without a second thought, before letting it snap forward to send the girl reeling.
Di Chou laughed as she tumbled once more into the crates, hitting her head as she did so, and falling unconscious.
He turned and walked away.