Title: the ally of caution is boldness
Fandom: The Double (cdrama)
Content notes: none
Challenge: Boss
Length: 200 words

Summary: Jingrui always had a talent for chess. His mother wishes he didn't.


“Why in the world do you let that girl keep pulling you into her schemes?” Lu Shi bandaged her beloved son’s wounded hand with the skill of long practice. “You know she's trouble.”

“She's not trouble.” Jingrui objected mulishly. “I'm trouble.”

“Don't I know it! Since you were a baby, always making me worry.” She lifted her handkerchief to her cheek dramatically, as if to wipe away her ever-present tears.

“That's what I mean!” he said, folding in on himself. “Nothing I've ever done in this house has changed anything. She changes things.”

Lu Shi eyed him warily. “That's worse.”

“Is it?” he asked, and the look on his face made her heart ache.

She remembered the boy who told her in all seriousness that when he was a man, he’d take care of her like his father couldn’t. The boy that disappeared when his cousin was sent away.

She’d told herself that he’d never really understood what he was saying. She never once thought maybe he’d learned a lesson from Jiang-furen’s invisible campaign against her step-daughter: that the world is a dangerous place. It’s best to keep your head down. Bide your time. And when circumstances align against your enemy, attack from the shadows without hesitation.