A Masterpiece of Revenge

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, a young woman's thirty-year-old cousin, Tyler, crushes her limited edition figurine, a collectible worth five thousand dollars. Aunt Clara shields him, insisting that anything not put away now belongs to Tyler, and mocks the young woman for playing with toys. When her mother protests, Aunt Clara wails about being extorted, then turns on the family's modest red envelope, throwing the cash in her mother's face and letting Tyler grind his foot into her mother's hand.

Sophie stays calm. She invites Aunt Clara and Tyler to the Grand Era Gallery downtown, which is closed to everyone but them. As they gawk at the treasures, Tyler kicks a bulletproof display case and Aunt Clara shoves Sophie's mother against a stone pillar. A message from the monitoring room asks whether to call the police; Sophie replies to wait, because the amount is not high enough yet.

Sophie hands her aunt a bottle of water, smiling.