The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Mr. Paloka contacted Mrs. Valentina-Smith to say he had three possibilities for Mrs. Ding and they agreed to meet her in The Distorted Cross. Once there, sat round a table, the ladies’ feet shoeless being massaged, Mr. Paloka informed Mrs. Ding of his findings. They were all from the local university and Mr. Paloka had their statistics as well as their public activities and family histories. He also had their medical records and full addresses. Mrs. Ding looked at the data, especially the photographs avidly.

“I’m still not absolutely certain if this is the standard you require,” he told Mrs. Ding, “but to obtain more information would require, perhaps, us delving into areas you wouldn’t want us to.”

“Do not worry Mr. Paloka,” she said. “You have done exceptionally well. Thank you. If you have no objection, I will take over from here. It is now up to me to personally verify their suitability and, if acceptable, collect them.”

Mr. Paloka handed over his files on these three potential pets.

Mrs. Valentina-Smith sat quietly throughout this discussion until she reached into her bag and removed her cell. Nobody else had heard any indication that it had a message. She checked the text and then said, “Apparently your daughter, Miss Ding Jun, has arrived with one hundred and thirty four, er, specimens?”

Mrs. Ding looked at her in a querying fashion. “I did not know she was coming here today,” she said.

“Well, your daughter knows you are here, for she has requested a maid to lead her to you. You have the files, so we will leave you to your reunion,” said Mrs. Valentina-Smith, rising from her chair. Mr. Paloka immediately followed suit.

“No. Please do not leave. My daughter has not seen fit to inform me of this, therefore she will have to accept me with my guests. So they stayed, waiting uncomfortably for the billionaire’s daughter to arrive. Mrs. Valentina-Smith took the opportunity to review her progress in acquiring a version of Unit 8 under her control.

She decided to go ahead in the procurement of a robot at least equal to Unit 8. She knew unit 8 was not a robot, but a person inside an exoskeleton, so she decided to investigate the state of exoskeleton research. Once she had an overview, she could then decide which way to go. She decided to instigate that research this very day.

Mrs. Valentina-Smith’s thoughts were interrupted by Ding Jun’s arrival, accompanied, naturally, by a ubiquitous maid.

Miss Ding Jun approached her Mother. They both hugged in the western fashion. Both Mrs. Valentina-Smith and Mr. Paloka had risen from their seats. The Mother introduced them and they all exchanged greetings.

“Apparently you have arrived with a number of specimens. Is that correct?” Mrs. Ding asked.

“Yes Mother. But I have already dispatched one hundred and twenty six to China. They are to replace our miners who were killed when the seam collapsed this morning. If we can get them there quickly, we will minimize our financial losses.”

Her Mother smiled and addressed the hotel employees. “My daughter is headstrong and has been educated in western institutions. But she is still my daughter and is always ready to help when needed, even at a sacrifice to herself. Unfortunately we have suffered an accident in one of our mines, which is aggravating. But this influx of miners will help alleviate the situation enormously,” she said with obvious pride.

“Now Jun, what of the other eight? Are you keeping them for yourself?”

Ding Jun smiled, saying, “Yes indeed. They are all from my graduation year. I enjoyed myself there so much I couldn’t bear to leave them all, so I intended to have them all with me at our estate in China where they would have been available whenever I needed them. But, I heard the news just after I collected them, so I changed my plans. The mine only needs one hundred and twenty six, so I can keep eight. It’s no matter though. I have kept the best eight for my needs. And Mother, I do believe three of them will be eligible for the Shows,” she said excitedly. As soon as I saw them a few years ago, I knew I would have to have them, and now I do.” She was very proud of herself. “Although,” she added, “there is one I want who refused to go on the trip I arranged. But I’m going to add her separately. Her name is Rebecca Barlow at the moment. Her new name will be Dòngwù Zài Senlín Chezhé which translates as ‘Animals Rutting In The Forest’, she added to the two westerners.”

Mrs. Ding smiled at her daughter. “Well then, will you show the ones you have to me? I am very interested to see what type of eye you have for pets. And perhaps, if you feel the need, you could tell me about the one that got away. It may be I could help you there. I do have a lot of experience.”

“Thank you Mother,” Ding Jun added. “I have been working on her gently for weeks now. I’ll tell you all about it later, when there’s more time. Now is for my present haul.”

Mrs. Valentina-Smith and Mr. Paloka were invited along and they all casually walked to the holding area, never having to worry about a door not being open for them or an elevator not being there and ready for them. The hotel maid communication network made sure of that.

Eventually they arrived and could see the specimens. And the specimens could all see them, but couldn’t talk because they all were gagged effectively. They were all fully clothed with their wrists and ankles shackled to two metal poles protruding from a wheeled base. They all stood silent, their legs spread about shoulder width apart and tied to the poles and their wrists tied to the same poles further up, at about hip height. Their arms were slightly spread from their bodies.

Ding Jun pointed to three specimens and the attendants wheeled them forward. “These are they Mother. Aren’t they perfect?”

“Now do not be hasty daughter. You know as well as I they have to be evaluated properly before we can say for certain they can be entered. But, I must say, so far they do look good. I can see why you wanted these ones. They are ones I would have picked. Very good work Jun.”

Dim Jun smiled at her Mother’s compliments. “I do know that they may still not be eligible Mother. But I do have a feeling they will be. In fact I have had some preliminary measurements taken and they are all good. Even their teeth are perfect. I checked their dental records before I took them. I also have their full medical history as well as recordings of their psychiatric sessions along with their psychiatric assessments. Well, for these two,” she indicated which. “This one,” she indicated the one left, “hasn’t had any psychiatric evaluation as far as I can tell.”

“I am certain they all will give you great credit, daughter,” Mrs. Ding said. “But we are ignoring our guests in our enthusiasm,” she added. “And, I have to inform you, Jun, our guests have been a great help in locating specific targets for my acquisitions. I am certain they could be a great advantage to you as well. But they only know the bare outlines of our operations in this area. So, as you have been most enterprising in your acquisitions, please amplify our guests’ knowledge of what we are doing, and why.”

“Of course Mother.” She half turned and faced Mrs. Valentina-Smith and Mr. Dimat Paloka directly. “As my Mother said, we have Shows to show off our pets and to compete against each other. There are various prizes for the sections, but they all culminate in the Best of Show award, right at the end of the biggest show of the year. That is, the Pet of the Year award.”

“Each pet belongs to a type, and each type has strict rules about form. Height, weight, skin color, width of shoulders, length and girth of penis, size and width of breasts, height of lower leg by itself and as part of the ratio between lower and upper leg – well everything is measured against the standard. Grey hair is not acceptable and we can’t die it, which limits a pet’s show-life. All this is, I think standard for American sensibilities, but we have other criteria that may not be.

Specifically body hair. Our pets are organic as far as possible. The more organic the pet, the more points they will achieve in the shows. And that means body hair as well. We do not depilate or shave our pets and their body hair must be compared to a natural standard. For the males this is just about acceptable for American society, but we prefer our female pets to be the same.

So arms and legs are left in an organic state, as well as their pubic regions. Simple trimming is allowed, as long as it is done sympathetically to the overall aesthetic. Facial hair on females is a great attraction for followers and is prized highly. One of our main problems nowadays is obtaining a pet that has permanently depilated its pubic area or its facial area. This makes it unacceptable for showing and we have to either use it as a mansion slave or donate it to charity, usually an animal testing laboratory. Obviously no pet can match all these parameters, but they can come close. The closer they come the more points they get.”

“And there are various competitions each pet has to undergo. Obedience, retrieval, agility, dance – that’s from ballroom to pole – obstacle race, well, you get the idea. It’s much like Crufts, if that helps you think of it.”

“But a picture is worth a thousand words, so check this out,” she said as she accessed her cell. In seconds she had a recording of some sort of show featuring pets. Mrs. Valentina-Smith and Mr. Paloka automatically moved in closer to see the recording better. Mrs. Ding stayed back. She had seen this a number of times.

“Look at this one. It’s an obedience test combined with an obstacle race. The owner is shown the course and the route only minutes before the event and has to guide the pet around the course at speed.” The recording showed a pet racing off around an obstacle course at the commands of its owner, a tunnel, zig zags, some jumps, some climbs, all in a specific order. The time was given when the pet returned to its owner. The second pet then went over the course.

“Now,” said Ding Jun, “that first pet had the fastest time and the other one you saw came a close second. But that’s not all they are judged on.” She replayed the end of each race, showing the pet racing towards its owner and ending on its knees looking up at its owner’s face. “Do you see how the first one just doesn’t show any affection at all towards its owner? And do you see the total affection the second one had for its owner? Its eyes just about glow. That’s the sort of thing the judges are looking for. Brutality is not allowed. In that case, it was obvious the female loved its owner and gladly obeyed orders, while the male was sullen and didn’t really want to do this. In this case, the male was marked down for that reason and the female, the one that came second on time alone, was the winner.”

“Interesting,” commented Mrs. Valentina-Smith. “Do your judges check for cheating?”

“Oh yes,” Miss Ding answered. “But why do you ask that? Did you see any cheating?”

“No, not exactly,” came the reply.

Miss Ding smiled. “Please, I would love to hear your opinion. Perhaps we’ve missed something. After all, you are seeing this with fresh eyes. Or perhaps, you are misinterpreting something.”

“Well, as you say, this is all new to me. All I can say is I saw something I would think may possibly be cheating. But I don’t know exactly what you allow, or whether it is nothing at all.”

Miss and Mrs. Ding looked at her expectantly.

“All right then. You will have to check this out for yourselves. I saw that second pet race towards the tunnel, the one she had to crawl through, with her hands closed into fists. After the tunnel, her hands were open when she was running, in fact all the time after the tunnel. To compare, the other pet had its hands open all the time. Now I am employed here because I am a suspicious old woman, so, I was wondering if that pet had something in its hands which it quickly threw into its eyes in the tunnel when nobody could see it. I would want to see all the recordings to see if that pet had shining eyes all the time, or just after it emerged from the tunnel. Then I would want it checked all through the competition. Actually, one easy answer would be to rearrange the course so the pets had to use open hands first, one of the climbs perhaps?”

Mrs. Ding looked at her daughter. “Do you have such recordings Jun?”

“No. I only wanted the highlights for my own pleasure.” She looked back at her guests. “I love watching them for tips and techniques. But I never thought of that. Did you Mother?”

“No I did not. Mrs. Valentina-Smith,” she said looking at her squarely. “You have done myself and my daughter a great service. This is something we both did not see. You are obviously very talented in this field. Would you consider employment with us? You need not worry about any of your comforts or your remuneration. We will both see to it you would lack for nothing.”

Mrs. Valentina-Smith wasn’t flustered. She had had such proposals regularly since she joined the hotel. “Thank you for your most gracious offer Mrs. Ding. But I am happy here. I have enough money for my modest needs and I am doing work I love. But I would be most happy to advise you whenever you require. You can email me or video-call me on our private network any time. I will be happy to help and advise you under those conditions.”

Mrs. Ding bowed her head in acceptance.

After a short pause, Miss Ding resumed her teacher role. “There are our house slaves as well,” she said. “Our houses don’t run themselves so we need staff. However, we in China, have developed slightly differently than the West. And when I say ‘we’, I mean the elite in China. We have not gone down the route of labor-saving devices plus hiring specialists for maintenance. We have an abundance of people which we’ve made use of. We take in people and convert them into the roles we have available, much like you do here Mrs. Valentina-Smith. These are definitely not organic and we do invest in labor saving devices where necessary. We need maids, as you can well imagine, and gardeners and horses and slaves to do everything we do not want to do. We use a lot of them.”

“We do have a lot of parties, which come in two kinds. The, let’s say, political parties, in which our guests are mostly male leaders from the local areas we need to influence. They are given as many treats and delights as they can take in gratitude for all the work they do for us. Recently there has been a change in organization of these parties in that they are now described as business gatherings. The wives of these politicians thought they should come as well in order to support their husbands and that caused a few problems. But changing the name to business meetings ensures the wives can be legally omitted from the invitations and frees up the men to take advantage of the household slave of their choice. Recently, there have been some women in this political group and we’ve happily found they are just as grateful for our business meetings as their male counterparts. We have noticed though, that both men and women tend not to be adventurous in their activities, even when we explicitly state that anything goes.”

“And I do want to thank you in particular, Mrs. Valentina-Smith, for the occupation you instigated here of under-the-table-maids. We have appropriated that idea and it has been a great success.”

Mrs. Valentina-Smith smiled an open mouth smile at hearing this. “Thank you. I am so pleased to hear that. You have made me very happy. Thank you again.” She bowed her head as she said that. Mr. Paloka was amazed, as her smile actually reached her eyes this time. She was obviously close to behaving unprofessionally here.

Mrs. and Miss Ding smiled in acknowledgement and bowed their heads in unison.

Miss Ding smiled broadly. She obviously enjoyed explaining how they operated to people who knew what they were talking about. “Now, I don’t want to bore you but would you like a more detailed exposition of these three? Please say no if I am detaining you in any way.”

“Oh, please carry on Miss Ding,” replied Mrs. Valentina-Smith. “I am certainly most interested.”

“And me,” said Mr. Paloka.

Miss Ding smiled again. “Very well then.” She walked them close to the first acquisition, who stared at them apprehensively. “This is Lizzie Cramer, or it was. Its name now is Dàotián De Yingz, which means Shadow Of The Rice Field. I’ll register it with the show organization as soon as I get back to China. Look at it. See these boobs?” she prodded one with a forefinger. Rather lackluster don’t you think. I know they would be classified as small by the shows, so I’ve got to get them bigger. But remember I can’t use drugs or any other non-organic technique, such as the ones we use on our house slaves. The same applies to her ass. By the time I’ve finished with it, it’ll have a superb bubble-butt and regulation size boobs.”

She pinched its stomach showing a small amount of fat. “This is easy to fix. They all will be put on a strict diet devised by our veterinarians based on exactly what we are trying to achieve juxtaposed with how they will react to the regime. We use DNA analysis to discover exactly what will work on each pet and what will not. We are very efficient, unlike some of our competitors.”

She twisted the head around and showed them the ears. “Note how they have been pierced. I know Dàotián De Yingzi had some trouble with its piercings a while back and stopped using earrings because of it. Unfortunately the piercing has left a mark, which is permanent. Therefore we will have to suffer a permanent loss of points because of that.”

She indicated to her servant to remove the gag. While that was happening she went on, “Dàotián De Yingzi here was not a very nice person. It was the head of a clique of eight wealthy but ‘fashionable’ girls. Their grades were good enough but their main focus was the parties and fashion. Two of the others are over there,” she nodded to the others destined to become house slaves. “But Dàotián De Yingzi was especially nasty to me. It’s lucky I don’t bear grudges.”

By now the gag was off and Dàotián De Yingzi was especially verbal and ascerbic. Miss Ding waved away her servant who approached to replace the gag. Instead she slapped it hard, open palmed across the cheeks. The sound resounded in the holding area and Dàotián De Yingzi’s vocalizations were halted.

But not for long. It resumed with a whingy half-crying voice saying “Please Jun, let me go. Let us go…”

Miss Ding motioned her servants closer and said to them, “Set up the wheel. I’ll try it out now.”

To her guests she said, “We all have to be creative in training our pets. Remember the restrictions we have to obey and we mustn’t leave permanent marks. This is an idea I had and had built last week. And I am aware it has probably been thought of before now, but it is new to me. I’ve been dying to try it out and now I will.”

Miss Ding said that to a background of soft whisperings and half words from her pet. Turning back to her new acquisition she said, “You will learn not to speak or make a sound until you are told to. And you will learn it now.”

By now the servants had brought over a wooden contraption that looked basically like a waterwheel in a trough. A wave of Miss Ding’s hand started the servants removing Dàotián De Yingzi from its restraints placing its back against the wheel, which must have been locked somehow. Dàotián De Yingzi was tied to the wheel, facing outwards, by its waist and by two strands of some sort of cloth, one above her newly bared breast and one below. Its arms were left pointing downwards and tied to the wheel by its wrists. The legs were straight down and tied to the wheel by its ankles. Its clothes were left on. It ended up substantially connected to the wheel with its back arched to accommodate the wheel’s curvature. The head was loose.

Miss Ding smiled at her new acquisition and told it, “You will learn to obey. You will always obey immediately and enthusiastically. You will quickly learn to obey. There is no other option for you.” As she said this, the servants were filling the trough with iced water.

Once ready, Miss Ding nodded and one of the servants unlocked the wheel and started turning it. It was arranged so the captive was just partially immersed once every turn, just enough to cover its mouth and nose. There was room for four captives, but this time only Dàotián De Yingzi occupied it.

It entered the water feet first and yelled as it did so. Miss Ding didn’t say anything. She just looked at Dàotián De Yingzi impassively. She watched as the frightened Dàotián De Yingzi’s head eventually went under after it had held it up out of the water for as long as it could. Once the head was under, the servant slowed the wheel. Eventually Dàotián De Yingzi’s head came out the other side and it continued its revolution as the wheel turned remorselessly.

All this while Dàotián De Yingzi begged and pleaded for them to stop. Miss Ding ignored all this and still watched the process with a stone face. After three revolutions Dàotián De Yingzi made an effort to be silent but couldn’t stop a few noises getting out. The wheel continued revolving and slowing down at the appropriate time. The other pets and house slaves looked on with horror in their faces. Eventually Dàotián De Yingzi learned not to make a sound. The wheel continued for a full five revolutions after this landmark event before Miss Ding stopped the process and had Dàotián De Yingzi reattached to the holding structure, dripping wet and shivering with cold.

Miss Ding smiled the smile of triumph. She turned to her guests saying, “That will tame it for a while. Once back home this sort of training will be a regular occurrence until the pets fully understand what they have to do.”

“I’m impressed,” said Mr. Paloka.

“This one was Dianne Bridges. It is now Caihóng Pìgu, which means Rainbow Over Ass,” Miss Ding said after moving on to the next. “As you can see it is very fat indeed. I will make it a point to have its training recorded for me and my guests’ amusement in the years to come.” Miss Ding quickly went round Caihóng Pìgu, pointing out its flaws and how she was going to overcome them. “Obviously there is a risk with this one. We will have to be very careful in keeping its skin elastic as it loses weight. This should be possible with care as it is still young enough for its skin to have retained its elasticity.”

“Unlike that one,” she pointed to another fat girl in the house slaves section. “We don’t have to worry about that one. We’ll just suck out the fat as quickly as possible when we do the other cosmetic procedures. If its skin becomes too loose, then our surgeons will simply cut some off and stitch it back so it fits again. It won’t show to a casual inspection, which is good enough.”

Finally they were in front of the last of the trio of potential pets. “This one is my main hope for the shows,” she said as her servant removed the gag. “Its English name is unimportant. It is now Yindào Zhèndòng ér Shirùn, which translates as Vagina Vibrating While Moist.”

“Note the lack of piercing marks on its ears. Its basic dimensions are just about perfect and its teeth are unmodified by dentists. However it does have serious flaws I will have to overcome. I’ll explain them in a minute. First I want a close look,” and with that said she ripped the young lady’s shirt and skirt with a knife she suddenly had in her hand.

Both Mrs. Valentina-Smith and Mr. Paloka were surprised. They didn’t think she had a knife on her. That information was immediately stored in their memory banks in a special place reserved for danger. “Good,” said Miss Ding. Its pubic hairs have not been permanently depilated. That little practice is becoming a nuisance.” Miss Ding laughed in relief and grabbed a handful of the untrimmed pubic hairs and gave them a big pull. The wide eyed pet stopped itself from making a noise, but it looked like a near thing.

Miss Ding turned to her guests again. “Do you see how its boobs and ass are too small?” They both nodded. “Now, do you know that the German army spends serious money giving its male soldiers operations to remove their man boobs?” Mr Paloka and Mrs. Valentina-Smith frowned at this apparent non sequitur.

Miss Ding continued, “Apparently this is caused by the specific drills the German army uses. At one point they hammer their rifles to the left side of their chests. And it’s this that causes the flesh around the left part of their chests to expand as some sort of protective measure. It happens to about thirty percent of the soldiers. Well, we have investigated this and have determined that this sort of procedure can expand a female’s breast as well. Only the success rate is much higher.

During my time with these people I managed to obtain samples of some of their hair or skin from various sources and had their DNA analyzed.” She nodded towards the pet. “I had this one analyzed and the results show we will be successful using such an approach. There are also acceptable herbs and spices that can have a breast enhancing effect and some of these will also be effective in specific combinations, especially when coupled with appropriate massage.”

Miss Ding smiled in anticipation. “Our regime will have our pets improved by the application of a hundred strokes on each breast and each ass cheek. Straight after there will be a deep penetrating massage using a specific herbal cream. This will be three times per day. That, plus a scientifically controlled diet including the relevant herbs our DNA analysis states the pet is susceptible to, will make this pet a world beater. Oh, and appropriate exercise, of course.” The pet looked on horror struck. But it attempted no words and no struggle.

Miss Ding turned to her guests. “I apologize for not detailing which herbs and spices we find efficacious, but they are a closely held family secret. However, if you, perchance, learn of any, I would be very willing to receive them.” She smiled after that speech indicating she would not be stingy with her thanks.

“There are other problems with it,” she said. “Look at this,” she said as she accessed a recording on her cell. Mrs. Valentina-Smith and Mr. Paloka gathered in again to see. The recording was of the pet walking around. “You see how clumsy it is? It shows in its every move. It does not walk gracefully and it holds its head too far forward and looks down all the time it walks. I have never seen it wear heels of any sort.”

“Well, all that will have to stop.” Miss Ding nodded to a servant who brought a couple of items. Miss Ding took the first. “This is just a corset. It’s designed to have no give at all,” she said as she wrapped the garment around her prize pet to be. The pet’s face showed pain as the corset was tightened excruciatingly. “This, after time, will teach it how to hold itself at all times.”

Miss Ding then took a hood of some sort and placed it around the pet’s neck. Once on and fixed, it totally covered the neck and extended up onto its face, stopping just below the nose and covering its mouth. “This posture collar will teach its brain how to hold its head and to keep its mouth closed at all times, unless ordered to open it. It’s a compulsive talker and that’s also a habit I will break. It will wear these from now until its body is trained properly.”

Miss Ding smiled. Then told the servant to add shoes to the pet’s feet. The servant quickly added high stilettoes. Miss Ding said, “It really must learn how to walk in these. There is a show section that involves costumes and a catwalk. By the time I’ve finished with it, it will be a star performer and I will be able to name my price for it after its career’s ended, either as a straight sale or, more probably, I will rent it out to stud – multiple births obviously. I’ll need to think about the exact time to end its career so as to maximize my earnings.”

She looked at her potential Show stopper. “You know, when I was at college here this one befriended me. It helped me settle in and was a good friend. I am so happy I can reciprocate and make it into the Show star it will be.”

Mrs. Valentina-Smith and Mr. Paloka both realized that Miss Ding was boasting. But she was right to boast. She had accomplished a great deal here.

Then both Mr. Paloka and Mrs. Valentina-Smith reacted together. Their cells were on vibrate only and they both went off at the same time.

“Please excuse us,” said Mr. Paloka. We both appear to have calls from our most urgent line.

Mrs. Ding nodded her head in acceptance.

Both Mrs. Valentina-Smith and Mr. Paloka quickly read their texts. They were both the same, saying Tom Bowman and Vienna Logan had been found and taken. They were damaged and on their way to the hotel for medical treatment now.

“Please excuse Mr. Paloka,” said Mrs. Valentina-Smith to Mrs. Ding. “This is something urgent that requires immediate action. “Mr. Paloka can deal with it. I do not need to be there.”

“That’s quite all right,” replied Mrs. Ding. “Business always takes precedence. I am happy you find so much of interest in our little shows and in my daughter’s specific interest in them.”

Mr. Paloka made his apologies and left after bowing to his two hosts.

At which point Miss Ding said, “Please forgive me Mrs. Valentina-Smith, but I have to oversee the packing of my pets now. They are to be dispatched as soon as they are properly stowed away in the container.” Miss Ding left the holding area.

Mrs. Valentina sensed that this was the end of this thought-provoking exposition of her Chinese billionaire’s interests, but Mrs. Ding had more to say.

“Please excuse me Mrs. Valentina-Smith but can I have a word in private? Perhaps you would care to accompany me to my suite?”

Mrs. Valentina-Smith instantly acquiesced and they both walked at a leisurely pace back to the rooms of Mrs. Ding, never even thinking of the doors and barriers in their way.

“Mrs. Valentina-Smith, perhaps you know it will be my birthday soon”

“Yes. You’re instructions not to note it in any way were precise.”

“Yes, of course. Well, things have changed slightly. I do not know if you know, but my daughter and I share the same birthday. And, from her performance there, especially in instantaneously dealing with the shortfall in our mine, impressed me enormously. I will have to cancel my actions in rectifying the situation, but that does not reflect badly on Jun, and she will never know what I had actioned. Now I have decided to mark her birthday with something special. So, Mrs. Valentina-Smith, I will need your help to obtain her present. And I will require your aid in another, perhaps related, item.”

Mrs. Valentina-Smith smiled her close mouth smile. “It will be an honor, Mrs. Ding. And I will make it my business that your daughter will never obtain advance knowledge of it from anyone involved at this hotel.”

Mrs. Ding smiled. “Thank you. What I want is…”