Eating vinegar

Eating vinegar is the phrase Li Yan uses to name the jealousy between Margaret Campbell and Nien Mei-Ling. In the argument where he deploys it, the expression turns a personal rivalry into a practical problem: Li feels caught between the two women while the investigation demands the team’s attention.

The Exchange

Margaret has returned to her hotel to sleep after being awake most of the night. Nien Mei-Ling responds sarcastically, suggesting that if Margaret had noticed the victims’ histories of abortion earlier, she would not now need to catch up on sleep. Li Yan loses patience and tells Nien Mei-Ling that he is tired of being caught between two women consumed by jealousy. His wording is an accusation as well as a complaint: he treats their antagonism as something they are bringing into the work.

Jealousy Against the Investigation

Li immediately sets the personal dispute against the case. Nineteen women have been murdered, he insists, and the team owes it to them to remain focused on finding the killer. The contrast gives the expression its force in this scene: what might otherwise remain a private rivalry is presented as a distraction with consequences for the investigation. Nien Mei-Ling, shocked by Li’s anger and implied criticism, responds coldly that she agrees.

Meaning in Context

The phrase does not settle the conflict between the women; it reveals how Li understands its effect on him and on their work. His demand that the jealousy stop is followed by another boundary: he objects to the policewoman Nien Mei-Ling sent to collect Xinxin going near the child again. In this exchange, eating vinegar belongs to a wider moment of strained trust, when Li’s exhaustion gives way to blunt criticism and his attention shifts from the rivalry to protecting the investigation and Xinxin.