Yan Xie didn't wait for long when a police car came from a distance and stopped beside him.
The biggest advantage of Gao Panqing was that he faithfully and carefully executed every command of Yan Xie. Yan Xie asked him to bring Jiang Ting "personally", and he really brought Jiang Ting by himself. The car hadn't even stopped yet when he lowered the car window: "Brother Yan, I just heard in the hospital that there is a public phone booth near Hongxing Road subway station, and a little girl who is suspected to be Bu Wei was found making a few calls there, so now are we…"
Bang! Yan Xie pulled the car door hard and dragged Jiang Ting's arm to pull him out of the car, then turned his hand and stuffed him into the Phaeton he was driving.
"You should go to investigate the situation first, focus on inspecting Shen Xiaoqi's hospital, school, place where Bu Wei usually lives, and the houses of her good friends." Yan Xie's instructions were concise and clear: "Once you find clues, feel free to contact through the walkie-talkie at any time and don't act on your own."
Gao Panqing shouted, "Yes!" Before his word landed, he saw Phaeton speeding away, leaving only a curling tail of smoke on the place.
Before Jiang Ting could buckle his seat belt, he was pushed back by the inertia of the vehicle when it started. Yan Xie was staring straight ahead and his left hand was holding the steering wheel, but his right hand reached over into his trousers pocket, accurately took out the sync monitor, and long-pressed it to turn it on.
The small indicator light flickered a few times before returning to silence.
—Batteries soaked in concentrated salt water usually become exhausted.
Jiang Ting buckled his seat belt and rubbed his shoulders, which were a little stiff due to the violent dragging, and said calmly, "What's wrong?"
"Where is Bu Wei?" Yan Xie asked without answering.
Jiang Ting said, "I'm not Bu Wei, how should I know…" Before he could finish speaking, his whole body suddenly leaned forward, because Yan Xie suddenly stepped on the brakes!
Beep-beep— the car behind honked angrily and drove away, but Yan Xie didn't seem to hear and calmly turned to the passenger seat:
"Where is Bu Wei?"
At half past six in the evening, the setting sun gradually slanted westward, dyeing half of the sky orange. The flood of people from getting off work and school washed over the city center. The dark car film blocked any prying eyes, but the outside world was still clearly visible from the inside.
Students with school bags, housewives in a hurry, and couples holding hands pass by the sidewalk, casting curious glances at this seemingly ordinary but extra spacious black Phaeton.
Jiang Ting lowered his gaze, and after a while, he raised his head and asked, "You don't think I hid that little girl, do you?"
The emotion on Yan Xie's face didn't show the slightest anger, but his every word was full of oppressive power: "You did it on purpose."
"You don't want her to say more things to the police, so you designed all this—you just wanted to let her go."
The phone kept vibrating in the glove box, and the reports of the situation from all walks of life kept coming: traffic police, special patrol police, security brigade, city bureau visual inspection… But there was no breakthrough confirmation message. Countless large nets were cast in the vast crowd, but the little girl in the white floral nightdress disappeared like a small fish in an instant.
Everyone was anxious and busy, looking for her.
No one noticed the tense confrontation in the corner of the city.
"What do you want me to do, Yan Xie?" Jiang Ting finally spread his palm, as if a little helpless: "Bu Wei knows who I am and what my identity is. Even if we let her go, she will never be able to stir up any storm, because she is already an outcast for the King of spades. But if you hand her over to the police, do you know how many lies she'll tell that can't be verified? If you were me, What would you do?"
Yan Xie's every word seemed to be quenched with ice: "So you handed her over to the King of spades to silence her?"
"No." Jiang Ting said flatly, "From the moment she fell into the hands of the police, the King of spades completely and thoroughly disappeared from her world, never to appear again. Of course, Bu Wei herself may not have noticed this herself, that's why she made those few calls near the subway station just now that were destined to be unanswered."
Yan Xie's eyes narrowed slightly as if he was weighing the truth of his words extremely harshly and sternly. After a while, he said slowly, "How do you know so much about the King of spades?"
Jiang Ting just had opened his mouth to answer when suddenly Yan Xie raised his index finger which was a concise and powerful silence command.
"Remember when we encountered the King of Spades on the rooftop of Hu Weisheng's house?"
"..."
"After you knocked the killer named A-Jie into the corridor, I climbed up on the rooftop and saw the King of Spades going to the corridor with a gun. Later in the hospital, I told you that I saw an unexplainable scene, but you only cared whether I saw the face of the King of spades, and didn't ask what the scene was."
Yan Xie leaned forward slightly, so close that both of them could only stare at each other's eyes.
"What was that?" Jiang Ting asked calmly.
Yan Xie stretched out his right hand, and slowly unbuttoned the second and third buttons of Jiang Ting's shirt, then pulled down one side of his shirt, revealing his thin and straight shoulders:
"When you fell down the stairs, your dislocated left hand was not treated in the hospital afterward."
He paused and said, "It was the King of spades who fixed it."
Jiang Ting's expression seemed to change, and he raised his hand to stop Yan Xie, but he was pressed back as soon as he made a move.
"From the interrogation of Li Yuxin in Jianyang County, you knew that those 'executioners' were just your substitutes. Then you told me that from the perspective of the King of spades, you did not betray the entire organization, but betrayed him—that was a complete lie."
"The truth is that in his opinion, he betrayed you."
"So what is your relationship with the King of spades, and even with this drug cartel?" Yan Xie pressed the red mole on his shoulder with his thumb and looked directly into Jiang Ting's eyes: "—You have been in and out of room 701 where Queen of Hearts had stayed and even left fingerprints on the inside of the door frame, Captain, Jiang?"
Jiang Ting's eyes suddenly flashed a hint of surprise, and he grabbed Yan Xie's wrist regardless of the obstruction: "What fingerprints are you talking about?"
"..."
"Who told you that I've been in and out of room 701?"
Jiang Ting's skeptical expression did not seem to be fake, but Yan Xie hadn't yet answered when suddenly the transceiver rang: "All pay attention, all pay attention, the visual inspection has determined that the target was found near the Dongping subway station. Repeat, the visual inspection has determined that the target was found near the Dongping subway station!"
Yan Xie pulled back his hand and grabbed the transceiver: "I'll go over now." Then he pulled the handbrake and stepped on the accelerator.
But immediately afterward, Jiang Ting grabbed his hand again: "It's too late, she obviously took the subway after making the phone call!"
Jiang Ting half-leaned forward, this action made him and Yan Xie stare at each other, and the air subtly changed in the stalemate. He didn't let go, and Yan Xie showed no sign of compromising; after being silent for dozens of seconds, Jiang Ting finally raised his head and exhaled:
"From Hongxing Road Subway Station to Dongping Subway Station, if you go down along the line, there is a station called Sanlihe, and nearby is an orphanage called Jiayuan. There was a transition period between Bu Wei's parents' death and Wang Xingye finding her, which should be spent in this orphanage. And that was also the place where she first encountered the King of spades."
Yan Xie's ice-cold expression finally moved, but he did not lose the slightest doubt: "How do you know?"
"…Because that's how I met the King of spades back then."
The setting sun shone through the front window of the car. Half of Jiang Ting's face was almost blended into the light, while the other half was stern and hidden in the dark. He smiled in Yan Xie's gaze, although the meaning was a bit self-deprecating: "There is no doubt, we've already come to this point. If I dare to keep hiding things from you, it won't be long before you bring Gongzhou police, right?"
...
Jiayuan Social and Child Welfare Home was a place that cannot even be found on Baidu maps because it was located on the outskirts of the city and was too far away and remote. If one goes down from the city center of Jianning, along Line 3 through the city-suburban junction, then they will reach the Sanlihe station in the end. This mottled and rusty orphanage was hidden in the corners of the vegetable market. In the evening, after the vegetable vendors left rotten vegetable leaves, fruit peels, chicken and duck dung feathers, and the flow of people carrying vegetable baskets dispersed, only then could the inconspicuous iron fence in the corner be revealed.
The faded words "Jiayuan Welfare Home" and clumsy animal pictures were printed on the signboard, reflecting the last rays of the sunset, infinitely dilapidated and desolate.
"Yes, she has been here." The old guard narrowed his eyes, pointed to the two-inch photo of Bu Wei on Yan Xie's phone, and said vaguely, "I saw this little girl walking far away before the stall was closed——she also looked at the door a few times. Has she ever lived in this orphanage? That, I don't know, this orphanage's building was rented out long ago, only the facade is still here."
Yan Xie couldn't control himself for a moment and the tone of his voice changed: "This orphanage that eats the state's finances has rented out the building privately? What about the children in here?"
The guard's turbid old eyes glanced at Yan Xie, and he shrank back vigilantly: "Children? I don't know about the children."
Yan Xie still wanted to say something, but suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind, and forcefully pulled him back, then heard Jiang Ting whisper in his ear: "It's like this in many places, don't ask."
Yan Xie ignored him and breathed in the air filled with the bad smell of fish and rotten shrimp, only then did he barely calm down his boiling emotions. He turned around and took out his phone: "Hey Lao Gao, notify the traffic police brigade of Sanlihe jurisdiction and get me the surveillance video of the Jiayuan Road vegetable market area. Bu Wei came here half an hour to an hour ago!"
Although Lao Gao was half a step late, he had also arrived at the Sanlihe police station, so the on-site cooperation was very fast, and he called back after a while: "Brother Yan, are you near Jiayuan Road now?
"Why, is there any news?"
"Bu Wei's mobile phone was just turned on, and her WeChat swiped out a dozen Yuan, the receiver was an unlicensed taxi driver. We have already asked the traffic police to stop the driver, and he said that he had indeed carried such a small girl. She got off the car at the Sanlihe embankment near the Hexu Road Bridge ten minutes ago."
Yan Xie stepped on the accelerator: "Let the technical detective Lao Huang continue to locate Bu Wei's mobile phone. I will go there!"
At eight o'clock in the evening, just before sunset.
Both sides of the river bank were originally industrial land, but now, many factories have been closed because of excessive pollution discharge. The walls of abandoned factories were half-collapsed, and large areas of open space were overgrown with weeds. Yan Xie stayed away from the road by the river bank and chose a lonely and desolate road to drive down. It was almost dark when he reached the Hexu Road Bridge. The river crossed through the iron bridge in the twilight and was extended into the plain at the end of the line of sight.
Beep! beep!
Yan Xie suddenly stopped, pushed the horn twice as if venting, and inserted his hands deep into his hair.
"…It's useless for you to honk like this," Jiang Ting sat on the passenger seat and said lightly, "What if she doesn't want to see you and ran away after hearing the movement."
Yan Xie's suppressed voice was full of anger: "Then tell me what to do?!"
Jiang Ting didn't answer. He took out the cigarette case from the glove box, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it, the flames flickering on the side of his face.
"Huh…"
The car was filled with the faint fragrance of nicotine. Yan Xie looked at him and suddenly realized that this was Jiang Ting's first active smoking.
——In the past, Jiang Ting would only ask for one when he saw him smoking, and would only smoke a few puffs at most before the cigarette butts were slowly burnt out.
Jiang Ting tilted his head back and exhaled a breath of smoke. He couldn't see what he looked like in the white mist. The line from the bridge of his nose, lips to his chin was facing the last bit of auspicious light in the sky, slender neck extended all the way into the placket, and the collarbone was sunken into a dark blue and cold shadow.
"She's nearby," Jiang Ting suddenly said in a low voice.
"What?"
Yan Xie felt a little regretful as soon as he said the word because he felt that his voice was not as cold and tough as before. But Jiang Ting didn't seem to notice, his mind didn't even seem to be there. He just tilted his head and smiled at Yan Xie briefly: "Follow me."
Jiang Ting took the initiative to get out of the car and stride toward the river embankment facing the wind. After hesitating for a moment, Yan Xie also slammed the car door and followed him.
By this time the sun had completely set, and the street lamps in the distance lit up one after another, extending towards the dim twilight at the end of the horizon. In the farther direction, the vast sky was boundless, and only the evening star was shining brightly.
Jiang Ting held the cigarette, and with every step, his feet pressed on the soft grass. He saw the figure of the little boy running across the field in the space, along a similar river embankment. His jet-black hair was fluttering in mid-air, and he ran in a fixed direction with his back to him.
"I'm late today! I had to help with a lot of work!"
A carefree child's voice came from the wind.
"It doesn't matter."
"What are we playing today? Do you want to swim? Or should we go pick dates to eat?"
"Anything is fine."
"Can you play the piano? Can I listen to you play it?"
"Jiang Ting. "
"..."
"Jiang Ting!" Yan Xie wrapped his arms around his shoulders, almost forcibly holding Jiang Ting's whole body into his arms: "Wake up!"
Jiang Ting stopped, only to realize that he had reached the edge of the river embankment.
A few meters below his feet, the river water rushed through the sharp bend in the night, reflecting the clear and sparkling light speaks—not far ahead, a girl in a white dress was sitting on the bank of the river with her hair loose; she was facing the river with her bare feet hanging in mid-air.
That was Bu Wei.
Hearing the sound, the girl turned her head, her gaze went straight at the two of them, and suddenly a smile appear strangely on her pale face:
"What are you doing here, didn't you promise to let me go?"
Yan Xie looked at Jiang Ting—Jiang Ting's face was not much better than hers: "You told me that you will continue to go south with money."
"…Go south." Bu Wei murmured in confusion, "But where can I go? I have nothing… There's nothing left."
She sat high on the river bank; the evening wind was blowing violently, scattering her hair, and even her laughter was broken: "I called him, but the call didn't go through. He really doesn't want me anymore. Did I really do something wrong? I have always demanded from myself as he hoped, am I still not good enough?"
A trace of sadness gradually appeared in Jiang Ting's eyes, as if he wanted to say something.
But Yan Xie held his hand tightly, which was a hint for him to stop.
"The man surnamed Wang told me to take the 'test', so I led Shen Xiaoqi and the others to Tianzong Mountain. I pretended not to know the childish tricks of those children— or what they wanted to do. I have never been in the same world as those idiots. Even if they are not smart, I still have a way to hook Shen Xiaoqi into the mountains. It's ridiculous that the kid still took me around in the woods, and when I saw the opportunity, I pushed him and he fell into the pit. He broke his arm, and I took the opportunity to record all his screams…"
Yan Xie understood in an instant; no wonder when Shen father and mother received an extortion call, they heard Shen Xiaoqi's sharp screams as if he had been beaten. Sure enough, It was Bu Wei who recorded it and gave it to the kidnappers!
"I tried my best to bring him under the phoenix forest… It was really hard." Bu Wei laughed, a little complacent and cunning: "I knew that the plot back then was very hard, so I should restore it all because what 'he' wants to see is a complete replication! Sure enough, Shen Xiaoqi said he wanted to repay me, and even the oath was completely just like the original script, am I still not good enough?"
The plot of the year, the original script.
In just a few short sentences, Yan Xie's brows suddenly jumped.
"It's all because the police came too quickly, and the people Wang Xingye brought were cruel and stupid!" Suddenly Bu Wei's tone became extremely sharp: "They should film the execution and let 'him' witness me killing Shen Xiaoqi with his own eyes. But those little minions actually said that there was not enough time! They also said that the police were coming soon! In a hurry, I could only push Shen Xiaoqi down the cliff—as long as he died, I would pass the test successfully, and could really replace you!"
The last few words were so sharp that Bu Wei climbed up from the steep and narrow embankment and glared at Jiang Ting.
"..." Jiang Ting shook his head slightly and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't know where to start. After a while, he smiled bitterly: "But you don't even know what kind of person I am…"
"Shut up! I almost succeeded, just a little bit!" Bu Wei's roar was hysterical: "It's all because of the cowardice and timidity of those scumbags, who were so frightened by the smell of the police that they dared not take me away. They even pushed me down the cliff to kill me! If it wasn't for them, how could I not finish the execution?! How could I be abandoned?!"
In that roar, Yan Xie finally understood the confusing truth of Tianzong Mountain's kidnapping.
Bu Wei was supposed to be like Li Yuxin, who took the knife from the masked man in a black robe and stabbed Shen Xiaoqi to death. However, at that time, Qin Chuan had already brought people to the vicinity of the Phoenix Forest. The approaching police made the kidnappers feel a sense of urgency, so they decided to simplify the execution process. In a hurry, Bu Wei had to push Shen Xiaoqi down from the cliff, and she didn't even get the time to check whether he was really out of breath.
Bu Wei thought that she had completed the so-called test and would be taken away by her accomplices and sent to the King of spades, but she did not expect that the kidnappers would not even be sure of their own escape, let alone run away with her who was extremely weak.
So maybe the subordinates made the decision on their own, or maybe the King of spades gave acquiescence or even hints; In short, they did not take the risk of taking Bu Wei under the nose of the police but tried to silence her on the spot, by simply and roughly pushing her off the cliff.
That's why, when the police finally arrived at the bottom of the Phoenix Forest, both Bu Wei and Shen Xiaoqi fell at the bottom of the cliff, and the kidnappers had already escaped by taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain.
Jiang Ting said sternly: "He abandoned you, do you want to abandon yourself too?"
There were no guardrails on the river embankment, only stone piers; an iron chain was connected between every two stone piers along the river. The place where Bu Wei was standing was high, and the chain could only stop her calf. The girl's shaky figure was fragile and crazy in the evening wind: "You shut up! What do you know?! I have nothing. This world is full of bad people! Bad people!! If I don't earn it myself, I'll never have anything! Just like those bad people who are poor, and have no ability and future!!"
"But what about you! It was so easy for you to take away what was supposed to belong to me! If it wasn't for you, I would have succeeded, and I would have made it back to him!!"
"Bu Wei," Yan Xie suddenly said: "Don't stand there, come here. "
The height of the chain was not high enough to stop her. As long as Bu Wei was not careful, she might fall at any time. But Yan Xie's reminder didn't have any effect, the girl rolled her eyes and looked at Yan Xie suddenly, and showed a charming and provocative smile: "No need to say it. It's all fake, you just want to catch me and go back to report.
Yan Xie's answer was calm: "You were under the age of sixteen at the time of the incident, so you were not fully criminally responsible. Coupled with the factors such as juvenile negligence and the instigation of an adult criminal, the court should give a lighter sentence. According to my experience in handling cases, it should be three years at most. Your life is still very long, and it is far from over, so you should stop at this point."
Bu Wei's smile suddenly expanded, but the arc was full of deep malice: "So my life isn't over yet?"
Yan Xie frowned.
"Yeah, in the eyes of hypocritical and trashy adults like you, as long as one doesn't die, it's not finished, right?" Bu Wei's voice was very low, she lowered her head, and stared at Jiang Ting from bottom to top: "So 'him' abandoning me is it nothing in your eyes? Everything that should belong to me has been stolen by this despicable villain, is it nothing?"
"Those were…" Jiang Ting trembled and said, "Those crimes, blood-stained money, perverted deeds… shouldn't belong to anyone…"
Yan Xie suddenly looked at him and was shocked to find that Jiang Ting was really shaking.
"Bu Wei," he opened his mouth, but there was obvious shuddering in his voice: "Look at me, it's not as good as you think, okay? Don't be anyone's shadow, just be yourself, and live an upright life. You're still so young, you don't even know that the ideas he instilled in you are actually wrong…"
Jiang Ting couldn't hide his incoherence at all, and could only close his mouth and pinched his eyebrows, trying to calm down his emotions.
"Liar." Bu Wei said coldly, "You're a liar."
She took half a step back, and now even her heels were hanging in the air. Her center of gravity leaned outward in a soul-stirring way, and Yan Xie suddenly took two steps forward: " Bu Wei!!"
"I'm already dead." Bu Wei seemed to say to herself, "He has abandoned me, what's the point of me staying in this disgusting world?"
Immediately afterward, she raised her head, and looked at Yan Xie with a smile; the corners of her eyes clearly flickering with obvious malice:
"But even so, you can't catch me."
Yan Xie's pupils suddenly contracted—
The corners of the girl's dress drew an arc in mid-air, and the whole person fell down the river embankment!
It was faster than lightning and was not even a speed that the human eye can see clearly. No matter how Yan Xie recalled after the event, he couldn't figure out why he was still half a step behind.
Jiang Ting was like an arrow off the string, and like a flash of lightning, he threw himself in mid-air and grabbed Bu Wei's arm—
Bang!
Jiang Ting slammed into the ground heavily, and inertia caused his upper body to slide off the embankment and hang in the air dangerously.