Jianning City.
Building 2, District 9, Amber Mountain Villa.
It was raining, the water was pouring down on the sidewalk, and vehicles drove by, making a screeching sound; smoke from tailpipes was mixing with the rain, and dizzying exhaust gas was rising everywhere
A stocky, staggering old man wearing a dark gray trench coat, holding a briefcase under his arm and a large black umbrella, walked into a brightly lit convenience store downstairs in the community.
During lunchtime, the store was deserted, and the boss was nowhere to be found. Only his child was lying behind the cash register doing homework and watching the store. The old man laboriously put away the umbrella, shook the water droplets, and asked kindly, "Little friend?"
The little boy bit the pen and raised his head.
"Where's your father?"
The child pointed to the back.
"Help me call your father here, just say that the uncle who borrowed important things two days ago has come." The old man patted the little boy's head with his rough and broad palm: "Go now."
The little boy looked him up and down, jumped off the bench in confusion, and ran to the back door of the small supermarket.
The old man was not in a hurry, he put the briefcase that was tightly clamped along the way on the counter and pulled it open, and took out a silver-gray portable hard disk. Just then there was a clanging sound in the store, the glass door slid open again, and the wind and rain outside swept in with moisture and cold — a new customer came.
"?"
The old man paused and then stuffed the portable hard drive back into his briefcase. Who would have thought that such a subtle movement would be interrupted; a slender white hand stretched out from behind him and held the old man's hand accurately and unquestionably:
"Show me too, Chief Lu."
Obviously, every word he said was soft, but Chief Lu's face suddenly shook, his pupils contracted, and then he turned to look at the person who came——
...…
"You worked hard, let's continue to do it tomorrow!"
"See you tomorrow!"
Qin Chuan said goodbye to his colleagues, stopped in the evening rush hour traffic that was especially heavy because of the rain, and arrived home after driving for more than an hour, rushing into the corridor elevator in the rain.
Ding!
Qin Chuan stepped out of the elevator, took out the key, and was about to open the door, but his movements suddenly stopped.
"..." He looked at the familiar house number 527 in front of him. For some reason, his heart was beating irregularly, and he didn't even catch his breath for a few seconds, as if he had a premonition of something.
He took a deep breath, calmed down, opened the lock slowly, and pushed open the door with a creaking sound.
There were no lights in the living room. The last ray of skylight and streetlights through the glass windows outlined the familiar furniture in pale gray shadows. Before leaving in the morning, the coat that was hurriedly thrown on the armrest of the sofa was still spread out, the half-drunk cold tea was placed on the dining table, and the goldfish in the fish bowl on the coffee table fluttered, reflecting the sparkling water. The black and white portrait of the woman was placed on the refrigerator, facing the entrance, revealing a familiar face.
A slender figure had his back to the door, looking at the photo carefully. He heard the sound of him coming in, but did not look back:
"You brought back a bunch of Yue Guangping's hair and buried it with your mother. Are you sure she'll really be happy about it?"
Qin Chuan let out a long sigh — as if the barrier that had been stagnant in his chest for more than ten years finally completely turned into a white mist, dissipating in the air in an instant.
"Happy, I think." He replied with a smile.
Qin Chuan closed the door with a backhand, took off his coat, and threw it on the sofa. He moved his shoulder muscles a few times, making a clear crunching sound under his shirt. In sharp contrast, his expression was still very polite:
"I've long heard of your well-known name, but I've never been lucky enough to meet you. Hello, Captain Jiang."
The young man turned around—it was Jiang Ting.
This was actually a very absurd and ridiculous meeting, but how ironic the specific meaning was, maybe just like Qin Chuan's saying "I've long heard of your well-known name, but I've never been lucky enough to meet you", only the two of them could personally understand in this world.
Qin Chuan seemed to find it very interesting: "Did you visit my mother's hometown on purpose?"
"In order to confirm my guess about your life experience, yes. Fortunately, I have a little understanding of Yue Guangping's whereabouts in the mountains and the countryside more than 30 years ago." Jiang Ting asked indifferently: "Do you want to know where you were exposed?"
Qin Chuan made a gesture of please speak.
"On the day Fang Zhenghong took the medicinal wine from you and knocked it over, a few drops of medicinal wine splashed on his pants legs, but we did not extract even a trace amount of aconitine from the cloth. That means, you were lying about trying to drink the highly poisonous medicinal wine after borrowing it from the criminal investigation division. What you drank in front of Fang Zhenghong at the time was Yan Xie's original non-toxic medicinal wine that you had exchanged and hid beforehand."
"The entire poisoning incident was a scene you carefully planned, from reminding Yan Xie to use medicinal wine, to Fang Zhenghong's rage to stop you from using the medicinal wine borrowed by the criminal investigation division. All the key turning points developed as you planned, and there was only one prerequisite for this play to end successfully."
Jiang Ting paused and said, "You know Fang Zhenghong and Yan Xie too well. You know exactly how they would react in a designed scene — just like a year ago, you gave Fang Zhenghong poisonous wine in the name of Yan Xie and expected that he would definitely drink it."
Qin Chuan smiled wryly as if a little helpless: "I knew that day I should have played the show to the end… one should not be soft when reaching for their goal."
"Why were you afraid at the time?" Jiang Ting frowned and asked, "Because of Yue Guangping's death, you finally realized clearly that aconitine can really kill people?"
This time Qin Chuan really laughed, shaking his head while laughing:
"No, no, I've known that aconitine can kill people for a long time. I just thought — how should I say it? How can I risk my own life when I haven't done what I want to do yet?"
He seemed to be a little regretful, and went around the sofa to go this way, but was stopped by Jiang Ting: "Stop, or I'll shoot."
Qin Chuan took a closer look, and sure enough, in the darkness, Jiang Ting lifted a black muzzle in his hand.
"Okay," Qin Chuan stopped and asked politely, "What do you want to know? Ask me, and I'll tell you."
Jiang Ting asked, "When did you get in touch with the King of Spades?"
The word get in touch could only be used by Jiang Ting because of his good self-restraint, otherwise, there were more ugly words to express the same meaning, but Qin Chuan didn't care too much: "No, it's not me who contacted him, he came to me on his own initiative."
"He took the initiative to find you?"
"Yes, it was my first semester of being admitted to the police academy. To be exact, it was the second day that Yue Guangping first appeared in my life in the name of 'father'." Qin Chuan shrugged mockingly: "You probably never expected it to be that early, that's why I said that I have long admired the name, Captain Jiang."
Exactly.
If this was true, Qin Chuan knew the King of Spades more than ten years ago!
"Did Yue Guangping meet your mother when he went to the countryside in his early years?" Jiang Ting asked.
"Cliche story. The young man who went to the countryside for consolation in the time of depression, faced with the major life choice of returning to the city, the torture of conscience and lifelong regret in the next few decades… not worth mentioning." Qin Chuan said, "I don't know when Yue Guangping confirmed my existence. The year I took the college entrance examination, my mother died suddenly in the countryside. I began to receive funding, but I never knew who the 'good-hearted man' was. It was not until I went to the police academy that I found out that the good-hearted man was my father."
Until now, when talking about the past, Qin Chuan has a subtle self-mockery.
"Yue Guangping may have wanted to wait until I was admitted to university to meet so that we both would be more emotionally stable, but he didn't expect that his every move would be followed by the people of the King of Spades. It's true that he was the most promising person to take over the throne of the public security chief in Gongzhou back then, and the King of Spades would not let go of such a profitable target. So the day after Yue Guangping came to me in tears, the King of Spades also appeared and asked me: 'Do you know why Yue Guangping abandoned your mother and you?'"
Jiang Ting narrowed his eyes, looked up and down at Qin Chuan who was a few steps away, and said slowly, "You don't look like someone who would just stand there and let him brainwash you."
"Of course not." Qin Chuan laughed, "I have my own ideas, otherwise why would I come to Jianning instead of Gongzhou?"
If he went to Gongzhou, with Yue Guangping's guilt, even if he didn't go through the back door to help his son's promotion, he would never make fewer arrangements.
But Qin Chuan didn't — he came to Jianning and started working as an intern at the police station. The blood, sweat, and injuries over the years were real, and his merits were at least 80% real.
"He did it for his future," Jiang Ting said softly, "so you have to earn a future that is not inferior to his."
Qin Chuan did not deny it.
"You've been working with the King of Spades for more than ten years?" Jiang Ting asked.
"Oh, that's not true." Qin Chuan denied it frankly and bluntly, and said, "The King of Spades has contacted me several times in the four years of the police academy, hoping that I will go to Gongzhou to Yue Guangping side as an agent, turn against him and control him, and even replace and destroy him one day. I admit that this drug lord was a provocative and persuasive genius, and even nearly brainwashed me at one point. But in the end, my desire to prove myself overwhelmed everything, even hatred for my biological father."
Prove yourself to whom? Qin Chuan didn't say anything, and Jiang Ting didn't ask.
But some things don't need to be pointed out among smart people, they all know–
Back then, you abandoned your girlfriend in the countryside and your morals and responsibilities as a man in exchange for a future of loneliness and a high-ranking position. And now the son who was abandoned by you did not need to rely on and beg you. He could also prove his ability, and could also make your old face show shame and regret.
"There is only one thing that is strange," Qin Chuan said, "Although I rejected the King of spades and left Gongzhou, unexpectedly, he didn't have any objection either, as if he had expected it long ago. He just suddenly cut off all news and contacts. Since then, this drug lord has not appeared by my side for several years, and I don't know why, until five or six years ago…"
"Because he can understand this feeling." Jiang Ting said lightly.
"What?"
There was a strange look on Jiang Ting's face, "It's nothing, you continue."
"Until five or six years ago, I was in danger in an arrest operation and was rescued when I was left alone and helpless." Qin Chuan said, "It was the King of Spades."
Five or six years ago, that was almost when Jiang Ting discovered "Blue Gold" in Gongzhou. Immediately, Jiang Ting began to investigate and finally found an underground drug factory in the mountainous area of Gongzhou, where he encountered the adult King of Spades again.
The trajectory of fate extended from all directions, gradually forming a big net, wrapping everyone in it.
"At this time, you've been working in Jianning for many years, but you were still a little criminal policeman who threw his head and spilled blood, and finally found out that the world is not all black-or-white. With the help of the King of Spades, the safety of your life and the efficiency of the investigation were both guaranteed. All the scattered small drug dealers could be wiped out, and the promotion at each level had become extraordinarily smooth, right?"
Jiang Ting stared at Qin Chuan, and the other party nodded: "Almost."
"So you finally cooperated," Jiang Ting's tone was declarative without any doubt: "At that time, Yue Guangping had been promoted to deputy mayor and chief of public security, but he was like an iron wall in Gongzhou City. The King of Spades couldn't pull him into the dirty water, so he had to start with you again."
Qin Chuan sighed and said, "Yes."
Just like Jiang Ting guessed.
At that time, Qin Chuan, who was not even a Vice-Captain, could not provide any help in Jianning for the King of Spades. The main target of the drug lord was Yue Guangping. Because no matter how much the Gongzhou public security system was infiltrated, if the leader Yue Guangping insists on not going into the dirty water, the hurdle of the King of Spades would still be very large.
It could be said that Yue Guangping was the most difficult bone for the King of Spades to pick, and the lonely deputy mayor had no flaws.
Except for Qin Chuan.
The last bit of daylight faded away, clouds loomed over the city, and raindrops kept beating against the windows. Even the outline of the furniture was blurred in the room, but Jiang Ting's slightly distorted face was still very clear for some reason. He barely opened his clenched teeth, and said:
"So, you are the insider who leaked the 1009 operation intelligence to the King of Spades three years ago and killed my fourteen anti-drug police officers?"
"Hahaha..."
There was a low voice of laughter in the room, and then the sound became louder and more obvious. Qin Chuan held his forehead, even his shoulders were shaking, as if he had heard the funniest lie in the world. It took him more than half a minute to barely stop laughing. He looked up at Jiang ting playfully: "Captain Jiang ——Three years have passed, how long will you deceive yourself?"
Jiang Ting was like being immersed in ice water, from his nose to his lungs, it was all filled with biting ice ballast.
"Was Yue Guangping, the chief of public security, a person who would casually tell others such important information? What's more, I wasn't even a police officer in Gongzhou. Do you think he would say the inside information of the public security bureau as if talking about wine and food when he ate at home one day?"
"..."
"Don't brainwash yourself, Captain Jiang." Qin Chuan's eyes flashed with a mixture of mockery and pity. He said, "It was you and Yue Guangping who caused the failure of the 1009 anti-drug operation and sent more than a dozen comrades into the underworld. "
Jiang Ting's elbows, shoulders, and even half of his body were trembling under the coat, and the bones of the hand holding the gun were protruding inch by inch.
But Qin Chuan didn't seem to see it. He just stared at Jiang Ting's motionless pupils in the dark, and smiled softly, saying word by word: "There was no insider at all, never—"
"The murderer was always you."