"Our provincial public security department is in charge of investigating this incident. You must give us the most authentic and detailed information about the former anti-drug division leader of Gongzhou, Captain Jiang Ting. Now we can be sure that your problem is very big, and your public security bureau chief's problem is similarly big! These problems require us to unravel them layer by layer, and there is no room for any deception and concealment!…"
The three people in charge were sitting in front of the hospital bed, each holding a notebook and recording equipment in their hands. The leader was a deputy chief who claimed to be surnamed Zhao. Yan Xie had seen him from a distance before when handling cases, and it seemed that he specialized in discipline inspection.
Yan Xie was leaning against the head of the hospital bed expressionlessly, with a needle stuck in his right hand for infusion, only to hear Deputy Chief Zhao say coldly: "Although we have already obtained all the evidence of your violation of discipline, and we don't really need to ask you anything more, after all the discussions by the leaders, they decided to give you one last chance to save yourself for the sake of you being a policeman for so many years, and to see if your performance can determine whether you can get leniency from the system!…"
"Where's Chief Lu?" Suddenly, Yan Xie interrupted his passionate speech.
Deputy Chief Zhao's interrogation skills were really bad, and he was obviously stunned for a moment before he frowned: "I said, your bureau's chief also has problems, and now is not the time for you to ask questions."
Yan Xie said, "I want to see Chief Lu."
"Why do you want to see Chief Lu? To use your connections or to compare testimonies? I won't allow it!"
Yan Xie smiled lightly, "Then I want to see Director Liu."
Chief Zhao's face suddenly changed, and the person in charge holding the laptop hesitated to speak. He stretched out his hand to stop Chief Zhao, who he wanted to persuade but didn't, and only heard him slam the bedside table hard.
"Vice-Captain Yan!" Chief Zhao said angrily, "You have always been a rebellious and stubborn member in the eyes of the system; do you still want to resist?! I don't care what background you have or what your origin is; we are here to give you one last chance to survive! If you don't take the initiative to seize this chance, don't blame us for being unkind!"
The other two couldn't sit still: "Old Zhao, hey, Old Zhao, sit down!"
"That's not the way to question someone; speak properly…"
Deputy Chief Zhao pointed at Yan Xie's nose angrily: "I want to see this and I want to see that. Who do you think you are? Before all the problems are clarified, let me remind you of your status. You— —"
Bang!
Yan Xie suddenly pulled out the infusion needle, and as the blood flowed down, he threw everything on the bedside table to the ground. The loud noise shocked everyone!
"What is my status? My family contributed 100 million yuan(~15 million USD) to poverty alleviation in Guang Province last year! Have I been corrupt or have I evaded taxes? You're treating me like a prisoner without figuring out a d@mn thing!"
Deputy Chief Zhao was stunned, and the ward was dead silent for a moment, and only Yan Xie's hysterical roar resounded in everyone's ears: "I want to see Chief Lu! If not Chief Lu, then Director Liu! If Director Liu also can't see me, then go to the Provincial Party Committee! Fvck, what crime did I commit? Go to the Provincial Party Committee and explain it clearly!!"
Bang!
The infusion bottle was tossed aside by Yan Xie and it smashed to the ground. Broken glass and glucose splashed all over the room, and everyone froze.
...…
Half an hour later.
The same hospital, the same inpatient building, the ward upstairs.
"It's just as you find it." Chief Lu, who was wearing a light blue hospital gown, sat on the head of the bed. He put down the big tea mug and said slowly, "The second reason was that he admitted that he is the Queen of Hearts."
Deputy Chief Zhao rushed back to the Provincial Department to file a complaint, and after coordinating with the Provincial Department and the Municipal Bureau, the other two responsible persons also bid farewell to Chief Lu with complicated faces. There were only two people left in the empty and spacious ward: Chief Lu and Yan Xie. The door was closed tightly, and through a small glass window, one could see Gao Panqing, Ma Xiang, and others worriedly guarding the door.
Dark clouds covered the sky, and the smell of disinfectant floated in the air, filling the lungs with a suffocating smell.
"I immediately took my leave and left your house. It was almost nine o'clock in the evening and it was already raining heavily outside. I hurried out of the community and was about to take a taxi back to the city bureau to report the situation, but I didn't expect Jiang Ting to follow behind me all this time. After a short confrontation, he suddenly stabbed me with a knife. I fell to the ground, injured, and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was sent to the hospital. The whole process is almost like this. I can't tell you all the details because they are still under investigation."
Chief Lu adjusted his reading glasses and looked at Yan Xie seriously.
The latter said nothing.
"He still likes you, Yan Xie. The reason why he didn't do anything at your house but chose to follow me to a remote place outside the community before committing the crime should be to try his best not to involve you in this matter. If it wasn't for the arrest of Qin Chuan to save you, which caused him to show his face in front of me, he probably would've stayed by your side incognito for another two years." Chief Lu shook his head with emotion and said, "This is the end of the matter. It can be seen that it is God's will."
The shocking outburst in front of Deputy Chief Zhao just now was like a dying flash before a bonfire went out. It erupted suddenly and then disappeared, leaving only messy ashes on the ground.
Yan Xie was silent and reached out to touch the cigarette, but it was in vain.
Chief Lu took out a pack of cigarettes from the gift box that someone had brought to visit him and threw it at him: "Here, just smoke it."
With a soft click, Yan Xie lit the cigarette with a light blue flame, and the fragrance of nicotine quickly permeated every inch of his nerves. His handsome and tough face was blurred in the smoke, and after a long time he finally smiled meaninglessly: " —God's will."
Then he raised his eyes and asked: "Was it God's will that made you send Yang Mei to Yuanlong Gorge to rescue me with an infrared emitter?"
Chief Lu looked at him and started laughing: "Are you suspicious of me?—To be honest, I don't know anything about Yang Mei, but she told the investigation team the whole truth. Jiang Ting took her with him before leaving because he was afraid that if he kept her in Jianning, she would say more unfavorable things to the police in the future. But after he discovered that you were attacked by Jin Jie and others in Yongkang Village, Jiang Ting took "Ace of Clubs" Wu Tun's people and sent Yang Mei out to let her find a way to save you if she had a chance."
"It's true that he worked for Wu Tun as the Queen of Hearts and then turned to the King of Spades when he had nowhere to go. But it's also true that he didn't want to kill you no matter what." Chief Lu waved his hand and said: "The human heart is subtle, complicated, and unpredictable. The same thing will show various contradictory truths from different perspectives. In short, it's really a blessing that you survived!"
——Is it really?
Yan Xie narrowed his eyes, and sharp doubts appeared in the depths of his eyes.
Chief Lu knew what he was thinking without looking, but he didn't bother to talk to him: "Aren't you lucky? If I had known where Jiang Ting and the King of Spades were, would I not send a large number of special police and armed police to destroy this big drug lord without notifying the Provincial Party Committee and the Department? I'm the chief of the Public Security Bureau, is it possible for me to send a non-staff female informant to go to the deep mountains to carry out such a difficult and dangerous task? Yan Xie, I think you have lost your basic logic because of this incident!"
Indeed, if Jiang Ting was in collusion with Chief Lu, then there should be a large number of criminal police behind him, and Yang Mei shouldn't have been the only one.
Yan Xie's hand holding the cigarette paused in mid-air, not knowing what to say for a while.
"I understand your thoughts, Yan Xie." Chief Lu probably felt that he was too harsh, and said in a slightly relaxed tone: "But Jiang Ting's nature is like this, you have to learn to accept reality."
The cigarette captivated Yan Xie's sight, and Jiang Ting's words from not long ago sounded in his ears again: "This journey is long and difficult and endless. Once you embark on it, it is difficult to turn back… After all, there are only a few people who can wear the national flag until the end of their lives. Many people left halfway, got separated, or got lost and stepped into a side road and could no longer fight side by side…"
"Yan Xie," Jiang Ting who sat in the car looked at him that day with an inconspicuous gleam in his eyes and said softly, "You have to learn to accept it."
Yan Xie smoked a cigarette slowly, and at that moment in the ward, he finally understood what the complex and calm light in Jiang Ting's eyes was.
—It was pity.
It wasn't sympathy for him, who just experienced Qin Chuan's betrayal, but pity for him, a man in his thirties, who still held such deadly naivety.
"I understand," Yan Xie finally said hoarsely, putting out his cigarette butt and standing up, "You can rest assured and recuperate. I will cooperate with those provincial department idiots…the 'investigation team'."
Chief Lu nodded, heaving a sigh of relief at finally persuading him.
"Before Jiang Ting's situation is clarified, you are temporarily excluded from the work of the Municipal Bureau—don't worry, this is also a normal procedure. If you strictly follow the rules, you should be temporarily detained, but your mother…" Chief Lu covered his mouth and coughed: "She was anxious for her beloved son, so… a special approval has been given temporarily… and you are suspended from work to rest at home."
Chief Lu's words were quite reserved, but Yan Xie could imagine the scene where Madam Zeng Cuicui was carrying a golden cudgel and wreaking havoc in the Heavenly Palace. A few years ago, this was obviously what he was most afraid of and what he wanted to avoid the most, but now a trace of gratitude and warmth suddenly sprouted from the bottom of his heart.
They were actually unfortunate to have a son like me who was neither conscious nor filial ——he thought suddenly.
Suppressing his sadness, Yan Xie finally nodded to Chief Lu, turned around, and walked out of the ward. At the moment he turned around, the white mist of the cigarette dispersed, revealing his once handsome and unruly side profile. There were a few fine lines under the corners of his eyes at some point, as if time had penetrated his body, leaving numerous scars in the depths of the soul.
"… Yan Xie," Chief Lu suddenly said from behind.
Yan Xie stopped.
"Yang Mei said that she was far away and only saw Qi Sihao, the captain of the Gongzhou detachment, dead; she didn't see who shot him." Chief Lu's deep voice came: "——Did you see it clearly?"
Yan Xie was motionless, as if he didn't even have the ups and downs of breathing.
"…Maybe it was Jiang Ting." After an unknown amount of time, his voice, which was as if it had been sharpened by sandpaper, sounded, and he said, "It was too fast at that time; in fact, I also…"
After a pause, he whispered again: "It should be him."
Chief Lu nodded silently. Yan Xie pushed open the door, as if escaping from something, and walked out without looking back.
...…
Since that day, there had been endless questioning and interrogations.
What happened in Yuanlong Gorge that day, who appeared and what they said—all this had to be repeated word for word; even the slightest change in tone or demeanor couldn't be spared. Under such high-intensity and intensive interrogation, it was very difficult to conceal or distort a specific matter, and the massive repetition of narratives would confuse people's thinking and lead to flaws.
Although Deputy Chief Zhao was an impatient novice that day, the interrogators who came after him were all experts, and their skills were more systematic and theoretical than those of a long-term front-line criminal policeman like Yan Xie. In front of these battle-tested seniors, even the slightest opening would become an opportunity for complete defeat.
"Rivet", Wen Shao was the King of Spades. This incident was reported back to Gongzhou, shaking the entire southwest public security system. All the relevant personnel from the year Wen Shao was recruited by the agency were taken down, and soon after, news was sent back that a whole batch of relevant persons in charge in the recruitment system had been dealt with.
The matter about Qi Sihao, together with the Gongzhou City's Notary Office, the Hazardous Waste Destruction Company, and other relevant personnel, involving major crimes of subcontracting, stealing, and trafficking the seized drugs, was placed on file for investigation, and the facts of the case soon came to light. The drugs that were sold through the hands of these people include 1.6 kilograms of high-purity heroin, 6.2 kilograms of methamphetamine, and a small amount of various amphetamine derivatives, which could be considered serious cases in terms of their nature and social harm.
It was worth mentioning that they also sold at least 300 grams of "blue gold", but because the director of the notary office was buried in a sea of flames at KTV in Gongzhou and Qi Sihao died in Yuanlong Gorge for unknown reasons, and other drug dealers also died sooner or later, this new fentanyl compound had disappeared into the vast sea of people, and it was no longer easy to trace.
In addition, there was another incident that caused a sensation in the southwest police: the 1009 plastic factory explosion from three years ago was uncovered again. The current mayor personally took the lead, and the task force was re-established to prepare for a comprehensive review and re-inspection.
The task force this time was different from three years ago. They were resolute without any scruples. Not only Apartment 701 of the Yazhiyuan Community but even the entire life of Jiang Ting was completely exposed in the sun, and it was examined word by word with a magnifying glass. Those who were in contact with the Ace of Clubs back then and bought by the King of Spades should be investigated and arrested. Several corporate executives were pulled down overnight.
But it was more than that, and everyone knew it.
Drug cartels were still alive and well, and these revelations were just the tip of the iceberg. More, deeper, and more complex interests were involved under the deep water. Without doing extensive digging, it was unknown when they would be exposed.
...…
But all these had nothing to do with Yan Xie.
After more than half a month, all interrogations came to an end, and he finally regained his temporary personal freedom.
It was early winter when he left Jianning, but it was already winter when he returned home. Father and Mother Yan came to pick him up at the hospital gate. Seeing their haggard son slowly coming out of the gate alone, even Zeng Cui, who was always aggressive, couldn't help but have red eyes.
Yan Xie didn't say a word and stepped forward to give both parents a tight hug.
"Let's go home." Zeng Cui patted Yan Xie's solid shoulder vigorously and said, "Let's just go home."
Many years ago, she patted the top of her son's head as easily as shooting a ball, but now she had to lean forward to pat Yan Xie's shoulder.
Christmas was coming, and the potted plants at the gate of the lakeside community were wrapped with red and green lights, looking very beautiful from afar. Each apartment entrance was hung with a honeysuckle vine and golden bells on the corridor. Yan Xie got off his parents' car, went into the elevator, and climbed to the top floor alone. He hesitated for a moment when he opened the door and pressed his fingerprint on the lock.
Snap.
Orange lights illuminated the living room, reflecting on the large, milky white sofa.
Outside the window, thousands of miles of the Milky Way were ablaze with twinkling lights. The bone soup was gurgling in the kitchen, delicious heat was steaming all over the room, and white mist formed on the floor-to-ceiling windows. Jiang Ting leaned on the pile of pillows on the sofa barefoot, holding his tea mug. He raised his head from online chess, smiled, and asked, "Why are you back so late?"
Yan Xie stood quietly at the door.
"The soup is cold," Jiang Ting raised his foot and pointed in the direction of the kitchen, and he ordered with a smile, "Wash your hands and fill the bowls, and bring them to me."
The rattling of the kitchen faucet, the clashing of bowls, chopsticks, and spoons, the scraping of clothes, and kisses all sounded from the void. Yan Xie heard his laughter from the entrance all the way into the kitchen. He closed the door, walked to the sofa, and stared at the coffee table as if sleepwalking.
Jiang Ting said, "Pour three tablespoons of soy sauce and two tablespoons of vinegar into the bowl, chop some garlic, and mix it for a while. You didn't add spice to my bowl, did you?"
Yan Xie opened his mouth, his lips trembling slightly.
"Yan Xie!" Jiang Ting turned over from the sofa and asked the kitchen, "Did you hear me?"
"..."
Yan Xie looked at the coffee table in front of the sofa and said, with a strange tremor in his voice, "…I heard it."
Suddenly the dream faded away, like a gray tide, sweeping away all the senses of sound, color, and touch.
Yan Xie stood alone in the living room. The sofa was empty, the kitchen was dark and quiet, and the floor-to-ceiling glass windows were cold and clear. In front of him was only half a cup of residual tea, which was already too cold.
He inserted his fingers deeply into his hair, covered his eyes with his palms, took a deep breath, and raised his head after a while.
That person was not here.
The man named Jiang Ting, who had spent days and nights with him, made a promise of the future for him, and had finally ended it with a gunshot after a series of treacherous events.
He has already left.
Yan Xie seemed to have lost the feelings of cold and hunger. He took off his coat, changed his slippers step by step like a wandering soul, then walked through every room in the house, turned on the lights one by one, and then turned them off one by one. He seemed to be confirming that this fortress was safe, independent, and isolated from the world. It was like an empty shell wrapped around him, tightly sealed and unmoved by the wind, firmly resisting the festive atmosphere and laughter of thousands of families outside from the cold wind.
Then he returned to the living room, sat on the sofa, and looked at the slowly floating dust in the darkness without speaking or moving.
In fact, he should feel very tired, but he was miraculously not tired at all and had entered a state of almost blankness and nothingness from his spirit to his body.
The light came in from the window, and the light band crossed his high nose bridge from his cheekbones. His eyes were opened unconsciously, and the lower half of his face was deeply hidden in the thick darkness.
At half past ten, the hands of the clock on the wall gave off a faint green light.
It was time to wash up.
Yan Xie stretched out his hand to his side, but his fingertips slipped from the air, and his voice was as soft as an illusion: "Good night, Jiang Ting."
Then his figure that seemed to have merged with the night finally stood up and walked into the bathroom.
...…
Splash—
The cold water rinsed the washbasin and came to an abrupt stop. Yan Xie's eyes and nose were red. He stood up expressionlessly, pulled out a washcloth from the automatically heated stainless steel rack, and buried his water-stained face deeply in it.
Water droplets meandered from his elbow and hit the marble countertop, drop by drop.
No matter how lonely, the long night would come.
Yan Xie took a deep breath into the towel and raised his eyes to look at his dejected self in the mirror. He just stood there for a few seconds, then suddenly felt something faint. He sniffed and looked at the towel in his hand.
"…?"
Yan Xie brought the towel to his nose and sniffed it again. This time, he confirmed that it was not an illusion. After the towel was soaked in water, there was a very faint, but a bit pungent…chlorine smell.
Others would not be able to detect such a light smell, but Yan Xie had been a criminal policeman for so many years and had traveled to a lot of drug production sites. He was particularly sensitive to the smell of ammonia and chlorine produced during the reduction of methamphetamine. Even a small amount was enough to bring out his occupational disease, even when he was out of his mind at the moment.
He wet the towel thoroughly and smelled it carefully a few more times, and a suspicion suddenly rose in his heart—it wasn't that smell, but it was very similar. It should probably be…
Bleach?
Yan Xie turned around and walked into the toilet, took out the bottle of household sodium hypochlorite bleach from the cabinet, and shook it. He didn't know if it was a psychological effect, but he felt that the liquid level was half an inch lower.
But it was still not right. This bottle of bleach was specially used to clean the toilet; how could it get on the face towel? No matter how unexpected Jiang Ting's behavior was, he couldn't just use his face towel to clean the toilet.
Yan Xie stared at the bottle of bleach in his hand, suddenly remembered something, and felt a slight movement in his heart.
Most people think of bleach when they see sodium hypochlorite. But at this moment, as if destined, a looming silk thread was wound into a logic chain, linking sodium hypochlorite with a more professional and sensitive behavior.
"Maybe…" he thought suddenly, "maybe it might be…"
Yan Xie got up abruptly, rushed out of the toilet, and came to the study, not even feeling that his shoulder hit the door frame. He opened the drawer and rummaged a few times before finding the magnifying glass. He returned to the bathroom, knelt on the open space in front of the counter, and carefully observed the cracks in the tiles with the magnifying glass. He didn't even let go of a cement particle; his heart was pounding in his chest.
As long as traces could be found, even if there was very small, it could confirm the increasingly crazy guess in his mind——
Suddenly Yan Xie's movements stopped.
He was kneeling in a very distorted posture in the corner of the counter. Through the magnifying mirror, at the corner between the cabinet and the floor tiles, there was a hint of dark red that was as thin as the diameter of a hair in the gap.
—That was blood.
Yan Xie pursed his mouth tightly; his heart was squeezing his throat so painfully that it felt as if it would pop out of his mouth as soon as he opened it. But at this moment, he didn't hesitate. He immediately exited the bathroom with a magnifying glass in his hand, found his cell phone, and dialed a number.
At the same moment, in the center of Jianning, Han Xiaomei's cell phone rang as she staggered out of the cinema with the crowd wearing high heels.
"Hello, Captain Yan!" Han Xiaomei gestured apologetically at her blind date, but she felt relieved in her heart, wishing she could fly back to the Municipal Bureau to work overtime immediately, and even her tone was full of enthusiasm for work: "Yeah, I'm here. It's okay; if you have anything to say, just say it!"
Yan Xie's uncontrollable rant came from the phone: "Han Xiaomei, steal an inspection box from the city bureau and bring it to the lakeside community immediately. Your brother's life is now in your hands."
Han Xiaomei: "..."
Han Xiaomei's first reaction was that the male boss had called a single female subordinate to come to his house in the middle of the night?! The second reaction was to lie down—are you really my brother, telling me to go to the Municipal Public Security Bureau to steal things?!
"Br–Br–broth–brother Yan, calm down. You tell me properly, you want me to secretly steal… steal what?"
Yan Xie stood outside the bathroom door, looking at the large tiled floor under the countertop, and finally said in a hoarse voice:
"Luminol Reactant."