On the night of the incident, all the injured were rushed to the nearest county hospital at the foot of the mountain for preliminary treatment. A few SWAT officers who were seriously injured were airlifted back to Jianning No. 1 People's Hospital by helicopter overnight, including Yan Xie and Jiang Ting.
Yan Xie hugged the unconscious Jiang Ting along the way and cried hoarsely. He was unwilling to lie down on the stretcher after entering the hospital gate and insisted on holding Jiang Ting's hand, personally sending him into the operating room. He was so active that even Madame Zeng Cuicui, who came over after hearing the news, couldn't help suspecting that Chief Lu had lied about his injury. But Father Yan knew about the severity of the situation, so he rushed over and put his son on the examination bed.
Sure enough, only a few minutes later, Yan Xie suddenly started coughing up blood, his body convulsed, and he fell into a coma.
This was the impact of the internal injury caused by falling off the cliff. One might not feel it at all at the time, but a very dangerous situation could suddenly occur afterward. Fortunately, Father Yan had the foresight, and the flustered nurses rushed over and pushed Yan Xie into the operating room. After the rescue, Yan Xie was out of danger the next morning, and his recovery speed was very good. On the third night, he was able to break through the ICU gate while supporting the corridor wall tremblingly.
Jiang Ting was lying in the ICU, and his situation was not so lucky.
The blood clot in his brain was like a series of time bombs. It was unknown where he hit his head when he fell off the cliff. His eyes should still have had a sense of light when he fell into the water and landed, but he couldn't see after that. This was just the first explosion in a series of bombs. The doctor said that if conservative treatment was used, vision may indeed be restored, but the second or even third explosion may erupt in a few days, and the life-threatening speed would be so fast that it would be too late to take treatment, so it was best to treat the symptoms and cure the root cause now and open the craniotomy immediately.
However, the danger of a craniotomy was self-evident. Jiang Ting himself could no longer control his fate, and he had no family in the legal sense.
Yan Xie made this life-and-death decision for him.
The No. 1 People's Hospital of Jianning City was still very mature in this area. Apart from financial support and postoperative care, the Yan family couldn't help in any essential way. They could only leave everything to modern medicine and mysterious fate.
A few days later, the deputy director performed the first craniotomy in person, and the postoperative examination showed that the condition was not very good, so a second craniotomy was performed immediately. Jiang Ting's vital signs dropped to a very low level at one point. After the operation, the doctor told Zeng Cui tactfully that the patient should be out of the coma within half a month; otherwise, the situation would become very unpredictable.
What did "unpredictable" mean?
Yan Xie didn't dare to think about it.
He went to the ICU to guard every day, sometimes inside the door, sometimes outside the door. Yang Mei stayed with him, and Ma Xiang, Han Xiaomei, Gao Panqing, and others came whenever they had time. The days passed by anxiously, and Jiang Ting dragged on until the last day of the half-month deadline before finally opening his eyes weakly under the eyes of everyone.
"Your father has built great virtues by building roads and bridges; you must be filial to your parents in the future, you know?" Zeng Cuicui sobbed silently and wiped her tears while grabbing her son's ear with her pointed manicure nails that had long since fallen off into pieces due to carelessness. Yan Xie, a man in his thirties, was grinning, but he knew he was in the wrong, so he hurriedly swore with his mother, wrote a letter of guarantee, and then respectfully sent his mother out of the hospital while holding her hand.
After Jiang Ting woke up that day, he immediately fell into a coma again. The doctor said that it was because his body was too weak and he needed to repair himself in deep sleep. Fortunately, Madam Zeng Cuicui could use her connections to let her daughter-in-law live in a single VIP ward and import medicines into the hospital without charging money. Considering Jiang Ting's almost completely collapsed body, his current recovery speed was already very gratifying.
The only thing that the doctor advised was not to use the eyes too much in the future. It was best to stop using mobile phones or TV within a few months so as to avoid bad eyesight when he got older.
This was not a problem; as a person who was quite talented at sniping, Jiang Ting faithfully carried out the doctor's order after waking up. He leaned on the head of the bed, dizzy all day. Because of his extreme weakness, he was half asleep. Not to mention the mobile phone TV, except for Yan Xie's handsome face that had been bruised and now recovered, he had almost nothing to look at.
From Gongzhou to Jianning, from the provincial department to the municipal bureau, special commissioners and investigators, large and small, all went to his hospital ward, but the official investigation work must wait until he was more awake before starting. Deputy Chief Wei and Chief Lu also came. When Deputy Chief Wei was leaving with a toothache expression on his face, he held Yan Xie's hand hesitantly and then sighed dejectedly: "I knew that when my daughter was confused and fell in love with you for a while, I shouldn't have stopped her, alas…"
Yan Xie felt cold all over his body, saying that it was fortunate that you stopped her. Your daughter is 1.8 meters tall and weighs 130 pounds. She is currently the instructor for the women's SWAT team. If you hadn't stopped her, it's hard to say whether my little life could have been saved by now.
Compared to Chief Lu's indifference and Deputy Chief Wei's tact and reservation, Yang Mei's dissatisfaction with Yan Xie was very obvious. She persuaded Jiang Ting like this: "Brother Jiang, you should stay away from the surname Yan a little bit. He doesn't care much about his reputation, and his behavior is rather weird. When the time comes, he will lead you astray, which may damage your good image in the public security system…"
"I think I'm quite normal?" Yan Xie said strangely.
Yang Mei said angrily: "It's not normal for you to put Brother Jiang on the bed and feed him!"
Jiang Ting slightly closed his eyes, pretending he didn't know anything, and methodically drank the healthy porridge fed by Yan Xie himself. His expression was as calm as a cloud.
Looking at his appearance, Yang Mei finally realized in her heart that the split water couldn't be recovered and she could no longer pull Jiang Ting back to her own camp, so she only sighed for a long time.
Jiang Ting remained in a drug-affected, dazed state for several days before he finally regained his sobriety and was able to force himself to go to the ground—a celebration for anyone with strong self-esteem and eager to regain their self-care ability.
That day, he finally finished going to the toilet independently without Yan Xie's help, supported himself against the wall, and washed his hands, and his heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment mixed with sadness. He dried his hands, and when he looked up, he happened to see the mirror and saw that his pale face was bloodless. There were a few subtle lines in the corners of his eyes that were hard to spot, and he couldn't help feeling sad: I'm in my thirties so soon?
The high-spirited youth seemed to be close at hand, and the most precious years of life were all gone in a blink of an eye.
Thinking of Yan Xie, Jiang Ting felt that he was different from himself and was still very young and handsome. He couldn't help but mock himself, thinking that it was fortunate that Yan Xie was blind back then; otherwise, the spark of love might not have come out even with rubbing diamonds.
"Wife—" Yan Xie knocked on the door outside: "What are you doing?! Did you fall into the damn toilet?! Do you want me to carry you out?!"
Jiang Ting cheered up and thought to himself, I'm thinking about messy things. A man of character doesn't look at just face. I obviously won by relying on my superior IQ and charisma.
"Coming!" Jiang Ting replied, took a breath, looked at himself, nodded with satisfaction, and turned to go out.
At this moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of detail in the mirror from the corner of his eye, and he was struck by lightning.
"…Yan Xie…"
"What's the matter?" Yan Xie guarded the door while gritting his teeth, feeling very dissatisfied with Jiang Ting's behavior for not letting him help him go to the toilet, "You just fell into the toilet and couldn't get up, right? Now you know the importance of your husband. Regretting it or not? Will you dare to go to the bathroom alone next time…"
The door panel opened with a thud. Jiang Ting was in a trance, and his face was blue.
"What's wrong with you?!"
Jiang Ting stared straight at himself with black and white eyes, with grief, confusion, and panic flashing in his eyes. The suffocating silence lasted for more than ten seconds, and finally, he only heard him speak slowly, asking the question that hit the soul:
"Where is my hair?"
Exactly three weeks after the operation, a belated sense of crisis finally descended on Captain Jiang.
Jiang Ting's lips trembled, and he pointed at the back of his head: "Where's my hair?!"
"Hahahahahaha—hahahahahaha—!"
Yan Xie slapped the bed frantically, and his insane laughter shook the entire ward.
Jiang Ting leaned on the head of the hospital bed, covering his eyes with one hand, and the corners of his mouth twitched. The entire back of his head was shaved before the craniotomy. Three weeks of recuperation did not restore much vitality to the tortured hair follicles, and now only a layer of hair has grown. The bald back of the head and the dense black hair on the forehead complement each other, just like the rat-tail braids of men in the Qing Dynasty but just reversed, which had a post-modern non-mainstream style.
"What's there to be sad and angry about? You look good like this!" Yan Xie opened his mobile phone photo album and showed Jiang Ting page by page very attentively, only to see that the screen recorded the whole process of Jiang Ting's head, from light and shiny to the emergence of a layer of green and then to the growth of small hair. The whole transforming process was shown in 360 degrees, showing what was called the fourth biggest illusion in life—your husband thinking you are cute no matter what.
Jiang Ting felt his heart tighten: "Then everyone I've met during this time…"
"That's right," Yan Xie said seriously, "Don't you see that everyone didn't say anything?"
"..."
"Even Comrade ErGou1, director of forensics at our bureau, praised your round head shape and perfect occipital bone. Ma Xiang also said that you look smooth… your smooth scalp is very cute, and you are no longer so cold. Suddenly it has become very popular."
Jiang Ting tremblingly said: "…why didn't you put a hat on me…"
Yan Xie replied seriously: "Because I have already sent these photos to the chat group of the Municipal Bureau. I want to let everyone know that what I love is not a superficial appearance, even if one day you are bald and old, what I love is your noble soul!"
The two looked at each other for a long time, and Yan Xie was full of sincerity.
Jiang Ting broke out suddenly, picked up the pillow, and threw it at Yan Xie, who flew away: "Get out!"
As the door of the ward slammed shut, Yan Xie fled into the corridor of the hospital and finally could no longer suppress the second wave of crazy laughter.
There were still relatively few people in the advanced ward; only the nurse poked out her gossip head from the duty room and saw Yan Xie banging on the door while laughing: "Captain Jiang! Don't be so shy, Captain Jiang! Don't worry, no one can see it when you're lying down! Open the door for me quickly. I will be suffocated if I don't see your beautiful face! Quick! Not seeing you every day is like not seeing you for three autumns!"
The door panel opened with a thud, and Yan Xie couldn't hold back and almost fell into the door.
Jiang Ting was at a loss and forced a straight face: "Shamless! Come in!"
Yan Xie laughed so hard that he couldn't breathe. He picked up Jiang Ting and threw him on the hospital bed in a few steps.
"Knock knock!"
The door behind him was knocked twice. Jiang Ting looked out and hurriedly broke free from Yan Xie's arms.
That was Chief Lu.
Chief Lu was followed by two middle-aged men who looked quite dignified at first glance; one of them, Yan Xie recognized as provincial party committee member Chen Chu, but the other was very unfamiliar. The two of them were obviously not as well-informed as Chief Lu, and they both had embarrassing expressions with bulging briefcases in their arms.
In front of this group of people, Yan Xie had already completely let Jiang Ting go. He stood up, clapped his hands, and asked carelessly: "Hey, what's brig you here?"
Chief Lu walked calmly into the room and pointed at Chen Chu: "Chen Chu." Then he pointed to another intermediary: "From Gongzhou Municipal Bureau, Deputy Chief Hu."
Jiang Ting realized something and sat up.
"Regarding some of the cases that Captain Jiang commanded in Gongzhou before and the details of the secret discussions with Yue Guangping three years ago, although Captain Jiang has explained to the Public Security Bureau of Province S and gained some understanding and trust, in the end, we still need to make a final explanation to Gongzhou. In addition, we have to make some notes about Qi Sihao's matter and go back to study how to deal with it."
Yan Xie glanced at Jiang Ting, who also turned his head to look at him.
That look actually had no special meaning. It was purely subconscious as if he was habitually looking for some kind of support.
Yan Xie's heart felt a little warm.
"Considering the serious injury of Captain Jiang, Chen Chu, as the special assistant from our province S, will help him sort out the situation with Deputy Chief Hu." Chief Lu coughed calmly, saying that Chen Chu was our own people, and then he waved to Yan Xie: "Come with me, leave this place to them for the time being."
Yan Xie did not move immediately but stood where he was, emphasizing in a slightly aggrieved tone: "Before Jiang Ting went undercover this time, he had already obtained the authorization letter and emergency solutions signed by Director Liu himself…"
"So?" Chief Lu raised his eyebrows and asked, "You have more ideas than Chief Chen. Why don't you come and take the position of Chief Chen?"
Deputy Chief Hu stood silently with drooping eyes. Yan Xie couldn't laugh or cry, and Chief Chen nodded slightly at him, almost invisibly.
"Let's go, let's go," Chief Lu came over to pull Yan Xie in person and then politely nodded at Jiang Ting: "Then I will trouble you, Captain Jiang!"
Yan Xie squeezed Jiang Ting's shoulders tightly and then followed Chief Lu out of the ward.
Jiang Ting pursed his lips tightly, watching Yan Xie leave, and the door of the ward closed gently with a click. The room was solemn and quiet again. Chen Chu took out the recording equipment and gave Jiang Ting a look of "it's time to start" as he sat up straight with his back against the snow-white pillow and coughed vigorously.
Deputy Chief Hu sat upright in the armchair, holding a recording pen and a notepad.
"…About the secret plan of Chief Yue Guangping and I before Operation 1009 and our investigation of internal corruption at that time." Jiang Ting took a deep breath and said hoarsely: "The specific situation at that time was like this…"
"Will Qi Sihao's matter be troublesome?"
Yan Xie followed Chief Lu. The two entered the elevator back and forth, and the metal door slowly closed behind them.
"It would've been very troublesome if Old Qi had just secretly sold stolen goods that were to be destroyed."
Yan Xie pressed the upper floor while waiting for the next sentence.
"But he also sold high-purity 'blue gold'. The sentencing of blue gold is completely different from traditional drugs." Sure enough, Chief Lu continued: "Undercover agents usually have a certain authority. The more advanced and difficult the undercover task, the greater the authority. Before Jiang Ting set off, Director Liu verbally promised on the phone that he would let the past go and Jiang Ting could act as needed, so even if Gongzhou wants to make a fuss now, it's not easy to slap Chief Liu in the face. What's more, they still have lots of shortcomings inside, hahaha——"
After the King of Spades came back from the United States, he couldn't put his own people into the iron barrel of the Gongzhou Municipal Bureau. It was purely because the iron barrel had become Wu Tun's goldfish bowl. Although many people took advantage of the opportunity to get out of their shells after Jiang Ting died in the line of duty three years ago and blamed most of the blame on the dead, if one really wanted to get to the bottom of it, Jiang Ting was just an inconspicuous character in the shady scenes of Gongzhou in his early years.
"What's more," Chief Lu said coolly, "didn't you and Yang Mei both say that you didn't see exactly who shot Qi Sihao to death?"
Yan Xie: "..."
Yan Xie waved his hand awkwardly under Chief Lu's teasing scrutiny. The elevator door slowly opened in front of the two of them.
This floor was a single intensive care ward, and the corridor was relatively empty. At the corner at the end, two plainclothes officers were guarding an inconspicuous ward door. Seeing Chief Lu approaching, they immediately stood up.
Chief Lu signaled them to go a little further away and then opened the door, revealing the scene in the ward.
Yan Xie held his breath.
The deserted ward was pale, and there was a lonely figure lying on the bed. He was still on a ventilator and a life device, and his right hand was tightly handcuffed to the iron bed frame.
That was Qin Chuan.
"According to your previous request, the medicines have been over-rationed several times. Later, you will pay for the excess." Chief Lu stood by the hospital bed with his hands behind his back, looking at Qin Chuan's thin and calm face, and said lightly, "However, he hasn't shown any signs of waking up so far. It should be due to a head injury, and the specific doctor can't explain why."
Yan Xie's heart sank: "If he still doesn't wake up…"
"That depends on whether he has the good luck to come back from the dead like Captain Jiang!"
"..."
Yan Xie remained silent, feeling a little dazed.
He remembered that when he arrived that day, Jin Jie was grabbing Qin Chuan's head and slamming it against a tree. The craniocerebral injury must have occurred at that time.
"For him, it might be better to stay in a coma." Chief Lu shook his head and sighed: "But he knows a lot of inside secrets about Wen Shao's group. It is very necessary for us to conduct a follow-up investigation, and he could only be put on trial if he wakes up. No matter whether it is meritorious or not, you must always have an explanation in front of the law and for the victim."
When the word "victim" was mentioned, he glanced at Yan Xie meaningfully.
Yan Xie said in a low voice: "About the time he harmed me, I am willing to issue a letter of understanding."
" Huh? Isn't it twice?"
"It was just once, when the medicinal wine was poisoned. The mastermind of the attack on the police in Jianyang County wasn't him. It was Jin Jie who bought Xian Shengrong."
Chief Lu didn't expect this and was stunned.
"Old Qin is a smart man—!" Yan Xie sighed and said, "At that time, he should have made an agreement with Wen Shao to rescue him once he was imprisoned, but Wen Shao was only in charge of giving orders, and the actual operation was still in the hands of Jin Jie. Things like explosions and prison robberies, if not done well, will become murder. Old Qin took the initiative to help Jin Jie take the blame, which belongs to the show of favor in desperation. Anyway, he is not bad at this thing."
"How do you know…"
"Yue Guangping's missing gun has been in Jin Jie's hands for three years; otherwise, why didn't he use that gun when he attacked you and Jiang Ting at Qin Chuan's house that day?"
Chief Lu said silently: "Oh——"
"Actually, his trick was quite clever. Jiang Ting said that when he was in Myanmar, he and Jin Jie had been getting along pretty well. This incident should have laid the groundwork."
Both of them were a little bit embarrassed, and Chief Lu sighed: "Such a talent. Why did he become a thief, alas!"
"—If," Yan Xie hesitated for a while and asked, "If Old Qin wakes up and actively cooperates with the investigation to provide information, do you think the court would…"
Chief Lu shook his head, "It's hard to say. He was a civil servant who broke the law consciously, spending ten years of his life to reach the peak!"
Yan Xie was at a loss.
"By the way, let's talk about this." Chief Lu seemed to suddenly remember something: "Fang Zhenghong has received your kindness. He doesn't say anything, but he is very grateful in his heart. If you ask, maybe he will be willing to issue a letter of understanding, which will help Qin Chuan's sentencing. What do you think?"
Yan Xie met Chief Lu's casual gaze containing a hint of scrutiny, and did not speak for a long while.
"…Forget it," he said after a long time.
"Oh?"
The sun was shining brightly outside the window of the ward, which made the pale space even more desolate. Only the flickering green light on the monitor showed that the person on the bed was still alive.
Yan Xie let out a deep breath.
"Qin Chuan played a role in the final siege. If it weren't for him, the second wave of explosions would have come earlier. Old Kang's SWAT team and the undercover agent would probably be there at that time. In addition, he almost used his life to hold back Jin Jie. Although at that time you had expected the third wave of bombs at the entrance of the gorge and had already sent the anti-explosion team there to start disposing of the bombs, if there was no time difference of ten minutes for him to fight, the loss of the police would be greater than it is now. "
"In addition to this, he also tried to let the King of Spades miss the best opportunity to escape so that the police had time to rush up and surround the convoy, and then personally gave him a fatal blow from behind when the King of Spades couldn't take care of himself. Although this plan failed, the subjective consciousness of meritorious service does exist."
"Then what about the matter with Old Fang…" Chief Lu raised his eyebrows and asked.
"I'm willing to make every effort to ask the court to take these meritorious performances into consideration, even without showing the intention of successful meritorious service; there are some things that cannot be done by just manpower." Yan Xie smiled wryly: "If the old Fang comes to me about the letter of understanding, then I will ask him, but I will not take the initiative to ask him. Otherwise, where is the fairness for those who are innocent?"
Chief Lu's eyes flashed with complex expressions, and he got a satisfactory answer, but he was a little startled and reached out and patted Yan Xie's shoulder.
At this time, the door was knocked on several times, and the nurse came in to administer the medicine. The two of them left the ward under the guidance of the chief physician and went downstairs to the office to see the brain scan and discuss the follow-up treatment plan and possible recovery time. In the end, Chief Lu was still worried about Yue Guangping's only son, but everyone really could do nothing with Qin Chuan's current situation and could only hope for time and miracles.
In a while, Chief Lu's cell phone rang, and he held his reading glasses to look, "Hey, Captain Jiang's matter is over, let's go."
" Your situation is very complicated. Gongzhou City Bureau will carefully study the solution, and in the meantime— —"
Jiang Ting calmly said: "I understand. I am completely at the disposal of the organization."
Deputy Chief Hu looked a little satisfied, stood up, and nodded perfunctorily, then turned and walked toward the door of the ward.
Jiang Ting also struggled to get out of bed: "I'll see you two off."
Chen Chu couldn't bear to look at it and wanted to tell him to lie down. But Jiang Ting was much cleverer than this old-fashioned director in terms of dealing with people and insisted on sending it to the elevator. It happened that Chief Lu and Yan Xie came down from upstairs, so they all got into the elevator and went downstairs. Yan Xie supported Jiang Ting and slowly sent the three leaders to the entrance of the inpatient building.
"Okay, you guys go back!" Chief Lu patted Yan Xie on the back of the head and scolded: "You don't do work all day long and just mess around there! Rest up and leave the hospital early; more than ten case files are still waiting for the quarterly summary. Old Wei is thinking about finding fault and scolding you!"
Yan Xie: "I know, I know…"
Chief Lu turned to Deputy Chief Hu and was about to say something with a smile when there was a sudden commotion in the bustling inpatient hall and a vague scolding sound from the crowd. They all turned their heads toward the voice.
"Can't you see, what are you doing?!"
"Look at where you are walking!…"
Chief Lu's keen sixth sense was activated, and his eyelids suddenly twitched wildly. At this time, he saw a man rushing out of the crowd and coming straight here. It turned out to be the plainclothes criminal policeman from upstairs just now!
"Chief Lu! Chief Lu, not good—!"
Everyone's hearts clashed at the same time, and Chief Lu blurted out: "What's going on?!"
"The suspect, the suspect Qin Chuan," The plainclothes officer said with a solemn expression and pale face, trembling: "He He—"