After they finished talking, it was already four in the morning.
However, no matter how late it was, they still had to drive back to the city. Ji Xun got his wish and rode in Huo Ranyin’s car for the return trip. In the passenger seat, he lowered the backrest as far as it would go, yawning incessantly. “Why go through all this trouble? You investigated Lu Ping’s background during the day, then drove for four hours to get here after work. Once here, you dug up the mountain, gave me CPR, then presided over the work and listened to me tell stories for half the night. And now you have to drive another four hours back to Ning City—this day is never going to end.”
Huo Ranyin focused on driving.
“Little officer brother,” Ji Xun, bored, spoke again, his tone earnest, “working on cases so hard like this, it’s easy to die suddenly from overwork. If you don’t listen to your elders, you’ll suffer right before your eyes…”
“The night is dark, the road is long, and the mountain path is treacherous,” Huo Ranyin said suddenly.
“Huh?”
“I appreciate that you know I’m driving tired and are talking to me,” Huo Ranyin said. “But can we talk about something more cheerful? Are you really not afraid that while listening to you, I’ll get emotional, lose control of the steering wheel, and drive us into a ravine, ending it all together?”
“Tch,” Ji Xun pouted. “Last time, after your god-like driving, you said you would protect me. Is this your idea of protection?”
Huo Ranyin sighed.
“As long as you behave, shut your mouth, I guarantee that when you arrive in Ning City, not a single hair on your head will be out of place.”
“And if I don’t behave?” Ji Xun asked curiously.
“Right now, we are in the middle of a deserted mountain, and I am off duty,” Huo Ranyin said gently.
“—Wait, you’re clearly working overtime,” Ji Xun sniffed out danger and quickly corrected him.
“I can voluntarily work overtime, and I can also voluntarily rest. Chief Zhou, as much of a skinflint as he is, wouldn’t call me at—” Huo Ranyin deliberately glanced at the time, “04:34, to work.”
“Ah, is it already four-thirty in the morning? I’m sleepy,” Ji Xun suddenly became a good boy.
“Are you that afraid of what I’ll do to you?” Huo Ranyin couldn’t help but chuckle. “In the bar, weren’t you very… open?”
“I can’t see through you,” Ji Xun said.
“Isn’t that good? It adds a sense of mystery and novelty,” Huo Ranyin replied.
“Of course, it’s not good. Because the unknown means danger,” Ji Xun said, his hands in his pockets, turning his head to look at the man. “Captain Huo, to me, you are a very dangerous person, and humans are creatures that seek advantage and avoid harm.”
Huo Ranyin said no more, and the car drove on for a while.
“Do you have a blanket?” Ji Xun said suddenly.
“No.”
“It seems a bit cold,” he said, looking at the car’s air conditioning vent. The temperature in the mountains was low. The car’s heater was already on, which was fine for sitting, but for sleeping, as the body temperature drops, it would probably be uncomfortable.
As soon as he finished speaking, the car stopped.
Huo Ranyin was still too lazy to speak. He simply took off his jacket, threw it to him, and continued driving.
“Thanks,” Ji Xun said, hugging Huo Ranyin’s jacket and lying down comfortably. The jacket still held Huo Ranyin’s body heat. Wrapped in this suitable temperature, he slowly, slowly fell asleep…
This sleep in the car was surprisingly decent. The sound of gurgling water constantly soothed his nerves. He didn’t know if it was a dream or what, but he seemed to see Huo Ranyin pulling up his slipped jacket for him while he was asleep.
If I was asleep, how did I see this scene?
Ji Xun thought with amusement. Yet the scene was exceptionally clear. He even saw that Huo Ranyin had extended his right hand. The sleeve of his knitted sweater was pulled up, revealing a section of his wrist. His wrist had a tiny scrape, red, and at a glance, it looked like a kiss had been branded on it.
A hickey…?
His mind grew hazy again. The sound of water faded away, and Huo Ranyin also faded away. He was immersed in a chaotic void. His heavy body disappeared, and his consciousness floated freely, unrestrained, until the sound of children laughing and chasing each other woke him again.
He opened his eyes. Before him was a cup of steaming soy milk. Ji Xun was momentarily dazed, then mechanically took it and started drinking.
The darkness was gone, the small mountain village was gone. Outside the car, it was broad daylight. The wide road was crowded with vehicles, and the sound of children came in waves. It was eight in the morning, and parents were taking their children to school.
“Where is this?” he was still a bit dazed.
“A kindergarten two streets away from the police station,” Huo Ranyin said. “Cheng Zheng just came out of the police station and walked all the way here.”
Ji Xun let out a long yawn.
It seemed that An Xinhe and the others’ full set of preparations had convinced the police. Without evidence of Cheng Zheng’s murder, there was no point in holding him. Cheng Zheng had been cleared of suspicion and released smoothly.
As for why Huo Ranyin didn’t stop it, it was probably because he felt that interrogating him at the police station would provoke his rebellious spirit. It was better to let nature take its course and meet him outside.
The congestion at the kindergarten entrance lasted until the school bell rang. The packed road dispersed, and a figure standing in front of the kindergarten’s green wire fence, reluctant to leave, stood out.
It was Cheng Zheng.
Ji Xun said, “You go talk to him. I’ll wander around.”
Huo Ranyin: “You’re not coming along?”
“Don’t want to, not in the mood, too lazy to be bothered,” Ji Xun let out another sleepy yawn. “Besides, you’re going for an official investigation. What would I do? A normal citizen just meddling for fun?”
“If you could maintain this self-awareness consistently, you wouldn’t have had to sleep in my car tonight,” Huo Ranyin said coolly.
“You think your car is so great to sleep in? Next time you beg me, I won’t sleep in your car,” Ji Xun grumbled perfunctorily and opened the door to leave.
Huo Ranyin glanced at Ji Xun one last time. Seeing him wandering among the small stalls at the kindergarten entrance after getting out of the car, he didn’t pay him any more mind and walked straight to Cheng Zheng’s side.
Cheng Zheng seemed to sense something and turned his face. “You are… an officer, right?”
Huo Ranyin introduced himself: “Huo Ranyin, captain of the second branch of criminal investigation, and also the person in charge of the 1.13 suffocation case and the 1.23 Wushan dismemberment case.”
Cheng Zheng asked, “Here to arrest me?”
After just one night, this man, who had always been cautious, gentle, and easygoing, seemed to have changed.
His shoulders were no longer hunched, he no longer avoided people’s gazes, and the resigned, go-with-the-flow air about him was gone. He stood up straight again, the wrinkles on his face smoothing out. He was still a robust, somewhat handsome middle-aged man.
“A routine inquiry of a criminal suspect,” Huo Ranyin said, offering a cigarette to Cheng Zheng. “Smoke?”
“Criminal suspect,” Cheng Zheng repeated, then smiled. “You’re too kind. You could have just said an inquiry of the murderer.”
He took the cigarette but didn’t light it, just held it.
“Before the court pronounces judgment, you are only a suspect,” Huo Ranyin corrected. “Your crime is not for you to decide, nor for me to decide. Only the law has the final say.”
“Officer, your actions and your words are not quite consistent,” Cheng Zheng smiled faintly, but he quickly moved on. “But that doesn’t matter. Let’s sit down and talk. You probably have a lot of questions, and I have a lot to say. Sitting here, we can watch the children in the yard do their morning exercises in a bit. A bunch of little turnips squeezed together, it’s lively, has a human touch.”
He led Huo Ranyin to a park bench on the roadside, sat down, and then began:
“I’ve been thinking ever since I walked out of the police station. Was it the police who let me go, or was it Xinhe and the others who pushed me to go, or was it that I wanted to go myself? I walked all this way, thinking all this way, but I couldn’t figure it out. What do you think, Officer Huo?”
“That’s not important. What’s important is that you are lingering here.”
Cheng Zheng smiled silently.
It doesn’t matter who pushes you to go. What’s important is that, after countless evasions, you still face a choice, a choice that only you can make.
“What’s important is my choice,” Cheng Zheng said. “A person always has to make choices.”
“—That’s not necessarily true.”
A voice interjected from the side.
Huo Ranyin turned his head and first saw three large, colorful cotton candies.
Then, the fluffy cotton candy moved, and he saw the man hidden behind it, Ji Xun.
“I don’t really like making choices. I have choice paralysis, but I’m living just fine,” Ji Xun undermined Huo Ranyin’s point. “Come on, you each pick one. I’ll eat the one that’s left.”
Of the three cotton candies, one was white, one was blue, and one was pink.
Huo Ranyin casually took the pink one closest to him.
Cheng Zheng looked at the remaining two cotton candies and politely declined, “Thank you, but I’m fine.”
Ji Xun: “Teacher Cheng, if you take one, you’ll help me with my choice paralysis. A small act of kindness is a good deed for the day, so why not? When you saved Xi Lei back then, wasn’t that also just a good deed for the day?”
The blue cotton candy ended up in Cheng Zheng’s hand.
Ji Xun, holding the last white one, smiled with satisfaction. He took a big bite, creating a gap in the fluffy cotton ball. A bit of golden sugar stuck to the corner of his mouth. He stuck out his tongue and licked it off.
“You guys continue. I’ll sit on the next bench. I won’t disturb your serious conversation.”
“This writer, was he also a police officer before?” Cheng Zheng said suddenly, looking at the departing Ji Xun.
“What makes you say that?” Huo Ranyin did not deny it.
“A gut feeling. He doesn’t look very serious, but he gives off a feeling that you can tell him about any difficulties you have,” Cheng Zheng said. “But he’s also a bit like me, always running away from something.”
“We’re getting sidetracked,” Huo Ranyin said.
“Indeed, we are. What were we talking about?” Cheng Zheng smiled apologetically and asked Huo Ranyin, “When you get old, your thoughts get jumbled. There are many things to say, but I don’t know where to start.”
“Xi Lei knew a secret. What was this secret?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“This secret…” Cheng Zheng, as he had said, had no intention of hiding anything. He began to speak slowly, narrating the story. “It’s a secret about a child, and it concerns Tang Jinglong.”
“Lei Lei rarely talked to me about her affairs with Tang Jinglong. I can only roughly guess that being forced by Tang Jinglong was a very shameful thing for her. Later, she took money in this relationship, so the matter became both shameful and dirty. But Lei Lei didn’t want to go on like this, passively waiting for Tang Jinglong to get tired of her. She was always waiting for an opportunity to act.”
Huo Ranyin listened quietly.
It was not surprising that Xi Lei made such a choice. Her personality could be glimpsed from the people around her.
Zeng Peng was a drug addict, and she made him quit successfully. Xia Youqing wanted to commit suicide, and was eventually persuaded back by her.
She had a resilient quality. Though fragile as a weed, she would face the wind and rain, determined to sink her roots deeper into the earth.
“She did indeed find an opportunity,” Cheng Zheng said.
Cheng Zheng still remembered that late-night call from Xi Lei, remembered it clearly.
That day, he was woken from his sleep by the phone. On the line, Xi Lei’s rapid breathing was like a gushing mist, a mist that wove a net, trapping his just-awakened mind.
He heard Xi Lei say:
“Teacher, Teacher, I have evidence of Tang Jinglong killing a baby—”
Yet his reaction at that time was so calm—so cold. He slowly sat up from the bed, picked up the glasses on the bedside table, and said to Xi Lei, “Okay, take a deep breath. Inhale—exhale, inhale—exhale. Are you calm now? Now, try to remember how you filmed this video. Were you seen by anyone while you were filming?”
“Later, Lei Lei told me that the reason she was able to film this was because during one of their trysts, Tang Jinglong received a call. Tang Jinglong was very annoyed by the number—and under normal circumstances, Tang Jinglong was a businessman who valued harmony and wealth, and wouldn’t be so annoyed by an incoming call. She got suspicious, said she was going to take a shower, but actually just turned on the showerhead in the bathroom, secretly left the bathroom door ajar, and hid behind it to eavesdrop on Tang Jinglong’s conversation.”
“She heard…”
“Boss Wan, it’s a child, after all. It’s already born, you can’t stuff it back in. This isn’t like ordering a luxury item, where you can just decide not to take it.”
“Boss Wan, I know you’ve got a new wife, so you want to get rid of the child you had via surrogacy with your ex-wife. But the child is innocent, after all.”
“If it really comes down to it, how about sending him to an orphanage? At least you’ll accumulate some good karma.”
“…This isn’t about money.”
“…Okay, I understand.”
“For the next several days, Lei Lei kept a close watch on Tang Jinglong, even secretly following him. Later, she finally stumbled upon that scene. Tang Jinglong was meeting someone at a coffee shop downstairs. The person said to Tang Jinglong, ‘The job is done. The child is in the trunk. Do you want to take a look?’ Tang Jinglong really went to take a look. They opened the trunk, and Lei Lei filmed it… In the trunk, an infant lay quietly. He was wrapped in a swaddle, motionless, his lips dark, his body purplish… He had suffocated to death.”
“‘Also’?” Huo Ranyin whispered this word.
“It’s not surprising, is it?” Cheng Zheng said calmly. “There’s a line in life. People who walk along the edge of the line don’t just cross it once.”
He continued his narration:
“The trunk opened for a moment and then closed. Then, Tang Jinglong gave the money to the other party… Lei Lei filmed all of this. This was the secret she held.”
“After filming this, why didn’t she call the police?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“Because I told her… there were other people behind Tang Jinglong. Reporting it rashly would put her in direct danger,” Cheng Zheng replied calmly.
“There were other people behind Tang Jinglong?” Huo Ranyin’s eyebrow arched slightly, like the tip of a knife. “Who?”
“That I don’t know. It’s my personal speculation, but I don’t think it’s paranoia or a fabrication. Tang Jinglong had a work background in an organ donation agency. He could change the order of organ use, allowing someone to secretly get an organ replacement ahead of others. A valuable talent like that, do you think he would be left to wander alone?”
After finishing this part, Cheng Zheng returned to Xi Lei:
“I advised her to leave Ning City first, to lie low, and to hand over the evidence to the police once she was in a safe place. Lei Lei did not take my advice. She said she had promised someone to walk with her every day. She said Tang Jinglong hadn’t discovered anything, that she wouldn’t be in danger. She said walking was not a big deal, but a promise was a big deal. She said the person she was accompanying was a pregnant woman, and sometimes when she held her, she could hear the baby’s movements in her belly…”
“She told me that when she hugged her friend, she could hear the fetal movements in her friend’s belly.”
“Like the sound of a seed sprouting, and also like the sound of us reading her bedtime stories when she was very young.”
“I think at that moment, Lei Lei was really happy,” Cheng Zheng said. “I was very worried about Lei Lei’s safety, but she was really happy.”
He repeated this sentence twice.
“She saved a pregnant woman who wanted to commit suicide, a pregnant woman who even wanted to kill her own child. I think this reminded her of the small mountain village, the women in the village, and even her own mother. By saving her, it was as if she could change the past things she had always been powerless to do.”
“She stayed. You all know what happened after that.”
The children began their exercises.
A group of children rushed out of the kindergarten classrooms and lined up on the playground, pushing and shoving each other.
The eyes behind Cheng Zheng’s glasses narrowed. He bent his elbows and placed his hands on his knees, his neck leaning forward slightly, eagerly looking at the children behind the wire fence, as if searching for a familiar shadow among them.
He didn’t find one.
The greed faded from his eyes, and he slowly leaned back against the chair:
“Lei Lei was actually quite like her mother. They both had hearts that would sacrifice themselves for others, both were willing to give too much for small, insignificant things, and neither of them had a good end. A foolish kindness is destined to burn itself to illuminate others.”
“Officer, you’ve handled many cases, haven’t you? Homicide cases are probably as common to you as rainy days. Facing these heinous cases every day, do you think there are more good people or bad people?”
“Is the city beautiful?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“Very beautiful,” Cheng Zheng said.
“The city is different in the eyes of good people and bad people,” Huo Ranyin said. “Some people see beauty, some see ugliness. As long as he still has a little kindness in his heart, he can always feel a part of the beauty. I do this job because there are a billion times more good people than bad people.”
Cheng Zheng looked at the blue sky, at the playground under the blue sky, at the children on the playground, and at a bird that happened to land in front of a child.
A child wanted to catch it, but was stopped by the other children around. It was completely unaware of the danger that had almost befallen it. It hopped around arrogantly for a few moments, then with a flap of its wings, it flew away.
So free, so good.
Lei Lei probably couldn’t feel this freedom anymore.
But Xinhe and the others still had a chance. Although it was difficult, there was still a chance.
“Officer,” he stretched his back on the chair, “we’ve talked for long enough. The children have gone back to class. I should be going too, with this thing…”
Cheng Zheng held up the blue cotton candy in his hand.
“If I go back to the police station and say I want to confess, will they think I’m joking?”
That cotton candy ultimately was not brought to the police station. Huo Ranyin saw Cheng Zheng wandering on the road for a while. By chance, he encountered a little girl crying her eyes out for some reason. The little girl’s mother stood by, furious, scolding her incessantly. Then, her heart softened, and she hugged the little girl, comforting her repeatedly.
Cheng Zheng handed over the cotton candy. He said something, and the little girl broke into a smile through her tears.
He stood there for a long time, smiling faintly, until the mother led the little girl away, until the little girl, who kept turning back while eating the cotton candy, also disappeared around the corner.
He was still standing there. The child’s laughter grew more distant. The illusory shadow in his eyes, however, grew more solid.
It was Lei Lei.
Lei Lei was running ahead. Her ponytail, tied up high, flew happily in the sun, each strand of hair catching the golden light. He chased after that shadow.
He said repeatedly, “Be careful, run slower, wait for Teacher—”
In front of him, the blue emblem of the police station also shone brightly in the sun.
When Huo Ranyin returned to Ji Xun’s side, the white cotton candy in Ji Xun’s hand was almost gone. A white woolen ball sat on top of the stick, which he was turning left and right, like a magic wand.
“So trusting. You’re not personally escorting Cheng Zheng back to the police station? Aren’t you afraid he’s just putting on a show and will run away after turning the corner?” Ji Xun pointed the stick at Huo Ranyin.
“If he wanted to run, he could have run from the beginning. There was no need to say so much,” Huo Ranyin took a step back. The woolen ball in front of him was still far away, but its fluffy appearance made it seem like it was about to touch his body in the next second.
Huo Ranyin retreated, and Ji Xun pushed his luck, extending the stick a little further, brandishing it in front of Huo Ranyin until the patience on Huo Ranyin’s face began to crack. Then, he suddenly turned his hand, pointed the stick at himself, and bit off the woolen ball.
The stick was thrown into the trash can. Ji Xun clapped his hands. “Alright, it’s over. I can go home and sleep now—although the dust has settled, Captain Huo, you actually believed my words. Have you ever thought… that it was really the mothers who were the killers, and Cheng Zheng was the one taking the fall? After all, in this story, the narrative still holds up if you switch the characters’ perspectives. Cheng Zheng, who considers himself more of a bad person than the women, couldn’t forget the women’s suffering over the years, nor could he tolerate his own cowardice. The thought of taking the blame formed in his heart, but he hesitated to make a decision, so he waited there, waiting for someone to help him. And the things I said yesterday were really just a touching but false story. I sympathized with those women, so I fabricated a story to convince you, to push the timid Cheng Zheng, who didn’t dare to take the step, to take the blame.”
“…Ji Xun, is it fun to play with truth and falsehood?”
Ji Xun didn’t answer. He straightened up, shrugged his shoulders, his expression clearly conveying these four words: It is indeed fun.
“Cheng Zheng is the killer,” Huo Ranyin said.
“But there’s no evidence—” Ji Xun drew out his words. “To be honest, Huo Ranyin’s choice surprised me. Huo Ranyin, who has always emphasized evidence as the basis for conclusions, actually went directly to Cheng Zheng because of a story I told. The reason for this is worth pondering. At this moment, having made a choice, Captain Huo can only force himself to believe that Cheng Zheng is the killer. You cannot accept the answer that he is not, and yet you pushed him to confess. In the end, you have a selective bias in identifying Cheng Zheng as the killer… you believe he is more suited to be the bad guy.”
“Ji Xun, I made a choice, but you don’t even dare to make one,” Huo Ranyin’s tone was calm. He retorted, “You told me all this, wasn’t it because you hoped I would make a choice? Now that I’ve made a choice, you start to question the correctness of my stance. Ji Xun, don’t you think you are fickle and very ridiculous? On what grounds are you questioning me?”
His voice suddenly became light, light and cruel.
“Yuan Yue really sees you the clearest. You want to go back to the police station, but you don’t dare to come back.”
Ji Xun felt his teeth ache for a moment, and then he realized it was because he was clenching them too tightly.
“That’s not a very pleasant thing to say.”
“The truth is always like that.”
“So you’re the only one who can talk?” Ji Xun’s gaze dropped, landing on Huo Ranyin’s ten fingers wrapped in gauze. “Then let’s talk about Captain Huo’s hands. A major difference between humans and animals is that humans can skillfully use various tools. So what made Captain Huo abandon the readily available rocks, the clothes on his body, and use his own flesh and blood to fight with sand and dirt—is it our relationship of hooking up but failing, and arguing whenever we meet?”
“Of course not likely. Let me guess, oh, I know…” Ji Xun lightly and skillfully revealed the answer. “Suffocation. Captain Huo is always particularly concerned about suffocation.”
Huo Ranyin’s face became stiff, stiff and cold.
He had hit Huo Ranyin’s sore spot, Ji Xun thought with a cold smile. How easy.
At this moment, Huo Ranyin took a step forward, pulled his hand, and pressed it to his own chest.
The cold smile had not yet faded from Ji Xun’s eyes when astonishment appeared on his face.
What he could feel was the strong and powerful heartbeat under his palm, a real heartbeat.
The cold stiffness on Huo Ranyin’s face melted, replaced by a smile. He wiped away the calm professionalism of the day, revealing the vibrant and dangerous aura of the night. The more vibrant, the more dangerous; the more dangerous, the more alluring.
Huo Ranyin leaned in, close to his ear, tilted his head, and said softly, “You guessed right. So sharp. Want to know what happened after the suffocation?… Come on, guess again. My secret is hidden right here.”
A huge sense of incongruity rose in Ji Xun’s heart.
This wasn’t right.
Huo Ranyin’s office, devoid of any personal items, flashed in his mind.
This was a person who hid himself very deeply in life, who didn’t want to be probed at all. What was hidden under this skin of justice and order? Why was he willing to admit his weakness? And why would he invite him, to probe him?
In a flash, Huo Ranyin released his hand and stepped back to his original position.
That layer of coldness that kept people a thousand miles away covered Huo Ranyin’s body again.
His expression was calm as he stated in a business-like tone, “There is evidence in this case, isn’t there?”
“…Ah,” Ji Xun met Huo Ranyin’s certain gaze, shrugged, and admitted, “That’s right, there is. Not to mention the location where Tang Jinglong was abducted, that’s a surveillance blind spot. But whoever went to kill Lu Ping would have cased the place beforehand. This is something the person taking the fall cannot replicate afterward. As long as we check the surveillance around Lu Ping’s house, whoever appears in the surveillance is the real killer.”
“I understand,” Huo Ranyin nodded. “Did you drop your phone? Do you want me to take you home?”
“No need, I have my wallet,” Ji Xun reminded him. “The cotton candy will melt if you don’t eat it.”
“Didn’t you think I might not eat it when you bought it for me?” Huo Ranyin retorted.
Ji Xun suddenly bit Huo Ranyin’s cotton candy, leaving a crescent-shaped mark.
Unexpected astonishment also appeared on Huo Ranyin’s face.
“I thought about it, but I just have to force you. Can’t I?—Captain Huo, if you let me get close, you will be forced by me.”
Ji Xun stood up straight, the curve of his mouth identical to the crescent on the cotton candy. He raised his index finger and wagged it.
“Finally, cherish food, don’t waste it. Bye.”
Ji Xun left.
Huo Ranyin stood frozen in place for a long time, looking at the bitten cotton candy, holding his head. Headache.
Volume 2: The Inevitable Random Number
