BTTC Chapter 77

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Editor: Joyy

Thank you @Vesi for Ko-fi~

Chapter 77

Both of them are arguing.

The next day, at noon.

Gongzhou.

There was a circle of cordon around the open space, but it couldn’t stop the probing and whispering of the aunts and uncles present in the community. Upstairs, the doors and windows of every apartment were closed, and the residents were standing in the corridor. Everyone was rushing downstairs to point, and the ones with irritable attitudes had already begun to curse.

“He died so early, by committing suicide here, has he ever thought about anyone else? Did he think it was easy for us to save money and buy a house here?!”

“I’m telling you, the old lady from Nanyang city has the most accurate fortune-telling method. Hurry up and ask her to come to take a look, otherwise, what would we do if something happens at night?”

………

“Let me through, let me through,” Yan Xie walked through the crowd and showed his ID to the policeman guarding the cordon, who immediately took the initiative to lift up the cordon and let him in.

“Brother Yan!” Ma Xiang greeted him and handed him the gloves and shoe covers: “You’re finally here, the forensic doctors are currently cleaning up!”

Yan Xie took off his sunglasses. The flesh and blood on the ground had been washed away by the heavy rain last night, but there was still a heavy smell of blood emitting from the ground. The flies were buzzing around, some of the flesh stuck to the concrete floor had already dried, and the white broken bones and unidentified traces of solidification could be faintly seen, which should be the brain pulp that fell out.

There were three or four Gongzhou forensic doctors at the scene, and the corpse was mostly cleaned up.

“F*ck, he really chose a good time to die.” Yan Xie tightened his gloves, and showed a gap of half a centimeter with his two fingers to Ma Xiang: “When I received a call from the city bureau this morning, I was only this much away from forcing your Consultant Lu to do it.”

Ma Xiang said, “Seriously? With your attractiveness and body, you still have to force him? Was it not a push-and-pull relationship, tenderness mixed with displeasure, like.. a couple planning on taking the next step in their relationship?”

“Hey, although the actual situation is like that, I should still save some face for your Consultant Lu, so I’ll carry the black pot[1] myself.” Yan Xie walked forward and raised his chin: “Are you sure about the place where he fell from? What’s the forensic doctor’s preliminary judgment?”

The two of them walked up towards the rooftop floor by floor through the corridor, and Ma Xiang hurriedly took out the notebook in which he recorded the case: “It’s almost certain that he fell from the rooftop of the building. The guardrails around the roof and the corridors along the way have the footprints and fingerprints of the deceased Wang Xingye. Due to the heavy rain causing great damage to the crime scene, there is no valid evidence that anyone other than the deceased had been on the rooftop. The preliminary judgment of the Gongzhou Criminal Investigation Detachment and the forensic doctor is that that he had committed suicide in fear of punishment.”

“Committed suicide in fear of punishment.” Yan Xie smiled, but the smile could send a chill through one’s body: “This morning, Captain Fang also said the same thing in the bureau.”

Ma Xiang looked around, and asked carefully: “What do you think?”

“Being able to flee when the police just began the arrest and then riding a bicycle to run out of Jianning under everyone’s nose. This kind of person with such remarkable abilities, who exerted all his power to escape, unexpectedly rushed out of the city overnight to commit suicide here?” Yan Xie said lightly: “Only if you tell me that his destined first love or his one and only biological son of eight generations used to live in this building, would I will politely believe this mentally retarded conclusion.”

They happened to pass by the Gongzhou police who were taking inquiry records in the corridor. Ma Xiang thought for a while and decided not to respond for the time being, after all, even a fierce dragon won’t fight a snake in its home territory[2], in case it was blocked and beaten, then that wouldn’t be good.

“This is the door,” Yan Xie pushed open the iron door on the top floor leading to the rooftop, and said coldly, “Only the fingerprints of Wang Xingye have been found? They really think we’re stupid enough to be fooled.”

As soon as the iron door opened, the damp air accompanied by the unique salty smell of rain rushed towards them.

The on-site trace inspectors in Gongzhou were doing the final finishing work all over the rooftop, and Gao Panqing, who arrived at the scene with Ma Xiang in the morning, was facing them, talking to a man in his mid-forties, who was wearing a dark blue police uniform jacket and was of medium build. Gao Panqing had probably been paying attention to the movement around him because as soon as Yan Xie pushed open the door and appeared, he immediately came forward to greet him: “Captain Yan, you’re here!”

“Come, this is the current leader of our Jianning City Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division who is presiding over this task, Captain Yan.” Gao Panqing turned to the man and smiled at Yan Xie again, “This is the leader of the first Criminal Investigation Division in Gongzhou, Captain Qi. We were just discussing the case here.”

Yan Xie’s eyes flickered as he heard the clue from Gao Panqing’s particularly heavy tone during the first half of the sentence, but didn’t say anything, just smiled and shook hands with Captain Qi.

However, as soon as he touched the other party’s hand, he felt unusual.

The opponent’s hands were cold and weak, and his palms were soft and smooth. In addition, his uniform was without wrinkles, which looked quite imposing on the surface, but he didn’t look like a mature and battle-hardened field officer at all — at least there were no field officers who wore police uniforms all day.

“Vice-Captain Yan’s name is well-known in S province, how could I not know it? I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for a long time.” Captain Qi’s speaking manner wasn’t quite right, but his smile was very sincere: “In the Gongzhou-Jianning joint operation, we had a face-to-face meeting, but in just a few short years, things have changed, and Vice-Captain Yan is now not what he used to be. You’re just becoming more and more dignified!”

The meaning behind this sentence seems to be vaguely saying that Yan Xie was just a little scoundrel back then.

In the blink of an eye, Yan Xie understood why Old Gao had emphasized that he was “currently presiding over the work of the division”, and he couldn’t help but smile, holding Captain Qi’s hand without letting go: “It’s true that things are different now. At that time, the operation was under the command of the second anti-drug division of Gongzhou, right? The leader of your division at that time was…”

“Ah, yes, Jiang Ting! Look at my memory.” Yan Xie patted his forehead in the face of Captain Qi’s suddenly faded smile: “You were also under the leadership of Captain Jiang back then. Oh, your Captain Jiang was really amazing. He was promoted and became a leader at a young age, but unfortunately died on the front line of anti-drugs — it was at that time that Captain Qi was transferred from the second anti-drug division to the criminal investigation division, and then gradually rose to your current position, right?”

Captain Qi’s smile faded to the point of being invisible: “No need to mention the past, no need to mention the past.” Then he pulled out his hand forcefully: “Come on, I’ll take Vice-Captain Yan to see the crime scene.”

There was nothing to see at the crime scene. A lot of traces had been destroyed by the torrential rain, and there were no footprints on the rain-soaked felt, asphalt, and concrete floors. Several trace inspectors were trying to extract evidence such as hair and fingerprints around the guardrail, Captain Qi pointed at them and said, “This is where the deceased jumped from. The first batch of inspected materials has been sent back to the bureau just now. Jianning will be notified after the results are out.”

Yan Xie asked, “Jumped down?”

Captain Qi didn’t say anything.

“This guardrail should be at least 1.34 meters tall, while Wang Xingye was about 1.75 meters in height and weighs around 200 pounds. How could he climb up?”

Captain Qi said slowly: “Theoretically, it can be done. If the desire to die is particularly strong… Vice-Captain Yan, what are you doing!”

Before he could finish, he saw that Yan Xie had already walked to the guardrail, put his hands on it, and pushed up his body such that the soles of his feet left the ground, and at the same time, he placed his right foot on the top of the guardrail, moving his body slightly forward. He only needed to lean his upper body a little more forward to fall down from more than ten floors high.

Captain Qi rushed forward, but before he could reach Yan Xie, he saw him laugh and jump back to the ground, patting the dust on his hands: “I don’t think he could’ve actually done it.”

“You!…”

Yan Xie patted Captain Qi on the shoulder, leaving half a grey handprint on his uniform: “Captain Qi, you see, if that person wanted to climb over the guardrail and jump down without putting anything under his feet, he at least had to do a pull-up first. It’s not a problem for people with my body type to do dozens of them casually. As for Wang Xingye, was that fat man really not lifted up and thrown down?”

Captain Qi patted his shoulder and frowned, “There’s no physical evidence on the scene to support this!”

“What about the security surveillance nearby?”

“This building was originally a blind spot for surveillance. Last night, there was heavy rain and power outages, and even street lights were turned off. There are no clues to investigate at all. We’re already short on people, so bringing out the surveillance to watch again and again would be useless!”

Ma Xiang couldn’t help but interject: “Since that’s the case, we have a lot of inspectors in Jianning, why don’t we send a few people to help?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.” Captain Qi shook his head. He was polite, but his attitude was very firm: “Since the case happened in Gongzhou’s jurisdiction, it should be hosted by us in Gongzhou. Even if your people want to watch the surveillance, it’ll be an inter-provincial intervention in the case. You’ll have to get the official approval from the Ministry first, then we’ll talk about it again!”

Ma Xiang instantly became angry, and before he could say anything, he was held down by Yan Xie.

Contrary to Captain Qi’s expectations, Yan Xie was no longer the thorn in the public security bureaus of the two provinces like five years ago. He was not at all annoyed, and even said in a calm voice: “According to Captain Qi’s judgment, this case should be regarded as suicide in fear of punishment?”

Captain Qi pondered for a few seconds and nodded, “There is really no evidence to prove that he didn’t commit suicide.”

Even someone as mature as Gao Panqing almost cursed, swearing at his mother — what kind of sick person would come here in the middle of the night to kill himself, aren’t you lying through your teeth?!

But Yan Xie didn’t get angry. He didn’t even say a word, and just took out two Chinese cigarettes from his pocket. After a moment of hesitation, Captain Qi took it, saying thanks.

“Our criminal investigation brothers were working hard all day to handle the case,” Yan Xie sighed while helping him light a cigarette.

Captain Qi breathed out a smoke ring, his face relaxing a little. He signaled the trace inspectors to continue their work and immediately waved to Yan Xie and his party to follow him downstairs.

“Lao Yan,” Captain Qi sighed with a cigarette, “There are some things that I can’t decide on alone, do you understand?”

Yan Xie just smiled and didn’t speak.

“I have also heard about the serial kidnapping cases in your S province over the past two years. It’s said that the bastard Wang Xingye was bold enough to buy people to attack the police, right? As long as he wasn’t mentally retarded, he should have known that there’s only a dead-end after being arrested. The procuratorate and the court wouldn’t have let him go. Such a criminal who had committed the most heinous crimes, he should’ve felt that he was already on the verge of death. Isn’t it normal and logical for him to commit suicide in fear of punishment?”

“Besides, let me tell you something from the bottom of my heart.” Captain Qi half-turned sideways as they went downstairs and sighed: “If this person dies, how much trouble would it save for your Jianning City Bureau? Confession, files, chains of evidence, civil compensation, wrangling back and forth with the procuratorate… If I were you, I would be very happy. After all, more than ten people worked overtime for more than half a month, and now, the case can be closed!”

——Indeed, the mastermind Wang Xingye died, and his accomplices Fan Wu and others couldn’t run far. After the grandsons who attacked the police were caught and beaten to death, they might even be able to find the underground illegal workshop from where they bought guns and bullets.

As a dead man, Wang Xingye couldn’t speak. No matter how Yan Xie improvised and smeared the final case file, he could only cooperate with the police honestly.

This so-called peace of mind was simply perfect.

“That being said,” Yan Xie said with a smile, “We still have a pair of victims’ bodies buried somewhere that hasn’t been found yet.”

“Oh…,” Captain Qi was just about to say something when his voice suddenly paused.

The four of them walked down the corridor and were passing by the seventh floor at this time. Yan Xie narrowed his eyes sharply. He clearly saw Captain Qi turn around and look at the apartment on his right very discreetly as if he was meticulously paying attention to something.

Yan Xie glanced out of the corner of his eyes.

At the end of the corridor, the door of a certain apartment was opened, and there was a faint flash of uniformed criminal investigators.

“What’s going on over there?” Yan Xie asked casually, “A witness was found?”

“Oh, no, no.” Captain Qi quickly said: “That family reported a break-in and robbery two days ago, and we happened to be on the scene today, so we checked it at the same time.”

Yan Xie’s gaze was firm, and he saw the color of Captain Qi’s fingertips on the handrail of the stairs change slightly as if he was exerting force.

This detail, which was difficult for ordinary people to notice, directly branded the house number of the apartment into Yan Xie’s heart — 701.

“Break-in and robbery? Was it a coincidence for it to have happened in these two days?” Yan Xie followed Captain Qi, keeping his pace, and said casually as he went downstairs: “Then you’ll have to check it carefully, what if it’s related to the reasoning behind Wang Xingye’s fall from the building?”

Captain Qi laughed slightly but didn’t speak. It was not until the group walked out of the corridor and came to the Jianning police car outside the cordon, seeing that there was no one around, he patted Yan Xie on the shoulder: “Lao Yan, I’ll just say it straight, this case really has no other story.”

Yan Xie had a slight smile on his face as he listened intently.

“If Wang Xingye hadn’t died in this community, or even as long as it wasn’t in this building, we could’ve tried to take a risk and investigate further — but now it seems that this case was characterized as suicide in fear of punishment, which is not only good for you, but also for me. Being too involved will do more harm than good to the overall situation.”

Yan Xie’s eyes narrowed.

Ma Xiang and Gao Panqing behind him were also stunned.

“What’s in this building?” Yan Xie asked immediately.

Captain Qi shook his head and said nothing.

The silent atmosphere slowly spread around, passing through the crowd not far away. Several cars with the name Gongzhou Public Security surrounded the open space, and a few forensic doctors could be vaguely seen coming and going with their black plastic bags.

“Brother Qi, if there’s something difficult to say, then don’t say it.” Yan Xie paused slightly, then changed the topic: “But even if I understand Brother Qi’s difficulties, I still have the old men from the Jianning city bureau and even the provincial department above. How will I explain it to them later? If Chief Lu comes over to inquire about the case in person, then Brother Qi would be in trouble.”

His words were soft and firm, and he directly brought out the old fox Chief Lu, who was very troublesome in the public security system in the entire southwest region, as a shield. It could be said that it was a very good move —but who would have thought that Captain Qi only laughed and waved his hand. “Chief Lu? It doesn’t matter, that’s exactly what Chief Lu wants.”

As he spoke, he made a phone call under Yan Xie’s suspicious eyes. The call was connected after a while, and he heard him say: “Hello Elder Lu? Hey, it’s me, Xiao Qi. As you ordered, Vice-Captain Yan is here with me, come and tell him yourself.”

Yan Xie frowned and took over the phone, only to hear Chief Lu’s calm voice beside his ear: “Yan Xie “

“Hey Chief Lu, I’m currently in Gongzhou observing the case of Wang Xingye’s fall from a building…”

“Suicide in fear of punishment.”

Yan Xie’s pupils instantly shrank.

“After seeing the situation, come back immediately.” Chief Lu said slowly, “Remember the details of the scene and ask Ma Xiang to take a few more photos. If there are inspection materials that can be brought, bring them back. There is no need to think about other things for now. We’ll talk about it later.”

“But…”

Chief Lu interrupted him: “Wang Xingye’s place of death is too inconvenient.”

Yan Xie was stunned.

“Go back to Jianning immediately, the team still needs you to preside over the work.”

The voice on the other side of the phone stopped abruptly, and Chief Lu hung up the phone.

“Old Yan, you are indeed a dragon across the river, but there may be some things that Jianning’s higher-ups didn’t tell you clearly.” Captain Qi took back his mobile phone with a smile and sighed: “In short, about Wang Xingye’s death, just leave it to us to clean up. You can also close the case earlier, it’s good for everyone – Ah, just let it be.”

Captain Qi exchanged a few greetings with Gao Panqing, and just as the forensic doctor came to look for him, he took advantage of the situation to say goodbye and left.

As soon as he left, Ma Xiang couldn’t hold his breath and asked immediately: “Brother Yan! Now we…”

Yan Xie raised his hand to stop him, raised his head, and took a deep breath, suppressing all his boiling emotions forcefully. After a while, he turned to Ma Xiang and Gao Panqing, his face was calm and without the slightest abnormality: “Then I will go back to Jianning first.”

Ma Xiang wanted to say something but stopped.

“Take more photos and be careful. If you see any hair, nails, blood, etc. on the ground, you can pick it up and take it away.” Yan Xie glanced behind him, and immediately lowered his voice: “In addition, when no one is there, go to look at 701 in that building.”

Ma Xiang didn’t react, but the experienced Gao Panqing immediately gave him an understanding look.

Yan Xie nodded, strode away, and got into the silver G65 parked by the road in the distance.

………

The car door slammed shut, and Han Xiaomei in the driver’s seat immediately turned around worriedly: “Captain Yan, you…”

Bang!

Yan Xie couldn’t hold back his emotions any longer and punched the back of the passenger seat, then he immediately clenched his teeth and punched again.

In the next second, Jiang Ting grabbed his wrist in mid-air — snap!

“Even if you smash the car a hundred times, or even if you tear down the car.” Jiang Ting grabbed his hand and said calmly, “What’s the use?”

Yan Xie’s fist finally loosened little by little. His knuckles were green and blue.

“Drive,” Jiang Ting ordered.

Han Xiaomei didn’t dare to stop there any longer and quickly started the off-road vehicle.

“I didn’t even see the body.” Yan Xie finally said, his voice low and hoarse: “Fang Zhenghong said that he committed suicide because of fear of punishment, I also sarcastically ridiculed him twice. But I didn’t expect that after a few hours, even Chief Lu insisted that Wang Xingye jumped off the building by himself… good for everyone? Yes, a death row inmate fell to his death by himself, but this is good for everyone?!”

Han Xiaomei didn’t dare to say a word in front or even dare to look in the rearview mirror.

Jiang Ting was playing online chess in the back seat and didn’t answer.

Yan Xie finally turned to him: “Who’s that bastard with the surname Qi?!”

“Qi Sihao, a member of the second anti-drugs division of Gongzhou. He wasn’t outstanding, had a relatively mediocre personality, and his financial conditions weren’t very good. He even got to and got off work in a prescribed manner.” Jiang Ting moved his knight and said, “But it’s precisely because of his personality that after the reorganization of the second division, he was promoted to the Deputy position in the Criminal Investigation division. Probably because he was very obedient, and after the Captain of the division retired half a year ago, he was promoted to his current position.”

Yan Xie suddenly asked, “How do you know all this?”

“You can find out about this with a little inquiry, why wouldn’t I know?”

Jiang Ting put down his cell phone and looked at Yan Xie. The cascading buildings and viaducts swept past the windows on both sides.

“……” Yan Xie looked at him and asked, “Chief Lu said that Wang Xingye’s place of death was too inconvenient, and Qi Sihao also said that if he hadn’t fallen from that building, this matter could’ve been investigated further — What happened in that apartment building?”

“……”

“Is it related to the tenant of 701?”

Han Xiaomei was feeling as if the air in the back seat had been drained by a vacuum machine. The low pressure forced blood to hit the eardrum so frantically that she didn’t even dare to turn her eyes.

After a long while, she finally heard Jiang Ting, no, Consultant Lu’s voice sound, although the words seemed to ignite the fuse on the explosive: “Before questioning, why don’t you first think about the fact that other people’s concealment may be because the time hasn’t come yet? “

Bang!!

The shock coming from the back of the passenger seat was so obvious that even Han Xiaomei almost jumped up!

At that time, the ringtone rang suddenly. The domestically produced cellphone’s ringtone was like an invisible sharp knife, piercing into Han Xiaomei’s poor eardrum.

Fortunately, the precarious volcano in the back seat didn’t erupt the next moment, and Yan Xie’s restrained voice sounded: “Hello, Chief Lu?”

“On the way?”

“Yes, I…”

“Okay.” Chief Lu said calmly, “I just called to confirm that you really left the scene.”

“701…”

Beep-beep-beep—

The phone hung up, and Yan Xie’s question stuck in his throat.

Yan Xie didn’t delay for a moment and dialed back, but this time the phone was hung up automatically and no one answered.

Even if Yan Xie in the past wasn’t so impulsive, Qi Sihao’s blatant ridicule, Gongzhou’s concealment, and now the anger of not being able to handle the case were all solidified in the heart of Detachment Vice-Captain Yan — he was a veritable super-rich second generation after all. For the sake of local taxation, various talent introductions, and investment in poverty alleviation projects, let alone the city bureaus and provincial departments, even the provincial party committees have to give him some face.

This time, he crossed the line on the spot, and called the landline number of the Chief’soffice five or six times in a row, until the eighth or ninth time, the other party finally picked up: “Hey…”

“Why can’t we investigate this case?!” Yan Xie roared: “I don’t care what happened in that building. Now my criminal suspect is dead! I have to get the ministry’s approval to investigate thoroughly!”

“To investigate thoroughly?” Deputy Chief Wei’s inexplicable answer came from the other side of the phone, “Chief Lu has gone to the provincial office. I saw that his office phone was ringing continuously, so I stopped by to pick it up.”

Yan Xie: “……”

“You brat, have you eaten gunpowder? Hurry up and come back, this afternoon we have to—”

Yan Xie hung up the phone.

No one in the car made a sound, and Han Xiaomei became frightened. At this moment, the navigation sound sounded at the right time: “One kilometer ahead, turn right to the Hengshui Road exit, under the viaduct…”

Jiang Ting suddenly said: “Wait, don’t turn.”

Han Xiaomei was just about to change lanes, when she heard him say: “Go straight ahead, after five kilometers, turn right at Guangzhi Road and get on the highway.”

“But it will take a while, and the traffic isn’t too…”

Jiang Ting’s voice increased slightly: “Go straight.”

Jiang Ting usually spoke slowly and calmly, with a slight emphasis on the meaning, revealing the toughness of a superior that she couldn’t refuse. Han Xiaomei was so frightened that she immediately turned off the right turn indicator, but before she could drive forward, she suddenly heard Yan Xie say coldly, “Turn right!”

“This—”

“I told you to turn right!”

Han Xiaomei peeked into the rearview mirror, only to see Jiang Ting frowning: “I know this part of the road, you listen to me and drive forward.”

“But Captain Yan…”

Jiang Ting did not wait for Yan Xie to open his mouth, and said coldly, “Drive forward!”

The navigation sounded again: “Three hundred meters ahead, turn right to Hengshui Road exit, continue to drive north for 23 kilometers after passing the Martyrs Cemetery—”

“I told you to turn right, do you hear me?!” Yan Xie suddenly got up: “Turn on the indicator!”

Han Xiaomei was at a loss, so she couldn’t stop peeking back.

“Hengshui Road exit is 100 metres ahead—”

“What are you looking at! Turn on the indicator and turn right!!”

Han Xiaomei, who was in a hurry, turned the steering wheel at the last moment. The G65 sped up, roaring and crossing two lanes in a row, and rushed down the Hengshui Road exit amidst the sound of the angry horns behind.

“1.5 kilometers ahead, the Martyrs’ Cemetery, continue to drive 23 kilometers north.”

Han Xiaomei’s heart was beating wildly, and she couldn’t find the courage to turn back for a long time. Just when she was trembling and wanted to peek into the rearview mirror, someone suddenly tapped on the back of her shoulder: “…Yes!”

Jiang Ting calmly said, “Pull over for a bit.”

Han Xiaomei slowly pulled over and stopped the car under the viaduct unknowingly. Before the car body came to a complete stop, the car door was pushed open and Jiang Ting walked out without looking back.

“Lu- Lu- Lu- Consultant Lu?!”

Han Xiaomei quickly opened the car window, and her eyes widened—she saw Yan Xie also rushing out, catching up with Jiang Ting in a few steps. He placed a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to turn, and the two stood face to face in the empty shadows under the bridge.

Yan Xie asked word by word, “Are you so afraid to face the dozen or so urns in the cemetery ahead?”

The traffic on the viaduct, the horns, the sound of the subway passing by, and the worldly hustle and bustle of the huge city were all isolated by the empty arch of the bridge and became the blurred background sound of this scene.

It had only rained the night before, and the muddy water mixed with sand and soil flowed everywhere under the bridge, covering the undulating floor tiles.

After a long time, Jiang Ting said, “Yes.”

He raised his head slightly in the dark, his cheeks were blue and cold, and a glimmer of light flickered in his eyes: “Are you satisfied?”

Yan Xie’s cheek muscles twitched fiercely, but before he could react, Jiang Ting turned around and walked forward.

His steps were a little shaky. The ground was wet and muddy, so he walked unsteadily. When he stepped on a raised floor tile, dirty water gushed from under his feet, causing him to stumble a little, subconsciously reaching out to the moss-covered stone wall for support.

Immediately afterward, he suddenly lost his balance and was picked up by Yan Xie from behind.

Yan Xie didn’t say a word. He just hugged him tightly in his arms and strode through the passage, not even caring that the dirty water soaked his custom-made leather shoes and trousers. It wasn’t until he left the arch of the bridge and came to a slightly flatter ground that he bent down to place Jiang Ting on the ground.

“……” Before Jiang Ting could say anything, he paused.

He saw Yan Xie kneeling on the ground, took out a men’s handkerchief from his trousers pocket, shook it, and wiped Jiang Ting’s ankles that had been splashed with dirty water. He pressed along the edge of the soaked trousers, using the handkerchief to absorb the excess moisture, and then carefully rolled up the wet part of the trousers with both hands.

From Jiang Ting’s point of view, he couldn’t see his face, only the back of his head with black hair and the taut shoulders under the line of his shirt was visible.

Then Yan Xie got up and threw away the handkerchief, standing by the trash can, he bowed his head to light a cigarette.

The silence lasted for several minutes before Yan Xie’s muffled voice rang out: “Sorry, I shouldn’t have been angry with you. I didn’t mean it.”

Jiang Ting sighed, and after a while, he stepped forward and stood side by side with Yan Xie. He took out a cigarette from his trouser pocket and held it with his fingers.

Yan Xie took out a lighter and lit it for him. The two faced each other, even the tip of their noses were very close together.

“……” Jiang Ting let out a mouthful of white mist, and that clear and cold face finally had a hint of relaxation. He said hoarsely: “I can’t go back to face them yet.”

This sentence was actually very ominous, and Yan Xie glanced at him sideways.

“On the way to Gongzhou, I had some speculations about Wang Xingye’s death, but I didn’t say it because I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until I heard you talk about Chief Lu and Qi Sihao’s attitude just now, and combined with my vague topographical memory of the surrounding area, that I could really be sure of this.”

Jiang Ting coughed a little while covering his mouth, Yan Xie looked at him alertly, and patted his thin and straight back carefully, but Jiang Ting waved his hand to indicate that he was okay.

“You’re too quick-tempered, but you guessed right,” he said, coughing. “It’s 701.”

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Translator's Note:
(1) Carry the black pot: Take the blame. ^
(2) Even a fierce dragon is no match for a snake in its home territory. ^

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