For Tan Mingjiu, the direct consequence of getting caught gossiping about his superior was that, instead of packing up and going home to sleep, he had to stay and work overtime. He was to cooperate with the public security brigade in interrogating the people just brought back from Liang Jing Jing KTV and dig out some information about Tang Jinglong from them.
Tan Mingjiu wailed on the spot, banging his head on the ground with tears streaming down his face. “Captain Huo, five days! For five whole days, I haven’t been home before ten o’clock. Today I finally have the chance. Captain Huo, are you sure you won’t reconsider? Look at these dark circles under my eyes, they can almost rival Ji Xun’s!”
“Don’t try to drag me into this,” Ji Xun said without even lifting his eyes. “I’m a genuine national treasure. You probably just didn’t wash your face properly this morning.”
“Less nonsense, get to work,” Huo Ranyin declared with finality.
After leaving the police station, Ji Xun got back into Huo Ranyin’s car. They had little else to discuss and continued talking about the Tang Jinglong case.
It was again Huo Ranyin who started.
“According to Rao Fangjie’s statement, the last time she saw Tang Jinglong was at six in the evening on January 19th. The police investigated Tang Jinglong’s subsequent movements that day. He went to the Museum Park on Xinglin Road to attend a medical conference.”
Ning City Museum Park was a newly developed area in the suburbs of Ning City, used for various business gatherings and exhibitions. It was not yet fully developed, with many construction sites in progress. Currently, apart from when exhibitions or gatherings were held, the area was remote and sparsely populated.
The conference started at 7 PM on the 19th, and Tang Jinglong arrived on time.
Because he attended the conference with his arm in a sling, the attendees had a strong impression of him. To make things more convenient for Tang Jinglong, who would have trouble moving for the next month, they all called his phone number when handing him their business cards, saving their numbers directly into his phone.
Therefore, during the two hours of the conference from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM that evening, nearly a hundred calls were made to Tang Jinglong’s number. Looking further back, he received an average of thirty to forty calls on a slow day, and sixty to seventy on a busy one, making it difficult to investigate suspicious numbers.
“However, during our visits, we found that Tang Jinglong had argued with someone that night.”
“With whom?”
“The argument happened in the restroom, where there were no cameras. The person who overheard it didn’t pay much attention and only vaguely heard a sentence: ‘You said you would give me money, where is the money?'”
“What, was he being blackmailed?” Ji Xun whistled. “Considering all of Tang Jinglong’s various little secrets, it would be quite normal for him to be blackmailed.”
“We can’t rule out that possibility,” Huo Ranyin said noncommittally.
“As the conference was about to end, the organizer offered to drive Tang Jinglong home directly, but he declined. After that, Tang Jinglong left early.”
The time was 8:55 PM. By 8:58 PM, a camera at a nearby ATM captured Tang Jinglong withdrawing cash. The bank confirmed that Tang Jinglong withdrew a sum of ten thousand yuan.
At 9:02 PM, a camera at the intersection where the ATM was located captured Tang Jinglong’s last known image.
“Tang Jinglong’s phone was found in a trash can near the conference venue; the killer had discarded it directly. The shortest driving time from the conference venue to Wushan is three hours. Tang Jinglong’s arm was broken. Whether the killer took him to Wushan alive or dead, a vehicle was necessary.”
“In other words, not counting the time the killer spent murdering and dismembering the body, just calculating the driving time, the earliest the killer could have appeared on the Wushan surveillance footage is 00:02 AM on the 20th.”
“What’s the terrain like around the Museum Park?” Ji Xun asked.
“The Museum Park is located at the Xinglin Road crossroads. Directly opposite it is an abandoned, unfinished building. When there’s an exhibition at the Museum Park, many people choose to park there to avoid fees. This area has surveillance blind spots, and there are also many ongoing or suspended construction sites around the abandoned building,” Huo Ranyin said.
“I remember that although the Wushan area is quite remote, there are surveillance cameras on the roads, right?” Ji Xun thought for a moment and asked again.
“That’s right, all roads leading to Wushan are equipped with surveillance cameras. There are no blind spots here. No matter how the killer transported Tang Jinglong up Wushan, the killer would definitely appear on the surveillance footage. The bureau is now reviewing the Wushan road surveillance footage from 00:02 AM on the 20th onwards, searching for suspicious individuals and vehicles. It’s just that the workload is substantial, and it will take some time to get results.”
Ahead was another red light.
Huo Ranyin stopped the car, pulled the handbrake, and continued, “The body has been sent to the forensic lab. In the woven bags and plastic bags containing the body parts, the medical examiner found some small, miscellaneous items.”
“Oh? What kind of things?”
Ji Xun asked casually, closing his eyes to rest, waiting for the end of this journey home, while listening to Huo Ranyin speak:
“There were wood chips on the incisions of the body parts, one of which was stained with some blue paint. Inside the plastic bags were fragments of patterned mosaic tiles, and the bags were stained with a red-gold powder.”
“Anything else?” Ji Xun asked leisurely. He relaxed his entire body, letting it sink into the seat.
Huo Ranyin glanced at him through the rearview mirror and reclined the seat back to allow Ji Xun to lie down more comfortably.
“Thanks,” Ji Xun said vaguely.
“The killer specifically targeted the joints of the human body. The technique was clean and efficient, suggesting they possessed relevant anatomical knowledge and were familiar with the human body’s structure. Also, based on the marks on the wounds, it’s analyzed that the killer used a tool like a chainsaw for dismemberment. This is also a direction for investigation.” Huo Ranyin finished giving the last of the clues and asked Ji Xun, “What do you think?”
“Me? Oh, me…”
It was late at night. He had woken up at seven this morning, from being caught by Huo Ranyin at the Lizhu Community, to running into Huo Ranyin again while investigating the Blue Peacock, followed by a chase scene action sequence, and then being forced to meet an old acquaintance and recall things he didn’t want to remember. He had really been through a lot.
Ji Xun’s brain was no longer working.
He could even feel a trace of drowsiness creeping in from all directions, weaving a net to capture his mind.
This was truly rare.
He hadn’t felt this normal sensation of being able to rest well just by lying down in nearly three years.
He decided to cherish this hard-won opportunity, stopped thinking altogether, and started talking nonsense:
“I think… um… the killer is a construction worker, or maybe the dismemberment site was a construction site. With the paint, wood chips, and a chainsaw, the direction is too obvious, don’t you think?”
“Then what about the gold powder and the patterned mosaic tiles? Which of these two things would appear on a construction site?” Huo Ranyin retorted. He pondered for a moment and said, “Patterned mosaic tiles have a strong period style. What about considering an old building?”
“Makes sense.” Ji Xun had no firm stance, like grass on a wall, swaying towards Huo Ranyin. “So, the body was dismembered in an old building using a construction worker’s chainsaw.”
Huo Ranyin said, “Are you having a serious conversation?”
“Where am I not being serious?” Ji Xun was displeased. “Aren’t I making very serious wild guesses?”
“…” Huo Ranyin was speechless.
“Look, I make bold guesses, you carefully verify them. We complement each other, partners in crime.”
After a moment of silence, Ji Xun heard a snort of laughter.
Huo Ranyin said, “We’re here.”
“That was pretty fast.” Ji Xun opened his eyes and languidly opened the car door. “Well then, see you later…”
He stopped mid-sentence.
What appeared in his field of vision was definitely not the familiar neighborhood, not the familiar scenery. He was standing in front of a completely unfamiliar, old five-story building. The first floor of the building had a small storefront with the words “Hao Jia Guesthouse” written on it. Just five steps away, a streetwalker, wearing a tight miniskirt that exposed half her chest and pale thighs even in the dead of winter, threw him a flirtatious glance.
“Captain Huo,” Ji Xun said. “I think you took a wrong turn.”
“No wrong turn. This is the rental unit Zeng Peng is short-leasing. It’s still early. Before I take you back, let’s meet with Zeng Peng first,” Huo Ranyin said matter-of-factly.
“Zeng Peng and Xi Lei have nothing to do with Tang Jinglong’s case, right?” Ji Xun asked.
“As far as we know, no.”
“Then why are you here?”
“An exchange with Captain Teng,” Huo Ranyin said. “He deletes the body cam video, I give him a clue.”
“But Tan Mingjiu already knows. The whole police force will know by tomorrow. Deleting it or not is meaningless now. Captain Huo, you got a bad deal,” Ji Xun said.
“…”
“So why bother giving him a clue? Let’s just go home early and get some sleep—” Just as Ji Xun turned, Huo Ranyin’s cold hand reached out from behind, closing around his wrist. Ji Xun felt as if he had been handcuffed.
“Captain Huo, one shouldn’t be too much of a gambler,” Ji Xun said helplessly. “Since you’ve already lost, you should fold your hand and cut your losses.”
“A loss is a loss, but a promise must be kept,” Huo Ranyin said faintly.
“Then you go ahead and be busy, I won’t disturb you?” Ji Xun thought for a moment and said.
“You’re doing this with me.”
“…Don’t you think this is a raw deal for me too? So please, display the noble character of a people’s police officer,” Ji Xun said. “It’s better for one to suffer a loss than for many to suffer.”
“Compared to that saying, I prefer another one: share weal and woe.” Huo Ranyin was simple and direct. “You now have two choices. Walk up with me, or I carry you up.”
Ji Xun looked at the sky, looked at the ground, and then surveyed the cold, deserted, and miserable surroundings. Forced by the tyranny, he accepted reality and finally dragged his feet upstairs with Huo Ranyin.
The building was old and had no elevator. The light bulbs in the corridor flickered on and off. Ji Xun had absolutely no motivation, his steps were unsteady, and he tripped on the stairs several times. He had to rely on Huo Ranyin, who was walking ahead, to steady him from time to time, so accurately it was as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
Unfortunately, even though he presented such a disabled appearance, Huo Ranyin, walking ahead with his hands in his pockets, remained as hard-hearted as ever and still didn’t suggest that he should go home and rest first.
Helpless, Ji Xun tried to make conversation. “What’s the lead on Zeng Peng?”
Huo Ranyin: “Drugs.”
Ji Xun: “Ah…”
Huo Ranyin: “What, you’re surprised because you didn’t notice before?”
“I am surprised,” Ji Xun said. “He doesn’t look like a drug user.”
“He doesn’t use, but he deals.”
“How can you tell?” As soon as Ji Xun asked, the black bag Zeng Peng was carrying when they met that day flashed through his mind, and he silently stuck out his tongue at his own blindness.
“First, when I met you at the Raccoon Bar, the narcotics team was conducting surveillance inside the bar, which proves there is drug trafficking in that area. The Dolphin Bar is 200 meters in a straight line from the Raccoon Bar, well within their transaction radius.”
“Second, Zeng Peng is a high school dropout from a rural area whose parents died early. He has no education or skills to get a high-paying job, and no family to support him. How did he manage to come up with a large sum of money to buy a house in such a short time?”
“Third, during the previous questioning, Zeng Peng confessed to sneaking into Xi Lei’s residence to steal money on the day of the incident. His explanation to the police was that his savings were depleted after buying the house, and he needed a sum for taxes to get the deed, so he secretly took the money for that—which is completely illogical. He was being secretive and resorted to theft because he knew what he was doing was unreasonable and illegal, and he couldn’t tell his girlfriend.”
After Huo Ranyin finished this string of analysis, Zeng Peng’s residence was right in front of them.
Huo Ranyin raised his hand and knocked.
After two knocks, the person inside opened the door. It was Zeng Peng.
Unseen for a day, Zeng Peng, who had been fine when he left the detention center, now had a bruised and swollen face, a staggering gait, and was clutching his stomach with one hand, as if he had been brutally beaten by a group of people.
When he opened the door and saw Huo Ranyin and Ji Xun, he instantly used all his strength, trying to slam the door shut again.
But Huo Ranyin was faster than Zeng Peng. He pushed at the same time, forcing the door wide open.
Pushed off balance by the force, Zeng Peng stumbled back and ran towards the window. He pulled it open and was about to climb out when he was immediately grabbed firmly by Huo Ranyin, who twisted his elbow and pinned him to the ground.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
Ji Xun stood motionless at the door, his hands in his pockets. The yawn he had started when Zeng Peng opened the door was still not finished, its tail still lingering in his mouth.
After a long moment, he raised his hand, pressed the corner of his eye where a tear had welled up from sleepiness, and said weakly to Huo Ranyin:
“Why did you stop him? It’s the third floor. You should have just let him jump. He’d break an arm and half a leg, and then he’d be stuck in bed for the next three months, available whenever you want to see him, ready to answer any question. Now you’ve restrained him. Great. Tomorrow he’ll go lie down at the entrance of the bureau, show off the bruises he got from who knows where, and first accuse you of police brutality, then he’ll take off and disappear. Where are you going to catch him then?”
An eerie silence fell.
The remaining two people both looked at Ji Xun, and at the same time, a single line of thought gently drifted through their minds:
This guy is ruthless.
Chapter 20: There are two kinds of gamblers. One never believes he will lose, and the other thinks he can afford to lose.
After Ji Xun finished speaking, he saw the two of them motionless and looked puzzled. “What, are you two planning to chat and have a heart-to-heart in this position? Aren’t you tired?”
Huo Ranyin stood up, pulling Zeng Peng up from the ground as he did.
Zeng Peng kept his head down, his messy hair covering his eyes and making the bruises on his face more prominent. His left cheek had been punched hard by someone and was swollen high, as if he were holding a quail egg in his mouth. “I didn’t commit any crime yesterday, did I? What are you two officers doing in my shithole?”
“If you didn’t commit a crime, why were you running so fast? And so agitated you wanted to jump off the building? Is life too boring, so you’re jumping for fun?” Ji Xun stepped into the room and casually closed the door. “And to correct one point, I’m not a police officer, just a model citizen who tirelessly assists the police for the sake of justice.”
After he finished speaking, he felt Huo Ranyin’s light gaze fall on his face.
If he weren’t so tired tonight, he would have made a face at Huo Ranyin. Then he heard Huo Ranyin ask Zeng Peng directly, “Where are the drugs hidden?”
Zeng Peng’s head snapped up!
His gloomy eyes looked out from under his messy hair at Huo Ranyin. “Officer, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
It wasn’t just Zeng Peng; Ji Xun also whistled inwardly.
Wow.
The new captain of Unit Two’s decisive and efficient style was no joke.
And for him to be so unafraid of tipping his hand, was it because he was already certain of victory?
Whatever Zeng Peng said or did had no effect on Huo Ranyin’s judgment. He took out his handcuffs, cuffed Zeng Peng’s hands, and his gaze swept inch by inch over the simple one-room apartment. “The drugs are in your room. They are hidden…”
At that moment, there was a sudden knock on the door.
“Knock.”
“Knock.”
“Knock.”
A slow, heavy, solitary knocking sound.
The sound of knocking brought the activities of the people in the room to a halt. They looked at the door; on the other side was an unknown person.
After a moment, Huo Ranyin gave Ji Xun a slight nod.
Ji Xun understood Huo Ranyin’s meaning. He switched places with Huo Ranyin. He watched Zeng Peng while Huo Ranyin moved behind the door. His hand grasped the doorknob, his wrist twisted slightly, and the handle pressed down…
With a “click,” the door opened.
An unexpected person appeared at the door. It was an old man in simple clothes, wearing square-framed glasses and with a stooped back.
Ji Xun had seen him once before, at Xi Lei’s funeral. His surname was Cheng, Teacher Cheng.
At the doorway, both Huo Ranyin and Teacher Cheng, face to face, looked surprised.
Teacher Cheng: “You are…”
Ji Xun suddenly darted forward, blocking the view of Zeng Peng’s cuffed wrists. He said with a smile, “Hello, Teacher Cheng. We are friends of Zeng Peng and Xi Lei.”
“You know me?” Teacher Cheng said, surprised.
“I saw you at Xi Lei’s funeral. I heard everyone say that you bought Xi Lei’s tombstone,” Ji Xun said.
Huo Ranyin’s heart stirred.
He moved back from the doorway to Zeng Peng’s side. Using Ji Xun as cover, he took out a key, unlocked Zeng Peng’s handcuffs, and removed them. Throughout this process, Zeng Peng remained silent and very cooperative, clearly not wanting Xi Lei’s relative to see him in such a sorry state.
This was good.
It proved he still had self-respect and a sense of shame.
Ji Xun took two steps forward, and his eyes swept over Teacher Cheng, noticing the pharmacy bag he was carrying. Inside were liniment, gauze, and other such external medications.
The items were for Zeng Peng.
The pharmacy was on this street.
There were also two disposable water cups on the table.
The reason Zeng Peng had opened the door so unguardedly just now was that he thought the person knocking outside was Teacher Cheng—the two of them had been together before they arrived.
“Leilei, sigh…” the old man sighed, the wrinkles on his face deepening.
“By the way, I don’t know Teacher Cheng’s name yet?” Ji Xun said. “Teacher Cheng, please sit. The medicine is for Zeng Peng, right? How did you end up here at Zeng Peng’s place? I never heard Zeng Peng mention that he knew you.”
“My given name is Zheng. Young man, come over here, let me help you with your injuries.” Cheng Zheng did not refuse, sat down on the sofa, first beckoned to Zeng Peng, and then said to Ji Xun, “It’s a long story. Since you are his friends, then help me persuade him. When a person dies, matters are over, and they should rest in peace. How can one still go and dig up a grave?”
“Leilei told me she wanted to be buried in Ning City,” Zeng Peng muttered with his head down. “I even wrote to her parents from the detention center before the funeral, telling them this was Leilei’s wish, and asked them to wait for me to get out to hold the funeral. I would take care of everything.”
“…”
Got it. Ji Xun understood. So this fellow’s bruised face and difficulty moving were all because his goal of holding a funeral and burying Xi Lei in Ning City wasn’t achieved. So as soon as he got out of the detention center, he rushed to Xi Lei’s hometown, preparing to move her grave to fulfill her last wish.
He was a devoted lover after all.
Cheng Zheng looked helpless. He appeared to be a listless old man, with drooping eyebrows and a gentle, peaceful demeanor. “We all know how you feel about Leilei. We are all happy for her to have a boyfriend like you. It’s good that you plan to fulfill Leilei’s wish, but you also have to be considerate of her family’s thoughts. Her family also wants to be able to see her and be with her nearby. Besides, young people’s ideas are not fixed. Leilei had this thought in the past, but now, can you say she doesn’t want to return to her small village at all…”
…to fulfill her filial duty to her parents who had to bury their child.
These arguments were all too familiar. Ji Xun had already completed the rest of the teacher’s sentence in his mind.
But the teacher said something unexpected.
“To see the village where she grew up, to see the scenery she was familiar with?”
Zeng Peng did not answer.
No one could answer.
The person who could answer was already sleeping deep underground.
“It’s already like this, just accept it. Everyone has their own fate. Leilei was a good child, but this was her fate.” The teacher let out a long sigh, his gentle eyes looking at Zeng Peng through his square-framed glasses. He patted Zeng Peng’s shoulder. “As for that house you bought in Leilei’s name, you should get it back. That’s a lot of money, it’s the capital for you to settle down in this city. If you live a good life in the future, Leilei will be happy. She was always that kind of person who thought of others.”
Having said what needed to be said, the teacher took the medicine out of the bag and began to bandage Zeng Peng.
Zeng Peng’s injuries were a bit more serious than they appeared on the surface. After all, the act of digging up a grave was something that no one could accept, let alone in a closed-off village.
Ji Xun saw Huo Ranyin looking at Cheng Zheng’s hands. His bandaging technique was quite professional. When applying medicated oil for Zeng Peng, he rolled up a section of his sleeve, revealing a sturdy wrist with prominent blue veins.
This physique didn’t quite match the frail and elderly appearance he projected.
Ji Xun looked at Cheng Zheng’s face again. The teacher was still deeply listless. It wasn’t due to age, nor physical condition. It was just the haggard fatigue of a person who had accepted reality and lost all fighting spirit.
While bandaging, Cheng Zheng asked again, “What are your plans now?”
“I plan to leave.” Zeng Peng, who hadn’t looked at Ji Xun or Huo Ranyin since the teacher came in, couldn’t help but sneak a glance at them when he said this, a hint of pleading in his eyes. “After I’ve settled Leilei’s affairs, I will leave this city. I’ll go back to my hometown, where I still have relatives and friends.”
Ji Xun remained silent, and so did Huo Ranyin.
Since they hadn’t let the handcuffs be seen by the teacher in the first place, they would preserve this shred of dignity for Zeng Peng in front of Xi Lei’s relative until the end.
Only the teacher was speaking: “Since you are leaving Ning City, you shouldn’t be so insistent on moving Leilei’s grave. If you leave, what will happen to Leilei who is moved to Ning City? Who will visit her during the Qingming Festival each year? When are you leaving?”
Zeng Peng lowered his head; he didn’t know either.
Huo Ranyin, contrary to his earlier reticence, interjected, “Probably after the New Year. After all, it’s almost New Year’s, and there are many miscellaneous things to sort out before the year ends. It’s best to get everything in order first.”
“If you have no one to reunite with this year, you can come to the village for the New Year. We’ve just finished buying the New Year goods,” Cheng Zheng said.
“When did Teacher Cheng buy the New Year goods?” Huo Ranyin spoke again. “I heard from Zeng Peng that Xi Lei’s funeral was on the 23rd. Did you buy the New Year goods before the 23rd?”
“Yes, on the 18th. That day we happened to bring the village’s Podocarpus pine to Ning City to sell to a company, to get some money for the New Year,” Cheng Zheng said.
“Did you go back on the 18th? The distance from Ning City to Xi Lei’s hometown is not short, a round trip on the same day must be very tiring, right?”
“It’s a four-hour drive one way. We had to sell the pine and also buy New Year goods, how could we possibly make a round trip in one day?” the teacher said with a smile. “The village doesn’t get many chances to come to Ning City throughout the year, so everyone stayed in Ning City for a day and went back on the evening of the 19th after dinner. There’s a restaurant on Xingchun Road that’s cheap and has large portions. A big group of us ate there, and it cost just a little over 700 yuan.”
“Mm,” Huo Ranyin responded.
Ji Xun could feel that Huo Ranyin suspected Cheng Zheng, and he also felt Cheng Zheng was suspicious. This person was Xi Lei’s teacher, bought her tombstone, and clearly had deep feelings for Xi Lei, which provided a sufficient motive for the crime. Besides that, the most intriguing thing was that Cheng Zheng didn’t show any rejection towards Huo Ranyin’s aggressive questioning, even though Huo Ranyin hadn’t revealed his police identity. Perhaps it was because teachers have good tempers and a lot of patience?
“Little Zeng, have you thought about it? Why don’t you come to the village for the New Year this year?” Cheng Zheng said again.
“I don’t know.” Zeng Peng’s lips moved. “Let me think about it again.”
Cheng Zheng left. Huo Ranyin stood by the upstairs window and looked out, seeing Cheng Zheng get into a gray sedan with the license plate NS4455SN.
Ji Xun said to Zeng Peng, “He’s gone now. Have you made up your mind? Leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist. We’re both here. Even if we have to tear this house apart, we will find the drugs you’re hiding. Otherwise, how could I justify the death of my brain cells from lack of sleep?”
Zeng Peng was silent, as if Cheng Zheng had taken his tongue with him when he left. He sat on the sofa, as still and cold as a statue.
Just as Ji Xun was pondering how to pry open this clam, Huo Ranyin spoke.
His gaze turned inward from the window, but he didn’t move, still leaning against it. “There are two kinds of gamblers. One never thinks he will lose, and when defeat is imminent, he goes berserk. The other knows he will lose and thinks he is prepared for it. Zeng Peng, you are the second kind. You foresaw that you would be caught, and you thought you could afford to lose. Unfortunately, this gamble, besides taking away your foresight, also took away the one thing you absolutely did not want to lose.”
A sarcastic smile appeared on his lips as he sneered:
“Thirty-one minutes after you left with the stolen money, Xi Lei came home, and then the killer arrived. You were only a few hours away from saving your girlfriend’s life. You went all in to kill Tang Jinglong, and you missed your girlfriend’s funeral, missing your last chance to see her. With every choice you make, your life slides two steps further into the abyss. You are truly laughable, and pitiful.”
The silent statue cracked. Huo Ranyin’s words easily pierced Zeng Peng’s outer shell. He let out a whimper like the howl of a lone wolf.
He had received his retribution, a retribution that followed him like a shadow, more terrifying than the worst nightmare he had ever had.
“What do you know? All I wanted was a house, a house with Leilei’s name on it, a home that would let us stay in Ning City! I have no education, no skills. Besides dealing drugs, what else could I do! What could I possibly do to buy a house in this fucking, this fucking beautiful, this fucking heartless city that doesn’t give a damn about us outsiders!”
Zeng Peng’s teeth chattered for a moment, then he deflated, holding his head in his hands and curling up on the sofa again.
“I achieved this dream, I tried so hard to achieve it…”
I clearly achieved it, so why did it still come to this?
Over four years, thousands of days, all the moments of knowing and being with Xi Lei played in his mind frame by frame, like the brilliantly colored wheel of a revolving lantern.
He met Xi Lei when he was a waiter in a bar. At that time, Xi Lei was being harassed by a drunk customer.
Xi Lei was panicked, and in her escape, she bumped into him.
Maybe he was high from a recent fix, or maybe every man has a hero dream. After that dream, his job was gone, but someone knocked on the door of his simple shared rental. He opened the door, and the rescued princess was standing outside, waving shyly at him:
“Hello, my name is Xi Lei. Thank you for yesterday. I’m a nurse. I came to check on your injuries.”
She stood there, smiling, her eyes bright and warm, like a sunflower growing towards the sun.
The beautiful dream didn’t dissipate; instead, it stayed by his side. Reality came flooding in. The bizarre and motley big city was still as bizarre and motley, but the small space around him suddenly became solid. He saw his future narrow path clearly:
Work, save money, buy a house, get a household registration, get married, have children.
He quit his job at the bar and, under Leilei’s supervision, quit drugs. Every night of his withdrawal, filled with frequent shivers and nightmares, he could feel Leilei holding him, patting his back, comforting him from midnight to dawn, every single time.
He swore to quit drugs, and he eventually did.
He found a new job as a car washer at a car wash. Among the legitimate jobs he could find, car washer paid relatively well. Whenever a car came, he was always the most diligent washer. Sometimes the boss would be happy and give him an extra hundred or two hundred yuan; sometimes the boss was more demanding and made him shine the shoes as well.
He didn’t dare to get into conflict with anyone.
He worked hard to earn money, gave up all his old spending habits, and rarely went out for meals with colleagues. Eating out cost money, and he knew someone would have a meal ready for him at home—even if there was no food at home, if he cooked, someone would rush back to eat it.
Then, by accident, Leilei got pregnant.
That was three or four years ago. He had just quit drugs, just started working. Leilei was still a nurse at Sunshine Hospital. Neither of them had much savings.
Everything was so practical. They had no money, no house, no time. He didn’t even have parents; his parents had long since passed away. If they had the child, there were only two choices: let the child drift with them, or send the child back to Leilei’s parents.
After a few days of silent opposition, Leilei went to the hospital for an abortion.
The white bedsheets, the pungent smell of disinfectant. Leilei lay on the hospital bed, her usually sunny and warm smile for the first time filled with a dazed sadness. To this day, he still remembers the coldness of Leilei’s fingers in his palm.
“I worked so hard to get out of the mountain village. No matter what, I will never go back, and I will not let my child go back… Let’s buy a house here. I want to stay in Ning City, I want to become a person of this city.”
He said okay.
He worked even harder, and so did Leilei. Leilei only rested for less than half a month before returning to work. But it all seemed to be of little use. They worked hard, and the housing prices in Ning City worked hard too. Every day they were saving money, trying to live as decently as possible, but compared to the housing prices, compared to a house, everything was still so far away.
Later, he found that slip of paper, the abortion slip from Sunshine Hospital.
The child wasn’t his.
A conflict erupted between him and Leilei. He roared one-sidedly, furious, smashing things, and finally collapsed at the foot of the wall in their apartment. The white Java sparrow in its cage looked at him in confusion. He suddenly wished he were a bird too, so he would naturally have a cage—a house, that could contain his entire life.
Finally, he felt Leilei approach. Leilei placed her hand on his back, just like a long, long time ago when he was quitting drugs.
He turned his head and saw Leilei’s sad, numb face.
“Did that person force you?” he asked.
Leilei nodded, then shook her head. After a long while, he heard Leilei say, “I took money later. In a little while, we’ll have enough money to buy a house.”
He walked out of their rented apartment. He wandered in this city that had never accepted them. He wandered to his old bar and saw his old friends. His old friends came up to him, concerned, pulled him to have a drink, and finally gave him a wad of cash.
This came with a price.
What in this world doesn’t have a price?
All he wanted was a house, a school district house with Xi Lei’s name on it, where he and Xi Lei could live together, get married, have children, and raise them. A whole life, just like that, simple and plain.
…
How on earth did it turn into this?
He knew he would go to jail, would be sentenced, but Leilei was innocent.
Why kill her?
Why was it that after he had finally, painstakingly bought a house and fulfilled his wish, he couldn’t even see her one last time?
What broke the stalemate in the room were Ji Xun’s words. Ji Xun took a preserved plum he had snagged from the fruit platter at the KTV out of his pocket, threw it into his mouth, and said while chewing the flesh, “Get a good lawyer.”
Zeng Peng, curled up like an infant, said faintly, “It’s meaningless. I don’t need one. Do whatever you want with me.”
“Moving Xi Lei’s grave requires it.”
This brought Zeng Peng’s soul back.
“What?”
“A brain is a good thing, don’t act like yours has already run away from home,” Ji Xun commented. “You bought the house, you were the actual investor, so the house actually belongs to you, and it also actually belongs to the state—because it’s the proceeds of your drug trafficking, it will be confiscated and put into the national treasury. But considering your current situation, as long as you are not sentenced to a suspended death sentence or the death penalty, not all of your assets will be confiscated. If a part of the house is your legal property, the court will return a certain amount to you. This returned money is meaningless to you, but what about Xi Lei’s parents? Besides their daughter, they also have a son. And this was Xi Lei’s dying wish. Do you think they would consider it, would they be willing? And all of this requires you to find a good lawyer to negotiate an agreement with Xi Lei’s parents in advance, to move Xi Lei’s grave in a timely manner.”
Zeng Peng’s numb head turned. His heart pounded. A glimmer of hope even appeared on his ashen, pale face. “But I don’t know any good lawyers…”
“I do. I can help you,” Ji Xun said lightly. “But you have to pay a price.”
A price. Everything has a price.
“Zeng Peng, confess everything,” Ji Xun said. “I will handle this matter.”
A long silence.
“…The stuff is in the baseboard behind the bed in the room, and also in the outer casing of the wall-mounted air conditioner outside. I can tell the police about all the contacts in my supply chain, but you have to do what you said. You have to let me see with my own eyes that you have done all of this.”
__
Author’s note:
This chapter is 5400 characters long, mwah~ Randomly dropping 20 small red packets~
Citing a little knowledge tip about property in drug trafficking cases:
How are fines for drug trafficking determined?
When imposing a fine for a drug trafficking case, the amount of the fine should be reasonably determined based on factors such as the nature of the drug crime, the circumstances, the harmful consequences, and the defendant’s profits and economic situation. For drug crimes where confiscation of property is also decided, if the defendant is sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment, the amount of personal property to be confiscated should be determined according to the principles mentioned above for determining the fine amount; if sentenced to life imprisonment, all personal property may be confiscated; if sentenced to a suspended death sentence or the death penalty, all personal property must be confiscated.
