NOS Chapter 42

Chapter 42: The Setting Sun Plain (5)

That day, Guan Yao was lying in bed, staring blankly at the peeling paint on the ceiling, constantly replaying everything he had heard and seen during the day. All the guesses and suspicions swirled around him, making it impossible for him to find even a moment of peace.

And once some thoughts were born, they would immediately take root and grow into towering trees.

Guan Yao recalled that although Jiang Xin was dark and thin, he did indeed have a high nose bridge and long eyelashes, just like Yu Chunming. Guan Yao also recalled that Jiang Xin, like Yu Chunming, not only disliked eating eggs and tomatoes, but also disliked canned yellow peaches; he never touched that stuff when he was a kid.

Furthermore, Guan Yao suddenly remembered that the landlady of the noodle shop at the entrance had said that Yu Chunming looked somewhat like his neighbor Jiang Min across the street.

Somewhat like…

Guan Yao suddenly sat up in bed, trying to prove something, but then immediately denying it.

If Yu Chunming is Jiang Xin, then why does he seem to have forgotten about me?

Knock, knock, knock! A knock on the door interrupted Guan Yao’s wild thoughts. Yu Chunming’s voice came from outside: “What’s wrong with your shower? I’ve turned it back and forth for a long time, but it’s still only cold water coming out.”

Guan Yao scrambled out of bed: “You have to wait a little longer, it’s cold, you have to let the water run first before it gets…”

He stopped abruptly, because as soon as he opened the door, his eyes met Yu Chunming, who was only wearing pants and a towel draped over his upper body.

“Why, why aren’t you wearing clothes?” he stammered.

Yu Chunming was also strange: “I’m going to take a shower, why would I wear clothes? I’m already undressed, but your shower doesn’t work.”

Guan Yao forced himself not to stare at the numerous shallow and deep scars on his chest and back, but his eyes couldn’t help but look up. Fortunately, the corridor was dimly lit, and Yu Chunming didn’t notice Guan Yao’s wavering gaze.

“Get a bucket and put it under the showerhead, this water needs to run for five or six minutes to get hot. Go put on some clothes, cough, be careful not to catch a cold,” Guan Yao said in a muffled voice.

Yu Chunming didn’t care: “Your heating is good, I’m not cold.”

As he spoke, he took off the towel from his shoulders in front of Guan Yao, revealing a pair of distinct and beautiful butterfly bones.

Guan Yao’s Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily.

He had clearly changed Yu Chunming’s clothes before, and more than once. But when he changed his clothes, he was focused and had no improper thoughts, let alone any embarrassment.

After all, they were all men, what’s wrong with changing clothes? When going to a public bathhouse, aren’t they all naked? He didn’t feel this way when he scrubbed Li Xiaotian and Fang Wang’s backs, so why, now, facing Yu Chunming’s half-naked upper body, did he inexplicably feel a surge of heat? Guan Yao’s mind was a mess, and he couldn’t think of any answer.

He stared at Yu Chunming’s thin shoulders and toned waist, suddenly wanting to press his burning palms against them.

Yu Chunming seemed oblivious, he carried the bucket, fiddling with the showerhead, sometimes bending over, sometimes straightening up, and between the movements, the flesh and blood wrapped around his slender bones were nakedly displayed before Guan Yao’s eyes, making him feel a surge of nameless fire from top to bottom.

“Hey, it’s hot.” Yu Chunming suddenly said with a smile.

Guan Yao’s mind instantly returned to reality, he quickly looked away and turned to leave, but the person who had been scrutinized for so long unknowingly stopped him at this moment.

“Wait, help me with something,” Yu Chunming said.

Guan Yao’s body stiffened. Just as he was about to speak, something was thrown at his head.

“Take my pants out, your bathroom is too small, there’s no place to hang clothes,” Yu Chunming said.

Guan Yao stood motionless, holding the pants, and almost ran out the door before his eyes could uncontrollably look down.

When he returned to the room, he realized that his face was flushed and his chest was pounding.

Guan Yao had lived for more than thirty years, and this was the first time he truly felt what it meant to be dazed and confused, what it meant for his heart to run wild. He took several deep breaths, but couldn’t pull himself out of that small, cramped bathroom filled with hot steam.

Moreover, the person who tried to calm his emotions in a short period of time soon discovered a new, even more devastating thing.

He was aroused.

“Guan Yao?” Fifteen minutes later, Yu Chunming finished his shower, changed into clean clothes, and knocked on the door opposite the bathroom, but after waiting for a long time, he didn’t get a response.

“Asleep?” Yu Chunming wondered.

There was no movement inside, but there was clearly light coming from under the door. He looked at it strangely for a long time, and finally turned and went back to his room.

A little while later, the faint sound of bedding rubbing came from the room that had been as silent as if no one was there, followed by muffled breathing.

Thump! Guan Yao knocked the water glass off the bedside table.

In the following days, the two rarely saw each other for long periods of time, partly because someone felt guilty, and partly because, since Wang Zhen came to Za Mu Er, all the affairs of the task force had accelerated. Guan Yao had little time to go home, let alone get a good night’s sleep, so naturally he didn’t have time to worry about the person who had thrown him into such disarray.

As for Yu Chunming, he was first suspended from duty and made to reflect for three days, and then he was scolded by the supervisor for three days. It wasn’t until the work summary meeting on Monday morning of the second week that he finished reading his self-criticism that the mistakes he had made were considered to be over.

Li Xiaotian was particularly dissatisfied with the decision to punish each of them equally, but he had nowhere to complain – Guan Yao had already chased him away, and these two brothers of many years were now in the midst of escalating conflict.

Yu Chunming turned a blind eye to this. He was always too lazy to get involved in everything, let alone Li Xiaotian’s one-sided resentment. Since Guan Yao hadn’t said anything more, why should he join in the fun?

However, Meng Changqing, who was always enthusiastic about gossip, wasn’t so quiet. Entrusted by his master, he brought Yu Chunming breakfast every morning, and from time to time, he could follow Yu Chunming on a police call. When it was just the two of them, Meng Changqing’s gossip instincts would come out again.

“Officer Yu, why did my master let you live in his house?” After finishing a police call that afternoon, as soon as he got into the car, Little Meng couldn’t help but ask curiously.

Yu Chunming was fiddling with his police communication device and casually replied, “Your master is hospitable.”

“Where is he hospitable? I’ve been his apprentice for so long, and he hasn’t taken me to his house once,” Meng Changqing said indignantly.

Yu Chunming raised the corner of his mouth: “Really?”

“Of course,” behind Guan Yao’s back, Meng Changqing fiercely said “bad things” about him, “And my master, he seems to be good to everyone, but in fact he’s very distant from everyone. He never argues with people, and he never has conflicts with people. He greets everyone with a smile. So… Officer Yu, you’re actually quite special in front of my master.”

Yu Chunming laughed at these words, and he raised his eyebrows: “Because your master argues with me every other day?”

“Well, not really…” Meng Changqing scratched the back of his head, and his words became vague, “It’s just that he, he pays special attention to you.”

“Special attention, really? I don’t think so?” Yu Chunming shook his head.

“How could there not be?” Meng Changqing shouted, “Officer Yu, ever since you came to our place, my master’s eyes have been glued to you!”

Yu Chunming put down his police communication device and leaned back: “Drive quickly, stop talking nonsense.”

Meng Changqing responded with a sheepish sound, shrinking his neck.

Seeing that he was honest, Yu Chunming opened his mouth and asked, “Did you find anything abnormal when you went to Qianjinping to stake out the other day?”

“No,” Meng Changqing replied, “Li Ying does the same things every day. Besides selling goods in the shop and collecting some waste from the neighboring village and the mountains, his daily range of activities doesn’t even exceed his own yard. Officer Yu, do you think my master was too cautious that day? Maybe Li Ying doesn’t know at all that that thing is a homemade gun barrel?”

“That’s hard to say,” Yu Chunming pondered, “If Li Ying really has a gun in his hand, you two would have had problems if you forced your way in that day. No one can take that risk. Your current stakeout and surveillance is the same, safety is the most important thing.”

Meng Changqing pouted, still somewhat disagreeing with Yu Chunming’s answer.

“Moreover, what if there is a gun-running gang behind Li Ying, and you two alerted them? The safest approach is the one we’re taking now. If Li Ying is really innocent, after a while, the task force’s Wang team should appropriately reduce the number of stakeout personnel and the frequency, and won’t let you do useless work,” Yu Chunming continued.

Meng Changqing hurriedly explained: “Officer Yu, I’m not saying I don’t want to go, I just…”

“Just feel that it should be done quickly, instead of dragging it out like this,” Yu Chunming looked at him, “Is that what you’re thinking?”

Meng Changqing nodded a little embarrassedly.

Yu Chunming sighed softly: “Little Meng, you have to know that our Za Mu Er is a border town. Once there’s any trouble, the police force can’t keep up, and it’s easy for suspects to flee across the border. Look at where Qianjinping is? What’s next to that place? Jin A Lin Mountain is so big, twenty years ago, some people really made homemade guns and transported firearms there. Before figuring out the situation, rashly handling the case will definitely cause casualties. You’ve also heard about the mistake I made in Songlan before. No one wants something like that to happen again.”

Meng Changqing replied with a red face: “Officer Yu, I understand.”

“Drive carefully,” Yu Chunming breathed out a long breath, “Sometimes, your master’s words are more reliable than anyone else’s. You should listen to him more.”

These words made Meng Changqing blink, and it was unknown what he had figured out from them.

The two quickly drove the car into the gate of the Linchang Police Station. At this moment, Meng Changqing found that there was a very familiar person standing outside the gate. That person seemed to be Han Chen, the deputy leader of the task force who had been missing for a long time.

“Officer Han!” Meng Changqing got out of the car and called out enthusiastically.

Yu Chunming lit a cigarette and leaned to one side, smoking slowly, with no intention of going up to talk to him. But Han Chen seemed to be blind, and as soon as he saw him, he immediately approached him, and asked with a smile: “Did you just go out on a police call? Why did you come back so late?”

Yu Chunming held a cigarette in his mouth and grunted impatiently, raising his hand to signal Han Chen to stand to the side: “Don’t block the people who are coming to the station to do business.”

Han Chen took a step to the side obediently, but still stayed close to Yu Chunming: “Have you eaten yet? If you haven’t eaten, I’ll treat you.”

“No, I eat in the cafeteria,” Yu Chunming replied.

Han Chen insisted: “Then are you free now? I have something I want to tell you.”

Yu Chunming waved his hand: “If you have anything, just send me a message.”

“It has to be said in person,” Han Chen asked, regardless of Meng Changqing’s presence, “Are you still living in Guan Yao’s house?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Yu Chunming took off the cigarette and looked back at Han Chen, “Is it any of your business who I live with?”

“Chunming…”

“Okay, I’m going to eat, go back if you have nothing to do, isn’t the task force busy?” Yu Chunming was too lazy to talk nonsense with him, and raised his leg to walk into the room.

Han Chen stopped him with one hand: “Chunming, just give me a chance, okay? Give me a chance.”

Yu Chunming didn’t say anything.

Han Chen rarely begged people in such a humble way, at least Yu Chunming had never seen it before, but since that incident last year, Han Chen had been making himself small and submissive in front of him more than once. Yu Chunming knew very well what Han Chen wanted, but he couldn’t give it to him.

“Little Meng, go in first, don’t worry about me.” In the end, Yu Chunming seemed to have softened.

Han Chen breathed a sigh of relief and replied with a smile: “What do you want to eat? I think the stir-fry restaurant across the street is very popular.”

“Let’s go to the noodle shop at the entrance of the Linchang Staff Family Compound. The stir-fry restaurant knows I’m from the police station, and the boss there doesn’t want to accept money from the police, so we don’t dare to eat at his place,” Yu Chunming said, “And you don’t need to treat me, lest you say I owe you in the future.”

Meng Changqing heard all these words clearly. He tiptoed into the door, then quickly flipped out his phone and made a call to Guan Yao.

At the moment, Guan Yao was squeezed into the largest conference room of the Municipal Branch Bureau, listening to Wang Zhen summarize the visits and information collected in the past two days. He glanced at the phone screen placed on the side, and his eyelids twitched immediately. After looking around again and confirming that Han Chen was not here, he couldn’t even sit still on his chair.

“What are you wriggling about?” Wang Zhen saw Guan Yao’s anxiety at a glance, and he asked in surprise, “Do you have nails growing under your butt?”

Guan Yao’s face was slightly embarrassed, and he had to sit still.

Wang Zhen withdrew his gaze and continued to talk about the case that he had just started: “The comrades who visited the area around the dumpling restaurant the day before yesterday, please come up and report, and then the comrades who came back from Baihua this afternoon, please prepare.”

Guan Yao breathed out a sigh of relief and forced himself to listen carefully.

But for some reason, the ever-dedicated and focused Police Officer Guan was now filled with thoughts of “Han Chen going to find Yu Chunming.” He couldn’t help but think: What is Han Chen looking for Yu Chunming for? He can’t possibly… be asking to get back together, right?

Facts proved that Guan Yao was right.

As soon as Han Chen followed Yu Chunming into the noodle shop and found a place to sit down, he took out a lighter that looked very expensive from his pocket: “Chunming, I’ll give you this.”

Yu Chunming glanced at it: “I only use plastic lighters that cost two for a dollar. If Guan Yao confiscates this thing one day, I’ll have nowhere to go.”

Han Chen’s face froze slightly: “Guan Yao? Why would he confiscate your lighter?”

Yu Chunming smiled: “You don’t know, he’s watching me very closely now.”