NOS Chapter 60

Chapter 60: Fish Cliff Island (3)

Songlan Medical University First Affiliated Hospital, Inpatient Department, Ward.

Yu Chunming was quietly watching the liquid dripping in the IV line. For most of the past few days, he had been unconscious. Only today did his spirit gradually improve.

But before long, Wang Meng and Yu Huan’s voices echoed in the hallway. Yu Chunming quickly closed his eyes, pretending he had never woken up.

“How are the numbers today?” Wang Meng was talking to the nurse on duty at the nurse’s station.

Yu Chunming only heard a vague murmur, because soon Yu Huan hummed a song as she entered the room, and as usual, leaned close to his bed and began to chatter.

“Second Brother said you woke up yesterday and even said a few words to him. Why is it that as soon as I’m here, you just keep sleeping?” Yu Huan never looked for problems within herself. First, she shook the IV stand, then tapped the monitor, and finally, leaned close to Yu Chunming’s face, studying him carefully.

“Because you’re too noisy,” someone who had been keeping his eyes closed suddenly said.

Yu Huan was startled, almost jumping up and hitting the chair behind her: “Why didn’t you say you were awake? You looked like you were dead when I came in.”

“Huan Huan,” Wang Meng interrupted her daughter’s tactless mouth.

Yu Chunming had no choice but to open his eyes and face the two of them. Yu Huan very considerately raised the bed for him.

Wang Meng asked, “How do you feel now that the pain pump has been removed today?”

Yu Chunming nodded his chin slightly: “Not bad.”

Wang Meng sighed softly and sat down by his bed: “Your dad came to see you last night.”

Yu Chunming didn’t say anything.

Wang Meng continued: “He went to Za Mu Er with me before, because of work needs. He stayed in Za Mu Er for a few days and didn’t come back with us.”

Yu Chunming still didn’t say anything.

Seeing this, Wang Meng finally gave up trying to say good things about Yu Zhenshan in front of him, and instead said, “Actually, this time you can count it as a blessing in disguise. If it wasn’t for the impact of the bullet, that fragment originally stuck in your back shoulder would probably have tormented you all along. Now, a long pain is worse than a short one. Two surgeries have removed all the fragments left over from the explosion last year.”

Yu Chunming hummed an “Mm” and said, “Sorry to bother you.”

Wang Meng adjusted her glasses, not wanting to deal with his superficial politeness, so she turned to Yu Huan and said, “Take good care of your brother. I have work to do.”

Yu Huan saluted, shouted “Will complete the mission!”, then tiptoed along the wall, respectfully escorting her own mother out of the ward.

“Big Brother!” As soon as Wang Meng left, Yu Huan immediately became a wild horse off its leash. She rushed in front of Yu Chunming, excitedly saying, “Your complexion is much better today. Unlike when I first came, you looked like freshly painted plaster.”

Yu Chunming’s head ached as soon as he heard her speak. Right now, he just wanted to close his eyes and continue pretending to sleep, but Yu Huan didn’t give him the chance.

“Big Brother,” this rather noisy little sister could finally ask the question that had been suffocating her for many days. She asked curiously, “That Officer Guan who was guarding you before, is he your boyfriend?”

Yu Chunming glanced at Yu Huan without answering.

Yu Huan didn’t know what she had imagined, but she happily folded her arms and exaggeratedly said, “Brother, you can’t imagine what Officer Guan looked like when he was here guarding you that day. It was so… devoted, tender, lingering…”

“Stop, stop, stop,” Yu Chunming interrupted weakly, “Please go back to high school and brush up on your language skills.”

Yu Huan’s face stiffened: “How are my language skills bad? I was number one in my class in language!”

“Last place, I know. I went to your parent-teacher conference.” Yu Chunming said expressionlessly.

Yu Huan chuckled dryly and stopped talking.

But Yu Chunming couldn’t help but ask, “That… Guan Yao, before he left, did he say what time he would be back?”

“No,” Yu Huan picked up an apple, tossing it in the air, “He left with Uncle Wang on a business trip to Hua Cheng, who knows how many days it will be.”

After speaking, Yu Huan waved her hand cheerfully: “It’s okay, if you miss him, I can give him a video call right now… We specifically added each other as friends.”

“You two added each other as friends?” Yu Chunming said in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Yu Huan put her phone in front of Yu Chunming, and then scrolled up through the chat history, “Look, he asks me how you are every day, but you’re always fast asleep in front of me, so I have to say you’re not doing well. That really worries him…”

“Huan Huan…”

“Who’s calling Huan Huan? Who’s calling me Huan Huan?” Yu Huan looked up and down, left and right, “Is it this bed frame talking?”

Yu Chunming sighed, suddenly feeling that after removing the pain pump, the pain was really severe.

He and Yu Huan had never had a good relationship since childhood. Of course, describing it as simply “not good” was a bit too simple.

Back when Yu Chunming was first stuffed into the Yu family by Jiang Min as a son, Yu Huan and Yu Chang were three years old, which was exactly when their self-awareness was flourishing.

For Yu Chang, the pitiful kid who had been bullied by his sister since birth, it was great to have an older brother to share the fire. But for Yu Huan, the “little devil,” Yu Chunming’s appearance wasn’t so wonderful.

Children don’t understand the grievances between adults. They only know that Yu Chunming wasn’t Wang Meng’s biological son, but he had to call Yu Zhenshan “Dad” just like them, and take away the parents’ attention and everything that once belonged only to them.

Thus, Yu Huan’s journey of resistance began.

She first expressed her dissatisfaction by crying, but after discovering that it was useless, she changed her strategy – running away from home.

However, the police family building was heavily guarded. Not to mention the guards at the gate, even the cleaning aunt knew that the Yu police officer’s family had an unparalleled little devil, so Yu Huan’s three attempts to run away from home all ended in failure, and she could only go back to being Yu Chunming’s little sister.

That’s how they lived for three or four years. Just as Yu Chunming was entering junior high school, Yu Huan caused him a big problem.

The three siblings’ rooms were far apart at home. Yu Huan, based on the principle of disliking her big brother, never followed behind Yu Chunming like Yu Chang, and therefore missed out on a lot of useful information. But this clever little girl quickly realized this shortcoming and accurately identified Yu Chang’s weakness. She first coerced and lured her second brother, and then on a plain, ordinary afternoon, taking advantage of the time difference between junior high and elementary school, secretly opened Yu Chunming’s door.

To say that Yu Chunming’s room wasn’t anything special. After all, he always held the thought of being under someone else’s roof, focusing on school, and going back to find Guan Yao after graduation, so he never caused trouble at home. Everything in the room was neat and tidy. But it was this neat and tidy room that made the “little traitor” Yu Chang discover something was wrong.

“He has a drawer that’s always closed. I saw him take a photo out of it once,” Eating the snacks his sister gave him, the always honest Yu Chang seriously recalled, “There were two people in the photo, one was Big Brother, and the other… I don’t recognize.”

“Don’t recognize?” Yu Huan, who was only six years old at the time, stood with her hands on her hips on the flower bed at the gate, head held high, “Since it’s so mysterious, then I have to find it and see!”

So, that afternoon, the elusive twins sneaked into their big brother’s room and found the photo in the drawer.

Actually, at first, Yu Huan didn’t plan to do anything. She just wanted to explore Yu Chunming’s past, so she could “specifically” drive this person away, but unexpectedly, this time she really “targeted” the point.

That day after school, as soon as Yu Chunming discovered the photo was missing, he immediately locked onto Yu Huan as the key “suspect.”

“She must have stolen it.” Yu Chunming, who was only a junior high student, already had a police officer’s investigative intuition. He said confidently, “Elementary school first and second graders get out of school at 3:00 PM, junior high gets out at 6:00 PM. There’s a three-hour time difference in between. During these three hours, the auntie goes out to buy groceries, and no one is home, so it can only be her who stole it.”

“Nonsense!” Yu Huan shouted, “You’re slandering a good person!”

Yu Chunming pursed his lips, glaring at her without saying anything.

Yu Zhenshan didn’t have the time to judge children’s cases, so he had to ask Wang Meng to come.

Wang Meng sighed and said kindly, “Huan Huan, if you really took it, give it back to your brother secretly tonight, okay?”

“I didn’t take it! You’re slandering me!” Yu Huan continued to stubbornly deny it.

Yu Chunming’s eyes suddenly turned red. He rarely cried, especially after leaving Jiang Min, but at this moment, thinking that the only connection he had with the past might never be found again, he immediately felt wronged and wanted to cry loudly.

“Huan Huan, please give it back to me, okay?” Yu Chunming asked gently.

Yu Huan snorted angrily, turned and ran into her room, and slammed the door shut, ignoring everyone.

Then, that evening, Yu Chunming received a pile of messy shredded photos.

– Yu Huan had torn up the only photo he had with Guan Yao.

That day, Yu Chunming threw a tantrum for the first time in this home that was only a “temporary lodging” for him. First, he dragged the troublesome little girl out of Yu Huan’s room, and then woke up Yu Zhenshan and Wang Meng. After Wang Meng tried her best to fairly “judge” the case, and Yu Zhenshan ignored it, he ran out of the house alone in the middle of the night.

Compared to Yu Huan, who had failed several times in running away from home, Yu Chunming simply displayed a talent for reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance from a young age. This natural police embryo successfully evaded the guards of the compound, followed the small road in front of the gate, and escaped all the way to the Songlan Railway Station under the noses of many criminal police officers of the Songlan City Bureau.

Yu Chunming was well-prepared. He had brought his ID card, pocket money, and a change of clothes, and bought a ticket to Za Mu Er at the hall window.

But the boy, who had just passed his thirteenth birthday, didn’t realize that his adoptive father, Yu Zhenshan, the old criminal police officer who was also proficient in reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, and who had been promoted to director of the Songlan City Bureau two years ago, could easily find him.

In order to avoid the police “encirclement,” Yu Chunming had to flee from the railway station before getting on the train. He carried two dry, hard loaves of bread, followed the road behind the railway station, and ran to the Wuna River in one breath. He avoided the patrol police on Ulrich Street and ran onto the Jiangjiang Bridge heading north – this ambitious young man was prepared to walk back to Za Mu Er on foot.

Then, he was caught by Yu Zhenshan himself on Fish Cliff Island in the center of the Wuna River.

“A person’s trajectory can be judged by their past, the clues in their lives, and what they want most.” Yu Zhenshan looked at the dusty Yu Chunming and said calmly, “You want to go back to Za Mu Er, you can, but not now. You will have a chance to go back in the future.”

Yu Chunming, who had been a homeless person for a full ten days, stared at the tip of his shoe that had a torn corner. He didn’t know that just three days ago, on the afternoon he left the Songlan Railway Station, a young man from Za Mu Er was carrying a bag, asking police officers everywhere if they knew a boy named “Jiang Xin.”

He said Jiang Xin was dark-skinned, short, but had big eyes and long eyelashes.

Unfortunately, none of the police officers who were searching the station for the Yu Bureau’s son would associate this person with Yu Chunming.

Just like that, they missed each other. Just like that, more than ten years passed…

Compared to the later conflicts between Yu Huan and Yu Chunming, the torn photo was just a small starting point. When did the two shake hands and make peace? No one could remember.

Time can take away everything. For example, now, Yu Huan was sitting by Yu Chunming’s bed, carefully peeling an apple, and then –

“You can’t eat it, I’ll eat it.” Yu Huan smiled and took a bite of the apple, “Mom said you can only eat liquid food these past two days. Bear with it, when you get better and go home, let Auntie Liu fry bean buns for you.”

“I’m not going home, and I don’t like bean buns.” Yu Chunming said coolly.

“I like them.” Yu Huan kicked her legs up and onto the bed, “Yu Chang will come to deliver food later. He just sent me a message saying Dad is coming with him too.”

“Who’s coming?” Yu Chunming’s face immediately changed.

Yu Huan chewed on the apple, glanced at the time: “Dad is coming too. He might already be upstairs right now.”

Yu Chunming was about to open his mouth and scold Yu Huan for not saying so sooner, when he heard the ward door being pushed open.

“Big Brother.” Yu Chang called out obediently.

Immediately afterward, a man with a serious and stern face walked in. It was Yu Chunming’s Deputy Director, Yu Zhenshan, whom he desperately wanted to avoid.

Yu Zhenshan, who had been working overtime for two days, looked a little haggard, and there were a few more white hairs on his temples. He glanced at his two children. Yu Chang immediately very keenly put down the insulated bucket and pulled Yu Huan: “Dad, Big Brother, we’re going to get hot water.”

After speaking, the two of them slipped away.

Yu Chunming had nowhere to hide, so he had to face his big boss directly: “Director Yu.”

Director Yu frowned, seemingly not liking the title. He walked closer, looked at the medical records hanging at the end of the bed, and then looked at the IV line: “Guan Yao went on a business trip with Wang Zhen?”

Yu Chunming’s eyebrows twitched – when did this old man find out about Guan Yao?

“I asked Wang Zhen to take him away. I thought he wouldn’t want to go, but I didn’t expect him to be quite obedient.” Yu Zhenshan said nonchalantly.

Yu Chunming couldn’t understand his implied meaning, nor did he understand why Yu Zhenshan would deliberately mention Guan Yao in front of him, so he had to remain silent.

However, the big boss didn’t continue talking about Guan Yao. He changed the subject, changed to a more sharp and unpleasant topic: “I’ve contacted the Songlan Police Academy. After your injuries heal, go to them for further study, and then stay at the school to teach.”

“I’m not going.” Yu Chunming replied without even thinking.

Yu Zhenshan’s face sank as expected, but he didn’t sneer as usual. Perhaps it was because he was concerned that Yu Chunming was still injured, or perhaps it was because he finally felt pity for his cheap son.

Unfortunately, Yu Chunming wasn’t grateful. He said, “This case isn’t solved, I won’t leave.”

“This case has nothing to do with you anymore.” Yu Zhenshan said mercilessly.

“This case is indeed unrelated to me, but Jiang Min’s matter is always related to me.” Yu Chunming raised his eyes to look at Yu Zhenshan, “Do you know who my biological father is?”