NOS Chapter 62

Chapter 62: Fish Cliff Island (5)

Yu Huan didn’t ask the question. After growing up, she had become much more timid, no longer the fearless, reckless “troublemaker” she was twenty years ago.

When Guan Yao returned, she only dared to sit quietly to the side, her round eyes darting around.

“You look much better today. Before I left, you were still unconscious,” Guan Yao said in a gentle voice, taking off his coat and placing it at the foot of the bed.

His tone gave Yu Chunming goosebumps—what’s wrong with this guy?

Guan Yao continued, “Yu Huan kept telling me you weren’t feeling well. I didn’t expect to see you so much better when I got back. How are you, does your wound still hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt,” Yu Chunming hummed softly, having spent a sleepless night in pain after the pain pump was removed.

Guan Yao raised his hand, wanting to lift the clothes draped over his shoulder to check the wound, but Yu Chunming immediately became wary: “What are you doing?”

“Just taking a look…”

“No need,” Yu Chunming turned his face away, trying to pull the clothes back up with his one mobile hand.

But Guan Yao pressed him down without explanation: “What are you afraid of? It’s not like I haven’t seen it before.”

Something’s not right, Yu Chunming thought, alarm bells ringing in his head. Guan Yao is really not right.

Moreover, his current strangeness is completely different from his previous strangeness. In the past, this man was shy, conflicted, hesitant, and confused. But now, he has actually become open, confident, and calm!

Does he not like me anymore? Yu Chunming thought in a panic.

Guan Yao had no idea what was going through his mind. After checking the wound, he re-draped the clothes over Yu Chunming: “I asked the doctor before I came in. He said you can eat some regular food today. What do you want to eat?”

Yu Chunming pulled at his clothes with a cold face: “I don’t want to eat anything.”

Guan Yao turned to Yu Huan and asked, “What did your brother eat yesterday?”

“My mom cooked millet porridge for him. He even complained that it had no taste,” Yu Huan pouted. “He’s been a picky eater since he was little.”

“That’s nonsense…”

“He is a picky eater, please bear with him,” Guan Yao smiled. “Then let Wang Meng have a rest tonight, I’ll go out and buy him something.”

Yu Huan felt that something was off about this statement. Clearly, she was the sister, so how had she become an outsider in Guan Yao’s words?

But Guan Yao’s tone left no room for argument. The Yu twins immediately obeyed orders. Yu Chang slung his bag over his shoulder, Yu Huan led the way out, and before leaving, she didn’t forget to give Yu Chunming a fist bump: “Big brother, keep it up.”

“Keep what up?” Guan Yao asked with a smile.

Yu Chunming replied weakly, “Keep on living.”

Guan Yao tucked the corner of the blanket around him: “That’s definitely something to keep up.”

Yu Chunming turned his head away, dodging Guan Yao’s hand as he tried to touch the scrape on his forehead: “How’s the situation at our station? Did Li Xiaotian send you any news?”

“Yes,” Guan Yao didn’t dare to look Yu Chunming in the eye as he lied. He withdrew his hand and began to tidy up his clothes: “He said they’ve found everyone, and they’re lying in the hospital now.”

“Really? Where were they found?” Yu Chunming didn’t believe him.

“The car flipped into a ditch. They found them in the ditch. Fang Wang hit his head, Xiao Meng…Xiao Meng bled a little, but it’s nothing serious.” Guan Yao looked up and quickly changed the subject before Yu Chunming could react, “The situation in Hua Cheng is more complicated. Wang Zhen may have to run back and forth these few days. Fortunately, the director of the police station in charge of Tianyun Metallurgical Factory is an old classmate of Wang Zhen’s, which saves a lot of trouble.”

Yu Chunming’s thoughts were indeed diverted: “Liu Ying?”

“That’s right, he even asked about you, wondering why you didn’t go,” Guan Yao said.

“Just a bunch of cronies,” Yu Chunming commented indifferently.

Guan Yao chuckled: “Wang Zhen introduced you to him?”

Yu Chunming didn’t bother to elaborate, and instead asked: “What have you guys found out?”

Guan Yao pursed his lips, seeming to want to avoid the question, but soon he replied: “Tianyun Metallurgical Factory has big problems. We not only found out about Wang Xinsheng’s problems, but also uncovered a drug manufacturing case involving Ge Xiaopei and Li Ying’s son, Li Qie.”

“Drug manufacturing case?” Yu Chunming was shocked.

On the way back, Wang Zhen had already named this case, which occurred more than ten years ago, as the “Hua Cheng Metallurgical Factory Drug Manufacturing Case” based on the existing information. He detailed the course of the case that year, and defined the deputy director of the factory, the informed foreman, and the currently missing “Li Guanglai” as criminal suspects.

“On the first Beginning of Winter, Li Qie died unexpectedly in the smelting furnace of the metallurgical factory, and his bones were never found. The following January, Yang Xiaowei and He Wang’s son died in a traffic accident at only two and a half years old. Before that, Yang Xiaowei had encountered a foreman who inquired about Wang Xinsheng in detail, but Yang Xiaowei claimed that she didn’t know Wang Xinsheng at the time. In February of that year, Li Guanglai and Ge Xiaopei, both from Za Mu Er, joined Tianyun Metallurgy. Three months later, Ge Xiaopei was fired for theft, and Li Guanglai began to use the equipment in the factory and the chemicals he bought to make contraband. Soon, the foreman and the deputy director discovered his actions, but because the money came quickly, Li Guanglai was also willing to share a portion to subsidize the factory’s deficit, so they turned a blind eye. But not long after, the Hua Cheng police noticed the name ‘Li Guanglai’ while pursuing a drug case.” At this point, Guan Yao paused, and then continued, “In order to escape the pursuit, Wang Xinsheng, under Li Guanglai’s control, exchanged his file with Li Qie’s file, deceiving the Hua Cheng police who went to investigate at the time. In that year, non-ferrous smelting acquired the main body of the factory, and many skilled workers were recruited. Li Guanglai, disguised as Li Qie, was among them.”

After hearing these words, Yu Chunming frowned. He said incredulously, “Li Qie is dead? Are you sure this person is Li Ying’s son?”

“According to the information provided by Tianyun Metallurgy, it can only be preliminarily determined at present.” Guan Yao rubbed his chin and pondered, “I used to deal with Li Ying a lot, but he never revealed this in his words. I also wondered, could it be that Li Ying was still in prison when Li Qie died? But on the way back, I checked Li Ying’s information. He was already released from prison eleven years ago. If his own son really died, how could a father not know?”

Yu Chunming was also puzzled, so he asked, “What does my mentor think?”

“Wang Zhen…” Guan Yao sighed, “Wang Zhen spoke a lot of things vaguely, except that this Li Guanglai does look like the ‘Yi Jun’ we are looking for, the rest were criticisms of the Hua Cheng police for being brainless. But one thing, Wang Zhen made a small guess. He said that Wang Xinsheng was willing to sell the metallurgical factory to Yang Xiaowei at a low price, probably not only because of his friend He Wang’s face, but also because he knew that people in this factory had committed crimes, so he was anxious to get rid of it.”

“That makes sense.” Yu Chunming agreed with Wang Zhen’s guess.

“As for the real identity of ‘Li Guanglai’, Wang Zhen currently believes that Li Guanglai is the foreman who inquired about Wang Xinsheng from Yang Xiaowei. It is very likely that he renamed himself ‘Yi Jun’ more than ten years later and approached He Wang again.” Guan Yao looked at Yu Chunming, “This reasoning is relatively reasonable, and the colleagues in the task force agree with it.”

“Then how does Wang Zhen analyze Li Ying?” Yu Chunming asked.

“Wang Zhen believes that this Li Guanglai probably has a deep stake with Li Ying. As for what kind of stake it is, we don’t know yet,” Guan Yao said slowly.

“Then have you re-investigated ‘Li Guanglai’?” Yu Chunming thought, “I always feel that this name… sounds a bit familiar.”

“Familiar?” Guan Yao’s nerves tightened instantly, “Where have you heard of him?”

Yu Chunming’s brain, after losing too much blood, always turned slower than usual. He racked his brains for a long time, but couldn’t remember where he had heard the name.

“Sorry, maybe I made a mistake,” Yu Chunming said disappointedly.

Guan Yao was also a little disappointed, but he still comforted him: “It’s okay, take good care of your injuries, don’t worry about these things.”

Yu Chunming shifted his shoulders uneasily, and Guan Yao immediately got up to help him lean up a little, much better than Yu Huan, who only knew how to eat apples, play games, and boss around Yu Chang.

“It’s good that you came back,” Yu Chunming thanked heaven and earth, “Yu Huan only knows how to shout and yell here.”

Guan Yao thoughtfully found a pillow and put it under Yu Chunming’s suspended waist, and then looked at the liquid in the drainage tube and drainage bag: “You have to lie down for at least another week. If I’m not here during this time, only Yu Huan can accompany you.”

After saying that, Guan Yao lifted Yu Chunming’s mobile arm and placed it on his shoulder, then helped him to sit up with his support: “She’s still your sister, after all.”

“I’d rather not have this sister,” Yu Chunming said unwillingly.

“Is that so? Then why do I remember when you were little…”

When you were little, you really wanted a sister?

Guan Yao stopped halfway through his sentence, slamming on the brakes. Fortunately, Yu Chunming was focusing on adjusting his sitting position and didn’t notice such an obvious slip.

“She has taken care of you for so many days, don’t fuss about it,” Guan Yao comforted him, “I think this sister of yours is quite concerned about you. When she first came, she even cried.”

“Is that so? Crocodile tears,” Yu Chunming said coolly, “It was this sister who almost made me come out of the closet in front of Deputy Director Yu.”

Guan Yao’s movements paused.

Yu Chunming chuckled and hooked his neck with his arm that was resting on Guan Yao’s shoulder: “You don’t know about this, do you, Officer Guan?”

This happened when Yu Chunming was twenty-one years old, preparing to go to graduate school after graduating from his undergraduate program. At that time, Yu Huan had just entered high school, and it was a time when a young girl’s heart was flourishing, and youth was rebellious and unrestrained. In view of this person’s ability to “ascend to heaven and enter the earth” since childhood, the teenage years were naturally quite torturous for the elders. Wang Meng, Professor Wang, and Yu Zhenshan, Deputy Director Yu, such top social talents, were unable to resist their daughter’s turmoil.

So, after Yu Huan failed another class, Wang Meng handed over the important task of “attending parent-teacher conferences for her sister” to Yu Chunming.

But Yu Chunming, who had spent four years deeply involved in police school and truly mastered investigation and counter-investigation techniques, did not expect that he, who was already in his early twenties, would fall into Yu Huan’s trap like he was when he was in his early teens.

It was the last parent-teacher conference before the summer vacation. The students went home early after school, while Yu Chunming, who had just returned with his luggage after graduation, walked into the high school against the flow of people to “listen” to the teacher’s criticism. Then, the keenly observant young policeman discovered a key point that Wang Meng would never have noticed if she had come—

The stickers on Yu Huan’s desk and the stickers on the side of a certain desk in the third row near the aisle belonged to the same color family, and after arranging and combining the numbers that made up the stickers according to the alphabet, they could just spell out “love”.

“High school students’ tricks,” Yu Chunming said in his heart.

After the parent-teacher conference, he specifically looked at the seating chart posted on the podium, and based on that name, successfully found Yu Huan’s little boyfriend on the report card.

The top of the class, named Li Jing.

Yu Chunming, who had rarely stood on the upper hand in the “struggle,” was in a very cheerful mood. The teacher’s criticism seemed like a spring breeze to his ears. He only wanted to go home and question Yu Huan about this matter, and then wait to see the little girl beg for mercy with a sulky face.

But Yu Chunming didn’t expect that Yu Huan had once again taken the lead.

“Han Chen chased me for four years, and I didn’t budge for four years. When it came time for graduation, he didn’t get into graduate school and was assigned to work back in his hometown. When he left, he was reluctant to part with me, performing a tearful farewell at the station and giving me a notebook.” Yu Chunming tapped the bed rail listlessly with his fingers, and said, “You’ve seen that notebook too.”

Guan Yao’s eyebrows twitched, and he remembered the notebook that Yu Chunming burned in front of Yu Huan, with binding threads that were about to fall apart.

“I thought it was a souvenir. I didn’t even bother to open it and stuffed it into my bag and took it home. Who would have thought…” Yu Chunming took a deep breath, “Who would have thought that he actually wrote a notebook full of love letters for me!”

Then, this “love letter” naturally fell into the hands of Yu Huan, who would occasionally enter Yu Chunming’s room to “mooch.”

“She used Han Chen’s love letters to threaten me, asking me to give her pocket money every month, otherwise she would tell her father. I had to threaten her with her relationship with Li Jing and ask her to keep it a secret for me,” Yu Chunming suddenly laughed after saying half of the story, “Isn’t it funny?”

“No,” Guan Yao replied silently.

Yu Chunming sighed: “Things that were big deals back then now seem insignificant. I broke up with Han Chen, and she broke up with Li Jing. High school students’ stickers and college students’ love letters are the most unreliable things in this world.”

Guan Yao listened in silence, feeling inexplicably sour.

Why? Why is Yu Chunming Jiang Xin?

In the past, Guan Yao had never regretted that he had not participated in Yu Chunming’s painful and lonely youth, but now, he regrets it very much.

Why didn’t he search more in Songlan back then and discover him earlier?

Why was he not in Za Mu Er when Yu Chunming revisited the old place to find him?

Fate is playing tricks on him. He is about to admit that he has fallen in love with Yu Chunming, only to discover that Yu Chunming is Jiang Xin. This makes him… how can he admit it?

Jiang Xin is his brother, Yu Chunming is an accident that broke into his life. He can fall in love with an accident, but can he… can he fall in love with his brother, who he once regarded as family?

“What about you, Guan Yao?” The person lying on the bed suddenly turned his head and looked at him seriously, “When you were twenty, did you do anything that made people laugh?”

Guan Yao’s eyes flickered slightly, he couldn’t say it.

“Never mind,” Yu Chunming lost interest again. He closed his eyes and sighed, “Officer Guan may have always been so serious, unable to mingle with us.”

Guan Yao smiled wryly, he was sure that this person should not know that he has been exposed.

So, the always serious Officer Guan also had a playful thought. He deliberately asked, “Have you ever seen what I was like when I was little?”

Yu Chunming opened one eye and glanced at Guan Yao: “I can guess.”

Guan Yao vowed to get to the bottom of it: “Then what kind of person did you guess I was?”

Tall and thin, always with a stern face, occasionally showing a smile, mostly gentle, but afraid of the dark, afraid of swimming, and afraid of fire.

Despite this, Yu Chunming said, “Definitely the same as now, a little man who is not afraid of anything.”

“Who are you kidding?” Guan Yao laughed.

Yu Chunming gradually became sleepy after talking to him for a long time. He slowly slid onto the pillow and lay down again: “Of course, I’m kidding you. I remember, before I left the intensive care unit, you were wearing a protective suit, standing by the bed and crying.”

Guan Yao’s expression froze, his eyes falling on Yu Chunming’s eyes that were about to close. He had gently touched there with his hand when this person was unconscious.

“Guan Yao,” Yu Chunming, who was already drowsy, insisted on maintaining a trace of clarity. He asked vaguely, “Before, in the Linchang Police Station, you said that you had something to say to me after you finished your mission, what was it?”

What? Guan Yao’s Adam’s apple bobbed, as if something was stuck in his throat.

“Why don’t you answer?” Yu Chunming blinked his eyes.

Guan Yao forced out a smile, and he lied, “I forgot, I forgot what I wanted to say to you.”