NOS Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Birch Bridge (2)

At 10:30 PM, the train arrived in Lin City, the capital of the Jin A Lin Mountain region.

The lights in the carriage had long been turned off upon arrival, and most of the passengers were already asleep. Guan Yao was still sitting at the end of the berth – he had given his bunk to Yu Chunming, who had bought a standing ticket.

“Comrade, someone got off in the next carriage. I’ll get you a ticket for a bunk over there so you can sleep,” a kind-hearted railway police officer said.

Guan Yao waved his hand and said in a low voice, “It’s alright, I’ll just keep watch here, in case…”

As he spoke, he looked at Yu Chunming.

The man was sleeping soundly. After all, his injury hadn’t healed, and he was mentally exhausted. At first, he had insisted on sitting up all night, but in the end, he couldn’t hold on and fell asleep.

Guan Yao was afraid that he would have difficulty getting up in the night and didn’t dare to leave his side, so he said to the railway police officer, “In case something happens, I’m afraid I won’t be able to help in time.”

Before he had finished speaking, Yu Chunming began to try to turn over. Guan Yao quickly reached out to cushion his lower back, afraid that the unhealed wound on his shoulder would hit the table, but unexpectedly, this action woke him up.

“Where are we?” Yu Chunming asked in the darkness.

Guan Yao replied, “Lin City, we’re in our Jin A Lin Mountain region.”

The smell of smoke wafted in from the connection between the carriages. Yu Chunming said groggily, “I really want to smoke.”

Guan Yao chuckled. He gently draped his coat over the man’s shoulders: “Just keep thinking about it, I won’t let you go out to smoke.”

Yu Chunming sighed deeply. He said, “I regret it.”

“Regret what?” Guan Yao leaned closer.

Yu Chunming rolled his eyes, pulled Guan Yao closer, and said in a low voice, “I regret wanting to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Guan Yao couldn’t help but curl the corner of his mouth. He wanted to say, when did I agree to spend the rest of my life with you? But the words wouldn’t come out, so he pretended to be nonchalant and reached out to pull up the quilt for him: “You should lie down properly, be careful not to strain your injury later.”

Yu Chunming smiled wryly.

He remembered that when he said those words in the afternoon, Guan Yao first blushed, then pretended to be calm and replied, “Don’t talk nonsense,” and finally asked Yu Chunming if he wanted to eat instant noodles.

“The road is long and arduous.” That evening, Yu Chunming said this on the phone with Na Fei.

The female police officer who had just gotten off work laughed loudly on the other end. She teased, “I thought there was good progress.”

“So-so progress,” Yu Chunming sighed. He glanced at Guan Yao, who was getting water at the other end of the carriage, “This guy is even harder to crack than a suspect.”

Na Fei couldn’t stop laughing: “Why don’t you learn from Han Chen and use the same tricks he used to chase you back then to chase Officer Guan.”

“What are you talking about…” Yu Chunming said halfway, but suddenly felt that it made some sense and fell silent.

Na Fei couldn’t help but smile: “Senior, you can do it.”

The people who knew were very kind, and after enjoying the show, they didn’t forget to leave a word of encouragement, but which direction should he put effort into? Yu Chunming, who had already put in almost all of his effort, looked at Guan Yao, who was conscientiously counting his pills for him, and felt really worried.

“Seduction, Senior, use your expertise,” Na Fei said.

That was indeed a good suggestion, for example, right now, Yu Chunming deliberately rubbed his chin against the back of Guan Yao’s hand, which was resting near his neck, and then said, “I’ll sit for a while, you should lie down.”

“No need, don’t bother.” Guan Yao decisively withdrew his hand, seemingly unmoved.

Yu Chunming was a little helpless. He stubbornly stared at Guan Yao for a long time, but in the end, he couldn’t hold on and fell asleep.

Therefore, he didn’t see that after his breathing gradually became steady, Guan Yao suddenly curled his palm. He rubbed the area that Yu Chunming had just touched vigorously, and then tentatively reached out, wanting to touch the man’s cheek on the bed.

In the sleeping carriage filled with snores, no one would notice this harmless action, and the birch and Korean pine trees covering the mountains and plains outside the window would not extend their long branches to “stop” him. Guan Yao could freely caress his beloved, but—

He ultimately withdrew his hand.

Dawn broke quickly. After shuttling through the Jin A Lin Mountain region all night, the sleepy people ushered in the dawn.

Yu Chunming stood by the window, yawning, watching the old houses of the forest farm in the mountain nest, with smoke rising from the chimneys. Two tourists from the south were also curiously leaning beside him, discussing whether anyone still lived there.

“Don’t look, it’s all white, be careful it hurts your eyes.” Guan Yao, who had washed his face, pulled Yu Chunming to the sink, wringing a towel as he said, “Yesterday, I heard Li Xiaotian say that there was another heavy snowfall in Za Mu Er, and most of the roads into the mountains have been blocked. If they hadn’t withdrawn in advance, they wouldn’t be able to get out of Qianjinping now.”

Yu Chunming was supported by Guan Yao as he bent over to wash his face with his left hand. After washing, he stood up and waited for Guan Yao to wipe the water dry. In this spare moment, he replied, “It’s good that our people can’t get out, but we have to be careful if the suspects can’t get out either. Who knows what those desperate criminals will do when they’re at their wit’s end.”

“That’s right…” Guan Yao sighed.

The train had just passed Xiaoyang River, and after leaving the water channel that had been frozen for who knew how long, it gradually began to slow down—although it was already moving quite slowly, the wisps of black smoke coming from the engine and the sudden arrival of a turn made the people on the train realize that Za Mu Er was just ahead.

Woo—clatter! This was the first train to enter this small border city today.

“Hiss!” As soon as he got off the train, Yu Chunming shivered. He breathed out a puff of white air and couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s so cold.”

“Regret it?” Guan Yao looked back at him.

Yu Chunming was stubborn: “Regret my ass!”

After saying that, he pushed Guan Yao: “Let’s go, let’s go, it’s freezing to death, I want to go home quickly.”

Na Fei was waiting below the square in her car. She saw the two from afar and quickly opened the window and stuck her head out to shout: “Don’t take those black cabs, I’m here!”

It was the task force’s day off this morning, and Na Fei had specially driven to pick them up. She had been in a drowsy state, but when she saw that Yu Chunming still had his arm in a sling, she finally woke up.

“Why were you in such a hurry to come back? You didn’t even let your injury heal before talking about it,” she complained.

Yu Chunming got into the car and immediately saw the suitcase in the right rear seat: “Is this yours? Where are you going?”

Na Fei started the car and replied, “Mine, I have to go home tomorrow afternoon.”

“Go home… back to Lin City?” Yu Chunming was puzzled, “Can you get away?”

Na Fei sighed, “I have to go even if I can’t get away. My husband said his mother is starting to make trouble at home again, and told me to go back quickly. If I don’t go back, his mother will hang herself.”

“Suicide?” Guan Yao was surprised.

Na Fei waved her hand: “It’s an old problem. She’s urging us to have children, and if we don’t have them, she makes trouble. A small fuss every three days, a big fuss every five days, and if she makes a really big fuss, she threatens to hang herself… Alright, I won’t tell you anymore, my leave hasn’t been approved yet.”

“You shouldn’t go back,” Yu Chunming said, standing and not feeling the pain, “Just get a divorce.”

“That’s easier said than done, it’s not that easy,” Na Fei shook her head.

Yu Chunming continued, “In my opinion, Teacher Feng isn’t some irreplaceable man either, you should quickly find another one, a better one.”

Na Fei had a smile on her lips, and glanced at Guan Yao: “Looks like… Senior, you’ve found a better one?”

Guan Yao was fastening his seatbelt, and he broke out in a cold sweat from Na Fei’s look: “What are you talking about?”

Yu Chunming had already answered for him: “Of course, he’s much better than Han Chen.”

“Our Officer Guan is naturally much better than that kid Han Chen,” Na Fei quickly changed the subject before Guan Yao was completely alarmed, “You don’t know how uncomfortable I’ve been tied to him for the past few weeks. That person has no ability, no brains, what else can he do besides sucking up to the leaders? He’s even younger than me and has a higher rank.”

Speaking of this, Na Fei was so angry that she stepped on the gas and sped off.

Guan Yao hurriedly grabbed the handle: “Is Han Chen still staying in Qianjinping?”

“Basically, everyone’s back,” Na Fei turned the steering wheel, taking the two into the city, “If we didn’t come out, we would have been trapped inside by the heavy snow. We re-checked the village before we left and didn’t find anything unusual, so we left three people on duty and the rest all returned to the branch office, otherwise, how would I dare to ask for leave?”

Yu Chunming asked, “What about the pair of rubber shoes you found before you left? Are they the same as the ones in the San Mine Family Compound?”

Na Fei quickly glanced at Guan Yao: “Officer Guan also told you about this?”

“Can’t I know about this?” Yu Chunming was surprised, “Isn’t it just that when you were changing shifts, you found a rubber shoe footprint outside Qianjinping that looked very similar to the one outside the suspect’s struggle site in the San Mine Family Compound?”

“Ah, yes.” Na Fei obediently continued, “Currently, the size of the footprint and the pattern of the sole all match. The criminal technicians have already started calculating the height and weight of the footprint’s owner based on the degree of depression in the snow. However, because the ground in the San Mine Family Compound is harder, this information has always been missing, so even if we have accurate values, we can’t compare them further. We’ll have to see if we can find a suspect through height and weight.”

Yu Chunming began to think.

“Do you have any ideas?” Na Fei looked at him in the rearview mirror.

Yu Chunming frowned: “What was the motive for the appearance of this footprint outside Qianjinping? Did you find it?”

As soon as these words came out, Guan Yao and Na Fei fell silent at the same time.

That’s right, the task force is currently only comparing data and not investigating the motive for its appearance, entirely because they know that this footprint is related to Meng Changqing’s disappearance.

But Yu Chunming, as an outsider, his professional judgment is first to study the motive. The footprint appeared there because the villagers were going up the mountain to collect firewood, or because the suspect fled to this location? The direction the footprint points, the bark and debris sticking to the footprint, can all, to some extent, allow people to better discover the motive for its appearance.

However, after finding the footprint, the task force immediately and extensively withdrew from Qianjinping due to the heavy snow, which was a bit strange. Did they not need to visit the villagers for this? Or were they afraid of alarming the snake?

So, which grass were they hitting, and which snake were they alarming?

Guan Yao secretly thought it was bad, he brushed it off: “I’ll have to go back and ask Han Chen, I’m not very clear either.”

Na Fei didn’t speak, she drove silently, all the way into the Linchang Staff Family Compound.

“Have you eaten breakfast? Come up and eat some.” After getting out of the car, Guan Yao called out.

“I’m not eating, I have to hurry to the city branch office to find the leader to approve my leave.” Na Fei waved her hand, and before leaving, she specifically said to Yu Chunming, “Senior, take good care of your injury, don’t always worry about the case.”

Yu Chunming raised his chin and told her to pay attention to safety on the way back to Lin City.

Guan Yao’s home was still the same as before he left, only with more dust. Yu Chunming sneezed several times when he entered the house.

“You go wash up first, I’ll change the sheets and duvet cover,” Guan Yao said.

Yu Chunming stood still.

“What’s wrong?” Guan Yao looked at him, “The water pipes… I’ve already had someone fix them.”

Yu Chunming smiled: “Do you think I can wash myself alone?”

Yes, he still had his arm in a sling, how could he wash himself alone?

Guan Yao also froze—did he have to take on the important task of giving Yu Chunming a bath?

“You, how did you manage it in the hospital before?” Guan Yao asked blankly.

“Yu Chang helped me,” Yu Chunming said very kindly, “He’s my own brother, you’re my own brother, it’s all the same.”

How was it the same?

But right now, who else could help him besides Guan Yao? Therefore, the enthusiastic Officer Guan could only bravely shoulder the important task.

He first put the hot water, then invited the man with his head full of tricks into the bathroom.

And the bathroom of the old-fashioned staff family building was indeed too small, two tall men over 1.8 meters squeezed into one place, and the atmosphere instantly became a little fiery.

“I can’t undo my belt with one hand,” Yu Chunming said.

Guan Yao was quite wooden: “Then how did you fasten it when you ran out of the recovery center?”

Yu Chunming blurted out, “I asked the handsome nurse downstairs to help me fasten it.”

Guan Yao clenched his back teeth.

Yu Chunming was very well-behaved, not carrying out any of the “improper acts” that were expected, He honestly let Guan Yao strip off his shirt and pants, then lowered his head and sat on the small stool under the shower.

“Let me take off the bandage for you.” After washing his hair and wiping it three times, Guan Yao said softly.

Yu Chunming didn’t refuse, he allowed Guan Yao to open the straps circle by circle, and then carefully peeled off the gauze pressed on the wound.

This was the first time Guan Yao had directly faced the wound on Yu Chunming’s upper back that had been torn open by a hollow-point bullet. The skin tissue torn by the high-speed bullet was like a sunken star network, fastened on Yu Chunming’s already scarred back. The edges of the horrific wound still had traces of the skin being burned by the nitro.

Now, this wound was healing.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Chunming turned his head, “Are you afraid of blood?”

Guan Yao took a deep breath: “I am a little bit.”

Yu Chunming smiled: “Does it look very scary?”

“Very scary.” Guan Yao nodded.

After all, the bullet hole on the front chest was only 10mm, but the exit wound on the back was torn 10 times larger.

“I’ve really never seen a gunshot wound,” he said.

“You’ve shot and killed people, how could you not have seen a gunshot wound?” Yu Chunming didn’t believe it.

“The people I shoot and kill are all criminal suspects. The bullet hitting them is different from hitting you,” Guan Yao said.

Yu Chunming smiled: “How is it different? Everyone is human, everyone will bleed. Even if it’s a pig, if a bullet pierces its body, there’s no difference from my wound.”

How could there be no difference? Guan Yao took a wet towel and gently wiped Yu Chunming’s bare back. He thought in his heart, if it hits you, I will feel sorry for you.

This sudden thought made Guan Yao’s hand tremble, almost touching the unhealed wound. He sobered up in a flash and quickly put down the towel, asking, “Does it hurt?”

“It’s okay.” Yu Chunming’s eyes flickered, “It hurt a lot at the beginning, and you weren’t there. I was cursing you in my heart every day.”

“What were you cursing me for?” Guan Yao took the showerhead and rinsed the shower gel below the wound.

Yu Chunming replied with a smile, “I was cursing you for being an idiot, for actually recognizing me only now. I really hated you to death.”

Guan Yao paused.

“Alright,” Yu Chunming saw the fleeting loss in his expression at a glance, so he quickly continued, “I’m just kidding, I don’t hate you.”

“I’m sorry,” Guan Yao suddenly said at this time, “I’m sorry, I should have recognized you the first time I saw you.”

The bathroom was filled with steam, and the warm current rose into a layer of white mist, shrouding the two inside.

Yu Chunming seemed to hear a “crack,” the sound of floating ice breaking, new buds sprouting, and ravines being filled. He knew that all the differences, entanglements, and discords between him and Guan Yao, no, between Jiang Xin and Guan Yao, had vanished in an instant. Regardless of whether the future was bright, they already had a brand new beginning.