NOS Chapter 95

Chapter 95: The Boundary Marker (3)

For over ten years, Officer Guan has been conscientious and dedicated, from his enlistment in the army to the present day, finally ushering in the first disciplinary action of his life.

–Assaulting a colleague.

But standing before Political Commissar Liao Haimin, he held his back exceptionally straight.

“What’s the meaning of this? What does this all mean?” Wang Zhen pointed at him, exasperated. “How could you guys start fighting?”

Guan Yao stood with his hands behind his back, looking calm.

Han Chen stood to the side, his face a mixture of colors. He adjusted his glasses, trying to speak.

“You shut up!” Wang Zhen roared. “This morning, I scolded you for cutting corners and slacking off during the site investigation and interviews with the masses in Hu Yang Village. I didn’t see you for a moment, and you’ve already created such a big mess for me! Comrade Han Chen, captain of the First Brigade of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Jin A Lin Mountain Area Public Security Bureau, is there a problem with your thinking?”

“Master…”

“Don’t call me master, I don’t have a disciple like you!” Wang Zhen scolded.

“Master,” Yu Chunming, sitting on the sofa to the side, spoke up at this moment. He said, “Let it go, we’re about to leave for the mission.”

“Let it go my ass!” Wang Zhen was so angry that he gnashed his teeth. He questioned Han Chen, “Yesterday, didn’t I tell you to take Chen Yupei’s photo and visit every household in Hu Yang Village to see if anyone had seen him?”

Han Chen lowered his head and didn’t speak.

“What did you go and do?” Wang Zhen asked. “There are only a few households in Hu Yang Village. Would it take more than two hours to go through them all? You can’t even stand that little bit of cold, so you had the officers under Captain Min do the work. What, were you going to check the tire tracks for them, or go with them to sneak into the Jin Gou Temple to catch snakeheads?”

“Master, I just…”

“You’re slacking off and being lazy!” Wang Zhen, mindful of Liao Haimin’s presence, didn’t explicitly say that Han Chen used to work diligently in the Municipal Bureau to curry favor with Yu Chunming, which could be considered saving Han Chen some face.

Liao Haimin on the other side also found it strange that Wang Zhen wasn’t reprimanding Guan Yao for hitting Han Chen, but instead was scolding his own disciple. He had no choice but to smooth things over, saying, “Alright, Lao Wang, it didn’t cause any major problems. Let Little Han put some medicine on his face. After eating later, it’s time to depart.”

“Depart…” Wang Zhen snorted coldly. He narrowed his eyes, sizing up Han Chen, and said, “Is it because I asked you to go to the Jin Gou Temple with the task force and Captain Min that you’re in a bad mood, so you went to make trouble with Chunming? Is that it?”

“No…”

“No?” Wang Zhen raised his voice. “I think it is!”

Han Chen said angrily, “Master, I just went to ask Chunming a couple of questions, how was I making trouble? It was Guan Yao who suddenly came at me without rhyme or reason…”

“I suddenly came at you?” Guan Yao immediately stopped being silent. He coldly swept his gaze over Han Chen and asked, “You know very well in your heart what you were going to say.”

“What was I going to say?” Han Chen said indignantly, “I was telling the truth! Master, the day before yesterday, after returning from the hospital, I checked Yu Chunming’s interrogation records of Ai Hua. He asked Ai Hua’s blood type. Master, have you ever thought about why Yu Chunming would ask such a strange question?”

*Pa!* As soon as these words came out, the entire office fell silent.

The police officers, big and small, who were crowding at the door to watch the excitement were all confused, not knowing why Han Chen would suddenly bring this up. They started whispering and exchanging glances. Some even quietly gestured to Han Chen, signaling him to continue.

Wang Zhen, however, pointed at them and cursed, “All of you, get back to work!”

Although Captain Wang of the Songlan Municipal Bureau had the reputation of being “dark-skinned, ruthless, and cunning,” as he grew older and was handling cases in another place, he was always amiable and approachable. No one had ever seen him angry. Now, everyone was suddenly startled by his roar and scattered like frightened birds, no one daring to come forward to listen to the gossip.

At this moment, Han Chen realized the seriousness of the matter.

Yu Chunming sat quietly, and very inappropriately, he smiled, then said, “I remember that on the way to the airport, Officer Han swore solemnly to me. How many days has it been, and he’s already turning against me and denying everything. Officer Han, if you had known about this when we first started school, would you still have doggedly pursued me for four years?”

“What dogged pursuit?” Liao Haimin looked bewildered.

Wang Zhen took a deep breath, staring at Han Chen without speaking.

“I’m indeed not the son of Deputy Director Yu, but so what? Everyone is human, eats grains, and has to be born, grow old, get sick, and die.” Saying this, Yu Chunming smiled self-deprecatingly, “However, being the son of a director is indeed much better than being the son of a rapist. At least, Yu Zhenshan is still a human being.”

Han Chen shuddered and lowered his head.

“Alright, stop standing around here,” Yu Chunming said helplessly, “Master, take your own disciple back and discipline him. Don’t cause trouble in our small place of Za Mu Er.”

Wang Zhen was short of breath after being called “Master” several times by Yu Chunming. He pushed Han Chen, signaling him to get out of here quickly, and then pulled Liao Haimin, wanting to take Liao Haimin away with him.

Unexpectedly, the old political commissar was still immersed in the huge shock he had just experienced. He asked anxiously, “Little Yu, what exactly is dogged pursuit?”

After everyone left and only Yu Chunming was left in the office, Guan Yao, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke, saying, “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Yu Chunming asked in surprise.

“I…”

“How long have you wanted to beat him?” Without waiting for Guan Yao to answer, Yu Chunming asked again.

This stumped Guan Yao. He thought about it carefully, “Probably since the first day he came to the Linchang Police Station.”

“The first day?”

“Yes, the first day.” Guan Yao moved his legs, which had become a little numb from standing, and walked to Yu Chunming’s side. “My intuition is always very accurate.”

“How accurate?” Yu Chunming asked.

Guan Yao raised his eyebrows, not answering.

Yu Chunming said, “You shouldn’t have hit him, you’re getting a disciplinary action for yourself, it’s not worth it.”

“It’s necessary,” Guan Yao replied very seriously, “I promised you.”

Yu Chunming didn’t understand, “What did you promise me?”

Guan Yao looked at him, “I promised you that as long as I’m here, no one can bully you.”

Yu Chunming was stunned, because this wasn’t what Guan Yao had promised him, but what Guan Yao had promised Jiang Xin.

“As long as I’m here, no one can bully you!” Twenty or thirty years ago, Guan Yao, who was not even ten years old, stood on the high platform of the Linchang Staff Family Compound, saying indignantly.

Jiang Xin stood below the high platform, looking at the corner of his mouth that had just been broken by Er Pang, and blinked.

Guan Yao was a little dissatisfied, he emphasized, “I didn’t lie to you.”

“But…” Jiang Xin said a little embarrassedly, “But, you can’t even beat Er Pang.”

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Guan Yao thought for a moment and said, “When we grow up one day, and we can stroll down the street in uniform like the patrolmen at the entrance, no one will be able to bully us!”

Jiang Xin replied, “Guan Yao, those wearing uniforms aren’t patrolmen, they’re police uncles.”

Guan Yao waved his hand and said seriously, “Then let’s be police officers. When we grow up, let’s be police officers together. Then, not only will others not dare to bully us, but we can also protect those who are being bullied.”

Jiang Xin didn’t quite believe it, he asked, “Guan Yao, can I be a police officer too?”

“Of course you can,” Guan Yao jumped off the high platform and put Jiang Xin, who looked like a little bean sprout, in his arms. “When the time comes, we’ll punish evil and promote good, and help the weak. We’ll be like… like the heroes in the storytelling!”

The wind rustled through the poplar trees, and sunlight poured down through the gaps in the leaves, reflecting spots of light on the two little ones. Guan Yao said, Jiang Xin, don’t worry, we’ll grow up in the blink of an eye.

Indeed, they grew up in the blink of an eye.

The sun rose, illuminating the room with bright and clean windows.

Guan Yao bent down and gently kissed Yu Chunming’s forehead. He said, “I have to keep my promise.”

Yu Chunming closed his eyes, waiting for Guan Yao to follow his brow bone and kiss him all the way down.

The two’s breaths intertwined, like two invisible threads, entangled together. Just like their lives, almost from the moment they were born, it was destined that they would merge with each other in this life.

Yu Chunming leaned forward and rubbed his cheek against Guan Yao’s. He smiled and said, “I kept my promise too.”

Guan Yao had never told outsiders why he was so obsessed with staying in Za Mu Er, and now, he could finally honestly say that he had waited for the person he wanted to wait for in this border town.

A long time had passed, so long that the two couldn’t even remember the bits and pieces of twenty or thirty years ago, but time seemed to stand still in place, allowing the two lines that were drifting apart to intersect again.

Yu Chunming said, “The year I graduated from college, I was sent out of the Yu family’s door by Yu Zhenshan with a paternity test report. At that time, I was alone, carrying a suitcase, standing at the Songlan Railway Station, not knowing where to go. But suddenly, when I looked up, I saw the timetable on the big screen scrolling to a train back to Za Mu Er. I suddenly remembered that I wasn’t without a place to go, there was someone still waiting for me in Za Mu Er.”

Guan Yao’s eyes trembled, and he couldn’t help but tighten his arms around Yu Chunming.

“So, I bought a ticket, got on the train, and returned to Za Mu Er after more than ten years.” Yu Chunming looked at Guan Yao. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t find you that time.”

“I hadn’t retired from the army yet.” Guan Yao sighed softly.

“Yeah, you hadn’t retired from the army yet.” Yu Chunming sighed. “I asked a lot of people. Some said you went south to do business, others said you had made meritorious service in the army and would stay in the army to develop, and even more said that you were probably dead in that big fire. I couldn’t find anyone who knew, not even Grandma and Guan Na. I went to the Za Mu Er Armed Forces Department, but I was told that the army’s organization had changed greatly after the military reform, and the old unit that recruited you had been restructured. No one knew where you were or whether you had retired from the army. I had no choice but to stand at the gate of our compound, wanting to find a familiar face to ask, but that day I waited from dawn to dusk and didn’t find a single person. I didn’t dare to go upstairs either, for fear of being discovered by Jiang Min. In the end, I could only carry my suitcase back and sit alone on the train, feeling utterly hopeless.”

“Chunming…”

“And then that’s when Han Chen appeared. I can’t even figure out how this person took advantage of the situation, he actually found my ticket information and chased me all the way to Za Mu Er. You know, this guy chased me for four years, pestering me, being shameless, and using every possible means, so that I really thought he loved me sincerely.” Yu Chunming said, “At that time, I was kicked out of the house, and my large luggage could only be piled up in Yu Chang’s dormitory. That summer vacation, I didn’t even have a place to live, but Han Chen took me back to his hometown and said he would take care of me for the rest of his life, and grow old with me. I took it seriously, Guan Yao, I took it seriously, maybe the me in my early twenties was so naive…”

Guan Yao didn’t speak.

Yeah, what could he say?

This was the first time Yu Chunming had told him how he got together with Han Chen. He didn’t want to listen to these words, but he had to.

Yu Chunming said, “I was so naive that for four years of college, I didn’t even know that all my classmates knew that my dad was the deputy director of the Provincial Department. I was so naive that after entering the Municipal Bureau, during their internal selection, I begged my master to give Han Chen a chance and let him enter the Municipal Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Detachment. Guan Yao, I did this because I thought Han Chen loved me, even at the moment before the explosion last year, when I blocked him behind the source of the explosion, I had no regrets. But in reality, Han Chen didn’t love me at all, he just wanted to climb up on me.”

Guan Yao moved his lips, but couldn’t say the words he wanted to say.

“He thought that I was Yu Zhenshan’s son, so I would bear all the blame, and I would only suffer a superficial injury. But if he were to bear it, it would be hard to say whether he could continue to wear this uniform and be a police officer.” Yu Chunming paused. “So he pushed all the blame onto me. Guan Yao, do you know? In the Songlan 6.13 dismemberment case last year, I went to ‘Yi Jun’s’ residence to investigate. After discovering flammable and explosive chemicals and a map there, I immediately notified Han Chen, asking him to immediately evacuate from the auto repair shop, but he was eager for quick success and insisted on retrieving all the body parts before ending the operation. On the way there, I constantly contacted him via walkie-talkie, asking him to take people away, but Han Chen never listened to me.”

“And then?” Guan Yao asked a pale and weak question.

“And then…” Yu Chunming breathed a sigh of relief. He lowered his eyes and said, “Then, at the moment I rushed into the auto repair shop, the explosion happened. I only had time to pull Han Chen over and block him behind me, the rest… the rest who were close to the wastewater pool, all sacrificed. Zhang Lei was the luckiest, he saved his life, but he still hasn’t woken up.”

Yu Chunming looked into Guan Yao’s eyes and said, “So, I’ve always been very grateful to you. For more than a year, you’re the only one who believed me. Actually, Han Chen wasn’t wrong. In the past, I was stubborn, self-opinionated, and arrogant, so that everyone gloated when he framed me, and when the letter-sending incident happened, no one believed me. But fortunately I have you, Guan Yao. I’ve never said these things before, because I was afraid, afraid that you would also see me as a murderer like everyone else.”

“Chunming…”

“Guan Yao, you don’t have to worry about Han Chen, because a person like him isn’t worth loving, nor is he worth hating.” Yu Chunming leaned forward again, kissed Guan Yao’s cheek, and said, “Be careful today when you go out.”

In this world, who has ever seen Yu Chunming’s gentle side?

If you were to ask Wang Zhen this question, he definitely wouldn’t be able to answer it. After all, Yu Chunming was truly an arrogant, willful, and eccentric person. His tenderness was hidden beneath that arrogant and cold exterior, and no one could truly catch a glimpse of it.

As for Han Chen, he might think he had seen it, but in reality, this person was also quite ignorant.

For example, now, when Yu Chunming’s breath was on his face, Guan Yao suddenly felt that even if he died in the freezing cold, he would have no regrets in this life.

He lowered his head, hugged the person in front of him tightly, and then cupped his face, kissing him from top to bottom.

Finally, Guan Yao said, “I’ll definitely be careful.”

[The author has something to say]

Closing the net, closing the net!