NOS Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Boundary Marker (10)

For a long time, Jiang Min’s cries filled Yu Chunming’s nightmares.

He would suddenly wake up because of it, sitting alone in the dark room, staring at the cold wall opposite him, unable to stop himself from recalling his desolate childhood.

So, what exactly did Jiang Min represent?

A mother, pain, or a hysterical woman?

Getting rid of her, was it a good thing, luck, or a new nightmare?

Yu Chunming leaned back in the cold seat, smelling the cheap leather, and suddenly felt his eyes stinging.

“What’s your name now?” Qian Guowei, one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding a half-smoked cigarette, glanced at the person in the rearview mirror and chuckled, “Don’t say, you and Jiang Min really do look a bit alike.”

Yu Chunming didn’t speak, his gaze shifting to the scenery outside the window: “This isn’t the way to Jin Gou Mountain No. 1 Forest Ranger Station.”

“Of course, this isn’t the way to Jin Gou Mountain No. 1 Forest Ranger Station,” Qian Guowei turned the steering wheel, leading Yu Chunming onto a small road, “Tonight, we’ll stay around here, and tomorrow morning, we’ll cross the border. As for Li Guanglai, I wish him a speedy death.”

“Stay around here?” Yu Chunming frowned.

Before them lay the banks of the Black Water River, the heart of the Jin A Lin Mountains. Most of the mountain villages were uninhabited, and even the few hunters would evacuate their settlements before the arrival of deep winter.

How did Qian Guowei find a place to stay in this kind of place?

“Come on.” Soon, the car stopped at the foot of a hill. Qian Guowei opened the back door and dragged Yu Chunming, whose hands were tied together, out of the car.

“This used to be a border Post, but later the military restructured, and the Post was abandoned and replaced with a Linchang garrison point.” Qian Guowei said with a grin, “The garrison point has food, drink, and heating equipment. How about it, police comrade, this isn’t too bad, right?”

Yu Chunming was full of questions. After all, the garrison point was usually occupied, unlike the abandoned forest ranger stations, which could serve as shelter for snakeheads.

But now, Yu Chunming had no choice. He could only be forced out of the car at gunpoint by Qian Guowei and enter this gray-white tower.

The tower was warm. The equipment cabinet on the first floor was still filled with frequently used patrol equipment. Walking up to the second floor, the smell of instant noodles wafted towards them. Yu Chunming twitched his nose, smelling the body odor left by the garrison personnel over a long period.

Qian Guowei lifted the curtain, put away his hunting rifle, grabbed the rope, and tied Yu Chunming to a drainpipe. Then, he ordered fiercely: “Stay put and don’t move.”

Yu Chunming didn’t say anything, his gaze falling on a cotton coat hanging on the wall.

Besides some odds and ends, there was also a women’s underwear. Next to the women’s underwear, several pairs of gloves were placed on a stool. The gloves didn’t look big, so the owner was definitely not an adult male.

Qian Guowei didn’t notice Yu Chunming’s gaze. He stretched his shoulders, took off his coat, leaned back in the reclining chair facing the window, and casually picked up the binoculars provided at the garrison point, aiming them out the window.

“I’ve been watching you two since you entered the garrison point’s monitoring range. At first, I couldn’t be 100% sure that the person was Jiang Min, but then I saw that red cotton-padded coat–” Qian Guowei sneered, “That dead old woman still likes to wear bright colors.”

Yu Chunming lowered his eyes and didn’t speak.

Qian Guowei kicked him: “How did you become a police officer? Jiang Min raised you to be like this?”

Yu Chunming tilted to one side, his brow bone hitting the sink. He blinked, feeling a warm flow: “Where are the garrison personnel here?”

Qian Guowei slowly grinned, leaning down and staring at Yu Chunming: “Police comrade, what do you think?”

Yu Chunming’s breathing trembled slightly, and he wanted to shrink back.

But Qian Guowei suddenly reached out and grabbed Yu Chunming’s neck: “Come on, tell your dad, how did you become a police officer? Don’t say, this face looks quite decent and stylish.”

Yu Chunming struggled a few times but couldn’t break free from Qian Guowei’s iron grip. He said coldly, “I’m not your son. My father’s name is Yu Zhendong. You can check. He’s the deputy director of the Provincial Public Security Department. If you kidnap me, be careful you’ll get a bullet.”

Qian Guowei’s hand suddenly tightened, causing Yu Chunming to groan.

“Your dad is a deputy director? You’re kidding me! That Jiang Min was driven back to Za Mu Er because she cheated. Her ex-brother-in-law cursed her as a bitch in front of her.” Qian Guowei grinned, revealing yellow teeth. He leaned closer to examine Yu Chunming, “You actually know it yourself, don’t you?”

Yu Chunming didn’t speak.

Qian Guowei finally let go, spat, and kicked Yu Chunming again: “Son of a bitch, what are you pretending to be here for?”

“What’s your relationship with Zhang Changling?” Yu Chunming suddenly asked.

Qian Guowei paused, narrowing his eyes, his expression uncertain: “You know Zhang Changling?”

Zhang Changling, Duan Mei’s husband, the deputy secretary of One Zero Three Forest Farm, and also a relative of Zhang Nan, the director of No. 2 Timber Factory. According to Jiang Min, this man and Qian Guowei’s father, Qian Xiangqian, were comrades-in-arms in the same trench. Later, he became Qian Guowei’s godfather and died in the No. 2 Factory’s duty room on the day of the fire.

Yu Chunming had many guesses. Duan Mei couldn’t confirm these guesses, Jiang Min couldn’t confirm them, Ai Hua didn’t want to confirm them, and now, finally, there was someone who could confirm them.

Hearing the name “Zhang Changling,” Qian Guowei squatted down again, examining Yu Chunming, his words showing obvious uncertainty: “You know everything?”

Yu Chunming wasn’t sure, but he didn’t show it, answering: “The police have already investigated the events of that year. It was you who killed ‘Little Pear Blossom’ Li Shengnan.”

“Bullshit!” Qian Guowei shouted before he even finished listening.

Yu Chunming’s eyebrows twitched: “Am I wrong?”

Qian Guowei roared: “I haven’t even touched a hair on Li Shengnan’s head! Who told you these things? Was it that dead woman Jiang Min?”

Yu Chunming remained calm: “It has nothing to do with Jiang Min. We found it out ourselves. Li Shengnan left a suicide note, and it’s written on the suicide note.”

“Suicide note?” Qian Guowei’s mouth twitched, “Li Shengnan really has a suicide note?”

“Of course,” Yu Chunming coaxed, “The suicide note is in the hands of our police. It’s full of your, Xu Wen’s, and Ai Hua’s crimes. Oh, that’s right, not just you three, but also Zhang Nan. Do you remember Zhang Nan? He’s the director of No. 2 Timber Factory. I heard you have a good relationship. Zhang Nan has been molesting and sexually assaulting Li Shengnan for a long time. After the matter was exposed, he used Miao Xiaoyun’s connections in the factory to spread rumors that Li Shengnan was having an affair with you, forcing Li Shengnan to hang herself. Are these things all fabricated by me?”

“Bullshit!” Qian Guowei’s face was a little red, “What does Li Shengnan’s death have to do with me? She couldn’t accept Zhang Yijun’s matter!”

“Zhang Yijun?” Yu Chunming paused, then raised his voice, “So, Zhang Changling wanted you and Zhang Nan to find a way to eliminate Li Shengnan, this ticking time bomb, right?”

Qian Guowei choked, his expression freezing.

In his anger, he fell into Yu Chunming’s trap.

Slap! The person who was ashamed and angry immediately raised his hand and slapped Yu Chunming’s face.

He cursed: “You dare to trick me!”

Yu Chunming fell to the ground and chuckled: “I guessed right. The person chasing after you, wanting to kill you, should be Zhang Yijun, right? He’s Li Ying’s biological son, Li Shengnan’s biological brother. For so many years, he’s been killing you to get revenge.”

“I said, I didn’t kill Li Shengnan! That little bitch fell in love with her own brother, and wanted to reveal the dirty things Zhang Nan and Zhang Changling did. As a result, she was targeted by a big leader. She didn’t know her own weight, and insisted on rushing to her death. What does it have to do with me?” Qian Guowei gritted his teeth, “Xu Wen did it, you hear? Xu Wen did it!”

“Xu Wen?” Yu Chunming raised an eyebrow.

This expression made Qian Guowei’s eyes instantly sink, realizing that he had slipped up. This man looked relaxed and leisurely, closing his mouth. He stood up, walked back to the window, and picked up the binoculars he had casually thrown away.

Yu Chunming knew that he had hit a nerve.

So, at the right moment, Yu Chunming changed the subject.

He asked: “Just now by the river, you said that Jiang Min and Li Guanglai harmed you together. What did you mean?”

“The literal meaning.” Qian Guowei replied expressionlessly.

Yu Chunming deliberately said: “It seems you know Jiang Min and Li Guanglai are very familiar.”

Qian Guowei didn’t speak.

Yu Chunming continued: “I remember Jiang Min said that when Li Guanglai was still called Zhang Yijun, Li Shengnan mentioned the name ‘Li Guanglai’ in front of Jiang Min. That was thirty-three years ago.”

Qian Guowei’s expression flickered slightly, but he remained silent.

“Thirty-three years ago, Jiang Min knew Li Guanglai. They’ve probably been having an affair all these years, and you still dared to let Jiang Min help you smuggle yourself out of the country. You’re really brave.” Yu Chunming praised.

Qian Guowei suddenly raised his hand and threw the binoculars at the sink.

Yu Chunming quickly dodged to the side.

But the binoculars weren’t so lucky. They crashed to the ground with a “crack,” and then the lenses broke into two pieces.

“Shut up!” Qian Guowei roared impotently.

Yu Chunming had already figured out this man’s temper. He knew that Qian Guowei wouldn’t hurt him for the time being, so he opened his mouth and said, “If I don’t shut up, what are you going to do?”

“You…”

“Help!” Before Qian Guowei could speak, the floor under Yu Chunming suddenly moved, and a burst of exclamation came from inside.

–It was a woman’s voice.

“Who is it?” Yu Chunming immediately asked.

But at this moment, Qian Guowei stepped forward and kicked him away: “I told you to shut up!”

Then, this furious middle-aged man lifted the movable floor under the sink. There was a hidden compartment inside, and in the dark compartment, there was actually a woman locked up, a disheveled and terrified woman!

This woman was ragged, and her whole body exuded a foul smell. She struggled to crawl out of the dark compartment, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Help, help!” the woman shouted.

Yu Chunming immediately saw the logo on her shirt collar. It turned out that this “prisoner” who was locked under the floor by Qian Guowei was the missing garrison personnel.

However, there had to be at least two garrison personnel at the garrison point. Now that one had been found, where was the other one?

Qian Guowei held his shotgun to the woman’s head, threatening: “If you make another sound, be careful you’ll end up like your man, with your throat slit and thrown into the cellar.”

As soon as these words came out, the woman instantly became quiet. She stared at Yu Chunming with terrified eyes.

What could Yu Chunming do? Right now, apart from self-preservation, there was no other way.

Qian Guowei laughed, saying: “See? That person over there is a police officer, and even he is obediently staying under my control. Do you think you can run away?”

The female garrison personnel sobbed and lowered her head deeply.

Yu Chunming looked at her and suddenly felt waves of pain in his stomach.

That night, under Qian Guowei’s coercion, this poor female garrison personnel, like the past three weeks, took out the vegetables and grains they used for the winter from the storage cabinet, and cooked for Qian Guowei on the only induction cooker under the equipment cabinet on the first floor.

Yu Chunming couldn’t eat a bite. From the afternoon on, he had been trembling all over with stomach pain. By the evening, he was gradually becoming delirious.

The kind female garrison personnel touched his forehead and said to Qian Guowei: “If you don’t send him to the hospital, there might be a big problem.”

Qian Guowei glanced at Yu Chunming’s face, his expression indifferent: “If he dies, it’s none of my business.”

“But…”

“Shut up!” Qian Guowei slammed the table.

Yu Chunming trembled at the sound of the movement, and he trembled and opened his eyes.

“If you’re about to die, just make a sound, and I’ll throw you out into the snow to keep you fresh,” Qian Guowei said.

Yu Chunming laughed softly, blinking away the beads of sweat from his eyelashes, he raised his head and whispered, “If I die, do you think you can escape?”

“Can’t I?” Qian Guowei was confident.

Although Yu Chunming’s breath was weak, he still looked calm and unhurried, saying, “Before I went to the border with Jiang Min, I had already sent the address to my colleagues. They might be on their way here now. And, the car you drove away is my colleague’s. If his car is lost, he will definitely look for it.”

These words were intermittent, but Qian Guowei’s expression changed when he heard them. He frowned and leaned down: “Stop scaring people here.”

“I’m not scaring you,” Yu Chunming gasped a few times, saying, “Qian Guowei, you better leave with me immediately, otherwise, when my colleagues arrive, you only have one way to die.”

Should he believe Yu Chunming?

Qian Guowei had a million thoughts in his mind. At first, he planned to leave this person and leave, but then he thought that having one more person was one more bargaining chip.

However, bargaining chips often become the most uncertain factors.

“It’s a pity that the binoculars were broken by you,” Yu Chunming said regretfully, “Otherwise, you would be able to see in advance when my colleagues will arrive. Now, you can only wait anxiously.”

“Stand up.” Hearing this, Qian Guowei requested without hesitation.

Yu Chunming raised an eyebrow, sitting firmly under the sink: “I’m so weak from the pain that I have no strength. You carry me downstairs.”

Qian Guowei narrowed his eyes, seemingly weighing whether to kill this person directly on the spot.

But soon, reason triumphed over anger. He took a breath, took out a small knife, and cut open the rope tied to Yu Chunming’s wrist.

“Get on.” He said coldly.

But in this flash of lightning, Yu Chunming’s eyes suddenly lit up. The person who had looked sickly suddenly raised his hand and strangled Qian Guowei’s neck.

The female garrison personnel screamed and was about to hide to the side.

“Go get the knife!” Yu Chunming shouted.

The female garrison personnel trembled when she heard this. She gritted her teeth, picked up the small knife on the ground, and decisively stabbed Qian Guowei in the knee.

“Ah!” The injured person cried out in pain, his upper body spasming uncontrollably.

Yu Chunming took the opportunity to tighten his hand, and grabbed a towel, covering it over his mouth.

Before long, the person who had just been flaunting his power passed out.

“Sister,” Yu Chunming wiped the sweat from his forehead and said in a low voice, “Help me carry him into the car.”

The female garrison personnel nodded quickly.

Yu Chunming looked around and saw the wireless transceiver and walkie-talkie that had been damaged by Qian Guowei. He asked, “Don’t you have any other communication equipment here?”

The female garrison personnel pursed her lips and answered: “That person is cautious. As soon as he came, he destroyed everything that could be used to contact the outside world.”

Yu Chunming frowned, looking up at the time.

The female garrison personnel continued: “About three weeks ago, my man and I patrolled on time, but we found a man covered in blood lying by the edge of the forest. We were kind… we kindly saved him, but he turned out to be a gangster. Before he could catch his breath, he stabbed my man three times, and cut, cut his throat and threw him into the cellar… Comrade, are you really a police officer? Please save us, I beg you to save us.”

After the female garrison personnel, who had been humiliated, finished crying and telling her experiences over the past few weeks, Yu Chunming stared at Qian Guowei, who had been suffocated and passed out, and asked, “Don’t you have a daily task of reporting upwards?”

“Report upwards?” The female garrison personnel was stunned, “Yes, we do, but that person is very shrewd. Three weeks ago, when he destroyed the wireless, he first reported the damage to the facilities. Now, the mountain is blocked by heavy snow, and the order from above is to wait another month before the garrison can be rotated, so… so I didn’t have a chance to escape.”

“Don’t be afraid,” Yu Chunming comforted, “Now the border is being strictly checked. My colleagues are near Jin Gou Mountain No. 1 Forest Ranger Station. Before I met this person today at noon, I had already sent out a message. If all goes well… the people who should come will come soon.”

“The people who should come?” The female garrison personnel asked blankly.

“Yes,” Yu Chunming took a deep breath, “The people who should come.”