NOS Chapter 29
by VolareIndeed, Guan Yao’s rage was for this very reason.
If Guan Ning were just another person’s child, today’s reprimand would amount to no more than notifying her parents and offering some criticism and education. But Guan Ning is Guan Yao’s niece, his only family in the world now, which makes the situation entirely different.
“Let’s talk in the office,” Yu Chunming said in a conciliatory tone, rare for him in front of Guan Yao. Lowering his voice, he said, “There are too many people out here. The girl has thin skin. You can’t lecture her here.”
Guan Yao didn’t say a word, turning and heading upstairs.
Yu Chunming hurriedly urged Guan Ning, “Follow him.”
Guan Ning hesitated, unwilling to move.
Yu Chunming had to persuade her again: “Your uncle is tough on the outside but soft on the inside. If you admit your mistake, make a promise, and say a few nice things, he might forgive you.”
Guan Ning pouted, “He won’t.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” Yu Chunming glanced at Guan Yao’s back, deliberately saying, “Every time he argues with me, he’s over it by the next day. You’re his precious niece, is he really going to hold a grudge against you?”
Guan Ning seemed unconvinced.
“Go on,” Yu Chunming, suddenly acting like a counselor, said kindly, “What happened was wrong of you in the first place. Apologizing gives your uncle a way out.”
Guan Yao, already almost to the second floor but still straining to hear what the two were saying, snorted softly, thinking, “What ‘tough on the outside, soft on the inside’? What ‘giving a way out’?” This guy talks without thinking.
But Yu Chunming’s persuasion worked wonders. Guan Ning truly shuffled along the stairs, catching up with Guan Yao.
Once the three of them were in the office, Guan Yao immediately asked angrily, “Did Meng Changqing tell you?”
Yu Chunming raised an eyebrow: “Are you going to dock his bonus this month?”
“Bonus my ass. The performance of the entire Linchang Police Station has already been zeroed out because of you, hasn’t it?” Guan Yao retorted sarcastically. “You have the leisure to meddle in my family affairs?”
Yu Chunming didn’t argue with Guan Yao. He sat behind the desk, casually crossed his legs, and said, “Since it’s a private matter, why did Police Officer Guan lecture a young girl like Guan Ning in front of so many people?”
“I’m teaching her a lesson,” Guan Yao said through gritted teeth.
Yu Chunming sighed: “Instead of teaching her a lesson, you should ask her how she met these problematic youths and how she ended up at their house.”
Hearing this, Guan Yao’s rationality finally returned considerably.
Actually, Guan Ning had already said a lot, but he had been so angry at the time that he hadn’t listened to a word. Now, seeing Yu Chunming bring it up, he realized how important this matter was.
“Alright,” Yu Chunming pointed to the space beside him for Guan Ning. “Sit here.”
“You don’t need to ask…” Guan Yao tried to stop him.
But Yu Chunming ignored him completely, directing, “Police Officer Guan, please go aside and take notes.”
As for Guan Ning, she had already plopped down and was completely ignoring her uncle.
In truth, Guan Ning couldn’t be entirely blamed for falling in love with that “Brother Song,” because from the beginning, Guan Ning wasn’t the one making the first move.
And according to the young girl, the person who introduced her to “Brother Song” was none other than Qin Tian, who lived next door.
“Qin Tian?” Guan Yao frowned at the name. “How did you get involved with Qin Tian?” he asked with distaste.
Guan Ning replied awkwardly, “We’re neighbors living together. Every time I’m on vacation at home, I see him all the time…”
“Forget that. I’m asking why he thought to introduce you to someone so shady,” Guan Yao cut to the chase.
Guan Ning looked at Yu Chunming, who was watching her, and lowered her head in embarrassment. “Before, I was always thinking about going south to work, right? Uncle Qin said he knew someone who also wanted to go, and that person knew the area well and could take me along.”
“What?” Guan Yao’s voice rose suddenly.
Yu Chunming quickly interrupted him, taking over the conversation himself: “Then why did you run to his house this morning?”
Guan Ning replied softly, “He sent me a message last night saying that he had found a factory in Sui City that was hiring these days, asking if I wanted to go. If I wanted to go, I should go to his house to find him after my night shift this morning.”
“Guan Ning, did a dog gnaw your brain?” Guan Yao was beyond furious.
Yu Chunming glared at the man, who was about to hit her, and turned back to ask, “Did Qin Tian tell you what kind of relationship he has with this person?”
Guan Ning thought for a moment and replied, “Uncle Qin said that Brother Song was a nephew of his friend’s family, who used to work with him at the billiard hall and is now working independently.”
“Working independently, doing what?” Yu Chunming asked.
Guan Ning shook her head, “I don’t know that.”
“You don’t know anything and you’re already dating him?” Guan Ning continued to be furious.
“How could I have known he was a drug dealer?” Guan Ning shouted, her eyes red.
Just as the two were about to argue again, Meng Changqing knocked on the office door. He asked sincerely, “Master, that person has confessed pretty much everything. Sister Shu Wen wants you to look at the statement and see if there’s anything to add.”
Guan Yao barely suppressed his anger, pointed sternly at Guan Ning again, signaling her to sit still, and followed Meng Changqing back downstairs.
Once only she and Yu Chunming were left in the office, Guan Ning finally spoke again, indignant: “I’m just dating, why does he have to get so mad?”
Yu Chunming felt helpless towards this little girl and couldn’t help saying, “You’re only sixteen or seventeen, not the age for dating.”
“So what if I’m sixteen or seventeen? When my mom was sixteen or seventeen, she was already out working and earning money!” Guan Ning blurted out.
Yu Chunming’s face darkened when he heard this, and he said sternly, “Don’t ever say that again, especially not in front of your uncle.”
“I…”
“Do you know how your mother died?” Yu Chunming didn’t want to hear Guan Ning’s explanation and asked directly.
Guan Ning’s eyes flickered slightly, without answering. Clearly, she knew.
Although Guan Yao wasn’t good at raising children, he had one good quality: he never hid anything from her. Anything was what it was. He didn’t lie or evade the issue.
Therefore, Guan Ning understood from a young age that her birth mother, Guan Na, had been defiled by a man when she went south to work, and after running home pregnant, she died of depression.
But understanding and comprehending were two different things.
After all, Guan Yao never described to her what kind of person her birth mother, Guan Na, was, and the only female elder in the family, Guan Ning’s great-grandmother, always kept quiet about the past. Therefore, the word “mother,” to Guan Ning, was just a portrait on the dining table. The girl in the portrait was too young, without a hint of “motherly” love and care.
Guan Ning had received the most care from her great-grandmother and uncle. However, the older generation tends to spoil children, and Guan Ning was two generations removed from her great-grandmother, so the spoiling was even more unrestrained. As for Guan Yao, he had been in the border defense forces in his early years, and then became a police officer after returning, rarely home. So, the important task of education had been put aside until now.
Moreover, sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girls are at the age of rebellion. How could a few words of wisdom from their elders correct their behavior?
She still felt wronged. No matter how you look at it, she felt that she was the one who was wronged.
“Wipe away your tears,” Yu Chunming said calmly.
Guan Ning sobbed and kept her head down.
Yu Chunming didn’t offer her a tissue, letting the little girl cry.
Guan Ning waited for a long time, realizing that she wasn’t going to get any comfort. Only then did she lift her head and look at Yu Chunming, who was still watching her.
“I knew your mother,” the person who had been silent just now suddenly said.
Guan Ning paused, her eyes widening instantly.
“She was only twelve years older than me, but I never called her ‘Sister.’ She chased me around for that,” Yu Chunming said slowly. “You look a lot like her, especially your eyes.”
Guan Ning opened her mouth, not knowing whether she was surprised or confused.
“Unfortunately, I left Za Mu Er when I was nine years old and never saw her again,” Yu Chunming paused. “Until I came back this time and saw her portrait on your dining table.”
Guan Ning had no concept of “mother,” and there were no siblings around her. Hearing Yu Chunming say this, all that surfaced in her mind was a void.
However, beyond the void, she suddenly realized something.
“You’re that…” Guan Ning shouted inexplicably.
“Hey,” Yu Chunming raised his index finger, blocking the little girl’s mouth. “Your uncle doesn’t know.”
Guan Ning blinked and immediately covered her mouth with both hands.
Yu Chunming smiled at her faintly: “Let’s keep this as a secret between you and me, okay?”
Guan Ning hesitated for a moment, but nodded, “Okay.”
“If you want, I can tell you the stories of your mother, your uncle, and all the old neighbors in your building back then. I can also intercede for you if you make mistakes in the future, but you have to promise me one condition,” Yu Chunming said.
Guan Ning asked blankly, “What condition?”
“In a while, when your uncle comes back, apologize to him properly, and promise not to mention running away again before you graduate, and never date shady youths again,” Yu Chunming said persuasively. “Of course, this is not just a promise, it’s also something you must do.”
Guan Ning repeated, pouting, “It’s also something I must do.”
Whether she can do it or not? No one knows now. But to Guan Yao’s surprise, the first thing he heard when he came upstairs after reading the statement and interrogating the suspect was Guan Ning apologizing to him.
She wrung her fingers, standing by the door, with two eyes swollen like walnuts, timidly said, “Uncle, I was wrong.”
Guan Yao paused, looking at the little girl without speaking.
“I shouldn’t have dated that kind of bad guy,” Guan Ning carefully worded her words. “No, no, I shouldn’t be dating at this age, and I shouldn’t always be thinking about running away. I should study hard and try to graduate…”
“Wait, wait, wait…” Guan Yao was incredibly astonished.
According to the usual pattern, this precocious girl would argue back and forth with him three or four times before admitting her mistake, appearing coy and shy but actually as stubborn as a mule who wouldn’t turn back until she hit a wall. Even if she apologized, she would never bow her head.
And this appearance was really too abnormal.
Guan Yao thought she was plotting something again, looked up, and found Yu Chunming leaning against the table, smiling at him. Only then did he realize that it wasn’t Guan Ning who was plotting something.
He was full of suspicion, looking at Guan Ning, and the more he looked, the more wrong he felt: “What kind of witchcraft did you drink?”
Guan Ning was surprised: “What witchcraft?”
“If you didn’t drink witchcraft, would you apologize to me so simply?” Guan Yao looked at Yu Chunming again, “Did you invite Grandma Hu the Third here?”
Yu Chunming poked him: “People’s police officers are not allowed to engage in feudal superstition. Police Officer Guan, as a leader, must set an example, understand?”
“Do I understand? I…” Guan Yao was speechless for a moment.
Indeed, Guan Ning’s matter was a timely stop-loss, without any major accidents. The “Brother Song” being interrogated downstairs had also confessed everything. Guan Ning was innocent. Now that she had admitted her mistake, what else could he, as an elder who was both a police officer and an uncle, say?
Guan Yao had no choice but to turn a big issue into a small issue, he waved his hand and said, “Then, then go home, don’t stand here like a log.”
Guan Ning immediately glanced at Yu Chunming and slipped away.
Seeing her leave, Yu Chunming, who had been worried that Guan Ning would reveal the secret, breathed a sigh of relief. He rubbed his temples and prepared to run away as well.
But Guan Yao pressed him down with one hand.
“Anything else?” Yu Chunming asked a little nervously.
Guan Yao sized up his face: “Are you burning up again?”
“No,” Yu Chunming tested the temperature of his forehead with the back of his hand, “I’m all better.”
Guan Yao gestured, but still couldn’t resist reaching out and touching the forehead of the person in front of him.
“It’s not burning.” After confirming it himself, Guan Yao finally put his heart down.
“Alright, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go first…”
“There is,” Guan Yao interrupted Yu Chunming, “There is something I have to ask you about.”
Yu Chunming paused, his eyes falling on the statement record in Guan Yao’s hand: “Is it about the case?”
It was indeed about the case.
Just now, when Guan Yao was interrogating the suspect as usual, he had surprisingly pried something unusual out of the mouth of this drug dealer known as “Brother Song.”
He said that he “casually offered cigarettes” at the entrance of the billiard hall because someone deliberately wanted him to “poison” Qin Tian.
“Deliberately?” Yu Chunming was greatly puzzled. “Did he say who it was?”
“He doesn’t know either,” Guan Yao said. “We’ve already handed over the investigation of his drug source and the upper echelons to the anti-drug squad of the branch office, but poisoning Qin Tian… sounds a bit suspicious.”
Yu Chunming pondered: “Did Qin Tian offend someone?”
“That’s not clear,” Guan Yao thought for a moment and replied, “The main point of suspicion is that this person claims that the person who contacted him… was one of us.”
Yu Chunming frowned: “One of us? Does he mean that a police officer instructed him to poison Qin Tian?”
“Yes,” Guan Yao pointed out the contents of the statement record to Yu Chunming. “‘Six days ago, near Er Ma Road in District 10, one of your people caught me, pressed me into the alley next to it, and used a bag of powder on me to blackmail me into doing something for him.’ And this passage, ‘This person looked quite tall, wearing a mask and a hat, and showed me his police ID. I was very scared at the time, so I agreed. He said he wanted me to find a way to ruin Qin Tian.'”
After Yu Chunming finished reading, he didn’t say anything for a long time.
What was six days ago? He clearly remembered that six days ago was when he had argued with Guan Yao at the station and picked up that letter at Number 35, District 11 of Za Mu Er, the old site of the No. 2 Timber Factory.
So, who exactly is the “police officer” in this drug dealer’s mouth?
[The author has something to say]
Eh, suddenly there are so many collections, everyone please comment more~~
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