NOS Chapter 36
by VolareChapter 36: Qianjin Ping (12)
After Guan Yao saw Wang Zhen off and returned to the ward, Yu Chunming was sitting on the bedside with the hot water bottle he had just brought, flipping through the cotton jacket draped over the back of the chair.
“Is this your coat?” Yu Chunming asked.
Before Guan Yao could answer, he continued, “It’s so ugly.”
“What’s ugly about it?” Guan Yao asked, displeased. “Keeping warm is the most important thing. If you go out to the corridor, you should wear it for me.”
Yu Chunming didn’t say anything, throwing the cotton coat aside with obvious disdain.
Guan Yao glanced at his expression and suddenly felt a little guilty. This guilt came for no reason, so that even the words he spoke were much quieter.
“Well… I sent your mentor to the guest house,” he said.
Yu Chunming grunted in response, seemingly not caring about the matter at all.
Guan Yao walked forward, subconsciously wanting to touch his forehead to check his temperature, but he raised his hand halfway, and for some reason, he felt it was inappropriate. So, under Yu Chunming’s gaze, he awkwardly retracted his hand.
“What are you trying to do?” Yu Chunming asked, surprised.
Guan Yao cleared his throat, his eyes darting around. “There’s something, I think… I need to tell you.”
Yu Chunming turned his head to look at him.
“Your mentor, he…” Guan Yao paused. “He talked to me all the way, wanting me to go to the Songlan Criminal Investigation Detachment to work with him.”
Yu Chunming was stunned, looking up, speechless for a long time.
Guan Yao tugged at his wrinkle-free clothes and straightened his already neat collar. He said, “I think you should know about this, after all…”
“Thank you,” Yu Chunming raised the corner of his mouth slightly. “Thank you for telling me this.”
These words did not make Guan Yao look more at ease. He sat in front of Yu Chunming, considering for a long time before saying, “I haven’t agreed yet.”
Yu Chunming raised an eyebrow. “You refused?”
“Not exactly.” Guan Yao pursed his lips. “He told me to think about it, with the closing of this case as the deadline. If I’m willing to go, there will be an internal personnel assessment in the system next April, and he’ll take me then. If I’m not willing to go…”
“Then you’ll stay in Za Mu Er and be the deputy director of the Linchang Police Station,” Yu Chunming said, then added, “And continue to be my leader.”
Guan Yao laughed at what he said. “Are you happy to be led by me?”
“Am I not happy to be led by you?” Yu Chunming retorted.
This conversation finally dispelled the awkwardness of last night. Guan Yao suddenly felt relieved. He took the insulated container, opened the lid. “This is black rice porridge I bought from the breakfast shop downstairs. I added a little sugar. There are also two buns underneath. Eat a little.”
Yu Chunming had no appetite, but he still took the lunch box Guan Yao handed him. He said, “I want to eat the chicken noodle soup you make.”
“You’re getting spoiled, even ordering dishes,” Guan Yao laughed. “I’m going to work this morning. Guan Ning is packing her luggage. Her training camp starts gathering tonight. There’s no one at home to make chicken soup for you. Just eat at the cafeteria with me.”
Yu Chunming took a bite of the bun, looking unhappy.
Guan Yao continued, “Besides, you still have three more tests to do. At least stay in the hospital obediently today. Don’t run around.”
Yu Chunming frowned. “What tests? My fever is gone.”
“Your fever was gone when you were discharged from the hospital the day before yesterday, and what happened?” Guan Yao questioned.
“That was because I accidentally…”
“Accidentally fell into the ditch.” Guan Yao interjected as he peeled an egg for him. “Officer Yu, you’re really capable. You can fall into the ditch yourself while rescuing someone.”
Yu Chunming couldn’t help but shout, “Can you blame me for that? It was clearly Li Xiaotian’s fault. If he hadn’t been so loose-lipped and provoked the person involved, would I have…”
“Stop blaming this one and that one. If it was Li Xiaotian’s problem, would Zhang Hui have released him yesterday?” Guan Yao didn’t know the details.
These words made Yu Chunming drop the lunch box. He said with a cold face, “Guan Yao, it’s my problem that I publicly blamed Li Xiaotian for not handling things properly. But if it weren’t for him, the person involved wouldn’t have been provoked and wouldn’t have fallen into the water with the child. She had just given birth, and the child was so young. If they choked on the water and something happened, who would be responsible? Furthermore, if the person involved hadn’t been rescued in the end, who would be responsible for that life?”
Guan Yao frowned, as if remembering something.
“Li Xiaotian probably didn’t have experience in handling this kind of thing before, and he didn’t know how to communicate well with the person involved. He made a mistake, and I pointed it out. Why did it become my problem?” Yu Chunming was so angry that his chest was heaving. He took two deep breaths and continued, “If the punishment ends up falling on me alone, then it can only be said that your Linchang Police Station’s way of doing things is extremely inappropriate.”
Guan Yao felt a tightness in his chest. “It’s *our* Linchang Police Station.”
Yu Chunming’s eyes flickered, and he didn’t speak.
“Alright, don’t be angry with me. Eat a little more,” Guan Yao tried to gloss over the matter.
Yu Chunming sat without moving.
Guan Yao had no choice but to say, “Then I’ll go back and find out the situation, and after I find out, I’ll give you a satisfactory solution, okay?”
After a long silence, Yu Chunming gave an answer: “I don’t want any solution.”
Guan Yao looked at him.
“I’m just afraid that something like this will happen again in the future,” Yu Chunming said softly.
This wasn’t the first time he had encountered this kind of situation. Yu Chunming clearly knew that the woman named Jiang Min had the same illness.
In his memory, Jiang Min was an extremely temperamental woman. She would often beat and scold her children, and sometimes she would sit alone in her room, crying bitterly.
Sometime in a certain month of a certain year, Jiang Min lay motionless in bed every day, neither eating nor drinking. When others spoke to her, she didn’t respond. The whole person was as if… dead, quiet.
Why was this? No one in the Linchang Staff Family Compound knew. They only knew that Jiang Min was sick, but as for what kind of illness she had, no one knew.
Until one day, the nephew of Auntie Wang, who lived downstairs, the doctor who had gone to the psychiatric department of Songlan General Hospital, came back, and everyone heard a professional term that they had never heard before from this knowledgeable doctor.
At that time, Jiang Min’s two sons were hiding in the corner of the living room, listening attentively to the doctor’s explanation: “There are many reasons for the onset of the disease. Perhaps it is due to stimulation, perhaps it is genetic factors, or perhaps it is hormonal imbalances in women after childbirth that have never been treated, and finally develop more and more severely.”
“That’s right,” Auntie Wang, who knew Jiang Min relatively well, craned her neck to look at the woman lying in the room. “She became like that after giving birth to her eldest son.”
Who was Jiang Min’s eldest son? The boy hiding in the corner didn’t say a word.
“Za Mu Er is cold, and the winter is long. People are always not seeing the sun, and there will be psychological problems. If there is any stimulation, it is easier to choose to commit suicide,” Yu Chunming said calmly.
Guan Yao listened without saying a word.
“So, Li Xiaotian doesn’t understand, and I have an obligation to make him understand,” Yu Chunming paused, then continued, “Of course, I know that he still doesn’t understand.”
Guan Yao sighed silently. “Don’t dwell on it. I’ll explain it to him.”
Although he said it this way, whether he could really explain it clearly was up to Li Xiaotian.
This person had grown up in a small county town for thirty or forty years, and his head was full of old and conservative ideas. How could he change his mind about something he was convinced of with just a few words?
That morning, Guan Yao, who had originally had a calm attitude to talk to him, was first angered by his refusal to admit his mistake.
“Stop trying to smooth things over here and make a decision that everyone is equally at fault,” Li Xiaotian was not only unconvinced, but also said with righteous indignation. “That Yu Chunming relies on his education and the fact that his father is a big leader, acting like a big shot in front of me every day. I’m telling you, I will never indulge him again in the future.”
Guan Yao said with a sullen face, “Repeat what you just said to me.”
Li Xiaotian first glared, then became short of breath. “Re, repeat my ass. I only say what I say once.”
“You even dare to call yourself ‘Laozi’ in front of me?” Guan Yao raised his leg and kicked Li Xiaotian’s butt. “Zhang Hui actually released you first yesterday. He should have made you stay in that lockup overnight.”
“Why should I stay overnight…”
“Because you made a major mistake in handling the problem while on duty!” Guan Yao shouted. “Stand up straight for me. Don’t be crooked like a worm.”
“I…”
“What I what?” Guan Yao didn’t save him any face. “Because of your mistake, the person involved and the comrades in our station fell into the water in this weather. Yu Chunming is still lying in the hospital, and you dare to jump three feet high in front of me?”
It would have been better if he hadn’t mentioned Yu Chunming, but mentioning him immediately caused a problem.
Li Xiaotian’s face changed immediately. He shouted, “What does Yu Chunming lying in the hospital have to do with me? He’s the one who’s fragile. What, if he had drowned yesterday, would I have to cry and offer him incense?”
“Shut your mouth!” Guan Yao slammed the table, scaring Fang Wang, who was originally shrinking in the back watching the show, and pointed his finger at Li Xiaotian. “Listen to what you just said yourself? Look in the mirror again. Do you still look like a people’s policeman? Li Xiaotian, I’m telling you, if something really happens to Yu Chunming because of you, I wouldn’t be here talking to you nicely at all. I would directly report to the chief and have you take off your police uniform and go home to reflect!”
The phrase “talking nicely” left Li Xiaotian dumbfounded. He was stunned, unable to believe that he could hear such words from this person’s mouth.
“Lao Guan,” Li Xiaotian looked at Guan Yao in amazement. “We’ve been brothers for so many years. How can you say that?”
“I’m talking to you about official matters, and you’re talking to me about brotherhood?” Guan Yao couldn’t understand either.
“We’ve known each other for one or twenty years. How long has that kid Yu Chunming been here? Don’t you dislike him? Don’t you look down on him? How can you say that to me for his sake?” Li Xiaotian started to obsess over something Guan Yao never expected.
Guan Yao was physically and mentally exhausted. “I’m talking to you about the matter at hand. Don’t use these words to pressure me.”
“I’m using these words to pressure you?” Li Xiaotian sneered. “You’re simply turning the tables on me! Guan Yao, aren’t you telling me to take off my police uniform and go home to reflect? Okay, I’ll take off my police uniform and go home to reflect now.”
After saying that, he unbuckled his belt, took off his clothes, turned around, and left.
Fang Wang, who was watching the show, couldn’t sit still. He ran forward and pulled him. “Xiaotian, Xiaotian, what are you doing?”
“I’m getting ready to get out of here!” Li Xiaotian cursed at Guan Yao. “I’m just a good-for-nothing, I’m just dog meat that can’t be served at the table, okay? I’m getting out of here, okay?”
This nonsensical “conversation” ended, and Li Xiaotian didn’t understand a single thing Guan Yao wanted to convey. He directly distorted the original meaning to “He and Yu Chunming are already wearing the same pants,” and in the end, he skipped work and went home.
Zhang Hui, the director of the Linchang Police Station, who was about to retire, never expected that just a few months before he was about to gloriously end his mission, he would first encounter the scandal of “the big leader coming to inspect and canceling the station’s annual awards and commendations,” and then the chaos of “several officers in the station fighting among themselves and wanting to resign.”
With a head of white hair, Zhang Hui sighed repeatedly, wondering which deity he had offended this year.
As for Yu Chunming, he had a premonition about this. He leaned against the head of the bed and looked at Meng Changqing, who was peeling an orange, and said, “Will your mentor go back and argue with Li Xiaotian?”
Meng Changqing waved his hand. “No, they’ve been brothers for more than ten years.”
“What if they do argue?” Yu Chunming asked again.
Meng Changqing thought carefully for a moment and replied, “If they do argue, in the end, the mentor will definitely give in.”
“Your mentor will give in?” Yu Chunming raised an eyebrow.
Meng Changqing bit into the orange, confidently. “Of course, as long as it’s not a matter of principle, my mentor will definitely give in.”
Finished, Yu Chunming said in his heart, this time, there won’t even be someone to apologize first.
Sure enough, just after three o’clock in the afternoon, Guan Yao returned to the hospital with a head full of resentment. He first frowned and studied Yu Chunming’s examination report for a long time, then pulled the doctor to ask many things that Yu Chunming thought he would never know. Then, under Meng Changqing’s curious gaze, he opened his mouth and said, “The director found out what happened and sent Li Xiaotian home to reflect.”
“Did he also suspend Brother Xiaotian’s job?” Meng Changqing asked in surprise.
Guan Yao nodded vaguely and sat down by Yu Chunming’s bed. “There’s a slight displacement of a piece of shrapnel under your right rear shoulder.”
Yu Chunming was also surprised. “How do you know I have a piece of shrapnel there?”
Guan Yao looked at the monitor again. “Has your blood oxygen always been this low? Why isn’t it above 95?”
“Yes, did Teacher Wang tell you?” Yu Chunming felt a chill in his heart, wondering what else Wang Meng had told Guan Yao.
But Guan Yao had already gotten up to call the nurse. He pressed the bedside bell for a long time, and after discovering that it was broken, he began to direct Meng Changqing. “It’s time to change the medicine. By the way, have the nurse come and check his blood oxygen.”
Meng Changqing sat there in a daze, still looking stunned.
Yu Chunming continued to ask, “What else did Teacher Wang tell you?”
This time, Guan Yao told the truth. He said, “That’s all. There’s nothing else.”