NOS Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Fish Cliff Island (7)

Chapter 64: Fish Cliff Island (7)

Yu Chunming said that perhaps those were just angry words, or perhaps, that was Wang Zhen’s true thought.

“When I was admitted to the city bureau’s criminal investigation detachment, he asked people everywhere to find connections, hoping to transfer me away. After I was assigned to his team as an apprentice, he repeatedly declined, unwilling to take me in,” Yu Chunming said calmly. “But back then, I was younger and more ambitious. I was determined not to let anyone look down on me, believing that as long as I did everything well, I could change other people’s minds. But in reality, that was just a pipe dream.”

A year ago, because of that letter, Wang Zhen lost his temper at Yu Chunming in front of all the colleagues in the detachment. He said many harsh things, but Yu Chunming only remembered one sentence.

At the time, he looked at Wang Zhen in disbelief and couldn’t help asking, “How do you know my mom?”

“How would I know?” Wang Zhen threw the letter into Yu Chunming’s arms. “Taking you as an apprentice was the most failed thing I’ve ever done.”

The most failed thing…

Yu Chunming looked blank. It was the first time he felt so helpless that he blankly tried to seek help from the people around him.

But who around him would help him? An explosion and a letter had made even the closest colleagues in the detachment avoid him like the plague.

“I was detained in the Songlan Grand Hotel for political review and investigation for a full four months, from January to early May this year. Added to the previous explosion, for which the responsibility has still not been determined, the initial punishment was ‘multiple crimes combined,’ and the organization suggested directly expelling me from public office and the party,” Yu Chunming said calmly. “Later, possibly out of consideration for Deputy Director Yu, it was finally changed to demotion and transfer from my original unit.”

Then, he was forced to spend the entire month of May in anxiety.

Wang Meng had said countless times, advising him to resign directly, leave the police force, and find a more relaxed and stable job, but Yu Chunming insisted on waiting, even lowering himself to find Yu Zhenshan, begging him to keep him.

“At the time, the political review personnel visited my colleagues in the team, hoping to learn something about me. I later learned that, including Wang Zhen, in order to clear themselves of any relationship with me, no one was willing to clarify things for me,” Yu Chunming tugged at the corner of his mouth and looked at Guan Yao. “Maybe I’m just really bad at dealing with people.”

Guan Yao answered seriously, “That has nothing to do with you. People are selfish, and in that kind of situation, self-preservation is the only way. But…”

He paused, then continued, “But, if I were there, I would definitely believe in you without hesitation.”

“Really?” Yu Chunming raised an eyebrow.

“Of course,” Guan Yao said firmly. “But if I were really there… maybe we would both be exiled to the frontier.”

Yu Chunming laughed.

But Guan Yao suddenly asked at this moment, “So, why didn’t you take out the other letters the murderer sent you to prove your innocence?”

Yu Chunming froze, and his smile gradually disappeared.

Including the ones received in Za Mu Er, he had a total of six letters from the murderer. Apart from the first one that was initially kept at the Songlan City Bureau, Yu Chunming received two letters at his home in Songlan in May of this year, one at the pharmacy downstairs, one on the train to Za Mu Er, and one at the old site of the No. 2 Timber Factory.

Each letter had a different handwriting style, used different stationery, and was even mailed in different ways. The murderer always seemed to be able to accurately locate this inconspicuous policeman and send him a long letter filled with threats.

Yu Chunming never submitted these to the organization again. He quietly put them away, even making a copy of the first letter and keeping it himself, hoping that one day he could catch the murderer and use it to prove his innocence. At the same time, he also hoped that one day the murderer would run out of patience and kill him in some dark alley.

That way, he would be dead, and the people who had doubted him in the past would naturally believe him again.

This was the worst possible outcome, but Yu Chunming had rehearsed this outcome countless times in his mind.

Guan Yao seemed to have guessed that terrible thought. He relentlessly pressed on, determined to get the most honest answer from Yu Chunming’s mouth: “What is it really? Chunming, who are you afraid of, or rather… are you not afraid of anyone at all?”

Yu Chunming moved his lips. He couldn’t answer this question, because once he gave an answer, it would prove that he did indeed have other letters from the murderer in his possession.

“Chunming, in the past, you didn’t want people to know because you were afraid they wouldn’t understand. But what about now? Who wouldn’t understand you now?” Guan Yao coaxed. “Ge Xiaopei is Li Guanglai’s friend, and Li Guanglai is suspected of being the ‘Yi Jun’ in the Mopan Mountain dismemberment case. The two of them joined forces to frame you, making you lose the trust of the police force and forcing you to leave your post. Don’t you want to find out why?”

Yu Chunming didn’t want to, or rather, he already knew the reason.

“Team Leader Wang can’t say it, so I’ll say it. Chunming, you can never forgive the colleagues in the city bureau’s detachment, but you can’t not forgive yourself, because the person who was wrong was never you,” Guan Yao said loudly.

So, who was the one who was wrong?

It was the murderer, Wang Zhen and the police colleagues who misunderstood him, Jiang Min who unilaterally sent him away, and Yu Zhenshan, who was always aloof.

Tracing back to the source, it seemed that everyone was wrong, but in the end, Yu Chunming was the one who suffered in vain. So Yu Chunming hated himself, hated himself for leaving Za Mu Er, hated himself for begging Yu Zhenshan in such a servile manner, and hated himself for being so weak that he dared not tell Guan Yao about the past.

He took one wrong step after another, ultimately making mistakes that could not be undone, and then fled in disarray, abandoning his armor and weapons along the way.

But fortunately, heaven had mercy and allowed him to meet Guan Yao again.

“It’s useless,” Yu Chunming slowly exhaled. “I’ve investigated it, it’s useless. It’s all a dead cycle. The person who sends the letters and the way they send them are either related to me or to the people around me. The murderer is targeting me alone, so there’s no need to continue to beat a dead horse. As long as the case is solved, everything will naturally become clear.”

This was ambiguous, neither answering the question raised nor revealing any facts.

Guan Yao was unwilling: “If the person sending the letters and the way they send them are really related to you or the people around you, then you should let them know even more…”

“What’s the use of letting them know?” Yu Chunming asked in return, “Have you ever thought that the murderer is doing this because of a personal vendetta, and not because I’m a policeman?”

These words stunned Guan Yao.

And Yu Chunming regretted it as soon as he said it. He was just about to explain, but he accidentally pulled at his wound, immediately turning pale with pain and almost falling to the ground.

Guan Yao quickly reached out to support him: “Forget it, forget it, let’s not talk about this.”

Although he said that, Guan Yao had a question imprinted in his mind. What exactly did Yu Chunming mean by “personal vendetta”?

Did it only refer to the near miss investigation at the Songcheng Building?

But if the murderer’s idea was to prevent the investigation by sending letters, the first letter would have been enough. The remaining letters, apart from further exposing himself, would have no benefit.

Yu Chunming was right, it was a personal vendetta.

That evening, after people had gone to bed, Guan Yao received a call from Za Mu Er. The colleagues there had re-interrogated Ge Xiaopei, but had failed to get any useful information. Ge Xiaopei still gave the same story, claiming that he had no idea who hired him to deliver the letters.

But when asked about “Li Guanglai,” Ge Xiaopei was startled.

“His original words were that Li Guanglai is very cunning and got him addicted to gambling, otherwise he wouldn’t have fallen to this point,” the colleague from the task force said.

“Nothing else?” Standing in the stairwell, Guan Yao frowned and asked.

“Other?” The colleague from the task force flipped through Ge Xiaopei’s statement record. “He didn’t say anything else. When he spoke, he looked around and kept asking why the police officer who interrogated him last time wasn’t there.”

Guan Yao replied helplessly, “Thank you for your trouble. This person is very cunning, and it may take several interrogations before he opens his mouth.”

“Understood,” the other side responded.

After hanging up the phone, Guan Yao slowly walked back to the ward. Halfway there, he was stopped by a stealthy female voice: “Police Officer Guan?”

Guan Yao turned around and saw Yu Huan tiptoeing.

“Is my brother asleep?” Yu Huan asked.

“He’s asleep,” Guan Yao glanced inside through the glass. “Just fell asleep. Why are you here at this hour?”

It was already very late. As far as Guan Yao knew, the Yu family had a curfew. If Yu Huan didn’t go back before ten o’clock, she would definitely receive a death-defying call from Deputy Director Yu.

But the current Yu Huan looked quite leisurely. She had a small crossbody bag on her back and peered at the sleeping Yu Chunming on the door, then said, “I was shopping with friends and stopped by to take a look at him, and happened to be looking for… Police Officer Guan.”

“Looking for me?” Guan Yao was surprised. “What do you want from me?”

Yu Huan smiled. She shuffled closer and asked softly, “Police Officer Guan, are you… the friend my brother had when he was a kid?”

Guan Yao raised an eyebrow slightly. “Did Chunming tell you?”

“No,” Yu Huan was a little embarrassed. She considered it for a long time, then answered very carefully, “I saw that group photo of you and him. Your name is on the photo. I can’t remember the exact name, but I only remember the word ‘Guan’. After returning home from Za Mu Er last time, I thought about it for a long time, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt that you were Police Officer Guan. But my brother still doesn’t admit it. He still resents me…”

Yu Huan was embarrassed to continue after saying half of it.

“Resents you for what?” Guan Yao asked unexpectedly.

Yu Huan “hehe” smiled: “Police Officer Guan, don’t be angry with me. I was quite a troublemaker when I was a kid. Back then, because I hated my brother, I secretly tore up that photo he carried with him, which made him run away from home and wander outside for a long time.”

“Wandered outside for a long time?” Guan Yao was very surprised.

“That’s right,” Yu Huan chattered on. “If my dad didn’t have a lot of police officers under him to catch him back, he would have really run back to Za Mu Er all by himself.”

Guan Yao had never heard of the story of the young Yu Chunming. He couldn’t help breaking his bottom line and continued to ask, “So, how did you two reconcile later?”

“We never reconciled,” Yu Huan said frankly. “My brother is very petty. Because of this, he probably still hates me now, but I don’t hate him anymore. I’m generous.”

Guan Yao was amused by this.

But Yu Huan then sighed: “Actually, it’s not really that I’m generous, it can only be said that… I grew up, thought things through, and suddenly realized… that I was actually a little sorry for him. When I was in college, I had a conflict with my ex-boyfriend once, and ran out to drink alone. As a result, I was almost tricked into bed by a gangster in the bar. At that time, he had just joined the criminal investigation team and was still an intern. In order to stand up for me, he got a punishment. Uncle Wang scolded him fiercely at the time. I still feel… very sorry about it.”

“It’s okay,” Guan Yao comforted, “Now it’s only your brother who scolds your Uncle Wang.”

“Really?” Yu Huan was happy. After being happy, she said very seriously, “Police Officer Guan, the only reason I came tonight was to tell you that I heard in the afternoon… that you’ve been on a business trip at the city bureau recently, dealing with Jiang An and his group. You must not believe what they say about my brother. My brother is definitely not the kind of person they say he is.”

Guan Yao was stunned for a moment, then nodded: “I only believe Chunming.”

Having received this sentence, Yu Huan left with one step and three turns of her head. The corridor returned to silence. Guan Yao took a deep breath and smelled the disinfectant that Yu Chunming hated the most.

He suddenly remembered what Wang Zhen had mentioned on the way back to Songlan from Hua City.

“Around the end of May,” Wang Zhen said at the time, “Around the end of May, after the initial discussion result of the punishment came out, Chunming came to me once. He asked me if I could give him another chance, he said he could definitely find important clues and catch the suspect.”

Wang Zhen shook his head when he said this: “He must have received a letter again at that time, but at that time our entire criminal investigation team was undergoing supervision and political review because of this matter. I had no time to worry about him at all, so I scolded him away casually. As a result, the next day, Han Chen called me and said that he couldn’t contact Chunming.”

Guan Yao looked at Wang Zhen, waiting for him to continue.

Wang Zhen rubbed his face and instead talked about another matter: “Then in early June, the punishment changed again, it became a demotion. I later heard that he had found Deputy Director Yu and asked him to keep him in the police force. Guan Yao, you may not know, Chunming and Deputy Director Yu have a normal relationship. After he graduated from college, the two of them had never even met privately. So, when I heard about this, I couldn’t help but wonder if Chunming really had some hidden secret, because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have humbled himself and begged people everywhere at the expense of losing face.”

“Did you follow the lead in the letter Chunming provided to continue the investigation?” Guan Yao asked.

Wang Zhen glanced at him and pulled out a video from a year ago from his phone: “This is the surveillance I retrieved from the meeting place based on the contact information provided by Chunming’s informant. As usual, and also to protect the informant, Chunming generally doesn’t meet with him directly, but instead sends the contact content in the form of a document express to the previously agreed location. After I retrieved the surveillance, I found that this time, the person who delivered the contact content to the designated location wasn’t a courier, but a man who had completely covered his facial features.”

Guan Yao took the phone and frowned as he watched this video.

Wang Zhen continued: “In order to find out the man’s movements, I asked the traffic police team to retrieve the surveillance at nearby intersections, and then following the surveillance, I found that this person disappeared near a very suspicious address.”

Guan Yao returned the phone to Wang Zhen: “What address?”

“No. 83 Tianxing Avenue, a coffee shop,” Wang Zhen replied.

“No. 83 Tianxing Avenue, a coffee shop…” Guan Yao repeated.

“Don’t you remember, what kind of place is this?” Wang Zhen asked.

Guan Yao was a little puzzled and opened his mouth to ask a question, but before he could ask, he suddenly remembered the testimony he had obtained during the interrogation: “Ge Xiaopei used to deliver goods here!”

“That’s right.” Wang Zhen nodded. “It’s just that back in May and June, Ge Xiaopei hadn’t been caught yet, and I didn’t know what was special about this address. But now, this address can directly prove that the letter was sent by the murderer. Before, I should have believed Chunming.”

Of course, it was too late to say that he believed him now, because Yu Chunming seemed to have made up his mind not to reveal any information about the remaining letters. He kept his mouth shut, and Guan Yao couldn’t use torture to extract a confession, so he had to put this matter aside for now.

“Yesterday afternoon, Jiang An and the others re-questioned Yang Xiaowei and extracted some strange information from Yang Xiaowei’s mouth.” Guan Yao casually mentioned as he washed Yu Chunming’s face early in the morning.

“How strange?” Yu Chunming took the towel Guan Yao handed him with his left hand.

Guan Yao replied: “Yang Xiaowei said that Wang Xinsheng couldn’t be considered He Wang’s real friend. The two only had deep connections of interests, and He Wang seemed to hate Wang Xinsheng very much in his heart. Yang Xiaowei claimed that He Wang had said that Wang Xinsheng had almost killed him.”

“Wang Xinsheng almost killed him?” Yu Chunming pinched the towel, thought for a long time, and then said, “That is… Xu Wen almost killed Qian Guowei.”

“That’s right.” Guan Yao nodded. “You can say that.”

“Which year is this from?” Yu Chunming muttered.

“Maybe, it’s just the things that happened thirty-three years ago, on the way Qian Guowei, Xu Wen, and Ai Hua fled after the fire.” Guan Yao replied.

[Author’s Note]

I plan to update every day this month, and I also want to start a new novel…

PS: See Chapters 15 and 16 for details on the previous plot mentioned in this chapter.