NOS Chapter 7
by VolareChapter 7: Mopan Mountain (7)
Often? Not really.
Yu Chunming counted carefully, it was just the one trip the day before yesterday at noon—he had barely walked in for three minutes before Guan Yao called him to Mopan Mountain—and of course, this trip this afternoon.
However, Za Mu Er Municipal Hospital really wasn’t big, and there were very few doctors and nurses inside. And Guan Ning just happened to be in the department he went to both times.
This was the biggest drawback of a small city, there were no secrets.
However, Guan Ning’s words really did divert Guan Yao’s attention, even his originally raised voice softened a lot.
“What are you doing at the hospital?” the police officer Guan asked, holding up a slotted spoon used for boiling dumplings.
“Oh, a… a senior from my family came. They’re here in Za Mu Er Municipal Hospital for a work exchange recently,” Yu Chunming avoided Guan Yao’s scrutinizing gaze and replied, lowering his head, “I’m going to see them.”
“A senior? Are they from Songlan?” As soon as Guan Ning heard this, she immediately pushed away her obstructive uncle. Contrary to her past shy demeanor when meeting strangers, she sat directly opposite Yu Chunming and asked tentatively, “Could it be… Professor Wang Meng, Wang Meng?”
“Huh?” Yu Chunming didn’t react for a moment and subconsciously replied, “You know her?”
“Oh dear,” Guan Ning sighed deeply, “She’s the expert who’s been giving us guidance these past few days, she’s incredibly strict. I heard my teaching teacher say that she… she seems to be the former director of the nursing department of some big hospital in Songlan, and now she’s a teacher at the school.”
Yu Chunming touched the tip of his nose and nodded, “She was originally the director of the nursing department at the First Hospital of the Medical University, but last year she was hired by the Medical University to teach at the school.”
“That’s right, that’s right,” Guan Ning’s eyes lit up, she glanced excitedly at Guan Yao, then turned to Yu Chunming warmly and said, “Then she’s a senior in your family, could you help me tell her, to not, not fail me on this…”
“Guan Ning?” Guan Yao scolded in a low voice, “What do you look like?”
Guan Ning shrank her neck and dared not speak.
“Don’t listen to her, whatever it should be is what it should be. It’s not like the expert came all this way just to let you off easy…” Guan Yao didn’t want to owe Yu Chunming any favors, he didn’t want to owe favors to anyone in any aspect.
But Yu Chunming immediately agreed, he said, “Okay, no problem, I’ll go talk to her tomorrow.”
Guan Ning pursed her lips and smiled.
Now, Guan Yao couldn’t say anything, he coldly finished boiling the dumplings, gave Guan Ning and Yu Chunming each a bowl, while he sat next to them drinking soda.
Yu Chunming looked at him, “I want to drink too.”
“Get it yourself.” Guan Yao sat still.
Yu Chunming put down his chopsticks, pushed the bowl in front of Guan Yao, and took Guan Yao’s soda into his own hands.
“You…”
“I haven’t touched it, you eat.” Yu Chunming said.
But I already drank two sips of my soda, Guan Yao was about to speak, but Yu Chunming had already tilted his head back and took a big gulp, so Guan Yao could only swallow the words back into his stomach.
Since he didn’t mind, then what was there for him to say? Guan Yao glanced at the group photo still standing beside Yu Chunming’s hand.
“That…” Just as Guan Yao was hesitating whether to reach out and knock the group photo over, Guan Ning spoke, she said softly, “You’re the Police Man from Songlan that has arrived?”
Yu Chunming glanced at Guan Yao, who was focused on eating his late-night snack, and probed indirectly, “Did your uncle mention me at home before?”
Guan Yao’s heart immediately set off alarm bells, but he didn’t want to tell his niece to be careful in front of Yu Chunming.
Fortunately, Guan Ning wasn’t stupid, she said with a slightly shy expression, “He did mention a word or two, saying that you studied well, and that you’re also a master’s student, and that I should also work hard.”
Of course, this was definitely not Guan Yao’s original words, Yu Chunming knew it well, he chuckled and turned his gaze to the person who was pretending to be nonchalant and deliberately lowering his head to eat.
Therefore, when Guan Yao inadvertently raised his eyes, he met Yu Chunming’s smile full of scrutiny and playfulness.
“You…” Guan Yao’s thoughts instantly stalled.
Like a thousand-year-old iceberg, he never smiled, not only did he not smile, but he was also very indifferent.
However, he didn’t know what was going on these past two days, but this person had repeatedly shown him a smile, Guan Yao thought to himself, it was really abnormal.
However, the abnormality was fleeting, and when Yu Chunming turned his head to drink soda, that beautiful face returned to its original aloof appearance.
Guan Ning, however, noticed something at this moment, “Hey, you have a really long scar there!”
Guan Yao’s eyebrows jumped, and he wanted to stop his niece from getting to the bottom of things, but the words came to his lips, but he couldn’t say them, because, he found that he also wanted to know what that scar was all about.
But Yu Chunming didn’t say it directly, he put down the soda and answered indifferently, “I was scratched by debris during a previous police deployment.”
“Debris…” Guan Ning stretched her head to look, “Oh dear, this place is so close to the ear, if it hurts the inside, it’ll be troublesome.”
She had been doing practical training recently, and the department she was rotating to was the otolaryngology department.
Yu Chunming was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly, “Indeed.”
Guan Ning’s attention was quickly drawn away by other things, she began to chatter about the various things she had seen and heard in the municipal hospital, and about being pursued by the only boy in her class when she was attending health school in He Cheng.
After finishing talking about these things, the little girl breathed a sigh of relief and said, “The girl who I had a good relationship with back then stopped working as a nurse a long time ago. I heard from her boyfriend that she went to Zhu Zhou to work and can earn tens of thousands a month.”
“Are you obsessed with money?” Guan Yao reprimanded as soon as he saw that she was beating around the bush again, “Stop mentioning running away to me, just stay here and behave yourself.”
Yu Chunming raised his eyebrows slightly, knowing why Guan Yao would say this, he didn’t say a word, but his gaze drifted to the Guan family’s large group photo.
The group photo was hanging in the center of the living room wall, now the corners were yellowing.
That was a photo taken in the early spring thirty-three years ago by a family of six at the only photo studio in Za Mu Er at that time. The photo included Guan Yao’s grandmother, Guan Yao’s parents, Guan Yao’s uncle, as well as Guan Yao, who was only four years old at the time, and Guan Na, who was already a little adult.
Guan Na looked like her mother, who died in childbirth, she had a pair of lively and bright eyes, and when she smiled, people couldn’t take their eyes off her.
And now, this pair of equally lively and bright eyes grew on Guan Ning’s face, how could Guan Yao not think of her deceased mother?
“There’s nothing good in the south.” So Yu Chunming also spoke, he said, “I went to Sui City on a business trip once before, it was very hot and humid, and when I caught up with the return to the south, it was wet everywhere in the house.”
Guan Ning had never left the Northeast, so how could she know these things? She stubbornly said, “I just like humid and warm places, Za Mu Er is too cold.”
Yu Chunming continued in a gentle voice, “But the south is not only humid and warm, but there are also many bugs in the south, are you afraid of bugs?”
Guan Ning stubbornly refused to lower her head, “What about bugs? Then, in Songlan and He Cheng, when it’s spring and autumn, there are gnats everywhere, what’s there to be afraid of?”
Yu Chunming raised his eyebrows slightly, “I’m not talking about gnats, I’m talking about cockroaches, have you ever seen a cockroach?”
Guan Ning had never seen one, where would there be cockroaches in a place like Za Mu Er?
So Yu Chunming coaxed and guided her, “With cockroaches, once you find one in the house, it means there’s already a group of them, maybe when you wake up in the morning, it’ll be lying on your pillow, hidden in your shoes. And when you reach out to slap it, it’ll splash out a lot of… juice.”
The corners of Guan Ning’s mouth twitched a few times, and Guan Yao, who was sitting next to her, couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Actually, I didn’t say that I definitely wanted to leave, it’s just, it’s just…” Guan Ning was a little depressed, “It’s just that I don’t want to be a nurse.”
Guan Yao waved his hand, “Stop saying these things, get your diploma first, you can’t go out and mess around in society with only a junior high school diploma.”
After saying that, Guan Yao got up and started clearing the bowls, “Eat and go wash up and sleep, stop mentioning that you don’t want to be a nurse before you graduate.”
Guan Ning walked slowly into the room, not forgetting to instruct Yu Chunming before entering the door to remember to say a few good words for her in front of the expert.
Yu Chunming readily agreed.
It was the first time Guan Yao had seen this person so easy to talk to, and he couldn’t help but feel a sour feeling inside, “Do less of these back door things in the future, kids who are this old should go out and make their own way.”
Yu Chunming casually asked, “Weren’t you about the same age as her when you first raised her?”
“What?” Guan Yao was stunned.
Yu Chunming belatedly realized that his words were a little too intimate, he coughed lightly and turned on his phone to check the time, “I’ll go back to the station, in a while…”
Ding—
Before he could finish speaking, the phone rang at this moment, and then Guan Yao’s phone also vibrated, it was a message from Han Chen.
“Liu Bin has appeared.” After seeing this line of words, the two immediately perked up.
The location where Liu Bin appeared was not far from Mopan Mountain, just outside a driving school in the suburbs of Za Mu Er City. A camera erected on a street corner happened to capture his face.
“It’s a picture from 12:30 in the morning,” That Fei, who took over Guan Yao’s shift last night, said with a tired face after the task force members had arrived, “At that time, he walked out of the driving school on the left side and went north along this street. The camera didn’t capture Liu Bin entering the driving school, so he should have entered from the side door or the rest room behind the driving school training ground, that place is adjacent to a birch forest. After discovering his trail, we also retrieved the monitoring of the driving school from the previous five days, and in the video of the night of September 19, we found his figure again, that was probably… three days ago, the night before the incident.”
Guan Yao bent over, leaned over the computer, and watched the clip of Liu Bin walking out of the driving school back and forth three times, and finally nodded, “It’s definitely him.”
Han Chen looked around at everyone and said, “In that case, let’s take action. Liu Bin has been away from home for nearly a week, but he has entered and exited the driving school twice in this week. I judge that he will definitely go again. Draw a few colleagues from the Linchang Police Station to stake out with us.”
Meng Changqing, who was squeezed in the doorway watching, immediately raised his left hand high, “Me, me, I’ll go.”
Guan Yao knocked him on the head, “So eager.”
In addition to Meng Changqing, Li Xiaotian, Fang Wang and others from the Linchang Police Station also got into the car. The driving school was in the suburbs, located outside the birch forest that Guan Yao had to pass when he went to Longgang Village to take notes before.
“It’s really just right.” Sitting in the car, Guan Yao said to himself.
Meng Changqing stretched his head to look at him, “What’s just right?”
“The location, the distance,” Guan Yao zoomed in on the map on his phone with two fingers and pointed it to Meng Changqing, “From Longgang Village to the driving school, it just so happens to pass through Mopan Mountain, and the abandoned watchtower in Mopan Mountain where the severed hand was found and this driving school, just happen to be connected to Longgang Village in a line.”
“This is…”
“This may be Liu Bin’s trajectory in the past few days.” Guan Yao touched his chin and said thoughtfully, “He left Longgang Village and didn’t go home for a whole week. Where he stayed during that time is a problem. At the same time, the scratch marks on the severed hand and the human tissue belonging to him in the fingernails prove that he must have had a serious conflict with someone during this week. As for where the conflict occurred… perhaps it was on this line of Longgang Village-Watchtower-Driving School. Think about it, what else is on this line?”
“There’s also…” A flash of inspiration flashed in Meng Changqing’s mind, “There’s also the pool of blood under the hillside!”
“Yes, there’s also the pool of blood under the hillside.” Guan Yao lightly gasped.
At this time, it was just dawn, there were few people on the street, and several cars had to stop at a street corner some distance away from the driving school.
Without the leader’s instructions, the few people from the Linchang Police Station had automatically divided into several small groups. Guan Yao took his simple apprentice Meng Changqing, Fang Wang, who didn’t go out on field work much, followed the burly Li Xiaotian, and as for Yu Chunming, everyone naturally pushed him to Han Chen, who was alone in the task force.
It was Meng Changqing’s first time on a stakeout mission, and his heart and eyes were full of excitement. He sat in the driver’s seat, moving the steering wheel for a while, and touching the rearview mirror for a while.
“Save your energy,” Guan Yao kicked this person, “You might have to squat here for a day.”
Meng Changqing smiled and withdrew his hand. He said with some regret, “It would be great if that Police Man from Song Lan that has arrived went out on field work too.”
Guan Yao glanced at him sideways, “You’re, disliking your master for not being a pretty little girl?”
“No, no…” Meng Changqing suddenly felt a chill down his back.
Guan Yao teased him, “That Police Man from Song Lan is Yu Chunming’s junior fellow apprentice, or else, you can talk to your Yu Police officer and ask him to be a matchmaker for you?”
“I, I don’t mean that!” Meng Changqing’s face instantly turned red.
“What’s there to be embarrassed about, Officer Yu is very enthusiastic, if you’re too embarrassed to speak, I’ll speak for you…”
Knock knock knock—
Before they could finish arguing, a knock on the window suddenly rang out on one side. The two turned their heads together and saw Yu Chunming standing outside, looking at them expressionlessly.
“Cough, Officer Yu.” Meng Changqing almost choked on his own saliva.
“Get out of the car.” Yu Chunming waved.
Meng Changqing looked at Guan Yao blankly, then looked at Yu Chunming blankly, “What are you doing getting out of the car for? Has Liu Bin appeared?”
Yu Chunming supported the car door, his tone unquestionable, “You go with Deputy Team Leader Han.”
“Me, me go with Deputy Team Leader Han?” Meng Changqing was pulled out of the car by Yu Chunming, he turned his head to look at his master and said in a daze, “Me go with Deputy Team Leader Han?”
Guan Yao blinked his eyes, then smiled, “Go ahead.”
Meng Changqing walked away with a confused look, but Yu Chunming sat down calmly. He didn’t intend to explain why he suddenly ran here, and he directly ignored Guan Yao’s scrutinizing gaze.
“What’s going on? Tell me, did you quarrel with your… little classmate?” Guan Yao asked with a smile.
Yu Chunming didn’t answer.
Seeing him like this, Guan Yao was secretly happy, but he still deliberately said with concern, “What conflicts can’t be resolved? Why do you have to make it like this? Aren’t you two classmates and colleagues? After so many years, you still haven’t gotten along well?”
“I…”
Knock knock knock—
The familiar knock on the window rang again, but this time the person who came was Han Chen.
Yu Chunming visibly stiffened.
“Officer Han?” Guan Yao poked his head out from the passenger seat, “What’s wrong? Are you going to switch me to your car again? I’m telling you guys, tossing back and forth like this, what if the suspect comes and is exposed again?”
Han Chen smiled and politely raised a bag of hot breakfast, “Police Officer Guan is joking, I’m here to bring you something to eat.”
“Oh, thank you, thank you.” Guan Yao immediately lowered the car window.
Yu Chunming sat still, letting Guan Yao’s arm pass in front of him to take what Han Chen handed over, and refusing to lend a hand.
Han Chen said with concern, “Chunming, you’re prone to hypoglycemia, you have to remember to eat breakfast.”
Yu Chunming frowned slightly, looking a little impatient.
Guan Yao waved to Han Chen and replied very enthusiastically, “It’s okay, I’ll watch over him.”
Han Chen smiled politely, got up and left.
At this moment, the breakfast shop on the street had just opened, and the food that Han Chen sent was all freshly baked. As soon as the lunch box was opened, a fragrant smell immediately overflowed.
Guan Yao sniffed his nose and found two buns and an egg from them, put them in the lunch box lid, and handed them to Yu Chunming, “Your classmate is very concerned about you, why are you always so indifferent?”
Yu Chunming frowned and looked at Guan Yao.
This person seemed to be retaliating for his “holiday” of nosy about that photo last night. Otherwise, with Guan Yao’s insight, how could he not open which pot to lift which pot, and make a fool of himself in front of Yu Chunming everywhere?
Sure enough, after saying the last sentence, Guan Yao deliberately added, “Or, should I give him this seat?”
Yu Chunming remained silent.
“But if you ask me, it’s better not to switch back and forth, after all, this stakeout, it needs…”
“I have a feud with Han Chen.” Before Guan Yao could finish speaking, Yu Chunming said.