NOS Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Azalea Peak (6)

Guan Yao felt his chest was filled with ice shards, making it hard to breathe. This wasn’t just from the jolt of the overturned car and his stumble into a snowdrift, but from the phone call he’d received from the Linchang Police Station.

At two in the morning, the task force, worn out from a long day, had finally returned to the Za Mu Er Municipal Branch Bureau.

Guan Yao’s phone screen was black from the cold. He rubbed his hands together and borrowed two heat packs before finally managing to light up the screen.

Then, he saw ten missed calls and a text message.

The first three missed calls were from Yu Chunming, the next seven from the Linchang Police Station. The text was from Liu Sheng.

“Wang Team,” Guan Yao said, his heart sinking as he quickly scanned Liu Sheng’s message. He gripped his phone and said in a daze, “Something seems to have happened.”

“What now?” Wang Zhen was already exhausted.

Guan Yao swallowed hard and said with difficulty, “The suspect…the suspect sent another letter to Chunming.”

Wang Zhen was shocked. “What did you say?”

Guan Yao exhaled and held the phone out to Wang Zhen. “I’m going back to the Linchang Station.”

With that, he turned and left.

What exactly was written in the letter? Actually, apart from the first sentence, the rest was no different from the previous letters: threatening Yu Chunming to stop investigating.

But that first sentence was the key.

“I will kill Meng Changqing…”

The letter was still by Yu Chunming’s side. When Guan Yao entered the hall, the paper was still lying there. Liu Sheng stood silently, at a loss, unsure how to comfort the man who had been sitting there ever since receiving the letter.

“Chunming?” Guan Yao’s voice was hoarse from the blast of wind he’d faced outside. He was panting. “Actually, I…”

“Changqing has been kidnapped by the suspect, his life is uncertain.” Yu Chunming sat behind the desk, propping his forehead with one hand. He pushed the letter forward. “This is going for broke.”

Guan Yao approached, seeing the legendary letter for the first time. He gritted his teeth and said, “Chunming, I…”

Yu Chunming swayed as he stood up, quietly asking, “If it weren’t for this letter, how long would you have kept it from me?”

“We were just…”

“Just what?” Yu Chunming laughed. “Just being kind? Just afraid I couldn’t handle it? Just thinking this shouldn’t happen to me again?”

“Chunming…”

“But it *is* happening again. What can you do about it?” Yu Chunming picked up the letter and threw it at Guan Yao. “Don’t you want to know what the suspect wrote in the letter? Now you can read them. I’ve brought out all seven letters. Read them all.”

With that, Yu Chunming pulled the candy tin from his pocket and slammed it onto the desk.

“Seven letters in total, from January this year until now. In a year and a half, including this one, there are eight letters. Eight letters filled with insults, threats, and my family information…” Yu Chunming tore open the tin and grabbed a handful of the neatly folded letters. He broke down. “The suspect threatened me, saying if I keep investigating, Wang Meng, Yu Huan, and Yu Chang will be in danger. But Wang Zhen…Wang Zhen, none of them believed me, not even Yu Zhenshan. Wang Meng is his wife, Yu Huan and Yu Chang are his children. I’m an outsider, worrying myself sick here. Why? Am I just asking for it?”

Guan Yao couldn’t answer. He could only step forward, put his hands on Yu Chunming’s shoulders, and try to soothe the hysterical man.

But Yu Chunming shook him off, turning to walk out.

“Chunming, I know it’s too late to say anything now, but I promise you, no matter what, we will…”

“Will what?” Yu Chunming stood in the snow, laughing self-deprecatingly. “Will you bring Changqing back alive? Look how hard it’s snowing outside. Do you even believe that yourself?”

Guan Yao was silent.

Yu Chunming covered his face with his left hand. He asked, “Guan Yao, do you know how the sixth letter was delivered to me? The suspect rode *your* bicycle, followed me all the way from the station to the No. 2 Timber Factory, and slipped it behind me when I turned around. Guan Yao, do you know what this letter said? This letter said if I didn’t back down, he would throw your niece into the Ning Nie Li Qi River to feed the fish!”

At this point, Yu Chunming started sobbing, tears streaming down his face. It had been many years since he had cried so desperately. He said, “I didn’t dare stay in Songlan, because I was afraid he would really hurt Wang Meng and Huanhuan. I came back to Za Mu Er, and he followed me back to Za Mu Er. Guan Yao, what am I supposed to do?”

“It’s okay,” Guan Yao pulled Yu Chunming into his arms. “From now on, we can worry together. I’ll be with you, okay? I’ll be with you.”

Yu Chunming raised his red, swollen eyes, staring blankly at Guan Yao.

Guan Yao reached out, gently wiping away the tears under his eyes, then cupped his face and placed a kiss on his frozen, flushed cheeks.

Guan Yao said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m with you.”

Yu Chunming finally quieted down. He lowered his eyes, staring at the white ground. He heard Guan Yao say, “Jiang Xin, even if we die, I’ll die with you.”

Heaven and earth were silent, the wind left no trace.

Snowflakes fell, drifting between the two men’s hair.

That morning, the task force gathered in the second-floor office of the Linchang Police Station.

Wang Zhen carefully took the letters and read them one by one.

“Different handwriting, even different pens used,” he hissed. “These are all written by different people! Didn’t the people writing the letters think there was anything wrong with it?”

Yu Chunming sat among them, propping his forehead, looking exhausted. “The people writing the letters were either deceived like my informant, or they were paid. But we can’t find the suspect’s bank account, and we can’t check his transactions.”

Wang Zhen sighed. “The devil has all the best tunes.”

Just then, Liu Sheng led in a bewildered young man, wrapped in a cotton coat over his pajamas. His eyes were sleepy, clearly having just been dragged out of bed.

“Tang Dafei,” Liu Sheng introduced. “This is the deliveryman responsible for our area.”

Wang Zhen quickly put down the letters and pulled the man forward. “Come, come, young comrade, stand here.”

Tang Dafei greeted everyone nervously, then said timidly, “Police officers, on the way here, I remembered that the letter should have been delivered within the city, because I was also the one who picked it up. The system shows the pickup time was nine o’clock yesterday morning.”

“You were also the one who picked it up?” Guan Yao frowned. “Then, the sender should be in District 2 to District 22 of Za Mu Er.”

“That’s right, and very close to our Linchang Station,” Tang Dafei said.

“Very close?” Everyone immediately became alert.

Guan Yao asked, “Specifically where?”

“Linchang Staff Family Compound,” Tang Dafei replied.

Linchang Staff Family Compound? Wasn’t that… Guan Yao’s home?

Was the suspect using the same trick again, waiting downstairs at Guan Yao’s house to mail the letter, trying to frame Yu Chunming again?

Han Chen’s face looked grim. “Why are we going back to this again?”

Guan Yao also frowned, asking, “Which household in the Linchang Compound specifically, do you remember?”

“That’s hard to say,” Tang Dafei said, embarrassed. “I picked up the letter from the mailbox at the entrance of the Linchang Compound, because… there are so few people sending letters these days, you might not see one in a month, and mostly it’s just tourists sending postcards. But the Linchang Compound isn’t a scenic area, so even postcards are rare. I don’t go there often, so I’m not sure exactly when this letter was put in the mailbox.”

Yu Chunming suddenly looked up. “When was the last time you picked up a letter from the mailbox at the entrance of the Linchang Compound?”

“Maybe three months ago…” Tang Dafei replied.

“The suspect definitely put it in there within the last three weeks,” Guan Yao said, his expression cold. “Maybe it was while we were in Songlan.”

At this moment, Tang Dafei spoke again: “Oh yeah, I also remembered something. About a week ago, I received a complaint that our courier was slacking off, not collecting the letters from the mailbox in a timely manner. The leader scolded me badly. When I picked up the letter yesterday, I suspected whether the person who called me was the sender of this letter. After all… I’ve only delivered one letter in so many days.”

Yu Chunming asked, “What was the person’s tone and voice like? Do you have the number saved?”

“Tone and voice… it seemed, seemed a bit slurred, like he had drunk a lot of alcohol, and he had a bad temper. It looked like a drunkard. As for the number, it was obviously a public phone,” Tang Dafei replied.

“Drunkard?” Guan Yao turned, focusing his gaze on the letters in front of him. “The handwriting…”

“What’s wrong with the handwriting?” Wang Zhen asked suspiciously.

Guan Yao suddenly seemed to remember something. He bent over and rummaged under the table. “I remember after taking Qin Tian’s statement, his statement record sheet is still here…”

“Qin Tian?” Yu Chunming asked in disbelief.

Guan Yao had already found the sheet. He said, “Look at the handwriting in this seventh letter, doesn’t it look like Qin Tian’s writing?”

Qin Tian hadn’t been to school for many days, and his grades were naturally quite bad, but Qin Tian had one special skill: he could write with both his left and right hands, and the writing was different.

As for Guan Yao, he wasn’t Qin Tian’s teacher, and he hadn’t seen much of the man’s “calligraphy,” but he often saw the man’s signature. After each interrogation, Qin Tian would always wave his hand, his signature flying. Therefore, Guan Yao had a deep impression: when Qin Tian wrote “Tian” with his left hand, that stroke always curved upward, while when Qin Tian wrote “Tian” with his right hand, that stroke would droop downward.

And the stroke on the seventh letter was exactly half curving upward and half drooping downward.

“At first glance, there’s nothing special about the handwriting in this letter, but look closely,” Guan Yao picked up the desk lamp, making the table brighter. “Looking closely at the strokes, you can see the direction of the writing. We can judge whether the letter was written with the left or right hand based on where the pen pressure is heavy or light. The upper half of this seventh letter is just right in line with Qin Tian’s habit of writing with his left hand, while the lower half is in line with his habit of writing with his right hand.”

Yu Chunming was dazed by these words. He murmured, “Is it really Qin Tian?”

“Not sure yet,” Guan Yao said in a low voice, “This is just my guess.”

Yu Chunming pressed his forehead, still finding it hard to accept.

“Since it’s a guess, then find a way to verify it,” Wang Zhen took the letter, looked at it under the light for a long time, and then said, “Let’s go, Guan Yao, go to the detention center with me and interrogate this kid again.”

The contents of Qin Tian’s confession last time, a large part of it, Guan Yao didn’t tell Yu Chunming. For example, Qin Tian had tried to destroy his only brother, and Qin Tian’s ability to produce such thoughts was mostly under the direction of others, and Qin Tian knew Li Guanglai, who was disguised as Li Qie.

This information was enough to prove that Guan Yao’s guess was not groundless. He said that Qin Tian was the one who wrote and delivered the letter, and it was indeed highly likely that it was Qin Tian.

Of course, when this was all presented to Qin Tian, he would not admit it.

“I didn’t write that stuff.” The man said without thinking.

Wang Zhen sat opposite him, his face cold. “Whether you admit it or not doesn’t matter. Once our search warrant comes down, and we find the corresponding handwriting at your house, we’ll directly do an appraisal on the system. Even if you don’t admit it, we can convict you.”

Qin Tian’s expression loosened for a moment.

“Also,” Wang Zhen patted the table, “As a police officer, I have an obligation to remind you that legally, Yu Chunming is not your brother at all. Your extortion and coercion of national public officials are enough for the judge to sentence you severely when sentencing, do you understand?”

“Understood,” Qin Tian raised his head. “But I didn’t write these letters.”

Guan Yao suddenly asked at this moment, “Did you pry open the key to my old Flying Pigeon bicycle?”

Qin Tian’s expression stiffened. “What are you talking about?”

“The rear tire of this bicycle is a bit leaky, so it will click when riding. If you intend to deliberately hide from people, then you can only push the bike. Moreover, if the tire tracks are left on the ground, the traces left by the leaky tire are also different from ordinary bicycles.” Guan Yao twitched the corner of his mouth. “One or two months ago, Chunming asked someone to do a vehicle track identification. The identification results were highly consistent with my old Flying Pigeon bicycle. Over the years, our old neighbors have died or left, leaving only a few households, and there are even fewer households with the key to that shed door. Xiao Tian, you tell me, is Auntie Wang going to push this bike to deliver letters to Chunming, or is your mother going to push this bike to deliver letters to Chunming?”

Qin Tian’s hand on the table shook slightly.

He wanted to argue, wanted to explain, wanted to find one suitable reason after another for himself, but at this moment, Qin Tian suddenly realized that no matter how he searched, there seemed to be no reason that could convince Guan Yao, or even… convince himself.

Yu Chunming, or rather, Jiang Xin, was indeed his brother, but what was this brother who had left for twenty or thirty years to him?

Qin Tian hated him, and hated himself, hated that he had finally reached this point today.

“As far as I know, Chunming sends money to your mother every month, right?” Wang Zhen opened his mouth. “How much of this money actually falls into your mother’s hands, and how much is taken by you to squander, do you know it yourself?”

Qin Tian didn’t speak.

“These years, you can say that you’ve been eating Chunming’s food and using Chunming’s things, and you still have the face to do such a thing?” Wang Zhen sneered. “Chunming is a good bamboo shoot from a bad bamboo, you are a dog of a father. Qin Tian, you really didn’t inherit your father’s character at all.”

“My father?” Qin Tian was stunned. “How would you know my father…”

“How would we know,” Wang Zhen snorted, “I’ve checked your ancestors for eighteen generations! Back then, your mother was expelled from the arts troupe, and your father Qin Zhun didn’t dislike her marriage history and child of unknown origin, married her, took care of her. Your father was such a good person, but he actually gave birth to a beast like you. Are you really Qin Zhun’s son? Were you born by Wu Lao San?”

Qin Tian pursed his lips, unable to find words to refute Wang Zhen.

After all, he was indeed raised by Wu Lao San, just as Yu Chunming was indeed raised by Yu Zhenshan. The child of a mouse may not dig holes, but the child raised by a mouse will.

“Alright, let’s not talk about messy things.” Guan Yao raised the letter. “I suddenly remembered something just now. A few days after this thing was delivered to Chunming’s hands two months ago, you caused a case of mistakenly eating drugs. Your friend ‘Brother Xiao Song’ said that the one who threatened him to poison was a tall, thin man wearing a mask and hat and holding a police ID. I remember, Qin Tian, when you were caught by us for suspected theft, you were wearing a hoodie. I just went to flip through the item registration record before you were detained by the detention center, and there was a black cotton mask inside.”

“Guan Yao…”

“You actually directed Song Chen to poison yourself. Qin Tian, who told you that Song Chen had drugs? Was it Li Qie?” Guan Yao asked, “And who gave you such an idea, letting you threaten people with a police ID? Which police officer are you planning to frame these things on?”

“It wasn’t me…”

“Whether it was you or not, the evidence speaks for itself,” Wang Zhen interrupted Qin Tian’s defense. “Open your eyes and look at the evidence, it’s right in front of you, can you say it’s not?”

“So, don’t think you can deceive me,” Guan Yao smiled. “Qin Tian, you have a really good name. The net of heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing through.”

[The author has something to say]

For previous plot details in this chapter, please see chapters 16, 22, 29, and 30.