There was a cluster of lights on the parking lot in the distance, it should be Bu Chonghua unlocking the car.
Wu Yu's pupils tightened slightly: "What are you doing here?"
"I… "
"How long are you going to monitor me?"
Lin Fang sighed, leaned forward with his upper body, and looked at him seriously: "There is no one else today, I want to see you myself. I'm going back to Yundian the day after tomorrow, so you can't cooperate with me. Can you reluctantly fill in an 'excellent' on the report?"
The car lights in the distance slowly approached, and Wu Yu's eyes were slightly quenched under the thick eyelashes.
Lin Fang's smile deepened, he leaned over the passenger seat, and pulled him gently: "Get in the car!"
Just as Bu Chonghua turned on the light, the phone vibrated with a buzzing sound, which was a new message from Wu Yu:
[Friends come to pick them up, go first.]
friend
He looked back suspiciously at the hospital building. A black Audi car was turning on its lights. It turned around and drove towards the colorful urban night in the distance, and soon disappeared on the endless street.
"..." I don't know why Bu Chonghua has a strange feeling. Since he was a few years old, he has been in and out of various scenes. This kind of unreasonable intuition is often not clear even for him.
His sharp brows furrowed slightly, and after a while he opened the message and replied with three words—
[understood.]
·
The screen brightened and dimmed. Lin Fang retracted his gaze and smiled, "Your phone is too old, let's change it to a smart one."
Wu Yu put down his phone: "No need."
"Don't you find it slow to surf the Internet?"
"I don't go online."
Lin Fang was stunned for a moment, but then he reacted: "I'm sorry, my brain is short-circuited, it's really..."
Wu Yu said, "It's fine."
His quiet and distant attitude is like a transparent wall, isolating him from the chaotic and prosperous modern society, and outsiders can neither spy on nor take advantage of it. Lin Fang glanced at him in the rearview mirror, the colorful neon lights reflected on his face through the car window, and outlined the side profile with a handsome and clear, but very hard and lingering arc.
"How is it in the Nancheng Detachment?" Lin Fang asked softly.
"good."
"I heard that you have a normal relationship with that Bu Chonghua?"
"You are quite well informed."
Lin Fang sighed: "I have to ensure your safety. This is not only a task, but also my personal wish. So if you always have a strong sense of caution, I will occasionally feel a little..."
Wu Yu suddenly interrupted him: "You guys just want to make sure I don't have a mental imbalance, have post-traumatic stress disorder, and mutate into a sociopathic criminal."
The carriage suddenly fell silent, and Lin Fang keenly grasped a certain point: "PTSD? Who did you learn this word from?"
Wu Yu's already thin lips became even more pursed into a straight line.
"—It doesn't matter, whatever you think." Lin Fang retracted his gaze, and his tone was unexpectedly cold: "But I have told you many times, no matter what 'they' think, my attitude will not change, I just want to make sure you are safe."
Wu Yu didn't say anything.
Audi bathed in feasting and feasting, walking through the lively city center. The cool breeze of the early summer night accompanied by chatter, hawking, flirting and other noisy people habitually entered through the gaps in the car windows, making the carriage more silent.
Neither of them said a word. Wu Yu was leaning against the car window, the shadow cast by his neck bone snaked all the way, silently tucked into the collar of his old white-washed T-shirt.
After a long time, Lin Fang turned his head and sighed: "Do you really want to go back to Yundian to work? Or is it okay not to work?"
Lin Fang was originally a person who was easy to attract the opposite sex, so his lower posture was even more heart-warming, but Wu Yu didn't look at him: "The north is pretty good."
Lin Fang sighed deeply, stopped persuading, and said abruptly after a while: "Nancheng Branch is actually okay. - Nancheng Detachment has the best configuration of Jinhai City's public security system, welfare benefits, and police security. , Resource policies are among the best in North China, as long as you have a good deal with Bu Chonghua, your life will not be too difficult."
When he mentioned Bu Chonghua, Wu Yu glanced slightly from the corner of his eye, and it hit Lin Fang's line of sight.
"Did you learn the word from him?" Lin Fang was completely relieved.
Wu Yu was noncommittal.
Lin Fang seemed to want to ask something, took a breath and held it back, then changed the topic: "—that person Bu Chonghua, I met him back then, he was my college classmate of the same class from a different department. He was very special in school. Famous, so I've heard a few things. You probably sense that he has some background too?"
This is for sure, who can climb to the director level at such a young age without a background, and still talk about it in the Nancheng Branch, and even give Xu Bureau three points of face
The police academy produces so many masters and doctors every year, but not everyone's career can be so smooth.
"His parents are both police officers. It is said that he died when he was very young. He is a martyr. The current Jinhai Public Security Director Song Ping was an ordinary policeman back then. Adopted the orphan of a comrade-in-arms. Later, Song Ping rose to his official career. He wanted to train him to do something else, but he insisted on reporting to the police. So now other detachments go to the city bureau to ask for resources. At the uncle's house, if the Nancheng Detachment hadn't had such an orphan of a martyr with a strong roots, it would not have been possible for all kinds of resources to be tilted like this."
Wu Yu was a little surprised, and it took a long while to say "Oh".
"So if you can avoid conflict with him, try not to conflict with him. It doesn't mean that everyone has to be divided into high and low, mainly because it is unnecessary. After all, you are alone in Jinhai, and even if I want to, you can't take care of it all the time. —”
Lin Fang suddenly stopped abruptly, the car twisted and turned around in the narrow alleys unique to Jinhai City, swerved, and finally rubbed off the path next to the wall and stopped in front of the old-fashioned residential building in the community.
Lin Fang stopped the car and turned off the engine. Then he smiled and asked in a low voice, "You wouldn't be surprised when I said that just now, would you?"
Wu Yu lowered his head and unfastened his seat belt: "No."
- He doesn't care about other people's hints, and no temptation can slightly touch the safe, transparent, cold wall he erected for himself.
Lin Fang sighed helplessly.
"Then I'm leaving. I'll fly back to Yundian at 8 p.m. the day after tomorrow. The next time I come is estimated to be at the end of the year. During this period, if you have any needs, you can contact me or Feng Ting - preferably me, it will be more convenient to implement."
Wu Yu simply dropped the three words he knew, and just got out of the car door, suddenly his wrist was pulled from behind: "Wu Yu!"
Lin Fang stared at his back, his palms dry and hot, "I really like you, this kind of admiration and goodwill have been around for a long time, maybe earlier than you think. When we meet next time, it's better for us to be together. Go out for a drink!"
The surroundings were very quiet, the cicadas in the distance had stopped, only the rustling of moths hitting the streetlights was heard, and the little flowers in the grass swayed in the evening wind.
Wu Yu finally turned his head and said slowly, "A person like you must have a lot of girlfriends."
Lin Fang was suddenly choked on the saliva, coughing and laughter broke out, and then he grabbed Wu Yu's hand so hard that he even reached over half of his body and looked at him in the dark: "You are wrong. Now, I don't have a girlfriend - I'm too high-minded!"
Wu Yu raised his eyebrows and stared at him without saying a word. Lin Fang laughed and let go. The Audi lights came on and gradually disappeared into the night.
Wu Yu didn't go upstairs immediately, and waited until the red taillights completely disappeared before looking around. The shadows of the trees rustled in the night wind, and there was no trace of stalking. Those eyes that were supposed to be protection but were actually full of suspicion and vigilance disappeared. It should be the reason that Lin Fang had ordered in advance.
He took out his phone and checked the time, it was just past nine o'clock.
The latest unclicked message is still stuck in the prompt bar, it is from Bu Chonghua—[Understood.]
"... His parents were both policemen, and it is said that he died when he was very young. A double martyr... "
"I originally wanted to train him to do something else, but he insisted on reporting to the police..."
Wu Yu's eyes were obscure, he opened the message, his thumb was hanging in the air for a moment, as if he wanted to reply; but after a long time he suddenly gave up, shook his head slightly, turned and walked into the dilapidated corridor.
·
At 9:05, Bu Chonghua glanced at his phone again before opening the door.
The last message he sent went unanswered.
He turned off the phone, opened the door, stood at the entrance to change his shoes, and said without turning his head, "I'm back!"
The well-decorated living room was empty, the chandeliers sprinkled on the marble floor, reflecting the bright light, and no one answered.
Bu Chonghua hung up the key, went to the kitchen to put the leftovers and frozen food in the refrigerator into the microwave oven, then took off his clothes and went into the bathroom. The sound of water swelled with the heat, and a tall and strong figure was vaguely reflected on the frosted glass. After a while, he casually wrapped a bath towel around his waist, wiped his wet hair, and pushed out the door.
Dinner is already hot. Bu Chonghua sat on the high stool at the kitchen bar, eating in one hand, answering work emails with the domestic machine issued by the Municipal Bureau in the other hand, dealing with some trivial personnel issues, and revising the last quarter's case closing report after reviewing it. Send it to Liao Gang and let him prepare to send it to the General Affairs Office tomorrow. Then he drank the last sip of soup, packed up the tableware and washed it, went to the study, turned on the computer, and began to read the latest public cases and study materials issued by the Criminal Investigation Bureau.
At half past eleven.
Time to sleep.
Bu Chonghua sat on the bed, charged his phone, and turned off the bedside lamp. With a light snap, the bedroom was plunged into darkness, only the bustling lights from the distant streets shone into the room through the gaps in the curtains, leaving sparkling shadows on the ceiling.
The glass photo frame on the bedside table reflected blurry light, and Bu Chonghua's eyes were fixed on it.
"Then He Xingxing is crazy now?"
"This kid doesn't look like such a weak person. The murderer didn't hurt him. Just witnessing the murder process can scare him crazy?"
…
In the darkness, Bu Chonghua's profile showed an extremely cold and hard outline. After a while, he closed his eyes, and the muscles on his shoulders and back bulged out due to excessive tension—
Don't think about it, he told himself.
Don't think, can't think, let it pass, let it pass—
"Who is it? Tell me or not?!"
"Fuck what the hell is going on?!"
Beating, yelling, punching, and the crackling of the torches mingling. The snow-bright blade reflected cold light in the smoke, pierced into the flesh, blood and minced meat splashed on the wall.
No one noticed the child's red eyes peeking out from the wardrobe, shaking violently with tears, but all whimpering was slammed back by a hand over his mouth.
“… Dad… Mom… Mom… Mmm!”
The hand suddenly exerted force, and the flesh of the palm was squeezed into the gap between the child's teeth.
A scolding sound came from outside the closet: "These two are still fucking hard, and they won't shed tears without seeing the coffin, don't they, I have to force me to give you two some color to see?"
"I'll give you one last chance, who is the informant?"
"Ask you! Who the hell is that 'painter'!"
Say it Dad, say it Mom, please say it, please let it all be over—
But God didn't hear the child's heart-wrenching pleading, and the gangster outside the closet finally lost his last patience: "What the fuck do I do now?"
"Kill that girl!"
-Do not! !
The child slammed forward like crazy, but all the twists were shackled by the hands behind him. In the chaos, he only heard a gunshot, and then everything fell silent. The face slowly fell to the ground.
"… "
The child's pupils trembled, his brain went blank, and there was blood in his teeth.
In just a few seconds, it seemed like a long time before he sluggishly heard scolding from outside: "... see? Do you still talk about it now? If you don't talk about your wife, it will be your end!"
"Don't make a sound, listen," someone whispered against his ear in the dark, "the police are here."
At this moment, there was a faint movement in the distance in the middle of the night, and it was getting closer and closer - it was a siren!
The police car is here!
"Fuck! The note is here!" "Someone tipped off?!" "How is that possible! Let's go!"
There was a panic outside, scolding and complaining about the clutter of footsteps, and then someone asked viciously: "What about this man, the old rules?"
The child's heart was instantly cold, and the next second he heard - "Kill it, hurry up!"
Do not! dad! dad! ! don't want! !
boom!
At the same time as the gunshots rang out, those hands suddenly pulled him back, which prevented him from struggling like a beast!
The force of the dying is not like a nine-year-old child can send out, but at this moment, the shackles coming from behind are stronger and firmer, and even use the whole body to lock any part of the child that can exert force, killing him. In the corner of a small closet.
The hysterical howl was forced to swallow deep in the throat, only the sweetness and stickiness between the teeth was the blood of that person.
But at the time he didn't notice that he had bitten the palm into a bloody mess, and the blood pooled to his chin in the dark, mixed with tears, and hit the neck socket with hot drops.
Whoops - the sound of splashing water is heard outside the house.
wow-
The odor spread into this small space from the gap, it was gasoline!
At this time, it was too late to react. The gangsters were already prepared, and they waved their hands and lit the fire!
There was a loud bang, and the flames roared into the night sky. The child only felt that he was being lifted by the strong pair of hands, and then he heard the man yelling at him, the sound was like thunder blasting in his ears - at this time, he had no idea whether he would be discovered: "I counted Three! Run with me!"
"Daddy, Daddy, Mommy..."
With a loud slap on the face, the child was instantly slapped, and then woken up by the shocking roar:
"run!!"
After a few loud bangs, the child only felt that he was being held and smashed through the closet door. The house was already shrouded in thick smoke, and he didn't even have time to feel if he had stepped on the corpses of his parents that couldn't rest, and was staggered out of the door, through the burning threshold and the front yard, and rushed into the night like crazy.
"Fuck! There's someone there!"
"It's a kid... dammit! Two kids!"
"Catch them!"
The child did not remember that he had ever run so fast, black smoke, flames, wind, gasping, mixed into broken memories whistling past his ears, he only remembered that he was being held tightly by that hand, or was dragged. , galloping over rough mountain roads and muddy grass. The passage of time suddenly became extremely fast and extremely slow, scorching debris whizzed past his ears, and the grass and blades at his feet splattered with mud - it was actually shrapnel.
But at that time, he felt nothing, his mind was completely blank, not even fear and sadness.
thump!
They stepped on the air, turned around in an instant, rolled down the dirt slope in the chaos, and crashed into the bushes!
The severe pain made the child's eyes turn black, and the first reaction was that the bones in the chest were broken, and a little bit of force would pierce the heart. In fear, he heard the siren getting closer and closer, and the red and blue light had already flashed at the end of the mountain road - but he couldn't stand up, even if he gritted his teeth, he couldn't move.
"… over there… "
"You can't let them run for a note..."
"Search, search quickly!"
I'm done, a child has never been so clearly aware.
I'm going to be overtaken, I'm going to be killed by them, over there to reunite with Mom and Dad—
Whoa! The man gritted his teeth and pulled him up. With this action, the dense bushes slapped their faces and bodies. In the dimness, he saw the other party staring at him: "Can you still run?!"
The child shook his head and wiped away more and more tears, trying to see who the person who was desperately trying to save him was.
But it's too dark.
Even with the help of the red and blue police lights in the distance, he could only vaguely feel that the other party's silhouette was very thin - it turned out to be a half-year-old boy, maybe not two years older than himself at all, his forehead and brow bones were bleeding, and his eyes were bright. Scary, in the night there is a cold light flashing.
"…Are we going to die," the child looked at him desperately: "What should we do, we're going to die, we—"
The incoherent whimper was covered by a hand, and the boy gasped and stood up, hoarsely saying, "I want to live."
"… no no… "
"Live to get revenge."
The child shuddered and froze.
The boy's palm rubbed hard on his side cheek. It was a resolute farewell, because then he saw the boy jump out of the pit, like a young leopard with scars and a desperate fight, with a huge explosive force in its thin limbs, and rushed towards the direction of the gangster's pursuit like lightning. !
"there!"
"found it!"
"Hurry up!!"
The noise of people, footsteps, and gunshots mixed together, and they quickly moved to the depths of the woods, while the sirens on the mountain road behind them rang rapidly, and the police finally arrived.
…
The child leaned against the back of the rock, gurgling blood constantly taking away the body temperature, pulling his sanity into the abyss. The last fragment of consciousness was the burning hot half of his cheek, which he thought were his weak, worthless tears before he passed out.
But then he remembered that it was blood.
It came from the firm and bloody palm of the boy.
Afterwards, Bu Chonghua lost his memory for a long time. The doctor said it was due to too much stimulation and a head fall. He stayed in the hospital for a long time. At first, he just lay down, couldn't speak, didn't respond, stared blankly at the ceiling with his eyes open, like a muddleheaded puppet. The entire Municipal Standing Committee and the public security system, as long as the names can be counted, lined up to walk around the hospital bed in turn, crying out loud, mourning, condolences and commendations, taking pictures and showing off... In just a few months, it seems that I have experienced All the absurd and sad dramas in the world, it was not until more than half a year later that this nine-year-old child who was helpless after being consulted by the psychiatrist several times gradually began to have a weak reaction to the outside world.
One day, the nurse slipped during the drip, and the needle suddenly stabbed blood. The trainee nurse was scrambling to find cotton balls, when she suddenly heard the child move his lips and make an extremely weak hoarse voice:
"… Did he survive?"
"what?"
"Did he survive?"
At first everyone thought he was asking his parents, but no one dared to answer.
But he is not. He already knew the answer about his parents.
Song Ping, the later deputy mayor and chief of public security of Jinhai City, was still an ordinary criminal policeman at the time, and it was not until a long time later that he had the opportunity to tell him the answer to this question - "I don't know, I can't find out who the child is, but he survived. The odds should be high."
"… why?"
"No third body was found at the scene, the house has been completely burnt down, and only two have been identified in the rubble—"
Song Ping's voice stopped abruptly, and when he spoke again, he spoke with a hoarseness that was forcibly suppressed: "That group of people will soon be uprooted by the police, and the law and justice will avenge you. Chonghua, life has to let go of many things in order to continue. Go ahead, no matter what happens, your parents hope you are safe."
Everyone wants him to be safe, and no one wants him to inherit his father's legacy. But Bu Chonghua knew that from that bloody late night, his life was destined to go in that direction only, going to a higher school, taking a public examination, becoming a criminal policeman... There was no other destination.
The other side of life that was suddenly shattered was forever frozen in the cold photo frame by the bedside.
"...Good night," Bu Chonghua said in a low voice.
He gently put the photo frame back on the bed, the laughing family of three at the ninth birthday party quietly stared at the void, and the bedroom sank into a long and quiet night.