FY - 54

As Feng Zhongliang was being led away, his eyes never left Si Wen.

Si Wen knew that the Ministry of Public Security would at most dismiss Feng Zhongliang from his position and put him under investigation. They wouldn’t touch him. After all, he had been the head of several special task forces in anti-drug operations and had achieved great success, seizing countless drugs and making significant contributions to the country.

The country, when it was aware of the facts, was still fair in its rewards and punishments.

Si Wen’s situation was much more tragic. The country didn’t know about him. Or rather, someone had hidden him so well that even if he died, no one would know.

After Feng Zhongliang’s car left, Wei Li’an and Zheng Zhi took Si Wen to the station.

In the interrogation room, Si Wen was still impeccable, from his hair to his pants. In contrast, they were drenched in sweat, looking as if they had just escaped from a famine.

Wei Li’an stood outside the interrogation room, his arms crossed, watching Si Wen’s face on the monitor.

Zheng Zhi poured him a cup of tea. “The surveillance cameras in the hotel lobby and parking lot are broken. Only the ones in the hallway are working, but that room is in a blind spot. The special elevator has a camera, but no one was seen. We’re guessing they went up through the service elevator or walked up.”

Wei Li’an had guessed as much. If it was a drug deal, Xue Peng wouldn’t have let them catch such a flaw in the surveillance. “Better safe than sorry” was the motto of most drug dealers. “So, we can’t find anything from the surveillance?”

Zheng Zhi nodded. “The message from our bureau is to let him go if there’s nothing to incriminate him. We have to consider the public opinion.”

Wei Li’an knew this. He wished he could release Si Wen immediately, but they still had to follow procedure.

Before, he had only made a reasonable assumption based on circumstantial evidence, but now, seeing the look Feng Zhongliang gave Si Wen, he felt it was highly likely. Si Wen was that undercover agent from back then, and they had indeed fallen out.

He took a sip of tea, handed the mug to Zheng Zhi, and went in with the interrogator to question Si Wen.

The interrogator was the only police officer in Qizhou who had reached the highest level in micro-expression analysis. He usually worked with another interrogator, where his role was to observe while the partner asked questions. Working with Wei Li’an today, he adapted quickly.

Wei Li’an didn’t waste time and went straight to the point. “Why were you in room 8021 of the Xiyi Hotel?”

Si Wen was very cooperative. “Xue Peng gave me forty million. The account wasn’t his, but his name was in the notes. However, the purpose of the funds wasn’t specified. I’ve been trying to find him recently. I heard he was in Xiyi, so I went there.”

Wei Li’an called the clerical department. “Have you gotten the transfer details from Dongsheng Pharmaceutical?”

The clerk replied, “Yes, I have. It was forty million.”

Wei Li’an hung up the phone. “Then how did you know he was in Xiyi?”

Si Wen immediately shifted the blame to the police. “The same way you knew.”

Wei Li’an couldn’t ask any more questions. He had followed Si Wen there. Unilaterally following someone to a private location without reporting it to his superiors was a violation of regulations. Although he had applied for support from his superiors later, Si Wen had a certain influence in Qizhou. If he were released without charges and the private surveillance was amplified by the public, the police would be subjected to some public criticism, which would make future work more difficult.

Si Wen was truly smart.

For some reason, even with Si Wen being so flawless, Wei Li’an felt a little pleased. Was it because the person he admired was so incredible? He thought so.

He continued to ask, “Did you see them dealing drugs at the time?”

Si Wen: “They stopped as soon as I walked in. Then it got chaotic. Xue Peng wanted to kill me, but Zhao Youjin said they couldn’t. They argued, then they fought, and then I saw Zhao Youjin shoot and kill Xue Peng.”

Wei Li’an glanced at the interrogator next to him.

The interrogator nodded to him, indicating that he hadn’t detected any change in Si Wen’s expression.

Wei Li’an asked again, “And then?”

Si Wen: “Then Director Feng came in, and after that, you did.”

At this point, the procedure was complete. Wei Li’an and the interrogator came out.

The interrogator closed his notebook. “If he’s not truly innocent, then his counter-interrogation skills are truly remarkable.”

Wei Li’an smiled. Of course, he was remarkable.

The interrogator left. Zheng Zhi walked over and said, “The anti-narcotics team has a message. They said Zhao Youjin confessed everything. Xue Peng helped her cover the forty million she lost in her business and wanted to use her influence in Qizhou to sell drugs. She disagreed, so she used his gun to kill him.”

Wei Li’an rubbed his forehead. There wasn’t a single flaw.

But was that really what happened?

He asked again, “What did Director Feng say?”

Zheng Zhi shook his head. “We don’t know about that, but he should be fine. If he says he was worried about his wife, it’s justifiable in terms of emotions, reason, and law. Of course, even if he doesn’t say anything, the Ministry of Public Security won’t do anything to him.”

Wei Li’an nodded. “Okay. Release Si Wen.”

Zheng Zhi patted him on the shoulder and sighed. “This whole night, all we got was the body of the fugitive Xue Peng—no, not arrested, just his body—and two hundred grams of meth. A complete waste of time.”

Wei Li’an walked to the monitor and looked at Si Wen again. How could it be a waste of time?

Feng Zhongliang and his wife, Zhao Youjin, were linked to drug traffickers and had been exposed by major media outlets. Although the higher-ups ordered the information to be removed, it was too late.

Was this Si Wen’s goal?

Was he trying to tarnish Feng Zhongliang’s reputation? What exactly happened back then?

Why did they become so irreconcilable?

Based on the evidence, Si Wen was completely innocent. No one could convict him, but Wei Li’an felt that this was an act of revenge. He was getting revenge on Feng Zhongliang, even at the cost of dragging Feng Zhongliang’s wife down.

However, since there was no evidence, Wei Li’an decided to keep his mouth shut.

When he had this thought, he had already firmly sided with Si Wen.

This shows how important a person’s beliefs are in their youth. Even after everything has changed, he would still make an exception for that belief.

He firmly believed that his idol was a man of steel and unyielding integrity.

This was from his heart and his mind.

________________________________________

Si Wen left the police station and rushed back to the mountain resort without stopping.

He received a call on the way.

“Brother, you said you’d hand Xue Peng over to me.”

Si Wen told him, “The family has the right to manage and dispose of Xue Peng’s body, but he has no family, so the relevant departments will handle it. He’ll be sent to the morgue for cremation in the next couple of days. You handle it yourself.”

“Brother, you... you’re amazing.”

“Keep a close eye on Hu Lai. If anything happens to him, I’ll feed you to the dogs alive.”

“Got it!”

He hung up the phone and stepped on the gas.

Zhou Yan was waiting for him, and he couldn’t let her wait too long.

After an hour, he finally arrived.

He got out of the car and strode inside, ignoring and not hearing the staff who greeted him.

Zhou Yan was in the front yard, squatting under a tree, bored and watching ants move.

The moment he saw her, his heart was at ease. He even felt that the winter night wind was not so bone-chilling anymore.

He walked slowly toward her, trying not to make a sound. Even if he did, she wouldn’t have noticed. She didn’t even notice the dead leaves on her skirt from the tree pit. She just held her knees, and her arms looked especially fair and delicate in the surreal light of the resort.

She looked like a treasure. She really did.

He walked behind her and squatted down, reaching for her hand. The moment he touched her, she flinched, followed by a brief pause, as if she was trying to figure out whose hand it was. When she held his hand back, she must have figured it out.

Holding his hand tightly, she turned and hugged the person behind her. She didn’t say anything, just hugged him tightly, her whole body trembling.

Si Wen held her, gently stroking her back.

Zhou Yan stayed like that for a long time, releasing all the tension she had held in when she saw the news that Si Wen had been taken away by the police.

Si Wen felt a pang of heartache. He reached his hands to her knees, picked her up in a bridal carry, and placed her on a low stone table nearby, letting her sit down.

He squatted down, his thumb stroking her soft, colorless lips. “What are you doing?”

Every subtle expression of Zhou Yan’s was one of sadness. “I was missing you.”

Si Wen’s eyelashes drooped, a half-arc of heartache.

He took her hand and kissed it delicately.

Zhou Yan didn’t ask him what he went to do or what happened. She wouldn’t ask now, and she wouldn’t ask in the future. She just missed him, very much.

Si Wen changed the subject. “Did you eat?”

Zhou Yan shook her head. “I was too busy missing you.”

Si Wen’s thumb gently caressed her cheek. “You like me that much?”

Zhou Yan shook her head. “I love you.”

Si Wen wiped away her tears. “I know.”

Zhou Yan took his hand and held it with both of hers. “Why do you never say you love me?”

Si Wen pulled her hand to his chest and pressed it against his heart. “Can you feel it?”

Zhou Yan looked up at him. “What?”

Si Wen placed his hand on the back of Zhou Yan’s hand. “Can you feel yourself?”

Zhou Yan’s heart ached.

Si Wen told her, “My heart is full of you. You can choose between that and ‘I love you.’“

Zhou Yan didn’t hesitate for a second. “I love you.”

Si Wen’s eyes crinkled with a smile. He gave in. “I love you.”

He didn’t say it, not because he didn’t love her, but because he had never said it.

He left home at a young age, skipped grades, finished university in his teens, and learned several languages. After achieving a level that most people couldn’t reach in a lifetime, he didn’t know what to do with his life, so he joined the army. He did his duty for every day he was in the army, but he couldn’t say he loved it.

Later, as an undercover agent, he lived a life that was neither human nor ghost, with his life often on the line. He didn’t even have time to be distracted, let alone a chance to love someone.

When he left that profession, he became a businessman, which was also full of deceit. He met many women, but a person who lived with such clarity didn’t differentiate between men and women. He only saw whether a person was useful and how useful they were.

The words “I love you” naturally became a field he had never ventured into in over thirty years.

Meeting Zhou Yan was a coincidence. Her becoming his addiction and his cure could also be called a coincidence, but she walked into his heart. He began to care about her emotions, worried about her situation, and even quit drugs for her and chose to live for her.

He loved her, he loved her very much, but he wouldn’t say it. He was shy to say it.

But if she wanted to hear it, he certainly could. She could do anything she wanted. If she wanted his life, all she had to do was say the word.

Si Wen said again, “I love you. Of course, I love you.”

From the first time I saw you, with those Bambi-like eyes looking at me and asking, “Why is there no blood?” you planted a seed in my heart. You slowly watered it, and it slowly grew, until my heart was filled with it, until I had nowhere to run.