FY - 58

March 27, a sunny day.

The doctor took Zhou Siyuan to see Zhou Yan, her cold tombstone, and her face.

Zhou Siyuan hadn’t even kept a single photo of Zhou Yan smiling, but it wasn’t his fault. Zhou Yan rarely smiled and hated having her picture taken.

The doctor felt he had something to say to Zhou Yan and went to wait for him below.

Zhou Siyuan squatted down to arrange the flowers he had brought. He had been crying for a month, and now he was finally out of tears.

She died in a helicopter.

With her lover.

“You promised me you’d come back.”

Zhou Siyuan stroked the flowers. “Liar.”

As he was squatting, a hand reached out and placed a cigarette next to the flowers. “Your sister didn’t like flowers.”

Zhou Siyuan knew. “She liked them if they were from me.”

Wei Li’an laughed softly. That was true.

He reached out and patted Zhou Siyuan’s head. “Don’t hate her. She was a hero. Didn’t you see the news?”

Zhou Siyuan had. The central government had issued a statement that was everywhere and lasted for a week, all about how Si Wen and Zhou Yan had died tragically while assisting the police in an anti-drug operation. He was sick of seeing it.

He looked up. “Why do people have to die in anti-drug operations?”

Wei Li’an squatted down, put his arm around his shoulder, and looked at Zhou Yan’s face on the tombstone. “Your sister probably wouldn’t want me to tell you these things.”

Zhou Siyuan pursed his lips. “Then what can you tell me?”

Wei Li’an said, “Your brother-in-law gave you the entire Dongsheng Pharmaceutical. You’re the richest person in Qizhou now. What are you going to do with the money?”

Zhou Siyuan didn’t know, but he wasn’t short on money. “I’ll donate it.”

Wei Li’an raised an eyebrow. “That’s a bold move.”

It was time for Zhou Siyuan to leave. He stood up, turned around, walked down a step, then stopped and turned back. He asked, “Is the police academy entrance exam the same as for a regular university?”

Wei Li’an followed him. “You want to be a police officer?”

Zhou Siyuan nodded, then shook his head. “An anti-narcotics police officer.”

Wei Li’an was surprised again. “Why?”

Zhou Siyuan walked down one step at a time. “I want to figure out for myself why people have to die in anti-drug operations.”

Wei Li’an froze and stopped walking.

He watched Zhou Siyuan’s retreating figure from behind. Who had buried the sky in that small boy’s spine?

Zhou Siyuan was already far away. His voice came back to Wei Li’an. “I don’t hate her.”

The doctor had told him that Zhou Yan had been prepared to die from the beginning, but he still believed that she hadn’t lied to him. She never lied to him about things like this. Never.

Wei Li’an smiled with relief.

He hadn’t done what Feng Zhongliang had asked him to.

If Si Wen hadn’t already left all of his assets to Zhou Siyuan, he would have exposed all of Si Wen’s heroic deeds. But by giving everything to Zhou Siyuan, Si Wen had a family member, and if he were to reveal the truth, that family member’s life would be in danger.

He initially thought it was a shame, but then he thought that it might have been Si Wen’s way of silencing him.

Si Wen didn’t want his past to be known.

It was like how he took Zhou Yan to Guangnan Nunnery and then onto a helicopter.

Couldn’t he have known the situation at the time? Couldn’t he have known that with both sides firing, choosing to leave in a helicopter would risk being shot down by either side?

He had a military and police background and years of experience fighting criminals. Of course, he knew that in a battle, any unidentified third party appearing on the scene would have a heavy and huge price to pay.

Besides, this was his plan from the start.

So why, at a time like this, did he still get on the helicopter?

Why?

Wei Li’an thought that perhaps he did it to make the government remember and feel guilty about him forever.

But was it worth trading his life for?

Was it?

Or, was he really dead?

Why did he take Zhou Yan to such a dangerous place? Did he think he could protect her from harm? Or did he think he could fake their deaths in the chaos and go far away, never to be heard from again?

Wei Li’an chuckled.

People in the world loved to say that the past is like smoke, and time is like smoke, and everything is like smoke.

But to him, nothing was like smoke, neither heaven nor earth.

Until one person, who was detached from the world, came along. He didn’t want the heavens, and he didn’t want the earth. He wanted to build his own empire from the ground up.

Later, he picked up a flame, burned some dust and smoke, and painted the sky red.

Wei Li’an felt as if he had just woken up from a dream.

________________________________________

An unknown, owned island in the Pacific Ocean.

The woman had finished her meal and was carrying a plastic bucket to repair the roof of the third floor.

She walked barefoot on the red wood planks, looking up and estimating if the white sealant would be enough.

It seemed it wasn’t.

But she still went up the stairs.

When she got to the top, she reached out and felt a thick layer of dirt about a knuckle deep. The floor-to-ceiling windows on the north, east, and west sides were all tightly closed, so it could only have come from the south, which faced the water and was exposed to the sun and sea breeze every day. It must have been what brought the dirt in.

She would have to talk to someone about building a wall on the south side tonight.

By the time the windows were repaired, it was already evening.

The man came back from his outing, leading a dog.

The woman frowned. “What is this?”

The man looked at the dog. “Someone gave it to me.”

The woman: “I’m not keeping it!”

The man tied it to the stairs. “It’s a little seasick. Let it rest.”

The woman walked over and took off his clothes.

The man thought she wanted to make love. He wrapped his arms around her waist and licked her neck.

The woman pushed him away. “I’m going to wash your clothes.”

Wash clothes? The man pushed her against the stairs and, in front of the dog, made love to her for half the night.

The woman punched him in the chest.

The man tilted his head and kissed her forehead.

Lying in his arms, the woman remembered the roof. “We need to build a wall on the south side. Didn’t you check the condition of the house when you bought the island?”

The man: “I’ll find someone to do it tomorrow.”

The woman: “You’re supposed to be dead. Do things yourself. Don’t find other people, so no one will know.”

The man: “What if they do?”

The woman was a little puzzled about this. She propped herself up on his chest. “If they can’t do anything to us, why did we have to die?”

The man told her, “We did a lot of things that the rules of that world don’t allow, so naturally, those rules don’t allow us to live.”

The woman found it funny. “Then why are we alive?”

The man: “Because we’re bad people. We don’t follow the rules.”

He could have easily cleared his name and made it seem completely reasonable to everyone, but he gave it up. He chose to respect the rules of that world. And that world, in turn, gave him a reward, allowing him to be himself in another world.

The woman smiled faintly.

Her smile was full of radiance and pride.

________________________________________

There was a man like this.

He had a stubborn character. He was never gentle with me or anyone else, but I always couldn’t help but look into his eyes.

I didn’t find myself in his eyes, but I was still captivated by the love he unintentionally created.

I was confused and infatuated.

I was trapped by him.

He tortured me to the point where I was living and dying at the same time.

Gradually, I wanted to separate from him, whether he had seeped into my blood and nerves or not.

But he wouldn’t let me.

He held up flowers and light and walked toward me.

He told me not to look at his eyes, that eyes that have been pecked at by an eagle have no emotion.

I asked him.

Then what should I look at?

He took out his heart and placed it in my hand.

(End of Main Text)