Chapter 13#
If Innocent#
Li Heng said: “Ji Landong.”
He tried to gather his arms and hold this body.
This movement was quite natural. He squatted in front of the wheelchair, and the two were very close, it wouldn’t be much trouble, as long as he reached out.
Li Heng grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze: “Ji Landong.”
Ji Landong had no reaction, didn’t move at all. His thin shoulders were as hard as a knife, and his breathing and heartbeat were weak. His face and hands under the sun were extremely cold. Li Heng picked the person up and took him back to the inpatient department for the doctor to check.
While waiting in the corridor, the investigators from the Investigation Bureau had found the case record related to Ji Landong’s statement and sent it to the hospital.
Child star death case.
Li Heng sat on a bench and flipped through it.
This case was not handled by him at the time, otherwise he would have seen Ji Landong then.
There were many undisclosed parts in the record.
For example, the investigation and audit of Ji Landong.
[Why did you ‘rescue’ this child?]
[How do you prove that you don’t have an unspeakable purpose? After all, you have a record of being accused.]
[Do you have evidence that can prove your thoughts?]
[If you are not guilty, why can just one word from others make you give up?]
These questions are simply shameless, almost starting with a predetermined conclusion and then deducing the question. And Ji Landong’s lack of cooperation caused him to be “reviewed” for three days.
The section for audit conclusions is even more indifferent: We cannot eliminate the suspicion on him. After inquiry, his family collectively claimed that he has many characteristics similar to his biological father, and it’s hard to guarantee that this doesn’t include distorted desires…
The investigator stood in fear, watching Li Heng’s face sink and a kind of coldness appear in his eyes. This expression had never been seen on Li Heng before.
“Who was in charge of this case at the time?”
Li Heng put down the file and stood up.
The subordinate hurriedly said a name.
He is a famous senator with a very good reputation, who pushed for the protection of women and children and is very popular among the people.
“Go and investigate.” Li Heng said, “Whether it’s related to Ji Ran.”
Another Ji Ran?
The subordinate was surprised, but still responded neatly and went to do it.
The doctor finished the examination and was pushing the door to find the patient’s guardian. Li Heng buttoned up the brass buttons of his uniform and walked over: “How is it?”
The doctor shook his head, hesitant to speak, with an uneasy expression.
Li Heng frowned.
Ji Landong lay on the hospital bed, covered with a quilt, his breathing very steady. Li Heng walked to the side of the bed and held his hand hanging by the side of the bed. Ji Landong did not react. His thin wrist bones bent with this movement, and his fingers were very cold.
Li Heng leaned over and tapped his shoulder: “Ji Landong.”
The person lying on the bed was very quiet, with his shoulders held and gently shaken. His closed eyelashes covered the light green under his eyelids.
The sunlight outside the window was very good, like some light gold liquid, overflowing over the bridge of his nose, flowing over the edge of his lips, and converging into the depression of his collarbone. The patient’s gown was obviously ill-fitting.
Li Heng reached out and stroked it, finding a small new abrasion.
“The medicine he took exceeded the safe dose.” The doctor was a bit troubled, “We did emergency treatment, washed his stomach, and his life is not in danger, but…”
Medicine can keep a person excited for a short time—not just excited, but also with a clear enough mind to temporarily repair attention and memory damaged by illness. This is a kind of drinking poison to quench thirst “normalcy.”
They strictly controlled the number of medicines provided, but Ji Landong should have… not been taking this medicine before, and hid it all.
Not until today did Ji Landong swallow all of them.
Li Heng understood what the doctor was troubled about: “Because of my inquiry.”
Because he came to visit Ji Landong and took the opportunity to get words out of Ji Landong to find out what happened in the past. This was the opportunity Ji Landong had been waiting for.
Ji Landong turned around and used him.
For that child.
Li Heng’s emotions were indeed moved. Anger is contagious. The dying lava in Ji Landong’s body was now poured into his body, and burning soot came out of the cracks in the rocks.
Li Heng leaned over and brushed back Ji Landong’s bangs, looking at these eyes that were quietly closed: “How is he?”
The doctor was not sure and shook his head uneasily: “I don’t know…”
The physical condition can still be monitored with medical instruments, but the consciousness is completely impossible. The patient’s EEG is very bad, and even a large number of reflexes are weak to the point of being on the verge of disappearing.
Li Heng didn’t ask again. He already understood the doctor’s meaning. After standing by the bed for a while, he picked up the witness who was in a deep coma, held the back of his neck, and let Ji Landong lean on his shoulder.
The subordinate waiting outside the door immediately ran in: “Leader.”
“Project M.” Li Heng wrapped him in a trench coat, “The witness needs protection, I’ll take him back.”
The subordinate was obviously stunned. This decision was risky. The “witness protection program” decided by the leader of the Investigation Bureau meant that from today on, Ji Landong was clearly pulled to Li Heng’s side.
But Li Heng just walked out holding Ji Landong. He stood under the sun. The bright to piercing sunlight fell on Ji Landong’s closed eyes, and the wind blew his eyelashes, but not as Li Heng predicted, the arrogant Movie King opened his eyes proudly and lazily announced the victory of the contest.
Ji Landong was pale, quiet, and lifeless.
“I should have done this twelve years ago.” Li Heng asked, “Isn’t it?”
No one answered, the subordinate dared not speak.
The wind blew the collar of the trench coat, brushing over his jaw and bloodless lips. Li Heng tightened his arms to let Ji Landong lean steadily. He tried to recall what else happened under the moon twelve years ago.
He couldn’t really remember, because the teenager in the shadows was too steady, too cold and silent, making one not realize that he was suffering pain.
It was just a clear case that didn’t need much effort to investigate: domestic violence, resistance, a minor, not intentional. Ending the case as soon as possible was good for Ji Landong. His mad biological mother hysterically wanted to send her own son to prison.
So Li Heng only investigated for one night and left.
Li Heng remembered that he was also close to Ji Landong at that time, very close, about the same as today, a distance that could be touched with one reach.
Li Heng lowered his head and asked: “Did I hug you that day?”
Hugging is a common etiquette, usually used for comfort and farewell, but that day probably no one comforted the fifteen-year-old Ji Landong, and no one said goodbye to him.
The school uniform stained with mud and blood didn’t dirty the eagle emblem of the Investigation Bureau.
…
The puppy was still wagging its tail in the river-view apartment waiting for Ji Landong.
The dog food and water were still full.
Li Heng put the person on the sofa and found a blanket to cover Ji Landong’s legs.
He found a movie starring Ji Landong, put the videotape into the player, made himself a cup of coffee, and sat on the other end of the sofa. He used the movie as background music and flipped through the case records sent by his subordinates.
The puppy struggled to climb onto the sofa, lay on Ji Landong’s chest, and kept nudging his jaw with its head.
Li Heng put down the records and turned his head: “Aren’t you going to touch it?”
He grabbed Ji Landong’s hand and placed it on the puppy’s head. This hand had no feeling, and as soon as the puppy gave it a happy nudge, it slid off and fell under the sofa.
The puppy was stunned.
Li Heng also looked at that hand for a while, frowning.
He leaned over, grabbed Ji Landong’s hand, and put it back. When he wanted to let go, he stopped and held it more firmly for no reason.
“Ji Landong.” Li Heng said in a deep voice, “Pretending to sleep is not a good way to handle problems.”
“This will affect my promotion.”
Li Heng didn’t quite believe that he had an air friend, but the Investigation Bureau was required to respect all kinds of cognitions and beliefs. To prevent people with ulterior motives from catching a handle to report him, Li Heng forced himself to make a movement of stuffing it into his pocket at that time.
At this moment he took this patch of air out of his pocket: “Friend, don’t want it?”
Li Heng made a gesture: “Then I’ll throw it away.”
“Ji Landong.”
Li Heng was really going to throw this patch of air into the trash can. The puppy suddenly lost its temper, shouted and bit his sleeve. The collar of the trench coat Ji Landong was covered with shook.
The system trembled and crawled into the trench coat to hide, hiding in Ji Landong’s collar, and thrown data at Li Heng in a panic.
Li Heng frowned. He couldn’t see the system, but the fragmented data produced consciousness fluctuations, resonated on the same channel, and connected the silent memories in his mind that he originally thought were unrelated.
For three days, Ji Landong was isolated and audited to eliminate molestation suspicion.
Ji Landong disappeared for nearly a week. Where did Ji Landong go for the rest of the time?
There is an answer. In the closing report, it was recorded that Ji Landong went back to the old house where he killed his biological father by mistake and lived there for three days. The tracking investigator didn’t know what he was doing in that kind of place, and Ji Landong didn’t seem to have done anything.
But the memory connected by that attached photo became clear again because of resonance. The place Ji Landong looked at in the photo was related to him.
Li Heng once stood there, biting the cap of his pen, ignoring the woman’s hysterical pestering, and quickly made a closing report and stuffed it into Ji Landong: “Okay, I’ve judged you innocent.”
This was actually a half-joke. The investigator is not a grand judge and has no power to judge a person innocent or guilty—it’s just that at that time, Li Heng, an investigator who also just entered the Investigation Bureau and was very young and newly emerged, impulsively thought that the teenager in front of him needed such a sentence very much.
The black eyes that seemed never to melt moved because of this sentence and looked at him quietly.
The thin lips with wounds and blood had actually opened.
But the fifteen-year-old Ji Landong didn’t speak. His eyes fell on his clean, spotless blue-gray woolen uniform, and then he looked at his own dirty and bloodstained school uniform.
Those eyes just curved very gently.
The back of the hand stained with blood and mud was behind his back.
Ji Landong retracted into the shadow.
…
Now, Li Heng recalled this self-assertive consideration and couldn’t help arguing: “I don’t have a obsession with cleanliness.”
Well, he does.
Li Heng said: “It’s not very serious.”
He pinched the puppy’s back of the neck, lifted it to the ground, and leaned over somewhat stiffly and unfamiliarily to hug Ji Landong. Ji Landong’s chest was very cold, and his heartbeat was weak.
Li Heng did this for the first time. He admitted he had an obsession with cleanliness and hated handshakes and hugs. The fifteen-year-old Ji Landong somehow keenly detected this.
Li Heng picked up Ji Landong and took him to the bedroom. He tried to continue reading the case files in the bedroom, ignoring the puppy scratching the door.
He couldn’t ignore it.
“You should wake up.” Li Heng warned Ji Landong, “Lest I throw your friend and puppy into the trash can.”
Li Heng messed up Ji Landong’s hair. This person is twenty-seven years old and shouldn’t be treated like he’s fifteen. Li Heng exactly wanted to provoke him with this: “Ji Landong.”
Ji Landong lay quietly and slept very peacefully.
Li Heng rarely speaks so much, let alone a monologue. He spoke until his throat was dry, so he had to go out to pour water again.
Being careless for a moment, the puppy seized the opportunity and pounced in, desperately jumping on the bed to reach Ji Landong’s hand. This time the bed was too high from the ground, and the puppy’s legs were still too short to jump up, whimpering almost shrilly.
Li Heng was tortured by this deafening dog barking. Holding the water cup, he hurried back to catch the dog while rubbing his temples.
The puppy was small, but unexpectedly agile. It seemed to have some outside guidance and help, flying around the room to escape.
Li Heng had worked in the Investigation Bureau for twenty years and caught many vicious criminals. At this moment, he was worked into a sweat by a dog, but he just couldn’t catch it. He hit his knee against the corner of the bed three times, and for a moment he was even desperate to the point of being in a daze.
But, just as he turned his head.
Ji Landong was awake.
Leaning on the soft down pillow, looking at this scene of jumping people and flying dogs, his eyes slightly curved.
Li Heng was embarrassed, and explained in vain for his scurrying in someone else’s bedroom: “I have a obsession with cleanliness.”
Dogs can’t go on the bed.
Ji Landong knew and nodded slightly. There was almost no color on his face. It seemed that with the help of a patch of air, he slowly moved his hand to the side of the bed.
The puppy jumped and rubbed against it, purring satisfyly in its throat.
The special leader of the Investigation Bureau was rarely embarrassed, with his sleeves rolled up, two buttons at the collar unfastened, his hair a bit messy, and his coat thrown aside.
Sunlight fell in quietly.
There was a bit of coffee aroma.
Li Heng was stunned for a moment, returned to the bedside, bent his finger and touched Ji Landong’s face. This person’s body temperature was still very low, and he didn’t speak when he woke up, but just stared quietly.
“Ji Landong.” Li Heng leaned over, pulled over a chair, and sat by the bed, “I will find out everything, clear your reputation, and everyone who framed, insulted, and harmed you without any bottom line will apologize to you.”
Ji Landong looked at him upon hearing his voice, curved his eyes, and went back to play with the air and the puppy.
Li Heng frowned, not in dissatisfaction, but in unease. Ji Landong’s state reminded him of many people who no longer cared about their reputation—but those people were mostly in their seventies or eighties, near death.
Ji Landong is still so young.
Twenty-seven years old.
Ji Landong’s expression didn’t look like he was lying on a bed at home, but rather like he was lying in front of a blazing crematorium, using it as a fireplace to warm himself.
Very calm, relaxed, and leisurely.
He could hear what Li Heng said, but it seemed to be beyond the range that his thinking had the leisure to process.
Ji Landong had stopped considering these things.
Li Heng raised his hand and waved it in front of Ji Landong’s eyes until he looked at him.
“Ji Landong.”
Li Heng didn’t just say these things anymore. This was his work. As a witness, Ji Landong had provided enough data and information: “What do you want?”
Ji Landong looked at him, thought quietly, and reached out his wrist.
His wrist was too thin, and the cuff was empty.
Li Heng looked at these eyes that seemed to only have smiles left: “You want me to arrest you?”
“No, you haven’t committed a crime.” Li Heng shook his head.
He saw in these eyes those light and shadow that were too far away to distinguish truth from falsehood, as if they were frozen and solidified in ice water under the sun.
Ji Landong didn’t seem to expect this answer.
If innocent, why did fate treat him like this?
Ji Landong was attracted by the dossier Li Heng threw on the bed. There was a photo on it, a big smiling face of a little girl. That was an extremely cute child who would ambush him when he opened the door and bump into his arms without warning.
Ji Landong gave her up, gave her up to despair, gave her up to death.
Li Heng blocked this photo.
He didn’t agree with Ji Landong’s perspective and point of view: “She was snatched away from you.”
“You are both victims.” Li Heng said, “Ji Landong, you suffered an unredressed grievance and had no way to explain.”
“You were tortured for three days to protect her.”
“She was snatched away from you.”
Ji Landong went to touch the photo. This hand was held, and Li Heng leaned over to hug him, grabbing the shoulders and back that were thin to the extreme. The person being hugged was overly silent.
This body was overly quiet, even forgetting to tremble when in pain.