Chapter 53#

The moment Jin Yan saw Jiang Qin, his eyes turned red.

The director patted his shoulder sympathetically and went out, closing the door. The lawyer was a bit embarrassed and didn’t dare to look at Jin Yan’s face, so he pretended to be deeply interested in the sparrows fighting on the tree branches outside the window.

Jiang Qin was a bit thin, his face pale but gentle. His hair had grown a little longer, and he was wearing a gray cotton t-shirt. His dislocated forearm hadn’t healed well and still looked a bit unnatural.

Jin Yan grabbed his hand, wiped his own eyes forcefully, and after a long while, managed to say calmly: “I’ll get you out soon, you wait.”

Jiang Qin held his hand back and smiled slightly.

Despite the midsummer weather, his hand was very cold, as if it were a block of ice that couldn’t be warmed up. Jin Yan’s heart felt like it was being cut by a knife. He was about to say something when he suddenly heard Jiang Qin ask: “—Fang Yuan and Zhao Xue have fallen out, right?”

Jin Yan: “…”

Jin Yan asked in amazement: “How do you know?!”

“I don’t know anything, I guessed.” Jiang Qin’s tone was calm and unruffled, saying: “Zhao Xue wants to avenge Zhao Chengqiang. From her consistent behavior, it can be guessed that she believes the murderer is you, not me. So when she can’t bring you down with charges like smuggling jade, she will definitely use her trump card, which is intentional homicide.”

“If I hadn’t surrendered, she could still cooperate with Fang Yuan and report your suspected murder of Zhao Chengqiang to the province. Although the statute of limitations for the case has passed, nothing is absolute; with such a big handle, as long as those people in the province want to use it, it’s very possible to skin you alive.”

Jiang Qin paused and said: “Now that I’ve surrendered, there’s a suspect, a murder weapon, and evidence. Even the Jade Emperor can’t overturn the case. And I surrendered to the municipal bureau, which is a different system from the provincial public security department. Director Liang and the people from the province don’t get along well… Even if Fang Yuan wanted to pin the case on you, it’s too late.”

Jin Yan: “…”

“The key here is the time difference between Zhao Xue reporting the case and my surrender. Fang Yuan is in the system, he knows the ins and outs of this. As soon as he heard the news of my surrender, he immediately knew that the value of Zhao Xue as a pawn had been exhausted, and the last trump card in her hand was useless.”

Jiang Qin sneered slightly and said: “But according to Zhao Xue’s temper… I’m just speculating from her behavior patterns, she is a very extreme and persistent person. Even if she loses the support of Fang Yuan and the provincial faction, she will definitely insist on reporting you for murdering Zhao Chengqiang. So when her opinion differs from Fang Yuan’s, it’s very natural for Fang Yuan to abandon her.”

Jin Yan: “…”

Jin Yan only had one sentence in his mind: How the fuck do you know this too?!

The lawyer had a look of seeing a ghost, “President… President Jiang, do you also have… have people in the Municipal Public an Bureau?”

“No, the criminal policemen here are different from Fang Yuan and the others. I once wanted to ask about things outside, but they wouldn’t take money.” Jiang Qin shook his head and said: “That criminal investigation team leader is really a formidable character. I’ve seen it for myself.”

The lawyer couldn’t say a word, and after a long while, stammered: “You… you were right about everything. Fang Yuan has already requested to be transferred back to S City. Zhao Xue reported President Jin to the provincial department for suspected murder of Zhao Chengqiang, but the case was not filed due to insufficient evidence… Did really no one tip you off? Divine prediction!”

Jiang Qin looked tired, his face calm and not at all surprised.

The lawyer was from the Jin family and had heard some unreliable rumors that Jin Yan’s entanglement with Xu Xiaoxuan was because he was under too much pressure from Jiang Qin, his wife’s IQ was too high to handle. Thinking about it now, his face suddenly became very strange.

After a brief surprise, Jin Yan immediately got used to it. Anyway, it wasn’t the first or second time Jiang Qin’s IQ was high. Had he not lost face in front of his wife enough? So he quickly returned to normal, holding Jiang Qin’s hand and saying: “You wait, even if Fang Yuan returns to S City, I won’t let him go! If I don’t break both his hands, I’ll take his surname tomorrow!”

Jiang Qin immediately stopped him: “What nonsense! Fang Yuan is an official and you are a bandit. What’s wrong with him investigating you!”

“But…”

“If you had listened to me even a little bit back then, you wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.” Jiang Qin paused, his eyelashes suddenly blinked, and his eyes filled with water: “You’ve already caused my third uncle to have a stroke, what else do you want to do to my cousin?”

Jin Yan was instantly dumbfounded: “You, you, you… why are you crying? I was just saying, I…”

“No matter how bad Fang Yuan is, without him, I would never have been able to reunite with my parents in this life. My aunt and uncle only have him as their only son. If you cripple him, do you want me to pay with my life?”

Jin Yan hadn’t seen Jiang Qin’s eyes red for many years. He was instantly struck by lightning and kept repeating: “I was just saying! Just saying! I’ll call the people in S City back when I get out, I’ll call them back as soon as I get out!”

Jiang Qin pulled his hand away and turned his face away from Jin Yan: “Go make the call now!”

It was the first time Jin Yan had sat face to face with his wife for so long. He was a little reluctant to leave, but seeing Jiang Qin’s appearance, he had to get up resentfully and go out to make a call.

Before leaving, he still felt unwilling and turned back to argue about something; but as soon as he saw Jiang Qin’s watery eyes, he immediately shut up and went out obediently.

The lawyer had a “=口=” expression on his face and said stiffly: “President Jiang…”

But when he turned back, Jiang Qin’s face was as usual, with no trace of having cried.

“He actually started a fight with Fang Yuan at this juncture. I’m really impressed with him.” Jiang Qin thought for a moment and said: “The Jin family’s education really has problems. Fortunately, I raised Li Meng myself.”

Lawyer: “…”

“How is Star Entertainment doing?”

“…” The corner of the lawyer’s mouth twitched, and he said: “It’s okay. President Jin has suspended several projects and is currently focusing on arranging the matter of Zhao Chengqiang from back then. The statute of limitations for accidental killing is ten years. The trouble is that you disposed of the body, which makes the circumstances much worse. To reduce the guilt, we can only start from the aspects of Zhao Chengqiang kidnapping a child to threaten you to participate in drug trafficking, and his use of drugs to control female stars.”

Jiang Qin pondered for a long while and said: “The threatening text messages Zhao Chengqiang sent back then were all to Jin Yan…”

“So if they are used as evidence, it will drag President Jin down.”

Jiang Qin shook his head and said: “Jin Yan must be outside. His political energy is greater than mine. Only he has the ability to solve this matter.”

“Then we can only use Zhao Chengqiang’s forcing female stars to take drugs as a starting point,” the lawyer opened the folder and pointed to the names listed on it: “These are the female stars who were involved in drug use back then. Most of them have disappeared, and it’s a question of which ones are still alive now. President Jin has already sent people to contact them to see if they can be invited to testify, but at present, the difficulty is quite great, because standing up is equivalent to exposure. These were all famous female artists back then. Even if they are down and out now, they are not willing to completely destroy their reputation from back then.”

Jiang Qin stared at the names, and sighed after a long while.

“And even if someone stands up to testify, it can only prove that Zhao Chengqiang was trafficking drugs, not that you accidentally killed him in a fight.” The lawyer closed the folder and said in a deep voice: “The statute of limitations for intentional homicide and accidental injury are different. We must now bite down on this case as ‘accidental’… Of course, if there is another situation, it would be even more perfect.”

At this time, Jin Yan finished his call, exchanged a few pleasantries with Director Liang outside, pushed the door open and came in to hear the lawyer say it would be more perfect, and hurriedly asked: “What situation?”

“If someone can prove that Zhao Chengqiang had the intention to kill President Jiang on the night of the incident…” The lawyer lowered his voice and said word by word: “Then this case can still be leaned towards excessive self-defense, a ten-year statute of limitations—”

Jiang Qin and Jin Yan looked at each other and laughed at the same time: “Impossible, don’t even think about it!”

The lawyer actually didn’t know what the situation was on the night of the incident. Seeing the expressions of the two of them, he felt puzzled.

Jiang Qin didn’t say much either, shaking his head and saying: “Your current direction is right. It’s best to prove that Zhao Chengqiang was trafficking drugs. But as for those female artists, if you really can’t invite them, then forget it… It’s been so many years, they have no obligation to stand up and sacrifice.”

Jin Yan walked over and pressed Jiang Qin’s hand, looking down at him.

Jiang Qin raised his head slightly. The sunlight shone in from the window of the detention center. His beautiful eyes were almost completely amber, his face haggard but gentle. The sunlight sprinkled on his long eyelashes, as if dotted with fine pale gold.

“Two months,” Jin Yan said, “At most two months, I’ll come to pick you up and take you home.”

Jiang Qin smiled and said “hmm”.

At that moment, he actually sighed in his heart, but his face showed unwavering certainty.

Just as Jin Yan’s jade smuggling case was not a simple smuggling, Zhao Chengqiang’s death was not a simple accidental killing. The law can judge all right and wrong, but what manipulates it are those who control the social order.

This was a bloody crushing, and the Jin family was just a microcosm of the struggle. The black and white paths have been entangled for a long time, and in the end, only the winner in this crushing can write the right and wrong.

Jin Yan and the lawyer only walked out of the detention center gate an hour later. They said goodbye to Director Liang and went to the parking lot separately.

Only after Jin Yan came out did he remember that he was originally going to tell Jiang Qin about Li Xiaomeng’s recent glorious achievements, but he forgot in his excitement. Jiang Qin was flawless in his calculations, and Fang Yuan, Zhao Xue, and others were all easily manipulated in his palm, but he probably never dreamed of what Li Meng had been up to recently—if he knew, he would probably be greatly surprised.

Let’s talk about it when he comes out… Jin Yan thought so, and when he looked up, he suddenly found a policeman leaning against his car, wearing a uniform, in his thirties and looking very capable.

“You must be Mr. Jin? A pleasure to meet you,” the policeman took the initiative to extend his hand: “Do you have time? Come have a cigarette?”

Jin Yan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and flicked a cigarette to him.

The policeman lit it himself and smiled: “I’ve been waiting for you for a while, guessing you would come back to get your car after the visit—ah, I forgot to introduce myself, my surname is Wang, the captain of the municipal bureau’s criminal investigation team.”

This person surnamed Wang was the main person in charge of the Zhao Chengqiang case, a famous formidable character in the municipal bureau—a nerve in Jin Yan’s mind instantly tensed, and a natural smile had already appeared on his face: “Oh, Captain Wang! I’m sorry, I know that the family of a suspect in a major case cannot visit, but today…”

“I know, I know, rules are rules, but human feelings are human feelings.” Captain Wang smiled and asked casually: “Is everything okay after the visit? Our city’s detention center is actually quite good, with food and drink, single rooms. When Jiang Qin came in, his dislocated arm hadn’t healed yet, and we even had a doctor check it once.”

“Yes, yes, thank you for your care.”

Captain Wang leaned against the car door and asked as if chatting: “How is the lawyer you hired? This case is difficult to judge. I know a few good lawyers, but Star Entertainment is rich and powerful, so you should be able to afford a more capable lawyer, hahaha…”

Jin Yan lit a cigarette and just smiled without speaking.

“Hey, listen to me, President Jin,” Captain Wang seemed to be more interested, with a buddy-buddy expression on his face, saying: “This case, the most crucial thing is to see whether Jiang Qin’s killing was accidental or intentional. At present, the possibility of accidental is very high, but in the end, it depends on how the court judges. There is a body disposal element, which increases the severity exponentially. If someone above intentionally makes things difficult, a suspended sentence of less than three years is not impossible…”

Jin Yan’s expression remained unchanged, and he said lightly: “Oh, is that so?”

“I just think it’s a pity,” Captain Wang sighed, “A person like President Jiang, a professional, gentle and elegant, with high social visibility, and highly respected. If there is a stain of murder and body disposal, he will never be able to turn his life around. Now society’s colored glasses for ex-convicts are still very thick. Even if you have reformed, you can’t get social recognition. For a person like President Jiang, the psychological gap should be very large…”

Jin Yan lowered his head and took a drag of his cigarette, saying: “There’s nothing to be done about it.”

Captain Wang stared at his expression, but only saw him exhale a puff of smoke and instantly turn his face away.

“All I can do is try my best to hire a lawyer to defend him, even if it means spending all my family’s wealth. As long as he doesn’t go to prison, I’m willing to do anything.” Jin Yan’s voice was slightly hoarse, but his expression was very normal. He said: “I’ve made a fool of myself in front of Captain Wang. We have a very deep relationship. We were the first batch to get a license in the year same-sex marriage was passed. Among the people who got a license at the same time, there are probably no others who haven’t divorced yet.”

Captain Wang let out a long “Oh—” and said: “No, no, it’s really not easy for you to have lasted until now.”

“It’s good that you can understand, otherwise my heart…” Jin Yan smiled and patted Captain Wang’s shoulder: “I know you all have regulations, and I won’t say anything about asking for leniency. But if there is room for maneuver, you must speak up. No matter how much, it’s just a word!”

Captain Wang didn’t expect Jin Yan to be such a tough character, and was stunned for a moment.

But he was also a man of the world, and immediately laughed interestingly: “Okay, okay, no problem! Don’t worry, Director Liang is extremely concerned about this case, we will definitely be lenient!”

Jin Yan seemed not to have heard the sarcasm in his words, repeatedly holding his hand to thank him, and even insisted on stuffing the whole box of cigarettes into his hand. Captain Wang couldn’t refuse, accepted it with a smile, exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then waved goodbye like a good buddy.

Jin Yan’s car slowly drove out of the parking lot. Captain Wang squinted his eyes and watched the shadow of the car disappear. The midsummer afternoon sun shone on the street, reflecting a large area of dazzling light.

He snorted with a laugh and turned to go back to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. However, after taking two steps, he suddenly remembered something and his steps paused slightly.

Captain Wang’s expression was thoughtful. A few seconds later, he strode towards the detention center.