Chapter 54#
Jiang Qin didn’t return to his cell at all, but met Captain Wang directly in the visiting room.
This was originally against the rules, but Jiang Qin’s identity was special, and this wasn’t the only thing that broke the rules. Captain Wang even took out the Zhonghua cigarettes that Jin Yan had stuffed him with: “—Want one?”
Jiang Qin didn’t take it, looked at him and asked: “I’ve finished confessing what I need to confess. What else do you want to ask?”
“Hey! What kind of people are police in your eyes? Can’t I just come to see you for no reason?” Captain Wang sat down opposite him with a swagger, lit a cigarette leisurely and asked: “How have you been lately? Are you used to the food?”
“…Mm.”
“The weather is getting hotter and hotter. Sometimes it’s stuffy at night, so just ask the guard to apply for a small electric fan. When that official from the province was sent here back then… tsk tsk, you really don’t want one?”
Jiang Qin shook his head without speaking, his expression polite and distant.
“If you insist on holding on, these days will be difficult. A case like this involving the province could be tried for half a year. Have you ever lived in a detention center for half a year? Summer is fine, but how will you survive the winter…”
Captain Wang flicked the ash from his cigarette and said: “You’ve only been here for a few days so you don’t feel it yet. When you’ve lived in a detention center for half a year, it’s no different from being in prison. Imagine a cat or dog locked in a cage. You are like that now. The mental torture will quickly break you down.”
Jiang Qin said indifferently: “I’m quite used to it.”
“That’s because you have a single room now—do you know who is locked up next to you? A delinquent teenager who has been in and out of prison several times for robbery, and may be sentenced to several years in prison for a huge amount of theft; a hooligan who was unwilling to have his girlfriend stolen, gathered gangsters to beat up his rival, causing a grade nine serious injury, and may be sentenced to ten to fifteen years; a major fugitive who stabbed someone with a knife over a disagreement while buying vegetables, fled for many years after accidentally killing someone, and has just been arrested, and will definitely be sentenced to more than twenty years…”
Captain Wang suddenly leaned over. Because the distance was too close, Jiang Qin unnaturally turned his face away.
“If you are sentenced to prison, you will be locked up with these people. There are no single rooms in prison. You have to learn to live with them day and night.”
Captain Wang grinned, his malice mixed with an indescribable regret.
Jiang Qin was silent for a long time. From the side, his eyelashes were indeed dense and long. When he lowered them slightly, his eyes were completely hidden.
Captain Wang felt a little regretful in his heart. An old criminal policeman of many years was best at finding clues from people’s momentary expressions. Jiang Qin’s appearance brought great difficulty to his observation.
“…The court’s verdict is not something I can control,” Jiang Qin leaned back gently in his chair, keeping a certain distance from Captain Wang: “Whatever the sentence is, it is. I plead guilty.”
His tone had a feeling of keeping people at a distance, but Captain Wang didn’t care at all, laughing and patting his arm: “Hey! That’s right! Isn’t it just three years? You’ll be a hero again when you come out!”
“…”
“Not everyone in this world has the opportunity to go to prison. Just think of it as seeing the dark side of society! What’s the big deal!”
Jiang Qin said nothing and sat a little further away.
“And you’re going in for murder. My god, you’ll be the boss in prison. Who wouldn’t be afraid of you? Star Entertainment is so rich. If you stuff some money in to help out, which prison bully would dare to mess with you!” Captain Wang stood up豪爽ly and grabbed Jiang Qin’s hand: “I was originally worried that a person of your background would be looked down upon after being in prison and couldn’t bear the psychological gap. But seeing that you are so open-minded, I’m relieved, haha!”
Jiang Qin couldn’t bear it anymore and threw his hand away.
Captain Wang still pretended to be confused, asking with a puzzled expression: “What’s wrong? Oh, this hand is quite strong. Doesn’t it hurt?”
Jiang Qin’s dislocated arm hadn’t fully healed, and it was indeed excruciatingly painful when he threw it, but his face was as if frozen. He didn’t even look at Captain Wang, turned and walked out.
“…” Captain Wang was stunned for a moment, then suddenly grabbed his hand and said: “Hey! Wait!”
He fumbled in his pocket and finally took out two pieces of plaster: “I brought them back from my hometown, my own熬ed plaster. Take them and apply them to your joints. They are very effective, here.”
Jiang Qin stared at him for a long time, the anger in his eyes finally being covered by calmness. After a long while, he said lightly: “—Thank you.”
He took the plaster and walked out of the visiting room without looking back.
A policeman immediately followed him outside the door, but he didn’t pay attention. From behind, his back was very straight when he walked, with a kind of stability cultivated from a good education since childhood.
Captain Wang watched him disappear at the end of the corridor and sighed slightly in his heart.
That day, Captain Wang returned to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. The young criminal policeman was buried in reports drinking coffee, his eyes full of bloodshot veins from staying up late. Seeing him walk in, he immediately slapped the table and complained: “What is this, Brother Wang! We have the suspect and the murder weapon, the confession and evidence are all complete. Let’s prosecute quickly! Why isn’t this case closed yet!”
Captain Wang said angrily: “Don’t mention it! I’m in a bad mood! Whoever complains again will only be allowed to drink porridge and not eat meat at the case-closing celebration!”
Young criminal policeman: “…”
The young criminal policeman seemed to have discovered a new continent, circling around Captain Wang with a tsk-tsk sound, and asked: “Did you go to meet that person surnamed Jin alone? Did you hit a wall?”
Captain Wang snorted coldly.
“This person is famous for being ruthless. You have to be careful. How was it? Did you see anything?”
“I couldn’t see anything. That person surnamed Jin is an old hand at lying. But the more flawless his performance, the more I believe he is the murderer. I don’t know why my intuition is particularly strong this time.”
“What about the one in the detention center?”
Captain Wang hesitated for a moment and said: “That person is a formidable character, but… it also takes psychological quality to kill someone. He doesn’t seem to be the kind of person who has this quality.”
“Could it be that he deliberately took the blame? Fuck, that’s awesome! Murder plus perjury, he must be truly in love with that person surnamed Jin!” The young criminal policeman pinched his chin and sighed, then thought for a moment and said: “What if he really gets sentenced to three years? Do you think that Jin Yan will find someone else outside?”
“Hard to say.”
“I think it’s possible! What kind of place is a prison? You come out not looking like a human or a ghost. Besides, that Jin Yan is rich and powerful, and often hangs out in the circle of female stars… tsk tsk, when he comes out, he’ll have lost both person and money, and maybe his health too. What do you think he’s after…”
Captain Wang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, slapped the table and scolded: “Go back and write your report! You haven’t finished it in two days!”
The young criminal policeman’s face immediately fell, and he sat down resentfully to bite his pen.
At the same time as this conversation was taking place in the police station, on the other side of the city, the long-distance bus station was crowded with people. Various shouts and a strong smell of sweat were mixed together, making it difficult to breathe in the dog days of summer.
A woman of about twenty-five or six, dressed very fashionably, tightly protected a small bag in front of her chest, and squeezed hard towards the bus door with the flow of people. Huge sunglasses covered most of her face, only showing a tense jawline and lips bitten white. When the bus door was particularly crowded, the veins on her neck bulged, looking a bit scary.
“No more, no more! Hey, I’m talking to you! Get down, get down!”
The woman, relying on her flexible body, still wanted to squeeze in, but the ticket seller shouted loudly for the driver to close the door. At that moment, her lips were almost bitten to the point of bleeding. She suddenly jumped in with her high heels.
Just as she was about to squeeze in, a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder accurately, and then pulled her back.
“You—”
The woman looked back, and her sharp voice was immediately stuck in her throat.
Two men in black t-shirts looked at her coldly: “Miss Zhao, please come with us. President Jin is waiting for you at the company.”
Zhao Xue’s face instantly turned pale.
She knew she was finished.
In that instant, she wanted to run, to shout, to call for help from passers-by, but all her actions were instantly frozen by a sentence from the man in black: “—You can go back, but someone is already waiting for you in your hometown in F County.”
Zhao Xue’s lips trembled slightly: “You, how do you know…”
“President Jin knows more than you think.” The man made a gesture, and a black Toyota with tightly closed windows was parked on the side of the road.
“—But you’d better ask President Jin yourself.”
The car crossed the entire H City in less than two hours.
When Zhao Xue was taken out of the car, she did not see the luxurious and magnificent gate of Star Entertainment. There were a few old shops on the deserted ancient street, which were already half-closed at this time. This area of shops was once one of the jade trading posts opened by the Jin family.
Once a person accepts their fate, fear will turn into numbness, but the deep-seated anger and hatred still exist. This was how Zhao Xue felt when she was taken in. She was not afraid at all, and even wondered what kind of expression Jin Yan would show when he saw her.
—How would a murderer behave?
Fierce and ferocious, cruel and brutal, treating human life like ants, and killing her without hesitation…
But she was not afraid at all, her heart was full of the pleasure of revenge.
Jiang Qin was already in. Although Jin Yan was lucky to escape, the retreat route for the jade business had been completely cut off by himself. After the people of their faction in the province fell, there would be plenty of time for settling accounts after autumn. The Jin family would be completely wiped out one day.
The more Zhao Xue thought about it, the more excited she became. She was even a little over-excited. When she saw Jin Yan, she immediately showed an undisguised sneer:
“I’m here, what do you want?”
Jin Yan sat in a pear wood armchair in the back hall and did not speak for a long time.
“Was it Xu Xiaoxuan who said it?” Zhao Xue paused and said sarcastically: “Or did that cowardly and spineless Fang Yuan betray me?”
“…” Jin Yan finally sighed and said: “Fang Yuan is the representative of his faction, and you are just his pawn. He didn’t betray you, he just gave up on you.”
Zhao Xue was greatly stimulated in an instant. Before she could say anything, Jin Yan interrupted her: “How much weight do you think you have in Fang Yuan’s eyes? Zhao Xue, you have nothing at all. Zhao Chengqiang’s original wife and children are living well in the United States, while your mother is just a more successful mistress. Your so-called revenge actually has no standing at all.”
Zhao Xue’s eyes instantly turned red, and she said angrily: “Nonsense! My parents got their marriage certificate long ago, I am a legitimate…”
“You were deceived,” Jin Yan said lightly, “If you were Zhao Chengqiang’s legitimate child, you would never have passed the background check when you entered Star Entertainment. Do you think I’m a fool, to just put a secretary by my side without even checking?”
Zhao Xue’s ears were ringing, and the hand holding the small bag also drooped unconsciously.
“Your real file is that you were born in F County, went to school in the city at the age of nine, your biological father died early and his identity is unknown, and you have no relationship with Zhao Chengqiang at all.” Jin Yan smiled and shook his head: “Your mother did indeed seduce Zhao Chengqiang to abandon his legal wife, but unfortunately, she was never able to become his legal wife in the end, so you were able to work at Star Entertainment for so long without arousing suspicion.”