Extra 2. Summer 2015
On June 24, 2015, Yu Jiaxiang, a criminal police officer of Yucheng Public Security, was arrested at his workstation on suspicion of bribery and leaking secrets.
On June 24, Qiu Sicheng, CEO of Siqian Group, was arrested at Yucheng International Airport on suspicion of bribery, involvement with criminal syndicates, instigating assault, murder, organizing prostitution, and other crimes.
On July 5, a central special joint investigation team arrived in Yucheng.
On July 6, Yan Huaijin, Secretary of the Yucheng Political and Legal Affairs Commission, was taken away mid-department meeting by Deputy Captain Zhang Yang of the criminal police unit and several plainclothes officers who pushed the door open and entered.
Chen Di’s data card contained a large number of photos and videos documenting their private meetings. Aside from indecent content, there were also Chen Di’s verbal accounts of Yan Huaijin’s improper dealings with other high-ranking officials.
Yan Huaijin confessed to his illicit relationship with Chen Di, but denied everything else.
On July 7, Zhang Shining, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Yucheng Procuratorate, drove out of the city and was intercepted and arrested on the highway by criminal police including Qian Xiaojiang of the municipal public security bureau, on suspicion of bribery, offering bribes, dereliction of duty, and involvement with criminal syndicates.
On July 7, Xu Cheng’s hospital room became a small office.
Per the doctor’s instructions, he was not to work more than three hours a day.
But the investigation team’s work pressed forward with urgency. He had to go through mountains of case files, records, and testimonies, follow leads, and patch gaps.
While he worked, Jiang Xi stayed outside the ward, drawing, reading, doing her assignments. The sales of her phone case online shop were still average, but a company had taken a liking to her designs and signed a small design contract with her. She had already quit her restaurant job and was focusing entirely on drawing and her exams.
When the investigation team members and the criminal police left, Jiang Xi would come in to keep Xu Cheng company.
Sometimes, when meetings ran over four hours, Jiang Xi would look through the glass on the door and steal a glance at Xu Cheng from afar.
He would try his best to finish the work at hand, but he would also consider her feelings. Not wanting her to worry, he would tell his colleagues he was tired and that they should stop for the day.
On July 9, Liu Xiaoguang, Director of the Public Security Bureau of Tianhu District, Yucheng, and Wang Yu, head of the economic investigation unit, were summoned and placed under investigation by the team.
On July 10, Ge Wenbin, head prosecutor of the Third Division of the Yucheng Procuratorate, and prosecutor Yuan Lin were placed under investigation.
On July 14, Xu Cheng was discharged from the hospital.
The night before, he had secretly stayed up late. After Jiang Xi left that night, Yi Baiyu came by once, sharing the transaction records they had uncovered from Deng Kun’s overseas accounts. Xu Cheng wanted to do everything he could to connect the information from the Jiang family’s account books back then with the current leads. He did not fall asleep until three in the morning.
When he got up, his head felt heavy and dizzy.
Wan Xiaohai picked them up upon discharge. On the way, Xu Cheng was very sleepy, nodding off the entire ride.
Seeing this, Jiang Xi began to suspect the doctor had made a misjudgment and that he should not have been discharged so early. Xu Cheng felt guilty and did not dare say a word.
After Jiang Xi helped him home and told him to rest, he said he had lain in bed long enough and wanted to sit on the sofa for a while.
Jiang Xi helped him sit down.
The sunlight outside was bright. His bath towel and freshly washed clothes from a few days ago were hanging over the curtains to dry. Jiang Xi went over to put them away.
Xu Cheng’s gaze followed her.
Outside the window, several summer flowers were blooming in full brilliance. The noon sunlight slanted in, draping over Jiang Xi’s soft figure. The light trimmed her waist into a slender line, and the loose strands of hair by her ears were tinted with a golden glow.
In her hands, the clothes were smoothed flat, every crease on his heart pressed into place, neat and proper.
He smiled faintly.
It was as if Jiang Xi had grown eyes on the side of her face; she turned to look at him. “What are you smiling at?”
“I remembered one night I came here and saw you folding clothes. Back then, I thought I wanted to become that piece of clothing,” Xu Cheng said. “Every time you fold clothes, you smooth them flat. It must feel very comfortable.”
“Comfortable?” Jiang Xi thought about it curiously, set the clothes down, and walked over to sit beside him. Her palm touched his chest, through the thin T-shirt, gently and softly smoothing over him. “Like this? …Is it comfortable?”
Xu Cheng smiled again, lips pressed together, but a dimple appeared on one side.
The sunlight made his face look suspiciously flushed.
Jiang Xi said, “What strange things are you thinking about?”
“What things?” Xu Cheng said. “I don’t understand.”
“Hmph.”
He laughed again.
Jiang Xi lifted her head slightly; Xu Cheng lowered his. Their lips brushed lightly together. He gently pressed against her once, and she pressed back.
The room was quiet, the sunlight dazzling, their breaths shallow.
Four days later, Xu Cheng returned to work.
On July 18, Zheng Xiaosong, Mayor of Yucheng, attempted suicide at home and was taken away and placed under investigation by Xu Cheng and other criminal police who arrived in time. Personnel including section chiefs from the Municipal Development and Reform Commission and the Construction Planning Bureau were also taken away.
On July 19, after more than ten days under investigation, Zhang Shining suffered a mental breakdown and confessed to all crimes. The investigation team, criminal police unit, and key personnel of the procuratorate quickly followed the trail, locating and sealing evidence.
Xu Cheng personally conducted the interrogation. Soon, Zheng Xiaosong, Yan Huaijin, Ge Wenbin, Yuan Lin, and others confessed one after another.
Back then, Zhang Shining, as Director of the Jiangzhou Public Security Bureau, had vigorously carried out anti-crime crackdowns, receiving full support from the then Party Secretary Zheng Xiaosong. The mayor of Jiangzhou and several other important officials were brought down and imprisoned. Relying on this case, the two achieved prominent political accomplishments and rose in their careers.
But Li Zhiqu, who continued investigating, unexpectedly discovered from the account books that Zheng Xiaosong had something to hide. When he tried to dig deeper, he was obstructed by Zhang Shining. At that time, Deng Kun, who was searching for new partners after the fall of the Jiang family, took a liking to Qiu Sicheng and introduced him to Yu Pingwei of Yucheng’s Siqian Company.
At that time, Zheng Xiaosong had just been transferred to Yucheng, serving as Secretary of the Development and Reform Commission. Qiu Sicheng failed to secure connections through rent-seeking and instead sought out Zheng’s friend, Zhang Shining.
Zhang Shining pointed out a stepping stone to him: kill Li Zhiqu and eliminate Zheng Xiaosong’s worries.
Afterward, Zheng Xiaosong approved for the then obscure Siqian Company a prime parcel of land in Yucheng’s new district. That land later developed into the most prosperous commercial area in Yucheng and became the great springboard for Siqian’s meteoric rise.
Qiu Sicheng was very tactful, presenting generous gifts to Zheng Xiaosong and Zhang Shining in thanks for their patronage.
The two then gradually introduced Qiu Sicheng to personnel in the Bureau of Commerce, the Construction Bureau, the Supervision Bureau, and other agencies.
Seven years ago, Zheng Xiaosong was promoted to the municipal standing committee and introduced Qiu Sicheng to Yan Huaijin, then Deputy Chief Prosecutor. But Qiu Sicheng hit a wall. Yan Huaijin refused his lavish gifts.
Half a year later, Yan Huaijin could not resist temptation and became involved with a sex worker, Li Muyun. Qiu Sicheng seized the leverage at once. Li Muyun happened to be preparing to report Yan Huaijin. At the critical moment, Qiu Sicheng resolved the matter.
From then on, Yan Huaijin fell as well.
Last year, Sikun Finance, a subsidiary of Siqian Group, was suspected of illegal transactions and was about to face strict investigation. At the critical juncture, Qiu Sicheng sent Chen Di over.
Unexpectedly, Chen Di’s boldness knew no bounds. She demanded money, demanded work, and in the end demanded the status of a lawful wife, forcing Yan Huaijin to divorce.
At that time, she became friends with Ai Li, the owner of a clothing shop she frequented, and also got to know Ai Li’s former “colleague,” Wang Wanying. They felt an instant kinship.
Chen Di was young and gave her heart easily. Using the phrase “I have a friend,” she consulted the two older women about emotional matters.
Ai Li had once worked at Siyu Clubhouse in her early years and was shrewd. At a glance, she guessed the protagonist of Chen Di’s story. She had once had a similar experience herself and privately lamented that she had not been as bold as the younger generation and had failed to secure greater compensation back then.
She eagerly took on the role of Chen Di’s confidante. After gaining her trust, she encouraged and incited her to fight for what she wanted.
Wang Wanying, mindful of Chen Di’s young age and seeing her as a younger sister, privately tried to dissuade her several times, to no avail.
Before Chen Di’s accident, she left behind a document envelope. She was in a hurry to leave and asked Ai Li to mail it back to her hometown. But Ai Li never sent it.
Chen Di was strangled to death in bed during a rendezvous with Yan Huaijin. He had not expected that she had left behind evidence.
After seeing the data card in the envelope, Ai Li blackmailed Yan Huaijin. She quickly obtained her first large sum of money and bought a new car.
The more Wang Wanying thought about it, the more something felt wrong. She warned Ai Li not to bring trouble upon herself. Sure enough, Ai Li soon disappeared.
Wang Wanying was quick-witted. That very night, she went to the shop and found the document envelope.
She had always known that Qiu Sicheng had blood on his hands, but that time, she felt grief for Chen Di, whom she had known for less than half a year. She was too much like her younger sister.
She began to consider leaving Qiu Sicheng and cautiously expressed the idea.
But Qiu Sicheng would not let her go. During an argument, Wang Wanying let slip Chen Di’s matter. By then, Qiu Sicheng had already inferred from Ai Li’s blackmail that Chen Di had left something behind. Wang Wanying denied it. Yet she was deeply uneasy. On one hand, she did not want the two girls, especially Chen Di, to have died in vain. On the other, she could not bring herself to betray Qiu Sicheng.
At the same time, she did not dare report him either, believing the world to be as it was. Having grown up surrounded by darkness, she simply did not believe that any light existed.
Until that day, when she heard Yao Yu praise Xu Cheng, saw the news about a female corpse unearthed in Mingtu Bay, and remembered how years ago Xu Cheng had inadvertently “saved” her once, sparing her from being brutally beaten by a supervisor.
At that time, Wang Wanying, who had walked out from the mire of Jiangzhou, looked at her own decaying life and thought of Jiangzhou, now being cleansed after the downfall of the Jiang family. Girls like her had become rare.
She looked at Yao Yu, like a younger sister. Originally, Yao Yu had shared the same tragic fate as her, but she had encountered a good police officer and her life had changed from then on.
Wang Wanying realized that there was still some light in this world. It was only that she had never encountered it.
That day, it was as if she suddenly awoke. She made up her mind to leave Qiu Sicheng, to leave this place.
If Yao Yu could support herself through her own efforts, why could she not?
Not long after, she left that data card inside the crystal ball given to her by Yao Yu’s mother, the most important possession she had.
It was to repay Xu Cheng’s kindness from years ago, and also to leave behind the only clean place in her heart.
She thought she would be able to leave. But in the end, she still died at the hands of the only man to whom she had ever given her true feelings.
Yang Jianming could not bring himself to do it.
Years ago, when his younger brother Yang Jianfeng made a mistake and Qiu Sicheng intended to punish him severely, Wang Wanying had spoken a word in his defense. He remembered that.
But Qiu Sicheng, enraged that she, who had always been obedient, now wanted to escape and resist, did it himself and drowned her.
When the police searched that blue house, they found Wang Wanying’s body in a freezer in the basement.
In mid-August, Qiu Sicheng requested to see Xu Cheng.
Before that, it had always been Zhang Yang, Lin Xiaohu, and others who interrogated him.
Most people within the system, when faced with irrefutable evidence, would suddenly lose their resolve. Qiu Sicheng instead became the most tight-lipped among them. But in the end, everyone else had confessed, and he had no way to deny it. Zhang Yang’s interrogation of him progressed smoothly.
Yet he insisted on seeing Xu Cheng. Zhang Yang said Captain Xu was a core member of the investigation team and was very busy, with no time to see him.
Qiu Sicheng said, “Then tell him this: if he comes, I can close Li Zhiqu’s case. It’s been ten years. Evidence is hard to find. Doesn’t he want to clear Li Zhiqu’s name?”
Zhang Yang said coolly, “Before Captain Xu ‘died,’ he got you to talk. You said it yourself, the crime scene was in the abandoned house in Yang Jianfeng’s hometown. Back then, the place was covered in blood. Qiu Sicheng, last month we already went to collect evidence, conducted extensive surveys and sampling. We are now in the process of clearing it. We have already extracted bloodstains, tissue, fingerprints…”
Qiu Sicheng was stunned. He had not expected that Xu Cheng had set him up layer by layer, digging out everything he had wanted to conceal, cleanly and completely.
Zhang Yang rose with disdain. Qiu Sicheng shouted, “Where’s A-Wen! Ask him if he wants justice for A-Wen!”
That afternoon, Xu Cheng came. He got straight to the point as soon as he entered. “Where did you throw the weapon you used to kill A-Wen?”
A strange light flickered across Qiu Sicheng’s face. “Feeling pretty pleased with yourself now? A man of the hour, a great hero, praised by thousands, admired by thousands. Zhang Shining, Yan Huaijin, Zheng Xiaoguang… all these big figures bowing their heads to you, submitting. Enjoying it, aren’t you?
Everyone who went against you lost, only you won. Feels great, doesn’t it?”
Xu Cheng was silent.
In truth, he was still very tired, even more gloomy. These days, the preliminary records and evidence compiled by the team were nothing but endless blood and vast sums squeezed from the people.
Qiu Sicheng said, “I want to know, from which step did you start planning?”
Xu Cheng answered briefly, “A long time ago.”
He had nothing to interrogate him about, so he could not be bothered to waste words.
Qiu Sicheng saw it and felt even more humiliated, gritting his teeth.
“Was it that time with Yao Yu? When you were taken away by the prosecutor, and the internet was a storm of blood and wind. Back then the cyber police handled things slowly, and the internet was full of attacks. I thought the water army had worked.”
Xu Cheng said lightly, “I spoke to the cyber police beforehand. As for online rumors, didn’t you want to make things bigger? I happened to know the CEO of Wenzhen News, asked her to help you add a few more sparks, pour a few more buckets of oil.”
“And your argument with Fan Wendong at the district bureau was fake too?”
“The emotions were real. But I didn’t suspect him. Him, Zhang Yang, I tested them both.”
Before interrogating Qiu Sicheng, he had already told Fan Wendong of his suspicions and instructed him not to tell anyone. After the interrogation, he confirmed that Qiu Sicheng had been completely unprepared.
Fan Wendong was clean.
As for Zhang Yang.
Xu Cheng wanted to leave Zhang Shining with the impression that he was driven to despair both emotionally and professionally. So when he discovered that Qiu Sicheng had broken into his home, he delayed his original plan to interrogate Yang Jianming. Only Zhang Yang knew about this.
Qiu Sicheng’s line, “Just because I came to your door, you retaliated?” proved that Zhang Yang was also clean.
Fortunately, there had only been one mole in the team.
“So, the matter of you giving Yao Yu money, you deliberately leaked it to Yu Jiaxiang. You already knew he was the mole. You used his hand to give us a chance to pin the charge of ‘soliciting prostitution’ on you?”
“Mm…”
Sabotaging brakes was too crude, something only Qiu Sicheng would do. And after that, there were no further moves. That meant the people behind him did not approve of that approach. Zheng Xiaosong and the others were cautious.
Xu Cheng understood their concerns and simply gave them a push.
The expression on Qiu Sicheng’s face gradually faded. “When did you know he was the mole?”
“From the moment I learned you found Jiang Xi in the urban village. You hadn’t found her for years, but the moment I did, you did too.”
If that could still be coincidence, then the workers at the Shenzhen construction site fleeing early was no longer coincidence.
Xu Cheng had visited Dong Qi at the detention center. Only Yu Jiaxiang knew about that.
So the day Xu Cheng took Yao Yu’s statement, he chatted with Yu Jiaxiang about her, mentioned the thousand yuan. Since he leaked everything, Xu Cheng might as well make use of him.
These days, Qiu Sicheng had already pieced together Xu Cheng’s entire plan. He was no longer surprised. But now, a chill crept up his back. “Even before the arrest of Yang Jianfeng, you already knew Yu Jiaxiang was the mole. You… just to drive a wedge between me and Yang Jianming, you watched him die?! Xu Cheng, you—”
“The one who hunted him down was you, not me.” Xu Cheng’s eyes were as calm as an empty well. “The one who leaked information was Yu Jiaxiang, not me.”
“Between ‘protecting Yang Jianfeng, whose hands were stained with many lives and who would never confess,’ and ‘guarding against Yu Jiaxiang tipping you off and making you wary,’ if it were you, what would you choose? So it became a race. Against time, against fate, to see who was faster. That day, during the pursuit, I gave it my all. But in the end, your people were faster. You won.”
Qiu Sicheng froze.
Won?
He had won then, but lost in the end.
Just like the rain that day when he buried him. Qiu Sicheng thought he had won. But it was precisely the unceasing rain that preserved his life. Otherwise, after so many days, even if he had not died on the spot, he would have died of thirst.
How was it that what looked like victory turned into total defeat in the end?
“You hate me that much, want me dead?” Qiu Sicheng asked, clinging to a hollow sense of triumph. He was about to burst into laughter, but saw Xu Cheng’s gaze, faint to the point of absence. “It has nothing to do with you. You’re just a glove. What I want to clear out is what you told Jiang Xi that day, the ‘root’ under your feet.”
These days, Xu Cheng had been busy interrogating Zheng Xiaosong, Yan Huaijin, and the others, with no time to deal with him, tossing him to others instead. Qiu Sicheng ground his teeth in hatred. “I only lost because of Yang Jianming. He deserves to die. I treated him so well, and he betrayed me.”
Xu Cheng paused, then said objectively, “Yang Jianming was loyal enough to you. He was extremely difficult to turn. Even on the final day, he never intended to betray you completely. I only managed to make him waver a little: to leave me alive, to leave himself a way out. He kept holding on, hesitating, waiting for the possibility that you might still have a chance to win. If at any point there had been even a shred of hope, he would have returned to the scene and killed me. Only when there was no hope left did he give up.”
After Yang Jianming turned himself in, he said that when he saw the police begin searching along the river for Xu Cheng, and realized they were close to finding the crime scene, only then did he completely give up.
Qiu Sicheng refused to accept it, cursing, “He’s a traitor! Just wait till I—” He suddenly fell silent. There was nothing he could do anymore. He could not kill him, could not torment him, could not even land a slap on him.
He grew dazed.
These days, he had refused to accept it, replaying in his mind countless times every possible version of his path to failure. He was unwilling. “You were just lucky! Even Jiang Xi came to my house to steal something, and she actually got it. Even she helped you!”
“She helped me, and she helped justice. Not just her. There’s also Zhu Fei, and many informants who worked for years. Only then did we reach the final step, completed by Jiang Xi. Qiu Sicheng, so many people are fighting. How could you not fall?”
“You’re just lucky!” He refused to accept it. “Xu Cheng, you’re just luckier than me!”
Xu Cheng said calmly, “Mm. I’m lucky.”
Qiu Sicheng was driven nearly mad with anger. “What if Jiang Xi hadn’t found it? I would have gone abroad. You’d never have caught me again!”
Xu Cheng lifted his brow slightly, feeling it unnecessary to explain.
But Qiu Sicheng caught that detail. “You had other preparations?”
Xu Cheng did not answer. His fingers tapped lightly on the table. “Finished talking? Qiu Sicheng, keep your promise. Make a proper statement and confess the details of how you killed A Wen.”
He turned to leave.
“Xu Cheng!” Qiu Sicheng suddenly pleaded. “Say it. Let me die understanding.”
Xu Cheng paused for a moment before speaking. “Before I went to meet you, I would leave something with A-Dao, have him throw it into your car trunk that night. He used to be a thief. This kind of thing is easy for him.”
“What thing?”
“A piece of my toe.”
Qiu Sicheng froze in shock. After a moment, he suddenly burst into laughter, convulsing, as if crazed, as if insane.
“You’re fucking insane! Xu Cheng, you’re fucking insane!” Qiu Sicheng laughed until he bent over, laughed until he coughed, laughed until he cried.
Xu Cheng had no interest in watching his outburst, his fear, his unwillingness, his grief. He did not care in the slightest.
He strode away without looking back.
It was Sunday. Xu Cheng was worn out from overtime and returned home early.
Pushing open the door, he saw Jiang Xi painting in the sunlight. Hearing the door, she turned and smiled at him. “You’re back?”
Xu Cheng walked over and hugged her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, holding her as he swayed lightly.
Jiang Xi said, “I’ll be done in a bit. Why don’t you go rest first? You’ve had so much overtime this week. You have work again tomorrow.”
“Mm. I’ll take a shower.”
Xu Cheng had planned to spend some time with her after his shower, but he was too tired. Even after washing, he had no strength left. The moment he fell onto the bed, he lost consciousness in a second.
He slept deeply, very deeply, as if all burdens had been set down.
But in his dream, he kept thinking he should get up and keep Jiang Xi company, wanted to go sleep on the sofa in the living room. Yet his body refused to move. After struggling twice, he sank back into sleep.
He did not know how long he slept before waking.
He narrowed his eyes at the room. It felt warm, with sunlight and faint dust motes, with the light scent of her skincare products and soap.
Half-lidded, he quietly enjoyed the moment when Jiang Xi tiptoed in, her movements extremely, extremely light, afraid of waking him.
She knew that as the sun moved, the opposite window would reflect light directly into the bedroom, and the curtains were not fully drawn. Afraid the light would wake him, she slipped in and very quietly pulled the curtains closed so the sunlight would not fall on his eyes.
Xu Cheng’s eyes suddenly grew damp. For no reason.
In this quiet summer evening, with the air conditioner humming.
Xu Cheng stretched his shoulder. Jiang Xi instantly froze in place, as if even her breathing stopped.
He opened his eyes.
She immediately whispered, “Did I wake you?”
“No.” He reached a hand out to her. “Jiang Xi, come lie down with me for a bit. I keep thinking of going to the living room sofa to sleep so I can stay with you. I can’t relax.”
She let out a soft laugh, climbed onto the bed, and nestled into his arms. “Since when do you need someone to accompany you to sleep?”
She said it like that, but her tone was full of happiness.
“Don’t want to sleep with me?” Xu Cheng said deliberately.
“I do. But it’s already evening.”
“Then we’ll sleep until night and go out for late-night food, alright?”
“Mm… okay. Mm—”
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