Ch91 – Blow It Up
Huang Ting suddenly turned pale upon hearing this. Xiao Yujun said in shock, “It’s because of that? But didn’t all that happen a long time ago?”
“It was handed over to the City Bureau.” Huang Ting said.
Yu Hao remembered it now too and wondered, “I forgot all about it! Didn’t you say before that the police had found a clue?”
“And what’s your intel?”
Zhou Sheng leaned back in his chair and swayed back and forth. “Why is it that after casually mentioning that there was a clue, there was no follow-up afterwards? Officer Huang, that’s unreasonable ba.”
Huang Ting stared at Zhou Sheng, “This has nothing to do with you guys.”
“Of course it does!” Zhou Sheng looked at Huang Ting as if he didn’t know him. “We were the ones who picked up the money, so it’s perfectly reasonable for you to inform us of the follow-up!”
Huang Ting frowned deeply and got up to smoke. Xiao Yujun said, “Smoke right here, explain it clearly to me.”
Zhou Sheng continued, “That’s also something that you ‘can’t say’, right? Pressure from the top’s pretty heavy ma.”
Huang Ting said, “Because we can’t act rashly and alert the snake.”
“And where’s the snake?” Zhou Sheng said, “The snake probably can’t be found anymore ba? Lost your trail of clues?”
Huang Ting and Zhou Sheng looked at each other, but Zhou Sheng didn’t flinch at all. He continued, “Who would sink more than a million yuan into the reservoir? Aside from it being stolen money, could it be anything else? I don’t think so. What kind of influence could get the Public Security System to rest a case concerning that much money? And to stop investigating it? Your superiors issued a death order, right? I’ve heard that your superintendent’s hands aren’t very clean, but I don’t think he’d dare to take that money.”
“Watch what you say, Zhou Sheng.” Huang Ting said, “I remember that your father’s the boss of Yun Laichun? If rumours heard over the dining table were to spread, your father would get into a lot of trouble.”
Yu Hao instantly recalled the time when Zhou Sheng mentioned “that superintendent is bad news” and connected it to the time when Zhou Laichun mentioned “when I saw Huang Jingya previously”. That is to say, when Zhou Sheng entered college, Zhou Laichun had taken his son along to have dinner with Huang Baiguang!
Zhou Sheng dismissed it with a laugh.
“Okay, I’ll take back the words ‘aren’t very clean’.” Zhou Sheng said calmly, “But, the superintendent doesn’t seem particularly persistent, so these words of mine shouldn’t be wrong.”
“You’re very smart, Zhou Sheng.” Huang Ting said, “I’m not clear on the specifics, but after we handed it over to the City Bureau, the case became a pending case, and they didn’t continue investigating it any further. It’s not something I can interfere with. They wouldn’t update me on the case progress either.”
Yu Hao frowned. It was impossible for Huang Ting to complain about his superiors to them, but his earlier words already implied that the superintendent had pressured them into not investigating the case any further.
“Ok, so what about now?” Huang Ting said.
“Alright then.” Zhou Sheng said, “Wifey, let’s go home and sleep.”
It was rare for Huang Ting to curse, and it was also Yu Hao’s first time hearing Huang Ting swear. He almost bowled over laughing. Even Xiao Yujun couldn’t endure it and laughed so hard she laid sprawled out on the table.
“What about your intel?!” Huang Ting practically roared, “You actually fished information from Laozi? Zhou Sheng, I’ve regarded you as a friend in vain!”
“I’ve already given you all the information I have.” Zhou Sheng sat back down and shrugged, “Can’t you deduce it by yourself?”
“Make yourself clear before you go!” Huang Ting felt about for his cap as he wanted to put it on, but he was wearing plain clothes today.
“We picked up 1.2 million yuan,” Zhou Sheng stated, “It was stolen money from a corrupt official, that was ascertained from the start.”
“You’re certain of that, not me. It’s none of my business.” Huang Ting said coldly.
“You don’t need to be so cautious.” Zhou Sheng said, “Ting Ge, would I harm you?”
“You think you haven’t harmed me?” Huang Ting said, “Every time we try to take down the crystal you’ll always make me, a mage, go up first to die!”
Yu Hao burst out laughing again. Zhou Sheng said, “Where did the stolen money come from? I’m guessing that the trail of clues wasn’t lost, but your superiors pressured you guys to stop the investigation.”
Huang Ting said, “Cut the c.r.a.p! What’s your information?!”
Zhou Sheng sneered, “At that time, in the report written by Junjun Jie t.i.tled ‘Returned the Money Found’, our names were on it, right?”
Xiao Yujun said, “Only your names and the name of your college were written, not your cla.s.ses.”
“I even wrote a report on it before.” Xiao Yujun muttered, “In January of this year, the office didn’t allow me to mention it several times, so it wasn’t published in the end.”
“Ou Qihang’s father?” Yu Hao was in disbelief for a moment, “But how do you know that? I didn’t tell you anything.”
“I was right behind you guys that day, so I wasn’t far away.” Zhou Sheng said, “I returned after buying the heating pad for you and inadvertently overheard that one sentence.”
“How can it be proven that the money belongs to Ou Weihong?”
“Isn’t that what you’re going to do now?” Zhou Sheng said, “Find that taekwondo black belt athlete who managed to escape from Laozi after exchanging three moves with me — the robber who had seized Jun Jie’s laptop and managed to uncover information from the past.”
“Taekwondo……oh I mentioned that before, so what you’re saying is that……” Yu Hao said, “The one who s.n.a.t.c.hed the laptop was Ou Qihang?! That’s impossible ba!”
Xiao Yujun, “You know him?!”
Yu Hao instantly thought that they did seem similar in terms of height and the way they moved. He had only seen Ou Qihang twice, but somehow…after he was reminded by Zhou Sheng, he thought that it really could be him!
“It can’t be ba……” Yu Hao said, “Why would he s.n.a.t.c.h the laptop? His father has already pa.s.sed away, and didn’t he do so for the sake of……”
“Protecting him and his mother?” Zhou Sheng casually said, “He probably has other thoughts about it ba. Forget it, I’m sleepy, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Ou Qihang.” Huang Ting said, “I got it. Zhou Sheng, your father has a good son.”
Yu Hao, “?”
Zhou Sheng laughed it off.
“You have a good superintendent too.” Zhou Sheng also responded with a sincere compliment.
“He gave birth to his own son.” Huang Ting said, “But I can’t choose my own superintendent.”
“Wifey, let’s go.” Zhou Sheng put on his jacket.
“What did those last few sentences mean?” Yu Hao asked Zhou Sheng while they were on their way back to college.
“Firstly, pull the radish out along with the mud it’s in.” Zhou Sheng casually answered, “After that kid gets the evidence, he’ll probably want to expose it, in any case he’s a variable. And perhaps, a disaster would fall upon Huang Baiguang? By then, if my Dad gets implicated, us spectators of the bustle would be the ones getting busy, won’t we?”
That was when Yu Hao understood it and was momentarily stunned.
Yu Hao whispered, “Your father and Huang Baiguang are, are……colluding?”
Zhou Sheng said, “In the eyes of my old man, problems that can be solved with money aren’t problems. If he could collect the money he received, then would my Dad still have tried to matchmake me and Jingya? A handsome, witty, and humorous son who could also be a wife’s slave is the best trump card, and it must be saved until there’s no other way out. If he’s really going so far as to marry his son off, then he would at least marry me into the Provincial Party Committee.”
“Face na?” Yu Hao copied Zhou Sheng, “Still want it or not? Pick it up quickly!”
Zhou Sheng smiled and embraced Yu Hao. At first, Yu Hao couldn’t figure out what Ou Qihang wanted to do, but when he heard this, he realised that there could only be one possibility —— Ou Qihang was searching for the article that proved the existence of the 1.2 million yuan, as well as any other evidence that might exist in Xiao Yujun’s laptop. He planned to use all that to blow things up.
Zhou Sheng took his phone out, looked down at it, and scrolled through his contact list.
Zhou Sheng said, “That kid Ou Qihang is very smart; he thought his arrangements were flawless, the only thing is that he’s a little too inexperienced. That old man has been going way too crazy recently; it won’t be a bad thing to get him to restrain himself a little. If he continues on like this, sooner or later something will happen, and he’ll be finished……wei, are you asleep? Nothing, just help me warn that old man to not hug Huang Baiguang’s thigh anymore, just telling him this is fine. Okay, I’m hanging up now.”
Yu Hao was so sleepy that he was a bit delirious. He wanted to ask who Zhou Sheng had just called, but he forgot to for a moment. Zhou Sheng got him to climb up the water pipe to get back into their dormitory. Fu Liqun had already fallen asleep, and within the deathly still night, the two of them laid on the bed. Zhou Sheng pressed against his forehead before remembering that he didn’t have the Golden Crow Wheel anymore, so he pinched Yu Hao’s cheek instead.
“Good night.” Zhou Sheng whispered.
Yu Hao kissed Zhou Sheng’s finger, “General, no matter what happens, I’ll accompany you by your side.”
“I know.” Zhou Sheng whispered in the darkness, “Sleep ba, today was really too tiring.”
At noon the next day, Zhou Sheng didn’t wake Yu Hao up. It was not until 12 o’clock that Yu Hao was woken up by Zhou Sheng from his slumber.
“Get up!” Zhou Sheng said, “Something happened!”
Yu Hao was suddenly woken up, and his brain felt like exploding. He felt around for his phone; missed calls from Huang Ting and Xiao Yujun filled the screen.
“I’m going too!” Fu Liqun said, “Are you guys going to fight for justice? Don’t even think about leaving me behind this time!”
Ying City’s No.3 Middle School.
Ou Qihang was sitting on the railings of a concrete rooftop on the 11th floor, his face injured from getting beaten up by Zhou Sheng the previous night. He was quietly watching the students on the field.
The police were obviously experienced in dealing with this kind of situation. Firemen were already preparing an air cushion at the bottom, yet Ou Qihang was extremely calm, “Don’t bother wasting all that effort, I really want to die, and I can die in a lot of different ways! Even if you catch me this time, I’ll still die the next time.”
“Qihang!” Ou Qihang’s mother was crying and shouting from the teaching building, “What are you doing? Get down from there!”
His form teacher shouted, “Your mother’s watching you! Qihang, what are you thinking? Get down and tell us!”
The form teacher, teaching director, course teacher, vice princ.i.p.al, and everyone from the school had come out.
“I have something to say!” Ou Qihang shouted, “Are the reporters here yet?”
Yu Hao, Zhou Sheng, and Fu Liqun rushed to the school gate. Huang Ting came over, showed his police ID to the security guard, and brought them in.
It has been a long time since a student wanted to jump off a building in No.3 Middle School, unlike the school next door that had a quota of one student jumping per year. The rooftop door had always been locked. Of all times, Ou Qihang had picked lunch break to do this, so all of the students had come out to watch.
“I left a lot of messages on Weibo and forums!” Ou Qihang shouted, “And I even got my online friend to upload a tie for me. Once I’m dead, it will be published at a fixed time! By then, all of you will know why! Don’t even think about deleting it, you won’t be able to finish deleting them all!”
“What are you saying?!” Ou Qihang’s mother ran until her high heels broke. She was standing barefoot outside the air cushion, her face awash with tears as she shouted to her son, “I was wrong! Qihang! If you’re dissatisfied with anything, tell me, don’t do this! Mama’s heart is breaking! Mama carried you for 10 months and endured many hardships to give birth to you and raise you! Your Papa has already left us, could you really bear to leave Mama alone for the rest of her life?”
Yu Hao ran to the front of the teaching building, and when he heard this, his heart immediately felt sour.
“I’m sorry, Mum!” Ou Qihang shouted, “I have no other way!”
Ou Qihang looked at his watch, it was close to 1 o’clock.
Ou Qihang’s mother knelt on the ground and cried as she shouted, “Who can save my son……”
The door to the rooftop opened. Ou Qihang’s back was facing the door, he raised his hand, “Take one more step, and I’ll jump.”
“It’s me.” Yu Hao suddenly said.
Ou Qihang, “……”
Ou Qihang suddenly turned around. Yu Hao stood amidst the wind and watched Ou Qihang.
“Aren’t you going to apologise for last night?” Yu Hao walked straight up, and Ou Qihang actually forgot to get him to leave for a moment, until Yu Hao walked to the rooftop railing five meters away from him and leaned on the cement railing to look down.
Huang Ting wore a safety rope and climbed out of the cla.s.sroom on the 11th floor. He carefully stepped on an air conditioner, looking overhead; Fu Liqun climbed out from another cla.s.sroom on the 10th floor to serve as a second buffer. Zhou Sheng climbed out of a cla.s.sroom on the 9th floor to act as the third buffer.
Everyone’s hearts immediately reached their throats.
“Someone else provoked you, but I didn’t.” Yu Hao said.
“You wouldn’t mind.” Ou Qihang said, “You’re a very good person, Yu Hao, I can’t bear to tell you some things.”
“You’re afraid ba.” Yu Hao said, “You’re afraid that Zhou Sheng would discover your plan, and that you wouldn’t be able to make up your mind.”
Ou Qihang laughed at himself. Yu Hao said, “I’ve tried it before too.”
“Tried what before?” Ou Qihang said, “Don’t come closer, it’ll be useless even if you do. Someone who wants to die can die in any sort of way. You can pull me down today, but I’ll still jump down from the overpa.s.s tomorrow, I can jump into a river the day after, and the day after that I could burn charcoal. I’ve already prepared everything. You can’t watch me at all times.”
“Tried to give up on life, and let death end all my problems.” Yu Hao looked down and shouted, “Everyone, go back to cla.s.s! Don’t watch anymore! It’s all fine now! Go and work on your Five-Year Gaokao Three-Year Mock Tests, and study to get into PKU or THU!”
Ou Qihang, “……”
Yu Hao smiled, “When I remember it now, I really was pretty d.a.m.n dumb.”
Huang Ting’s hand was close to Ou Qihang’s ankle, but it was still just not close enough.
Zhou Sheng stared closely at Yu Hao above, in fear that he would be dragged down by Ou Qihang as well.
“In this era,” Ou Qihang said, “Each and every one of us has a very, very soft voice, unless we use our life as a loudspeaker. No matter how loud we shout, no one would hear us, right?”
Yu Hao frowned slightly.
Ou Qihang, “As long as I die, this matter will be blown up, and no one will be able to clean it up.”
“Is this the only way?” Yu Hao asked.
Ou Qihang said, “This is the most worthwhile way. A high-caliber student with good grades, a corrupt official’s son, suddenly jumping off a building to commit suicide, and left behind a pile of letters, doesn’t that sound very touching? But it’s a pity that I won’t be able to see that, so you pay attention to it then.”
Yu Hao smiled, “When I tried to commit suicide, I didn’t think that much about it.”
Ou Qihang said, “Once my head touches the ground, people will take pictures and upload it online; it’ll be a b.l.o.o.d.y and mangled mess. Everyone will then want to listen to what I want to say, and they will all start to condemn in my stead. That’ll be pretty good.”
Yu Hao said, “Is it? Then jump ba. I can help you too.”
Ou Qihang was a little surprised, “Don’t you want to say anything else?”
Yu Hao said, “There’s nothing else to say, jump ba.”
Ou Qihang, “……”
Yu Hao turned around to leave, but Ou Qihang said, “Wait, why did you want to commit suicide?”
Yu Hao said, “Since you’re in a rush, I won’t hold you up. Let’s talk some other day.”
Ou Qihang suddenly laughed, “I’m not in a rush. There will always be a lot of chances to die.”
Yu Hao could only say, “Ok then. Actually it was nothing much, or at least it seems trivial now that I look back on it.”
“You got together with Zhou Sheng?” Ou Qihang asked.
“Yeah.” Yu Hao said, “And now my whole life has changed. When I think about the beginning, I just feel like I was really stupid.”
“That’s pretty good.” Ou Qihang, “Actually, I’m not tired of living. I just think that there are some matters even more important than living. I wanted to comfort you that day. When you said that everyone was lonely from birth, I knew that you must be someone with a story too.”
Yu Hao answered, “That same teacher once said to me ‘I don’t know how to comfort you; just like how you didn’t know how to comfort me today. Anything we say would be too feeble and futile, but our souls can produce a kind of weak resonance right here and now, from the hardships that we have suffered’. The reason you found me might have been due to the guidance of this type of resonance ba.”
Ou Qihang stared at Yu Hao blankly; the two of them looked at each other.
And in this instant, Huang Ting grabbed Ou Qihang’s ankle like a bolt of lightning and locked it, dragging him down from the rooftop!
Cries of alarm sounded out instantly at the bottom of the teaching building.
Although Yu Hao had discussed with them beforehand, he still got a huge fright the instant he saw Ou Qihang being dragged down.
Huang Ting dragged Ou Qihang off the rooftop and fell straight down with him. Fu Liqun jumped up from the 10th floor, serving as a relay and held onto Ou Qihang’s waist, then threw him to Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng caught him, spun around, loosened his grip, lifted his feet, and kicked downwards——
Ou Qihang fell down and landed on the air cushion. The firefighters rushed forward one after another and held him down!
Ou Qihang’s mother fainted on the spot.
Yu Hao pounced onto the rooftop railings and looked down. Zhou Sheng was still hanging mid air between the 10th and 9th floor. Yu Hao immediately turned around and rushed out of the rooftop through a small door and darted into the cla.s.sroom.
“Zhou Sheng!”
Zhou Sheng was climbing in from outside the window. Yu Hao hugged him tightly. Zhou Sheng said, “I’m fine, just hurts a little from getting bound too tightly by the rope. Why did you talk about this and that with him for so long? Just kick him down to us and it would’ve all been over.”
The two of them looked down, Ou Qihang had already been taken away by the police.
—