Ji Yongtao lay down, hugging his jacket and continuing to sleep. Chu Jiajun made sure he didn't notice the unzipped backpack on the floor, and silently kicked it to the back of the sofa.
He just wanted to search Ji Yongtao's bag and pockets to see if there were any investigation files or clues, but the man woke up.
——It seems that he didn't bring back any clues.
Chu Jiajun squatted down and zipped up his pants. Just as he did it, a hand reached out from the sofa and grabbed his wrist.
Cold sweat instantly broke out on his back.
Then Ji Yongtao's vague voice was heard.
Ji Yongtao: You go to sleep... I'll sleep on the sofa tonight...
Ji Yongtao closed his eyes, fumbled in the pocket of his leather jacket, and found a few crumpled pieces of paper for Chu Jiajun.
Ji Yongtao: Is your pocket money enough? I'm busy lately...
——He thought he gave Xu Fei banknotes, but they were actually the two expired movie tickets.
Chu Jiajun: Brother Yong, these are movie tickets.
Ji Yongtao was half asleep and half awake, and sighed.
Ji Yongtao: Hmm... movie... let's go watch it...
Chu Jiajun: Expired.
Ji Yongtao forced himself to open his tired eyes and looked at him with a wry smile: I will accompany you to the Red Star Cinema tomorrow.
-
On Saturday, the two went shopping in the supermarket.
There was a Black Forest Western Restaurant on the first floor, where a coffee and cake set cost ten yuan. Ji Yongtao pulled Chu Jiajun in, found a seat by the window, ordered a set meal, and ordered a glass of boiled water for himself, which cost one yuan and a half.
Ji Yongtao rubbed his temples: He'd better put this glass of water in a golden cup and serve it to me.
Chu Jiajun: Brother Yong, don't you want to eat?
Ji Yongtao: Why would I eat this? I ordered this for you.
Chu Jiajun held the dessert spoon in his mouth with an innocent look on his face: Don't you think it's too expensive?
Ji Yongtao: I was so busy before that I was supposed to accompany you to register for school. But by the time I was done, you had already finished everything by yourself.
Ji Yongtao: You don't get along well with your classmates?
Chu Jiajun: They bullied me, a foreigner.
Ji Yongtao ordered another bottle of Coke and pushed it in front of him.
Ji Yongtao: Drinking Coke. Now I'm a day student, so I don't live with them. We live our own lives.
Chu Jiajun: Brother Yong, I also want to eat KFC.
Ji Yongtao: Can I sell my blood to support you, ancestor?
The two went to the cinema to see "Gunshot on Coal Mountain," a gangster film about a group of gangsters who took over a coal mine and were eventually shot dead. The film's final subtitles included a warning against the path of crime, where unearned gains are commonplace.
Chu Jiajun: I think the workload for these people is quite heavy.
Ji Yongtao: That's even more stupid. You worked so hard for a long time but got nothing and still got shot.
Ji Yongtao: I don't understand. People with good hands and feet don't go out to work, but instead go down this path. Last time, we shot two people who robbed a gold shop. They were 18 or 19 years old. When asked why they did it, they said they wanted the money, nothing else.
Chu Jiajun: But now that I have money, I can buy whatever I want. At the counter, an imported watch costs 150 yuan, and my monthly salary is only 70 yuan.
Ji Yongtao: Do you think I earn too little?
Chu Jiajun: Can you accompany me to eat at the Black Forest Western Restaurant every day?
Ji Yongtao: I can accompany you every day.
Chu Jiajun didn't answer.
Perhaps he himself found these words funny, Ji Yongtao smiled and said: You are just studying alone in another place now, and when you go back, your family will be there and there will be someone to accompany you every day.
Chu Jiajun still didn't answer, staring at his back. The traffic light turned green, and Ji Yongtao reached back and pulled him, holding his shoulder, and followed the crowd through the city's setting sun.
The leather jacket, which had not been cleaned for a long time, had a very subtle smell of cigarettes. It was not pleasant, but Chu Jiajun was already familiar with its presence.
It grew thicker around him, invading this originally colorless and tasteless world.
There was a night market outside the neighborhood, which gradually became bustling after dark. As they walked back, they were greeted by neighbors along the way. There was a balloon-inflicting stall crowded with young people. If they shot twenty balloons with an air gun, the grand prize was a Yamaguchi Kei videotape.
Ji Yongtao wanted to go for some fun, but a neighbor passing by immediately exposed his occupation, and the boss waved his hand and refused to take his business.
Ji Yongtao paid all the money and simply let Xu Fei go and play.
Chu Jiajun smiled and fired a shot, but missed.
Ji Yongtao: So stupid, three points in a straight line, look with your right eye, align the three points...
Chu Jiajun: My hands are cold and shaking, and I can't aim accurately.
Ji Yongtao took his hand and put it in his jacket pocket to warm it. Chu Jiajun's hand moved around in his pocket, tickling him.
Two colleagues who were leaving get off work passed by the air gun stall and asked Ji Yongtao to go smoke some cigarettes. He left a dollar for Chu Jiajun to play with and followed his colleagues to the river bank.
The boss asked the rookie: Give me the gun, I will help you load the bullet...
As soon as he reached out his hand, he heard a click. The young man skillfully loaded the air gun, aimed at the balloon board, and burst nearly half of the balloons in succession.
Chu Jiajun dropped his gun, picked up the videotape, and walked away briskly. He hailed a taxi at the gate of the residential complex and went to the western-style restaurant he owned.
The news that he single-handedly robbed a savings bank spread among the gangs, and the local tyrant "Film" contacted him. Several people were willing to partner with him to do something big.
-
"Film" was a local tyrant, whose real name was unknown. The meeting place was set at Chu Jiajun's Western restaurant, which was closed. There were four people at the door, three men and one woman.
The slightly plump middle-aged woman is the "film", like a somewhat unruly housewife in the vegetable market, about forty years old, with black eyebrows and wearing a beige cloth dress.
The other three were very young and had already become sworn brothers. They used nicknames in the underworld. One of them was called Chen Xiaohu, whom Chu Jiajun had heard of before.
Chen Xiaohu's father was a road bully, known for his murders and robbery. He'd previously committed crimes in Zhengzhou, and brought his children along with him. After his father was shot, Chen Xiaohu first fled to Shantou. Because he admired Facebook, he'd tried to contact Chu Jiajun through an intermediary, but the connection was unsuccessful. He then joined a car theft ring, but their operation was soon stormed, coinciding with a civil war among Chu Jiajun's gang.
Chu Jiajun: Why didn't you succeed last time? I think you're quite talented. Look at your well-trained arms. You're not cold even in short sleeves.
Chen Xiaohu: The middleman couldn't find you last time. I've practiced internal energy with my dad since I was a kid, so I'm not cold. If you want to learn, I'll teach you...
Chu Jiajun: Forget it. If this internal energy is useful, it can even block bullets. How can it kill people?
The others on the side all laughed quietly, and Chen Xiaohu kicked one of them away. Among these three people, he seemed to be the eldest brother.
But Chen Xiaohu wanted to acknowledge Chu Jiajun as his big brother. In this underworld, stealing was considered a low-life. Of all the things that could be considered honorable, murder and robbery in the wilderness was the most shameless. Then there was train robbing, and then there was store robbery. Only when it came to a head-on gunfight with the police could one truly embellish one's reputation in the underworld.
Chu Jiajun: Have you heard about my story?
Chen Xiaohu: I've heard of it, but I'm not afraid. If a younger brother steals money from his elder brother, he deserves death.
Chu Jiajun: What about my other things?
Chen Xiaohu: I've heard of it too.
Chu Jiajun opened the door with his key and walked towards the food storage at the back of the dark shop. Inside was a small freezer. The freezer door opened, and the cool fluorescent lights flashed repeatedly, illuminating the piles of money inside.
He picked up a few bundles and threw them to the film. The woman took the money and left. He threw a few more bundles to three people, giving each of them 50,000 yuan.
These people usually only robbed three or five thousand yuan at most, but this was the first time they got neatly stacked ten thousand yuan bills. They didn't know where to put them and their eyes were shining.
Chen Xiaohu kept his eyes fixed on Chu Jiajun. There was a curtain drawn inside the cold storage. Perhaps what lay behind it was just as rumored.
They waited for Chu Jiajun to issue some assignment, or some rules, or some clichéd phrase about brotherly love, but Chu Jiajun waved them off and told them to meet again next Tuesday night.
Chen Xiaohu clasped his fists and said: Big brother, is there anything I can help you with?
Chu Jiajun: Big brother, there is nothing I can help you with. I have to go back to see Yamaguchi Xuhui.
The three of them were silent for a while, and I don't know who took the lead in praising the masculinity of men, and then they started talking about female stars. These young people full of vigor and vitality chatted excitedly without stopping.
The lights suddenly dimmed, and the few people looked up and realized that Chu Jiajun had already left.
-
At home, Ji Yongtao had already returned. The TV was on and he was watering the flowers on the balcony.
Chu Jiajun: I'm back and bought a videotape. Let's watch it together tonight?
Ji Yongtao: Oh! Wait a minute, there's something!
Ji Yongtao rubbed his hands together and ran back to the living room. He seemed to have relaxed a little. He brought two bottles of foreign wine from the kitchen, saying they were gifts from a colleague.
Ji Yongtao: Look, it's all in English. I don't understand. What kind of wine is this? How do I drink it? Warm or iced?
Chu Jiajun: Foreign liquor should be drunk cold.
Ji Yongtao: How do you know? Have you ever been to a nightclub and had a drink there?
Chu Jiajun: I saw in the video that foreigners always add ice.
Ji Yongtao insisted that he read the English instructions. Chu Jiajun couldn't understand them either, so he had to make them up.
Chu Jiajun: It's said to be useful for cooking. It's also good for drinking dry.
Ji Yongtao: What's the degree?
Chu Jiajun: It's about the same as beer.
Ji Yongtao: Go get some cups! I'll borrow some ice from downstairs, let's try some!
Ji Yongtao got some ice and filled two large glasses, one for each of them. Chu Jiajun, who was tired of drinking this kind of wine, watched Ji Yongtao throw his head back and chug a glass, silently counting the time in his mind.
After the third cup, his face turned red and his eyes were wavering.
Chu Jiajun smiled and simply drank the glass in one gulp. Ji Yongtao said, "Xiao Fei, go slowly, this wine is a bit..."
Chu Jiajun: All foreign liquors are like this.
He filled a glass for both of them. Ji Yongtao was feeling depressed and got drunk quickly. Chu Jiajun sat opposite him, smiling at him quietly.
Ji Yongtao had fallen asleep on the table. His gun belt hung on a clothes hanger in the living room. Chu Jiajun took out his gun and examined it. The equipment was obviously old, but it was in good condition.
This model is prone to jamming. There is a saying that police equipment will be replaced in the next two years, but no one knows what model will be replaced.
He returned to the living room table, gun in hand, and stood behind Ji Yongtao. The video recorder was playing a video of this man's favorite Japanese actress, her gentle smile distorted from time to time on the bleached screen.
Chu Jiajun pointed the muzzle of the gun at the back of Ji Yongtao's head and gently pressed it against his head.
Ji Yongtao suddenly spoke, his voice indistinct due to drunkenness.
Ji Yongtao: Are you there, Xiaofei...
Chu Jiajun pulled the trigger at that moment. It was an instinctive reaction of his finger muscles, and before he realized it, the trigger had already been pulled all the way.
A very light hollow sound.
——It's stuck.
He put down his gun and stood there for a long time, until the TV screen turned into snow and the light went dim.
Chu Jiajun quietly put the parts back in place, making sure Ji Yongtao wouldn't notice anyone had touched it. Behind him, the drunk man whispered, "Xiaofei, are you asleep?"
Chu Jiajun: I'm here.
Chu Jiajun returned to the table, lifted the man up, and helped him into the bedroom.
——
To be continued
Love River Mystery: Bound Ears 5
Ji Yongtao woke up from a nightmare and first pushed away the thighs that were pressing on his chest.
Chu Jiajun was also a little drunk last night. After helping him into the bedroom, she fell asleep herself.
This person slept poorly, lying in a messy manner, occupying most of the bed. Ji Yongtao covered his forehead, still feeling the aftereffects of a hangover and chest tightness.
This morning, he received a call from his hometown. It was Xu Fei's mother. Ji Yongtao handed the phone to Xu Fei and went to brush his teeth and wash his face. When he came out, the phone had been hung up.
Ji Yongtao: Want to chat a little longer?
Xu Fei was still wearing the vest and shorts he wore to sleep, lazily lying on the balcony, plucking a bunch of red flowers from the flowerpot, pulling out the core and putting it in his mouth to suck: Long-distance calls are so expensive.
For Chu Jiajun, Xu Fei's family was the biggest threat. However, judging by the fact that the family had allowed the child to report to another city alone, they probably wouldn't visit often.
Xu Fei has an older brother and an older sister, both of whom have started their own families. His parents live with his sister and call about once every two weeks.
His ability to imitate Xu Fei's voice was also questioned, but he got over it by claiming that he had pharyngitis caused by acclimatization.
But what about the winter and summer holidays? What if he was asked to send photos? His time as "Xu Fei" only lasted until June of this year at most.
It was easy to escape, but the trouble was that he had already left behind a clue of his appearance. He hesitated on the way to Ai Ya River, and as a result, more and more people knew about "Xu Fei".
-
In the evening, Chu Jiajun went to a western-style restaurant. He took out his own food from the freezer and fried it briefly.
It was difficult for him to say exactly when it started... It seemed like many years ago, when he heard the person who bought him say that this way he could "eat his life back".
Every time that person saw him coming back, he would wonder for a while: He survived again?
Chu Jiajun later realized that if he didn't eat this, he would die the next time he took action. Some people make shoes in shoe factories, some work as accountants in textile markets, some run small cold drink shops, some drive taxis, and some are bosses. Everyone has their own way of living, and Chu Jiajun had already determined his own way long ago.
In his mind, there are no other possibilities for how to live life.
There were sporadic disappearances in the city, but they weren't investigated in detail. He had his own criteria for choosing his targets—those who were wandering around with nothing to do, like the garbage bags piled up in the corners of the city. The occasional disappearance of such a person wouldn't cause any chaos.
Half an hour later, Chen Xiaohu and his friends arrived at the appointed time. The dining table outside was piled high with bottles of foreign liquor and imported beer, and the three young men wolfed down the food, leaving a mess.
When Chu Jiajun came over with the book, the three of them were still discussing the incident of robbing a leather truck in the north.
Chen Xiaohu: Brother, what are you doing...
Chu Jiajun: English grammar for children.
The college English teacher is very strict. He was caught signing for someone else last time, and students are no longer willing to sign for him in this course.
Several people exclaimed: You really can speak English?
The book was still on the page with twenty-six letters, and Chu Jiajun could not understand any of the remaining characters except the first five.
Chu Jiajun put the book aside and decided not to force himself.
Chu Jiajun: Let's do something next week. You've never been to a savings bank or a bank, right?
Chen Xiaohu: The biggest one I've ever encountered was in a gold shop.
Chu Jiajun: Get a big car and go to the savings bank this time.
His finger pointed at a place on the map. Next to it was the school, across from it was the Aiya River, and not far away was the brigade.
Several people were stunned. This was the Qiaotou Savings Bank.
Chu Jiajun: I can't snatch it again after I've snatched it once?
One person was a little worried: he was too close to the police.
Chu Jiajun: The time it takes for them to arrive doesn't depend on the distance from the bank. It depends on the speed of dispatch. If there aren't enough police officers, dispatch will be slow.
Chen Xiaohu: Then how do we know if there are enough police forces?
Chu Jiajun: Next Wednesday, a senior leader will come for a meeting. The new area in the north of the city will be cleared and all police forces will be stationed there.
Chen Xiaohu: Brother, how did you get this information?
Chu Jiajun gave him a look and Chen Xiaohu stopped talking.
He told several people the evacuation route and meeting place. The key was Chen Xiaohu, who was driving. He had to be able to shake off the pursuit at the intersection of Jianshe Road. As long as he broke free there, the city railway would be ahead.
They had to arrive at the tracks at 5:05, with a maximum margin of two minutes. That was when the coal train was being loaded out of the city, and their escape plan depended on this freight train.
-
Ji Yongtao came out of the defense point at the North City Conference Center and led his men to take another walk according to the route map.
When arranging security for the meeting, the team discussed major situations.
——The current problem is the shortage of police force. If a major incident occurs during those two days, how will the force be deployed?
Li Yu would not allow any surprises to occur in this meeting. Ji Yongtao knew the background of his superiors. Li Yu's father-in-law was a big shot in the provincial department, and his intuition in the officialdom was as sharp as a shark.
If nothing unexpected happens, Li Yu will be promoted in the next two years. There are two opinions on the successor within the team: one is Ji Yongtao, and the other is Liu Weide from the second team.
Because Liu Weide is older than Ji Yongtao, he is a quiet person and does not offend anyone - at this time, the number of meritorious services and solved cases is secondary to the judgment.
More importantly, there were two second-generation rich people in the unit, both of whom were assigned to Lao Liu. Ji Yongtao had encountered this situation before. When the clues were clear and the pursuit location was clear, Li Yu would instead let Liu Weide lead the team there, which was counted as a meritorious service on the other side.
Ji Yongtao saw Lao Liu and his men passing across the street, and the two exchanged a greeting. According to the arrangement, Team One would provide protection along the way until the handover at the highway exit; Team Two would be responsible for off-site security and would remain at the Chengbei Conference Center.
In the morning, they went through the nearby neighborhoods and schools, notifying everyone to close windows the next day or the day after tomorrow. Ji Yongtao received a message from Xu Fei while copying the computer, so he found a small shop and called back. It turned out that Xu Fei wanted to ask him if he wanted to play badminton the day after tomorrow.