The seed is immortal. What humans perceive as "life" is actually its death. Once it sprouts and takes root, it begins a journey destined for death.
Chu Jiajun's eyes suddenly moved, and he seemed to see a shadow falling from behind him. But in fact, it was invisible. How could a person see the shadow behind him?
But there was clearly a shadow, a shadow like a shell, which shattered behind him.
Silence returned to the ward. After another two hours of sleep, Chu Jiajun, who was keeping vigil by the bed, was woken by a hand.
Ji Yongtao: Xiaofei, help me do something...
Ji Yongtao gave a phone number, which was his mother's landline.
Ji Yongtao: Xiaofei... help me go to the reception desk and call my mom... take a dollar from my coat pocket...
Chu Jiajun walked out of the ward, took a walk outside, and went back after a quarter of an hour.
Ji Yongtao: Did you hit him?
Chu Jiajun: I called, called several times, but the tone was busy. I guess he was talking to someone on the phone.
Ji Yongtao wanted to say something, but he looked a little lonely and finally said nothing.
Chu Jiajun sat on the edge of the bed and gently covered his hand where the saline drip was hanging: It's okay, I'll take care of you.
Chu Jiajun smiled: The food in the hospital is not tasty, I bring you food every day - you almost died, I will feed you fat and take good care of you.
——
To be continued
Love River Mystery Record: Bound Ears 11
Liu Weide came to the hospital to visit and happened to see Xu Fei in the ward.
Ji Yongtao's cousin, Xu Fei, also brought a lunch box today. Inside the stainless steel box was half a box of braised pork, a tempting red sheen. A few colleagues visiting the patient smelled the aroma and gathered around his bedside, saying, "Hey, Brother Yong, you're so lucky!"
Liu Weide: I brought some canned yellow peaches and canned mushrooms... and this! Captain Li stuffed some canned food into my pocket before I left. It was all in foreign languages, and I couldn't understand it...
The cans were handed to the college students, and everyone looked at Xu Fei expectantly. Chu Jiajun understood the word "sea" and smiled confidently.
Chu Jiajun: Canned sea water.
Liu Weide: Ah? Isn't that just salt water?
Colleague: Is this the salty soda that foreigners eat?
Ji Yongtao: What are you giving this for?
The can was opened, revealing nothing but seafood soup. Everyone quickly shared it, and as soon as they started eating, some people who couldn't handle spicy food stuck out their tongues: "It's spicy!"
There was a violent cough nearby. Chu Jiajun hunched over in a chair, his throat choked, his face flushed from the spiciness. Liu Weide helped him open a can of yellow peaches. He took the can and gulped down the syrup inside.
Liu Weide: I hope you get better soon. Yesterday, two bodies were fished out of the Ai Ya River. There were no witnesses, and their identities haven't been verified yet. There were signs of a struggle, though...
The number of missing persons reports has increased, and some residents are feeling uneasy. Ji Yongtao will be discharged early next week, and with police resources short, everyone is on edge.
Before he was discharged, a publicity representative from his unit came to greet him, bearing a bouquet of flowers. Officer Ji's deed, risking his life to apprehend the gun thief, was a minor achievement. Compared to Liu Weide losing his gun, at least this could generate some publicity.
Li Yu: Xiao Ji, why are you still fat? Is the hospital food so good?
Lao Yu: The college student in his family sends him braised pork every day.
Li Yu: You're a rich man, eating meat every day?
Chu Jiajun just walked into the ward with a stainless steel lunch box. Li Yu was very polite: Come on, let your uncle take a look at the food!
Chu Jiajun froze and hid behind Ji Yongtao: Hello, uncle.
Li Yu: You're a college student? What major are you studying?
Chu Jiajun: Biology.
Li Yu: Oh! Do you know how to raise fish? My goldfish keep dying every other day...
Ji Yongtao: What they learn is to study animals, not to raise animals, right, Xiaofei?
Ji Yongtao opened the lunch box, and inside was braised pork, bright red and shiny, cut very neatly.
——His injury had just healed, and he had to lead the team to stake out the area tonight. Xu Fei also made that kind of braised pork at home, but Ji Yongtao always felt that the meat was not bled properly and had a meaty smell.
The two thieves who stole the guns had a purpose.
The two men came from the same gang, called the Xinglong Gang, which was originally a Wenzhou hometown association. As population mobility increased, it gradually grew in City A.
Later, it became the Xinglong Gang, from which the New Red Flower Society split off and merged with the Yiyi Fellow Township Association. The Red Flower Society and the Xinglong Gang competed for territory, and several armed conflicts broke out.
On the evening of the 17th of this month, the leaders of both factions met at the Jinyang Guest House to discuss a solution that would satisfy both parties. However, the Xinglong Gang's leader had already made up his mind: when the time came, he would give the order and launch a preemptive strike.
The two petty thieves wanted to get a gun so that they could do something meritorious.
Li Yu meant to take advantage of this opportunity to wipe out both gangs in one fell swoop.
There is University A next to the Jinyang Guest House, and the authorities have specifically warned that if you are too close to the university, you should pay attention to controlling the situation and prevent social hooligans from escaping into the university during pursuit.
-
Chu Jiajun went out to walk the dog and met up with Fang Ping. He had been busy taking care of Ji Yongtao recently, so the trio hadn't taken any action. To "compensate" them, Chu Jiajun allowed the two to take on some private work.
Fang Ping and Chen Xiaohu received a job through "film" - the New Red Flower Society wanted to negotiate with the local Xinglong Gang tonight to divide up the territory. The Red Flower Society wanted to take the opportunity to teach the other party a lesson, but they didn't have any guns, so they wanted to find two capable people to help calm the situation.
Chu Jiajun took the cigarette from Fang Ping: You guys go.
Dafei foolishly tried to rub against the screen, but was pulled back by his owner.
Fang Ping: They've invited you too. They've offered... this price.
Chu Jiajun raised his eyebrows, feeling a little moved.
Chu Jiajun: Just go over and take a look?
Fang Ping: Yes, I ask you to go over and take a look. If anything happens, just draw your gun and scare those people on the opposite side.
Chu Jiajun sneered: "There are two prices, whether you draw your gun or not. You have to pay the full amount upfront. You go negotiate with them, and I'll take action once the deal is settled."
The negotiations took place at the Jinyang Guest House. Chu Jiajun returned home, bathed her dog, and then headed out. She first went to a western-style restaurant to pick up her gear, then headed to the guest house. It was close to the university, so while it was unlikely she'd run into anyone she knew, she still wore a mask just in case.
When he arrived, the negotiations had already begun in the hotel's conference room. Too lazy to stay inside, he found a terrace on the second floor and brought a bottle of wine up. From the terrace, he could see the scene in the conference room on the first floor diagonally below.
It was supposedly a friendly negotiation about rezoning the territory, but both sides were armed with shotguns and pellet guns. Something was bound to happen. Since they'd taken the money, they'd just wait for the other side to make the first move, then they'd go in and finish off the other boss with a single shot.
He drank the rest of the wine in one gulp and pulled the safety pin - calculating the time, something bad was about to happen.
The first gunshot rang out, and the crowd scattered. Chu Jiajun was about to jump down from the second floor when he suddenly realized that something was wrong.
It was the police who rushed into the conference hall.
-
Ji Yongtao rushed in first: "Don't move! Get down! Put your hands on your head!"
Most people were forced to the edge of the conference hall. Some who refused to accept the situation drew their guns and fought back, but were immediately shot dead. The leader of the Xinglong Gang was close to the emergency exit and fled from there with a few of his men, but was forced back by the people surrounding them.
The man pushed one of his men out, took the opportunity to escape from the encirclement, and ran towards the entrance of the underground garage.
The Jinyang Guest House boasted one of the few underground garages in City A, with two spacious exits. Ji Yongtao instructed the others to control the situation and pursue the remaining soldiers, while he himself rushed underground, following the echo of hurried footsteps in the corridor.
The empty underground garage was dim, with only a few hanging fluorescent lights illuminating the dead space with pale light.
He held the gun and listened carefully to the footsteps of the fleeing person. He could sense someone nearby, probably behind the pillar in front of him on the left...
The moment Ji Yongtao raised his gun, a woman's scream tore through the silence - a female cleaner was held hostage by a man, with a gun pressed against her back, and was pushed forward as a human shield.
Things have changed.
He lowered his gun slightly: "Let him go. Are you a man? Using a woman as a shield?"
Ji Yongtao: If you surrender now, the situation isn't serious. There are police cars everywhere outside, so you can't get out.
——In fact, there are not so many police forces at all. All the police forces of the second team have been withdrawn to crack down on the carjackers who have been wreaking havoc in the South City commercial district recently.
But the man had no intention of surrendering. A gunshot rang out, accompanied by the woman's screams, and the bullet pierced her shoulder; she was pushed towards Ji Yongtao, who blocked her with his torso, and then faced an urgent decision -
The man had a gun in his hand. Maybe the bullets from the old broken magazine were not fired quickly, but they would not be slower than two seconds.
Should he let the woman stand in front of him while he raises his gun and fights back; or should he protect her behind him and then fight back?
The seriously injured woman was immediately dragged behind a pillar by him.
Ji Yongtao: Don't come out!
He pointed his gun at the man again, and the man pointed his gun at him.
But Ji Yongtao had a feeling.
I was slow.
The gunshot wound hadn't healed completely, and his movements were slower than before.
He had almost concluded that the other party would pull the trigger before him. With the gun pointed at his head, there was little chance that the shot would miss.
The next second, a muffled sound echoed in the underground parking lot.
-
Chu Jiajun cursed in his heart and decided to find another way out of the hotel, not wanting to get involved. As soon as he climbed down to the first floor, he saw two men rushing into the underground parking lot behind the glass window, one in front and one behind.
It's Ji Yongtao.
He was stunned for a moment, then decided to pretend he didn't see anything and turned to walk towards the hotel lobby. The arrest caused chaos among other guests, and many people hurriedly ran out of their rooms for safety.
Mixed in the crowd, he followed the guidance of the order-maintaining personnel and evacuated from the side door on the first floor.
Chu Jiajun almost saw the exit. Several more gunshots rang out from the conference room behind him, and with each blast, the crowd erupted in low, terrified screams.
He took a few more steps, then stopped.
In the crowd, the long-haired young man turned around and walked the other way. He made his way through the crowd, grabbing his long hair and tying it up with the rubber band on his wrist as he walked. In the chaotic crowd, no one noticed him.
The moment he walked out of the crowd, he took something out of his backpack.
Black facial mask.
Chu Jiajun put on a mask and walked into the entrance of the underground parking lot.
-
There was a slight sound coming from behind the pillar next to her, as if the female cleaner had fainted due to weakness caused by blood loss and shock.
After the muffled sound, there was no more sound from the other side.
Even trained eyes need time to adjust to differences in brightness. The fluorescent lights on the other side of the garage flickered due to age, and his eyes barely adjusted to the dim light and flickering, allowing him to clearly see what was happening across the street.
The leader of the Xinglong Gang fell to the ground, his body twitching slightly. Behind him stood a tall figure.
——He was a man wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, holding an iron rod in his hand and a black mask on his face.
The light flickered again. My eyes, having adjusted to the dim light, tried to see more clearly, but found that the figure had disappeared.
-
When Ji Yongtao recalled that figure, he always felt something indescribable.
He "caught" the gang leader and rescued the hostages, but Ji Yongtao still harbored a grudge over that detail.
That night, their team completed the handover of the suspects, and most of them were caught except for a few scattered soldiers.
Ji Yongtao returned home late at night. On the camp bed in the living room, Xu Fei was holding the dog, filling the small folding bed to the brim.
Seeing him sound asleep, Ji Yongtao felt somewhat relieved. He hadn't been home for several days, but the house was surprisingly tidy. The trash can in the living room was empty; Xu Fei had obviously taken out the trash.
The jewelry show was postponed, apparently due to a security audit. The organizers felt it was inadequate and needed more time to prepare. The city experienced a period of peace again. The two criminal gangs had been wiped out. Apart from sporadic minor robberies and thefts, there were also some "unnoticed" disappearances...
Like the sea suddenly calming down.
No one could explain the strangeness of this calm.
Ji Yongtao recalled a comic book he read when he was a child.
The little wild animals in a certain place wanted to choose a king. These little monkeys, little mice, and little mountain cats all showed off their abilities to prove that they were the king.
Then, one day, a tiger came.
The tiger walked among them without even doing anything. It didn't even pay attention to the group of small animals next to it, and it was not even interested in joining their "battle for supremacy".
It just walked through them, found a quiet place in the cave, nestled in it, and slept.
No beast dared to speak.
The tiger sleeps, eats, and conserves its energy. It wants to eat a big piece of meat.
Before the jewelry show, City A will hold a southern gold exhibition in the fall and winter. Ji Yongtao has become the unspoken successor, and Li Yu has asked him to be responsible for the arrangements and ensure that there are no accidents at the gold exhibition.
In other words, if Chu Jiajun has set his sights on Zhan, he must be captured.
To put it another way.
The tiger is ready to eat meat.
The tigers are recruiting. This gold show will have the highest security and the greatest rewards. The tigers only care about other tigers.
There are many "tigers" who dare to come from mountains and forests all over the world, ready to follow this tiger to have a bite of fresh meat.
Chu Jiajun no longer wanted to make any more small moves in City A. Fang Ping was lucky enough not to be caught that time, so they robbed a savings bank again, but their preferred escape route was blocked by Ji Yongtao's men.
As the number of fights increased, Ji Yongtao became more and more familiar with the trio's style. Chu Jiajun returned to the kitchen of the western restaurant and, in a state of mental collapse, stabbed a piece of frozen meat dozens of times.
Chu Jiajun was devastated. He had saved that man, only to have him try to thwart him. He also wanted to give Ji Yongtao a major, earth-shattering thwart, but the machine guns were already deployed, leaving him no time to set up their positions before the barrage forced him to take a backup route.
When it comes to this point, people feel very depressed.
Chu Jiajun, having shaken off his pursuers and narrowly escaped death, returned to Ai Ya River and sat expressionlessly in the living room. He wondered if he should make a bomb under the sofa, wait for Ji Yongtao to come back, sit on it, and then, boom, be done with it.
Ji Yongtao came back with gauze wrapped around his neck and shoulders, and was brought back by several colleagues.
Chu Jiajun knew what was going on, but still pretended to be surprised: What's wrong, Brother Yong?
Xiao Zhang: Brother Yong was chasing the other car, so he didn't get in the way. The other side's bullet just grazed his neck...
Ji Yongtao: Don't tell him that. It's nothing, just a minor scratch.
After everyone left, the two sat down at the table. It was raining heavily tonight, and many clues would be washed away by the rain.
Outside the window, the water of the Love River is surging.
Ji Yongtao: What did you learn in school today?
Chu Jiajun said a few words to get by. Most teachers at school were bribed. If some subjects were difficult to teach, they would hire someone to fill in.
Ji Yongtao: Are you unhappy?
Chu Jiajun: Do you really want to do this? Why not start a business?
Ji Yongtao: Are you afraid something will happen to me?
Chu Jiajun: If you continue like this, something bad will definitely happen.
Ji Yongtao: When I hit their car today, I actually seemed to see the person who almost got me into an accident.
Chu Jiajun's heart tightened at this moment.
Ji Yongtao: Through the car window, through the mask, I could almost... see the eyes.
Ji Yongtao: Very young, really, very young.
Ji Yongtao: If young people like this were to rush into this kind of thing, would they be able to do it well in the future? There was peace a few years ago, but things have started to pick up again in recent years. Young people... they've seen a lot of things... that are actually meaningless.
Ji Yongtao: The kind you like—Coke, chocolate cake, imported windbreakers, imported watches, foreign liquor and cigarettes, cars, women... You say, risking your life for these things is terrifying. But if you let him work properly, he'll make two or three hundred a month, seven or eight hundred at best. But some people go into the adult entertainment industry and make thousands a month... Xiaofei, you might not feel that way. We used to look down on people like that. It's just... our standards of judgment are different.
Ji Yongtao lit a cigarette, choked, and smiled bitterly.
Ji Yongtao: I heard that Liu Weide is going to go into business, but I don't know what he is going to do.
Chu Jiajun: Just follow me. I'll help you.
Ji Yongtao exhaled a puff of smoke and laughed a few times. Amidst the pounding rain, he whispered, "I can't accept that. I'm not leaving."
The sound of rain intensified. Chu Jiajun said he was going to the video studio with his classmates and went out in the rain.
-
In the early morning, he was almost asleep when he was woken up by a phone call.
The call was from the police station: Is this Xu Fei's house? Xu Fei, the college student?
Ji Yongtao: Yes... He is my cousin...
Phone: Oh, you're his parent, right? Come to the XX nightclub at Yunnan Road intersection. He has a complicated matter.