Chapter 34

Yu Congyi indeed secured the opportunity to personally capture Tang Zefei.

As evening approached on the seventh day of the lunar new year, the drizzling winter rain that had shrouded the British concession for several days finally stopped, and the sky began to clear. Just half an hour later, the rays of the setting sun gradually intensified, and from the far side of the sky, extremely bright red and colorful clouds appeared, burning like fire.

"Tomorrow will be a fine day." At the entrance of the Tang mansion, the butler, with his back turned, chatted idly with the servants inside, completely unaware of the impending crisis facing the Tang family. Just then, there was a knock on the metal gate.

"Hello, who are you looking for?" As usual, Butler Xu went to open the door, but through the iron gate, he saw several uniformed police officers in front of him!

The officer at the front wasn't dressed like a policeman, but rather like a military officer.

"What are you doing..." Before she could finish speaking, a voice came from behind, "Please let them in." It was Young Master Tang's voice.

"Young Master?" The butler was unaware that Young Master Tang had appeared behind him, but he didn't know that Tang Zefei had actually been standing by the second-floor window gazing outside for a long time. Turning around, he saw that his master was already dressed and ready to go.

"We meet again, Commander Yu." Tang Zefei stood in the courtyard and smiled at Yu Congyi.

The butler opened the iron gate, and Yu Congyi stood at the entrance of the Tang mansion. His expression remained impeccably serious. "Young Master Tang, now that you know, please come with us."

"I want to know why it's you." Tang Zefei stood casually with his hands in his pockets, looking nothing like a wanted criminal about to be arrested.

Standing in his own yard, he didn't take a step forward. He was about ten meters away from the several policemen who were arresting him, but his gaze automatically ignored them all. As if no one else was around, he casually focused all his attention on Yu Congyi at the front, and said sincerely, "But at least you're here, so I can at least be happy."

“You don’t need to know this,” Yu Congyi replied. He turned to the side, gesturing for him to come, and seemed to sigh almost imperceptibly. “Come with me, Tang Zefei.”

Tang Zefei stared at him for a while, then turned and whispered something to the butler. Just as he was about to leave, a woman's terrified scream suddenly came from inside the villa.

"Ah—Xiao Fei! Xiao Fei!!" The woman's cry was so abrupt and unusual that everyone standing at the door was startled by the scream, their expressions filled with confusion and wariness. Only Tang Zefei calmly turned around and looked towards the doorway—he saw his mother, clutching her undergarments, stumbling and running frantically from the inner corridor, shouting in a mix of panic and fear, "Xiao Fei, where are you going? Wait for me!!"

"Commander Yu, you may have to wait a moment," Tang Zefei said apologetically to Yu Congyi, then walked to the underside of the corridor to catch his mother.

"I'm just...going out for a bit." Tang Zefei frowned, his hand resting on his mother's arm. He could clearly feel her arms trembling uncontrollably; it seemed his mother's condition had relapsed recently, and now there were signs of physical manifestation...

Tang Zefei knew better than anyone that his mother's emotions were easily influenced by external factors, and that the frequent ups and downs were not a good thing for her. When her illness flared up, the consequences would be unimaginable. Therefore, he had not mentioned anything about this matter to her before, nor the possible changes that this matter might bring to him recently. Unexpectedly, mother and son were of one mind, and his mother seemed to be in sync with him. This morning, he stood by the window for a long time, feeling depressed, not expecting that his mother had also been anxious in the bedroom.

Just as he was about to leave, Merrick rushed out and stopped him, demanding to know where his son was going.

The armed man in an unfamiliar uniform standing at the entrance of the courtyard looked strangely eerie to Merrick. Her eyes widened in panic, her neck craned upwards, her fingers gripping Tang Zefei's sleeve tightly. "No, no... Xiaofei, you can't go out, you can't leave, don't go!! Don't go!!"

“Mother,” Tang Zefei patted her shoulder reassuringly, a little saddened, “Why are you in such a panic? I’m just going out for a short while.”

Yu Congyi couldn't see Tang Zefei's expression because she only showed him her back; however, he clearly saw Tang's mother's expression. He could sense that Tang's mother seemed to be in a mental state that was quite different from ordinary people, even somewhat overly agitated.

Although they were only watching from afar, the panic, fear, and frantic unease on the beautiful noblewoman's face were unmistakable, while Tang Zefei appeared excessively calm and composed. Tang Zefei held her mother and spoke softly into her ear, but it was difficult to hear clearly. Yu Congyi guessed what was going on, so he stepped forward and stood beside Tang Zefei.

“Hello, Madam,” he said, his voice surprisingly gentle. Tang Zefei released her mother.

“Something happened in our department, and Mr. Tang happens to be an insider. We would like to ask Mr. Tang to come with us to verify the truth of certain matters, so he must come with us today. You don’t need to worry.” Yu Congyi spoke quickly, but after saying this, even he himself was not sure what he was trying to express.

"Mother, did you hear that? That's how it is. I'm fine, don't be so nervous." Tang Zefei quickly changed the subject. "This is Commander Yu. You can trust what he says."

"Ah..." Merrick opened his mouth, looked at Tang Zefei, then at Yu Congyi, "You two know each other, right? Is that right?"

“Yes, we know each other,” Tang Zefei answered before Yu Congyi could. In the brief pause, he glanced at Yu Congyi, whose eyes were downcast as if he were sighing, but whose expression was very relaxed.

“Oh, I see… then you can go, right?” Merrick said.

"Of course, why can't I go?" Tang Zefei smiled, a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

Merrick had been making a fuss for a while, but after being persuaded, she calmed down a bit. Once she felt at ease, she realized she was tired and slowly stopped making a scene.

Tang Zefei knew his mother best, just as Merrick knew him best. Merrick looked at his son's face, and saw no doubt or tension on it, only the calmness of someone going to a banquet.

"Alright, go ahead." She finally relented, but not because she was truly relieved. She knew that her son's persuasion meant she had no choice but to go. Even her desperate, half-mad act just now couldn't change his mind.

Tang Zefei followed Yu Congyi into a black Buick, and then drove off without looking back.

Yu Congyi escorted Tang Zefei through several detention centers, finally arriving at the Military Police Detention Center close to midnight.

Regarding the arrangements for this matter, Yu Congyi put a lot of effort into removing the other party from the list of prisoners in Hebei Province's Third Prison. The reason was simple: he couldn't reach inside the Third Prison, and he had long known how horrific the prisoners there would be, which is why he had this compassionate thought.

Yu Congyi originally had no reason to interfere in this matter; he obtained all this by exercising his political power as a sergeant major in the military police. From the Third Prison to the police station detention center, and then from the police station back to his own military police headquarters, he tried every means to keep Tang Zefei's place of detention close to his nose. Although the prisoners detained by the military police were usually political suspects under special scrutiny, which did not match Tang Zefei's status, they were still within his control. Whether they were tortured or treated well, he could at least have a better understanding of the situation.

The detention center wasn't located at the Tianjin Gendarmerie Headquarters, but near a cotton mill in the west of the city. This location was actually very close to the address of a sugar factory under Jiang Fengming's control. While it couldn't actually serve any practical purpose, it inexplicably provided Yu Congyi with a special kind of comfort.

When Yu Congyi led the people into the detention center, Tang Zefei was taken away by others in the short time it took for the guards to report to him. Yu Congyi was tied up by the guards and could only glance at Tang Zefei's back with worry, seeing that the person's gait was as unhurried and relaxed as ever.

It seemed less like he was on his way to prison and more like he was going to a date. Yu Congyi sighed inwardly.

Watching Tang Zefei's retreating figure, he fell into deep thought. He wasn't sure how many tricks he still had up his sleeve in this matter, or how far he could extend his reach. Although the head of the military police detention center was one rank below him, he wasn't his subordinate, and their daily duties were usually separate. It seemed Yu Congyi had no reason to interfere in the affairs of a prisoner. He wasn't particularly close to the warden, so he only exchanged a few words with the guard before leaving.

Once inside the car, the driver asked him where he was going next, and Yu Congyi suddenly fell silent. The car reeked of cigarette smoke; the driver must have smoked at least two cigarettes while waiting. Yu Congyi rolled down the window, irritably expelling the smoke, and for some reason, he thought of that time he sat in Tang Zefei's car.

"Don't smoke in the car anymore," Yu Congyi commanded sullenly, turning to look out the window. The smoke was quickly driven away, and in the dark night sky, the moon seemed shrouded in a somber mist, its clear light dimmed.

Yu Congyi comforted himself, telling himself that he had done more than enough for him, and he shouldn't dwell on the fact that the matter was actually because of him. If the man hadn't fired those shots, things wouldn't have escalated to this point. He owed him nothing; this was the best outcome he could hope for.

…

Yang Ruinian knew perfectly well that Tang Zefei was the one who killed his father. Upon hearing that Tang Zefei was in prison, he wished he could kill him there.

"Sigh, going to interrogate that prisoner 107 again?" In the detention center corridor, a guard asked two jailers, his eyes glancing down to the handcuffs and whips in their hands. He clicked his tongue, as if dissatisfied, "The prisoner's been in there for so many days, and still haven't gotten anything out of him?"

"What's wrong? Didn't they give us any instructions?" The two men looked at each other, and one of the jailers complained to the guard, "We've gotten nothing out of him. That guy's got a tight tongue. He hasn't confessed in five days. What can we do?"

“We give him money and gold bars, but he won’t talk. We whip him, but he still won’t talk. What exactly does the warden mean by bringing a foreigner into our prison?” Another person continued to complain. “They say he killed so many people, but he’s not a military or political prisoner, so we can’t deal with him under military law. This is making things very difficult for us.”

"This guy isn't one of the station chief's men; he was brought by the sergeant major from headquarters," the guard said, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. "Who is his father? With mountains of gold bars, why would he care about your few stinking coins? When Commander Yu brought him here, he just told us to keep a close eye on him and not let him escape, and then he left. I don't understand what that meant. What do you think this guy's background is?"

"That, Mr. Tang's son! You don't even know that?"

"Why do you need to tell me this nonsense, you idiot!" The guard smacked the jailer on the head and poked him in the chest repeatedly. "I'm asking what the relationship is between this foreigner and Commander Yu. Commander Yu didn't explain clearly what kind of treatment this prisoner should receive."

“We don’t know,” one of the jailers chuckled. “Anyway, he didn’t say anything about preferential treatment, so we can only take care of him for now and bring in the rest later. But if he doesn’t explain, it will be difficult for us to handle later.”

"That's exactly what I said. You guys better watch out. Go on." The guard took a drag of his cigarette, slowly exhaled, closed his eyes, and nodded nonchalantly. He really hadn't taken this matter very seriously. Since the prisoner wasn't someone from the military or political department who had committed the crime, hadn't received any special attention from his superiors, and hadn't yet gotten any information out of him, and was only awaiting a suspended death sentence, didn't that mean he could be disposed of arbitrarily except for the death penalty?

Even before the coldest days of winter arrived, Yu Congyi felt that the air in Tianjin was getting colder and colder with each passing day.

This morning, when he got up, he went to the balcony to collect a pair of gloves he had forgotten to take from the windowsill yesterday, only to unexpectedly touch a hand covered in frost. Frost at night is common at this time of year, but since it was already past 7 AM, the frost had frozen into a thin layer on the railing, which hadn't yet melted. A sudden gust of cold wind made him quickly pull his robe collar tighter, and looking down at the slightly damp ground, he sensed a light rain had fallen the night before.

Yu Congyi hadn't visited Tang Zefei for over five days since he sent him to the detention center. It wasn't that he deliberately wanted to forget Tang Zefei, but rather that the busy affairs at the Military Police Department these days had left him with neither the time nor the peace of mind to set aside his anxieties and see him. Therefore, he had repeatedly postponed his visit to the west side of the city. Now, feeling the sudden chill in the air, as he closed the window, he remembered that Tang Zefei seemed to lack sufficient warm clothing and blankets in prison. So he went back inside and instructed his servants to prepare a new set of clothes and a quilt to wrap him up.

Yu Congyi knew who Tang Zefei was—a pampered young master from a wealthy family, never having experienced hardship, and suffering from a rare and intractable illness. The prison environment was worlds apart from his usual life, and he wondered what Tang Zefei's life would be like there. Fortunately, he had made some arrangements beforehand, so Tang Zefei probably wouldn't have too much of a hard time inside… Yu Congyi never deliberately considered how his relationship with Tang Zefei would be affected by this incident. But regardless of whether he wanted to face Tang Zefei or whether Tang Zefei wanted to see him again, Yu Congyi felt that five days without visiting Tang Zefei was the limit he could tolerate. He had to wait until this very last moment before forcing himself to see Tang Zefei.

The white incandescent light in the middle of the detention center corridor was blinding. Yu Congyi walked quickly along the corridor, and the shadow of the prison guard leading the way was so strong that it made his eyes dizzy.

"Sir, this is it." The man in front stopped, bent down and took out his keychain from his waist. With a series of clanging and clattering sounds, the iron gate in front of him was pushed open by the jailer.

If Yu Congyi were to offer his opinion, he actually thought the Military Police Detention Center was far cleaner and more hygienic than the Third Prison. He had been to the Third Prison before when he interrogated prisoners, and the various unidentified dark liquids on the cell walls and the filth on the floor made him constantly cover his nose and frown. Yu Congyi was quite particular about hygiene, especially his surroundings; when he entered cell 107, the first thing he did was observe the surrounding environment.

It wasn't as clean as he'd imagined, nor as cold as he'd expected. That's how Yu Congyi described it. Then, his gaze slowly fell on the only wooden bed in the room, and he stared at the person sitting beside it. Almost instantly, his eyebrows furrowed again.

"What torture did you inflict on him?" Yu Congyi strode to the bedside, his military boots clattering on the stone floor. He quickly reached Tang Zefei's side, looking down at her. He had arrived quite early, but Tang Zefei was already dressed and sitting by the bed, perhaps every day.

Tang Zefei glanced up at him, a casual, expressionless look. Yu Congyi showed no discomfort at his unfamiliar gaze. He bent down, his eyes sweeping over the other man's white shirt, his face immediately darkening. He placed his hand on the other man's shoulder and rubbed the fabric, seeing several whip marks on the inside. The outer shirt was intact, but faint red bloodstains seeped from it. Perhaps his gaze had lingered on the other man's undershirt for too long, for Tang Zefei looked up at him again, only to find Yu Congyi's gaze fierce and icy, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"You resorted to torture?" Yu Congyi threw down a cotton quilt and clothes he had brought with him, and almost instantly strode back to the door like a whirlwind. A loud bang was heard as the jailer was grabbed by the collar and slammed against the iron bars by Yu, his back hitting the metal bars with a horrifying sound. Yu Congyi then closed the iron gate. Tang Zefei could faintly hear the reprimanding voices coming from outside.

"The soundproofing is really good." He smirked and sighed jokingly.

"Sir, please calm down... We've questioned him for days... He won't talk... We had to force a confession..." A broken voice came from outside. Tang Zefei could barely hear Yu Congyi's voice; perhaps the man spoke very softly to begin with, and now he was deliberately lowering his voice even further.

"Using vigilante justice, aren't they afraid of losing their heads..."

"Sir, spare my life..."

“…”

"Call your warden here."

At this moment, the light coming from outside the iron gate dimmed a few times, presumably because someone else had run over from somewhere.

"Commander Yu, I'm so sorry, Qian San, what kind of work are you doing? I think you're tired of living..."

"Spare me, Warden... Sir... Sir... You didn't say anything about giving him special treatment when you came... We brothers are just following the rules... If you had told us about this man earlier..."

"Outrageous! You said you killed several people, I think you don't want this job anymore... Heh heh, Commander Yu, calm down... that kid..."

“…”

There was another round of hushed whispers; it was unclear what Yu Congyi had said to them. Tang Zefei got up, wanting to change her clothes.

Just then, the iron gate creaked open again, the light outside the window dimmed for a moment, and the scattered footsteps faded into the distance. Tang Zefei was taking off her coat when she looked up and saw Yu Congyi push open the door to come in. Seeing his bare upper body, Yu Congyi hesitated, his hand resting on the doorframe, half-retreating, his figure blocking most of the light that was coming in.

The long, bloody whip marks on Tang Zefei's chest, shoulders, and back caught Yu Congyi's eye. When Yu Congyi looked at Tang Zefei's body, a complex and indescribable look flashed across his face.