Turbid Light

"I……"

A figure flashed by the window, startling Liang Qiucheng back from what he was about to say. The person seemed to be standing there, looking at him, and calling him, "Teacher."

Is he qualified to be a master?

"Teacher, why don't you tell them the truth?" The shadow stood behind Chen An and spoke softly.

"I...I..." Liang Qiuchen took a deep breath and then looked around.

His bewildered look puzzled Chen An, who turned around to find Xun Muke and Han Ming had both arrived.

Xun Muke changed her clothes, and the dark brown coat made her look very cold. Liang Qiuchen saw the shadow of Ji Xiangyang in this coldness. He was extremely cold when he contradicted her that year. Liang Qiuchen suddenly remembered who she was.

It turned out that it was her shadow by the window.

Han Ming whispered a few words to Chen An, and Chen An left. Han Ming sat down in his previous seat and nonchalantly urged, "If you don't tell me, the murderer who killed Xu Mingwei might also kill your grandchildren."

Liang Qiuchen woke up as if from a dream, rubbed his face fiercely with his hands, and his expression became hideous and painful.

After thinking for a moment, he came to a conclusion that no matter what he did, he could not change the fact that he was harboring a criminal. In this case, ending his harboring of the criminal might even bring peace to his family.

After a long while, Liang Qiucheng said with difficulty, "I'll take care of Ji Xiangyang."

Xun Muke stood up straight, staring at him intently, "Where is he?"

"he……"

Even he himself couldn't bring himself to tell the place where he buried Ji Xiangyang.

After climbing over a hill, Xun Muke's patience was about to run out, and he said in a bad tone, "Where is it? Are you kidding me?"

Liang Qiuchen didn't dare to look her in the eye. In fact, he had already regretted it on the way here. If he had known earlier, he would have just found a place to make it up. Why bother telling her in real life?

"Right...right in front."

A group of people followed him, and Xun Muke believed him for the last time.

Beyond the small pond was a field of rapeseed flowers. At the end of the ridge was a tightly closed iron gate. Xun Muke trotted over.

The chain on the door was loosely hanging, and it opened with a gentle push. When I pushed the door open, it was indeed the funeral home he mentioned.

Han Ming stopped at the door and looked at him. Chen An followed him in out of concern for her safety. The further she went in, the faster her heart beat. She was always looking forward to this long-awaited reunion.

But when he opened the door that day, there was nothing inside. Undeterred, Xun Muke searched the cabinets for a long time, but nothing, nothing! Not even an urn!

"What's going on?" Xun Muke gritted his teeth and searched the room thoroughly. "Didn't he say the body was here? How come there's nothing here? Where's the body? Where's the ashes?"

Her blood boiling, she desperately suppressed her anger, rushed out, and grabbed Liang Qiucheng by the collar, "Where's the body? Where are the ashes?! Didn't you say they were in there?"

Liang Qiucheng's body was no longer strong, and he staggered as she pulled him. After a moment, he said tremblingly: "I... I burned him. It's right here. I didn't lie to you, but..."

“Just what!”

But that handful of ashes was just a trouble to him, both present and future trouble, and he poured the ashes away because he was afraid of the trouble.

"Where did you fall?" Xun Muke's eyes were about to burst and he was shaking with anger.

She asked about the most difficult thing for Liang Qiuchen to talk about.

At that time, he was busy dealing with public opinion and only had a few hours to deal with the body. Ji Xiangyang had no family, so burning the body and treating it as missing was the best way. There happened to be a small funeral home nearby, so he gave them some money and hurriedly burned Ji Xiangyang's body.

While it was burning, he stood by the fireplace and watched the flames burn everything. A small incident happened in the middle that scared him a lot. Ji Xiangyang sat up and maintained this posture for a while, which scared him to death. He didn't feel at ease until Ji Xiangyang turned into ashes.

He got him an urn and carried it with him all the way, intending to find a place to bury it someday. But halfway through, he felt uneasy and decided to just dump his ashes into a newly built septic tank on the side of the road.

This area is sparsely populated and has not been fully developed. Once the pool is capped and used, no one will be able to find him.

"I kill you!"

Xun Muke completely lost control and punched him hard in the face, leaving a sharp cut on the ring on his ring finger. Chen An quickly pulled him back.

"Are you human? He called you teacher! How could you..." Xun Muke pointed at him with trembling fingers, almost unable to breathe, his legs weakly limp to the ground, "How could you do this to him!"

Choking sobs could no longer express her emotions, and the gaping wounds spilled out with years of suppressed emotions. She looked at her hands, tears falling on them like beads from a broken string. She said with difficulty, "I've done so much for you, and this is the end? I still can't see you, I still can't hold you."

With his palms filled with tears gathered together and placed on his chest, Xun Muke finally lowered his head and burst into tears.

*

After the grief comes endless numbness. Ji Xiangyang's ending makes Xun Muke feel that the past ten years have been a joke to her. From insisting on finding someone at the beginning to insisting on finding the body later, in the end, not even a handful of ashes was left for her.

Xun Muke is self-contained and looks like a walking piece of wood. He answers whatever is asked and has no reaction at all when no questions are asked.

Seeing her condition, Chen An couldn't send her to prison right now, so he had to temporarily hand her over to Han Ming's care, and wait until he had thoroughly investigated Ji Xiangyang's case before discussing Xu Mingwei's death.

Back in the interrogation room, Liang Qiuchen no longer had the will to fight back, and he began to show signs of fatigue.

The more ruthless he was when he was young, the more cowardly he would be when he was old. In fact, even if Ji Xiangyang's case had not been brought to light, he would still suffer from the condemnation of his conscience. Forget it, no one would believe that a person like him has a conscience.

"Liang Qiucheng, you've ruined two people's lives."

This sentence was a condemnation from Chen An as Xun Muke's good friend. He had mixed feelings since the truth was revealed, and the most painful thing was the people who were ruined by Liang Qiuchen.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I'm guilty." Liang Qiucheng banged his head on the table repeatedly, thinking he was atonement. "Please let my family go."

His actions made Chen An feel disgusted. When he begged for mercy, did he ever think that people who died unjustly would also beg for mercy?

"Why are you shielding Xu Mingwei? What kind of deal did you have?" Chen An returned to his businesslike attitude and looked at him coldly.

Liang Qiucheng suddenly shuddered. He stopped kowtow- ing and begging for mercy. His face twitched slightly. "I...I reached a cooperation agreement with Xu Mingwei a long time ago. I covered for him, and he fed me with sales."

*

Liang Qiuchen's performance in the police academy was not outstanding. After graduation, he was assigned to the Qu'an Police Station. The work at the police station was much less stressful. He had to deal with trivial matters every day. There was not much work to do, so of course the salary was not high. Later, there was an opportunity for him to go to the city to study, so he went. Not long after he came back, he was transferred to the Municipal Bureau.

The city bureau was under a lot of pressure. His captain had reached retirement age, and the higher-ups were also interested in choosing between him and another teammate.

Originally, he had no ambition, but if a person does not strive to move forward, his life would be in vain, so even if he has no motivation, he still wants to give it a try.

They were all very active this month, competing to perform well. Although Liang Qiuchen had no talent in solving cases, he made up for his shortcomings with hard work. The two had similar assessment scores, so it all depended on the captain's choice.

Before the results were announced, Liang Qiucheng heard rumors in the group that the captain had already favored another candidate and that he was just going through the motions. Later, he learned that the other candidate's father was an old friend of the captain and had already agreed to take over the position.

Liang Qiuchen was extremely angry and felt that he had been fooled. In this world that relies on connections, some people can get the honor that others are looking forward to without any effort.

The result was just as they said.

Liang Qiuchen was depressed for a while. It was too uncomfortable to lose the competition and have to be a younger brother to the winner. He gradually began to think about resigning. If he had not met Xu Mingwei, he might really have left the police station.

"I used Xu Mingwei to help me create a lot of honors, but he retired due to lack of ability."

Chen An looked at Liang Qiucheng's scratched nails and questioned him, "But before Ji Xiangyang's accident, you and Xu Mingwei had almost no contact. You didn't handle any cases involving the Xu family, and you didn't even come into contact with Xu's products."

His whereabouts had long been clearly investigated, and Liang Qiuchen's confession had many loopholes.

"According to this timeline, you would have already become the captain by then. Whether it was due to your own strength or someone helping you, you know best."

Sweat streamed from his temples. Liang Qiucheng never dared to look up, and then spoke rapidly, "This is the truth. I protected Xu Mingwei out of selfish desire. To some extent, he and I have a symbiotic relationship. I used my power to give him the green light. Not only did he give me good 'performance', he also gave me a large sum of money. Why not do it?"