I was so angry that I cursed Tie Nan harshly. He also had a fiery temper. He took a step forward and grabbed my collar. Just as he raised his fist, Wang Xiaoling, who had been alerted, rushed into the house. She shouted at Tie Nan, "You dare to make a move here? Don't you want to leave?"
Tie Nan glared at me, and I pried his hands off, looking at him with utter disappointment.
Wang Xiaoling separated the two of us and then turned to me and said, "You don't have the ability to communicate with him. Let our police station handle this."
I was unwilling to give up, so I pointed at Tie Nan, wanting to say something to him, but the next moment I felt a sense of powerlessness, so I lowered my hand and said to him in a low voice, "You'd better watch yourself!"
"Stop pretending to be kind to me. I'm a much more honest person than you. Every penny I earn is hard-earned. I have a clear conscience... You're just a fucking opportunist."
I chose to remain silent, without giving him another glance, and then, at Wang Xiaoling's prompting, left the temporary detention center... At that moment, I was filled with a sense of defeat. Before coming here, I had told Wang Xiaoling that Tie Nan needed someone he trusted to tell him about the current situation...
I'm so ridiculous! I didn't even realize that Tie Nan would rather believe the innkeepers who made the same mistake as him than believe me.
...
When we reached the intersection, I stopped in front of Wang Xiaoling. She stopped with me and said to me with a sigh, "See? This is their mentality right now."
"He's gone mad!"
Wang Xiaoling shook her head and replied, "This has nothing to do with being crazy or not; it's just an inherent human flaw... But we're not worried at all." She then gave a disdainful smile and continued, "If only one person committed the crime, and they're particularly stubborn, without solid evidence, it might really put us in a difficult position... But with such a large group, there will always be one or two people with fragile mental fortitude... So this 'weakest link' principle applies to our interrogation work as well."
I looked at Wang Xiaoling, feeling a sense of crisis... Although I don't understand interrogation techniques, I understand human nature, and from a human nature perspective, what she said was 100% correct.
I asked, "Officer Wang, are some of them really going to be transferred to the procuratorate?"
Wang Xiaoling nodded: "Those who have a poor attitude toward admitting their guilt and those who lead the way in breaking the law will be severely punished."
"Thank you for telling me so much."
"I have a responsibility to make you, the practitioners in this field, realize the importance of protecting Erhai Lake and respecting the law."
I smiled and replied, "If you hadn't said that, I would have almost forgotten that I also run an inn..."
"No matter what you do, you must abide by the law... The law is just."
"I hope the law is fair."
...
After Wang Xiaoling left, I returned to "Majiuyi" with mixed feelings. I didn't know how to face Taozi, nor how to tell her the results of my communication with Tienan.
But this is something we have to face eventually.
...
I didn't call Taozi to tell her when I would be back, so she just sat there waiting on the road that was the only way back to the inn... Yang Sisi didn't leave either, she stayed by Taozi's side the whole time, she was still the same person who liked to share hardships with others.
Peach walked towards me, and asked nervously, "Have you seen Tie Nan?"
"Yes, I met with him through a friend."
What did he say?
I replied in a low voice, "I don't know what he's thinking. He keeps insisting that it's a short-term rental and he didn't make any money..."
Peach's face was very pale, and she asked again, "Didn't you try to persuade him?"
“I’ve tried everything I could to persuade him, but he just won’t believe me… He thinks that as long as he sticks to his guns, he can get through this.”
Peach was silent for a moment before speaking to me, "Actually, I knew this would happen before you went... He's too worried about the money. He told me a couple of days ago that he wanted to buy a house in Dali... I asked him where he got so much money; he said he'd already saved up for the down payment, and he'd found a house he liked—a two-bedroom, one-living-room secondhand apartment. He said he didn't need to buy furniture, he could move in right away..."
After a brief pause, Taozi choked up again and said, "If this hadn't happened, he would have taken me to see this house this afternoon... He also said that the house is on the first floor and comes with a small yard. When we have children, he will put two swings in the yard so I can play with the children... He likes girls and wants me to give him a little girl."
Peach was already sobbing uncontrollably: "He...thought...too far ahead...and his vision was too idealistic!"
These words left me feeling uneasy, and I subconsciously shifted my gaze away from her. Yang Sisi did the same, so our eyes met.
In Yang Sisi's tearful eyes, I saw her sympathy for Taozi.
She leaned closer to Taozi, then held Taozi's hand tightly, and said in a choked voice, "Even if the idea is wonderful, we can't go against the policies and laws... Sister Taozi, let's think of another way."
Peach was at a loss, so Yang Sisi turned her attention to me, hoping I could come up with a solution.
Although I had just had a fierce conflict with Tie Nan, it was all done in the heat of the moment. After calming down, I still didn't want to hold his words against him... Putting everything else aside, at least he was sincere towards Tao Zi.
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