Chapter 47
May 22, 2017.
The weather was getting hot. Li Jincheng rushed to the bus as soon as he got off work, and immediately rushed to Desi Middle School after getting off the bus. His T-shirt was soaked with sweat. He didn't care and waited at the school gate before the evening self-study class was over. He bought a bottle of water from the nearby store, drank most of it in one gulp, and then slowly walked to the shadowy corner under the slope in front of the middle school gate.
The ambush location cannot be too obvious. After all, Li Qingyao is also studying here. Although he agreed to his sister's request and investigated the case for her, he did not want to be seen by his sister. Firstly, he was afraid that it would affect her studies; secondly, nothing had been found out yet, and he didn't want to face his sister's tears again.
Li Jincheng will be 23 in half a year. He is wearing a white T-shirt and loose sports pants. He has broad shoulders and a thin waist. He is 180cm tall, has fair skin, and has short, fluffy hair that falls on his forehead. He looks no different from a male college student.
A girl walked out of the school gate, kept looking in his direction, and laughed softly. He had been working all day and was very tired. After standing for a while, he simply squatted down and continued to drink the water. Now, most of his elegant and upright temperament is gone, and the temperament of a criminal policeman picking his feet is highlighted. There are fewer and fewer girls looking at him.
Li Qingyao has been studying very hard recently and comes home very late every day. Li Jincheng saw that most of the people in their class had come out, but he hadn't seen her yet - he had already carefully looked at their class photo.
At this time, Xiang Siling came out.
Like everyone else, she wore a school uniform, with her long hair tied up, her head lowered, and her bangs covering her forehead, but her beauty could no longer be concealed.
She walked along the road alone, not talking to any classmates, and no one talked to her. ↓
Li Jincheng stood up, threw the mineral water bottle into the trash can, and walked over silently.
Xiang Siling walked to an empty corner of the intersection and stood still.
"To Si Ling."
She turned around and looked at him blankly.
Li Jincheng tried his best to make his smile look sincere and gentle: "Hello, I am a police officer from the branch. I would like to find out more about your father's case. It won't take up too much of your time, is that okay?"
Xiang Siling still looked lifeless, with neither expectation nor resistance in his eyes. The eighteen-year-old girl is like a tree that looks fresh on the outside but is withered on the inside. That withered feeling emanates from her eyes, her face, every pore and every strand of her hair.
She shook her head slightly.
Li Jincheng didn't understand what was going on, but the sound of a car horn was heard behind him.
"Xiang Siling!" a woman's voice shouted. Li Jincheng turned around and saw Li Meiling getting out of the driver's seat of a black car. Although Li Jincheng was also the criminal police officer handling this case, he was a young boy and only did odd jobs. The people who had direct contact with Li Meiling were all experienced criminal police, so Li Meiling was unable to recognize him at first.
Li Jincheng immediately lowered his head and walked away quickly. He heard Li Meiling ask, "Who is he?" "He's asking for directions." "Don't talk to someone you don't know!" "Oh."
After walking across the street, Li Jincheng looked back again. Li Meiling sat back in the car, while Xiang Siling opened the door and was about to get in. She seemed to sense something and raised her head, meeting Li Jincheng's eyes again.
Li Jincheng couldn't tell what kind of look that was. Sadness, hopelessness, and a hint of hope.
It was fleeting, as if everything was Li Jincheng's illusion. He lowered his head to Si Ling and got into the car.
However, it was this look that shocked Li Jincheng's heart. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but the young detective at that time felt like he had captured something.
He turned his gaze to Li Meiling again. She was picking up a paper bag that looked like medicine from the center console and handing it to Xiang Siling. Xiang Siling took it and pulled out a small plastic bag from it. There were indeed a few pills inside. Xiang Siling swallowed them in one gulp and took some water from his schoolbag to swallow them.
Li Jincheng has excellent eyesight and saw "Yuan'an Clinic" written on the paper bag.
——
This is Li Jincheng's first visit to Chaoyang Home. Although the house he and Chen Pu rented was also old, it was still much better than here.
He followed the navigation on his phone, found Yuan'an Clinic, and squatted outside. He had tried everything he could to find a loophole in the case over the past week, but found nothing. He didn't know why he came here. After seeing Xiang Siling's eyes and the medicine bag beside the car, he always felt uneasy if he didn't come here to take a look. This may be some kind of detective intuition.
Today he finished his work at around 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening, and ran here without even having time to eat. He bought a meal at the nearby stir-fry restaurant, sat down and ate slowly while keeping an eye on the Yuan'an Clinic not far away. He was good-looking, seemed gentle and honest, and was considerate and attentive to everyone he spoke to. Before long, the owner of the stir-fry restaurant enthusiastically told him everything about Yuan'an Clinic.
Li Jincheng thought there was nothing wrong with it, it was just an ordinary clinic in the community.
But this place is several kilometers away from Xiang Siling's home, and there must be a similar clinic there. Why would her mother come here to buy medicine for her?
After Li Jincheng finished his meal, it was late at night and there were only one or two patients left in the clinic. Li Jincheng stood up and walked in.
Sun Yuanan was not there. There was only a nurse at the front desk, and a young doctor in a white coat, sorting a stack of medical records at the desk.
The doctor raised his head. He had a slightly dark skin, regular features and a pair of bright eyes. He asked, "What's the matter?"
Li Jincheng sat down in front of him and said, "Doctor, please help me. I've been feeling a little irritated lately."
"Open your mouth."
After the examination, the doctor said, "You can go to the pharmacy and buy some Niuhuang Shangqing tablets, or you can get some at our clinic. The price is the same. Don't waste your money if you don't need any other treatment."
Li Jincheng smiled and said, "Okay, thank you. What's your name, doctor?"
The doctor then smiled. When he smiled, he looked particularly cheerful and a little childish. His originally slightly gloomy face seemed to brighten up. He said, "My last name is Ye."
Li Jincheng went to the nurse to get the medicine, and thought that this young doctor named Ye seemed to be a nice person.
——
Li Jincheng is different from other boys. From childhood to adulthood, he is very delicate and sensitive, and can perceive other people's emotions very well. Even though Li Qingyao's family of three treated him very well and no differently than their own son, he still lived a cautious and careful life every day, and observing people's words and expressions had become a habit for him.
He was young at that time, and Yuan Ling and his wife did not realize this. They just thought that he had lost his father at a young age and was particularly well-behaved and sensible.
When Li Jincheng gets older, his family may not be able to tell what he is thinking.
However, every time Li Qingyao felt unwell, his parents might not have noticed it yet, but Li Jincheng would be the first to notice it. Such a tall and strong young man, who was willing to do whatever Li Qingyao ordered, worked hard without complaint, just to make her happy;
Yuan Ling was upset at work, but she kept it to herself. Father Li was still happy and unaware of it. However, Li Jincheng had already made a cup of liver-soothing and depression-relieving tea and handed it to Yuan Ling. He also tried to make her say what was in her heart, so that she would feel better.
When Mr. Li came back from a mission, his old shoulder injury recurred. He sat alone in the room struggling to apply medicated wine. It was Li Jincheng who first discovered him and gave him a massage for a long time to relieve the pain.
Li Jincheng is like a tree, a healthy, straight tree with lush branches and leaves but alone. He firmly settled down in his second home, trying hard to absorb the sunshine given by his family, and desperately using the not-so-thick tree canopy to shield them from wind and rain.
However, Li Jincheng never tells those he loves about the difficulties and pressures he faces. When you ask him, he always says that everything is fine. He always looks happy, which makes people feel at ease and feel friendly and gentle. In the police academy, he was arrogant and was suppressed by Chen Pu for four years. He became the eternal second in command and was laughed at by everyone. He was upset, but he didn't tell his family - although he later regarded Chen Pu as important as his family; when he first entered the unit, he was ordered around by everyone and was always doing errands and miscellaneous tasks, but he was also very motivated and didn't complain to his family; he made a mistake at work and was scolded by the captain until he almost cried, but he didn't say anything; Li Qingyao begged him to investigate Luo Huaizheng's case, and how much pressure and burden it brought to him - he didn't say a word.
Li Jincheng has a contradictory appearance and inner heart. She appears to be sunny, optimistic and cheerful on the outside, but on the inside she is delicate, patient and strong as iron.
Many times, Li Jincheng feels lonely; but more often, he feels lucky and at ease.
Therefore, after two days of observation outside Yuan'an Clinic, Li Jincheng keenly realized that Sun Yuan'an looked cunning and good at disguise, and it would be difficult for him to break through with his own strength. On the contrary, the young doctor named Ye Songming, although looking a little melancholy, was very patient and gentle every time he treated the patients, and tried his best to consider the patients' health and finances. Li Jincheng always felt that Ye Songming was hiding something, so he was unhappy every day. He felt that he might be able to find out something from Ye Songming.
On the third night, which was May 24, Li Jincheng continued to keep watch outside the clinic. Seeing that Sun Yuanan had left for something and most of the patients had left, Li Jincheng put his hands in his trouser pockets and walked briskly up the steps outside the clinic again.
The door of the clinic was pushed open and two young men passed by him. One is fair and the other is tall. The fair-skinned man was holding a bag in his hand. Li Jincheng took a look and saw some medicine syringes, condoms, bandages and iodine. Li Jincheng subconsciously glanced at the two people's faces. Based on Li Jincheng's limited experience, he judged that the two did not seem to be taking drugs, but their puffy eye bags and greasy faces meant that they often stayed up late or were alcoholics and womanizers.
Li Jincheng withdrew his gaze.
When I walked into the clinic, Ye Songming was sitting there in a daze.
Li Jincheng quickly glanced at the medical record in front of Ye Songming. There was a name written on it: Li Yu. He also saw words like diabetes.
"What's wrong, Dr. Ye? Is there something wrong?"
Ye Songming came back to his senses and said, "No, what's the matter?"
Li Jincheng smiled and said, "How come those two men just now were so young and had diabetes?"
Ye Songming lowered his eyes, put away the medical records on the table, and said, "It's not them. They are getting medicine for others. What's the matter with you?"
Li Jincheng took out a cigarette box, handed a cigarette to Ye Songming, and then put one in his mouth and lit it. Li Jincheng hardly ever smokes, but sometimes when investigating a case you have to have cigarettes in your pocket so you can get close to people. This was taught to him by an old detective. Ye Songming rarely smokes on a daily basis, but he was feeling a little annoyed today and there were no patients in the clinic, so he simply took it. Li Jincheng lit the fire for him and said in a low voice, "I want to ask you about someone."
He took out his phone, found a clear photo of Xiang Siling, and put it in front of Ye Songming: "Has this girl been here?"
Ye Songming lowered his eyes for a few seconds, then looked up at Li Jincheng.
…
[I know it's useless to keep Xiang Siling's abortion operation form. She is already over 14 years old and is not considered a young girl. If even her family doesn't care, who else would?
But I just wonder, what if? What if one day Xiang Siling needs this thing to protect herself?
What if it really could change someone’s life?
Today, the one thing I had been waiting for for a long time, he actually showed up. 】
——Excerpt from Ye Songming’s Diary 5
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