After nightfall, Liu Zhibin turned on the television and sat at the table, watching the news while waiting for dinner. Ye Mei brought out a plate of stir-fried greens and a plate of bitter melon, then returned to the kitchen for two sets of bowls and chopsticks. She opened the rice cooker and served two bowls of rice.
When she came back to the table with the rice, Ye Mei placed one bowl in front of Liu Zhibin without saying a word and picked up her chopsticks to eat.
Liu Zhibin glanced at the greens and bitter melon on the table, then shot Ye Mei a sideways look. “Greens and bitter melon at noon, greens and bitter melon again tonight,” he complained. “What are you trying to say?”
Ye Mei replied flatly, “Nothing. It’s hot outside. Bitter melon clears internal heat. Saves you from going out and harming people.”
Liu Zhibin slammed his palm on the table. “Who the hell have I harmed?!”
Ye Mei put her chopsticks down, answering, “You know exactly who you’ve harmed.”
Sensing something beneath her words, Liu Zhibin narrowed his eyes.
“Did you say anything to those people who came yesterday?”
“No.”
“If you did,” Liu Zhibin said coldly, “you’ll kill Guangjie. Remember that, you damn woman!”
“If it weren’t for you,” Ye Mei shot back, “would Guangjie have gone there at all? If anyone ruined him, it was you.”
Liu Zhibin hurled his rice bowl to the floor, raging back, “When did it become your turn to lecture me?!”
Ye Mei shrank back at his fury, but still forced herself to speak. “Stop going up there,” she pleaded. “You have a daughter. You’re a father too! If it were our daughter locked up there, how would you feel?”
“Women’s soft-hearted nonsense,” Liu Zhibin snapped. “Mind your own business! Say one more word about this, and I’ll beat you!”
Ye Mei stared at him steadily. “Liu Zhibin, you don’t deserve to be the village head. You’re just like those bastards up there, less than human. If you take children up there again to ruin them, I’ll call the police.”
Smack!
Bang!
The sound of a slap landing on flesh rang out at the same time as the stainless-steel door being kicked open.
Both Liu Zhibin and Ye Mei turned toward the entrance as plainclothes officers flooded in. Liu Zhibin’s face drained of all color. He knew it was over. Ye Mei closed her eyes briefly, then lowered her head, relief finally settling in.
…………….
At the far end of Lingshan Village, beside Liu Peng’s single-story house, stood a small shack roofed with asbestos tiles. Inside, a crude wooden bed had been put together with planks. The bedding was so filthy that it was impossible to tell when it had last been washed. Mold, the stench of urine, and other foul smells mixed together, making the air suffocating.
An emaciated old man lay on the bed, barely breathing.
Liu Peng set a bowl of rice gruel on a round wooden post by the bed. The old man opened his clouded eyes and looked at him pleadingly.
“I’m not going to make it…” he mumbled. “Help me change into clean clothes. Let me leave this world clean.”
Liu Peng stared at him without emotion.
“Even if you were spotless, you’d still go to hell.”
“I’m your grandfather,” the old man said weakly. “How can you curse me like that?”
“You’re not my grandfather,” Liu Peng said. “I don’t have a grandfather who raped his own daughter-in-law while his son was out working the fields, and kept raping her even after he was found out.”
The old man’s lips trembled.
“I…”
“Did you push my father off the mountain back then?” Liu Peng demanded.
“He was going to push me first. I fought back… I wronged your father…”
“You wronged my father,” Liu Peng said coldly, “but you wronged my mother even more. My maternal grandmother told me to leave you alone. I thought she was heartless, until she finally told me what you’d done all those years ago! I didn’t learn the truth until then! How do you even have the face to still be alive?! After my parents died, you should’ve paid with your life!”
Ignoring the tears that slid down the old man’s face, Liu Peng turned and walked out in disgust.
Stepping into the yard, he found three unfamiliar men standing there. One of them took out his credentials.
“Liu Peng, right?”
The sight brought him straight back to two years ago, back to the day police had stood in this same yard and asked him the same question.
………………
Two years earlier, Liu Peng had gone into the mountains to dig medicinal herbs. People in Lingshan Village used to do that for a living, but now most have found better ways to make money in the city. With commercial herb farming on the rise, almost no one still dug wild herbs. Liu Peng was the only one left.
He didn’t want to leave the mountains to work outside and be ordered around. Staying behind to farm and dig herbs, as long as he didn’t starve, was enough for him.
That day, head down searching for herbs, he wandered near the pig farm without realizing it. He was introverted and avoided people, rarely going near places where others gathered. Just as he was about to leave, a man wearing a string of Buddhist beads called out to him.
“Jiang Tao, what the hell are you doing there with a basket on your back?!”
Only later did Liu Peng learn that the man’s name was Liu Kun.
Liu Peng lowered his head, avoiding eye contact, and tried to leave. Liu Kun stepped closer, studied his face, and froze in shock.
“You’re not Jiang Tao? Damn, how do you look so much like him?”
“Why are you yelling? Calling ghosts?” A rough voice came from behind Liu Kun. The man stepped forward, face to face with Liu Peng, and stared. “Who are you?!”
They were both shocked. Liu Peng was even more stunned, staring blankly at the man who looked almost exactly like him.
Liu Kun looked back and forth between them, asking, “You two aren’t long-lost twins, are you?”
In terms of personality, Liu Peng was timid and dull; Jiang Tao was vicious, bold, and unruly, and despised people like Liu Peng most.
“Get lost,” Jiang Tao said.
Liu Peng left quickly and avoided the pig farm after that. He never expected that a month later, Liu Kun would come to his door and say Jiang Tao wanted to see him.
Jiang Tao said to him, “Brother, I’m your younger brother. Your real brother.”
He showed Liu Peng a DNA test report and continued, “I always knew my parents weren’t my real ones. They picked me up halfway up a mountain. They treated me badly. At meals, if I took one extra bite of vegetables, they’d hit my hand with chopsticks. In winter, everyone else wore thick coats, but I wore old hand-me-downs they didn’t want. I shook from the cold. I didn’t even finish middle school before they kicked me out to work. All these years, my biggestwish was to find my real parents. After I met you, I secretly took a few strands of your hair and had a test done. We’re really brothers.”
Liu Peng didn’t understand the technical results, but he remembered what his maternal grandmother had once told him, that his mother had given birth to twins. He was born first, but his younger brother had been weak at birth. They had no money for treatment, and on the way home, the baby had been left halfway up the mountain.
Thinking of that, of Jiang Tao being abandoned and growing up in misery, Liu Peng felt guilty as the older brother. Already someone with little backbone, he began to obey Jiang Tao in everything.
Two years ago, one night, Liu Peng took the axe kept at home in a woven sack and followed the other men in the village toward Qingshan Village. When people went to another village to demand justice, fights could break out, so everyone carried something for protection.
Not long after they set out, Liu Peng received a call from Jiang Tao, telling him to go to the county with him. It was the first time his brother had asked him for anything. Seeing how many men were heading to Qingshan Village, Liu Peng figured one less wouldn’t matter, so he quietly left the group and went back.
Jiang Tao picked him up near the village entrance in a small box truck. Liu Peng was looking for somewhere to hide his axe as there was only one at home, and replacing it would cost money.
However, Jiang Tao saw it and said, “Hide it for what?”
With no choice, Liu Peng climbed into the passenger seat, clutching the axe and sitting stiffly.
“Brother, what are we going to the county for?”
“Don’t ask so much,” Jiang Tao said. “Just follow me.”
After they reunited, Jiang Tao’s attitude toward him was poor. But thinking this was his only brother, who had suffered so much, Liu Peng endured it. They drove into the county. At an intersection, a sedan honked once. Jiang Tao said to him, “You’re done here. Get out and wait for me.”
Liu Peng got out, confused, watching Jiang Tao drive off behind the sedan. I wasn’t needed anyway, he thought. So he squatted by the roadside, not knowing how long he waited before Jiang Tao finally returned, this time in a taxi. They picked him up, but not long after leaving the city, Jiang Tao told the driver to stop.
After getting out, Liu Peng asked foolishly, “Brother, are we walking back?”
Jiang Tao ignored him, said he was thirsty, and told Liu Peng to steal a watermelon from across the river. After Liu Peng brought the watermelon back and rejoined him, what happened next was something he would never forget for the rest of his life.
………………
Liu Zhibin and Liu Peng were taken away by the police. Villagers gathered at the village entrance, watching the police cars drive off with awe and fear.
Up on the mountain, at the pig farm.
Fortunately, Liu Kun and the others had actually raised pigs as cover. Several long hoses used to wash pig waste were connected together, barely reaching the wooden cabins. Gasoline had been poured on the structures, and the fire wouldn’t go out, but the surrounding flames were still under control.
Firefighting measures were appropriate, and the fire brigade arrived in time. In the end, the blaze did not turn into an uncontrollable forest fire. While the fire was being put out, Han Huaixiao received a message from He Zhengye:
[The hair samples from Maoyi City match the biological samples left by the killer of Chen Zhengde in the urban village and those of the killer who murdered Guo Zhengqi and Wei Zixuan. Same person. It’s Jiang Tao.]
Han Huaixiao replied: [Thanks. Get some rest.]
[Deep-sea fishing. Don’t forget.] He Zhengye said.
[I won’t. I’ll have my old man contact you in a couple of days.]
After the fire was extinguished, everyone began searching for the sniper’s escape route.
“Captain Han, some branches here are broken!”
“There are two fallen leaves over here!”
“There’s half a footprint here!”
“A flower here has been snapped off!”
Tiny traces deliberately left behind by the sniper to mislead pursuit were scattered in every direction. Lu Mingda, the SWAT captain, said, “Captain Han, this guy’s too cunning! Which way do we chase?”
Nighttime tracking in the mountains was already extremely difficult. The other side also had a sniper rifle, so pursuing blindly would easily lead to casualties. Han Huaixiao made a decisive call.
“Bring in infrared thermal imaging equipment and police dogs.”
By the time dawn broke, the equipment and K9 units had arrived. Breakfast was soy milk and steamed buns packed and brought up from the town.
Xia Hang took a cup of soy milk and two buns. He drank a couple of sips first, then started eating. The soy milk was watered down, with barely any flavor left, almost like drinking plain water. The buns were filled with pickled cabbage and pork, each about the size of a child’s fist.
Xie Mingqiang came up as well and squatted beside Xia Hang, asking, “Officer Xia, that’s all you’re eating? Just two?”
Xia Hang took a bite of a bun.
“Yeah. Two’s enough.”
Xie Mingqiang said, “You’re eating less than half of what we are… especially Captain Han. I saw him eat six!”
Xia Hang glanced over. Han Huaixiao had already finished breakfast and was now discussing the search plan with the technical team. Though his back was turned, it was as if he had eyes in the back of his head. Xia Hang had barely looked before Han Huaixiao turned and met his gaze.
Out in the wild, no one bothered with formalities, so Xia Hang sat cross-legged on the ground. When Han Huaixiao looked over, he smiled at him.
Han Huaixiao’s gaze dropped to the two small buns in Xia Hang’s hands, and his brow furrowed slightly. He looked away and resumed discussing the search plan.
The head of the technical team said, “The forested area here is too large. A full-scale search isn’t realistic.”
Han Huaixiao pointed to several spots on the map, ordering, “Then focus on these key access routes. Don’t let him escape. Divide the rest into sectors, and each group takes a police dog. He has a sniper rifle. When searching, don’t stray too far from your partners. Safety first.”
At that moment, Xia Ling called in.
“Captain Han, while Brother Hua and I were investigating Chen Zhengde, we found that he spent over eight years in the Golden Triangle. After returning to China, there’s no employment record at all.”
Han Huaixiao asked, “What about his time in the Golden Triangle?”
“We’re still waiting on informant intel. So far, we only know that he was very close to someone named Qu Mingzhe while he was there. Qu Mingzhe is Burmese.”
Han Huaixiao recalled the scarred man saying the sniper’s accent sounded foreign.
“Have the informant collect Qu Mingzhe’s information and send it over.”
“Got it.”
An hour into the search, the information came in.
Qu Mingzhe. Burmese. Twenty-seven years old. A subordinate of He Qi, a major gambling and entertainment boss in the Golden Triangle. He managed roughly a quarter of He Qi’s entertainment venues.
Xia Ling warned, “Captain Han, before attaching himself to He Qi, Qu Mingzhe made a living fighting underground matches. He’s extremely skilled and, reportedly, an excellent shooter. If the sniper in the mountains really is him, be extremely careful during the arrest.”
Han Huaixiao asked, “How did Chen Zhengde end up with him?”
“According to informants,” Xia Ling said, “after Chen Zhengde was released from prison, he didn’t reform. He later smuggled himself into the Golden Triangle. Once, while gambling at a casino, a shootout broke out between rival casinos. Chen Zhengde seized the chance and took a knife for the casino manager. Combined with his silver tongue, he caught the manager’s eye and stayed by his side for years. That casino belonged to He Qi. Later, when He Qi wanted to expand into neighboring countries, especially the Chinese market, the manager wanted a share of He Qi’s entertainment business and recommended Chen Zhengde as a Chinese national. That’s how Chen Zhengde came back to China with Qu Mingzhe and started working with him.”
Han Huaixiao said, “Keep digging into the club that transferred money to Yang Xiaoyu, and into all the entertainment venues in Lang City, both above and below the table. Stay low-key. Don’t alert them.”
Xia Ling understood immediately.
“Okay.”
After the call, Han Huaixiao checked in with each search team. All reported no sign of the sniper, until the last group, led by Xia Hang. Han Huaixiao opened their channel and heard Xia Hang reminding Xie Mingqiang and Qin Liang.
“Don’t touch that leaf. You’ll break out in itchy red welts all over.”
Xie Mingqiang asked, “How do you know?”
“I’ve touched it before.”
Qin Liang scratched his neck reflexively.
“How did you stop the itching?”
“Endured it.”
At that, Xia Hang noticed faint static in his earpiece, asking, “Captain Han?”
Han Huaixiao’s voice was low. “Yes. Any findings?”
“Nothing yet.”
Then someone shouted excitedly on Han Huaixiao’s end.
“Captain Han, we’ve got something in Zone B!”
“Exact location,” Han Huaixiao said immediately.
After hearing the report, he checked the map. It was not far from Xia Hang’s group, so he made a decision within a second.
“Xia Hang, tech has locked onto the sniper’s position. Two kilometers from you. I’m sending coordinates now. You move in first. Other Zone B teams will reinforce shortly.”
“Received.”
After issuing orders, Han Huaixiao called Tang Gaoxiong over, saying, “Captain Tang, hold things here. I’m heading over.”
Tang Gaoxiong wanted to stop him, but Han Huaixiao had already left the command point.
Xia Hang moved in front, with Qin Liang and Xie Mingqiang following. The three advanced silently through the forest, though “silently” only applied in Xia Hang’s case. The other two were relying on sheer willpower to keep their movements light.
Noticing their stamina was draining, Xia Hang said tactfully, “I’ll go ahead. You cover the rear.”
However, Qin Liang grabbed him, saying in panic, “No! Captain Han said you’re not allowed to act alone!”
Xia Hang’s heart stirred. “When did he say that?” he asked.
“Before we set out. He pulled me aside and told me to keep an eye on you. Absolutely no solo action!”
Xia Hang imagined the way Han Huaixiao must have said it. Something soft brushed across his heart, like the fine silk from his hometown, making it tingle and feel faintly numb.
Xie Mingqiang asked nervously, “Officer Xia… are we slowing you down?”
Xia Hang shook his head. “No,” he said. “Tech has already locked the position. He can’t escape. We just need to get there quickly.”
Xie Mingqiang adjusted his breathing, answering, “I’m good. Let’s go.”
After more than ten minutes of moving through the forest, Xia Hang picked up the sound of heavy panting in the distance. He signaled for them to take cover. A minute later, a figure emerged from the waist-high ferns.
Xia Hang frowned.
It wasn’t the sniper.
It was Jiang Tao.
Jiang Tao had been climbing for a long time and was gasping for breath, cursing himself for being stupid! Stupid for listening to that Qu bastard and killing Brother De! Brother De was his boss! That surnamed Qu was powerful, sure, but he’d always treated him like a pawn!
It had been Qu Mingzhe who told him Brother De wanted revenge. He said Brother De wanted to avenge his son and needed Jiang Tao’s help, told him to go down the mountain and provide backup. But as Jiang Tao was heading to the rendezvous point, he noticed police everywhere.
At the rendezvous point, Qu Mingzhe called him.
“Are you there?”
“I am,” Jiang Tao said. “Brother Qu, there are a lot of cops! Will Brother De be okay?!”
Qu Mingzhe spoke Mandarin with a heavy accent, answering, “Your Brother De won’t get away. He’ll definitely fall into police hands.”
“Then if I stay here, won’t I get caught too?!” Jiang Tao panicked. “If I leave now, is it still possible?!”
Qu Mingzhe chuckled calmly. “Too late. Even if you escape now, the police will pry the pig farm’s secrets out of him. You won’t get away.”
Jiang Tao grew more anxious.
“Then what should I do?”
“Once you get him out,” Qu Mingzhe said, “kill him. Dead men don’t talk. That way you’re safe.”
“But…”
“You’ve killed cops before, haven’t you?” Qu Mingzhe cut in. “What are you afraid of? There’s an urban village opposite the rendezvous point. After you kill him, hide there. The police won’t find you. Once I deal with things at the pig farm, I’ll get you out of the country. Lie low in Myanmar for a while. You’ll do better there than you ever did here.”
Therefore, Jiang Tao was tempted.
After picking up Chen Zhengde and seeing the police in close pursuit, he knew there was no escaping with him. He hardened his heart and shot Chen Zhengde, who died never believing Jiang Tao would turn on him.
Afterward, Jiang Tao hid in the urban village for two days. If he hadn’t been quick-witted, the police sweep would have caught him long ago. As for Qu Mingzhe, he never fulfilled his promise!
Not only did he fail to get him out of the country, but he also stopped answering his calls altogether!
Only then did Jiang Tao realize he’d been used.
Qu Mingzhe had already clashed with Brother De professionally. This time, Brother De had drawn police attention, so Qu Mingzhe simply used Jiang Tao’s hand to get rid of him. With one move, he cut loose Chen Zhengde, took full control, and prevented the police from tracing things back to himself.
After finally escaping the urban village, Jiang Tao had nowhere left to go. Police were everywhere. With no choice, he fled toward the familiar deep mountains behind the pig farm.
Afraid of being tracked, he didn’t dare contact Liu Kun or the others, and didn’t know if the pig farm had already been exposed. He planned to sneak over and check. Even if it had gone wrong, he could still figure out a way to contact that idiot Liu Peng and have him provide cover, hiding out in the mountains for a while.
Thinking about that, Jiang Tao felt even more convinced that enduring disgust for two years and calling Liu Peng “big brother” had been a brilliant move.
Jiang Tao grew up in Maoyi City. From childhood, he’d known he wasn’t his parents’ biological son and that he’d been picked up on a mountainside near his grandmother’s home in Jiling Town, Lang City. When Liu Peng accidentally wandered near the pig farm, and Liu Kun joked that they might be long-lost twins, Jiang Tao had privately felt they really might be brothers.
He’d met Liu Kun in Maoyi. Both were morally crooked men, meeting at a dinner organized by mutual lowlife friends. When Liu Kun learned they were from the same town, he deliberately ingratiated himself, and they became friends.
Jiang Tao knew Liu Kun was cozying up to him because he’d heard Jiang Tao had powerful backing and was doing well. After testing Liu Kun several times under Chen Zhengde’s instructions, Jiang Tao and the others, while looking for new hiding places for their “goods”, set their sights on Jiling Town.
Jiang Tao had always been a troublemaker. By his early twenties, he was notorious throughout Maoyi City. Later, Chen Zhengde recruited him. Jiang Tao had heard of Chen Zhengde before, a former thug who met powerful people in prison, went to the Golden Triangle after release, latched onto a boss, and handled “big business.” Drawn to strength, Jiang Tao quickly fell in with him.
And when Liu Kun learned they needed a secluded location, he immediately recommended Lingshan Village.
“Lingshan Village is probably the most remote village in the whole city. Most people have moved out. Few villagers. And behind it, endless mountains.”
After planning, Liu Kun took the lead in setting up a pig farm in the mountains. On the surface, they raised pigs. In reality, they were trafficking people.
After accidentally crossing paths with Liu Peng, Jiang Tao once went out on a delivery and nearly got exposed by the traffic police. When he came back, he suddenly thought of Liu Peng, the man who looked almost exactly like him. Useless as Liu Peng was, his face could still be useful.
And so, the next time he went out to deliver goods, Jiang Tao brought Liu Peng with him.
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