Love For You - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Chen Yi Can’t Hold It In, Tilting His Head Back and Laughing Out Loud

The fire intensified in an instant. It happened just when the customers in the billiard hall were having the most fun. Since the hall was in the basement—a level-three structure—it was highly flammable and featured a wide, unobstructed space. The thick, black smoke swirled in like a predatory beast, plunging everything into darkness. When Chen Yi heard people screaming about a fire, his expression changed drastically. He lunged forward to investigate the source of the blaze. Bozai barked orders to evacuate the crowd, and the panicked, restless students shoved their way toward the exit, their screams punctuated by the sounds of trampling feet.

Thick smoke billowed throughout the room. People scrambled out of the black haze one by one. Fire engines and ambulances arrived simultaneously, but the fire had already spread to the surroundings. Many heart-stricken onlookers gathered to watch. By the time a distraught and disheveled Miao Jing arrived, black soot was drifting through the sky. Before her lay a charred, ruined shell of a building with sewage flowing over the ground. People with soot-covered faces, still shaken from the ordeal, brushed past her. The billiard hall’s sign was completely scorched, its neon entrance gaping like an ugly, dark mouth. Fully equipped firefighters were using spray guns to extinguish the remaining embers.

Miao Jing could not find Chen Yi, nor could she find Bozai or any familiar face. Trembling, she walked over, her face pale and haggard, asking in a hoarse, listless voice about the people inside.

[The death toll is currently unknown. No charred remains have been found yet.]

[Several comatose men were rescued from the fire, along with a few suffering from minor burns, trampling, or smoke inhalation. They have all been sent to the hospital.]

"...Did you see a man? Very tall, solid build, crew cut, with sharp features? He’s the owner of this billiard hall."

"Boss Chen?" a bystander interjected. "He was the last one carried out. He’s already been sent to the hospital."

Miao Jing felt as if her entire body had frozen. Her brain felt pierced by needles; it was a total, chaotic blank. She muttered, "I understand. Thank you."

Bozai, his face streaked with black ash and his body a mess, was guarding the entrance to the ICU. Seeing Miao Jing rush over with her hair in a tangle, his eyes reddened instantly.

"Luckily, the billiard hall was spacious, so the fire spread slowly. I got everyone else out, but Brother Yi grabbed a fire extinguisher and charged back into the utility room. He was afraid there was someone inside... those were all students. He searched every corner several times... When we found him, he was curled up in a corner, already in shock and unconscious."

Miao Jing’s eyelashes fluttered, and tears spilled directly down her face.

Shock and unconsciousness.

Chen Yi remained in a coma in the ICU for ten days.

Miao Jing kept a vigil by the ICU, never once leaving his side.

The man on the hospital bed lay quietly. The MRI and brain scan reports were worrying. Miao Jing lightly touched the scars on his arms, his emaciated, withered cheeks, and his tightly furrowed brow. Her expression was calm, yet filled with a sense of lost direction.

In truth, she had thought about a great deal.

She thought of him at sixteen, appearing in Chen Libin’s hospital room with a rebellious air. She thought of him breaking his leg in a motorcycle accident and lying in the hospital bed, nonchalantly talking about suicide. She thought of him in his suit and tie, brimming with spirit, declaring that he was the most successful of them all. She thought of his blazing, red-eyed fury when he roared at her to get lost. She thought of him murmuring her name in the throes of passion, and she thought of that faint, melancholic smile he gave during their final parting. She thought about all the people and events they had each experienced over these past ten years.

Many people came to visit Chen Yi at the ICU entrance every day. Miao Jing saw many unfamiliar faces and had no idea he possessed such a vast social circle. With swollen, reddened eyes, she dealt with them absentmindedly. She didn't even notice Lu Zhengsi accompanying her. While Bozai handled the aftermath of the fire, she also caught sight of Zhou Kang'an, yet she felt no urge to get to the bottom of it or cross-examine him.

Actually, what did asking or not asking even matter?

She knew that in his heart, given the years they had spent clinging to each other for survival, she was ultimately different from everyone else.

By a stroke of luck, aside from Chen Yi, no one else had been seriously injured in the fire. The billiard hall was completely destroyed, but that was merely material property. All that mattered now was for Chen Yi to wake up.

Chen Yi, for his part, had been lost in an exhausting and scorching dream.

When he woke up, he blinked his extremely dry eyes, unable to adjust to the light for a moment. He saw those swollen, haggard, tear-filled eyes, felt a sense of familiarity, but his mind didn't register what was happening; he just stared blankly.

His physical sensations had yet to recover; only his vision was fixated. As he looked at the haggard, weeping person before him and regained the ability to speak, his first words were weak and impatient.

"I’m not dead... what are you crying for?"

Miao Jing, her eyes red, pressed her damp cheek against his forehead.

He sensed the two cold tears. For some reason, a feeling of relief washed over his empty heart.

He was awake!

He was still the same bastard, Chen Yi.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Chen Yi was finally transferred from the ICU to a general ward, though he still required several courses of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to promote the recovery of his brain function.

"Who am I?" Miao Jing asked, seeing his eyes remain listless. "Do you still recognize me?"

He remained silent, seemingly unsure how to answer. After a long while, he spoke in a low, melancholy voice: "Family."

"What is my name?"

"Miao Jing."

Miao Jing patted his head.

Chen Yi gradually regained a bit of vitality. He no longer looked quite so wretched, though his eye sockets were sunken and his chin was covered in dark stubble, giving him a decadent, fragile air. Miao Jing cared for him day and night, and her already slender body grew even thinner. He clumsily grasped her wrist, rubbing it with his fingertips.

"Get me a mirror."

"What for?"

"You’ve become a mess, and I want to see how pathetic I look?" he scoffed lightly. "I’ve never been ugly in the first half of my life."

Yes, he certainly wasn't ugly, just worn thin from so many days of suffering, his bone structure prominent and his chin shadowed with stubble.

"Can you shave me?"

Miao Jing truly found a razor. She first covered his face with a hot towel, then applied shaving foam and took the blade to him. Chen Yi squinted in comfort, resting his chin on her cool fingertips and enjoying the sensation of the bristles being scraped away.

"Will you kiss me?"

Miao Jing complied gracefully, kissing his smooth chin.

Chen Yi grinned foolishly.

"Can you give me a cigarette?"

She lightly fanned his cheek with her finger, saying coldly that he could dream on.

Zhou Kang'an had rushed over to check on Chen Yi as soon as he woke up. Once Chen Yi was able to think and speak normally, he came again. They sat behind closed doors, their expressions grim.

"That area is a blind spot; there are no surveillance cameras. There’s no telling how the fire started."

"There were a lot of people in and out of the shop that day, and the station is still screening suspects one by one." Zhou Kang'an looked at Chen Yi, frowning: "When you were by Zhai Fengmao’s side, did your identity ever leak? Who else knows about you?"

"I doubt it." Chen Yi said lazily. "If they were really out for revenge, why bother burning down a billiard hall? They would’ve just put a bullet in me. Besides, they’ve already fled to god-knows-where, hiding in the jungles of Southeast Asia, barely surviving themselves. How would they have time to come back and deal with me?"

"You know how cunning Zhai Fengmao is. Interpol has no news either; he managed to slip away again six months ago." Zhou Kang'an pondered. "As for that Zhang Shi case, two of them have already been released from prison."

"Those were all small fry. They have nothing to do with me. I’m still driving Zhang Shi’s car; it’s impossible for them to come after me just like that."

"Caution is never a bad thing."

Of course, he had to be cautious. He was alone and could handle himself, but Miao Jing was still out there.

Zhai Fengmao had drug factories and armories on the Yunnan border. Although he was gradually withdrawing from direct operations, for years he had relied on investments in various regions to launder his wealth. His reach was all-encompassing, and his protectors were deeply rooted. He was the kind of person who could trigger an earthquake just by stomping his foot. Many public servants and police officers in Teng City had already been recruited into his service. This case was under the direct command of the Public Security Bureau; the initiation period had been covert and long. Zhou Kang'an had been in charge of the case with his colleagues and was worried about finding an opportunity to infiltrate the organization, never expecting to run into Chen Yi.

The teenage youth had been ambitious and reckless. At first, Chen Yi had only wanted to watch from the sidelines, using the police to flush out those under Zhang Shi who had broken the law. Given Zhai Fengmao’s power—with the people frequenting his nightclubs being the elite of society—it wasn't easy to take him down. Later, after being scouted by Zhai Fengmao to enter the drug trade, he had to do something to prove his courage and loyalty. Chen Yi knew that the ultimate fate of such people was usually death or being used as a scapegoat. After much deliberation, for the sake of self-preservation, he made contact with Zhou Kang'an and became a confidential informant.

Zhai Fengmao’s organization was strictly run, and the background of everyone’s family had been thoroughly vetted. At that time, Miao Jing was nearing her college entrance exam. She was sure to leave, preferably for a school thousands of miles away. It was common knowledge that Chen Yi had no real connection to her; their relationship was distant. Chen Yi had always been too lazy to mention her, and occasionally, his few words about her were dismissive. Once Miao Jing left, he would have no more worries.

The moment he truly passed the point of no return was when Miao Jing called the police and Chen Yi fell into a thunderous rage. Miao Jing was still inexperienced in the ways of the world then, mistaking his involvement for drug use and calling the police. But that incident had actually been a deliberate test. Zhai Fengmao had eyes everywhere. If they had followed through on that incident, Chen Yi would have ended up in the station, or if Miao Jing had let something slip, both of them would have been finished. At the last second, Chen Yi made a call to Zhou Kang'an. In a desperate move, Zhou Kang'an exposed a police mole to block the investigation. That was how Chen Yi fully aligned with Zhou Kang'an and became the secret thread that would eventually topple Zhai Fengmao.

As the protective umbrellas fell, Zhang Shi and the others followed suit. Zhai Fengmao had received word early on and fled to Myanmar. The police had intentionally let a few small fish slip through the net, including Chen Yi. Chen Yi pursued Zhai Fengmao into the Golden Triangle. When he found him, Zhai Fengmao didn't welcome him; a bullet fragment grazed Chen Yi’s forehead. Chen Yi stood his ground, pale as a ghost, blood streaming down his face.

Chen Yi stayed under Zhai Fengmao’s command as a low-level lackey to uncover the drug and arms trade at his base. That base was eventually destroyed by the Burmese military, and Zhai Fengmao fled to the heart of Southeast Asia. Chen Yi quietly withdrew back to Teng City to live a quiet life.

So where did the fire at the billiard hall come from? Chen Yi’s instinct told him it wasn't Zhai Fengmao. Six months ago, he had gone to Yunnan once after hearing rumors that Zhai Fengmao had returned to the Golden Triangle. Chen Yi didn't know if his identity had been exposed, so he took the risk to check it out. In the end, he didn't even catch a shadow of Zhai Fengmao. If he had been exposed, given Zhai Fengmao’s personality, he would have done it himself or sent an assassin—either a single bullet to the head or a gruesome end. He would never have set fire to a billiard hall, causing such a spectacle.

This fire caused no major casualties, so there was originally no need for the Criminal Investigation Unit to intervene. But Zhou Kang'an, fearing something was amiss, handled it with extreme caution. He sent the surveillance footage from the burned-out hall to the forensic center for analysis. However, because the billiard hall was so large and had several blind spots, and because there were so many people coming and going that day, they were still screening them one by one. Currently, they hadn't discovered anything definitive.

Before the fire, Chen Yi had indeed sensed nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps there had been something, but his heart had been so thoroughly captured by Miao Jing that he had ignored it entirely?

After Zhou Kang'an left, Miao Jing came in, sat by the hospital bed, and handed Chen Yi some cut fruit. Both his arms were burned and wrapped in bandages, making it difficult for him to move. She wondered what kind of scars would remain after he healed. A touch of loneliness and sorrow filled her eyes.

He looked into her beautiful, bright eyes and sank into deep thought.

What if it really was someone from Zhai Fengmao’s or Zhang Shi’s side taking revenge?

As long as Zhai Fengmao wasn't dead or brought to justice, he would never have peace.

Chen Yi asked in a hoarse voice: "Aren't you going to work at the company?"

It had been over ten days. She had been guarding the hospital, never leaving his side even for a step.

Miao Jing replied calmly: "I quit my job."

"Quitting is fine." He lowered his eyes and said slowly: "When do you plan to leave Teng City?"

Miao Jing was stunned. She set down the fruit fork: "Why?"

"If you’re going, go sooner rather than later." Chen Yi said calmly, "You’ve been through enough trouble in the months since you returned to Teng City, and you’ve stayed in this hospital with me for too long. I’m tired, and you’re tired. Go back. I’ll have Bozai come to the hospital to keep watch tomorrow. You don’t need to trouble yourself."

He closed his eyes and lay quietly on the bed to rest. Miao Jing watched his steady breathing and quietly exited the room.

The fire in the billiard hall had started in a trash can. The utility room and a small storage room were right next to it. Everyone speculated that someone had been smoking—even though it was strictly forbidden, many people smoked in the hall. A casually tossed cigarette butt could have started a fire silently, eventually causing a catastrophe.

When Zhou Kang'an returned to see Chen Yi, he brought new information: the two convicts who had just been released from prison had vanished. In the blind spots of the billiard hall’s surveillance, a blurry figure had flashed across the mirror of the glass wall.

Chen Yi frowned.

If you walk by the river often enough, you’re bound to get your shoes wet. Some grudges and frictions were impossible to clarify.

"If you ask me, if it really is that original group, no one can stop them. How about I swagger back to Yunnan, and you guys follow behind me? We can play the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind—it’s better than relying on these current criminal investigation methods."

Zhou Kang'an shook his head and mentioned the gambling report from a few days before the fire, which had come from Tu Li. But Chen Yi was certain it wasn't Tu Li. Although she knew the billiard hall inside and out, she was absolutely incapable of doing something like this.

The two chatted in the hospital room for a while. Zhou Kang'an went out quietly again, only to be stopped by Miao Jing outside the room.

Miao Jing had only realized by now that he was an officer with the Municipal Criminal Investigation Detachment. In her final year of high school, Zhou Kang'an had helped her several times, both overtly and covertly. He had helped her move her household registration and files. Later, when Chen Yi lost contact, Miao Jing had called Zhou Kang'an to report him missing. Zhou Kang'an had offered a few gentle words of comfort, later saying Chen Yi had gone out of town, ending the matter with a few casual remarks.

"Officer Zhou."

"Miao Jing?" Zhou Kang'an was quite happy to see her. "You’ve been back for half a year, right?"

"So you knew I was back."

Miao Jing asked about the fire at the billiard hall, inquiring if it was arson. Zhou Kang'an explained that the situation was unclear and still under investigation. Miao Jing listened to him carefully, and finally asked Zhou Kang'an: "Officer Zhou, is Chen Yi a bad person?"

"Why do you ask?" Zhou Kang'an laughed, "Do you think your brother is a bad person?"

"People who deal with police officers are usually not good people or ordinary people." Miao Jing gazed at Zhou Kang'an with clear eyes. "Is he a bad person?"

Zhou Kang'an chuckled twice: "If he really were a bad person, right under my nose, wouldn't I arrest him?"

"I understand. Thank you, Officer Zhou."

After Zhou Kang'an left, Miao Jing stood leaning against the door, watching Chen Yi. He was lying on the hospital bed, his head turned for a long time, staring out the window, lost in thought.

Miao Jing walked in, pulled her bag from the corner, and while Chen Yi wasn't paying attention, took out her phone and quietly pressed the stop-recording button.

Chen Yi asked her again when she planned to leave Teng City. It was the end of the year, and the movement of people in every region was complex. He was planning for his discharge and kept urging Miao Jing to leave Teng City as soon as possible—with so many people around him, there was truly no need for Miao Jing to stay by his side any longer.

"Why do you always want me to go?" she asked him in a flat tone as she peeled an apple with a fruit knife. "What are you afraid of?"

"I’m not afraid of anything. I just feel like you coming back is bad luck, and you’ve quit your job anyway, so what are you staying here for?"

Miao Jing’s eyelashes trembled.

Slowly, she stopped what she was doing. She set the apple on the bedside table and used a tissue to carefully wipe the apple knife clean. Lifting her gaze, her eyes as cold as snow, she pursed her cherry lips and slowly pushed the fruit knife toward Chen Yi’s cheek. The cold blade pressed against his skin, staining it with a touch of chill.

Chen Yi raised an eyebrow in surprise, turning his head to look at her.

Miao Jing’s eyes were cold and dark. Her slender wrist exerted force, the sharp tip of the knife pressed tightly against his handsome, sharp cheek, sinking into the honey-colored skin. A slight pain pricked through the dermal layer.

"Miao Jing, what are you doing?"

"Chen Yi, if you dare to treat me like this again, I will..."

A thin stream of blood flowed slowly from the puncture in his skin. A faint itch made him frown, yet he looked at her solemn, serious, and aloof face.

"Kill you first, and then kill myself."

Chen Yi couldn't hold it in; he tilted his head back and laughed out loud.