"This case has been a breeze for me lately, I'm amazing, hahahaha!"
"Yes, truly amazing, so amazing your ancestral graves are smoking!"
...
I still remember the day Liao Yuan was brought into the Municipal Bureau. Ping An came to bid me farewell. At that time, I was full of pride and ambition, never expecting to be slapped in the face so quickly.
Shuicheng, damn it, that's my hometown!
Gao Jia Zhai, damn it, that's where I was born!
Hou Zhai Lao Huo Fang, damn it, that's our ancestral graveyard!
After exiting the expressway and arriving at the Batong Hotel, before I could even get out of the car, I saw someone from the Hechuan Municipal Bureau's SWAT team and another person, wearing shy, enigmatic smiles, driving away in a car with sirens blaring.
"Isn't that Little So-and-so and Little What's-his-name?" Gao Xiaofei, sitting in the car, asked, confused, looking at the cars speeding away.
"Hello, are you from the Gao detachment?" Cui Bureau Chief stood in the cold wind outside the Batong Hotel and shook hands with Gao Xiaofei awkwardly.
"Hello, Director Cui. We hurried here as fast as we could," Gao Xiaofei said, his mind on the case, anxiously asking, "What's the situation? What were our advance men from Hechuan doing earlier?"
"Gao Jia Zhai? Everyone you sent is now at a place called Lao Huo Fang in the back village of Gao Jia Zhai," Director Cui said helplessly. " If nothing unexpected happens, the operation has already begun."
"Ah, what operation?" Gao Xiaofei was completely bewildered.
As soon as Yang Jiao's car left, a burly man produced a rope and wrapped it around Yang Jie's neck.
"Get lost!" After being a "good boy" all the way, Ping An finally came to life and slammed into the burly man, and the two of them rolled into a ditch.
"Yi Yan, hide!" In the ditch, Ping An fiercely choked the burly man and shouted, "Gao Da, is Hei Dou okay?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, boss!" Hei Dou, wearing a bulletproof vest, or rather, "Tong Hua," stood up with difficulty and charged at the other burly men.
"Gao Da, take Yi Yan and go!" Ping An subdued the burly man and peered around. He saw the clever Hei Dou, fighting and running, skillfully dodging sniper fire while luring the burly men towards the courtyard of Lao Huo Fang. Ping An knew that Hei Dou wanted to lead them away, and the courtyard was a blind spot for snipers.
There were three more burly men in front of him, but they looked like decoys. They held weapons but dared not attack. Seeing Ping An pull Yang Jie into the ditch, and Gao Da carrying Qiao Yi Yan behind an old locust tree, they didn't know what to do.
"You guys drive the cars away, don't block me!" a sniper's voice echoed from afar. It was clear this person was ruthless. But he was right; the four cars were parked haphazardly, severely obstructing his line of sight. Ping An in the ditch, Gao Da behind the tree, and Hei Dou in the courtyard were all in blind spots.
Three burly men each took a car and left. The area outside Lao Huo Fang became much more open, but for those hiding, the danger increased.
Ping An, who had intended to seize a car in the confusion and escape, was now dumbfounded. If the sniper abandoned his position and came on foot to shoot, he would be helpless.
"Gao Da, how many bullets are left in the pistol?" Ping An asked desperately.
"Five rounds!" Gao Da shouted.
"Throw the gun—ah! Don't move!" Ping An was about to ask Gao Da for the gun, but unexpectedly, Gao Da suddenly rolled and dived into the ditch, unharmed.
The sniper probably didn't expect it and didn't even fire.
"I said one less, in case you didn't know," Gao Da, a former soldier, showed his advantage in combat.
"It's here, Old Gao, listen to me. I'm going over in a bit. Yi Yan can't do it alone!" Ping An observed the surroundings again. "I'll take a roundabout route this time. I'll roll behind that car first, then push it towards you from the side. That was the car I was in, and I didn't engage the handbrake! Then you get in the car, take Yang Jie, and go! Chase Yang Jiao."
"We have the car, it's in the courtyard, and the walkie-talkie and phone are in the car too," Gao Da said.
"Then drive the car into the courtyard. I have a pistol, so the sniper won't dare to come. It's best to take Hei Dou with you. Contact headquarters on the way and ask for reinforcements. By the way, when did Gao Xiaofei arrive? How could he be so fast? This doesn't seem like his usual command style?"
"Ask your apprentice later!" Gao Da mumbled indistinctly.
"Su Tang?" With a question, Ping An timed it perfectly, suddenly jumped out of the ditch, fired a blind shot towards the sniper's position, and hid behind the car. Then, he exerted all his strength to push the car towards the ditch. The front of the car precisely blocked the line of fire.
"Why don't you get in the car too? I'll take you," Gao Da opened the rear car door and, half-crouching, squeezed into the car. Behind him, Yang Jie, who had woken up, poked his head out, queuing up.
"No need. If I get in the car, the sniper will notify them that the operation failed, and they'll have to chase us all the way. It's too troublesome," Ping An said. "Besides, that sniper rifle is very important!"
Seeing that the other side had found a car as they wished, the sniper probably prepared to give up. But unexpectedly, after the car left, Ping An stayed. Although he once again hid behind the tree when I wasn't paying attention, as long as you don't leave, I have a chance to kill you.
Seeing Ping An give up his chance to escape and come over to his side, Qiao Yi Yan felt touched and amused. "What are you doing here?" Qiao Yi Yan asked.
"There's something wrong with that sniper rifle," Ping An replied.
"What's wrong? Didn't Tong Hua survive?" Qiao Yi Yan looked at the ditch, which was over a meter long between the tree and the road, and said, "Are you afraid that when the car comes, you won't be able to get close to me, and I'll be shot to death when I get in the car?"
"Say what you will!" Ping An neither admitted nor denied.
"You shouldn't have interfered with me," Qiao Yi Yan said.
"I have something to ask you," Ping An said.
"Answer me first, how did you recover your senses from my hypnosis?" Qiao Yi Yan seemed unable to resist asking, "When did you recover?"
"Do you have to ask now?" Ping An cautiously poked his head out, observing the surroundings, looking for an escape route.
"I'm afraid I might die here soon," Qiao Yi Yan said stubbornly.
"You're so troublesome!" Ping An said. "Okay, I'll tell you, it's actually very simple, it's an electronic sensor."
It turned out that Ping An had discovered long ago that his mind was being controlled, but he wasn't sure if it was Qiao Yi Yan. To verify this, he found Gao Da, who was about to be discharged from the hospital, and asked him to be his "ears." Then, he found an old classmate and had him make a peanut-sized listening device, which he hid on himself.
Sure enough, after an intimate encounter, Gao Da handed the recording to Ping An. Listening to himself being "cast" by Qiao Yi Yan, responding to her questions and obeying her commands, almost gave him a heart attack.
"At that time, I already knew Yang Jiao's background, so I contacted Chang Suo, and then contacted you. I felt like the three of you were in cahoots," Ping An said. "But I had no evidence, and the police were focusing on Liao Yuan and Yang Jie at the time. Even if I presented evidence, I couldn't find the person behind it. More importantly, I wanted to know what you were trying to do."
For the sake of truth, Ping An took a risk and continued to be intimate with Qiao Yi Yan, but each time Gao Da would record it. That is to say, Ping An knew what he had said while being hypnotized and what he had been suggested.
Under Qiao Yi Yan's suggestion, Ping An revealed Liao Yuan's motive for murder and provided evidence. Everything seemed to be under Qiao Yi Yan's control, until their outing.
Having considered this outing to be their final confrontation, Ping An could no longer allow her to manipulate him. So, he asked Hei Dou to find an expert to modify the original recording device into a remote-controlled electric shock device. As soon as Ping An was hypnotized, Gao Da, from a distance, could remotely control it, causing the recording device to discharge, a slight electric shock that would quickly wake Ping An up, but the recording device would become unusable.
"Here, it's this thing." Ping An, from somewhere, produced the now-defunct recording device and showed it to Qiao Yi Yan.
Qiao Yi Yan quickly took it and examined it closely. She found a sticky substance on its surface and curiously sniffed it.
"Hey! Don't sniff it! Forget it! Just admit it, it's useless," Ping An snatched the device and threw it far away.
"Is that true?" Qiao Yi Yan still didn't quite believe Ping An's words. She asked, "You were naked every time. Where did you hide the device? In your hair?"
"..." Ping An looked at Qiao Yi Yan with some embarrassment.
"Could it be?" Qiao Yi Yan suddenly looked at Ping An's backside.
"Listen to me, when I count to three, we'll run over there, to that tomb I just pointed out to you," Ping An suddenly said to Qiao Yi Yan. "I've calculated it. His gun is an old model, he has to pull the bolt after each shot. If we're fast enough, he can't hit us."
"Isn't it better to hide?" Qiao Yi Yan worried that her physical condition would drag Ping An down.
"While we were talking, that bastard moved," Ping An said. "If he moves any closer, he'll be right in front of us. He probably assumed we wouldn't run, so if we run, he'll be at a disadvantage."
"But!" Qiao Yi Yan wanted to say more, but Ping An was holding her hand tightly. At this critical moment, she said nothing further.
"Run!" Ping An whispered.
The two suddenly ran out from behind the big tree and into the grass, which was about half a person's height.
Ping An's guess was correct. The sniper, who had a preconceived notion that Ping An wouldn't dare to come out, was caught off guard again. In his haste, he fired two shots at their backs without preparation, but both missed.
In the wilderness, Ping An dragged Qiao Yi Yan, running desperately, their hands clasped tightly. At this moment, Qiao Yi Yan was deeply moved.
Gao Xiaofei had boasted more than once to Ping An that his grandparents' grave in the Lao Huo Fang behind Hou Zhai, Gao Jia Zhai, in Shuicheng County, was the only one with a tombstone. All other ancestors were previously stacked with bricks and stones, not counted. Only his grandfather and grandmother's tombstone was made of marble, tall, wide, and thick, which he, as a grandson, had personally erected a few years ago, making it incredibly imposing.
At this moment, Ping An finally felt how thick that tombstone was.
Well, it was indeed thick enough that bullets couldn't penetrate it.
Hiding behind the tombstone of the Gao family ancestors, Ping An and Qiao Yi Yan panted nervously.
"Don't worry, the ancestors of the Gao family will protect us in heaven," Ping An patted Qiao Yi Yan's hand, comforting her.
"We're not descendants of the Gao family, why would they protect us?" Qiao Yi Yan said. "I really can't understand why you brought me here. This place is surrounded by cliffs, a dead end!"
"It won't be, just wait," Ping An suddenly risked climbing out. Under the cover of the wild grass, he crawled about three meters to the right of the tomb and then exclaimed excitedly in a low voice to Qiao Yi Yan, "The Gao ancestors really are protecting you!"
"What?" Qiao Yi Yan was confused.
Ping An, risking his life, crawled back and then suddenly shouted, "Qiao Xixi!"
A moment later, a voice from below the cliff replied, "I'm here, Brother Ping An, where are you?"
"Hehe, alright, Yi Yan, listen to me. The place I just crawled over is a tunnel. This tunnel was paved with cement by the workers who built the highway, so they could get up and down quickly. Gao Xiaofei lived here as a child and used that tunnel as a slide every day. Below is an access point to the highway. There's a chubby kid named Qiao Xixi, he's my friend, he runs a logistics business driving trucks. I've prepared a large sum of money for you. He'll take you to the seaport along the highway. When you reach the seaport, there'll be a Japanese man named San Tui Shi San Lang. He's from the San Tui family in Japan. The San Tui family is an old friend of my family. He'll help you sneak into Japan, change your name, and you'll never do foolish things again, nor will you return to China. Live your life well..."
Qiao Yi Yan listened to Ping An's explanation with tears. She never imagined that Ping An would let her off the hook. She had done so many things that wronged him, but why?
"Don't speak, and don't ask! Don't look at me like that, I'm not a police officer, and catching bad guys isn't my duty. Go, don't let me see you again!" Ping An knew what Qiao Yi Yan was going to say, and covered her mouth. "I hope this case I'm working on turns into an unsolved mystery. Don't look at me like that, I'm not a police officer, and catching bad guys isn't my duty. Go, don't let me see you again!"
Before Qiao Yi Yan could speak, Ping An suddenly exerted his strength, dragged Qiao Yi Yan to the tunnel, and pushed her down.
"Ping An!" Qiao Yi Yan's heart-wrenching cry echoed from the dark tunnel.
"Brother, I've got her!" Qiao Xixi's voice came from below the cliff.
"Take her away! Your debt for the truck is cleared!" Hearing Qiao Xixi's voice, Ping An was relieved.
Below the cliff, the tall and strong Qiao Xixi carried the struggling Qiao Yi Yan to the truck, put her into the cargo area without a second thought, closed the door, and locked it. Qiao Yi Yan's cries gradually faded.
"Excellent men are so troublesome. Who did you have to fall in love with but my Brother Ping An? Forcing my brother to send you away like this. Ah, love!" Qiao Xixi, unaware of the details, sighed and started the truck, driving onto the highway.
In the dark cargo area, Qiao Yi Yan shed silent tears. She finally understood Ping An's good intentions. He didn't hate her at all. Even though she was Mr. Ke, even though she had hurt him, he had still meticulously planned to leave her a way out after the incident.
"Is this what a man is?" Qiao Yi Yan closed her eyes, filled with regret.
Having let Qiao Yi Yan go, Ping An was finally relieved. In his original plan, he had kept the escape route for himself, but at the last critical moment, he gave it to Qiao Yi Yan. According to the original plan, he intended to lure Yang Jiao out, then find a way to escape through this tunnel, meet with Qiao Xixi, whom he had contacted in advance, stage a disappearance, and then make a comeback. However, this time, Ping An didn't know why, but he couldn't bring himself to consider Qiao Yi Yan an enemy. He had even hinted several times, hoping she would stop while she was ahead. Yesterday evening, knowing it would be the final showdown, Ping An finally made up his mind. He secretly met Qiao Xixi, whom he had arranged to meet and who was already staying at the hotel, changed the plan temporarily, and commissioned the Japanese San Tui family to arrange Qiao Yi Yan's illegal immigration.
"Don't come back again, you silly girl. You'll just be used by others." Ping An, leaning against the tombstone, had run out of bullets. Most importantly, after sending Qiao Yi Yan away, his right leg, having been exposed for too long, was shot through by the sniper. Now, with no bullets to delay the enemy, Ping An couldn't even crawl to the tunnel.
"Ancestors of the Gao family, please show your spirits. Gao Xiaofei and I are like brothers. Bless him and bless me!" Ping An smiled and muttered to himself.
The sniper finally moved to the tombstone. When he approached Ping An, holding his gun, he suddenly noticed one person was missing.
"Why is it just you?" the sniper asked.
"Hid," Ping An said with a smile.
"Nonsense, I've been watching you the whole time!" the sniper tentatively looked at where Ping An had crawled. He really couldn't understand how a person could disappear from a dead end.
Just then, Ping An suddenly crawled up. Taking advantage of the sniper looking elsewhere, he charged at the sniper and grabbed him by the neck.
Although sniper rifles are powerful, they are not effective at close range. Ping An stuck close to himself, making it impossible for the sniper to shoot.
However, Ping An, who was already exhausted from the pain, didn't last long. After a brief struggle, he was thrown away.
The sniper rifle could now be used. Enraged by Ping An's desperate attack, the sniper, with only one person left, felt even more humiliated.
"Prepare to die!" the sniper aimed his gun at Ping An, ready to pull the trigger.
"Is this it?" Ping An felt that he had truly reached his limit this time.
Suddenly, an unknown yellow object appeared behind the sniper and hit him at an extremely high speed.
"Brother Ping An, run!"
Ping An had closed his eyes but suddenly heard Qiao Xixi's voice. He opened his eyes and saw him! At this moment, the stout Qiao Xixi had successfully knocked over the sniper and was pinning him down.
The sniper, caught off guard by this blow, fell to the ground, but still held the gun firmly, aiming directly at Ping An's position.
"Get down!" A figure with long hair suddenly rushed out and pounced on Ping An, who was half-sitting on the ground.
It was Qiao Yi Yan. She had persuaded Qiao Xixi and returned.
"Bang!" The gun fired.
Ping An didn't feel any pain, but his hand felt hot liquid.
"Brother, I can't hold on!" Qiao Xixi shouted desperately before being pushed away by the stronger sniper.
But Ping An remained unmoved.
The sniper stood up, gun in hand.
"Bang!" The gun fired again.
But it wasn't a sniper rifle, and Ping An wasn't the one shot.
The sniper took two steps back and fell heavily to the ground.
A hundred meters away, Gao Xiaofei was kneeling, holding a gun with one hand and supporting it with the other. The smoke had not yet dissipated from the barrel.
"Don't move, please don't move," Qiao Yi Yan whispered into Ping An's ear, her head resting on his chest. "You're so bad, how could you hide that device in that place, and then watch me sniff it..."
"You were the one who wanted to sniff it," Ping An said, smiling through tears, trying desperately to suppress his silent sobs.
"Why are you so good to me?" Qiao Yi Yan said. "Do you know I was also adopted? Did that make you pity me?"
"Yes, I pitied you," Ping An said. "Why did you come back?"
"I left a message for you in my heart. I'm afraid you won't hear it," Qiao Yi Yan said. "I'm afraid we'll never see each other again."
"What message?" Ping An asked.
"Do you like listening to Lu Fang's 'Every Road'?" Qiao Yi Yan's breathing grew weaker. "My mother loved listening to it and singing it the most."
"Mm. I don't understand Cantonese songs very well," Ping An said, hugging Qiao Yi Yan tightly.
"I'm from Hong Kong, my name is Du Juan, remember it!" Qiao Yi Yan suddenly spoke Cantonese, fluently and beautifully.
"I don't have much time. Sing 'Every Road' for me!" Qiao Yi Yan made her last request.
"But I don't know how!" Ping An cried.
Qiao Yi Yan tried to lift her head, then slowly caressed Ping An's face with her hand, saying with her last breath, "I taught you before, you know how to..."
A teardrop fell onto Ping An's face.
Qiao Yi Yan's head fell heavily onto Ping An's chest.
The world suddenly fell silent.
Gao Xiaofei silently walked to his ancestor's tombstone and found that the once magnificent marble tombstone now had several bowl-sized bullet holes. Some of them even emitted faint smoke.
Indeed, the ancestral graves were smoking.
Gao Xiaofei put down his gun and looked at the nearly a hundred police officers setting up a perimeter all over the mountain. Then he looked at Ping An, lying on the ground, holding Qiao Yi Yan.
At this moment, he had countless questions for his old partner.
But he remained silent.
"How high is the sky?"
"With outstretched hands, one can reach it."
"If one falls,"
"Dare to challenge and rise higher."
"How strong is the wind?"
"But I am willing to be this green grass,"
"Growing far away on every road."
...
Gao Xiaofei swore that he had never heard Ping An speak Cantonese, nor had he ever heard him sing a Cantonese song. Yet, what he was witnessing now made him disbelieve his ears.
Ping An also couldn't believe it. When did he become fluent in Cantonese? When did he learn to sing Cantonese songs so fluently?
"Every Road"? Who sang it? Why did he know how to sing it?
As the song faded, Ping An, holding Qiao Yi Yan, sang it over and over again.
Su Tang, who had been guarding the perimeter, arrived with the trio of strong men.
Gao Da, whose car had been stolen by Yang Jie midway, arrived after a short run.
Hei Dou, who had been beaten but finally won, arrived.
But they did not come forward, because Gao Xiaofei stopped them.
Accompanied by the singing of "Every Road," a memory, or rather, an implanted message, was successfully activated in Ping An's mind.
"Ping An, my name is Du Juan. At the age of four, I was sold by my biological parents to China and later adopted by your mother. Then I was fostered by the Qiao family, but I have been in contact with your mother all these years. Five years ago, while studying in Singapore, under your mother's arrangement, I investigated and voluntarily joined Mr. Ke's organization, becoming Mr. Ke number 4598. Three years ago, I returned to Hechuan and have been an inside agent placed by your mother in Mr. Ke's organization, silently protecting you. Your mother truly loved you. Knowing that you got together with Miss Lin, she always regretted it. I know she intended for me to become your wife so that I could always protect you. Unfortunately, things went contrary to her wishes. I, who was always required to remain silent by the organization, was suddenly awakened. My mission was to cooperate with Yang Jiao of Fengdian Company to seize control of Fengdian Company. This was originally a mission unrelated to you. After accepting the mission, I investigated extensively and learned that Mr. Ke's new conspiracy was not about coveting Fengdian Company's wealth and technology, but about a piece of land owned by Fengdian Company. Beneath this land lay an emperor's tomb, containing not only priceless burial artifacts but also a secret letter left by Mr. Ke's ancestor. After obtaining this intelligence, I immediately reported it to your mother and Xiang Wanfeng, and Director Xiang made arrangements, approving my undercover plan. You stumbled in, along with the messy cases at Fengdian Company, which disrupted my plan. To protect you, I persuaded Yang Jiao to hypnotize you and facilitate Yang Jiao's plan to seize her family fortune. Heh, but did you know that your mother had already made preparations through An Shi? As soon as Yang Jiao succeeded, she would immediately control that piece of land by way of acquisition, and then further draw out the person behind the organization.
Ping An, you are too amazing, amazing enough to see through everything, and too righteous. I, righteous as I am, fear you might disrupt the plans of Godmother and Director Xiang. My dear, I have guarded you for three years and have fallen in love with you unknowingly. I want to be a close sister to you, as your sister, I want to be a loving mother-in-law in the eyes of the cute Su Tang, I want to bicker with you and Gao Xiaofei, I want to be a bridesmaid at An Jing and Mei Qian's wedding... But I know you have Miss Lin. Although you have a rift and misunderstandings, I know she still loves you, and you still care about her. Therefore, this time, when I first hypnotized you, I wanted to place my confession in your heart. If I come through this safely, these words will remain in your heart forever. If I die, please send me off with my favorite song, which is also the key to unlocking these words.
Finally, my dear Ping An, I have also left you three life-saving pieces of information that will be useful in your future struggles with Mr. Ke. Farewell, see you in the next life!"