115 Punishment

 

7 days later, Liu Yinyan was finally buried, at the best ceremonial plot at Dong Xing City. There were more than thousands who attended the funeral. They included Liu Yinyan’s family, the leaders of the business world and normal citizens. The crowd stared at the man’s resting place seriously. Some were quietly weeping, others were mumbling among themselves. From their whisperings, I found out that these people were beneficiaries of Liu Yinyan’s uremia charity. Without Liu Yinyan, they would have died. I stood at the back of the crowd and said nothing.

“Elder Liu is such a good man, curse those kidnappers!” An old lady said, “It was Elder Liu who helped save our son’s life. Unfortunately, the good always die young. Hopefully he’ll rest in peace…” Another old woman nodded. “Come on, let’s go. We’ll need to walk an hour to the bus station, or else we’ll miss the bus back home.” Then the two ladies left the crowded spot. No one paid them any attention and no one knew they had purposely travelled from another city to Dong Xing City just to pay respect to Liu Yinyan.

What was a good person and a bad person? Perhaps for these people who had benefited from Liu Yinyan’s charity, he was a saint; but for Ren Tian and his daughter, Liu Yinywan was probably the devil. Sometimes, people only wanted to see what they wanted to see. Human beings were never unilaterally good or evil, they were always a mix of both.

…

3 days later, inside Captain Zhao’s office, a cup knocked noisily on the table. It was Captain Zhao who was doing it. It was clear that he was angry. “I thought things would be over after I took on all the blame. But I didn’t expect these people to be so narrow-minded. Under that circumstance, no one could rush in. If we did, everyone would die. Liu Yinyan was important, but he was not fucking more important than the lives of my unit member.” Captain Zhao growled, “That motherfucker has whispered into the higher up’s ears and said that if he had led the operation, Liu Yinyan would still be alive. If that is not bullshit, what is? We have already done the best we could under the circumstances.”

Hearing that, Xiao Liu quickly used the tea cup to block Captain Zhao’s mouth. “My dear captain, what are you talking about? That motherfucker is still waiting outside for you to clear out this place. You’re already a target, if anything else happens, this is not going to end well.”

Gu Chen groused, “You mean the disgusting opportunist is that Captain Lee? He wasn’t even around when we were handling the case, but now he’s out showing and preening his feathers? Fine, we’re going to be sent to a smaller place. But what is there for us to lose?”

Xiao Liu hurried over to close his hand over Gu Chen’s mouth, “My dear brother, can you please pipe down? After the case ended like this, all of us should have been fired. If not for Captain Zhao, we would be searching for another job already. Just let it be…” I knew Xiao Liu was concerned about his job. I was about to say something but decided against it when I saw Xiao Liu’s helpless expression. Captain Zhao drank the tea like a drinking machine. Mary glanced at Captain Zhao and then said, “Well, I guess there’s no better time than now to announce the higher up’s decision. Another unit will be taking over the heavy crimes, the other unit being the one led by that Captain Lee. We will be moved to a smaller district and will be handling small cases from now on, but if you ask me, there are no small or big cases, every case is important.” Mary looked at us and then sighed, “But we’ll have to clear out of this office now.”

Captain Zhao finally stopped drinking. “Let’s go, maybe the change of scenery can be good. Gold will shine anywhere it goes, I believe we’ll soon be promoted back to the frontline.” As we shuffled out from the office, we saw Captain Lee standing outside. Once he saw Captain Zhao, the man said, “Little Brother Zhao, it’s not so good going to the countryside, the air is fresh and the food is natural. It’s a good place for retirement. You’ve been working for so long already, why not consider retirement already?” Captain Lee said kindly but the meaning behind his words was clear, he was hoping that Captain Zhao would never be transferred back. I didn’t know what was the history between Captain Zhao and Captain Lee, but it definitely wasn't amicable. Captain Lee extended his hand to shake Captain Zhao’s hand.

Captain Zhao handed his tea cup to Xiao Liu and took Captain Lee’s hand, “Yes, it’s time for a little peace and quiet. But congratulations, you’re almost 50 right? You finally got this chair just before retiring age. But this chair is not as comfortable as you might think. Careful not to slip down from it.”

“Don’t you worry about that.” Captain Lee chuckled.

Captain Zhao shrugged. “Come on, let’s go.” The few of us walked out but Xiao Liu stood there motionless. Xiao Liu handed Captain Zhao’s tea cup to me and then lowered his head to say, “Erm, Captain Zhao, I don’t think I’ll be following you this time. I’ve promised Captain Lee that I’ll stay. As you know, I’ve worked here for 2 years already and I’m more familiar with this place. And I…” We were shocked but with that came the realization that Xiao Liu was saying goodbye to us. Of course, as mentioned earlier, in the big city, it was far easier to get promotions. Xiao Liu was worried about losing his job because it was not certain if Captain Zhao would even return to Dong Xing City.

Gu Chen spat and growled, “Liu Kai, I knew you’re a spineless thing. Whenever we went out, either Wu Meng or I would pay for cigarettes even though you are our senior, and because you’re our senior, I didn’t say anything. So we have failed the mission this time, what is so shameful about that? Can you not accept that result?” Gu Chen’s voice got louder and louder, “You have been with Captain Zhao longer than Wu Meng and I did and you’re betraying him now?”

Captain Zhao placed a comforting hand on Gu Chen and said slowly, “Everyone has their own life goal, be understanding. Xiao Liu, it’s good that you’re staying here. But know that my unit will always be open to welcome you back.” Xiao Liu was touched and wanted to say something more but he noticed Captain Lee was already glaring at him. So just like that, we parted.

The rest of us got into the car and left Dong Xing City. In the car, Gu Chen was still grumbling, “I can’t stand that slimy douche. We were in this operation together so we should all shoulder the responsibility. For some money, for a post, he has chosen to betray us, I can’t believe it.”

Captain Zhao sighed and said, “I know what kind of person Xiao Liu is, or else I wouldn’t have kept him in my unit for so long. Sometimes, you can’t just see things from a singular perspective, many things are not as simple as it appears. Anyway, let’s not talk about that anymore. We better focus on what we should do when we arrive at Elm Town.”

Dong Xing City council had decided to transfer Captain Zhao to Elm Town, a small smidge on the map. Elm Town had a small population, it was very far away from another metropolis. A murder would never happen here, and most of the police work involved family drama or neighbourly altercation.

The local police treated us very kindly, they even had a welcoming dinner for us. From outside, the town’s police station looked small. The entire force was only the size of a single unit at Dong Xing City. Plus this place didn’t have a lab for DNA and chemical testing. If we had such requirements, we needed to post requests with another station. Even though the condition was not optimum, the pace of life here was slow. Everyone was slow and took things not so seriously. Captain Lee was right about one thing, this was a perfect place for retirement.

After the new office was built, Captain Zhao spent most of his days either brewing tea or drinking tea. Mary spent her time on her top of the state computer, playing all kinds of games. The 3 of us were bored out of our mind. In fact when we saw the local police get summoned out for little altercations, we felt like following them.

“Damn it.” Gu Chen finally exploded, “This place sure is boring. When we’re at Dong Xing, almost every day there is a murder. Even though they might not be big cases, they are at least exciting. But now, every 100 phone calls into this place, 50 are fake and the other 50 are about someone losing their keys, someone’s cat got stuck on a tree and so on…”

Hearing his complaints, I chided, “But isn’t that every police officer’s dream? If police are needed, then the world is not peaceful. If we’re all bored, then it means that this town has a low crime rate, isn’t that a good thing?”

Gu Chen sighed, “I guess you’re right. It’s so contradictory.”

From behind a book, Guan Zhenglin rolled her eyes at us. “If you two are that bored, go and read. Improve yourself!”

Gu Chen countered, “Do you have a movie adaptation instead? I don’t want to fall asleep.”

So the days rolled by uneventfully.

Several months later, the first snow started to fall and a phone arrived at Elm Town’s police station.

“Hello, is this the police? There is a dead body in our village! A woman’s dead body!”