CH 45

When he arrived at the address Zhou Yan had agreed upon, Chen Yuncheng told Ning Junyan to wait for him in the car, “Don’t get out of the car for now.”

Ning Junyan nodded, but after Chen Yuncheng got out of the car, he left the headlights on, illuminating the area in front of him.

This was a place under a bridge near the river, and there was only a small road to drive the car over. Chen Yuncheng walked forward a few steps, saw that the surroundings were desolate, and there was not even a household nearby, so he shouted in a suppressed voice, “Zhou Yan?”

There was no response. He stood there and waited for more than a minute, then took out his mobile phone. He found the landline number that Zhou Yan had called just now, hesitated and eventually did not call back.

At this time, he heard faint footsteps coming from under the bridge.

“Zhou Yan?” Chen Yuncheng towards the bottom of the bridge, and by the light of the headlights, he saw Zhou Yan still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, with his hat and mask on, standing next to the bridge pier.

Zhou Yan kept staring in the direction of the car. He saw Chen Yuncheng approaching and asked, “Why didn’t you come alone?”

Chen Yuncheng said to him, “Ning Junyan won’t do anything, he just drives me here.”

Zhou Yan finally looked away, looked at Chen Yuncheng, and said softly, “Cheng ge, I’m sorry.”

Chen Yuncheng sighed slightly, “You wanted to see me so late just to say sorry to me?”

Zhou Yan said, “Not only to say sorry, but I also want to thank you.” After he said that, Zhou Yan knelt down in front of Chen Yuncheng.

Chen Yuncheng didn’t expect it, and immediately stretched out his hand to pull him, “Get up first!”

Zhou Yan shook his head. He took off his hat, lowered his head, and stretched out his hand to pull down the zipper of his jacket. He reached in and took out a stack of money from his inner pocket. He handed the money to Chen Yuncheng and said, “Here is 10,000 yuan1. Take it ge and I’ll pay you back the rest of the money slowly.”

Chen Yuncheng didn’t take his money, but asked, “Where did you get the money?”

Zhou Yan didn’t speak.

Chen Yuncheng grabbed his arm and asked, “Where have you been all this time? Do you know that your stepfather was killed?”

Despite the dim light around him, Chen Yuncheng saw Zhou Yan’s expression change. Zhou Yan averted his gaze as if he had heard something terrible, and the hand held by Chen Yuncheng could not stop trembling slightly.

The thing that Chen Yuncheng feared most in his heart nevertheless appeared. He slowly squatted down in front of Zhou Yan, and said, “Please tell me clearly, what exactly happened?”

Zhou Yan said hoarsely, “Cheng ge, don’t ask, I can’t turn myself in now, I have no way out.”

At this moment, Chen Yuncheng almost wanted to beat him to death himself, “Are you killing people for money?”

“It’s not for money!” Zhou Yan finally couldn’t hold back his emotions and cried, “It’s not for money! I went back to borrow money from my mother, that old bastard, he has been beating me and abusing me since I was a child. He humiliated me, and I was so angry that I did it, but I didn’t think he would die either!”

Chen Yuncheng looked at him, and asked after a long time, “He abused you?”

Zhou Yan lowered his head and nodded twice, “I ran away from home when I was young because he would beat me, tie me up and deny me food. My mother knew it, but she didn’t dare say anything in front of him. This time I went back, just wanting to borrow some money, he called me a begging dog, said I was not qualified to have a son and deserved to die…” At this point, Zhou Yan has choked up so much that he could not say anymore.

Chen Yuncheng’s eyes were red, he could feel Zhou Yan’s anger, and even he became angry too, but, “You shouldn’t kill someone. If you kill him, you will pay for your whole life. Don’t you know that?”

Zhou Yan did not say anything and just knelt on the ground weakly. After a while, he stuffed the 10,000 yuan into Chen Yuncheng’s hand, “Take the money, and I’ll pay you back the rest slowly.”

Chen Yuncheng shook his head, “I don’t want the money you robbed, come with me and turn yourself in.”

“I can’t turn myself in!” Zhou Yan was agitated, “If I go in, what about Jiajia and the children? There’s really no one to take care of them when they are out there!”

Chen Yuncheng grabbed his shoulder, “Can you take care of them if you don’t turn yourself in? You can’t even get close to them!”

Zhou Yan said, “There will always be a way. I will find a way to make money and find an opportunity to send it to them. It is better than turning myself in!”

At this time, they heard the sound of a “bang” of the car door slamming shut at the same time.

Ning Junyan got out of the car. He was wearing short cowhide boots, and the soles of his shoes made a clattering sound on the gravel road.

When he saw Ning Junyan approaching, Zhou Yan tensed up all of a sudden. He stood up and stepped back, hiding in the shadow of the bridge pier, as if he would immediately flee into the darkness if Ning Junyan made any movement.

However, Ning Junyan stopped when he was close to the bridge. Behind him was the light from the headlights. From this angle, his face could not be seen clearly, and only his tall silhouette could be seen.

“Have you ever studied law?” He asked Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan’s attitude towards Ning Junyan had never been friendly, “What do you want to say?”

Ning Junyan said, “What do you think you will be sentenced to if you turn yourself in?”

Chen Yuncheng stood up slowly, looked at Zhou Yan and said nothing.

Zhou Yan pressed one hand on the damp bridge pier at night, “What do you mean?”

Ning Junyan said, “You can go to the court and tell the judge what you said just now. In addition to surrendering yourself, I guess you will be sentenced to death with reprieve or life imprisonment. As long as you don’t die, you can try to reduce your sentence. It may take more than ten years to be released after serving your sentence. In the future, your son will only be in his teens at that time, and he will be about the same age as you when he came out to work.”

Zhou Yan stared at his figure fiercely.

Ning Junyan continued, “Do you want your son to be like you, without a father in his teens, going out to work and being bullied and called a beggar’s dog by people pointing at his nose, or do you want to come back to him squarely in his adolescence and give each other a chance to take care of each other?”

Zhou Yan’s breathing sounded heavy, but it was muffled by the sound of flowing water and could not be heard as he said, “My business has nothing to do with you!”

Ning Junyan said indifferently, “Of course it doesn’t matter, you can leave now, but don’t throw your wife and children to Yuncheng, these have nothing to do with him. Be a man and take your own responsibility.”

Chen Yuncheng took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice, “Zhou Yan, come with me and turn yourself in.”

Zhou Yan didn’t speak.

Ning Junyan walked to Chen Yuncheng’s side and took Chen Yuncheng’s hand, “Don’t worry about him, you’ve done enough.”

Chen Yuncheng was dragged by Ning Junyan to the direction of the parking lot. He was reluctant, and finally looked at Zhou Yan and said to him, “Jiajia and the children both need you. If you leave today, it will be a lifetime. The road is in front of you. Think about it yourself.”

After he finished saying that, Chen Yuncheng turned his head and no longer looked at him.

Ning Junyan and Chen Yuncheng walked to the side of the car, because Zhou Yan was hiding behind the shadow of the bridge pier, and he could no longer be seen from where they were.

They opened the door and got in the car.

Ning Junyan started the car but did not rush to leave, he asked Chen Yuncheng: “Are you still waiting for him?”

Chen Yuncheng said, “Wait five minutes, okay?”

Ning Junyan responded, “You can wait as long as you want.”

They looked ahead and did not speak again. After waiting for two minutes, Zhou Yan slowly walked out from under the bridge, he walked all the way to the front of the car, reached out and took off his mask, He looked up at them, and said, “I’m going to turn myself in.”

Chen Yuncheng nodded and said to him, “Get in the car.”

It was half past one in the morning when we arrived at the police station.

Chen Yuncheng called Long Zhanyu, and Long Zhanyu’s tone sounds very bad, “What’s up so late?”

“I am accompanying Zhou Yan to turn himself in.” His voice was also slightly hoarse as if it was because of the cool breeze at night.

Long Zhanyu was silent for a while, and his whole body sobered up, “What did you say?”

Chen Yuncheng repeated, “I am accompanying Zhou Yan to turn himself in.”

Long Zhanyu asked him: “Do you know what Zhou Yan did besides stealing cars?”

Chen Yuncheng said, “I know, murder.”

His tone was so calm that Long Zhan Yu cursed after hearing him and said to him, “Come on, I’m on duty tonight.”

The police station was still lit and open late at night, and when Ning Junyan parked his car in the car park in front of the police station, Long Zhanyu was already waiting for them at the door with a cigarette in his mouth.

Before Chen Yuncheng got off the car, he turned his head to look at Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan originally lowered his head slightly, but at this moment, as if he had made up his mind suddenly, he opened the car door and jumped down.

Chen Yuncheng and Ning Junyan followed him out of the car.

Wearing a crumpled-down jacket, Long Zhanyu strode down from the steps at the door, all the way to Zhou Yan, took off the handcuffs hanging on his trousers and handcuffed his hands.

Two police officers on duty in uniform ran out, and brought Zhou Yan in, one on the left and one on the right.

When Zhou Yan followed them inside, he was still looking back at Chen Yuncheng.

Chen Yuncheng knew that he would rarely have the chance to talk to him in the future, so he shouted loudly at this moment, “I will help you take care of them.”

Zhou Yan bit his lip to prevent himself from crying and nodded.

Chen Yuncheng said to Long Zhanyu again, “Can you be a bit nicer to him?”

Long Zhanyu said, “If he cooperates, I will treat him well. However, the case will probably have to be transferred to the jurisdiction of the county public security bureau over there, after all, it’s a murder case over there.”

Chen Yuncheng stared at Zhou Yan’s back which had disappeared behind the glass door and nodded.

Long Zhanyu put his hands into the pockets of his jacket. His eyes fell on Ning Junyan, and he sized him up, obviously, he still remembered him.

Chen Yuncheng asked, “Is there anything else we need to do?”

Long Zhanyu said, “Although it’s a bit late, you should cooperate with us and take a statement, your testimony will be helpful to Zhou Yan later.”

Chen Yuncheng nodded.

They took their statements separately. Chen Yuncheng was close to Zhou Yan, so the statement had to be more detailed. When they came out of the room inside, they saw Ning Junyan wearing a coat and sitting on a chair at the entrance of the police station, with his head against the wall and already asleep.

He walked over, woke Ning Junyan gently, and said, “We’re going back.”

As Ning Junyan drove away from the police station, Chen Yuncheng sat in the passenger seat and said to him, “Thank you.”

“Thank you?” Ning Junyan’s tone was slightly tired.

Chen Yuncheng said, “If you hadn’t said those words, I might not have been able to persuade Zhou Yan.”

Ning Junyan said “En”, and said in a calm tone, “You are soft-hearted, and he knows you are soft-hearted.”

Chen Yuncheng didn’t speak until he got back to the neighbourhood and took the elevator upstairs.

Ning Junyan asked him, “What are you thinking?”

Chen Yuncheng looked at him, “I was thinking about how to thank you.” In fact, Chen Yuncheng was thinking far more than this sentence can sum up. Ning Junyan’s feelings are too heavy, and the word thank you is too light. He doesn’t know what to do to be worthy of the other party’s feelings.

Ning Junyan said calmly, “Or else you can kiss me.”

Chen Yuncheng laughed when he heard this.

When the elevator reached the floor, and the door opened, Ning Junyan walked outside and said regretfully, “It’s fine if you don’t want to support me, but can’t you just give me a kiss?”

When he thought about it later, Chen Yuncheng felt that he must have been too tired and his brain lost the ability to think. At that time, he grabbed Ning Junyan’s arm to make him turn around, raised his head and kissed him very lightly on the cheek.

Ning Junyan looked at him and said, “That’s not it.”

Chen Yuncheng looked at him blankly.

Ning Junyan wrapped one arm around his waist, pressed the back of his neck with the other, and lowered his head to kiss his lips.