Breaking Through the Clouds

squeak-

The old and cracked door panel of the earthen house was pushed open, and a thin, yellow-haired little boy who looked at most five or six years old held a plastic basin of water that was extremely disproportionate to his height, and wobbled across the threshold.

At noon in midsummer, everyone in the village went to work in the fields, and the quiet dirt road could only hear the noise of cicadas.The scorching sun passed through the dense redwood trees, sprinkled colorfully on the front yard, and the basin full of water splashed with the little boy's staggering steps, reflecting the swaying golden light.

Finally he stopped, bent down with difficulty and put the water basin on the ground, picked up the towel with a pair of rough and dry hands, raised his head and shouted timidly: "Dad."

On the broken bamboo chair lay a human-like object.

This really can only be said to be similar to a human figure. His whole body is so thin that it is deformed, with yellow pus flowing, the ulcers caused by the injection spread to the limbs, and it emits an indescribable smell; No one who came here could connect the monster in front of him with a human being.

"Dad," the little boy called again, raising his voice.

The man didn't respond.

The little boy hesitated for a moment, then wrung out the towel vigorously.

He has already done it very skillfully, starting from the neck of the man with a towel, carefully dipping it in the most ulcerated place near the veins of the arm, washing and wringing the yellowed towel in the basin; he repeats the above steps diligently , Just like this, he barely wiped clean the parts of his father's body little by little until the water in the basin became turbid. .

The little boy didn't understand, he was too young.

He was only happy that he hadn't been beaten today, and then he picked up the water basin with great difficulty and slipped back to the house as soon as possible.

In the evening, people who went to the fields returned to the village one after another, and cooking smoke rose from the roofs of every household.The wooden door opened again, and the little boy was holding a gaping bowl, filled with bottomless porridge and dirty pickles that could not be seen how long it had been pickled, and walked over to the man who hadn't moved all afternoon, cautiously Said: "Dad."

His dad didn't respond.

"……dad!"

The man was still motionless, his stiff face was covered in gray.

The fear that came from nowhere suddenly seized the childish heart of the little boy: "Dad, it's time to eat!...Abba! Abba!"

The bowl overturned with a snap, and the porridge flowed to the ground, drowning the ants under the tree.

"Wake up, Dad!" The little boy crazily threw himself on the man and shook him, even though the body already exuded another rotten smell that was different from usual.Neighbors pushed the door open and probed, and whispers sounded from all around, the little boy screamed in distress: "Dad! Wake up and look at me! Abba! Please, Abba!!"

"Please!! Please—Abba!!"

The scream pierced through the village, and gradually turned into a howl, echoing under the gray-blue sky for a long time.

Memory turned into dust, rushing to the distant place.

"...This boy has all hands and feet, why hasn't he been taken away after three or four years?"

"Hold on, most of the village smokes white noodles, one family will die, one will die in that family, and the other family will die completely..."

"Who knows if he is sick! I dare not touch him!"

……

The little boy sat on top of a low earthen wall, and the setting sun behind him cast a layer of golden light on his temples and ear tips.

"Hey!"

He looked back, and a few stones were thrown in his face, almost falling him. The children with snotty noses screamed: "Sorrowful! Sorrowful!" and ran away laughing.

The little boy was silent and rubbed his thin, painful arm.

The setting sun elongated his lonely figure, and with the wind and sand, he threw it into the barren field.

"Jiang stop!" An auntie from the orphanage screamed impatiently from a distance: "Come here! Someone is looking for you!"

I don't know what to think of, the little boy's gloomy eyes suddenly lit up, and the big black and white eyes suddenly glowed with hope.He jumped off the wall and ran like crazy, his little feet slapped on the ground, passing through the hollow and sloping bungalow, and through the potholed playground; the short distance seemed endless in his dream, and finally The more than 1000 gates of the orphanage, which are so familiar day and night, approached from far away, and the little boy's black pupils gradually widened, bursting out with joy.

He saw it.

Just as he had imagined countless times in his dreams, there was a car parked outside the door that he had never seen before in his life. Open your hands.

"I'm here to pick you up, Jiang Ting."

"Say you never betray me, and I'll take you away."

...betrayed you, Jiang Ting thought vaguely.

The numerous wounds turned into sour warm water, soaking his body in it.At the same time, his soul seemed to be suspended above the clouds, and a hazy white light shone from above, which made him unable to open his eyes.

Someone was crying, someone was shouting, and more people were shouting his name.The footsteps sounded chaotically on the ground accompanied by the rolling sound of the iron bed wheels, but those were already in a trance, as if they were getting farther and farther away from him outside the invisible barrier.

The deep ocean of memory swept in, covering the last bit of dreams.

"Are you happy?" The K of Spades when he was young asked with a smile.

Wen Shao seldom smiled like this. He has been reserved and graceful since he was a child. With a hint of a smile, his eyes focused on Jiang Ting.

"Jiang Ting?" He asked again with such an undisguised smile, "Are you happy?"

It may be a dock, or it may be a factory. The background environment has been blurred in the depths of memory.Jiang Ting remembered things very late, and many fragments of his childhood were fragmented and faded in the end. Only a few unforgettable details were still imprinted in his mind: he only remembered his eyes wide open, staring straight ahead, and a group of people who couldn't see faces clearly. grown-ups gathered around the edge of the clearing.

In the middle of the clearing, a few tied men rolled on the ground, biting each other, and let out a delirious and crazy scream of pain like a beast.

Several syringes fell to the floor, with blood still hanging from the needles.

"You're not happy enough," Spade K said with a smile, then turned to his subordinates, and ordered naturally, "Give these kidnappers two more shots."

Someone brought the tray again, with empty syringes and white powder on it.Xiao Jiang stopped to look at it, and he recognized what it was uncontrollably. Many years ago, the pungent stench of midsummer and the rush of flies appeared before his eyes again. The festering and pus-feeding father on the recliner closed his eyes.

He recognized what it was.

"Are you happy?" Spade K asked happily, "Jiang Ting?"

The white powder was dissolved in the syringe, the needle was pierced into the vein, and the devil's liquid was injected into the blood vessel little by little.This scene coincided with a certain scene deep in my memory. The liquid level in the syringe lowered a little bit, and it was all reflected in the panicky pupils of the little boy who was holding a big water basin back then.

"Jiang stop?"

……

"Happy," Xiao Jiang stopped trembling, and said softly, "Happy."

Spade K hugged him tightly into his arms, his face filled with excitement and satisfaction deeply rooted in his soul.

"I'm also very happy. The culprit has finally been punished, and no one will dare to attack us again... You see, it's so simple to control or destroy a person. It's really fascinating."

Xiao Jiang stopped to breathe, but couldn't suppress the strange trembling.

"Will you miss me?" the friend whispered in his ear, "I'm going to America."

……U.S?

"The formula over there is better and the technology is more advanced. You have to wait for me here. When I come back, I will definitely bring back a very powerful new medicine, which will surprise everyone, even those who dare to point fingers at me The old man can't even imagine it."

He laughed again, kissed Xiao Jiang Ting's soft hair, his eyes shone like a child longing for a new toy:

"When the time comes, everyone will be under my command and obey my orders. I am their king."

"Only you, my brother on equal footing with me—"

—Only you are my brother.

Wen Shao's nickname gradually matured, becoming thick and deep.Time passed in the blink of an eye, Jiang Ting's shoulders widened and his height elongated. He was once again at the noisy celebration banquet, and when he looked up through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, he saw his pale adult face.

The familiar whispers in hell are coming through the mobile phone, mixed with the rustling of the current, like a devil whispering in the ear:

"Remember the new medicine I told you about? I came back with it."

"Traditional alkaloids will eventually be replaced by synthetic products, and they will go to the grave with those old men and be buried by the times. Jiang Ting, abandon Wu Tun, he is destined to live soon, the future belongs to you and me."

The colleagues beside me were fighting, laughing, booing, and toasting. All the familiar excitement was separated by a transparent glass.He was suddenly left alone in the whole world, standing alone by the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring at his dark and trembling pupils.

Footsteps came from behind.

The unruly young detective seemed a little embarrassed, raised his wine glass, and said in a low voice, "Well, Team Jiang..."

Jiang Ting saw his reflection in the glass move.

He controlled himself perfectly, holding the mobile phone without turning his head, he just raised his hand and swung it backwards, with his five fingers slightly open and palm outward, in a gesture of refusal with an obvious command meaning:

"I see, let's go."

The young man hesitated and opened his mouth.

Jiang Ting emphasized his tone: "Go."

The young man froze in mid-air when he opened his mouth, his face turned blue and white, looking a little funny.But fortunately, he didn't bother anymore, turned around and left here with a light kick, walked towards the noisy crowd, towards the jubilant celebration banquet, and was soon dragged away by more jubilant young policemen.

Jiang Ting hung up the phone and looked back.

No one saw what kind of expression flashed in his eyes, he just stood up straight, watching Yan Yan return to the normal world——

Backlight outlines his side profile, like a sword from the back of the shoulder to the back of the waist, casting a slender reflection behind the floor-to-ceiling windows, winding along the auditorium floor to the distance, but no matter how hard you try, you can't reach the lively crowd .

Can't pass, he thought.

He couldn't let people notice that behind the frank and calm figure of Captain Jiang, a little boy who was too thin and a little clumsy and ridiculous was holding a plastic water basin half taller than him, staggering across the threshold, trying to walk towards Midsummer Pale The scorchingly bright, noisy and piercing afternoon of cicadas gradually melted into a nightmare from which one would never wake up.

"...Congestion is oppressing the nerves, the current situation is very dangerous..."

"The risk of craniotomy is very high, family members should be mentally prepared..."

……

"Jiang Ting! Jiang Ting, wake up!"

"Brother Jiang, please!"

"Team Jiang! Team Jiang!!"

……

Who is calling me?Jiang stopped thinking.

He floated up from the iron frame bed, fluttered, and flew into the vast night sky.

"Team Jiang! We have an appointment to go to Lao Niu's house to watch the game after get off work. Are you going?"

"I have something to do at night, so I won't go."

"Team Jiang, do you want to go to the weekend hot pot?"

"Oh, let's play."

"Team Jiang, there is a badminton match in the city, everyone in our team has signed up..."

"I have other things to do."

Familiar figures hooked their shoulders and dispersed one by one, and the laughter gradually went away.

Layers of overcast clouds were gathering, and the moist water vapor was like a spider web, covering every corner of the City Bureau building.Jiang Ting walked through the dark and deserted corridor, his silhouette twisted and stretched in the stairwell, and the sound of footsteps echoed for a long time.

He locked the office door, drew the curtains, and came to the desk alone.Several thick stacks of documents were taken out of the perennially locked filing cabinet, notebooks filled with various information charts were spread out, countless secret paths were marked in red and blue handwriting on the map of China and Myanmar; the computer screen sent The faint fluorescence reflected on Jiang Ting's ice-like side face, outlining a dim light and shadow.

"What are you doing?" the K of Spades over the receiver asked with a smile.

"work overtime."

"It's so late, what are you doing overtime?"

Jiang Ting didn't answer.

The big drug lord on the other side of the call didn't mind, and said gently: "A group of us were arrested by the sub-bureau for demolition, just like what happened to Hu Weisheng last time, you should find a way to clear it up, and don't let the 'Lan Jin' matter be noticed by the police. "

Jiang Ting's tone was calm: "Okay."

He put down the phone, but just before hanging up, the voice of Spades K came from the opposite side: "Wait a minute."

"..."

"You have been working too much overtime recently, so you have to pay attention to your health. There is an apartment in Yazhiyuan near your city bureau, Room 701, Building B, District [-]. It is specially prepared for you. When you don't have time to work overtime, you can take time to sleep, or If it’s inconvenient to see someone, you can go over there to deal with it.”

Jiang Ting didn't have any expression on his eyebrows and said, "Got it."

He put the microphone down.

The huge office returned to silence, and the desks and chairs were covered with a touch of gray.Jiang Ting raised his head. There were more than a dozen names written on the whiteboard on the wall. The dense arrows of interest formed a spider web. The center was a square box with a poker card attached——

Spades K.

He stretched out his hand and slowly and vigorously drew a cross on the card, the tip of the pen deformed with the stroke, boom!

The nib is broken.

The red ink was sprayed on the spider web, like a few bloody tears winding down, silently hitting the office floor.

"Someday," he thought to himself, "someday—"

The calendar is flipped by time, rattling.

The page stays on October 10th.

[When trading tomorrow, all large goods and firearms will be delivered to the ecological park base - Red Heart Q]

【Recipient: Rivet】

A window popped up on the screen, showing that the message was sent successfully, Jiang Ting finally raised his hand and turned off the computer.Then he got up and took out the gloves, shoe covers, rags and cleaning agent that he had prepared from the bathroom, and began to clean the entire apartment in an orderly manner, completely erasing all traces of his entry here, not even a piece of fingerprint, hair, or DNA let go.

After tomorrow, the King of Spades will disappear from the underground world, and no one will know that there was a Q of Hearts in this world.Jiang Ting, the anti-drug detachment of Gongzhou, has no connection with drug trafficking syndicates. Room 701, Building B, District [-], Yazhiyuan will become a "dark room" with an unknown owner, and will be forever forgotten in the corner of this huge city until a few years or more than ten years Later, with the demolition, it was reduced to ruins.

All evils will come to an end, just like the nightmare that lasted from the midsummer many years ago and finally disappeared with time.

Jiang Ting stepped out of the apartment, closed the door, and stood in the empty corridor.He looked back at the three numbers 701 hanging on the door panel for the last time, as if a heavy chain had been cut off and left behind him, he took a deep breath of hot air for the first time in so many years, and walked briskly towards the stairs.

Ding Dong!

Jiang Ting took out his mobile phone, it was the new news from the team.

[Team Jiang, I've been busy for half a month. Everyone wants to go out for a drink after the operation ends tomorrow. Are you coming? 】

A smile appeared in his eyes, Jiang Ting typed the word "OK", and was about to click send, but hesitated after thinking about it.

They will be very surprised. Doesn't it seem a bit strange that the detachment leader who has always refused coldly suddenly asked to join the dinner party?

Will it be embarrassing?Will it make everyone feel uncomfortable?

Or they just invited them casually, should they wait until they meet tomorrow, and then try to ask?

"..." Jiang Ting hung his thumb in the air for a long while, and finally deleted the good one, and typed it carefully word by word—"Let's talk about it tomorrow."Then he hit send and put the phone back in his pocket.

The fresh wind outside the corridor, wrapped in salty and humid water vapor, blows in.

Jiang Ting put his hands in his pockets, an expectant smile unconsciously appeared on his face, and strode forward.

The clouds are low, the fallen leaves are swirling, and the lights of Gongzhou City under the huge sky are just beginning to shine.He just kept going forward like this, passing through the crowds of people, through the scene filled with gunpowder smoke, through the crashing flames and the falling apart future; he walked through three years of lonely sleep, and his scarred soul came from Waking up from hell, he pulled the trigger on the devil.

The bullets that had been late for many years roared out of the muzzle, setting off a blood mist that shot up into the sky, and sprayed over the vast southwest territory.

This time I've finally done it, he thought.

He fell back, closed his already heavy eyelids, Yan Yan's heart-piercing cry gradually faded from his ears, and his soul drifted into the distance with strong reluctance.In a trance, he seemed to become very happy and light, and the pain receded like a tide. He stood on the steps in front of the Gongzhou City Bureau Building and looked back down.

"Team Jiang!" Those familiar figures still hooked their shoulders and waved to him with a smile: "The operation is over! Come drink with us!"

"Stop working all day, go with everyone!"

"Yeah, but it's finally over!"

"come quickly!"

……

Jiang Ting laughed, he didn't remember laughing so happily before, and strode down the steps.

The wind whistled from the ears, and the steps that could be reached in a few steps suddenly became extraordinarily long.Soon Jiang Ting became anxious and stretched out his hand as hard as possible, but he couldn't touch his former teammates no matter what, he could only watch them cheer and wave goodbye, then turned and left with a big smile.

Wait for me, didn't you promise to take me with you?

Wait for me!

Jiang Ting couldn't make a sound, his throat seemed to be blocked by something sour.He ran forward desperately, but the distance did not shorten at all. He only felt the burning pain in his internal organs, and finally squeezed out his voice with all his strength:

"...Hey! Wait for me!"

"Let me go with you!"

……

The moment the words fell to the ground, as if the spell had been lifted, Jiang Ting suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He found himself still standing on the steps, and his teammates waited quietly at the bottom of the steps.A short distance away, the wind of the world comes from the sky, mixed with sharp cries, and rushes to the distant horizon.

Jiang Ting stretched out his hand, palm up, and he heard his choked-up pleading voice:

"Don't leave me alone..."

"I've always... always wanted to go with you..."

But the teammates laughed, shook their heads one by one, and replied regretfully: "No, Team Jiang, we really have to leave this time."

"We can meet again someday!"

"You have avenged everyone! Go back!"

Jiang Ting stubbornly stood where he was, with hot tears rolling down his cheeks.

Will I be left alone in the end?he thinks.

"No," the teammates teased and winked at him, and they seemed happier: "You're not alone, haven't you noticed?"

Jiang Ting opened his eyes wide and turned his head.

I don't know when it started, the rebellious and sharp-edged young criminal policeman came behind him many years ago, his face became more mature, his figure became more solid, his eyes full of tears stared at him, full of pleading and hope .

That's Yan Yan.

Jiang Ting was stunned, and then Yan Yan stretched out one hand to hold him tightly, and waved the other to his teammates in the distance, like a grateful farewell.

but……

Jiang Ting struggled to turn his head, and in an instant those figures that were once within reach were getting farther and farther away, only the familiar laughter echoed in his ears, mixed with the wind, and flew to the sky:

"This time, goodbye for real, Captain Jiang!"

"See you someday!"

Someday we will meet again--

Time flies backwards, the river flows upstream, the devastation after the explosion returns to its former appearance, numerous scars disappear, and the heroic spirit goes to heaven with glory on his shoulders.

In the hospital ward, the person on the bed finally slowly opened his eyes.

"Jiang stop!"

"Team Jiang!"

"Doctor! Call the doctor!!"

Cheers rang out, more tears of joy, Ma Xiang Gou Li cried in his arms in the corridor, Yang Mei sobbed and collapsed on Han Xiaomei's shoulder who was wiping his nose hard.

Jiang Ting's slack eyesight gradually focused, and fell on a pair of deep and bright eyes on the opposite side, and they could only see each other's reflection in their pupils.

"..." Jiang Ting moved his lips. The oxygen mask he wore after the operation made him unable to make a sound, but Yan Yan smiled with red eyes: "I understand."

Jiang Ting also had a smile in his eyes.

Even if you are riddled with wounds and old age, I still have you to search through thousands of mountains and rivers, and to break through life and death——

Before meeting again, thank you for bringing me back to this world.