"… Jiang Ting," Yan Fan hesitated, but after a moment's thought decided to speak: "That you haven't seen each other for twenty years may just be because you never saw him, while he was always watching over you."
Jiang Ting raised his head: "What?"
"We found a disc in the old home of Bu Wei's parents. It contains some segments about you…" Time being pressing, Yan Fan could only give a brief description: "It seems that CCTV recordings began to be widely used around 7 or 8 years ago in China. The Gongzhou police force was still getting used to this equipment from the video dialogue; they may have just recently started using it. Moreover, due to the limited retention period for event-specific recording documents, usually six months to a year, after that time limit the backups would be destroyed."
Perhaps it was because of his emotions after drowning, and the long-term remembrance of old times, causing his clear and quick thinking to momentarily lag. After a while, he reacted: "… So what you're saying is that disc has been recorded for a long time?"
"Yes," Yan Fan replied, "I don't know how this video recording got leaked, but it was definitely in K's hands after you encountered him again twenty years later."
The two were silent, only hearing the short and long chirping of night insects coming from the distant grass.
How did that little boy grow up to become such a ruthless and hidden drug lord, feared by even Hu Weisheng, a small-time dealer?
And with what kind of mindset was he secretly watching Jiang Ting as he gradually became an anti-drug officer?
"Actually, I had some feeling about it," Jiang Ting said absentmindedly, staring at the wet collar of Yan Fan's shirt. "How so?"
"Because during that kidnapping, I stayed in the hospital for nearly half a month. On the day I was discharged, K waited outside and told me if I swore never to betray him, he would take me away from this small place," Jiang Ting said with a smile. "I was so happy when he said it because I had never been able to live comfortably in an orphanage since I could remember."
Yan Fan suddenly recalled the scene at Jia Yuan Orphanage, where Jiang Ting had pulled him back and said, "Many places are like this." It seemed not just a hollow comfort but something deeply rooted in his childhood experiences.
"Before long, I was adopted to a big city—my first time setting foot on Gongzhou's land. I was sent to a public elementary school. But at that time, I didn't have a guardian; the adoption was just a pretense. I still lived alone in an old-style tenement house near the school, with my living expenses paid in cash every quarter. After junior high, the tenement was torn down, and I stayed in school until high school graduation."
"When I was young, I didn't notice anything wrong at first. But when I went to university, I began to suspect that something was amiss. By the time I graduated from university and gained the ability to investigate my own records, I discovered that so-called 'adoptive parents' did not exist. The head of the tenement had been missing for years. If the university's political review had been stricter, I would have found out I was basically a black household."
The political reviews back then were indeed less strict than today. Some provinces also had more flexible admission policies.
But—no matter how loose it was, there was almost no chance of passing an exam without any suspicion. Someone must have helped him.
Yan Fan's rough thumb rubbed Jiang Ting’s neck, conveying a warm comfort: "If you hadn't persisted in investigating 'Blue Gold' and finding that drug factory, do you think K would still appear?"
"I don't know," Jiang Ting replied tiredly after a long silence. "But these assumptions are meaningless because as long as Blue Gold is on the market, it will eventually reveal its trail, and I will continue to investigate… no matter how many years it takes, meeting up with K again was destined."
From the moment Jiang Ting entered university, his fate was already determined.
Yan Fan frowned: "Have you ever considered that K deliberately wanted you to become a police officer?"
Jiang Ting hummed lightly through his nose, with a faint hint of sarcasm and helplessness:
"Of course I've thought about it, especially when I discovered corruption in the Gongzhou police system."
Yan Fan looked down at him: "How so?"
"After meeting K again, I carefully considered whether to tell my superiors everything. But ultimately, I didn't dare reveal my connection with K. One reason was that it would be hard to explain, and another was fear of unforeseen retaliation that could cut off all leads," Jiang Ting said. "After considering the matter, I only told the authorities that there might be a drug factory in that village and urged them to take action."