Chapter 11: The Choice of Life 2
Liu Fang's voice was intermittent, mixed with crying.
Liu Yan was completely stunned and only staggered forward after being pushed by Du Rufeng.
"There's still half a quarter of an hour left. I've experienced this before. If you don't want your sister to get hurt, hurry up or it will be too late!"
Liu Yan nodded with trembling lips, still unable to accept this absurdity. He had clearly sent Fang Mei out early in the morning, but how come she appeared on the roof of Muer Building at night, and someone threatened her life, asking him to go up and rescue her.
His mind was in a mess and his feet were in a mess as he staggered up the stairs.
Zhou Zhenzhen was so nervous that she clenched her fists and asked softly, "Master Cheng, if we let Liu Yan go up by himself, will something go wrong?"
Cheng Jue pursed his lips tightly, his brows showing a solemn expression: "The murderer let Liu Yan go up alone, he must have other plans. The murderer acted ruthlessly and decisively, his mind was meticulous to an inhuman degree, this murder was just a game in his eyes. He is the maker of the game, and also a participant. With such a mentality, he will not allow anyone to break his rules of the game midway. Now we know very little about him, we can't act rashly. If Liu Yan handles it properly, Liu Fang still has a chance of survival..."
The duties of the Dali Temple are not only to find out the truth of the case, to restore order to the world, but also to protect the safety of innocent people.
Even if only one out of ten words spoken by the murderer from Liu Fang's mouth was true, he could not take the risk.
When Cheng Jue came out of Hexi Tower, he had already asked someone to go to Dali Temple to call people over. As long as Liu Yan could delay it, he could still have some confidence.
The back of his hand felt warm, and a soft little hand was placed on it. Because it was too small, it could only cover his palm lightly. Cheng Jue then realized that he had clenched his hands so nervously that his knuckles turned white.
Liu Yan walked up to the roof, his legs already weak.
This is the highest point in Chang'an City. The lights of thousands of houses are lit up one after another. The upper floors are empty, with nothing but that light. Liu Fang's head is hanging down, and the blood is congested from hanging there for a while. He feels dizzy and his voice is hoarse.
Liu Yan quickly rushed to the fence, reached out and grabbed the taut thick rope, trying to find a way to untie Liu Fang.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and bells rang from the high eaves of the roof. A rough and piercing voice rang out: "The thick rope is connected to your sister below, and there is a mechanism on the roof above. If you untie the rope and rescue your sister, the mechanism on the roof will be activated, and the entire beam will fall down."
"……Who are you?"
"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is whether you want to save your sister. The hour of midnight is coming soon."
Liu Yan stared at the bell until his eyes were bloodshot. He looked up at the high eaves and the solid beam. If the beam fell down, he would definitely die, and even Fang Mei, whom he had rescued, might not be able to escape.
He looked down again, but he couldn't see Liu Fang's face, but he thought she was terrified. Even though she was a vegetarian and a Buddhist, and was steady and dignified, she was just an unmarried girl, and in the face of death, she could no longer care about anything.
This short half a minute seemed as long as Liu Yan's entire life.
He recalled how Fangmei, from the time she was learning to speak to the time she could run and jump, always followed him and called him "big brother". In the whole mansion, besides her mother, Fangmei was closest to her big brother. She was so small that she was not even as tall as his knees, but she would hide delicious food and wait for him to come back home, then present it to him like a treasure, blinking her round eyes: "The teacher taught Fangfang to learn from Kong Rong to give up his pears. Big brother will give it to you. This sweet-scented osmanthus cake is so sweet!"
In fact, he never liked sweet-scented osmanthus cake, but he finished that plate in just a few bites.
Memories of the past flashed through his mind, and Liu Yan's hand grabbed the thick rope again. The veins on the back of his hand bulged, and he secretly exerted strength.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
Fangmei is going to get married next month. Her father has chosen a good family for her. If he tries to push her aside later, if she is lucky enough to survive, she will live a happy life, be filial to her parents, and take care of his two children.
"Seven, six, five..."
His two children just turned three this year and are as cute as Fangmei was back then.
"four three……"
If he went...
"one."
If he went...
With a "snap" sound, the thick rope broke in the middle, and Liu Fang's body fell straight down. She was already half unconscious, with blood all over her head, and she stammered those two words: "Brother..."
These were her last words to the world.
Zhou Zhenzhen burst into tears, Cheng Jue's big hand covered her eyes, blocking the cruel and bloody scene. Her tears were gentle and sour, passing through the texture of his palm and directly hitting his heart.
People from the Dali Temple rushed over at this time and were also shocked when they saw this scene.
"Meng Fan, go call Yan An over here and have them block off this street. Huo Chi, bring a few people with me." Cheng Jue turned Zhou Zhenzhen's head and asked her to look to the side. "You come with me too!"
Zhou Zhenzhen responded sullenly and wiped the tears from her face.
As soon as they reached the rooftop, they saw Liu Yan lying on the ground. His eyes were vacant and empty, and he held his right hand in front of him, looking at something but not really looking.
At the last moment, he thought of his children. If he died, his son would not have a father to teach him and his daughter would not have a father to arrange for her to marry a man of her dreams. Moreover, even if he died, Fangmei might not survive. Who would take care of her elderly parents and her young children?
At the last moment, he let go and watched Liu Fang fall.
He couldn't hear her cries of pain, but he seemed to hear her calling him "big brother", just as she had called him in a daze when she was sick and drowsy before.
An abnormal light gradually gathered in Liu Yan's eyes, as if he had finally come to his senses. He stood up with his hands on the ground, and lay on the fence, shouting in a sad voice: "Fang Mei! Fang Mei!!"
The bells were still ringing, "Ding-ling-ding-ling", playing the sad melody of death.
Liu Yan was taken back to the Dali Temple overnight. He was very excited and completely lost his usual manners and politeness. After a long time of confusion, he finally explained clearly why he went to the roof of the Muer Building. Now it was late at night and it was inconvenient to search for clues. Cheng Jue asked people to take turns guarding the roof and wait for the next morning.
After leaving the interrogation room, Huo Chi whispered, "I just took a quick look and found that the bell that Liu Yan mentioned is a voice transmission mechanism. The murderer is far away, and with the special wire of the voice transmission mechanism, his voice can be transmitted to the roof. As for the other mechanisms, we need to check them carefully to find out."
Cheng Jue said, "Let's spend the night in the Detective Department first, and go there at dawn tomorrow."
Huo Chi glanced at Zhou Zhenzhen beside Cheng Jue, and wanted to say something but didn't say it. He turned back to the Detective Department in silence. He knew that Zhou Zhenzhen would not stay with him in the Detective Department for a night.
There was an official on duty tonight, so Cheng Jue could only take Zhou Zhenzhen back to his own office. The room was still as messy as usual, with files piled up everywhere, only the desk was tidy, which was the result of Zhou Zhenzhen's daily tidying.
She has kept some of her habits since she entered the Dali Temple, such as cleaning the table, bringing him cakes, and... admiring him.
This realization slightly eased Cheng Jue's depressed mood which had lasted the entire night. He watched Zhou Zhenzhen busying herself like a little bee, taking out all the fox fur blankets from the closet and laying them out carefully layer by layer.
Normally when she did these things, she would chatter with him, but tonight she was silent, it was really too quiet.
Cheng never liked her being too quiet. In his eyes, she should be lively and bright, like a spring peach in March or the scorching sun in summer.
He walked up to her and hugged her from behind. She was stunned for a moment, then softened in his arms.
Hot tears fell on his hands folded at her waist, one drop after another. She cried too much tonight, and it broke his heart.
"I told you not to cry too much when I'm here with you. Do you want me to go back on my word?" He scolded gently, turned her around, raised his hand to wipe away her tears. He saw the fragility and anxiety in her eyes.
"Why, are you scared? Then don't go there again if something like this happens next time."
Zhou Zhenzhen was crying and was suddenly amused by him. Is the person who said this still the same Cheng Daren who only has the Dali Temple in his eyes and heart, and gets angry if any of his subordinates delay things?
She looked up, her hands unconsciously grasping his sleeves: "I saw Liu Fang die in front of her brother, and I felt sad. I know what it feels like to watch your loved ones die. It is unbearable pain and powerlessness, and it is a nightmare that will repeat itself every night..."
Just like the dilapidated temple she always dreamed of, and the rainstorm that washed away the bloody smell that night.
She dreamed of the person who had given her warmth in the most difficult times and who had supported her through the long years that followed with his words.
Cheng Jue looked at the person in front of him. Her almond-shaped eyes were misty and he could not see her emotions clearly, but he could clearly feel her sadness, her pain, and her true feelings that she could not hide no matter how hard she tried.
She always looked at him like this, from the first time she saw him until now.
He wanted to comfort her sadness and pain, and wanted her sincerity to get the response it deserved.
When there is love, many things happen silently. Cheng Jue held her cheek with his hand, wiped away her fragile tears with his thumb, stroked her delicate cheek, leaned down, and gently pressed his slightly cool thin lips against her cherry lips.
She was a little startled, and for a moment, her hands grabbed his sleeves and wrinkled them.
Cheng Jue lowered his eyelids, his lips did not move, just quietly pressed against hers, allowing her to clearly feel the heat of his breath, entangled with hers. As he pulled in and out, she felt itchy and couldn't help but tremble her lips out of habit.
Just this one, light as a cicada's wing, directly aroused the deep storm hidden under Cheng Jue's cold appearance. His hand slid from her cheek to the back of her head, and then clasped it tightly, forcing her face to press against his. The moment their lips touched tightly, he sucked carefully and pressed it.
Her mind went blank because of this action, her calves became weak, and she could only hold on to his thin waist to stand steadily, but she also threw herself into his arms.
Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he pried open her teeth and tasted every inch of her mouth, as if it was the honey in the forest in spring, so sweet that he couldn't let go and just wanted to hold her in his arms like this forever.
He had never known before that among the thousands of sweet things in the world, none could compare to the taste of her lips and teeth.
When he finally let her go, the tears in Zhou Zhenzhen's eyes were gone, and instead they were covered with a layer of mist. She collapsed in his arms, whimpering and gasping for breath, her face as red as if she had been painted with the finest rouge, but she usually did not wear any makeup.
"Master Cheng..."
Cheng Jue frowned unconsciously when he heard her address him, remembering that she had called Huo Chi "Brother Huo" before, which seemed too distant in comparison.
"Now that you and I are like this, we should change our names in private."
Zhou Zhenzhen shook her head and whispered, "I still like to call you Cheng Da Ren."
Because she fell in love with him, he saved her from dying in that dilapidated temple. After that, she traveled all over the country, saw many mountains and rivers, and wherever she went, she whispered silently to the land there.
"Master Cheng, I came here today. One day, I will go to Chang'an City to find you."
Not only did she come to Chang'an City and enter the Dali Temple, she also stood by his side and got close to his heart.
She smiled slowly and said delicately, "It's my Master Cheng."
But it’s still those three words “distant”, but when connected with the previous ones, it’s very different.
Cheng Jue couldn't hide his smile in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows. He tapped her forehead and said in a tense voice: "I have always been considerate of my subordinates. If you say it's yours, then it's yours!"
