Chapter 344: Chapter 342: It’s You People I Hate the Most

On the way back to the municipal bureau, Zhuang Yanzheng sent some people to the residential building Lu Xian last visited.

Lu Xian was already in custody, so there was no longer any fear of tipping anyone off.

Su Miaoyi had also seen a unit number, so Zhuang Yanzheng had his people go there directly.

They returned to the municipal bureau, and Lu Xian was taken to an interrogation room.

Zhuang Yanzheng went to see Director Meng.

Su Miaoyi and Chu Xingrou returned to their desks to await instructions.

"Have some water." Su Miaoyi got two glasses of water and handed one to Chu Xingrou.

Chu Xingrou took it and had a few sips, then asked in a low voice, "Sister Miaomiao, are Captain Zhuang and Brother Zheng okay?"

"Not really," Su Miaoyi said. "I’ve never seen Zhuang Yanzheng this quiet. And I’ve never seen Brother Zheng look so grim."

Chu Xingrou sighed softly. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"I’m fine. I don’t remember him well, so we weren’t that close." After a pause, she added, "It just hits me in waves. It’s intermittent."

"I heard he was really incredible back when he was at the municipal bureau," Chu Xingrou said. "He solved a lot of cases and had great prospects for promotion. How did it come to this..."

"I don’t know." Su Miaoyi shook her head.

After they chatted for a bit, Qi Feng came over and told them to head to the interrogation room.

The two of them headed toward the interrogation room together. As they were about to cross the hallway, they saw Zhuang Yanzheng standing by a window, smoking.

They both stopped in their tracks. Chu Xingrou looked at Su Miaoyi.

Su Miaoyi glanced at Zhuang Yanzheng, then grabbed Chu Xingrou’s hand, planning to hurry past quietly so as not to disturb him.

But halfway across, Zhuang Yanzheng suddenly turned and looked at them.

Su Miaoyi grabbed Chu Xingrou and they just ran for it.

Zhuang Yanzheng watched them vanish in a flash. A moment later, he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

After smoking two cigarettes, Zhuang Yanzheng went to the interrogation room.

Zhuang Yanzheng and Brother Zheng interrogated Lu Xian together.

Su Miaoyi and Chu Xingrou listened from outside.

After entering the interrogation room, Zhuang Yanzheng first offered Lu Xian a cigarette.

Lu Xian looked at the cigarette. It was the brand he used to smoke frequently back at the municipal bureau.

Back then, Zhuang Yanzheng would often bring them for him.

He held out his hand.

Zhuang Yanzheng placed the cigarette in his hand and lit it for him.

Lu Xian took a drag and said, "Thank you for the trouble, Captain Zhuang."

Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t speak and returned to his seat.

Brother Zheng’s face was still a dark scowl as he stared at him.

Lu Xian said, "Haven’t smoked this in years. It’s still the best."

It was a cheap brand. After leaving the municipal bureau, he had never smoked it again.

Every other cigarette he smoked was more expensive than this one.

But this one was the best.

Back at the bureau, Zhuang Yanzheng had brought him all sorts of brands, but he could never get used to them.

He knew Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t smoke this brand; he must have gone out and bought it for him just now.

"This place has changed quite a bit." Lu Xian looked around.

"Nothing’s changed." Zhuang Yanzheng looked at the recording equipment. "Except for this new equipment, the rest is the same. The slogans on the wall are the same ones from back then. They haven’t been replaced."

"Is that so?" Lu Xian said. "It looks very different to me."

"Maybe it’s because you’re looking at it from a different angle now," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Lu Xian’s expression stiffened for a moment before he looked around again.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, "Do you want me to ask the questions, or are you going to start talking?"

Lu Xian recited his basic information as per procedure. After finishing, he took the last drag of his cigarette, then fell silent for a moment. "I don’t know what you want to know."

"Tell us everything you know," Brother Zheng said sharply.

"I know a lot of things. If you don’t give me a starting point, where do you expect me to begin?" Lu Xian said.

Brother Zheng glared at him.

Lu Xian said, "It’s been a few years. How did you get such a bad temper?"

Brother Zheng grew even angrier. ’He has the gall to say that? As if he doesn’t know why I’m angry!’

Zhuang Yanzheng cut through the rage burning inside Brother Zheng and said, "Why? Why did it come to this? Why did you work for them?"

Lu Xian fell silent again. After a pause, he said, "Can’t you ask a different question?"

"No," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "You have to answer."

Lu Xian looked at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng asked again, "Why?"

"For money," Lu Xian said.

Brother Zheng frowned.

"My mother was critically ill. Her surgery required seven hundred thousand." Lu Xian slowly lowered his head, finally revealing the matter he hated to bring up, hated to even think about. "Seven hundred thousand. How much is my monthly salary? When would I ever be able to earn seven hundred thousand? My wife, my daughter... they need to live. Everything costs money."

He nodded as he spoke. "Okay, fine. I could sell the house back home. My wife and I could rent from now on, and they could still come to Jinghai to be with me. That would work. But just as I was getting ready to sell the house, my daughter’s health check-up revealed a problem."

Lu Xian held up his hand, gesturing. "That one medicine... just one injection was three thousand. Three shots a day, so three vials. The doctor said she needed it for at least a year while they observed her condition. If the medicine worked over that year, she could be saved, and then there would be even more medical bills. If there was no significant effect, nobody could do anything. Nobody could save my child."

"You should have told us!" Brother Zheng said. "All of this! With so much going on! You should have told us! I couldn’t have come up with that much myself, but I would have helped you raise it!"

"Tell you? And then what? This one," Lu Xian said, gesturing to Zhuang Yanzheng, "and the one listening outside. They’d wave their hands and a few million would appear. Then they’d say, ’No need to pay it back, just use it,’ and that they’d cover all future costs. A handout? What do they take me for?! Just to show off how rich they are?!"

Zhuang Yanzheng watched him, listening.

Lu Xian looked at Zhuang Yanzheng. "I hate people like you the most! You princelings and princesses! Born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you have no idea what it feels like to be short on money! You can easily get things others can never have! Things other people might not even see in their entire lifetime, you can get them if you want them and throw them away like trash if you don’t."

"People from the bottom like us, we go through round after round of exams, scraping and clawing our way, just for a chance to get into a big city, to get into a good school. We can’t slack off for a single day. We work hard every second, constantly climbing, climbing, fighting for our lives to carve out a path. That’s how I made it to the position of detachment leader."

"And you? After a few years of ’experience’ at a local station, you come to the municipal bureau and you’re already a vice-captain. On what grounds?!"

"And her!" Lu Xian suddenly turned to face the one-way mirror. "She gets into the municipal bureau right after graduation. Isn’t that just because she has a good daddy!"

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at him without saying a word.

"Is that really what you think?!" Brother Zheng was incredulous. "So what?! So what! You chose to give up everything here and earn dirty money to treat your mother and daughter?! If you didn’t want to use their money, you should have told me. Brother, I would have sold my house! I would have borrowed money! There’s always a way to get money! There’s always a solution!"

Brother Zheng shouted, "Doing this! Doing this! You didn’t just give up on this place! You gave up on the you who went through all those exams, who scraped and clawed his way, who fought with his life to get to this position! Didn’t you say we were family? That we were the closest of brothers? Shouldn’t we help each other? Shouldn’t we get through everything together?!"

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