The vines are below?
Who would go down to look after climbing halfway up the mountain?
As expected, Hu Jia glanced below and dismissed the thought.
Seeing that his words had an effect, Wang Yanlin's heart leaped with joy: "How you got here is your own problem. Besides, do we look like we want to harm you? Also, we just want to find a place to stay for a while, isn't that strange? It's you who appeared out of nowhere and are now questioning us."
Wang Yanlin skillfully steered the conversation back. Hearing this, Hu Jia's doubts lessened by more than half. As a seasoned police officer, he wasn't entirely without suspicion, but he felt these two really didn't seem to have ill intentions towards him. On the contrary, they had seemed somewhat afraid of him when they first met.
For now, he would treat this as a coincidence.
"I'm sorry, I've disrupted your time together," Hu Jia apologized sincerely.
The Wang brothers: "..."
Is this guy crazy?
The climb continued, and this time Hu Jia didn't hesitate. After all, all his doubts about the current situation stemmed from himself. The Wang brothers were just strangers, and even if they had some unspeakable agenda, it had nothing to do with him.
Besides, he believed his skills were beyond their match.
...
Lu Qingqing was staring blankly at Hu Jia's memo, which she had taken from his bag and was now completely soaked.
"Splash!" Ouyang Wen climbed out of the water, shaking his hair. "Nothing!"
"Nothing?" Lu Qingqing was anxious. "No, I have to go and see for myself."
An hour ago, Lu Qingqing had decided to go into the water to find someone, but Ouyang Wen had stopped her. He said, what would she do after coming out of the water, a young lady all wet?
So, Ouyang Wen went into the water and even discovered the underwater passage.
Thus, Lu Qingqing waited on the shore for a full two hours, only to be met with a "nothing."
"Qingqing, I searched myself. I've scoured every inch of land. If there's nothing, there's nothing. Don't you believe me?" Ouyang Wen was genuinely a little angry.
He wasn't angry that Lu Qingqing didn't trust him, but that she was so resolutely devoted to Hu Jia.
"But where else could he go besides in there?" Lu Qingqing didn't doubt Ouyang Wen's abilities, she just couldn't rest easy without seeing for herself.
"He might have gone out." Ouyang Wen gave Lu Qingqing a general description of the world behind the passage. Regarding the wooden house, "There were clear footprints inside, and signs of cut grass."
"But you said there was no way out from inside?"
"There was no path, but you could climb the cliff."
"Climb? That's impossible. Why would he climb out when there's a perfectly good path?"
"Did you forget? He forgot!"
Uh...
Lu Qingqing fell silent.
Hu Jia might indeed have forgotten the way in.
"Let's go, back to the city, to Lailong Alley." Lu Qingqing knew that Hu Jia's memory was stuck at age 22, when he lived in Lailong Alley. Without the memo, Hu Jia might end up in the same situation as last time by the Yangtze River, running home alone.
"But what about the Wang brothers?"
"If Hu Jia is gone, will the Wang brothers stay?"
Finally, as a precaution, Ouyang Wen left most of his men to guard the village, while he accompanied Lu Qingqing back to the city.
...
"Brothers Da Bing and Da Jun, we part ways here. If you have a chance to come to the city, find me for a drink." Hu Jia bid farewell to the Wang brothers with a cheerful demeanor.
"Hey!" Wang Yanlin was pleased with the false names he had chosen. Seeing Hu Jia about to leave, he called out to him: "If, if one day, you find out that we are not such good people, can you let us off the hook?"
Wang Yanlin hesitated for a long time. He really wanted to push Hu Jia off when he stood before the cliff.
As long as Hu Jia fell, no one would know they had escaped.
However, he was conflicted.
Just now, while climbing the cliff, his foot had slipped, and he almost fell. But Hu Jia had held him tightly and thrown him a straw rope, with one end for him to hold and the other for Hu Jia.
Wang Yanlin knew this was very dangerous. If he slipped, he could very well pull Hu Jia down with him. But Hu Jia refused to let go, his veins bulging, his teeth clenched. Several times he thought Hu Jia would give out, but surprisingly, the man never thought of giving up.
Wang Yanlin was saved, and Hu Jia was injured, but Wang Yanlin hesitated.
In those two or three seconds of hesitation, Hu Jia had already walked away from the cliff edge, the best opportunity to act lost.
Hearing Wang Yanlin's words, Hu Jia looked at him seriously. "Are you married? Do you have wives and children?"
How would the Wang brothers dare to tell the truth? They shook their heads repeatedly.
Seeing them shake their heads, Hu Jia smiled. "It's not bad that you don't. It's not bad. Society is prejudiced and not objective. As long as you are true to your hearts, there is nothing bad. Of course, the premise is not to harm innocent people, especially women, and never to deceive them."
Hu Jia thought he knew what Wang Yanlin was worried about. "I respect everyone and all genuine emotions. I never think that being together is a bad thing, so we won't cross paths."
The Wang brothers' heads buzzed. Although they didn't understand what Hu Jia was saying, the fact that he said they wouldn't cross paths was enough for them.
Hopefully, they really wouldn't cross paths, and hopefully this man would never remember their true identities.
The three parted ways. Watching the Wang brothers walk away side-by-side, Hu Jia called out, "I wish you happiness..."
Wang Yangang's foot slipped, and Wang Yanlin quickly pulled him. "Brother, what is that confused guy talking about?"
"My brain isn't broken, how would I understand?"
"Weren't you planning to push him off? Why didn't you do it?"
"Well... uh... if people outside see his body, they'll associate it with us having escaped. Isn't that asking for trouble?"
Hu Jia watched their backs as they supported each other from afar, a smile on his face.
...
Lu Qingqing was still rushing towards the city at full speed. She didn't know how Hu Jia was doing now. Before leaving, she had gone to Inspector Chen's to call Yu Yue and ask him to tell Li Yang to guard Lailong Alley.
Unfortunately, Li Yang was not there. Lu Qingqing worried that Li Yang's absence would cause delays, so she made another call to the city's criminal investigation department. She wanted to find Gao Liang, as Hu Jia might remember him and could possibly help.
"Please print this document for me, then copy it to Ren Ke for his signature." Gao Liang handed over his current task to Tong Meng, who seemed to be the least busy at the moment.
"Where are you going?"
"Lailong Alley."
Tong Meng silently took the documents, but her mind began to wander. In less than two minutes, she got up and left the police station.
The wide roads, the new buildings that appeared from time to time, all surprised Hu Jia. This used to be a pharmacy, so why had it become a bookstore?
And the woman's hairstyle, why had he never seen it before?
What was being built here? Expanding the city? Such a massive project was carried out so quietly?
Hu Jia gave a wry smile. It seemed he had been too engrossed in handling cases recently and hadn't noticed so many changes around him.
Fortunately, Lailong Alley hadn't changed much.
Looking at the small building in the distance, which was his home, Hu Jia felt its dilapidation for the first time. It looked like no one had taken care of it for years.
However, Hu Jia didn't think much of it, thinking he just hadn't paid much attention normally.
Looking at the old eaves, Hu Jia couldn't help but sigh, "Three years have passed, Dad. This time, I will definitely catch the killer for you."