As Cheng Chang came out of the departure lounge, He Yuenan hurried up to him. “How’d it go?”
Cheng Chang said, “He agreed. Says he’ll help decipher it within a day or two.”
The old monk was rather astonished to hear that. He checked the electronic clock hanging high in the terminal—Cheng Chang had been inside for barely twenty minutes total. “Wasn’t this Professor Li guy supposed to be some big name in archaeology? Getting his help was that easy? Why—because you’re good-looking?”
“What’s so strange about that.” He Yuenan pushed up his glasses, speaking with great seriousness. “The more accomplished someone is, the more humble they tend to be, without any airs.”
May’s weather had suddenly turned hot. The group left the terminal together, walking toward the parking lot. He Yuenan added, “This is great—once Professor Li deciphers the benevolent Chen’s words, you’ll have settled this whole matter, and you can go into your surgery with more peace of mind.”
Cheng Chang glanced at him—He Yuenan was on the heavier side, and just this stretch of walking under the strong sun had already left him drenched in sweat. “Sorry for dragging you two along on this whole trip.”
“Oh, don’t mention it,” He Yuenan said. “Back at Hope Elementary School, if it weren’t for you, me and those kids—”
“Are you going to need to recover for a few days after your surgery? Have you hired a caretaker?” The old monk cut in before He Yuenan could finish.
“I have. Twenty-four-hour care,” Cheng Chang said.
“Oh, I was thinking of going to Shaoxing for a couple days to relax.”
Cheng Chang paused for a second, then caught on to what the old monk was implying—stop with the pleasantries, get to the practical part.
He smiled and pulled out his phone. “Alright, let me book you two a car.”
Once the car was booked, naturally a hotel needed booking too. He Yuenan tried to stop Cheng Chang while scolding the old monk for his shamelessness. Just then, Cheng Chang’s phone rang. He answered—the caller identified himself as an officer named Xu from the Hangzhou Shangcheng District police station.
Cheng Chang said, “Officer Xu?”
“You remember me?” Officer Xu laughed on the other end. He’d been the one handling Cheng Chang’s earlier case, the car accident where he’d fallen off a cliff during the typhoon. This time, with the incident at the Hope Elementary School in Huangshan, Hangzhou and Huangshan were handling the case jointly, and Officer Xu was the liaison on this end too. “We’ve mostly wrapped up the Anhui Hope Elementary School case on our end. There’s a detail or two we’d like to confirm with you. I heard you’re heading back to Hangzhou today?”
“Yes, but I’m in Xiaoshan right now.”
“That works.” Officer Xu gave the address of a Starbucks. “Would meeting up in about an hour work for you?”
Officer Xu evidently knew Cheng Chang was returning to Zhejiang First Hospital today to check in for admission—the Starbucks was close to the hospital. By the time Cheng Chang drove over, Officer Xu was already waiting.
He came up and shook Cheng Chang’s hand, saying with a smile, “I figured you’d be heading back to Shanghai for the surgery, was already thinking about requesting to travel there. Turns out it’s at Zhejiang First after all—saves me a trip, at least.”
Cheng Chang said, “My attending physician from Shanghai has been in Hangzhou for a professional exchange program this month. The emergency surgery before was also done at Zhejiang First.”
Officer Xu’s gaze landed on the old monk standing behind Cheng Chang, and he made a surprised sound. “Hey, this monk of yours—still tagging along, huh?”
“See, officer, I told you I was a good guy, and you wouldn’t believe me. Well, our handsome bro here’s awake now, so how about he vouches for me?” the old monk chattered slickly.
Officer Xu, on duty, didn’t indulge his banter. “Being a good guy is enough. Keep it up.”
He then led Cheng Chang to a booth and asked him about the circumstances at the time of the Hope Elementary School incident.
He Yuenan, the old monk, and a number of students had all been present when it happened, so all the circumstances, down to the details, were already thoroughly understood. Questioning Cheng Chang now was mainly because he was the victim—a necessary step in the process.
Once he’d finished asking, Officer Xu switched off his recorder and said, “That’s it.” He handed over a document. “The five hundred thousand you transferred to that group has been recovered—it’s been deposited back into your previous bank account. Just need your signature here.”
Cheng Chang signed, and He Yuenan, beside him, asked, “How will those people be sentenced, roughly?”
“Sentencing isn’t up to us in law enforcement—that’s the court’s call,” Officer Xu said, checking his watch; he still had some time. “It probably won’t be light. Several members of that group already have prior records, and this case involves children as well.”
“With prior records, how were they still out causing trouble?”
“Before, the circumstances weren’t severe—ten days, half a month in detention, or a year or two locked up, all sorts. The worst one was your friend’s uncle.” Officer Xu looked at Cheng Chang. “He’d already served ten years before.”
“Not every offender with a record is a repeat offender like them, though. Plenty do turn things around. Our country’s legal system is still willing to give lighter offenders a chance,” Officer Xu said.
He thought for a moment, then continued. “The reason this group kept offending has a lot to do with their ringleader—the big, burly one, do you remember him?”
Cheng Chang nodded. He did—the one in the black t-shirt.
“He might look like a thug with no education, but he actually came from a family of scholars. His father holds a middling position within our own system, and multiple times when he got in trouble, since the offenses weren’t severe, his father used connections and money to smooth things over. Probably out of love for his son.”
He Yuenan cursed under his breath. “If you love your son, discipline him properly. If you can’t, hand him over to the state and let him go to prison. Does he think this is some ‘my dad is So-and-So, version two’?”
“Pretty much. Covering for him, letting it slide—and it led to disaster,” Officer Xu said.
Hearing this, Cheng Chang went slightly still, his thoughts drifting to events from his other life.
Prince Ling’s ruthless pursuit, Emperor Zhaoyuan’s protective favoritism and suspicion, which had together driven him into a desperate corner with no way out.
After a long moment, he asked, “So how will this man be sentenced in the end? Will his father’s connections have any effect?”
“How he’s sentenced? It’ll be heavier, of course. Repeat offender, ringleader in an assault case, and his father’s bribery gets folded into the case too—the whole family’s going to answer for it.” Officer Xu glanced around; strictly speaking, as a police officer he shouldn’t be sharing the next part with an outsider, but he couldn’t help mentioning it anyway. “Honestly, it’s infuriating. If his father hadn’t been pulling strings behind the scenes all this time, this man would’ve been locked up long ago, and none of this would have happened to you all. Now both father and son regret it, they’ve confessed to everything, but we’ve already coordinated with the court to recommend against any sentence reduction—full severity, as long as the sentencing is reasonable… hey, Mr. Cheng, are you all right?”
Cheng Chang had drifted off for a long moment. Coming back to himself, he smiled faintly. “It’s nothing. I just think it’s good, things turning out this way.”
Right and wrong, justice—it was all right here around him. No need to fight tooth and nail for it.
“Of course, it’s a society governed by law after all. There’s still plenty that’s imperfect, but overall, it’s moving in a positive direction.”
After meeting with Officer Xu, Cheng Chang went to the hospital. His surgery was scheduled for the next morning. After completing admission, he still needed a full round of tests. The old monk and He Yuenan hadn’t left—they planned to stay at the hospital through the night until Cheng Chang woke up after surgery the next day. While Cheng Chang was undergoing tests, He Yuenan held onto his phone for him and took a call from Duan Mingcheng, saying the Anhui “delegation” had arrived.
The “delegation” wasn’t actually that large. The Huangshan police station, worried about disturbing Cheng Chang, had only sent two representatives with a commemorative banner. Besides them, there was the little girl Lu Xi with her mother, and Liao Zhuo.
Seeing Cheng Chang looking well, Lu Xi was delighted. “Teacher Cheng, our whole school made you a present.”
“What present?”
“Flower lanterns.”
Cheng Chang paused, surprised. “Flower lanterns?”
“Yeah! You said you liked watching flower lanterns.”
Back at Hope Elementary School, Lu Xi had once brought him an unannotated Song dynasty poem to ask about, and he had indeed mentioned the flower lanterns of the Lantern Festival—said he’d seen them once, and that they were beautiful.
Lu Xi dug a sketch out of her backpack and handed it to Cheng Chang. “Teacher Liao said we should make them following this sketch—she’s going to teach us, all the materials are already bought. We’re going to make lots and lots of them.”
“Teacher Liao?” Cheng Chang looked at Liao Zhuo, standing behind Lu Xi.
“Hey.” Liao Zhuo brushed a hand through her hair, a bit awkward. “Because of all this, the kids missed a lot of class—I’m just filling in temporarily. Hope you don’t mind.”
Even now she was clearly still consumed with guilt. Cheng Chang could tell that her “hope you don’t mind” wasn’t really about the class at all—it was about her lingering attachment to him and all the entanglement she’d caused over the years. So Cheng Chang simply said, “It’s fine.”
Lu Xi pulled out another item from her backpack and handed it to Cheng Chang. “Teacher Cheng, this one’s for you now.”
It was a simple handmade telescope.
The construction was straightforward—two cardboard tubes glued together, with a convex lens on one end and a concave lens on the other.
“The nurse said it’ll be a long time before Teacher Cheng can leave the hospital, even after your surgery. Once the flower lanterns are done, Xixi will bring them to the hospital courtyard to light them, and Teacher Cheng can watch through this.”
Cheng Chang accepted the telescope. “Alright. Thank you.”
A nurse came in to take Cheng Chang’s temperature. Lu Xi’s mother, worried about disturbing him, said to Lu Xi, “Xixi, Teacher Cheng has surgery tomorrow. Let’s head back to the hotel and come see him again in a couple days, okay?”
“Okay.” Lu Xi nodded obediently and walked toward the door—then suddenly ran back and asked Cheng Chang, “Teacher Cheng, could I have a photo of you?”
“A photo of me? For what?”
“Mom and Teacher He both say Teacher Cheng is a wonderful person who risked his own life to save others. I want a photo of you to bring back to school and hang up. When my classmates find out I’m the one who brought it back, they’ll all be so impressed with me!”
Cheng Chang couldn’t help but laugh at that. The nurse in the room, along with Duan Mingcheng, Liao Zhuo, He Yuenan, and the old monk, all laughed too.
Cheng Chang said, “I’m not a wonderful person. Just an ordinary one.”
“At Hope Elementary School, I wasn’t the only one protecting you all. Teacher He and Grandpa Monk both got hurt for your sake too, and there were the police officers who rushed there in time to catch the bad men, and Teacher Liao, who came in to teach your classes. It’s just that I happened to already be sick, and the bad men targeted me specifically, so I ended up getting more attention than the rest.”
“Teacher Cheng is an ordinary person?” Lu Xi repeated his words.
“That’s right. Ordinary.” Cheng Chang said.
“Everyone here is that kind of ordinary person,” He Yuenan said. “When you grow up, you’ll understand. There are so many ordinary people in this world carrying a bit of small kindness, a bit of small justice within them.”
And a bit of reverence for right and wrong, and a bit of persistence in fairness and justice—that was true of many ordinary people moving through this mortal world.
Outside, the sky had already begun to dim. Once the nurse finished taking Cheng Chang’s temperature, she prepared to set up his IV drip.
Lu Xi nodded, half-understanding. “Okay, Xixi gets it.” She left the room together with her mother.