Translator: Cheese
The trap
Ji Shaoheng was extremely busy during this time. The new year was drawing close, and the wave of residents in the capital returning to their hometowns had begun, bringing all sorts of trouble. Even without this, there was also the documentary film to be scheduled for release.
He had heard about the incident at Li Village much earlier, but first of all, Li Village was not the capital and was beyond his scope of influence. Second, it was the tail end of the year. The local government just wanted to pass the year safely and stably, so such accidents would be suppressed in order to prevent community-wide panic.
It had already been a long time since he could make time to go see his future wife in Luocheng.
Bai Qiyuan’s call came right when he finished a meeting and had yet to leave the municipal committee.
“Ji Shaoheng, something happened to your family’s Ji Hang!”
At first, Ji Shaoheng didn’t take it too seriously. That little brat was quite capable; plus, he was representing the Central Medical Team–it was already pretty good if he didn’t do something to others. Who could do anything to him?
“What’s the matter?” he asked impatiently.
Bai Qiyuan: “Ji Hang was taken away by the Changli Township police!”
“Oh, then let him squat there for two days…”
Bai Qiyuan: “And also Su Tian, the two of them were…”
“What did you say! Who else?!”
Ji Shaoheng’s tone instantly changed.
Bai Qiyuan: “… and Su Tian.”
Ji Shaoheng: “Fuck, why didn’t you say it earlier!”
Bai Qiyuan: “…”
Ji Shaoheng: “What the hell happened?”
Bai Qiyuan briefly summarized the matter.
“Alright, alright, I got it. If you can see Tiantian, tell her to not be afraid, to honestly admit her mistakes, and don’t pick a losing fight. I’m heading over right away.”
He hastily hung up.
Bai Qiyual listened to the dial tone on his phone: “…”
The stepmom hadn’t even entered the door yet, but Ji Shaoheng, this bastard1, became a stepdad first.
Exactly which one was the child he raised?!
He inexplicably felt heartache for Ji Hang.
After Ji Shaoheng hung up, he searched up “Old Fogey2” in his contacts list and pressed on the name. The screen opened to a very familiar string of numbers.
His finger hovered over the number, but he hesitated over dialing for a long time.
“Xiao Ji, what are you thinking about?”
Suddenly, a low-pitched voice reached his ears. Ji Shaoheng swiftly lowered his phone and raised his head, smiling. “Minister Qu, why haven’t you left yet?”
Minister Qu: “I ran into an old acquaintance and exchanged a few words. What’s the matter, why the long face? There’s still something that can stump you?”
Minister Qu was a burly and touch middle-aged man in his fifties. He was the deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security and Ji Shaoheng’s immediate superior.
Ji Shaoheng gave a wry smile: “The little brat in my family caused some trouble.”
Minister Qu guffawed incredulously: “You mean Xiao Hang? What trouble can he stir up?”
Ji Hang’s worry-free nature was widely known, and many comrades in the Ministry had privately asked Ji Shaoheng for his secret technique for educating children, in hope that their children could be as worry-free as Ji Hang.
Ji Shaoheng’s face was pale: “The little brat and the medical team were sent to handle the Li Village incident, but he was arrested by the Changli Township police. A little girl who was traveling with him was also arrested.”
Minister Qu frowned. “There was such a thing? What happened, tell me as we walk.”
Ji Shaoheng: “I’m not very clear on the details. It was my acquaintance, Bai Qiyuan, who told me.”
Upon hearing Bai Qiyuan’s name, Minister Qu’s eyes flashed.
Bai Qiyuan was a celebrity in the circle. In just a few short years of joining the TV station, he had uncovered countless big scoops. If he was present, it was evident that the children had come across some unspeakable thing, offending certain local forces.
Minister Qu: “I’ll go back and give the local police a call to have Xiao Hang released.”
Ji Shaoheng: “Sir, don’t worry about him. Let him stay locked up for a few more days to give him a longer memory. I will find out about the situation and report back to you.”
Minister Qu nodded. With a pat on Ji Shaoheng’s shoulder, the two men walked side by side.
Minister Qu smiled: “Be honest, were you thinking about calling your father just now?”
Ji Shaoheng: “What’s the use of calling him? Let him stay home and enjoy retirement.”
Minister Qu chucked but said nothing.
At Changli Township Police Station. Su Tian was seated in the interrogation room. The only other person in the dark room was a stony-faced policeman.
“Name… age… birthplace…”
After running through a list of procedural questions, the officer pulled out a switchblade and asked: “Is this yours?”
Su Tian nodded: “Yes.”
Officer: “Did you use it to stab Li XX?”
Li XX was the village chief of Li Village.
Su Tian: “He snuck into my room in the middle of the night…”
“Just answer whether you did or not.”
Su Tian: “… Yes.”
Officer: “Did Li XX cause you any substantial harm?”
Su Tian: “He took advantage when I was asleep to jump on my bed…”
Officer: “Don’t you understand the question? Did he or did he not?”
Su Tian: “… No.”
Officer: “On the premise that the other party did not cause substantial harm to you, you stabbed Li XX with this knife. Do you admit it?”
Su Tian: “… I admit it.”
The police officer tossed her a document, leaned against the back of the chair, and urged: “Alright, sign it quickly.”
When Su Tian skimmed through the document, she nearly started laughing.
She silently placed down the document and answered in a gentle tone: “I’m sorry, but I didn’t confess to committing the crime of intentional injury. I won’t sign this.”
The officer’s expression changed. He straightened up, approached Su Tian with a scoff, and leaned forward with both hands propped against the table. He said:
“Little girl, you stabbed someone with a knife. Look at yourself: have you lost a single strand of hair? If it’s not the crime of intentional injury, then what is it? Justifiable self-defense? You think anyone would believe you?”
Su Tian: “I’m a seventeen-year-old girl. A grown man suddenly broke into my room and jumped on my bed while I was asleep, and in my panic, I hurt someone. Isn’t that self-defense?”
“You…”
The policeman choked. He pointed a finger at Su Tian and sputtered angrily:
“Let me tell you, little girl, this here isn’t Didu. Haven’t you ever heard the phrase ‘heaven is high and the emperor is far away3’? Do you believe that I have a lot of ways to clean you up ‘til you’re crying for your mom and dad without a single scratch on you?”
Su Tian nodded. “I believe it.”
“If you believe it then obediently sign it for me!”
Su Tian shook her head. “What I did was self-defense.”
“You…”
The policeman was incensed. Just when he seemed about to do something, he was stopped by another policeman who had been keeping silent.
The older policeman spoke: “My surname is Li. You can call me Sergeant Li.”
Su Tian greeted him. “Sergeant Li.”
Sergeant Li: “Little girl, you’re from Didu ah? It’s a good place, with a lot of excellent talents 4.”
Su Tian smiled.
Sergeant Li continued: “You’ve probably never heard of this kind of interrogation method in Didu.”
Su Tian: “Yes, I’ve never seen it before.”
Sergeant Li: “That’s right, Didu emphases civilization and evidence… But little girl, you’re a sensible person, so I won’t beat around the bush5. We don’t want to arrest people from Didu, either. Over there, a brick can smash a few public servants. Doesn’t matter which family they’re from, isn’t that right?”
Su Tian simply continued to smile.
Sergeant Li: “But no matter how awesome the leaders of Didu are, can their power reach here? Changli Township is the territory of our Li family. If the higher-ups issue a death order, you won’t have an easy time. Besides, Uncle Li didn’t touch you, but you stabbed the person with a knife. Even if you acted in self-defense, it’s no problem to judge it as excessive use of force in self-defense, don’t you say?”
The smile on Su Tian’s face faded.
Sergeant Li: “If you use excessive force in self-defense and seriously injure someone, you also have to bear criminal responsibility. Do you understand?”
The smile on Su Tian’s face had completely vanished.
Sergeant Li had an innocent expression. “I’m not the one saying it. It’s stipulated by the law.”
Su Tian persisted. “I haven’t turned eighteen yet.”
Sergeant Li: “But you are sixteen. Those over the age of sixteen must bear criminal responsibility.”
Su Tian: “…”
Sergeant Li gestured to the other officer to give Su Tian another document. This time, what was written on it was “excessive use of force in self-defense, causing serious injury.”
Sergeant Li: “You didn’t sign the last one, but won’t you have to sign this one?”
Su Tian’s hand holding the pen trembled.
Sergeant Li’s method was clearly much more advanced than the previous one. Step by step, patient and thorough, he steadily blocked every one of Su Tian’s ways out.
Sergeant Li leaned back in his chair with a smile on his face, waiting for Su Tian to give in.
The officer standing next to him stared at him with admiration in his eyes.
No wonder the captain asked Brother Li to come over. So powerful!
Su Tian suddenly threw the pen aside, declaring in a trembling voice: “I’m not, I won’t sign. What is it you want to make me do?!”
Sergeant Li laughed. “Do you know how long you’ll be sentenced to?”
Su Tian bit her lip.
Sergeant Li: “It’s three to ten years in prison. But this is our territory. You’ll be sentenced to seven, eight years, easy.”
Su Tian: “I’m underage…”
“A seventeen-year-old minor,” Sergeant Li reminded her.
Su Tian: “… What do you want?”
Sergeant Li: “It’s simple. Let’s talk it out. If you promise to stay in our Changli Township, I’ll introduce you to the youngest and most promising colleague in our bureau. We’ll become one family, so of course Li XX won’t sue you. How about it?”
!
For a moment, Su Tian was stunned. She’d thought of thousands of reasons, but she’d never expected that the result would be this.
Someone had become interested in her and wanted to keep her, so they designed such a ridiculous trap.
She’d thought she’d seen innumerable ridiculous things in this world, but this… this really was a first for her.
Forcibly pressing down the desire to retort, she did her best to play the role of a well-protected, idealistic, ignorant girl.
She loudly protested. “You think beautifully. Impossible!”
Sergeant Li stood up. “Then you can stay here for a few days.”
Saying this, he left with the other officer.
–Leaving Su Tian inside alone.
After locking the door, the younger policeman flatteringly gave Sergeant Li a thumbs up: “Brother Li, so awesome!”
Sergeant Li snorted: “This kind of city girl has never seen the world. What does she know? Reading a few books and taking them as truth. You said that she intentionally harmed someone, and she didn’t give in, but when said in another way, didn’t she get confused?”
“Pro, really pro!”
Sergeant Li: “Did you take her phone away?”
“Took it, we took everything away.”
Sergeant Li: “Just wait, she’ll soften up within three hours.”
Just over half an hour later, they really did start hearing the girl’s yelling from inside.
The younger policeman wanted to go in, but Sergeant Li continued to drink tea and read the newspaper. “Wait a little longer. We’ll go in once she can’t take it anymore.”
After another half an hour, Sergeant Li leisurely placed down his teacup and newspaper, stood up, and reentered the room.
Su Tian raised her head. Her eyes were read, as though she had cried.
She said, “That person you’re talking about, I don’t even know him. At least let me see what he looks like. And… I want to see Yu Cai.”
[1] 厮: a lightly insulting term to refer to someone
[2] 老不死: lit. old and won’t die
[3] 天高皇帝远: fig. to be far away from the central government and therefore beyond its control
[4] 人杰地灵: the greatness of a person lends glory to a place
[5] 打开天窗说亮话: lit. to open the skylight to say candid words
Cheese:
Cheese Translations 
One thought on “SMVB Chapter 85”