When Jin Fengzi suddenly heard Jiang Mu's question, his hand holding the beer froze abruptly. He looked up at her with a furrowed brow: "Who told you that?"
Jiang Mu's slender figure seemed about to be swallowed by the blue plastic chair. She kept her head lowered, her voice like a heavy stone sinking into a well, echoing with despondency: "He didn't take the college entrance exam because he was arrested, right?"
Jin Fengzi suddenly fell silent, and his silence intensified Jiang Mu's suspicions. Her hand trembling uncontrollably as she held the beer, she asked: "Brother Jin, tell me the truth, did he really kill someone?"
Jin Fengzi raised his hand and finished the beer, crushing the can before saying to Jiang Mu: "I don't know where you heard these things. You Jiu did get framed, but as for killing someone - that life can't be counted on his head."
Jiang Mu slowly raised her head. Jin Fengzi was startled to see her eyes slightly bloodshot and filled with tears, hearing her choke out: "He's been by my side since I was born. When I was little, I always wanted to be like him. Have you ever seen him giving speeches on the podium? Seen the wall of awards in his old room? Seen the pump-driven device he handmade in fourth grade?"
"I've seen it. I've seen so many outstanding sides of him. Someone like him, who's lived more clearly than his peers since childhood - how could he break the law? How could he go to jail?"
Her eyes were full of worry and trembling light. Jin Fengzi had never seen anyone so worried and distressed about Jin Chao's situation. He knew all of Jin Chao's friends and family, but almost no one would grieve for him like this. Even during Jin Chao's lowest days, his family members just kept blaming him, more out of disappointment, feeling embarrassed and asking the school teachers not to spread rumors.
During the time Jin Chao was inside, only his brothers pooled some money to send him, hoping he'd have an easier time there. His family barely visited him throughout that period.
Jin Fengzi opened another can of beer. Remembering those past events, he felt uncomfortable too. What made him even more uncomfortable was watching this girl who genuinely cared about Jin Chao become disappointed in him again.
It wasn't until he finished the entire can that he gradually began telling Jiang Mu some things.
After Sida Mountain was sealed off, Jin Chao lost his source of income again. That same year, Jin Xin was diagnosed with an illness. Jin Qiang and Zhao Meijuan took her everywhere in Tonggang for treatment, but the condition kept spreading. They heard that Beijing could perform excimer laser treatment with good results for this disease, so they immediately took Jin Xin to the capital. Two round trips exhausted all the family's savings. However, the treatment for this illness couldn't show immediate results - it was like a bottomless pit for the entire family. Just dealing with Jin Xin's situation overwhelmed Jin Qiang and Zhao Meijuan, leaving them no energy to care for Jin Chao, who often had to skip meals.
He needed money to support himself, and if possible, hoped Jin Xin could have funds to continue treatment.
So not long after Sida Mountain was sealed, some of the former crowd switched to working with cars. Through connections, Jin Chao went to Wanji. Jin Fengzi had already dropped out of school by then and entered Wanji around the same time as Jin Chao. While Jin Fengzi apprenticed under the master technician, Jin Chao did odd jobs and temporary work. Despite this, Jin Chao learned things even faster than Jin Fengzi.But this way of earning money was too slow. At that time, some mechanics at the car shop privately contacted car owners to acquire cheap used cars, refurbished them, and then resold them, making ten to twenty thousand yuan in profit per transaction—sometimes even more.
Jin Chao saw this as a money-making opportunity. He indeed borrowed some money from others and managed to acquire an inexpensive car. A buyer told him that if he could improve the 0-100 km/h acceleration and some other performance aspects, he would pay extra. So Jin Chao modified the powertrain and transmission systems.
From that transaction, Jin Chao earned a sum of money. He then stopped to focus on preparing for his exams. He wanted to leave Tonggang and was well aware that he couldn’t rely on his family. He gave part of the money to Jin Qiang, kept some for his university living expenses, and planned to apply for a student loan.
If not for what happened later, he could have followed his plan as intended. No one would have known, and no one would have come after him for privately reselling a car.
But unfortunately, that car was involved in an accident. The owner lost control while driving, resulting in the destruction of both the car and the driver. Subsequent investigations concluded that the accident was caused by safety hazards arising from illegal modifications to the vehicle.
Later, the case led back to Jin Chao. The deceased’s family believed that his illegal modifications and sale of the car constituted negligent homicide and filed a lawsuit against him.
That year, Jin Chao was still a minor. He was ultimately sentenced to six months of detention.
From the day Jin Chao stood in court, his pride was utterly shattered. He couldn’t accept that a life had been lost due to his mistake, and he was even more unable to bear the fact that his actions had torn another family apart. Watching the middle-aged parents of the deceased weep until they fainted multiple times, he could no longer forgive himself.
He let them hit him, let them curse him—everything, in his eyes, was deserved. He even felt he should receive more punishment, and indeed, he tormented himself in the cruelest ways.
For a long time after that, his personality changed drastically. He became silent and withdrawn, and the confident, spirited young man he once was vanished completely. Even after his release, he endured others’ ridicule and rejection without fighting back or retorting.
Teachers from the affiliated high school contacted him, hoping he would return to the examination hall to complete his unfinished studies. But his life had lost its direction. He hadn’t killed anyone, yet he felt his hands were stained with blood. He refused to set foot in the affiliated high school again, believing he was no longer worthy of stepping into that sacred hall of learning.
He returned to Wanji. This time, he started over as an apprentice. He did the dirtiest and most exhausting work, operating like a machine without fixed working hours. He worked harder than anyone, more diligently than anyone, as if punishing himself for his past mistake by constantly honing his skills.
Willing to study and endure hardship, he became the fastest-improving technician among Wanji’s several branches. Eventually, he could diagnose vehicle issues just by listening to the engine sound.
Many car owners, after dealing with Jin Chao just once, would only trust him. And as if to avoid repeating the tragedy of the past, he would repeatedly inspect every vehicle before handing it over, test-driving it himself to ensure there were no issues.In the first two years, the deceased's parents would often come to Wan Ji. The auto shop staff found them annoying and would hurl insults, even threatening to beat them to death if they showed up again. Each time, Jin Chao intervened, quietly slipping them some money. In his view, the elderly couple had lost their son in middle age because of him, and he compensated them as much as he could.
As his skills matured, he gradually uncovered the underhanded practices at Wan Ji.
Swapping parts, package repairs, exaggerating minor issues, over-maintenance—these varied tactics, along with mechanics and the shop colluding for profit, included despicable tricks like deliberately adjusting ignition timing, adding soda to engine oil to damage the engine, or putting salt in antifreeze to accelerate radiator corrosion. These schemes kept long-term customers continuously pouring money into the shop.
Later, Boss Wan recognized Jin Chao's talent and put him in charge of the repair shop. Jin Chao forbade his subordinates from engaging in such dirty work. While he was around, the younger employees stayed in line, but there were always seasoned mechanics, set in their ways, who wouldn't heed his authority.
These mechanics hoarded many used parts—intentionally removed ones, discarded by car owners, near-scrap, or defective. The bold ones would swap these old parts into cars, then sell the good or new components for drinking money.
Once, Jin Chao caught a veteran mechanic on the verge of swapping out nearly all the car's parts. He flew into a rage, but the man brushed it off, saying, "We've been doing this for years. We know the limits."
The old-timer's words seemed to jolt Jin Chao awake. From that day on, his awareness sharpened. He recalled the modification process from his senior year of high school, every step and detail magnified in his mind.
Back then, lacking experience, he believed the accident was due to his own negligence, leading to the tragedy. Since then, he had approached technical work with reverence, caution, and constant self-reflection.
But years of accumulated experience made him reconsider. He became almost certain that his modifications alone couldn't have caused the vehicle to lose control. For a long time before delivery, the car had been stored at Wan Ji. After the buyer paid him, Jin Chao hadn't even inspected the car—he just let the buyer pick it up directly from the shop.
It wasn't Wan Ji's car, nor did it belong to any client; it was just one he'd taken in and temporarily stored there. If these mechanics would tamper with clients' cars, what might they do to an unrelated vehicle gathering dust for ages?
Jin Chao began discreetly questioning all employees with over four years of tenure. Walls have ears, and eventually, at a drinking gathering, an old mechanic let slip that Wan Dayong had tampered with the car's sensors and actuator components back then.
Wan Dayong was Boss Wan's nephew. After the accident, everyone kept silent. Boss Wan had even privately warned those in the know. Since Jin Chao had no ties to the shop and was a minor at the time, the blame fell lightly on him. But if Wan Dayong were implicated, he'd face not only the risk of prosecution and jail time but also direct harm to Wan Ji's business.
Jin Chao had indeed made a mistake—he shouldn't have agreed to illegally modify the vehicle. But that offense alone wouldn't have landed him in prison. Yet, isolated and unsupported, he was pushed forward to shoulder the blame for a life lost alone.When Jin Chao confronted Boss Wan and demanded answers, Boss Wan retorted, "What evidence do you have?"
There was no evidence. The vehicle involved in the incident back then was long untraceable. Even if the old mechanic had told Jin Chao the truth out of conscience, he would never dare to offend Boss Wan by testifying for him. It was already a case that could never be overturned.
Yet Boss Wan still spoke kindly, advising him to look forward and not cling to the past. He had already given Jin Chao such a big platform, and if he was willing, Boss Wan could even offer him financial compensation for the suffering he endured during those six months inside.
That day, Tonggang was scorching hot. In the auto shop, some workers were smoking, some were working, some were chatting idly, and others were fooling around.
But everyone heard Jin Chao smash Boss Wan's reception room and watched him leave the place where he had stayed for over three years, never to return.
After Jin Chao left, morale at Wan's Auto Shop plummeted, rumors spread, and many people gradually left. Jin Fengzi had initially wanted to leave too, but his father was in poor health. Having worked at Wan's for so many years, his income was relatively stable. Before leaving, Jin Chao had only said one thing to him: "You and I are different. I'm leaving Wan's for the justice that was taken from me, but you must stay for your family."
...
The night grew colder, but Jiang Mu could no longer feel the chill from outside. She only felt a piercing cold emanating from within her body, mingled with the biting wind and mournful cries.
While she lived her simple life, shuttling between school and home every day, Jin Chao had long been trapped in a complex whirlpool. She wasn't by his side, no one was. He endured the torment of his conscience day after day, his passion dried up, his fiery dreams crushed. He was only seventeen then, facing the grieving parents of the deceased and the iron cage of the law alone. No one told him how to move forward, no one accompanied him through those torturous days and nights.
He tried his best to make amends for the mistakes he made at seventeen. Such a sharp and brilliant person, now covered in dust, with broken wings, hiding in a dark corner, constantly tormenting himself.
She couldn't imagine how furious, wronged, and agonized he must have been when he crawled back from hell and learned the truth behind the accident. Those were four irreversible years of his life. Yet when she saw him again, he had already been worn down by reality, hiding the world's cruelty toward him in places no one could see, maintaining a calm surface.
It was only at this moment that Jiang Mu saw clearly what lay beneath that unnerving calm—bones and sinews torn to shreds by thorns, dignity and ambition.
Jiang Mu had lost count of how many beers she had drunk. She finished one can, and Jin Fengzi handed her another. She didn't feel her body warming up; instead, as Jin Fengzi spoke, she grew colder and colder. Multiple blurred images appeared before her eyes, each one resembling Jin Chao, until he seemed to truly appear before her, calling her name.
"Mu Mu, Mu Mu..."
Her shoulders were shaken a few times. The operating room door opened, and she heard Dr. Li's voice. He said to Jin Fengzi and Jin Chao, who had rushed over overnight, "The wound has been sutured. He lost too much blood. Fortunately, Gouzi has DEA1.1 blood, so we were able to give him a transfusion. Whether he survives depends on the next couple of days. Be prepared for the worst."Jiang Mu staggered to her feet and saw Shandian being taken into another room through the glass. Pressing against the glass, her tears flowed silently. She could no longer distinguish whether her grief was for Shandian or for Jin Chao. The peaceful life she had known for the past eighteen years had been brutally torn apart, revealing life's cruelest face, laid bare before her in all its bloody horror.
Dr. Li said to them, "Please register your contact information and pay a deposit. You can head back first. There will be staff on duty tonight, and we'll contact you if anything happens."
While Jin Chao went to complete the registration, Jiang Mu sat on a chair watching him. Jin Chao wore a black short parka and black leather gloves, his silhouette sharp and cold. Jiang Mu didn't even know when he had returned; seeing him like this felt surreal.
Jin Chao's brows remained furrowed, and he glanced occasionally at Jiang Mu sitting to the side. Her coat, wrapped around the blood-soaked Shandian, was already filthy. She wore only a cream-colored sweater, its collar and cuffs stained with dark red blood. Her eyes were dazed and bewildered, and she seemed to sway even while sitting, like a lost and helpless little creature.
Jin Chao's lips tightened, and he worked faster, handing the completed form to the nurse before turning to Jin Fengzi and cursing under his breath, "Are you out of your mind? Why did you let her drink so much?"
Jin Fengzi replied casually, "Wasn't I afraid she'd be too scared, never having experienced life and death before?"
Jin Chao shot him a speechless glare, then walked over to Jiang Mu. Her eyes followed his movement, lifting her head to stare blankly at him, her eyes brimming with moisture.
Jin Chao took off his coat and draped it over her, then knelt down to remove his gloves and slip them onto her hands. The chill in Jiang Mu's heart was dispelled by a wave of warmth. Her eyes, now misty with emotion, refused to leave Jin Chao for even a moment.
He looked up and asked her, "Let's go back, okay?"
Jiang Mu nodded but didn't move. Jin Chao asked again, "Can you walk?"
She shook her head. "No."
Her legs ached, she was hungry, her vision blurred—she couldn't take another step. Seeing how matter-of-fact she sounded, Jin Chao gave a slight smirk, bent down, and scooped her up horizontally from the chair.
The moment her body left the ground, Jiang Mu's slender frame curled tightly into Jin Chao's embrace, like a bird returning to its nest. Wondering if she was frightened, Jin Chao drew her closer against his chest.
Outside the pet hospital, the cold wind whistled past their ears. Jiang Mu lifted her arms to wrap around his neck, burying her face in the hollow of his collarbone. Warm tears trickled down her cheeks and dripped onto his chest. His steps halted as he looked down at her face, partially hidden by her hair, feeling her slight tremors. Then he heard her whisper, "Don't send me away again, okay?"Thank you to the little angels who irrigated with nutrient solution: Xian Guangguang De Yu 10 bottles; Big Face Tea, TsezukiMoi, Thousand Years Green, Beichen, Fish Ball Noodles 5 bottles; Soft Soft Very Soft 3 bottles; HUXUE 2 bottles; Exclusive Witch, Working Hard to Knead the Earth Round, Xiao Ci Ya 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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