r18novel Chapter 129 The Flight Lands, The Mute Witness
Chapter 129 The Flight Lands, The Mute Witness
Chen Yan lifted his foot.
Broken glass was embedded in the rubber texture of the sole of the leather shoe.
He opened the passenger door of the Cherokee and got in.
"Go back to BJ."
Chen Yan said.
Wu Gang started the engine.
The SUV drove into the night.
Beijing Capital International Airport, Apron 3.
The night breeze blew the indicator lights on both sides of the runway.
The landing gear tires of a Boeing 737 passenger plane are rubbing against the runway.
White smoke rose.
The aircraft taxied and came to a stop.
The tractor pulled the gangway vehicle closer to the hatch.
Yan Huaizhong stood below the gangway.
He was wearing a dark blue jacket.
Four special police officers stood behind him.
The special police officers were holding riot shields.
The cabin door was pushed open.
Two Malaysian special police officers escorted a man out of the plane.
The man was wearing a gray tracksuit.
He kept his head down.
Slow and sluggish steps.
The soles of leather shoes scratched against the aluminum alloy steps.
Malaysian special police officers escorted the man down the gangway.
Yan Huaizhong stepped forward.
He looked at the man's face.
This is Shen Fusheng.
Shen Fusheng's eyes moved from side to side.
There is no focus.
Saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth.
It dripped onto the zipper of my tracksuit.
His right hand fingers spasmed and kept bending.
Malaysian special police produced a handover list.
Chinese special police officers behind Yan Huaizhong stepped forward.
Take the list.
Verify Shen Fusheng's identity information and personal belongings.
"The only item I own is a set of clothes."
The Malaysian special police officer spoke in broken Chinese.
"No personal identification. No communication devices."
Chinese special police officers signed their names on the list.
Stamp it with a red seal.
Hand one of the receipts to the other party.
Two Chinese special police officers stepped forward.
He took over the position of escort.
They grabbed Shen Fusheng's arms from both sides.
Shen Fusheng did not resist.
He made meaningless gurgling sounds in his throat.
A doctor in a white coat descended the gangway.
The doctor handed Yan Huaizhong a diagnosis report.
Yan Huaizhong took the paper.
Lobotomy.
The doctor said.
"Irreversible physical brain damage. He has lost his ability to speak and his logical thinking."
Yan Huaizhong looked at the brain CT scan on the diagnosis report.
The prefrontal cortex region showed a large area of dark shadow.
"He was involved in a fight with other inmates in a detention center in Kuala Lumpur."
The doctor added.
"A sharp object pierced through the eye socket, damaging the cerebral cortex."
Yan Huaizhong folds the diagnosis report.
Put it in your pocket.
He took out his phone and pressed the dial button.
The Cherokee was driving on the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway.
Tires rolling over asphalt pavement.
Chen Yan's cell phone vibrated in his pocket.
He pressed the answer button.
"Shen Fusheng has arrived."
Yan Huaizhong's voice came through.
"He's ruined. His frontal lobe was removed. He can't say anything."
Chen Yan looked out the car window.
The streetlights moved backward on the glass.
"Gu Changchuan did it in Kuala Lumpur."
Chen Yan said.
"He arranged for people to be in the detention center."
Yan Huaizhong said.
"A sharp object pierced his eye socket, damaging his prefrontal cortex. Gu Changchuan acted swiftly. Although his funds in Kuala Lumpur were frozen, his foundation in China remained intact. He cut off Shen Fusheng's connection to preserve his capital base in China."
"He knows we're investigating."
Chen Yan said.
"Lu Haiming died in the detention center. Shen Fusheng was crippled in Kuala Lumpur. With these two moves, he completely turned the clock tower case from twenty years ago into a dead end."
"No confession. No physical evidence. The court cannot accept the case."
Yan Huaizhong said.
"Gu Changchuan has extricated himself from the legal situation."
"The law cannot convict him."
Chen Yan said.
"That's the job of the police. I only make movies."
Chen Yan hung up the phone.
He tossed his phone onto the dial.
Wu Gang turned the steering wheel.
The SUV overtook a heavy truck.
"The line is broken."
Wu Gang said.
"He's cleaning up the traces of the past."
Chen Yan looked at the headlights of the car ahead.
"Lu Haiming is dead. Shen Fusheng is finished. The direct participants in the clock tower collapse case are no longer around. He wants to clear his name. He wants to rewrite the script."
"Back to the company."
Chen Yan said.
Yanying Culture Headquarters.
The glass sliding doors slid open to both sides.
Chen Yan walked into the office area.
The motion-sensor lights in the corridor turned on one by one.
The CEO's office at the far end had its door open.
Su Wan stood in front of the large desk.
She put the three stacks of documents into the blue folders.
Chen Yan walked into the office.
He sat down on the sofa.
Su Wan picked up the purple clay teapot on the table.
Pour out a cup of hot tea.
She took the teacup and walked to the sofa, placing it on the glass coffee table.
"The initial review of the support program for new directors has concluded."
Su Wan said.
"The production department selected ten scripts. Principal Yan approved seven of them."
Su Wan opened the top blue folder.
She took out a list and handed it to Chen Yan.
Chen Yan took the list.
My gaze swept over the names and script synopsis above.
"Cut this film about rural life."
Chen Yan pointed to one of the lines.
"The characters' motivations are unconvincing. The suffering of the lower classes is not meant to be exhibited."
Su Wan drew an X over that name with a red pen.
"Give this guy double the budget for a suspense film."
Chen Yan pointed to another name.
"Let him shoot with film. Tell him I want to see the real roughness. No soft focus filters allowed."
Su Wan wrote a note next to that name.
"This is a film about urban romance."
Chen Yan pointed to the third name.
"The dialogue is too dense. Have the screenwriter cut out the unnecessary lines. Film is a visual art. Tell the story through the camera, don't have actors reading narration to the camera. Cut the budget by 20%."
Su Wan drew a horizontal line on the script.
"Lin Qingqiu is in Liangshan."
Su Wan continued her report.
"The production crew sends back a shooting log every day."
Su Wan opened the second blue folder.
He took out a stack of photos from the film set that had been developed.
She laid the photo flat on the glass coffee table.
Chen Yan lowered his head.
My gaze swept over the photos.
The first photo.
Lin Qingqiu was wearing worn-out coarse cloth clothes.
She stood on the muddy mountain road.
He was carrying a bamboo basket full of books.
The trouser legs were covered in yellow mud.
The second photo.
Lin Qingqiu fell into the pile of rubble.
The pant leg on the left knee was ripped.
Fresh blood seeped through the fabric.
The third photo.
Lin Qingqiu sat on the threshold of the adobe house.
The village doctor used a curved needle to stitch up her wound.
She was biting a stick.
His forehead was covered in sweat.
"She refused to use a body double."
Su Wan said.
"Zhang Yuan said that the scene of her falling was filmed seven times. She was only satisfied when her knee was actually scraped."
Chen Yan picked up the third photo.
Looking at Lin Qingqiu's face as she bit the wooden stick.
"Notify the film crew's accompanying doctor to take good care of her wound."
Chen Yan put down the photo.
"Don't get infected."
"Her commercial value will double after this movie is finished."
Su Wan put the photos away and returned them to the folder.
"Wang Jianguo made three phone calls. Xingmei Cinemas' scheduling system has been integrated with Yanying. The equipment for Gu Changchuan's three cinemas in the south has been delivered to our warehouse."
Chen Yan stood up.
He walked to the desk.
Pick up the black pen on the table.
He wrote a line on a blank sheet of paper.
Chen Yan pushed the blank paper toward Su Wan.
Su Wan lowered her head.
My gaze fell on the white paper.
The document reads: "Document of the Jing-Tong Expressway Project, 1995."
"Looking for Lin Shufen."
Chen Yan said.
"Use her network of connections. Get this file out."
Su Wan looked at that year.
1995 years.
Chen Yan's parents died in a car accident on the Jing-Tong Expressway.
"I'll contact Sister Lin right away."
Su Wan replied.
Chen Yan turned and walked towards the door.
I'm going back to school.
Chen Yan said.
Chen Yan walked out of the office.
The motion-sensor lights in the corridor went out behind him.
Su Wan picked up the landline phone from her desk.
Press Lin Shufen's number.
The call was connected.
The sound of mahjong tiles clashing came through the receiver.
A private room at a private club in Beijing.
Lin Shufen sat at the mahjong table.
She was wearing a dark green cheongsam.
He held a slender cigarette in his left hand.
He picked up a mahjong tile with his right hand.
"Sister Lin."
Su Wan's voice came through the receiver.
"Looking for a case file. The 1995 Jing-Tong Expressway project."
Lin Shufen placed the mahjong tiles in her hand on the table.
It is a red-center.
"bump."
Lin Shufen said.
She held the phone between her shoulder and ear.
"The project files from 1995 are in the underground archives of the Urban Construction Bureau."
Lin Shufen exhaled a smoke ring.
"There was an accident on that construction site. Someone died. The case file was sealed by the Urban Construction Bureau. What do you need it for?"
"Director Chen wants to see it."
Su Wan said.
Lin Shufen pushed over the three red cards in front of her.
"Half an hour."
She hung up the phone.
Lin Shufen stood up.
She stubbed out the cigarette in the crystal ashtray.
"Bosses, you can start fighting now."
Lin Shufen picked up the shawl hanging on the back of the chair.
"I'm going to make a phone call."
Yanying Culture Office.
Su Wan put down the microphone.
She walked to the fax machine in the corner.
He pulled up a chair and sat down.
Thirty minutes later.
The fax machine beeps.
The green indicator light is on.
The internal motor starts.
The gears mesh and rotate.
Blank fax paper is wound into the paper feed slot.
The thermal printhead moves laterally across the paper.
Printhead heating.
The toner adheres to the surface of the paper.
The black ink was printed out.
The first page of paper slowly emerges from the paper output slot.
The paper has serrated cutting marks on the edges.
Su Wan reached out her hand.
Hold the bottom of the paper.
The paper was printed with a line of bold black text: "Qualification Review Report of the Construction Contractor for the Third Section of the Jing-Tong Expressway".
The paper continued to be ejected downwards.
The last row of the table is now visible.
The section for the legal representative.
It was printed with three words: Gu Changchuan.
Su Wan's fingers gripped the edge of the paper tightly.
The fingernail got stuck in the paper fibers.
The motor continued to run.
The second page is rolled into the paper feed slot.
This is a traffic accident scene investigation report.
The date is April 4, 1995.
The central position of the report.
A black and white photocopy was pasted on it.
The photo shows a Santana sedan that has been crushed.
A huge precast concrete slab lay across the top of the car.
The cement slab broke.
The reinforcing steel bars are exposed.
The list of the deceased was printed below the photo.
Chen Jianguo.
Li Sumei.