Conviction

  Article 47: Thus convicted

  After waking up, I saw Grandpa sitting beside me, his face filled with joy, as if he was extremely happy to see me wake up. I remembered that just a day ago, I was the one sitting beside him, but never thought that after just one day, it would be him sitting beside me instead.

  "A day? A whole week has passed already, you silly grandson." Grandfather said excitedly to me.

  "A whole week? How is that possible? Did I sleep for so long? Where's Naro? Where's Lin Ruoshui? And how are Momo and the others doing? Oh, Grandfather, that Xing Houyu was taken by me, it wasn't lost."

  "Alright, alright, as long as you're back alive, that's all that matters. Grandpa doesn't need any of those useless things, no matter how many there are, they can't compare to my grandson's life." As grandpa spoke, he stroked my head, just like he did every time I was ill when I was little.

  The door of the ward was suddenly opened, and several men in uniform came in. After seeing me wake up, they quickly sat down beside me. One of them, who seemed to be a leader, spoke first:

  "Mr. Zile Tian, I know you just woke up and it's not right to disturb you like this, but we need to understand some situation related to Luo Zheng's cause of death, hope you can answer correctly."

  It seems that Luo Zheng is really dead, and Lin Ruoshui has also escaped safely. Otherwise, they wouldn't be so anxious to come and ask me about it. I told them everything in detail, including the fact that Lin Ruoshui stole Xing Hou's jade because he had received help from Luo Zheng.

  After listening to my brief statement, the leader furrowed his brow, seemingly somewhat skeptical.

  "Mr. Jile Tian, I hope you can recall the facts accurately. Comrade Luo Zheng, with his current status, would not make such a mistake. Have you been threatened by someone to tell such an absurd story? Luo Zheng's death was a sacrifice for the country, it was noble and glorious. We absolutely will not allow anyone to tarnish his character. He is the image of our entire police force, so I ask you to think carefully before speaking." The leader said.

  "I don't need to consider, these are all facts. What's wrong with He Luo Zheng? Is he a god or a saint that can't make mistakes? Are my words not even worth a fart? Are you guys so blindly believing in this guy? Don't you have any judgment of your own? The fact is just like that, whether you believe it or not, I haven't received any threats and won't randomly frame someone. If I did, the one lying here wouldn't be me, but my corpse! Why do you guys rather believe a dead man who can't speak than a commoner's words? How are you serving the people?! I seem to get angrier as I speak, my voice loud enough for the whole ward to hear."

  "Please control your emotions, how can you judge that it's my business? We won't wrong a good person, but we also won't let off any bad person. I can tell you now, you are one of the members of the tomb raiding case gang. We also suspect that you are related to the previous British Museum theft case. You can't deny it, you fabricated this lie just to escape punishment. The undercover plan document you mentioned, we haven't found anything like that, not even Luo Zheng's direct superior has received any information about an undercover plan. I think the dishonest person is someone else, we will investigate thoroughly." That leader said, seemingly angrier than me.

  "What's the meaning of this? Go ask Momo, she's a police officer, you'll only believe her words, right? You won't believe what an ordinary person says no matter what!" I was almost at the edge of anger.

  "We know you've taken the civil service exam several times and didn't pass, it's undeniable that you may have some mental issues. Perhaps all of this is your idea of revenge against society. As for Mo Mo, we will go ask her, but she's still in the ICU and hasn't woken up yet. So, now is your best chance to confess. If you still insist on what you said before, then after our investigation, you won't get any leniency. Think carefully."

  "The police are really something, can they distort the facts like this? In the end, you've already had your own ideas and couldn't find the real culprit, so you want me to be a scapegoat. It's come to this, what else is there for me to say?" I exclaimed loudly.

  "Zhile Tian, watch your attitude! We are the people's police, serving the people, not those who try to cover up the truth. The net of heaven is loose but never lets anything through, don't think you can escape my evidence!" The leader of the group even raised his voice.

  "Hey! Cough, cough, cough!" I got so angry that I forgot about the wound on my stomach. Now, because of all this talking, I couldn't bear it anymore and started coughing.

  "Get the hell out of here, all of you!" The old man on the side suddenly spoke up.

  "Old man, please mind your words." The leader threw fuel on the fire again, this time onto the old man.

  "Damn your words! If it weren't for me risking my life to drive away the little devils back then, you bunch of brats wouldn't have had the chance to sit here like humans. My grandson says no and that's final. I killed over a thousand devils back in the day, what about you? You think you can come and arrest me? I'm just a murderer, damn it! How did those little rascals lead troops and produce such trash like you? Let me tell you, I'll call the Minister of Public Security right now. His father was my guard back when we were fighting, and now you little devils dare to cause trouble? Bring it on, we'll make a big deal out of this!" I've never seen Grandpa so furious before, as if the heroic spirit from back when he killed the devils had risen again, scolding those uniformed men into silence.

  For someone as old as Grandpa, they are also the ones who dare not to offend, maybe he has a relationship with one of the leaders above, and one sentence may take away their official hats, so for Grandpa's scolding, they can only silently endure.

  "Get out of my sight, don't disturb my grandson's rest. If there's anything, go directly to the military department to discuss it. I'll call Old Huang and have the military department send someone over to investigate this matter. Do you think they need a bunch of useless people like you?" The old man waved his hand, and those guys immediately slunk away with their tails between their legs.