Chapter 30 Part 2

"That's good. How's work? Is everything going smoothly?"

"Mhm."

He asked a bunch of trivial questions about her life, beating around the bush before finally getting to the point:

"You're a celebrity now. Your words carry a lot of weight, which is a good thing. But influence is a double-edged sword. Because you're famous, you need to be more cautious in what you do, so you don't affect your future."

Song Ran's chopsticks paused. She understood perfectly now.

She said, "It's my future. I'll be responsible for it myself."

Song Zhicheng was rendered speechless.

Yang Huilun couldn't hold back any longer. "But what about your dad? If something happens to your dad's job, how is our family supposed to live? How will you be responsible for that?"

Song Ran looked up. "What do you mean?"

Song Zhicheng didn't answer. He put down his chopsticks, his face full of worry. "Ran Ran, just write a clarifying statement."

"Did someone force you?" Song Ran asked, her voice trembling. "I don't believe..."

"Ran Ran, can you stop trying to be so tough?" Yang Huilun said anxiously. "You're famous now and not afraid of anything, but your dad, Yangyang, and I still have to live our lives. You can't be so selfish, can you? You've made such a huge mess. If something really happens, I'm afraid it'll be too late for regrets!"

Song Ran gripped the edge of the table and said in a low voice, "I was just recording things objectively. I didn't even inject any of my own feelings into it. Where did I go wrong? The school is lying, the dean is lying, the TV station is lying too. I've been fighting them all day. Do you know how I feel? Do you care if I've been wronged out there? You're my family. Why can't you support me?"

"What fight? Who are you fighting against?" Song Zhicheng said. "You people who've just entered society, you're so full of student-like idealism, always wanting to fight. It's good to have ideals, but you have to face reality. All you do is shout slogans. Fairness, truth—the things you talk about every day—I bet you can't even clearly explain what they are!"

In the living room illuminated by the incandescent light, there was dead silence.

Song Ran looked at him, a flash of endless disappointment in her eyes:

"Ever since I was little, I've written and recorded things purely because I enjoyed it, without any grand dreams. You, on the other hand, were always drilling grand principles into me, things like... changing society with your writing, and holding onto what you believe is right. You said all that, didn't you? Now it seems that in your heart, it was just a way to fish for fame? Get famous and then quietly reap the benefits, is that it?"

"Smack!" Song Zhicheng's chopsticks slammed onto the table.

Song Ran squeezed her eyes shut.

"You..." Song Zhicheng pointed a stern finger at her a couple of times, but he had never lost his temper with his daughter before. His hand quickly dropped, and he said with helplessness and pain, "Ran Ran, ever since you got sick, your temper has become more and more strange, more and more extreme, and you won't listen to advice. The doctor said this illness isn't suitable for working. It was my oversight. You've been hiding it from the TV station for so long; it's about time they knew, so you can rest and recuperate."

Song Ran's eyes widened in disbelief.

Without a word, she stood up and walked out.

Yang Huilun tried to say something to stop her.

Song Ran slammed the door.

...

On a night in late winter and early spring, a cold wind surged.

Song Ran walked through the dark streets, hugging herself. Never before had the city she'd lived in for twenty-three years felt so cold, so desolate, without a single sign of life. This man-eating battlefield was just like the war zone in Dongguo, thousands of miles away—cruel, absurd, indifferent, and insane.

She didn't know if she was sick, or if the world was.

She suddenly stopped, leaning against a tree and gasping for air. She was like a drowning person, frantically breathing in the icy air, but her lungs couldn't take it, feeling as if they would freeze and burst.

'Won't someone give me a hand.'

Her vision blurred with moisture as two tears fell.

Amidst the cold wind, her phone rang.

She stood up and wiped away her tears. It was Li Zan.

Song Ran stared blankly for a good while before answering the phone.

She didn't say anything.

The other end was quiet for a moment before he asked tentatively, "Song Ran?"

She hadn't heard him say her name like that in a long time. Her eyes welled up again, and she let out a soft "mhm."

He asked, "Where are you?"

She didn't answer, asking instead, "Why are you calling? As a police officer, or as a friend?"

"As a friend," he said.

"I'm at the intersection of Xichen Road and Baixiang Road."

...

Song Ran was a little tired and sat down on the curb. She didn't wait long before she heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. Low beams pierced the night sky.

This road was very quiet, with few cars and even fewer people.

A taxi stopped on the opposite side of the road. Li Zan got out and walked over from the other side.

"Aren't you cold sitting here?" he asked, his voice not loud.

"Not cold." Song Ran shook her head, her expression a bit dazed.

Li Zan stood beside her, looking down at her. Her expression was vacant and utterly defeated, like a small animal abandoned on the street.

He took a step forward and sat down beside her, asking in a low voice, "You must be exhausted today, huh?"

It was a very ordinary question, yet it made her eyes instantly well up with tears.

She looked up at the night sky. The streetlights illuminated the withered tree trunks. There wasn't a single star in the winter night.

"I guess you're very tired," Li Zan said softly. "A lot of people must have pressured you."

Song Ran still didn't say anything, just picked at her fingers. She was terrified that her tears would fall.

"But, even more people support you."

"They're all netizens," she finally spoke. "The people around me, none of them..."

'Only he came...'

Song Ran remembered something and turned to look at him. "Did your superiors blame you? Did you get chewed out?"

"No." Li Zan looked at the empty street, smiled faintly, and said, "But, I thought you would have told me before publishing that article."

"It was too late. I didn't want to bother you." Song Ran then asked, "How's the police investigation going?"

Li Zan's profile was silent in the darkness for a few seconds. He turned to look at her, his eyes very bright and calm in the night, and said, "Based on the current investigation, we can't see any direct or indirect connection between Teacher Zhao Yuanli and student Zhu Yanan's death."

He was considerate of her emotions and chose his words as carefully as possible. But Song Ran still sensed it. She stared at him, stunned, for a long moment, her expression stiffening as her guard went up. "Are you also here to persuade me to issue a clarification?"

Li Zan watched her quietly, saying nothing.

Song Ran hugged herself, lowered her head, and tapped her forehead against her knees. She suddenly wanted to cry, but when she looked up, she gave a soft smile, stood up, and started to walk away.

Li Zan got up and grabbed her arm, his voice low and even. "Song Ran, you might have been a bit reckless this time."

Song Ran turned and tried to pull her arm away, but couldn't break free. "If I hadn't spoken up, the one being hurt today would be the student who died. When so many people were insulting the deceased yesterday, what were you all doing? The school and the dean's office are lying, and that student was at a dead end. I had to help him."

"I'm not saying you're wrong. I don't think you're wrong. I even think what you wrote was very objective," Li Zan said, holding her arm tightly, trying to soothe her. "But don't you remember what I told you? A good intention doesn't necessarily guarantee a just outcome."

A sensitive spot deep inside Song Ran was stung. She shook her head mechanically and asked with a trembling voice, "How is the outcome wrong? The victim is the weaker party. I gave him a voice to create an opportunity for a balanced and equal dialogue. What's wrong with that?"

"But the situation isn't balanced now. It has already devolved into cyberbullying. Zhao Yuanli has been doxxed—'His wife is an official in the Education Bureau,' 'He's gay,' 'His child is a school bully,' 'The Public Security Bureau chief is his former student'... Are these rumors, these outcomes, what you wanted to see?"

"But I didn't cause this!" Song Ran was heartbroken, as if the Candy incident were happening all over again. "I just recorded the facts I saw. The ones at fault are the people who maliciously twist and speculate, who can't think rationally. They're the ones who are wrong, not me!"

Li Zan's brows furrowed slightly. He gave a very faint shake of his head and asked in a low voice, "But you're a reporter. Don't you know the power of news dissemination? You say 1, and it gets amplified to 10. No one can control such consequences, including yourself. Now everyone believes what you said is the truth and won't believe a word the police say."

"And it's my fault they don't believe the police?"

"I'm not blaming..." Li Zan was somewhat at a loss for words. He looked at her silently for a long time before finally saying, "I've seen the autopsy report. Zhu Yanan had no old injuries sustained before his death, so there's no possibility of corporal punishment. The video on his phone is too short to identify the abuser. As for verbal abuse, that conversation alone is insufficient evidence. That's why I'm telling you there's no visible evidentiary link between Zhao Yuanli and the deceased."

Song Ran was stunned.

"I'm very worried right now. I'm afraid you'll..."

'...repeat my mistakes.'

Li Zan didn't finish his sentence. He gritted his teeth and lowered his head, then looked up at her again and said, "I'm afraid that student is lying to you. You'll have to bear the consequences of his actions all by yourself."

"Whether he lied to me or not, I've verified it in my own way. What about you? Have your colleagues lied to you?" Song Ran looked at him warily and asked, "Or is it that in your mind, students will lie, but police officers won't? But look who has a guilty conscience now. Who is desperately trying to suppress me, pressuring me from every aspect of my work and life, even dragging my father into it?"

Li Zan took a deep breath and tried to reason, "Song Ran, you might think I'm making excuses for them. But sometimes, resorting to suppression might just be due to a lack of confidence and a fear of the situation worsening. They've bungled it with their crude execution. This method is clumsy and stupid, but it doesn't necessarily mean they have a guilty conscience or are guilty of a crime. You can't use their actions to validate your own correctness."

He desperately wanted her to return to reason, but to her at this moment, his words sounded utterly absurd; so absurd that she began to suspect his reason for coming here. She feared he was a second Song Zhicheng, which left her both disappointed and terrified, putting all her defenses up like quills.

She suddenly asked, "Did your superior tell you to come? Using your status as a friend?"

Li Zan froze.

He looked at her, somewhat astonished. After staring for several seconds, he gave a faint, almost self-deprecating smile. "I always knew you were this kind of girl."

"What?"

"Seemingly fragile, but strong on the inside."

"I just didn't expect you to be so... determined to go down this path to the very end. Do you think good intentions are enough to do good deeds? In this world, there are too many cases of people starting with what they think are good intentions, only to commit terrible deeds.

You think you've saved one person, but maybe you've hurt many more. Do the sufferings of those innocent people who got dragged into this mean nothing to you?"

Song Ran felt her heart turn cold in the wind. "I also didn't expect you to be so dead set on protecting the group behind you. So, Officer Li, do you think it's okay to sacrifice one person to protect a few, to cover his mouth and strangle his voice? That's right. You're a soldier, so naturally, you unconditionally obey and uphold the orders of your superiors. Even if your superior ordered you to kill someone, you'd pull the trigger, wouldn't you?"

In the dark and cold night, Li Zan's face turned deathly pale.

They weren't arguing, nor were their voices loud, yet every sentence was like a stab that drew blood.

They looked at each other in silence, quiet. Perhaps at this moment, they finally realized they had become strangers.

They were actually standing on opposing sides.

Finally, he took a step back and gently let go of her hand.

Author's Note: 1. I know you guys don't want to read too much about their professions, but their careers are a part of the characters, and I believe it's the most important part. I'm afraid that if I don't write it thoroughly, it will end up being just a superficial skin of a background setting. But don't worry, this part will be over soon.

2. They will make up tomorrow.