Chapter 117

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

content warning: mentions of attempted sexual assault and violence, both in-movie

Ling Jiayue played a girl named Shu Mian[1], a senior high school student around Sun Yao’s daughter Sun Xunyan’s age.

Ling Jiayue went without makeup for most of the movie. Her long hair was tied in a high ponytail, and she wore a blue P.E. uniform. In front of the camera, her fresh and pure appearance resembled an otherworldly fairy.

‘Otherworldly’, in the past, this was a word that people often used to describe Yuan Qian. Ling Jiayue and Yuan Qian’s facial features were not the least bit alike, yet they shared the same sophistication and elegance.

However, when Xia Xingcheng saw Ling Jiayue in front of the camera, he realized that she was completely different from Yuan Qian.

Yuan Qian had a carefree and lively nature, yet she was dull and wooden in front of the camera. Ling Jiayue had an inherent bashful and well-behaved ness to her, yet in front of the camera, she was quick-witted and natural, the true embodiment of a person with innate acting talent.

The first time Han Bohan met Shu Mian in the movie was when he left Sun Xunyan’s ward. As he passed through the flower garden outside the community hospital, he saw a young girl sitting on a bench, staring off into space.

At that time, Han Bohan merely glanced at her and found her to be a rare beauty, after which he continued his way over to the curbside parking lot without looking back.

This scene was scheduled for the location shoots in the latter stage of filming. The movie had a lot of location shoots. The plot progression had been cut up into pieces by the shooting schedule and the mood was constantly fluctuating, which required the cast to make their own self-adjustments.

Xia Xingcheng’s script had, in turn, been dampened by his own sweat and dried by the wind. The paper was uneven, and the notes he’d left with a pen were smudged by his sweat, producing small black blots.

He was wearing his uniform, seated behind his work desk. A boom mic was suspended over his head, and there were two filming cameras directed at his front and side profile. Along with the bright lights aimed at his body, it didn’t take long for the heat to render his entire face sweaty.

In addition to the director and the crew, Yang Youming, who didn’t have parts in this scene, was also present on set. Yang Youming was sitting next to He Zheng, the two of them conversing in low voices.

From Xia Xingcheng’s angle of view, Yang Youming’s entire face was wholly visible. No matter how long he looked, he wouldn’t tire of it.

He Zheng raised his head and caught sight of Xia Xingcheng’s eyes. He deepened his voice and shouted, “Get yourself ready!”

Xia Xingcheng withdrew his gaze, letting it fall onto the stack of files on the desk in front of him.

This scene was one without any dialogue. A lone Han Bohan sat on his work desk, pensive. Every emotion was reflected on his minute expressions.

Xia Xingcheng emptied his head, temporarily ousting Yang Youming from his thoughts, and began to think back on the entire case.

It took place almost two months ago, on the night of the seventeenth. Sun Yao washed his comatose daughter’s face and brushed her teeth as usual, turned off the lights in her small room, then entered the slightly larger bedroom adjoining it.

He hadn’t fallen asleep immediately, watching TV for a while instead. When he turned off the TV, it was almost half past ten. The whole room quieted and fell into a murky darkness.

Sun Yao’s apartment was a rented residence in a very old neighbourhood. He lived on the second floor, and the apartment was only around fifty square meters large, with two bedrooms and a living room. The apartment’s interior was rather old, the lacquer on the wood had long worn off, exposing its original appearance.

The very old neighbourhood was formerly an old factory family compound. The factory had closed down nearly twenty years ago, but the compound was slow to be demolished. The original residents had long since moved out, and the tenants that now lived there were mostly those with economic constraints. There was no management nor security in the area, and the large iron gate at the entrance was opened wide all year long; the uncle who once saw over it had left when nobody paid the management fees.

Sun Yao fell asleep shortly after he turned off the TV. He had to get up early everyday to turn his daughter over, feed her through a gastric tube, and then take care of her excrement. Afterwards, he went to work. The company was very close to his rented apartment. Because of his unique circumstances, the company allowed him to go home several times throughout the day to turn over and clean his daughter and prepare her lunch. However, he was required to be on call around the clock and go back to the company to deal with emergencies all day, every day of the week–he never had a single second to himself.

That night, not long after he fell asleep, Sun Yao was awakened by detectable sounds of movement coming from the other room. His brows furrowed, and in the dark, he got out of bed silently, bare feet treading on the ice-cold floor as he made his way outside. He was met with the sight of a closed bedroom door.

In this house, the bedroom doors were never closed.

Sun Yao went back to fetch a wooden stick for self-protection, then walked up to the door of his daughter’s bedroom. He reached out and twisted the door lock. It didn’t budge. He took a deep breath and kicked down the door.

The old, dilapidated door was simply unable to withstand the strength of his foot. It opened with a resounding bang and slammed against the wall before it sprung back.

Sun Yao caught sight of a man by the bed, bent over to take off his daughter’s nightgown.

Blazing fury overwhelmed Sun Yao in an instant, making him lose his mind. And as if he could no longer see a thing, he raised the wooden stick up and struck the man.

The man by the bed heard the movement and dodged nimbly. Sun Yao’s stick struck the air. At the same time, Sun Yao saw an outline of the man’s face in the haze–it was that of a young man.

After Sun Yao’s strike met air, he noticed that his daughter’s nightgown had been completely lifted, revealing her still delicate body. His mind went blank, and he subconsciously reached out to pull down his daughter’s dress.

Yet without warning, the young man seized this opportunity to snatch the wooden stick in Sun Yao’s hand and lifted it up above his head, beating Sun Yao’s body in quick succession.

Sun Yao was beaten back a couple of steps. He clenched his teeth as he withstood the beating. He rushed over to grab the stick, and as the two scrambled for possession, Sun Yao strangled the man’s neck until he gasped for breath and his grip on the wooden stick loosened. At that moment, Sun Yao snatched the wooden stick, threw it aside, then let go of the man.

The man seemed to have passed out, his body falling softly by the bed. Sun Yao turned to look at his daughter, yet unexpectedly, in that instant, that man picked up the wooden stick again; this time, his actual goal was to strike the comatose Sun Xunyan’s head.

Sun Yao raised his left arm to block the stick and with his right hand, he strangled the man’s neck once more. This time, he was afraid that the man would still have the strength to get back up, so he strangled the man for a bit longer. By the time he released his grip, the man fell to the ground, no longer breathing.

Afterwards, Sun Yao called the police himself.

This was the chronology of the entirety of the case. However, every detail had come out of Sun Yao’s mouth. Apart from the suspect and victim, the only other person who was present at the scene of the crime was a girl who’d been comatose for more than a year–there were no other witnesses.

The man that Sun Yao had strangled to death was named Cao Yuxiang. He had just turned nineteen. According to Sun Yao’s confession, Cao Yuxiang ought to have directly entered Sun Xunyan’s room by climbing through the window, on account of the entrance door–an anti-theft door that was tightly locked up the entire night–had no signs of lock-picking. The existing investigation confirmed that Cao Yuxiang’s shoe prints were on the stairwell adjacent to Sun Xunyan’s window, and that he ought to have climbed over from there.

Cao Yuxian had entered Sun Yao’s home in the dead of the night with the intention to rape Sun Yao’s comatose daughter right on her bed. After being discovered by Sun Yao, the two came to blows, and Sun Yao accidentally strangled Cao Yuxiang to death.

Sun Yao’s actions sounded in line with legitimate defense, but in issuing the arrest warrant, the cause for arrest engendered internal disagreements at the procuratorate–the cause being: he had strangled a man to death. Over the course of being strangled, Cao Yuxiang would’ve inevitably lost consciousness due to a lack of oxygen, and he was already no longer capable of resisting and continuing his crime, yet Sun Yao still didn’t stop, so there were suspicions of excessive self-defence and even intentional homicide.

Han Bohan’s contemplation of the case were all reflected in the close-ups of Xia Xingcheng’s face. His expression was solemn, brows slightly creased, a hand resting on the edge of the table browsing through files. He was in the midst of looking through the victim, Cao Yuxiang’s, autopsy report.

In the attached autopsy photos, the young man lay on a metal dissection table, his flesh cut open and turned over, showing the dark red internal organs underneath.

Not long after, the actor playing Han Bohan’s assistant, Xiao Wei, came over and handed him a cup of coffee.

In a split second, Xia Xingcheng’s trance was broken off. He said thank you and took the proffered coffee.

The two of them began to discuss the details of the case.

Xia Xingcheng stood up, walked to the window with his coffee, and took a light sip. He heard Xiao Wei’s actor impassionately rattle off his opinions; he staunchly believed that Sun Yao’s actions were legitimate defense, and that they shouldn’t go to trial.

“That Cao Yuxiang is human scum! Isn’t it still unclear whether what happened to Sun Xunyan back then was an accident or not? And yet that surname Cao won’t even let off a brain-dead patient!”

Xia Xingcheng listened quietly. He walked to his work desk with his coffee and sat on the edge of the desk. His fitted uniform trousers were stretched taut, outlining the contours of his thigh and ass. In a steady manner, he spoke, “Whether Sun Xunyan fell off the building due to Cao Yuxiang or not bears no relation to whether Sun Yao’s actions were legitimate defense. These can only act as considering factors when the court determines his sentence.”

His expression was very calm; his current temperament and his original self were as different as black and white.

He Zheng leaned over to Yang Youming’s ear and whispered, “Xingcheng’s current state is excellent.”

Yang Youming didn’t speak, his eyes remained trained at Xia Xingcheng.

This character, Han Bohan, was a young handsome prosecutor who grew up in a good family and had outstanding achievements. He was both smart and possessed a strong sense of justice, full of conviction towards the law, and was calm as well as self-confident at all times.

It was as if Xia Xingcheng had become one with Han Bohan. He had cast off his naivete and began to walk down the acting path with an increasingly steady gait.

This kind of Xia Xingcheng was utterly charming.

Xia Xingcheng naturally couldn’t hear He Zheng’s assessment of him–he was still immersed in his role. He picked up his coffee cup, lowered his gaze, and took an unhurried sip, and when he raised his eyes again, he said, “I’m going to check the crime scene.”

The scene ended there.

Hua Hua ran over to take Xia Xingcheng’s coffee cup, and passed him a portable mini fan.

Taking the fan, Xia Xingcheng directed the wind at his face as he made his way over to He Zheng. His expression was still serious. The remnants of his character immersion hadn’t fully dispersed.

He walked right up to Yang Youming, who was sitting down, and rubbed his leg against Yang Youming’s.

Yang Youming looked up at him and was met with the sight of his hair tossed up by the wind, in an instant, his deadly earnest aura from a moment ago ceased to exist.

Xia Xingcheng didn’t speak. In truth, he had already forgotten what he wanted to say just then. Yang Youming was always able to quickly pull him from an illusory persona back to reality. Perhaps, he thought, from the moment he entered Yang Youming’s play, he was no longer capable of walking out of it. From here on out, other plays were merely plays, only Yang Youming was his reality.

He Zheng coughed, breaking off their locked eyes.

Xia Xingcheng glanced at He Zheng, and changed back to the all-familiar Xia Xingcheng. He said, “How was the angle just now?”

He Zheng cast a glance at the leg Xia Xingcheng was stealthily rubbing against Yang Youming, acted like he hadn’t seen a thing, and merely said, “Change the angle to this side and do one more take. Let’s see then.”

“Okay,” said Xia Xingcheng.

☆ ☆ ☆

[1] 莬 = subject to change when s2 of the audio drama comes out because there are three different pronunciations of the character, which, fyi doesn’t show up in any of the dictionaries i use :’)

t/n – if any of the law stuff sounds weird please do point it out~ it was a pain in the ass to translate but pretty fun lol

⟵ Chapter 116 | TOC | Chapter 118 ⟶

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