Restrictive Zone

RA 20 - Neighbour

A fire engine quickly arrived. Firefighters took over the hydrant pipes from the residents, and together with high-pressure water jets from the fire engine, eventually extinguished the fire within the hour.

The neighbors standing around were in fervent discussion. Jiang Chijing heard someone say that there had to be an accelerant involved in a fire of such magnitude, or the fire wouldn't have spread so quickly and taken so long to put out.

Back home, Jiang Chijing gave Guan Wei a call, telling him of the fire at Zheng Mingyi's house. Guan Wei came rushing over from the city at once, standing in front of the 'ruins' of Zheng Mingyi's house, looking furious.

"I recently brought up HX Management to the higher-ups again, but without evidence, I can't open a case."

"What evidence do you need?" Jiang Chijing asked. While wasn't very familiar with the way financial cases went, he did at least know that the regulatory board wouldn't review a firm without prompt. It was only with the appearance of something afoot they would have the grounds to open a case for investigation.

"The last time we investigated HX Management was because a few stocks they shorted had noticeably fluctuated abnormally. The matter was closed with Zheng Mingyi's sentencing and can't be reopened. Unless the stock market shows abnormal activity again or if other suspicious clues appear, there isn't any way to open another case against them.

Jiang Chijing frowned, giving it a brief thought before asking, "So the most critical element is still the clues Zheng Mingyi is holding onto, right?"

"Yes. I'm now inclined to believe that Zheng Mingyi does have clues with him," said Guan Wei. "The timing is too coincidental, otherwise. I had only just raised it to my higher-ups a few days ago and now someone has come over here to burn Zheng Mingyi's house down."

This was already the third time that someone had intruded on Zheng Mingyi's property. Likely, unable to find what they were looking for the past two times, they couldn't set their minds at ease and simply set fire to Zheng Mingyi's house to get rid of it.

"What kind of clues are they?" Jiang Chijing asked.

"In our past communications, he mentioned that they were photos and audio recordings of the CEO of HX Management, Wu Peng, having dinner with someone important."

"Could they be hidden online?"

"We've already checked his computer, there are no records of them being uploaded. Also, it's easy to wipe stuff like that online, he's got to be keeping them with him."

"If that's the case," Jiang Chijing mused, "they have to be on a memory card."

"This is giving me a headache." Guan Wei rubbed the back of his head frustratedly. "His social circle is small, we've already checked everyone there can be. He can't bring this into prison, could it have been burnt in the fire?"

Jiang Chijing lifted his chin, gazing at Zheng Mingyi's house. Even the window frames had warped in the fire. If those somethings were actually in his house, even if he had hidden them flawlessly, they likely would have lost their value by now.

"Don't worry," Jiang Chijing said. "He must have left a backdoor."

Guan Wei shifted his gaze away from Zheng Mingyi's house, staring at Jiang Chijing, baffled. "How do you know?"

"Intuition, probably," said Jiang Chijing.

With how clever his mind was, Zheng Mingyi was sure to have hidden the clues somewhere secure. It mainly depended on whether he was willing to trust Guan Wei enough to hand the clues over.

At this, Jiang Chijing sighed. He glanced at Guan Wei askew. "You know, shouldn't you check inside your unit first?"

"Goddamnit, I know that we must have a mole too." Guan Wei couldn't help but swear.

If it were Jiang Chijing, under such circumstances, he wouldn't be willing to hand over the chip in his hands as well.

"I've applied for a meeting but he didn't agree to it," said Guan Wei. "I'm thinking of applying again next week, can you help me put a word in with him?"

Jiang Chijing fell silent. Frankly, he didn't want to help Guan Wei with this.

It wasn't because he couldn't be bothered, but that Zheng Mingyi didn't even trust Guan Wei. If he vouched for Guan Wei and something went wrong on Guan Wei's end, then he didn't know how to account for that with Zheng Mingyi.

"Relax, it's just a casual chat," Guan Wei said. "He should want to know the present situation with HX Management, right?"

Jiang Chijing thought it over carefully again. It wouldn't harm Zheng Mingyi to get a better understanding of the situation outside. Besides, he was a smart guy and could make the call himself, so Jiang Chijing said, "All right, I'll bring it up to him."

Jiang Chijing didn't like to meddle in inmates' personal affairs, because the chances of being wrongfully convicted were extraordinarily slim. While he could tell who among them was genuinely remorseful, it didn't mean that they deserved sympathy.

In the half-year thereabout that he had worked at Southside Prison, only Zheng Mingyi was in prison because he was framed. This was also the first time that Jiang Chijing had encountered such a situation, and his useless sense of justice kept knocking at him. So, perhaps, it was fine if he offered Zheng Mingyi a little help.

On the Monday of the new week, Zheng Mingyi came to the library as per normal.

As per usual, Jiang Chijing sat in his work area. He looked at the computer screen when turning on the computer and entering the password, and asked, "How do you know that I like to eat strawberry jam?"

Zheng Mingyi wrung the hands that were just released, his tone even as he replied, "I happened to see you buying it at the supermarket before."

This wasn't a probe, nor was it a hint. It was blatantly telling Jiang Chijing: I know you live near me.

Inputting the password, Jiang Chijing's hands paused. He hit the enter button and the merry start-up tune rang from the computer.

He reclined back in his seat, gazing at Zheng Mingyi. "Your house was set on fire yesterday."

Neither of them brought up the subject of their addresses, but they tacitly completed their information exchange.

They weren't hiding anymore. They were both voluntarily telling the other: I know that you know that I'm your neighbor.

"What happened?" Zheng Mingyi asked.

"Should be the guy from last time," Jiang Chijing said.

Hearing this, Zheng Mingyi fell into his thoughts. Jiang Chijing idly used his index to knock the surface of the table, saying, "By the way, the strawberry jam that you made is too sweet, I even had to process it myself."

"Really?" Zheng Mingyi's eyebrows lifted. He looked at Jiang Chijing. "I thought that you'd have a sweet tooth, so I deliberately added extra sugar for you."

Jiang Chijing was speechless. "Which eye of yours did you use to discern that I have a sweet tooth?"

"Dunno." Zheng Mingyi tilted his head slightly, giving Jiang Chijing a once-over. "I just feel that you're very sweet."