Xiao Liang found a long forked branch and used it to pull the old man up from the ditch.

 

“Sir, how did you end up down there? This place is miles from the nearest village. The only time people come up here is around Qingming, when the town organizes students to clean the graves. If I hadn’t happened to pass through while hiking at night, you might have been stuck down there for a week before anyone came by.”

 

The old man gave a wry chuckle.

 

“When luck turns against you, even drinking water makes you choke. I stuck my nose where it didn’t belong and got shoved into that ditch.”

 

Xiao Liang glanced at the man’s injured leg. The ankle was swollen grotesquely. It was impossible to tell whether it was merely sprained or actually broken.

 

He noticed the old man studying him and knew what he must look like—clothes torn in several places, face bruised and swollen, scratches all over his body. Calmly, he said:

 

“I came up from the north side of the mountain. I planned to watch the sunrise from Plum Blossom Ridge. There’s a valley of pine trees there—best place to see the sunrise over the peaks. But climbing at night, I slipped into a ravine myself and nearly broke my neck. Seems like I’m just as unlucky as you tonight. Still, you’re the lucky one. If I hadn’t fallen and come this way, I’d have taken the southern path down the mountain. Who knows when someone else would’ve passed by here?”

 

The old man appeared to be around seventy. Despite spending the night trapped in the ditch trying unsuccessfully to climb out, he didn’t seem dispirited at all.

 

Xiao Liang found it curious.

 

The martyrs buried at the Red Army graves had died here more than sixty years ago. Judging by the man’s age, he couldn’t possibly have been a Red Army soldier himself. So why had he come alone into the mountains to pay respects? Was he perhaps a descendant of one of the fallen?

 

It was still six or seven kilometers from the graves to the nearest way out of the mountains. Xiao Liang carried the old man on his back, heading downhill in the pale morning light.

 

Before long, however, he realized the old man hadn’t been fooled by his story.

 

The lie might pass with ordinary people—his bruises and torn shirt could be explained away easily enough—but the old man had clearly noticed the dark marks around his wrists where handcuffs had bitten into the skin.

 

Along the way Xiao Liang tried to make casual conversation, probing here and there, but the old man never revealed his true identity.

 

Still, Xiao Liang remembered clearly from his previous life that the entire city of Dongzhou had mobilized because of what happened to this man. A sweeping “Strike Hard” campaign against crime had followed.

 

That meant even if the old man had long since retired, his influence in Jiang Province was far from ordinary.

 

But Xiao Liang had no intention of telling him everything just yet.

 

If he revealed the truth now—that he had been framed—and surrendered himself to the police, the best possible outcome, even with the old man’s intervention, would likely be the case being dismissed due to insufficient evidence.

 

Getting Xiao Yujun thrown into prison would be far more difficult.

 

And in this era, rumors could destroy a person.

 

Unless Xiao Yujun and his accomplices were brought down completely, the mere dismissal of the case would never truly restore Xiao Liang’s name.

 

On the surface, everything looked straightforward: He Hong had reported him for attempted rape. Xiao Yujun had “caught” him trying to escape from her courtyard, then gathered villagers who delivered him straight to the police station.

 

Xiao Liang had no direct evidence proving he had been framed.

 

Two days earlier, Du Xuebing had dragged him out drinking. The audit materials he’d left in his dormitory—documents proving serious financial irregularities at Nanting Juice Factory, which could also indirectly support his claim of being framed—had most likely already fallen into Xiao Yujun’s hands.

 

And after everything Xiao Liang had experienced in his previous life, he understood something else clearly: when to advance, and when to hold back.

 

Yes, he had saved this old man. Asking for help when facing hardship would be reasonable.

 

But asking for too much—or making the matter so large that even the other party found it troublesome—would only breed resentment.

 

The old man might be retired, but perhaps his children or former subordinates still held powerful positions.

 

Would they really launch a full investigation—digging up all the hidden rot in Yun She Town and even Shishan County—simply because Xiao Liang had once helped an old man?

 

Impossible.

 

If things were that simple, corruption at the grassroots level wouldn’t be so rampant.

 

If things were that simple, his father—despite being dismissed—would still have had connections left to help him.

 

—

 

“Young man,” the old man said after a while, his tone gentle but earnest, “when people are young, it’s easy to make mistakes in moments of confusion. But as long as you recognize them and correct yourself, it’s never too late.”

 

They crossed a low ridge. The dirt road widened and was now covered with gravel. A few scattered homes dotted the slopes in the distance.

 

The old man seemed to sense Xiao Liang was preparing to leave.

 

He sat down on a tree stump beside the road to rest, rubbing his swollen ankle slowly as he continued in a serious tone.

 

“You’re not a bad person. If you ever find yourself facing something you can’t get through… call the Fourteenth Provincial Cadre Retirement Center. Just tell them you once saved an old fool who got pushed into a ditch for meddling where he shouldn’t.”

 

“Villagers will be passing through here soon,” Xiao Liang said, glancing toward distant figures already heading out for the day’s work. “I won’t trouble myself taking you to the hospital.”

 

He waved goodbye to the old man—someone he might meet again someday—and left without hesitation.

 

—

 

Instead of heading directly into Sucheng Town to find a hiding place, Xiao Liang first slipped into a nearby farmhouse courtyard.

 

From a clothesline outside, he quietly took a clean set of clothes and changed.

 

After washing his face and tidying himself up as best he could—making the bruises less obvious—he walked to the roadside and flagged down a truck carrying vegetables headed toward Dongzhou City.

 

Sucheng Town wasn’t far from the city. By the time he arrived, it was only a little past eight in the morning.

 

Xiao Liang suspected the police had already gone to his home.

 

Even so, he got off the truck about three or four hundred meters from his neighborhood.

 

He and his older brother had both attended middle school in Shishan County before leaving for university in the provincial capital. After graduating, Xiao Liang had gone straight back to work in Shishan County.

 

Because of that, most neighbors barely knew him.

 

Standing outside a small convenience store at the entrance of the alley, Xiao Liang confirmed the middle-aged woman watching TV in the corner didn’t recognize him. He pointed to the public telephone on the counter and lifted the receiver.

 

In 1994, mobile phones didn’t really exist in China yet. The bulky handheld devices known as “Big Brothers” were still luxuries for the extremely wealthy.

 

Calling home from a regular landline left an easy trail.

 

But Xiao Liang didn’t want his family panicking over his situation, and he couldn’t risk making the call from Sucheng Town, where he planned to hide. So he had taken the long way back to the city first.

 

“Hello? Hello? Who is this?”

 

When the line connected, the voice on the other end was both strange and achingly familiar.

 

His mother’s voice.

 

Thirty years had passed since he’d last heard it sounding this young.

 

Tears nearly spilled from his eyes.

 

“Xiao Liang? Is that you, Xiao Liang?”

 

He stayed silent for a moment. His mother’s voice quickly turned anxious.

 

“Mom…”

 

The word felt oddly unfamiliar leaving his mouth.

 

After a brief pause, he continued.

 

“Has the Shishan County Public Security Bureau already come to the house? I’m fine. I’ve thought things through. I was framed—but running away won’t solve anything. I’ll turn myself in to the police. I believe they’ll investigate and clear my name.”

 

He deliberately lied.

 

He couldn’t allow his family to spiral into panic right now.

 

“You’ve come to your senses, that’s good,” his mother said hurriedly over the phone. “The police won’t wrong you. If you run away, they can’t figure out what really happened. You mustn’t do anything foolish…”

 

“Don’t panic. Let Xiao Liang explain the situation first…”

 

His father’s voice sounded in the background—calmer, trying to soothe his mother, though he couldn’t wrestle the phone from her hands.

 

After a moment of thought, Xiao Liang said:

 

“Mom, press the speaker button. I’d like to say a few words to the officers from the Shishan County Public Security Bureau.”

 

Once the speaker was activated, a young woman’s voice quickly came through the line.

 

“Xiao Liang, where are you? We’ll send a police car to pick you up right now. Don’t worry—if you stop running, we’ll treat it as voluntary surrender.”

 

“Who are you?” Xiao Liang asked calmly. “How do I know I can trust you?”

 

“My name is Sui Jing from the Criminal Investigation Unit of the county bureau. Captain Yuan is my mentor. As soon as he reached the hospital last night, he asked me to come to the city,” the young woman explained.

 

“He didn’t send me here to arrest you. He’s worried you might do something reckless. Your case isn’t that serious—but if you keep running instead of coming back to explain yourself, it’ll only make things worse. Do you understand that?”

 

Hearing the familiar name Sui Jing, Xiao Liang froze for a moment before replying calmly.

 

“Of course I understand my own situation. Besides, after the car accident I risked my life to pull Captain Yuan and Zhou Jun out of the vehicle. That counts as a major service, doesn’t it?”

 

Noticing the woman in the store glancing suspiciously toward him, Xiao Liang casually pulled out a ten-yuan bill from his wallet and pointed to a can of Jianlibao on the shelf.

 

He paid, placed the change on the glass counter, opened the can, and took a couple of sips.

 

When the woman returned to her seat and refocused on the black-and-white television, he continued speaking.

 

“By the way, Captain Yuan and the others aren’t seriously hurt, right? I feel guilty for leaving without helping them flag down villagers for a ride. I hope my leaving didn’t delay their treatment.”

 

Just as he expected, hearing his concern softened Sui Jing’s tone immediately.

 

“Captain Yuan broke his right arm, but he’s stable. Du Jiang and Zhou Jun are in worse shape, though they’re out of danger now—I just spoke with the hospital. Director Chen’s condition is more serious. He’s still in the emergency room and hasn’t regained consciousness.”

 

She paused before adding:

 

“No matter what, you saved them. Captain Yuan even said that once your case is resolved, he wants to treat you to dinner to thank you for saving his life.”

 

“Did Captain Yuan mention that I might have been framed?” Xiao Liang asked.

 

“Whether you were framed or falsely accused will depend on evidence,” Sui Jing replied vaguely.

 

“Ah—someone here needs to use the phone. I’ll call you back in a moment, Officer Sui. Please hold on.”

 

Xiao Liang hung up abruptly.

 

He signaled the shopkeeper to settle the bill and walked away.

 

Instead of calling back immediately, he went deeper into the alley and found a breakfast stall.

 

Half a jin of beef pan-fried dumplings and a bowl of spicy pepper soup disappeared quickly into his stomach.

 

After an entire day and night of exhaustion, the hot soup and dumplings revived him.

 

Still cautious, he walked closer to his neighborhood and entered a public phone booth.

 

From inside, he had a clear view of the intersection in front of his apartment building.

 

When he had opened his wallet earlier in the convenience store, he’d noticed a phone card tucked into the inner compartment.

 

Only then had he remembered—

In 1994, magnetic phone cards had just begun appearing on the streets of Dongzhou.