A phone call across time and space

  "A toast to wine, how much of life is left. Who can relieve my worries? Only Du Kang... *hiccups*!" Shen Yang furrowed his brow heavily and threw the empty bottle out of the car window with a swing of his hand, "Those who abandoned me yesterday cannot be kept today, those who disturb my heart today bring more troubles..."

  "Stop, stop! Brother, you're my own brother," Luo Shuai interrupted Shen Yang's frown from the passenger seat. "Brother, after all these years, every time you get drunk, it's always the same few sentences. Can't we change the tune? My ears are going to grow calluses!"

  Shen Yangmei and Luo Shuai were university classmates, work partners, and close friends. After graduation, Shen Yangmei entered politics, while Luo Shuai joined his family's business and became a successful businessman. However, Shen Yangmei was implicated in a corruption case involving a deputy secretary and although he didn't lose his position, he became a marginal figure in the county committee. Around the same time, his girlfriend of several years left him for someone else. Feeling hopeless and desperate, Shen Yangmei almost ended his life. It was at this lowest point that Luo Shuai helped him out, preventing him from sinking further. With Luo's help, Shen Yangmei resigned from the county committee and started a business, leveraging his clever mind and flexible approach to ride the wave of reform and opening-up. Together with Luo, he established a moderately sized company, and now they are both considered to be relatively well-off.

  "What do you know?" Shen Yang raised an eyebrow, his eyes bleary from drinking, and stared at Luo Shuai. "Brother, this is called having talent, with a carefree and unrestrained spirit, and being well-read. Take a look at your belly, what's in there besides fat?"

  Lu Shuai listened to Shen Yang's sarcastic words, not taking them seriously at all. Looking at his own belly, which was a bit higher than his chin, he smiled and said: "This is the mark of a successful person, isn't it? If everyone were as thin as you, they wouldn't dare say they're the boss when going out."

  Just as Shen Yangmei was about to speak, her mobile phone suddenly rang. She picked it up and squinted at the unfamiliar number.

  He pressed the connect button, and the hissing noise coming from the phone made him swear in his heart: "What the hell is this crappy signal!"

  "Hey, hey, who is it?" Shen Yang shouted loudly.

  "Is it Comrade Shen Yangmei?" The voice on the other end of the phone was faint and intermittent, sometimes far away and sometimes near.

  Shen Yangmei's eyebrows furrowed in surprise. It had been a long time since she'd heard someone address her with the title of "comrade". "Yes, I'm Shen Yangmei. May I ask who you are?"

  "Comrade Shen Yangmei, I am Zhuang Lin, Deputy Director of the First Supervision Room of Quyang City Discipline Inspection Commission." The voice on the other end of the phone paused for a moment, as if intentionally leaving Shen Yangmei a few seconds to think.

  "Zhuang Lin!" Shen Yang's eyebrows furrowed as he felt that this name was somehow exceptionally familiar, yet for a moment, he couldn't recall where he had heard it before.

  "Regarding some issues with the bribery case of Xiang Beijing, Deputy Secretary of Jialiang County Committee, we need your assistance in investigation. Please come to the Quyang City Discipline Inspection Commission before 10 am tomorrow."

  "What! Which item secretary...” Shen Yang's eyebrows unconsciously applied force to the brake, and with a "squeak", the black Passat left a thick black mark on the wide road. Luo Shuai, sitting in the front passenger seat, bumped into the windshield with a "bang". The phone in Shen Yang's hand also slipped out of his hand with a "slap".

  Events buried deep in memory slowly floated into Shen Yangmei's mind, who was a full-time secretary for Xiang Beijing more than 20 years ago when she had just graduated from university and started working. Later, Xiang Beijing was promoted to Deputy Secretary of the Jiange County Party Committee, and Shen Yangmei also rose with the tide to become the Deputy Director of the County Party Committee Office. At 26, she was a deputy department-level cadre and a rising political star in Jiange County.

  Just as Shen Yangmei was about to make a name for himself, Xiang Beijing was suddenly isolated and investigated by the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission for bribery. Not long after Xiang Beijing was isolated and investigated by the Quyang City Discipline Inspection Commission, Zhang Jian, who was then Xiang Beijing's full-time secretary, brought a message to Shen Yangmei, saying that Secretary Xiang hoped he could go out and avoid it for a while. At that time, young Shen Yangmei easily believed Zhang Jian's words and left Jialiang County on the night of the same day under false pretenses. Unexpectedly, not long after, the Quyang City Discipline Inspection Commission obtained key evidence of Xiang Beijing's bribery. What is strange is that at this time, rumors outside said that Shen Yangmei provided clues to let the discipline inspection commission find Xiang Beijing's handle.

  Shen Yangmei's escape behavior was naturally seen as the most shameful betrayal. From then on, Shen Yangmei also fell from a rising political star in Jiaoliang County to a marginal figure in the officialdom, and with his girlfriend's betrayal, he never recovered.

  Until seven years later, Wang Decai, the vice mayor of Quyang City, was arrested on suspicion of embezzling huge state-owned assets and taking bribes. The court changed its verdict to "not guilty" for Xiang Beijing, and people only then learned that seven years ago, Xiang Beijing had been imprisoned for bribery because he was framed by Wang Decai, who was the county party secretary of Jialiang County at the time. After Xiang Beijing was released from prison, Shen Yangmei also visited him, but Xiang Beijing, whose spirit was almost collapsing, didn't remember that he had once asked ** to pass a message to Shen Yangmei.

  Shen Yangmei hastily picked up his phone, flipping through the call records, but no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find any record of the call that had just come in. Just then, Shen Yangmei heard a loud "Ah!" from beside him, and instinctively lifted his head, only to be met with a blindingly bright light that made him squint. A screeching sound followed, and before Shen Yangmei could react, the violent impact had sent him flying out of the car...