I will always put you first (WangXian modern au)

16. "My death for his life"

Captain Lan Wang Ji, Yunnan

Helplessness.
Frustration.
Desperation.

I am feeling all these negative feelings all at once. I want to run to my Wei Ying. I want him to be my Wei Ying again. I want to be his Lan Zhan again. I can't stand the way we are parting at the gate. I want to apologize. I want to make him forget what I said. He looked like he is breaking apart. I made him look like that. I hurt him. Again. I decide to message him in a little bit or call. Hopefully when he will be alone. I can't wait to hear his voice call me 'my Lan Zhan' again.

I feel like only my body returned to my desk from the gate. I am wondering how will I ever handle the day today, but as (bad) luck would have it, I didn't need to worry about handling my day. In the first half an hour of reaching my desk, I am summoned to a meeting with the seniors, and my world is thrown into further chaos.

"Captain Lan, what is the meaning of this?", Major Lao questions me sternly throwing an envelope on the table. I open it and see it contains photographs. They show me with another man in some sort of a high-end hotel setting. A man dressed in black is passing a briefcase to me. He is one of our prime suspects in the drugs case here at Yunnan.

"Sir, these photographs have got to be fake. I have not met this person or been to this place." I respond firmly. I absolutely do not need this today. "Please can I be excused so I can go to my Wei Yiaa?" my anguished heart is pleading. I have no choice but to ignore those pleas for now.

Major Lao and Major Nie exchange a look. "You will have to do better than that, Captain. This is a very serious matter. We cannot simply take your word. We both have known you for years. We have worked closely with you and we have only seen you be sincere and honest. We both do want to believe you. But these pictures you see here? They have been emailed to all other officials too. So it's not just us who you will have to convince.", Major Nie explains.

I feel somewhat better knowing that at least my immediate boss and another Major who I think highly of, are on my side. I summon the knowledge from my criminal psychology training and try to address it logically.

"Sir, with all due respect, for anyone to commit a crime they have to have three things - means, motive, and opportunity. I might have had the means to do it, I can give you that. But what is my motive? You know my lifestyle. It's a lifestyle I have chosen for myself. Do you really think a person with my simple lifestyle, who owns 30% shares in the Lan medical group would be so much in need of money that he needs to accept a bribe? And risk the career I have chosen for myself? Why would I do that?" I present my arguments and see both my seniors nodding in agreement.

"Let's talk about the opportunity part - these pictures are dated from a couple of weeks ago. That was the time when we were rescuing the people from the residential complex. How and when do you think I had the opportunity to meet with someone in the middle of that chaos and get a briefcase full of money without anyone noticing? Sir, I hope you can understand that someone is trying to frame me." I pause and wait for their response.

"All your points are valid, Captain. Both of us have vouched for you and have asked for two weeks' grace to be granted. You have exactly 14 days, Captain Lan, to prove your innocence and find the real culprit. You may leave now.", Major Lao says dismissing me.

"Thank you for your kindness, sir. I truly appreciate your trust and support. I will not let you down." I salute and head out. Back at my desk, I gather the pictures and also make notes about everything we know or can find out about the sender of these emails.

I wish I could just give up on all this and go to my Wei Ying. If resigning from this job could let me do that, I would resign in a heartbeat. But here more was at stake - my seniors' career which they had put on the line for me, my team's trust in me, not to mention innocent lives of people impacted by the drugs business. It would be selfish of me to forget about all that and just give in to my love for my man, for my Wei Ying.