WINTER, 1993

　　As the Winter Solstice approached, night flew earlier. It was not yet seven o’clock, darkness had already enveloped the land, coiling around it like a lover’s embrace.

　　Having finished his dinner at the unit canteen, Chin Lipong stepped out only to find the courtyard lamps already lit. Under their glow, the delicate snowflakes seemed to gain a touch of charm.

　　Linghai had been blanketed in snow for two consecutive days. The snow stopped this morning and the weather cleared up. Yet, it began to snow lightly again before the snow could melt away completely.

　　“Hiss—”

　　At this time, a gust of snow-laden wind blew, making Chin Lipong shiver. With no time to enjoy the snowy scenery, he hurried towards the vault duty room. When he arrived at the door of the room, he noticed it was ajar and unlocked. For this reason, Chin Lipong knew that Huo Yanjhih had returned first.

　　Chin Lipong was assigned to work at the Linghai Branch of Hedong Commercial Bank after graduating in 1983. In the same year, Huo Yanjhih also transferred from the army to work at the Linghai Branch. In this consequence, though Huo Yanjhih was a few years older, their relationship had been good over the past decade.

　　Opening the door, Chin Lipong noticed that the TV in the duty room was on. Huo Yanjhih was sitting on the sofa, his gaze fixed on the TV, but he seemed lost in thought.

　　Chin Lipong knew that he was feeling troubled for the bad loans at the Xiyu Branch. So he sat down next to Huo Yanjhih and asked, “Have you had dinner yet?”

　　“Mm-hmm, yeah—” Huo Yanjhih replied softly.

　　“Come on, just think about it—how many people in our industry, especially the credit industry, haven’t faced any kind of penalty?” Chin Lipong patted him on the shoulder to express comfort and said.

　　“Take one?” asked Chin Lipong. Seeing that Huo Yanjhih still remained silent, Chin Lipong handed him a cigarette and said, “We’ll have to endure all night without smoking once we’re in the vault.”

　　“I was punished and frustrated, too,” Chin Lipong continued, “Then I applied for a transfer to become a vault manager—as you knew.”

　　“But my situation is different from yours this time,” said Huo Yanjhih. He took and lit the cigarette, took a deep breath and blew out a smoke ring, as if the depression in his heart had been released a little.

　　“Indeed, I think the punishment was too severe!” Chin Lipong sighed.

　　Though Huo Yanjhih lacked formal education, he was known for his diligence, eagerness to learn, and resilience. Over the past decade, he had steadily climbed the ranks from a teller to a credit officer, eventually becoming the person in charge of a business outlet. The hardships he endured along the way were evident to anyone with keen eyes.

　　However, just a few days ago, the head office relieved Huo Yanjhih of his position with a document. The content of the document was concise—due to a serious negligence in his handling of policy discount loans, including those issued to Jhang Yan and five others accounts nine years ago, he was being dismissed from his post.

　　The initial punishment to him was suspension pending further investigation, with attendance to be managed by the business department. And the final penalty would depend on the outcome of the subsequent inquiry.

　　Being suspended meant that the issue was not yet settled, so it still left a glimmer of hope. But observing Huo Yanjhih’s demeanor these past few days, Chin Lipong seemed to believe that things were not as simple as they appeared.

　　As soon as Huo Yanjhih arrived at the business department, Chin Lipong had also inquired about the matter, but Huo Yanjhih remained tight-lipped. He was known for the stubbornness and extreme of his disposition. So if he didn’t want to answer, no one could pry it out of him.

　　Facing with his inquiry, Huo Yanjhih merely glanced at Chin Lipong, as expected. Then he turned to stub out his cigarette in the ashtray without neither acknowledgment nor rebuttal.

　　“What’s really bothering you?” Chin Lipong asked. He felt that he could sense a kind of emotion in Huo Yanjhih’s eyes, certainly.

　　Having known each other for so many years, Chin Lipong had never seen Huo Yanjhih display such sorrow and dejection. On the contrary, since transitioning from the military, Huo Yanjhih had always been spirited and full of vitality, as if nothing could bring him down.

　　“Just think about what kind of loan that is,” Huo Yanjhih replied.

　　In the early days of Reform and Opening-up, the government was determined to stimulate the private economy, which is why they implemented such extensive financial support policies.

　　“I see, it’s subsidized loan!” said Chin Lipong.

　　It is a kind of loan in which the financial department allocates funds to subsidize the interest, the government departments and financial institutions share the risk, and the borrowers only need to repay the principal of the loan.

　　“In that batch of loan, the government department assumed thirty percent of the risk,” Huo Yanjhih explained. “If the funds cannot be recovered, it won’t be just internal disciplinary action for me.”

　　Currently, these several bad loans showed signs of fraud and involve significant amounts, which pointed directly against him.

　　“You mean the government department might intervene—” said Chin Lipong. His eyes widened and he almost grasped Huo Yanjhih’s implication, but his unfinished words were interrupted by a sudden knock on the door.

　　Chin Lipong got up and went to open the door. Outside stood Huo Yanjhih’s wife Rumong and their child Xiaoyi.

　　“Hi, Mr. Chin!” the little boy greeted politely.

　　“Hello, Mrs. Huo! Xiaoyi! How lovely to see you!” Chin Lipong said, smiled warmly, ruffling the boy’s hair.

　　“Excuse me, is my husband Mr. Huo here?” with an apologetic smile, Mrs. Huo said.

　　“There is something I need to talk about with him.”

　　“Oh, Rumong, Xiaoyi. What’s the matter?” Huo Yanjhih asked, walked towards the door.

　　Chin Lipong had intended to let the child come inside to stay warm, but Huo Yanjhih brought his family out of the room without hesitation. Did not want to open the door again, Chin Lipong just kept the door ajar. It was only eight o’clock now. He decided to switch on the TV and pass the time by watching some TV shows.

　　Chin Lipong purposely turned up the volume of the TV to avoid suspicion, but there was still a faint sound of quarrels coming from the crack in the door.

　　After a few minutes, a suppressed growl of “Get out of here!” from Huo Yanjhih came into Chin Lipong’s ears, then, everything became quiet outside the door. After a while, Huo Yanjhih returned with the little boy, without any expression on his face.

　　It wasn’t until Huo Yanjhih helped the boy wash up that Chin Lipong asked, hesitantly, “Are you going to let Xiaoyi sleep in the vault tonight? ”

　　Huo Yanjhih responded with a grunt.

　　In order to ensure safety, it had always been a rule in the industry to prohibit unauthorized personnel from entering the banking hall and cash areas. However, with many branches having vaults and each vault needing staff on duty, there were often special circumstances. So, over the years, it wasn’t uncommon for staff to bring their children along while on duty in the vault.

　　Leaders in the banking industry were also troubled by this phenomenon. If they didn’t allow, what should the staff do with no one to look after their kids? With too many worries on their plate, it wasn’t ideal for staff who dealt with large sums of cash every day.

　　Consequently, they could only enforce rigid rules while showing some flexibility. For instance, they turned a blind eye to staff who genuinely couldn’t arrange childcare. Meanwhile, they continuously strengthened staff’s safety awareness through documents and meetings, aiming to awaken their sense of security and gradually standardize management.

　　Little boy Xiaoyi was already sitting on the sofa, immersed himself in watching TV. Huo Yanjhih sat beside him, hands propped against his forehead, hunched over without speaking, totally lost in his own thoughts.

　　Chin Lipong’s intended words of comfort suddenly got stuck in his throat. Neither of them spoke, only the sound of the TV filled the room. Since they met, he has never seen Huo Yanjhih like this. For the reason that whether standing or sitting, Huo Yanjhih always had the most upright posture, despite the disability of his leg. But at this moment, Chin Lipong felt as if Huo Yanjhih’s vitality had been suddenly drained away.

　　Chin Lipong pondered to say something, but Huo Yanjhih got up and led the boy into the vault to sleep; by the time Chin Lipong finished washing up and entered the vault, both of them were already in bed.

　　Huo Yanjhih was temporarily assigned to fill in for another vault custodian, so routine inspections were now Chin Lipong’s responsibility. He secured the outer door of the vault, ensured the cash vault was locked and the firearms were in place, finally returned to his bed.

　　“Huo? Could we talk?” Chin Lipong thought he had to say something tonight. However, all he got in response was the steady sound of breathing. Well, it seems that Huo Yanjhih wasn’t willing to talk. He sighed deeply, and soon drifted into a heavy sleep.

　　“No, dad, please! I’ll be a good kid—”

　　Suddenly, there was a boy beside Chin Lipong crying out in agony in the dream, making his sleep no longer sound.

　　“Ugh! I won’t be naughty anymore... Please! Don’t point the gun at me! I’m scared—”

　　GUN?

　　Startled and alarmed, Chin Lipong instantly woke up.

　　The light from the courtyard lamps filtered through the small window with iron wire mesh. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Chin Lipong saw the situation at the other end of the room—Huo Yanjhih was holding a gun towards Xiaoyi’s head！

　　At that moment, Chin Lipong felt his blood freeze, a surge of heat rushing to his head. The crisp sound of the rifle being cocked startled Chin Lipong awake. He quickly sat up and reached for the alarm button beside the bed. The alarm instantly blared throughout the building!

　　For this instant, he shouted at Huo Yanjhih, “No, stop! Don’t do that, please!”

　　“Ah!” the poor boy screamed, terrified and trembled, lying on the bed tightly. “Dad, spare me! Please—” he felt a warm stream flowing from his legs onto the bed when he was begging.

　　The boy thought he could avoid the black barrel by lowering his body, but the cold barrel was still pressed against the back of his head.

　　He was so scared! He buried his face in the pillow, if he could, he wanted to bury his whole body in it. It felt like his chest was about to burst, his instinct driving him to plead with his father again and again.

　　“He! He!” There came a low laugh from Huo Yanjhih. Then he said, loudly, to his son. “Alright, I’ll spare you! Just hope you won’t blame me in the future.”

　　As the alarm was blaring, Chin Lipong couldn’t hear what Huo Yanjhih said. He only knew that he needed to take Huo Yanjhih’s gun now. Seeing Huo Yanjhih move the gun away from the child, he quickly made a lunge for him!

　　However, both his reaction and agility were far inferior to Huo Yanjhih, who had been on the battlefield. He watched in horror as Huo Yanjhih turned the gun, put it in his own mouth, pulled the trigger without any hesitation.

　　“Bang!” a deafening sound rang out and the reverberation of it sunk into silence. Then the entire building shook!

　　Everything that followed became blurry and confusing. The white snow-filled midnight, red blood, yellow police cordons, and policemen surrounding the vault, all these were the vivid memories Chin Lipong would retain from that night.

　　As for Xiaoyi, the last time Chin Lipong saw him was when they went to the police station to give their statements. He was just a nine-year-old boy, who was too scared to even cry. At that moment, Chin Lipong couldn’t possibly have imagined that it would be the last time he saw the child!