Resumen del episodio 11 de Eight Hundred
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Months ago, Chen Hui was cautioned by his associates that the illicit cough syrup they were producing had a strange, plastic-like taste. Hui deduced that the flavor was likely coming from the water they were using to process the bottles. To avoid further complaints, he instructed his men to thoroughly wash all the goods with clean water before any future shipments were sent out.
In the present, Chen Hongbing and Director Tong examined the evidence recovered from the ruins of an old coal washing plant. Hongbing explained that a peculiar rainbow-like glow on the cough syrup bottle caps had triggered a memory of the polyacrylamide once used as a flocculant at the site. This was the same chemical that had caused Gao Ying’s father to suffer from chronic skin disease years prior. The scale of the operation was staggering, with five hundred bottles recovered.
While Director Tong prepared to report the discovery to the municipal authorities, Hongbing turned his attention to a specific piece of foam packaging found among the drugs. Hongbing’s investigation led him to a local electronics shop, where the owner identified the foam as packaging for a JVC 717, an imported VCD player that had been a luxury item worth over ten thousand yuan a few years ago.
Carrying a manual for the device, Hongbing’s path crossed with Gao Songge at the hospital. Songge had just finished a dialysis session and sat with Officer Liu Na, who was also receiving treatment. Moved by Liu Na’s stoicism, Songge asked how she found the courage to be so indifferent toward life and death.
Liu Na explained that her choice to face her illness alone was an act of protection for those she loved, acting as a shield to spare them pain, even if it meant eventually being forgotten by them. Later, at the roller skating rink, Chen Hui was finalizing the handover of his business to a new owner. Hongbing arrived just as workers were moving a JVC 717 VCD player into the building.
When Hongbing questioned the presence of such an expensive machine, Hui claimed it was a second-hand gift from a friend in Jin'gang, noting that it was an outdated model and likely the only one of its kind in Fengyang. Hongbing, masking his growing dread, insisted on taking an empty packaging box from the rink, using the excuse that he wanted to wrap the VCD player properly to give his wife, Ding Yue, a "brand new" surprise for her birthday.
Back at the station, he compared the box to the evidence foam; the fit was perfect. The realization that his son was tied to the drug stash left Hongbing devastated. Following a sleepless night at the station, Hongbing confessed his suspicions to Director Tong and asked to be recused from the case.
However, Tong argued that a discarded box was merely circumstantial and reminded him that their small station was too short-staffed to bring in a new investigator who wouldn't be immediately recognized by the townspeople. They agreed to seek guidance from the city bureau. Before the meeting, Hongbing visited Huang Liang in prison. When asked if he harbored any resentment for being arrested, Huang Liang assured Hongbing that he felt only gratitude.
He credited Hongbing with helping him face his mistakes and noted that his cooperation in capturing Ma Heping had significantly reduced his sentence, allowing him to live a more honest life. The family eventually gathered at home to celebrate Ding Yue’s birthday. Songge arrived with a sugar-free cake she had spent two days sourcing to ensure it was safe for the health of Chen Hui’s father and grandfather.
She also presented them with a refrigerator magnet containing their new contact information so the family could reach them in the city at any time. While searching for his grandfather’s hearing aid, Chen Hui found the VCD boxes hidden under a bed. His mother explained that Hongbing had brought the machine home but left it uninstalled by the door, so she had tucked it away.
Upon inspecting the boxes, Hui detected the distinct, sickly-sweet scent of cough syrup mixed with the smell of coal dust and saw foam residue. Realizing his father had connected the dots, Hui panicked and fled the house without a word. Chen Hongbing arrived home only to find that Hui had vanished. Disregarding the birthday dinner, he immediately called his colleague to organize a surveillance team at the coal washing plant.
As Ding Yue’s father gave a heartfelt toast, thanking her for keeping their family together for over twenty years, Hongbing was already approaching the dark washing pool at the abandoned plant. Under the dim moonlight, he saw a figure kneeling by the water, desperately trying to recover something from the depths. Hongbing moved closer, his heart heavy with the prayer that the person in the shadows was not his own son.
