Though the night is long, there are still someone who burn themselves to light it up.
纵长夜难明，有人以命燃灯。
Someday in 2010, a suspicious man with a large suitcase entered into a metro station. In order to avoid the security check, he claimed that there was a bomb in the suitcase. Though, after the long-time confrontation with the police, he finally got arrested. But what extremely shocked the police is that what the suitcase contained was not explosive, but a body. The name of the body was Jiang Yang, and the man who carried him was Zhao Chao, a well-known lawyer of that region, as well as the teacher of Jiang Yang.
在2010年某一天， 一名可疑男子带着一个大行李箱来到了地铁站。为了逃避安检， 他声称箱子里有炸弹。在一番与警察的对抗后， 这名男子被逮捕了。但令警方十分惊讶的是， 箱子盛着的并不是炸药， 而是一具尸体。死者名叫江阳， 而带着他的男子曾是他的老师， 名叫张超， 是当地一名颇有名气的律师。
But if you intend to explore the truth of this case, we must trace back to 2000. 10 years ago, when a collage student called Hou Guiping went to a poor and remote village as a voluntary teacher, he discovered the corruption of the county supervisors from the death of his student by chance. And he even took a photo which could prove this case, then his discovery was released and later he was killed by those people, but the scene was pretended as an accident.
但是，事件的真相，还要追溯到2000年。十年前，一名叫做侯贵平的大学生来到一个偏远山村支教， 但却从他学生的死亡中意外发现了县领导贪污的事情。事后，他又拍了照片作为证据。然而，事情败露，侯贵平也被幕后黑手杀害，但他的死，被伪装成了意外。
2 years later, Jiang Yang was promoted as a section chef in the prosecutor's office of the county, for him at that time, he had a bright future. One day the girlfriend of Hou Guiping found Jiang Yang and explained her doubt of Hou Guiping’s death, since her boyfriend had sent her some notes as well as some of the clues of the negative behaviors of some of these officials. “What is the fact of his death?”, with his justice and the sense of responsibility, Jiang Yang wanted to find the answer.
两年后， 江阳晋升为县检察院科长， 前程无量。一天，侯亮平的女朋友找到江阳，因为她曾收到她男朋友寄来的遗书和证据， 所以他表明了对侯亮平死因的怀疑。“真相到底是什么？”江阳怀揣着正义和责任感，想要去寻找答案。
However, at this moment, he hasn’t realized how tough this work could be. Of course his secret investigation was also revealed, and in the process of his detection, he chose to break up with his girlfriend, his family were threatened, he gave up the chance of promotion and he was even accused of the crimes which had been made up. But, simultaneously, he found his partners as well as friends who insisted to provide assistance.
但在那时， 他还不知道这件事情将会有多么艰巨。当然，他的秘密调查还是没能逃过那些人的眼睛。在此期间，他与女朋友分手， 他的家人受到威胁， 放弃了升职机会， 甚至他本人也以莫须有的罪名被指控。但与此同时， 他也找到了志同道合，互帮互助的朋友们和队友们。
After Jiang Yang was released from the jail, he lost everything except his friends. Even though they spared no effort and eventually found out the proof and a victim of that case, Jiang Yang was unfortunately diagnosed as cancer. Considering that he had lost all his reputation and had little time left, he decided to suicide and instruct the police to expose the truth with the guidance of his partners after his death. So that’s why in the beginning of the story, Zhang Chao appeared in the metro station with his body.
在江阳出狱后， 除了朋友，他失去了一切。 其实如此， 他还是不遗余力地找到了证据和被害者， 但在最后，他还是不幸地确诊了癌症。考虑到他时日无多名声扫地， 于是他决定以自杀的方式， 在队友的帮助下， 引导警方查出真凶。所以在故事开头， 张超才带着他的尸体出现在地铁站。
Beside the realistic social problems this story has reflected, at the same time, it raised a discussion about a controversial topic---- the procedural justice, which means that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done. So in this TV series, for the achievement of the procedural justice, the main characters paid huge costs and took huge risks to make the villains get their punishment under the law instead of just killing them directly. To some degree, this idea seems to be a little bit cruel, for instance in the end of this story, the partners of Jiang Yang finally obtained their sentences as they had made panic events in the city. However, it is still the most efficient way to offer protection to most of the people for now.
除了它所反映的社会现实问题， 这部剧同时也讨论了一个具有争议性的话题——程序正确， 即正义不仅应得到实现，而且要以人们看得见的方式加以实现。所以在剧中，为了实现程序正义，主角团付出了巨大代价也冒着极大的风险， 让反派受到法律的审判，而不是直接杀了他们。在某些程度上，程序正义显得有些残忍，比如在剧中， 江阳的队友们也在剧中因为制造恐慌而被判刑。 但他依然是目前保护绝大多数人的最有效的方法。
Actually, this suspenseful TV series is not supposed to be a conservative one, since some of the plots are not arranged in a very logic way. But through its empathy of the main characters as well as the warning of our society, all of these are able to demonstrate the excellence of this product. And Jiang Yang absolutely impressed us a lot, who sacrificed his youth, reputation, family and even his life for the ultimate justice which made him even rather noble.
其实， 这部剧并不是传统意义上的悬疑剧， 有些情节也不是逻辑严密。但从任务情感的渲染以及对社会的示警， 都足以见得制作团队的功力。 很多人也一定被本剧的主角江阳所打动， 他放弃了他的青春、名誉、家庭甚至生命来捍卫心中的正义，也使他的品质更加高尚。
Someone with great wealth immersed us in the long night, but there are still someone who burn themselves to provide tiny light in the darkness. I believe that, there are still someone like Jiang Yang and his partners, who persist in the justice even in the hardest time and wait for the dawn with hope.
有人只手遮天，让这个世界看不到光明。有人以命燃灯，给漫漫长夜一点微弱的希望。我相信世界上一定还有像江阳这样的人， 在黑暗中怀揣希望， 以待破晓的黎明。
Author: Kong Yilin
Date: February 18, 2021
