So his direct superior was that impressive, and that Secretary Han wasn't just his boss, you could even say he was his mentor.

Director Huang was greatly astonished, and even more envious of Xiao Gong.

Instructor Liu smiled and said, "Xiao Gong, it's rare for you to bring your girlfriend home, you should go to Yangzhou to pay a visit to Mayor Ye. He knows you're Secretary Han's subordinate and remembers you. If you go visit, he'll definitely be very happy to see you."

Go see Secretary Ye, what a joke.

Secretary Ye is now the Vice Mayor, such a big leader, how would it ever be my place to go see him.

Just as Xiao Gong was finding it funny, Director Huang actually agreed in all seriousness and said, "You really should go, but you need to call Secretary Han first to ask for instructions. If Secretary Han tells you to go, then you two go."

Since he'd come back so rarely, dropping in on his old leader on the way wasn't completely out of the question the more he thought about it, and he hadn't intended to ask his old leaders in Linghai for help anyway.

After weighing it for a moment, Xiao Gong still shook his head. "No time, I have to go back to my unit first thing tomorrow morning."

"In such a rush?"

"We have our own duties, and over there we had a string of theft cases in the last few months. Even though we're anti-smuggling police now, as long as it's something on the river we can't ignore it. I have to hurry back."

"Thefts on the river?"

"On boats. That bastard committed seventeen cases in just two and a half months, and he might even have climbed aboard a foreign vessel to steal. The impact is very bad."

One spoke without thinking, the other listened with intent.

Director Huang pondered for a moment, then stared hard at Xiao Gong and asked, "How did that bastard commit the crimes?"

"We suspect he swims out to the anchorage, climbs up the anchor chain onto the boat, and sneaks into the wheelhouse to steal while the owner and crew are asleep. He's a strong swimmer, gutsy, and in good shape—dared to go into the water in such cold weather. We asked the Local Police for assistance and spent over half a month screening people, but didn't find anyone matching those characteristics."

"Old Liu, call Xu Hao, tell Xu Hao to hurry back."

"Okay."

"Director Huang, what's wrong?"

Director Huang took out a cigarette and said, "This summer, we also had seven boats that dropped anchor overnight in our area get hit by thefts. It's different here from Binjiang. The Changhang navigation police only have one Yangzhou Police Station here, and they only handle Security for the Yangzhou Port passenger terminal, which is far from us.

There is a Water Police Division, but the Water Police Division mainly handles Security on the canal and not so much Security on the river. The owners together lost over a hundred thousand, and they all came to us to file reports. From what you just said, the modus operandi is very similar."

You wear out iron shoes in vain looking everywhere, only to get it without any effort.

Xiao Gong asked urgently, "He also swam in the middle of the night, climbed up the anchor chain onto the boat to steal?"

"Yeah." Director Huang tapped off some ash and said through gritted teeth, "Back then we didn't have any good ideas either, we could only assign a dozen or so people from the Cooperative Defense Team to stake out along the river. Never expected that bastard to be so bold he'd strike again in the same waters, and he actually got pounced on by our Cooperative Defense Team!"

"And then?"

"Our Cooperative Defense guys didn't know where he went into the water, they just saw him sneakily swimming over to a boat hugging an empty bottled-water drum. He tied the empty drum to the anchor chain and climbed up the chain onto the boat. Unfortunately one of the Cooperative Defense guys didn't have experience and couldn't hold back. When he saw the guy climb up to the bow he flipped back the tarpaulin to grab him. That bastard realized there was an ambush, splashed into the river, and after he swam a bit his figure just vanished."

...

At four-thirty in the afternoon, Han Yu had just taken over babysitting from his father-in-law and was sitting in KFC keeping Little Han Han company while she ate fried chicken.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't keeping company; he was watching Little Han Han eat.

Han Han was eating with great relish, but she didn't gnaw cleanly and there was still meat on the bones.

For how expensive it was, just tossing it like that was too wasteful.

Han Yu glanced around, confirmed no one was paying attention to them, and was just about to help his daughter gnaw the remaining meat off the bones when his phone suddenly rang. The caller ID showed Yangzhou's area code.

Could it be Secretary Ye?

Han Yu didn't dare keep Secretary Ye waiting and quickly wiped his hands and answered.

"Hello, this is Han Yu, may I ask who's calling…"

"Secretary Han, this is Gong Jian. I just happened to learn something at my hometown Police Station. That river thief very likely drifted over to Binjiang!"

"Hold on, it's too noisy with too many people here, I'll take this outside."

Han Yu warned his daughter not to run around, walked out of KFC, stood outside looking at his daughter through the floor-to-ceiling glass, and raised the phone. "What's going on?"

Xiao Gong succinctly reported what he'd just learned, then thought for a second and emphasized, "The modus operandi is identical, and the time frame matches. The last theft case here in my hometown and the earliest one in Binjiang are six days apart."

There's no such coincidence under the sun!

Han Yu realized it was very likely the same person and said excitedly, "No wonder we kept screening and screening and couldn't find any leads. Xiao Gong, this trip home was not in vain. I'll call Director Zhao and Liu Zhi right now, have them hurry over and get the details, see if the cases can be linked together!"

Director Huang kept winking at him.

Xiao Gong hesitated a moment, then cautiously said, "Secretary Han, the Director Huang and Instructor Liu at our hometown Police Station said Secretary Ye was my old leader, and since it's so rare for me to come home, they're asking if I should go see Secretary Ye."

Han Yu only knew Xiao Gong was from Yangzhou. He had never thought to connect Xiao Gong with Secretary Ye, who had transferred to work in Yangzhou last year. He felt there was some sense to what Xiao Gong said and couldn't help laughing. "You should go, go on my behalf. I have the phone number of Secretary Ye's secretary; I'll help you make contact. Remember to bring your girlfriend. Secretary Ye will definitely be very happy to see you two."

"So I really should go?"

"Why would you only go 'fake'? When Secretary Ye sees you two lovebirds he'll not only be happy, he'll treat you to a meal, hahaha."

Han Yu thought for a moment and continued, "Also, don't rush back. If you want to catch that river thief, you'll definitely need your hometown Police Station's help. The Water Police Station and Changhang Bureau will definitely assign people over. You'll be in charge of communication and coordination."

"Yes, sir!"

"Right, I'll call Secretary Ye's secretary now. When you see Secretary Ye, give him my regards."

"Got it."

The fact that Xiao Gong could actually see Mayor Ye made Director Huang feel like he was dreaming.

Instructor Liu was much calmer and quickly said, "Director Huang, Xiao Gong hasn't really been to Yangzhou City much. Why don't you make a trip yourself and drive Xiao Gong and his girlfriend over. I'll handle the case. When our peers from Binjiang arrive, I'll receive them."

Director Huang knew very well the good intentions of his partner and smiled. "That works too, I'll leave things here to you."

Not understanding the reason, Xiao Gong hurriedly said, "Director Huang, there's no need to go to all that trouble."

"It's no trouble, we happen to have a car at the Station. Once Secretary Han has helped you make contact, I'll drive you two over."

Afraid Xiao Gong would refuse, Director Huang added, "Don't worry, I won't go into the City Government, I'll wait for you outside."

"That's not right."

"It's fine. I'm on such good terms with your dad, and besides, you two are the pride of our township. Both publicly and privately, I ought to drive you."