Chapter 1358: Chapter 172: Impure Intentions!

Binjiang is particularly cold in the twelfth lunar month.

It’s not quite like the north where it easily hits minus ten degrees, but due to the damp air and lack of heating, it feels even colder than the north.

Xu Haoran’s wife, Lin Xiaoqin, is a northerner, and you’d think she wouldn’t be afraid of the cold. Yet, when she first came last year, her hands got swollen from the cold. As she put it, it felt colder indoors than outside, as if standing in an ice cellar while teaching kids in the classroom.

In such chilly weather, you’d expect people to be huddled around electric heaters inside, but Han Yu, Jiang Kun, and Xiao Yu were outside working up a sweat.

Old Han’s family bought two rows of old dormitories at Bailong Port Passenger Pier, but no one had lived there for at least half a year, and the yard was overgrown with weeds. As the weather turned colder, the weeds withered and could ignite with even a spark, so they needed to be cleared.

Two dormitories were leaking, so the tiles needed to be removed to repair the roof.

Some windows had broken glass, somehow, and needed new glass to be installed.

The iron gate at the entrance was rusted and unsightly, so the rust needed to be scraped off and painted over.

...

In short, this is going to be the home from now on, and the inside and outside need to be tidied up well.

Chinese New Year was approaching, and once everything was cleaned up, the Spring Festival couplets would be put up.

It’s the weekend, and Han Yu and Xiao Yu weren’t working, so it was a good time for them to help out with Brother-in-law.

The first thing was to tackle the problem of the leaking roof.

Han Yu climbed up the ladder, carrying a bucket of freshly mixed mud to the roof. Xiao Yu poured the mud onto the newly laid plastic sheet, smoothing it with the bricklayer’s tools, while curiously asking, "Salted Fish, where are Xiao Gong and the others heading for this assignment?"

"South Sea."

"The South Sea is a vast area; besides, for anti-smuggling, they can only go to territorial waters, not the East Sea."

"I’m not entirely sure of the specifics; they could be heading to the East Guang Coast, North Beibu Bay, or South Sea Island. Wherever there’s serious sea smuggling, they might be sent."

Xiao Yu wiped sweat from his arm and pondered before asking, "Why are they going now, why not let them go after New Year’s?"

"I really don’t know how you became a police officer."

Han Yu joked and explained, "Those overloaded cars and ships know to wait until traffic police or marine officers are off-duty to pass through. Smugglers are even smarter than those drivers; they know the Customs officers and anti-smuggling police want to celebrate New Year’s, so they exploit the holiday for massive smuggling."

Xiao Yu realized this, saying enviously, "So Xiao Gong gets another chance to earn merit!"

"But he doesn’t get the chance to spend New Year’s at home like us."

"His family isn’t in Binjiang, and he isn’t married with kids; even if he wasn’t on duty, he still wouldn’t be spending the New Year at home."

Admittedly, Xiao Yu’s words made sense.

Whether it’s the Changhang Bureau or the Smuggling Crime Investigation Branch, single police officers are the unchallenged choice for holiday duty.

Han Yu was finding this amusing when Jiang Kun returned, dragging a cart full of bricks.

Mom and Dad were coming home for the New Year in a few days, and the kitchen needed a proper refurbishment. They wanted to build a workbench and tile it, so they’d be able to place the gas stove and rice cooker on it for cooking.

"Brother-in-law, tired?"

"I’m fine. I’ll move the bricks in first; can you prepare some mortar in a bit?"

"Alright."

When it came to these kinds of chores, Brother-in-law and Xiao Yu were the "professionals," while Han Yu could only assist and lend a hand.

After mixing the mud needed for the roofing, Han Yu quickly opened a bag of cement and shoveled some yellow sand, mixing the mortar needed for bricklaying.

The three were busy working energetically when the sound of a car engine came from outside.

Soon after, a car with East Guang plates appeared in sight, signaling and slowly driving into the yard.

Sister Zhang Lan was back?

Couldn’t be, East Guang was so far from Linghai. Not only wasn’t she able to drive, but even if she could, she wouldn’t drive thousands of miles home for New Year.

Han Yu and Xiao Yu found this strange when Linghai Police Bureau Criminal Police Big Commander Wang Yan opened the car door and stepped out from the passenger side.

He was wearing a newly admired police winter coat, holding a side bag and laughingly asked, "Salted Fish, guess who this is?"

Han Yu followed his gaze and saw a driver in his thirties, dressed in a suit despite the cold weather, who was leaning against the car door smiling at him.

"Looks familiar, Captain Wang, who might this be..."

Wang Yan decided to keep them guessing, seeing Xiao Yu squatted on the roof curiously looking down, he laughed and asked, "Xiao Yu, do you recognize him?"

"I don’t know, who is this?" Xiao Yu put down his tools, decided to come down and figure it out.

Wang Yan didn’t answer his question, but laughed, "Brother, if I hadn’t brought you here and introduced you, would you recognize the two of them if you met them on the road?"

The unexpected visitor smiled lightly, "Brother Wang, Salted Fish and Xiao Yu have changed so much, I really couldn’t recognize them without your introduction."

Hearing the commotion, Jiang Kun ran out and asked, "Who is it?"

"Brother-in-law is here too, brother-in-law, when did you get back?"

Wang Yan was a reserve officer at Linghai Reserve Camp, having fought floods at Beihu with Han Yu. In fact, it was due to his meritorious achievements while combating floods that he was first promoted to Instructor at the Linghai Police Bureau Development Zone Branch, and subsequently transferred to the Bureau as Criminal Police Big Commander.

He not only knew Jiang Kun but was quite familiar with him, quickly taking out a cigarette.

Jiang Kun took the cigarette and glanced at it, noticing it was Zhonghua, habitually held it under his nose, joked, "Being the Big Commander really is different, smoking the good stuff!"

"Brother-in-law, I can’t afford such good cigarettes; this was given to me by this brother."