Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 13 - Honest Child

As dusk fell, the lights in the director's office remained on.

These years, directors have been appointed from other places, and Director Yang was also from outside the area.

His second son is in his second year of high school in Binjiang, a time when studies are most intensive. His wife needs to stay in Binjiang to watch over the child and hasn't transferred her work. Coupled with a shortage of accommodations in the bureau, they've been living in the office.

The agency dormitories are located next to the Police Bureau. Director Wang, having nothing to do after dinner, took a stroll and returned to the bureau to keep Director Yang company for a smoke and chat.

"Director Yang, I happened to pass by the Criminal Investigation Team this morning and overheard Xu Sanye calling Wu Ren Guang. It seems he wants to borrow someone from the Criminal Investigation Team and plans to borrow their camera for a few days."

Xu Sanye is like a ticking time bomb; information concerning him should be reported in a timely manner.

Director Wang wasn't snitching, but just worried that Xu Sanye would cause trouble again.

Moreover, it's not proper for someone who has long been transferred from the Criminal Investigation Team to bypass the deputy director in charge of criminal investigations to borrow people from the team.

Director Yang put down his teacup and looked up, "I'm aware of this."

Director Wang asked subconsciously, "You know?"

"Wu Ren Guang reported to Old Chen, who told me about it at noon. Originally, he wanted Wu Ren Guang to find an excuse to shirk it off, but it was I who told them to agree to Xu Sanye's request."

"Director Yang, aren't you indulging Xu Sanye by doing this!"

"Of course Xu Sanye shouldn't be spoiled, but his main goal is to crack down on ticket scalpers."

"Cracking down on ticket scalpers?"

"Yes, those scalpers selling boat tickets at Bailong Port."

"Isn't that under the jurisdiction of Binjiang Port Police Station?"

"The Bailong Port Police Station under Binjiang Port Police Station can't control it; if Xu Sanye wants to handle it, let him do so."

Over the years, Xu Sanye has caused so much trouble for the bureau that Director Yang was even called in by the county leaders for a scolding because of him.

Director Wang was truly puzzled as to why Director Yang would support Xu Sanye and asked incredulously, "Director Yang, he is poking his nose into everything like a dog chasing mice, you're just going to let him?"

Director Yang wanted to get rid of Xu Sanye even more than Director Wang, but it's not easy to remove Xu Sanye from his position or to transfer him elsewhere; times have changed.

He opened a drawer and took out a document, "With prices soaring, I've heard that East Sea has already returned to the era of rationing, needing tickets for everything you buy. The superiors require us to crack down on speculating and profiteering, to maintain the order of the socialist market economy. Who do you think we should crack down on?"

Indeed, this was a headache-worthy problem, especially in recent years where every unit has been starting companies.

It's said that within just five short months, certain ministries have established over twenty thousand types of companies, most of which are "official traders" dealing in commodity speculation with shell companies.

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A few days ago, there was a news story about how a thousand tons of steel in Jiangcheng got traded a hundred and twenty-nine times, and the price tripled!

All these were just transactions on paper— in fact, the steel remained stored in warehouses.

Among the eighty departments involved in this matter were all material trading centers with exclusive trading rights and other distribution departments.

The same goes for Linghai, where you need a voucher for everything you buy.

It is for this reason that the central government has decided to "take the bull by the horns" with prices, to rectify the chaos of "official traders" and to cut off the "rat tails."

Yet, contrary to expectations, as prices were liberalized, what met us head-on was the wholesale loss of control, with prices in various places running wild like runaway horses...

Thinking of his older brother's struggle to find bricks for building a house— even with money he couldn't buy them and had to ask his acquaintances to plead with relevant officials—Director Wang said with a wry smile, "Nine out of ten people are speculating, and the remaining one out of ten is thinking about it."

"Selling boat tickets is also speculative profiteering, and it has drawn great public ire; scalpers have driven the price of tickets from just over a yuan to fifteen yuan. It was even reported in the 'Binjiang Daily' a few days ago. Therefore, we should support him on this matter."

"That's true, selling tickets is speculative profiteering."

Unable to touch those with backgrounds and connections, the only option is to strike at the scalpers.

Director Wang found it somewhat ironic and fell silent. After a moment, he remembered something, "Director Yang, Old Ge from the Transportation Bureau called me early this morning, asking where we have assigned Salted Fish."

The Transportation Bureau holds considerable sway in the county, subordinate only to the Finance Bureau. But when has the assignment of personnel from the police bureau been the Transportation Bureau's concern...

Director Yang found this strange and, lighting a cigarette, asked, "What does he want with that information?"

"I was also confused at first but after making some inquiries through others, I realized that this matter is far from simple."

"How is it not simple?"

This issue was too sensitive, Director Wang somewhat regretted bringing it up. But since it was said, it couldn't be left halfway.

Hesitating for a moment, he spoke in a low voice, "Deputy Director Jiang from the County Party Office has a daughter who also graduated this year and attended normal school. Logically, she should have been assigned to the Education Bureau and then arranged to teach in a township. Instead, she was assigned to the Transportation Bureau and has been working there for over a month now."

Director Yang was startled and asked subconsciously, "Salted Fish was supposed to be assigned to the Transportation Bureau, but the position got taken over by someone else."

"That seems to be the case."

"Does Salted Fish know?"

"He should have known which unit he would be assigned to while still in school."

"Didn't he say anything, or go to someone for help?"

"No, he didn't."

"Truly an honest kid."

Director Yang let out a soft sigh and then asked, "The incident is already in the past, why did Ge Weidong call you? Isn't he just asking for trouble?"

Director Wang laughed and said, "It has something to do with Xu Sanye. He might have been scared by Xu Sanye."

"What could he possibly have to do with Xu Sanye?"

"Xu Sanye wants to repair that old tugboat to enforce the law on the river. Knowing that bureau funds are tight, he went to the Transportation Bureau yesterday to see Old Ge, asking if Director Ge could provide some money to help repair the boat so that both parties could use it together. At first, Old Ge might not have taken it seriously, but the more he thought about it, the more it didn't sit right with him, so he came to me to inquire about the situation with Salted Fish."

"He knows enough to be scared, then."

"That is Xu Sanye. Who wouldn't be afraid?"

"In fact, this matter could be big or small. Just a while ago, something similar happened in Nanhe. Two officials arranged for their children to be placed in the provincial broadcasting authority, squeezing out college graduates who were officially assigned there, and in the end, it amounted to nothing, saying that those two children were ad hoc arrangements."

Director Yang paused for a moment, then suddenly changed the subject, "However, it's not bad that Old Ge is scared. Doesn't Xu Sanye have no money to repair the boat? When you get a chance, hint to him to visit the Transportation Bureau again when he has time. This time, he should be able to get some money."

It felt a bit like setting a dog on someone.

Director Wang couldn't help but laugh, "I'll give him a call tomorrow."

...

Meanwhile, Han Yu had just closed up shop and returned to the station.

He thought that nobody would buy Luji, but many passengers waiting for boats and buses liked it. The two big bundles Xu Sanye's friend delivered this morning were almost sold out.

Han Yu started to cook porridge and went back to his dormitory to count the money. At ten cents a stick, he had sold over nine yuan in one afternoon.

After counting the money and setting it aside, he hurried to study the criminal records provided by the Four Factory Police Station and the Bailong Port Police Station.

The task at hand was to memorize the ticket scalpers first. Only after memorizing them could he match them to their trades.

The criminal record he was currently looking at belonged to Zhang Qianjin, a man from Four Factory, who graduated from junior high school and had an urban household registration.

He'd never worked and always idled about. Since February last year, he started to scalp boat tickets at Bailong Port Pier and was dealt with by Bailong Port Police Station once.

He had seen him this afternoon, looking quite friendly with the sales clerks at the commercial company stores, chatting with them at the storefront after scalping boat tickets...

It was worth mentioning that the previous documents only included text, no photos.

Now the documents had photos attached, all taken since last year when identity cards began to be issued.

Han Yu also had an identity card, issued when he was at school last year.

He used it a few times when renting books from a bookstore next to his school, putting it down as a deposit there, and after that, he rarely used it. He didn't even need it when reporting to the Personnel Bureau.

He was engrossed in his reading when Xu Sanye knocked on his door and walked in.

"Director Xu."

"Sit down."

Xu Sanye, holding his teacup, smiled and said, "Luji will be delivered early tomorrow, but you can't sell it so cheaply anymore."

"How much should I sell each stick for?" Han Yu looked up and asked.

"Twenty cents a stick."

"That's double the price!"

"Everything is getting more expensive these days. Besides, you're doing investigative work."

"Oh."

"Keeping an eye out all afternoon. How did it feel?"

"Handling cases is not simple, much harder than in the movies."

Xu Sanye pulled out a chair and sat down, smiling, "Everything is difficult at the beginning, but it won't be so hard once you get into the business. What you need now is to train your observational skills."

To love the work is to love the job, and nobody lacks a dream of being a police officer.

Han Yu earnestly asked, "How do I train?"

"What do we do? We manage people. We deal with people every day, and we need to learn to observe and study every person we see."

Xu Sanye paused, then continued, "You're selling Luji at the ticket office front, so all the customers buying tickets pass by you. No matter who you see, your first observation should be to determine if they're travelers."

"Director Xu, how do I observe?"

"If they carry no luggage, aren't in a hurry, and seem familiar with Bailong Port, and so on. If a person has no luggage, no companions, doesn't seem urgent, and even appears very familiar with Bailong Port, then nine times out of ten, that person is not a traveler."

Xu Sanye chuckled, then added, "Another thing is to observe the pedestrians' eyes—how does the saying go? The eyes... they are the windows to a person's soul. If someone's gaze is elusive, constantly looking around, and does not dare to meet the eyes of the Bailong Port Police Bureau officers, then that person definitely has problems."

"The eyes are the windows to the soul."

"Exactly, the windows to the soul."

Xu Sanye slightly smiled, adding, "At the same time, be vigilant about whether the behavior of the pedestrians is suspicious. This is like actors, everyone on this earth plays their own role.

Intellectuals speak the words of intellectuals, workers do the tasks of workers, farmers are only concerned with what interests farmers, if someone's actions don't match with their identity, then that person might also be problematic."

Han Yu nodded, "Understood, I'll start observing carefully from tomorrow on."

Xu Sanye stood up, reminding him, "When observing others, first, you must play your own role well. It's just like war, you can only defeat the enemy better by protecting yourself first."