Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 129 - 111 You are the Host

I initially thought that, like the Yanjiang Police Station, the recently established Fourth Squad would have, at most, four officers due to the tight police force in the bureau.

Unexpectedly, there were five investigators including squad leader Xu Mingyuan and instructor Fang Zhiqiang, and furthermore, one Cooperative Defense Team member had been transferred from each of the following: Four Factory Police Station, Sanhe Police Station, and Longyong Police Station across the river.

Deputy squad leader Cao Zhongxian, 28 years old with a high-school education, used to be a key member of the Southern City Police Station, brave and combative, having cracked many cases.

Deputy instructor Wang Yan was a military transfer official from last year, formerly a reconnaissance company commander in a field army, who had fought in the Two Mountains Campaign and was a decorated war veteran!

Desk officer Niu Bin, a graduate from the provincial police college, had just been assigned here three months ago and was also an intern police.

Even though this place was not originally part of the Yanjiang Police Station, the old predecessors still deserved respect.

Xu Mingyuan introduced everyone one by one, and they all hurriedly stepped forward to salute and greet Old Zhang.

Although Han Yu was also an "old-timer" of the Yanjiang Police Station, he couldn’t enjoy the same treatment as Old Zhang. Instead, he had to salute them and even had to voluntarily hand over the keys of his little motorcycle to the soon-to-be-bride who came with him.

After Old Zhang guided them through the new office and case handling environment, he took out a large bunch of keys he had prepared earlier and began the handover process.

"This is for the police station chief’s office, this for the instructor’s office, this is the gun cabinet key... We’re keeping only the household registration office in this building; all other offices and the dormitories upstairs are handed over to you all. If you are not at ease, you can change the locks."

"Director Zhang, how could we possibly not trust you? You are our senior, and we have much to learn from you!"

"What senior, you are all capable and strong officers; from now on, it all depends on you."

Looking at these young faces, Old Zhang felt a multitude of emotions, went into the household registration office, which also doubled as the clerical office, opened a drawer, took out a calculator, and asked with a smile: "Ming Yuan, how old are you this year?"

"Twenty-six."

"Zhiqiang, you?"

"I’m twenty-eight this year."

Old Zhang walked to the door and, looking at Cao Zhongxian who was unloading items, asked, "Xiao Cao, how old are you this year?"

Cao Zhongxian hastily replied, "Reporting to Director Zhang, I’m the same age as Commander Fang, also twenty-eight this year."

Deputy instructor Wang Yan couldn’t wait for Old Zhang to ask, raising his hand with a laugh: "Director Zhang, I’m the oldest in the squad, thirty-two this year."

Seeing the squad leader look at him, Niu Bin quickly said: "Reporting to Director Zhang, I’m the youngest, twenty this year."

Old Zhang quickly did the math and sighed, "The average age is twenty-seven; your squad is really young."

Compared to the Yanjiang Police Station, the average age of the Criminal Investigation Fourth Squad was indeed young.

It was only because Little Salted Fish brought down the average age of the Yanjiang Police Station that it couldn’t compare.

Xu Mingyuan couldn’t help but laugh: "Director Zhang, the other squads are also very young, and like our squad, they are all formal officers, with no contract police."

"What about those contract police recruited this year?"

"They’ve all been assigned to the traffic police teams and various police stations. Director Zhang, your old unit now has quite a few officers too. From the original five, counting the recently assigned contract police officers, has now increased to eight."

"So it’s only our Yanjiang Police Station that hasn’t changed."

"Director Zhang, with my master here, your unit doesn’t need to worry about anything from the bureau. Now you have people when you need people, money when you need money, equipment when you need equipment. All our stations and teams combined can’t compare to your one police station."

After the Fourth Squad was established, they were responsible not only for the criminal cases of Four Factory but also for combating criminal activities in the surrounding towns.

The bureau and the big team provided only a few people, one Xingfu 250 motorcycle, and two thousand yuan in reserve funds. Everything else would require our own efforts.

As the squad instructor, Fang Zhiqiang didn’t want to miss this opportunity to "cling to the powerful," and he chuckled, "Director Zhang, we’re very young and know nothing; you’ll have to look after us more in the future. In fact, we’ve come to join your ranks."

"Stop using those tricks with me, save those words for your master."

"Salted Fish!"

Han Yu instinctively asked, "Second senior brother, what’s wrong?"

Fang Zhiqiang asked confusedly, "Who’s second senior brother?"

"You are."

"How did I become the second senior brother?"

Han Yu was about to speak when Zhang Lan chuckled, "Salted Fish is both Director Xu’s disciple and Commander Li’s disciple, and also Director Zhang’s disciple. Xu Mingyuan is the eldest disciple, and naturally, you’re the second senior brother."

Xu Mingyuan laughed heartily: "That’s right, the second senior brother."

"Why does that sound like Zhu Bajie? I’m older than you; why should you be the eldest disciple and I can only be the second senior brother?"

"Second senior brother, I first apprenticed under Director Xu, then under Commander Li and Uncle Zhang. Uncle Zhang hasn’t taken on any other disciples, but if he did, I would call them third senior brother."

"You can be the second senior brother; it’s a good title."

"Alright, if I must be the second senior brother, then so be it. Little Salted Fish, don’t forget your eldest and second senior brother when something good comes up. We’re new here and unfamiliar with the place; we really don’t have anything."

Complaining is useless; it’s all about your performance.

If you are obedient, you’ll get whatever you want.

If you don’t listen to Director Xu, not very likely, not even with ten times the courage you’d dare.

However, these things are understood without saying, and it’s not fun to talk about. Thinking about how they even dared to lay hands earlier, Han Yu looked up and said, "If there’s really something good, I’ll think of you. But you’re not allowed to touch my head again."

Xu Mingyuan couldn’t help but laugh, "Touching your head isn’t like opening an umbrella indoors; it won’t affect your growth."

"Don’t laugh!"

"Alright, alright, I won’t laugh."

"Also, don’t pat my shoulder."

"Anything else?"

"I don’t want to warm your bed for you."

"That won’t do; my parents and my uncle are all superstitious, and I have already promised them. If you say you’re not going now, where am I supposed to find someone!"

Having a seventeen-year-old officer do a seven- or eight-year-old child’s task was amusing to think about, and everyone burst into laughter.

Just as Han Yu was feeling irritated enough to grind his teeth, the phone in the office rang.

Old Zhang gestured for them to stop laughing and went inside to answer the phone.

Xu Mingyuan also realized that as a squad leader now, he couldn’t keep joking around like before, and he immediately called for everyone to hurry up and move their luggage into the dormitory.

The belongings of the Yanjiang Police Station had already been moved onto the dunship bit by bit, like ants moving house, over the previous period of time.

Considering the inconvenience for residents to manage waterborne household registrations by going to the riverside, only one registration office was left here, and no one was kept on duty. If residents came to apply for documents, they would ask the on-duty personnel from the Fourth Squad to call out using the intercom.

The cafeteria was still shared for the time being. Once a warehouse not far from the riverside enforcement base was renovated into a cafeteria and onshore dormitories, Old Qian would also move there.

In short, this place now belonged to others.

Han Yu was waiting for Old Zhang to finish his call so they could go back together when Old Zhang popped his head out and called, "Ming Yuan, Director Xu is looking for you."

"Oh, coming!"

Xu Mingyuan hurriedly went inside to answer the call.

Old Zhang handed him the phone, walked out, and asked, "Salted Fish, will the jeep from the Third Team of Port Supervision Bureau return today?"

"It will."

"That’s good."

Old Zhang put on his gloves, mounted the tricycle, waved to Fang Zhiqiang, and signaled that they did not need to see him off.

Han Yu quickly climbed onto the tricycle, sitting behind him, and curiously asked, "Uncle Zhang, does Director Xu need the car?"

Old Zhang pedaled twice, started the engine, drove out of the courtyard, and said sideways, "There’s an operation tonight."

"What operation?"

"To catch someone."

"Who are we catching?"

"To catch criminals, of course. Do you think we’re catching good people?"

Old Zhang looked back and continued, "All four people from the Water Police First Company are going to participate in the operation. They won’t go for an inspection on the river this afternoon, tell them to take the time to get some sleep. Even if they can’t fall asleep, they must rest, otherwise, they won’t have the energy tonight."

Han Yu asked in surprise, "Where are we going to catch them, and how many people?"

"We have to go to several places to catch them, about twenty or so. After I get on the boat, I also need to sleep for a bit, since I will participate in the operation tonight as well."

"What about me?"

"You and Xiao Yu will be on duty. We can’t leave the dunship unattended."

"Uncle Zhang, why not let you be on duty and let me and Xiao Yu go?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Director Xu has requested this."

Catching more than twenty criminals at once, this is a huge operation...

The more Han Yu thought about it, the more curious he became, and he couldn’t help asking, "Uncle Zhang, have Director Xu and Commander Li been so busy recently because they are investigating a case?"

In a few hours, it will be time to close the net; there’s no need to hide from Little Salted Fish any longer. Old Zhang smiled and said, "They have been busy figuring out the details of the twenty or so criminals we’ll be catching tonight. It’s not just our station’s operation but also an operation of the Police Bureau; even Director Yu is involved."

"What kind of criminals exactly?"

"You will know once they are caught. The newly established Criminal Investigation Squads are the main force. Xu Mingyuan and Fang Zhiqiang will catch five tonight, and Director Xu asked me to lead the Water Police First Company to assist them."

"But tomorrow we have the ribbon-cutting ceremony."

"Actually, we could have closed the net the day before yesterday. The reason it is arranged for tonight is precisely because of the ribbon-cutting ceremony tomorrow."

"Are we doing this to show to our superiors?"

"What do you mean doing this to show to our superiors? We need to catch them whether the superiors come to see or not. But since we have this opportunity, we must seize it, to show our superiors our combat capabilities. If our superiors are pleased, they will support our next major operations."

"There are bigger operations than tonight’s?"

"Cracking down on the water bandits, you’ve been collecting clues for many days now. But this task is arduous; it’s difficult to accomplish with our power alone, so we need Director Yu to take the lead and need support from the City Bureau leadership."

Fearful that Little Salted Fish might be upset for not being able to participate in tonight’s operation, Old Zhang quickly changed the subject: "Tomorrow’s reception work is very important. Although Director Wang from the Political Work Office is responsible, he is not familiar with the Port Supervision Bureau, the Binjiang Port Police Station, or the Changhang Police East Sea Branch.

Four Factory Police Station will arrange for people to maintain order tomorrow, and the traffic police team will arrange for traffic police to direct traffic. How many people will they bring, how will the lunch be resolved? By the way, we also need to borrow the meeting room from Bailong Port for the commendation meeting; just think, everything is an issue.

Director Xu, Commander Li and I will be too busy; you are the future chief of the Yanjiang Police Station, you are the host and must take on this responsibility. This afternoon, don’t do anything else; just organize tomorrow’s agenda properly and consider how to connect each segment. If there is any problem, call and ask for instructions and report to Director Wang."

In order to prepare for tomorrow’s ribbon-cutting and inauguration ceremony, Director Wang from the Political Work Office had been back and forth five or six times, coming up with seven or eight plans.

Just deciding where the leaders should stand for the ribbon-cutting and how to take photos repeatedly changed several times.

The space on the dunship was too small; it was narrow whether facing the ship’s side toward the shore or the river, and docks alongside the dunship is 001.

If leaders stand on the dunship, then the dunship would not be visible in the photos. If taking photos from the shore or using 002 on the river, then the leaders in the photo would appear tiny, requiring a magnifying glass to see clearly who is who...

In short, on the water is not the same as the shore, and it’s very inconvenient to organize an event.

Moreover, tomorrow’s event isn’t just the commission of the Police Barge and the Law Enforcement Rescue Boat 001 ceremony, there are also commendations and other ceremonies.

When so many leaders come at once, the railings on the boats may not fit all of them.

Han Yu guessed that Director Wang must also be in a panic by now, otherwise, he wouldn’t have said something like "if it really doesn’t work out, we’ll adapt as needed" on the phone in the morning.

Just thinking about such things gave him a headache. It was truly more straightforward to jointly inspect ships at the mouth of Bailong River with the Port Supervision Bureau.

Han Yu said with a bitter face, "I haven’t seen much of the world; I don’t understand these things."

"If you don’t understand, ask Sister Zhu for advice. She’s the deputy director of the office at the Port Supervision Bureau; her spouse is a bureau-level leader; she must understand."

"Uncle Zhang, do you understand?"

"You’ve been to many places with your parents when you were little; you even went to East Sea airport and saw big airplanes. If you don’t understand, I certainly understand even less."

"That has nothing to do with how many places I’ve been to."

"No matter how you measure it, this task can only be entrusted to you. Director Wang is not familiar with the situation, and relying on him is of no use. He will only make things worse. Reception work should still be handled by us. After going back, prepare quickly!"