Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 164 - 133: You Dare Deceive Me

Chapter 164: Chapter 133: You Dare Deceive Me

Filled up with fuel, they went back to their dunship for a quick hot meal before hurrying back to 001 with Captain Wang to add lubricating oil and replace the heavily worn spare parts.

Lv Xiangping and Liu Xinpei hurried along with Old Qian to restock essentials like fresh water, coal, rice, vegetables, salted pork, and salted fish.

"Salted Fish, how come I haven’t seen Director Zhang?"

"Is he on little 001?"

"I just glanced over. There are a lot of people on the shore, and some women are crying."

"I didn’t notice."

While Han Yu was busy tightening bolts, Zhang Lan suddenly ran onto the ship, standing at the engine room entrance, she asked: "Salted Fish, I don’t know until when this escort will last. It seems this year won’t be good. Is there anything you need to tell your family?"

"There is something you need to tell your family..." That sounds kind of odd.

Han Yu put down his wrench and turned around to ask, "Sister Zhang, what do you mean by that?"

Zhang Lan explained, "I originally came to help Commissioner Ding for a few days, but it seems Director Zhang might have caught a chill over the river. He had a high fever last night; injections didn’t help, he’s currently at Bailong Port Health Center getting an IV."

"Uncle Zhang is hospitalized!"

"Don’t worry, I visited him this morning, and his fever has already subsided."

"That’s good."

Confirming that Old Zhang’s fever was gone, Han Yu finally took a deep breath.

Zhang Lan continued, "You guys are checking if there are any Seaman’s Certificates among the people on the ship, and so are colleagues from other places. Many shipmen return for the New Year and want to handle their Seaman’s Certificates, including those individuals who bought boats for water transport in the past two years."

Director Zhang knew the station was busy and wanted to be discharged, but the doctor disagreed. Director Xu went to see him just a moment ago and told him to rest a few more days. Then I called the bureau and they officially transferred me here."

"Sister Zhang, you’ve been transferred to our station!"

"Don’t worry, I’m here to do clerical work, in charge of finance and aquatic household registration. I’m not going to snatch the position of your successor."

Zhang Lan looked back, then covered her mouth and giggled: "The bureau leaders might have considered that the operation delayed my marriage with your senior brother, once your master brought it up, Director Yang and Commissioner Ding agreed immediately."

One spouse works as a clerical officer in Yanjiang Police Station, the other as squad leader in the Criminal Investigation Fourth Squad.

The clerical office of Yanjiang Police Station was not moved to the dunship; it remained in the Fourth Squad, allowing this couple to reunite—no wonder she was so happy.

However, what Han Yu first thought was not whether his "successor’s position" would be taken, but rather that he might have to borrow the light motorcycle from her in the future!

Done for, absolutely done for.

Encountering such a domineering and stingy sister-in-law, truly bad luck.

I must find an opportunity to have a serious talk with senior brother, to make him keep his wife in check!

As Han Yu was secretly grumbling, Captain Wang asked curiously, "Xiao Zhang, why are so many people on the shore? It seems like someone is crying."

"Old Zhu came back last night, and as soon as he returned, he fished a dead body out of the river, and then another one this morning."

"A dead person, how did they die?"

"One of the families has already come forward, the one crying on the shore, a family of four; the person drowned while fishing for eel fry. The other one hasn’t been claimed by any relatives yet, but it’s clear from the body they also drowned fishing for eel fry."

Han Yu was shocked and asked urgently, "How were they discovered?"

Zhang Lan pointed at the river: "One was found by a passing cargo ship, and the other by a small boat fishing for eel fry. They know human life is paramount, so they reported to the police immediately after discovering the bodies."

Han Yu murmured, "I knew something would happen, but I didn’t expect it to really happen, to really claim lives."

Captain Wang sighed lightly, "This is what they mean by ’people die for money, birds die for food.’"

Zhang Lan was initially in a good mood, but it dimmed as she said helplessly after a moment of silence, "The Port Supervision Bureau is tallying accidents daily. Sister Zhu said that in the past ten days alone, Changhang transportation has been disrupted multiple times, with over one hundred seventy boat capsizing incidents, many resulting in drowning deaths."

"One hundred seventy-plus capsizing incidents!"

"Yes, another one happened tonight. Sister Zhu said a cargo ship of Bai Pu Shipping Company from Gaoru County was traveling through Binjiang Lanshan Waters when it was rammed and sunk by an eel fishing boat that had no lights or nighttime navigation signs. Fifty-seven tons of corn and other goods sank to the river bottom, with losses nearly one hundred thousand, luckily there were no casualties."

"Did the leaders from the Ministry of Transport who came for inspection this morning know about this?"

"They should know, but what good does knowing do."

Fishery Administration and Port Supervision are managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, which the Ministry of Transport cannot oversee.

Moreover, the leaders were here to inspect the Spring Transportation, they likely don’t even manage the Port Supervision matters.

Knowing it was futile to ask, Han Yu changed the subject, "Sister Zhang, has Xiao Yu returned?"

"No, he went to sell fish with your senior brother."

"What fish are they selling?"

"They’re selling eel fry."

Suddenly realizing Liang Xiaoyu must be assisting Xu Mingyuan in an investigation, Han Yu puzzledly asked, "Do we have eel fry?"

"Yes."

Zhang Lan pointed to a fishing boat anchored not far away, explaining, "The night you guys started escorting, Instructor Li, Director Zhang, and Director Jin seized two fishing boats, arresting ten fishermen suspected of blocking the waterway and damaging navigation signs, and confiscated about one kilogram of eel fry from the boats."

Captain Wang curiously asked, "Xiao Zhang, how many are in one kilogram?"

"They count by the tail, they said at this stage each eel fry weighs about 0.1 grams, so one kilogram is about ten thousand."

"One kilogram is worth over thirty thousand!"

"Those two fishing boats had just come from Jianfu, they had been fishing all night before Instructor Li and Director Zhang caught them."

"On average, a person can earn over three thousand in one night."

"That’s why it’s a lucrative business, they’re not very lucky. Those with better luck catch up to ten kilograms during the fishing season."

These fish can’t be bred artificially, only wild fry are available.

The Japanese like to eat this fish, our country’s fisheries department needs to catch fry, raise them, and then export them to earn foreign exchange, and those along the Yanjiang river and coasts hope to get rich by catching these fry...

It would be so much better if the Japanese and Linghai people didn’t like eating eel.

If they didn’t eat them, there wouldn’t be so many problems, nor would so many people die, and almost every year, people die.

Han Yu didn’t know what to say, his senior sister who changed into a "Navy" coat from the Port Supervision, gasping for air, ran over to question him at fault.

"San’er, how dare you lie to me!"

"Sister Xiang Ning, when did I ever lie to you, what did I lie to you about?"

"You lied to me, saying that the house onshore was just for storage, but it’s not!"

"..."

Coming to his senses, Han Yu was so scared that he immediately got back to work and didn’t dare to make a peep.

Han Xiangning was so annoyed she gritted her teeth, standing at the engine room door furiously saying, "I wondered why you never let me push the light motorcycle inside. Turns out it’s a morgue, specifically for laying out the dead."

Zhang Lan really wanted to see the kids quarrel, but these two days there were many applying for a Seaman’s Certificate and ID cards, and the household registration office couldn’t be left unmanned, so she simply patted Han Xiangning on the shoulder: "I’ll head ashore first. Since he dared to lie to you, give him a good scolding."

Captain Wang also felt that this was no place for the elderly, picked up his tools and stood up: "Salted Fish, I’m leaving the main engine to you, I’m going to check on the anchor windlass."

Han Xiangning watched Captain Wang leave, still fuming, "Don’t play dumb, say something!"

"Sister Xiang Ning, I didn’t tell you for your own good."

"For my own good?"

"I was worried you’d be too scared to use the restroom at night."

Han Xiangning paused, suddenly realizing the junior schoolmate did have good intentions and muttered after a moment of silence, "From now on, you’ll have to accompany me to the restroom during the day too."

"Alright, as long as I am here."

"What if you’re not around?"

"Call Xiao Yu. By the way, Sister Zhang has been transferred to our station; if you’re scared you can also look for Sister Zhang."

"She doesn’t live on the Dunship, she said she lives in the household registration room."

Thinking that if not for unforeseen circumstances, the eldest apprentice brother would have already brought the overbearing and stingy Zhang Lan back home by now, Han Yu couldn’t help but laugh: "She lives in the household registration room now, but in a few days she’ll be living in a dormitory with my eldest apprentice brother."

Han Xiangning also received an invitation to Zhang Lan’s wedding banquet before, thinking that everything was ready for a wedding that didn’t happen, she chuckled and asked, "San’er, are you eyeing the red envelope for warming the bed?"

"Even if there’s a red envelope for warming the bed, I can’t pocket it myself."

"Why not?"

"She’s now my colleague, soon to be my sister-in-law, I have to contribute my share."

"How much are you contributing?"

"I asked my second apprentice brother, he’s contributing fifty, so I have to contribute fifty as well."

"You Linghai people are really generous, that’s like one month of your salary!"

"No worries, I won’t lose out."

"What do you mean?" Han Xiangning asked confusedly.

Han Yu grinned, "I’ll get married too in the future, then they have to give it back, haha."

Han Xiangning laughed, "Who are you planning to marry?"

Suddenly feeling his cheeks heat up, Han Yu hurriedly said, "Sister Xiang Ning, let’s not talk anymore, I need to get back to work. They’re soon checking tickets in the departure lounge, Bailiu is about to set sail."

This kid, obviously has someone he likes, but becomes bashful when talking about it.

Han Xiangning took out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to him: "Sister Lin called you, Sister Zhu answered, this is her new contact address."

"When did she call?" Han Yu became excited, quickly dropped his tools and climbed up.

"Sister Zhu said she called yesterday at noon."

"Besides leaving the address, did she say anything else?"

"No, she doesn’t know Sister Zhu, what could they possibly talk about."

Han Yu hastily wiped his hands dry, took the note written with the recipient’s unit, address, postal code, and communication room phone number, murmuring, "Looks like she really changed jobs, really went to work at a factory."

Despite feeling a bit sympathetic towards the younger student, Han Xiangning still jokingly said, "It’s still a Hong Kong-funded company, her salary must be quite high."

"She said the factory pays by piece-rate, the more you work, the more you earn, a skilled worker can earn up to four hundred a month."

"At her job in East Sea, working one month is equivalent to you working eight months. Once your probation period is over, her one month is still equivalent to your four months."

"She’s so competitive, willing to endure hardships, and learns quickly. Surely she can make four hundred a month."

You’re just talking about how your salaries are so different, she might not even consider you, yet here you are hoping she earns more...

They say love makes a fool of anyone, seems like the ones secretly in love are fools too.

Completely convinced, Han Xiangning laughed: "It was you who sailed the ship back just now, later it will be Captain Wang’s turn, you better hurry up and fix the machinery, finish up, and go to sleep."