Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 210 - 165 Unattainable_2

Chapter 210: Chapter 165 Unattainable_2

The young traveler hugged the child and explained, "The first time I saw you was 22 years ago. Back then, we were on the ’Gongnongbing Number 5’. When you saw my mother carrying so much luggage and holding onto me, you didn’t say a word and just picked up the shoulder pole to help us with our bags."

"Really? How old were you then?"

"This is my daughter; back then, I was about her age now."

"Think about how fast time flies. You were just a kid then, and now you have a child of your own."

The person before him was the famous "shoulder pole model". Whenever he saw travelers struggling with too much luggage, he would help them carry it with his shoulder pole. Over the past few decades, he wore out dozens of shoulder poles!

At the time, many travelers didn’t know that he had been promoted from an attendant to a Political Commissioner, but he still continued to do good deeds like Old L Feng, even to the point of getting swollen shoulders.

Later, he took the initiative to resign from his position as Political Commissioner, content to remain an ordinary attendant.

The leaders at the Marine Police Bureau had strongly suggested that Han Yu board this ship, and it had a lot to do with this Old Political Commissar.

Because learning is all-encompassing, it not only involves studying ship piloting techniques but also learning the selfless dedication of a model worker.

Decades later, seeing the "shoulder pole model" again, the young traveler was very excited and described animatedly, "My parents, sister, and grandmother are all in East Sea. I used to live with my grandparents in Qingdao when I was little. Before I was six, my parents would travel by ship to and from Qingdao and East Sea every year. From the age of six, I started taking the ship back and forth by myself.

Every year, for both winter and summer vacations, I would make two round trips until I started working and then it was just once every four years for my home leave. From the early days on ’Combat 47’ and ’Combat 49’ to ’Gongnongbing Number 5’ and ’Gongnongbing Number 6’, and now the ships with ’Chang’ in their names, I’ve been on them all."

The young traveler’s mother pushed her way forward, laughing, "Master Yang, don’t laugh at us, but we’ve donated all our wages to your Marine Bureau!"

"Regulars, huh."

"What about being regulars? No discounts, and the ticket prices have doubled. We can hardly afford to take the ship anymore."

This year, the country enacted the Price Law, and prices started to rise as soon as it was implemented.

Last month, the Ministry of Transport adjusted the coastal passenger transport prices, with an average increase of 96.6%.

The base price for passenger transport along the northern coastline is 0.0241 yuan per nautical mile per person, and for Southern China, it’s 0.053 yuan. Express lines are 30% more expensive than regular lines, and seasonal tourist routes are 20% more.

Despite the price of a fourth-class cabin ticket from Qingdao to East Sea rising from a dozen or so yuan to now thirty-three yuan and eighty cents, they were still hard to come by.

Even the fifth-class scattered seats have gone up to nineteen yuan and forty cents, but on the Changxiu, which has a certified capacity of over 800 passengers, there are now over 2,600 travelers.

It occurred to Han Yu that the tickets for ships from Sixteen Piers Pier to Bailong Port must have also gone up, but considering he was first going to the Changhang Police East Sea Branch for an exchange, and then to the Marine Police Bureau by the Changhang East Sea Branch, he felt unaffected by the hike. After all, he didn’t need to buy a ticket to take the ship.

Before he knew it, the passenger liner had entered the Yangtze River.

The waters at Qingdao Pier are blue, with seagulls soaring and dancing above.

But after entering the Yangtze River estuary, they sailed through the surging yellow mud soup, a river full of yellow water.

When the passenger liner slowly made its way into Wusong Port and into the Huangpu River, there were ships lining the river and factories standing along the banks. From Wusong Port to where the ship docked at Gongping Road Pier, the journey spanned tens of miles of waterways, cutting right through the urban area.

Qingdao’s passenger piers are beautiful, but Gongping Road Pier is old and decrepit.

After the passenger liner was docked, Han Yu greeted the Boatswain, told the Chief Officer, and then shouldered the well-packed luggage and carried two boxes of canned Qingdao beer he had bought ashore.

After squeezing through narrow Gongping Road, he ran to the bus stop on East Changzhi Road and found a public telephone booth to call Lin Xiaohui first.

He asked the security uncle at their factory’s reception to call her, and then he hung up.

After waiting for four or five minutes, he dialed again and sure enough Lin Xiaohui’s voice came through.

"Salted Fish, have you landed?"

"Mhm, just got ashore. I’m heading to Sixteen Piers Pier to take the ship home in a bit."

Lin Xiaohui muttered, "I thought you’d come to see me."

Han Yu hurriedly said, "I really don’t have time this time, I’m going to Binjiang to take the self-study exams."

She had always thought he was a kid who never grew up until he and Han Xiangning came to visit her more than four months ago. Lin Xiaohui suddenly realized he was no longer a child.

He liked her, and he was the only one in the world who cared about her, but the only problem was his love for the sea. If only he wasn’t so stubborn and found a job in East Sea, just like her.

Lin Xiaohui didn’t want to let the moment pass, pressing him, "Then when will you have time?"

She misses me...

Han Yu’s heart pounded with emotion, he said hastily, "We usually don’t rest; we can only wait for a holiday."

"When is your holiday?"

"I don’t know, I have to wait for the company’s arrangement."

"You’re with the police; why wait for the company to arrange it?"

"I am with the police, but I’m apprenticing here, almost like being on a training program. I have to follow the Captain and the Chief Officer’s instructions."

Afraid she’d be displeased, Han Yu thought for a moment and added, "Either we don’t take holidays, or when we do, we get a lot of days off."

Lin Xiaohui asked curiously, "How many days can you take off?"

"Fifty-four statutory rest days a year. Married people get a month of home leave; unmarried ones like me get twenty days. Altogether, that’s seventy-four days."

"Do you want to settle down?"

Han Yu hadn’t expected her to ask that and chuckled, "Of course I do, but I’m not old enough and don’t have enough money right now."