Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 224 - 172: Grand Opening on the Ship

Chapter 224: Chapter 172: Grand Opening on the Ship

No time to change into my uniform, I just took out the red armband from my pocket and put it on.

I squeezed onto the second deck and found the man with suspicious behavior. Xiao Zhengfa showed his credentials and began to interrogate.

Han Yu stood by tacitly, closely watching the man’s reactions to prevent any sudden violence.

He used to be short and skinny, not strong enough to fight others.

Now he is taller and stronger than before, and he has been exercising every day at the station, training hard in grappling skills. Although the exercises lessened after boarding the ship, the workload increased, so handling a young adult male shouldn’t be a problem.

"What’s your name?"

"Zhang Dahai."

"Which Zhang?"

"The Zhang with a bow in front."

Interrogation is a skill, and Special Commissioner Xiao’s seemingly simple questions had already elicited that this sneaky traveler was fairly educated, at least not illiterate.

Han Yu thought to himself that he had learned a new tactic and quietly observed the subtle changes in the man’s expressions, ready to act when necessary.

"Where is your hometown? Do you have an ID card?"

"From Dongshan. I don’t have an ID card; I never applied for one."

"Do you have any other forms of identification? A work permit, household registration book, or recommendation letter would do."

"None."

"You don’t have anything?"

"Comrade, I didn’t know I had to bring these."

Zhang Dahai seemed composed, but you could tell he was nervous. His body subconsciously moved backward, but since there was only the cabin wall behind him, there was nowhere left to retreat.

Han Yu even noticed something off about his gaze; he did not dare to look Special Commissioner Xiao directly in the eyes and was stealthily glancing outside, as if planning to flee.

He definitely had something to hide, but it was unknown if he carried any weapons or whether he would become desperate...

Han Yu suddenly felt nervous too.

Xiao Zhengfa, who had been a Police Special Envoy for many years and had caught a murderer, was experienced in interrogating and asked with no change in his demeanor, "What do you do for work?"

"I’m a farmer, unemployed."

"What are you going to do in East Sea?"

"To find work."

"What work?"

"I don’t know yet; I will look for it once I get to East Sea." Zhang Dahai sneaked a glance, thought for a moment, and then added in a low voice, "I can endure hardship, I can do any kind of work."

If jobs were so easy to find in East Sea, then so many educated youths would not have been unable to return to the cities...

While Han Yu was scoffing at this thought, Xiao Zhengfei pressed on with the questions: "Have you been to East Sea before?"

"No."

"How do you know that jobs are easy to find in East Sea if you’ve never been there?"

"I have a friend in East Sea who said that it’s not hard to find work there."

"What does your friend do in East Sea?"

"He runs a small business."

"What kind of small business?"

"Selling ginger."

"What’s his name and where does he sell ginger in East Sea?"

"Zhang Sanzhu, from the same village as me. He has been in East Sea for many years, selling ginger in a vegetable market in East Sea Baoshan."

"Do you plan to look for him?"

"Yes."

...

Zhang Dahai answered all the questions, seemingly not lying.

Just as Han Yu thought he had misjudged the situation, Xiao Zhengfa suddenly grabbed Zhang Dahai’s arm: "Come, follow us to the onboard police office."

"Police comrade, I’m a good person!"

"Who said you are a bad person? We just want to learn more about your situation. This is your luggage, right?"

"Yes."

"Salted Fish, help him carry the luggage!"

The onboard police office was very small, with Old Jin and Xiao Wu making a record inside.

Xiao Zhengfei didn’t want to disturb Old Jin and Xiao Wu’s work, so he took Zhang Dahai into a steward’s duty room on the first deck.

The duty room was also quite small, barely accommodating three people.

Xiao Zhengfa closed the door, scolded, "Stand still, we are going to search you and check your luggage!"

Zhang Dahai panicked, veins on his forehead bulging as he shouted frantically: "I haven’t killed or set fires, I haven’t stolen or robbed, why search me..."

"What’s all the yelling for? Look carefully, my name is Xiao Zhengfa, a police officer of this passenger ship, and I have the right to inspect you!" Xiao Zhengfa showed his credentials, then grabbed his shoulder firmly and pressed him against the cabin wall.

Han Yu, catching his breath, quickly held his right shoulder and began the search.

Upon searching, to their surprise, they found a spring knife in his trouser pocket!

"What is this?"

"A knife."

"What do you need a knife for?"

"For self-defense."

Xiao Zhengfa ordered him to squat down, while signaling Han Yu to inspect his hand-carry bag, speaking coldly, "You don’t seem to have anything, but people like you without ID, fixed address, or legal job, will be detained and repatriated once you arrive in East Sea, understand?"

Old Jin heard the noise and came out of the onboard police office to the doorway.

Seeing another policeman arriving, Zhang Dahai dared not shout anymore and squatted quietly in the corner.

Inside the bag was a teacup, a towel, two pancakes wrapped in waxed paper, and a small packet of paper-wrapped pig head meat.

Han Yu took out each item one by one and placed them on the table, and finally pulled out from the bag a plastic-wrapped item.

In front of Zhang Dahai, he opened the bag and discovered it was full of money!

The denominations were not one or two yuan bills, nor were they five or ten yuan bills; they were all one hundred yuan bills.

Seeing the money exposed, Zhang Dahai turned as pale as steel and trembled violently.

Xiao Zhengfa glanced back and said: "Salted Fish, count it."

"Yes."

There were six stacks in total, five of which were neatly bundled with a bank employee’s seal on each money strap.

Having seen more money during the investigation of illegal foreign exchange, Han Yu was not particularly shocked.

Old Jin had never seen so much large-denomination cash and stood at the doorway gaping in astonishment.

Han Yu counted carefully and looked up to report, "Special Commissioner Xiao, a total of fifty-eight thousand four hundred yuan."

"And there are over three hundred more here."

Xiao Zhengfa glanced at the wallet they had found just now and stared at Zhang Dahai asking, "Where did all this money come from? With so much money, why would you need to work?"