Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 319 - 226 Secretary Lu’s Formal Business

Chapter 319: Chapter 226 Secretary Lu’s Formal Business

Having connections really makes a difference.

Salted Fish, by building bonds and pulling strings, turned an unreasonable Secretary into a very generous person; Old Zhang found everything so unreal.

Victory Village had a telephone installed, which was located in the Village Secretary’s home.

The Village Secretary called to say Huang Jianping was at home, and Secretary Lu immediately asked the Village Secretary to have Huang Jianping come over to surrender himself, seemingly not worried that Huang Jianping would flee.

While waiting for Huang Jianping to come to the township government to "surrender", he even strongly suggested that Han Yu and Old Zhang visit enterprises such as Liangzhuang Construction Station, building materials machinery factory, oil press factory, and refractory material factory, personally accompanying them.

Compared to Dinghu, Liangzhuang’s industries were indeed better developed.

But the regional differences were obvious, and they could not be compared to the towns of Linghai.

Riding in his imposing Audi, he collected a stack of business cards, including one from Secretary Lu.

The front title read "Communist Party Si Gang County Liangzhuang Town Committee," with the name "Lu Huisheng" in the middle, followed by his title as Secretary.

The back was more interesting than the front; it read "Si Gang County Liangzhuang Town Agricultural Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation," with the same name, and his positions as Chairman and General Manager, his contact details and address were the same as those on the front.

This left Han Yu and Old Zhang unsure whether to address him as Secretary Lu, Chairman Lu, or General Manager Lu.

Back in the township government courtyard, Aunt indeed had arrived, chatting joyfully with Director Zhou of the comprehensive governance office.

"San’er, it’s really you! Director Zhou mentioned you came to handle a case, I thought he was mistaken."

"Aunt, sorry, I didn’t manage to visit you."

"Did you visit Grandma?"

"I did, at noon, Dad and Mom asked me to bring a lot of things home."

When Old Lu got out of the car, Han Shuqin quickly smiled and said, "Secretary Lu, Salted Fish has caused you trouble."

"No trouble at all, Xiao Han is not only your nephew-in-law but also the son-in-law of a colleague of my daughter-in-law; he’s not an outsider."

Old Lu laughed heartily, praising, "Master Han, I heard your class did well this year. The children’s good grades show you’re a competent class teacher; you teach well."

In Liangzhuang, everyone feared Secretary Lu, except for teachers.

Han Shuqin couldn’t miss this chance to express grievances, muttering, "What’s the use of teaching well, still a private school teacher without an official position."

"Comrade Shu Qin, don’t worry, for teaching backbones like you, the town will surely strive for you. You should not only focus on teaching but also use your spare time to improve your qualifications by studying."

"Thank you, Secretary Lu."

"No need to thank me, it’s what should be done; we say Liangzhuang produces talents, if we don’t have teachers like you, how can we produce talents? I emphasized this in the recent Party Committee meeting, we can save on anything but not on education funding. The town will arrange funds soon to send outstanding teachers from Liang Middle School and Liang Primary School for further training."

Old Lu waved his hand generously and then turned back to ask, "Zheng Fa, has Huang Jianping arrived?"

"He’s in the conference room."

"Master Han, please wait outside for a while, I need to handle something with your nephew-in-law."

"Okay, go ahead."

The top official of the town participating in the interrogation, what kind of situation was this.

Han Yu had no choice but to follow him into the conference room with his briefcase.

Huang Jianping was forty-six years old but looked older and very honest, sitting there with his legs trembling nervously, indeed, he didn’t seem like someone who would commit a crime.

"Xiao Han, Old Zhang, start questioning, I’m just observing."

Old Lu set up his belongings like a vendor, placing his pager, cigarette, lighter, and teacup one by one on the table, then sternly reminded: "Huang Jianping, the police will not wrong a good person nor let a bad person go, Director Zhang and Captain Han wouldn’t have come all this way without evidence.

Your attitude is everything now, answer whatever they ask, don’t hide anything, don’t evade important points. You’re always out and about, you should understand the principle of leniency for confession and severity for resistance."

Hearing that the police from Binjiang had reached Liangzhuang, Huang Jianping was terrified.

Seeing Secretary Lu sitting in front of him, his heart settled a lot, nodding continuously.

Old Zhang was full of emotion, thinking that although this Secretary often didn’t reason, he did have certain authority in the town, otherwise, Han Xiangning’s aunt wouldn’t respect him so much, and Huang Jianping would not be so cooperative.

Han Yu didn’t want to delay Secretary Lu’s time any further, quickly took out paper and pen, and recorded while asking questions.

Huang Jianping answered every question and each time glanced at Secretary Lu or Agent Li.

"Did the opponent start first?"

"Police comrades, there were several boats on the river that day, each with many people, you can investigate if you don’t believe."

"How did he start?"

"His wife started it, she rushed up and grabbed me, nearly scratching my neck off." fearing that the police from Binjiang wouldn’t believe, Huang Jianping unbuttoned his collar to show his scratched neck.

"Xiao Han, the other party only suffered two broken ribs, not a serious injury."

"Secretary Lu, do you mean..."

"I get your method. Even if I don’t, Old Li sure does. It takes two to tango, and with such minor mutual combat injuries, it’s generally not pursued criminally."

Agent Li agreed wholeheartedly, staring intently at Han Yu and Zhang Mingyuan, "Even if injury assessment is done, it will only classify as minor injury at most, insufficient to pursue criminal charges, only administrative penalties."

The injured boat owner from Salt Sea actually had only one rib broken, the other was only cracked, not fractured, and there were no thoracic injuries like hemothorax or pneumothorax, indeed qualifying as minor injuries.

Under normal circumstances, only administrative penalties would be applied to Huang Jianping.

If Huang Jianping had cooperated earlier, not fled after the assault, and had honestly accepted the police’s decision, he would certainly have been given a lighter punishment. However, he fled on his boat after the assault.

If they don’t bring him back, it would undermine the reputation of "The First Post of the Yangtze River", especially since he assaulted someone just outside Bailong Port lock, which is tremendously damaging to its reputation.

Han Yu saw Director Zhang hesitating to speak and blurted out straightforwardly: "Secretary Lu, Agent Li, we definitely need to bring him back, otherwise, it’s hard to explain to everyone involved."

"What are your plans on handling this?"

"Detention for less than fifteen days, a fine of two hundred yuan, and he must compensate the other party’s medical and nutritional expenses. Considering the victim is also at fault, let’s not bother about the lost wages. We can help mediate with the victim once we get back."

"Do you definitely have to take him back and detain him?"

"We must bring him back."

Agent Li was about to speak when Old Lu pondered, "Since we absolutely must bring Huang Jianping back, take him away. Let him be detained for a few days and learn his lesson. There are many individual boat operators in the whole town, and this can serve as a warning to others."

Finally, Han Yu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "Thank you, Secretary Lu."

"No need to thank me, you’re just doing your job. Let Huang Jianping wait here; if he runs, I’ll take the responsibility. Come on, let’s go to Mrs. Fu’s Restaurant for food while we talk proper business."

"Secretary Lu, let us take care of the evening, you’ve helped us a lot."

"You are Master Han’s nephew-in-law and also my daughter-in-law’s coworker’s son-in-law, it’s rare for you to visit Liangzhuang, I must show hospitality as the host. How could I let you pay? It’s decided then, let’s walk over, Mrs. Fu’s Restaurant is very close."

As Secretary Lu said, Mrs. Fu’s Restaurant was less than forty meters away from the township government, indeed not far.

It seems like the only decent restaurant in Liangzhuang Township, with pickled vegetables sold downstairs and a few private rooms upstairs.

A big table filled with local countryside dishes was served.

The drink was local Si Gang Liquor, costing six or seven yuan a bottle, not luxurious.

Han Yu couldn’t handle his liquor, getting drunk easily, and with the need to drive later that night, he kept apologizing while Old Zhang and Master Han helped explain.

Secretary Lu was good-natured about drinking, not forcing Han Yu to drink.

Old Zhang couldn’t refuse any longer and quickly took the opportunity to toast Secretary Lu, Agent Li, and Director Zhou to express gratitude.

Casual chats and drinking made for a very harmonious atmosphere.

Just as Han Yu was quietly proud of utilizing hometown connections, Secretary Lu put down his drink, and changing the topic said, "Director Zhang, Xiao Han, does this mean you’re just adjunct to the City Police Water Police Team and not really city police officers?"

"Our Yanjiang Police Station operates under the City Bureau’s Water Police Linghai Team, but Salted Fish is indeed serving as a squad leader within the Water Police Team."

"So in the end, you all are from Linghai, Xiao Han, you will return to Linghai after your assignment ends?"

"Yes, I’m retiring next year, just waiting for Salted Fish to come back and take over my post."

"I’ve been to your place."

"Secretary Lu, you’ve been to Bailong Port?"

"I travel frequently for work, once, unable to get a ticket to East Sea, I took a passenger ferry from Bailong Port. Though my son Lu Sun works at the Port Authority, it’s a large department and he doesn’t deal with passenger services. He had just started working back then, so he couldn’t even secure a ticket for me."

"Next time you need a ticket, contact me. My sister is at the Binjiang Port Police Station, now part of Changhang navigation police. Even if she can’t get a ticket, she can still get you on a vessel."

"Not needed now, if we go to East Sea these days, we won’t take a ferry, we have cars and we use the Bisha Ferry."

Secretary Lu turned to look at smiling Master Han, then put down his chopsticks and laughed, "Director Zhang, Xiao Han, your Linghai is economically well-developed, it’s been better than Si Gang for over a decade, surely even more now.

You also visited the construction station earlier, strong capabilities, they’ve even won the Luban Award. Keep an eye out for us, if there are any construction projects in your area, help us introduce them."

"Secretary Lu, we are just local police..."

"Local authority is better than distant officials, besides, who handles development and construction of commercial buildings or factories, you guys definitely have first-hand information and you surely know the responsible people; when the time comes, just help us make an introduction, I’ll send the construction station’s President Wang to talk to them."

Indeed, the Chairman and General Manager of Agriculture Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation even started discussing business!

Han Yu found it both amusing and challenging, unsure what to say, Old Zhang just bitterly smiled, "Secretary Lu, we also have many construction teams in Linghai, a construction station in every township and village, each station with many construction teams, some have even worked on international projects."

"You also have many construction stations?"

"I’m not lying, you should come and see."

"So, there’s fierce competition in construction projects there?"

"Very fierce!"

"No worries, if we can’t get the contracts, we can do something else like construction machinery manufacturing, you saw our plants earlier, Liangzhuang-produced tower cranes, mixers, and winches are sold across China, seen at major city construction sites."

While prompting everyone to eat, Secretary Lu laughed, "With so many construction stations and teams in Linghai, you definitely need construction machinery and equipment. I’ll have the deputy manager of the construction machinery plant visit Linghai and run around; please help us introduce them then."

So, this was his "important business"!

Ingratiating one’s benefactor makes it hard to refuse later; having eaten his food, once the plant’s deputy manager visits Linghai, they’d have to help him find customers...

Han Yu regretted deeply, thinking if only he knew it would end up like this, he wouldn’t have indulged in networking or connections; if only he had straightforwardly paid the 500 yuan cooperation fee, none of this would have happened.

But there’s no cure for regret in this world; a favor owed must be repaid.

Moreover, his aunt was smiling at him, considering her face, he couldn’t disappoint her.