Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 456 - 321: Fake Certificate!

Chapter 456: Chapter 321: Fake Certificate!

At one o’clock in the afternoon, the blazing sun was like fire.

There were hardly any trees by the river, just patches of reeds, yet the cicadas kept chirping incessantly.

The scorching weather turned decks of old antique boats, barges, and floating cranes hot enough to fry eggs; the hulls too hot to touch with bare hands. Naturally, work couldn’t be done at this time; otherwise, it was easy to suffer a heat stroke.

Captain Fan, Zhu Baogen, and a dozen workers hired from outside were all crammed into the air-conditioned meeting room on the second floor of the dunship, taking a nap, while Zhang Ping, Chen Zikun, and the two "interns" Liu Wenju and Guo Zhengguo were gathered in the command and dispatch room playing card games.

Just like yesterday, they would wait until about three-thirty, when the weather wasn’t as hot, to start working.

And before starting work, they had to use the water cannons on the dunship and on 001 to spray water and cool down the work area; otherwise, they still couldn’t work.

With more workers available, the construction equipment for the operations on the water was more complete than before, and the Port Supervision Bureau even sent a Deputy Director to command the emergency repairs. However, Han Xiangning was even busier than before.

Now she no longer needed to worry about ship repairs or running errands for water and food, but she had to take care of the children!

The kids had been eagerly awaiting their summer holidays, and naturally, they wanted to visit relatives and play at their houses—it could be said to be a tradition in Binjiang.

After Dongdong got off for the summer vacation, he first went to Sansing to play for ten days. He got bored playing at his maternal uncle’s and great uncle’s homes and wanted to come play at his second uncle’s place.

With the second uncle not at home, Han Xiangning, as the aunt, had to play host.

Han Shen’s son Han Xiaoxun, who is seven this year, wanted to follow his older cousin to Bailong Port when he heard about the visit, and as an aunt, she had to welcome him too.

Xu Mingyuan and Zhang Lan’s daughter Xu Yuan was also six years old. With few relatives on their side, the little girl had nowhere else to go. Her mother, Zhang Lan, said that Uncle Salted Fish had two kids here, and she also clamored to come over.

So starting from the day before yesterday, Han Xiangning turned into the Children’s Team Captain, taking care of three kids at the same time.

It was fortunate that Dongdong was twelve this year and could help take care of his younger brother and sister, otherwise, she wouldn’t have time for anything else.

Hospitality was important. The bureau had mobilized a massive workforce for ship repairs to prepare for the inspection by superiors. Similarly, entertaining the children from the relatives’ families could not be neglected.

Kids talk, and they would share how good or bad their stay was when they went back home.

She had to buy two large watermelons a day, go out to purchase ice blocks or ice cream bars in the afternoon, have soda in the evening, and choose the best meals from Bailong Port Passenger Pier’s cafeteria for dinner. After dinner, she planned to take them to Four Factory Town to watch a movie and also buy each of them a new outfit.

Compared to managing their food, accommodation, entertainment, and even doing their laundry, urging them to study was an even more headache-inducing task.

The three little ones complained about the heat outside and ran into the command cabin of 001.

Enjoying the air conditioning and eating ice blocks, they sprawled on the command console playing military chess.

Han Xiangning walked into the command cabin, closed the door behind her, and asked with a smile, "Dongdong, you’re going to be in sixth grade in the second half of the year, and it’s the final grade. Very important. When do you plan to do your summer homework? Your mom just called again to ask, if it’s not done when you go back, you can’t blame me if she spanks you."

"Auntie, let me play a little longer, I’ll do it in the evening."

"Aren’t you going to watch a movie tonight? You’re going to Four Factory to watch a movie, when will you have time to do it?"

"Then I’ll do it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow and tomorrow, there’s always tomorrow. No more dragging it out, do it now!"

"Auntie..."

"Even if you call me grandma, it’s no use, otherwise I’ll get mad."

"Alright, let me finish this game."

Seeing her aunt look her way, little Xiaoxunxun hurriedly said, "I don’t have homework!"

The little girl giggled, "I don’t want to do homework either."

"You don’t have to do homework, but you can’t disturb your brother from doing his. Come on, let’s play down in the sailor’s cabin."

"Can I finish this game?"

"You don’t know how to play, you’re just messing around."

"I do."

"Alright, alright, pack up the chess set. I’ll play with you downstairs."

Dongdong really didn’t want to do homework and started to change the subject, pretending to be pitiful, "Auntie, when is the second uncle coming back?"

Han Xiangning laughed, "I don’t know."

"I’ve been here for two days and haven’t seen the second uncle. Can you talk to my mom so that I can stay until the second uncle comes back?"

"I want to wait until Uncle comes back before leaving, too."

The three little ones were having a blast. With food, drinks, and fun here, none of them wanted to go home.

Thoroughly defeated by their antics, Han Xiangning was about to say that no matter when Han Yu came back, they had to follow the plan agreed upon earlier and send them home after a week of playing, when the distant rumble of a ship’s diesel engine made itself heard. Looking up, she saw it was Supervision Boat 41 returning.

Han Xiangning instinctively picked up the walkie-talkie and asked, "Director Jin, Director Jin, is the accident dealt with?"

"It’s dealt with, not much of an accident, just some minor collisions."

"It’s good that it’s taken care of. The supervision boat must be hot; you all must be sweltering. After you get on board, you must drink some Huoxiang Zhengqi water; otherwise, you could easily get heatstroke."

"No problem, we’re used to it."

There’s no air conditioning on the supervision boat, and it’s hotter inside the cabin than outside.

Jin Weiguo stood on the scorching stern deck, holding the walkie-talkie and gazing towards 001, saying, "Ningning, just now when handling the incident and inspecting their seaman’s certificates, we found another fake one."

There have been seamen using fake certificates before, but not as many as this year; we’ve found six just this month.

Han Xiangning was not surprised and was about to ask if they had been punished when Jin Weiguo added, "This fake certificate is strange; we found it unintentionally during the inspection."

"How is it strange?"

"It’s not theirs; they weren’t using it. Judging by the name and place of origin on the fake certificate, it seems it was made for a crew member from Jianfu Province."

"What did they say?"

"They claim they know nothing about it, saying it might have been left behind by a crew member who worked on the boat before, but this fake certificate looks very new, and just by their expressions and reactions, you can tell they’re lying."

The crew member in question was not present, and since the fake certificate was not in use by those crew members, the only action we could take was to confiscate it; punishing them wouldn’t be easy.

Han Xiangning didn’t know what to say next when the supervision boat slowly approached 001.

Jin Weiguo helped tie up the mooring rope, took the confiscated fake seaman’s certificate, jumped onto 001, and entered the command cabin.

Han Xiangning took the fake certificate and examined it closely before looking up and saying, "The workmanship, especially the embossed seal, looks somewhat familiar."

"It’s probably from the same source as those we found a while back."

"The key thing is the issuance date; this new certificate has a date that’s three years old."

Jin Weiguo glanced at Dongdong who was blinking big eyes and said with a smile, "That’s why I said it’s strange."

Han Xiangning studied the newly confiscated fake certificate again, mused, "The ones we found before were also very new, and those crew members only presented them to us when they were pressed during questioning. They didn’t intend to use them from the start, what does that suggest?"

Jin Weiguo analyzed, "They might have planned to use the fake certificates to exchange for real ones."

There were positions on a ship, and if sailors didn’t want to always be sailors and wanted to become third officers, second officers, or second chiefs, chief chief, and even chief engineers, they had to participate in promotion and even grade-raising exams.

Compared to the most basic and strictest ordinary seaman’s certificate, subsequent promotions or grade-rising are much easier; as long as one meets the service duration required for the respective position on board, in some places one doesn’t even need to take the exam personally, as the affiliated shipping company can help exchange the certificate at the Port Supervision Bureau.

In fact, the exam for the most basic seaman’s certificate isn’t very hard; it’s mainly that many who run boats are of low educational level, and may even be illiterate, and would fail no matter how simple the test.

Considering that quite a few units have the authority to issue ordinary seaman’s certificates, but not many can organize promotion or grade-raising exams, Han Xiangning said with a smile, "All these confiscated certificates are counterfeits pretending to be issued by our Binjiang Port Supervision Bureau. Later, I’ll call Brother Port Supervision Bureau and ask if there’s been a high number of people exchanging certificates issued by our bureau recently."

"But we’ve not only confiscated several fake inland watercraft crew certificates, we’ve also confiscated two fake ocean-going vessel crew certificates."

"Then call and ask the department authorized to exchange ocean-going vessel crew certificates. After all, it’s all the same system; they should help, and besides, making a call isn’t a big deal."

"Okay, here are the certificates for you."

"We really should have questioned those crew members carefully."

"They refuse to talk, and since Old Jia and Chen Zikun didn’t follow them earlier, there’s not much we can do with them."

"We must not let them go if we encounter this situation again in the future; we must get to the bottom of it."

She’s becoming more and more like the Big Commander...

Thinking back to when she first came to Bailong Port alone with her naivete, Jin Weiguo inwardly lamented how fast time flew and couldn’t help asking, "Did Salted Fish call today?"

"He did, at noon. He and Xiao Gong just arrived in Shenzhen. They say the case isn’t complex but investigating thoroughly is troublesome and sensitive. It probably won’t be sorted out in less than ten days to half a month."

"How sensitive?"

"The local area treats luring people from other places for training as an industry; they practice regional protectionism, involve many departments, and have complicated interests, so it’s quite tricky."

"Is he confident about taking down those scammers?"

"He should be somewhat confident, otherwise he wouldn’t have traced it all the way from Gaozhou to Shenzhen."

With East Guang being the window to reform and opening up, the economy has developed well, but with so many people going there to work or even conduct business, public security is also somewhat chaotic.

Jin Weiguo was somewhat worried and murmured, "How can he investigate in an unfamiliar place?"

Han Xiangning was not worried and couldn’t help laughing, "Although Salted Fish doesn’t have close friends in that area, he has contacts. Didn’t the deputy director from Liangzhuang Building Materials Machinery Factory visit last year? Salted Fish referred them some business last year, and Secretary Lu from Liangzhuang took it to heart. The project manager in charge of the construction projects being handled by Liangzhuang Construction Station in Shenzhen welcomed them."

"Really?"

"Liangzhuang not only has construction teams there but also a military leader and a director of Hui’an Province’s Residence Office. Salted Fish and Xiao Gong are staying at the Residence Office of that city in Shenzhen. You need a border pass to enter the Special Economic Zone, and it was someone from there who helped them with it."

"That means the Secretary from Liangzhuang has widespread influence!"

"Liangzhuang produces many talented people; many local or military leaders have come from there. People respect Secretary Lu a lot, if he makes a call, they’ll definitely help."

...