Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 72 - 67 Salted Fish Paste Pancake

Chapter 72: Chapter 67 Salted Fish Paste Pancake

In the dead of night, I was really worried that it would be tricky to keep an eye on the road from Binjiang to Bailong Port.

Now that Salted Fish is with the suspects, and the two Port Authority workers are taking the suspects to Bailong Port, it’s three against three, there’s no need to worry about losing sight of the suspects.

But to ensure absolute security, Zhang Junyan, Chief Zhou, Old Liu, and Liu Guixiang along with other second group members, still split into two teams.

The first team set off early, getting ahead of the three suspects to set up at Bailong Port.

The second team followed the three suspects, maintaining a distance of ten minutes’ drive, ready to provide timely support if needed without the risk of being exposed.

Han Yu took a motorcycle ride with Yang Daming and Gu Xian to Bailong Port State-owned Inn, arriving at one-thirty in the morning.

Huang Jiangsheng pretended not to know Han Yu, accompanied Ye Xingguo, and others to check in, then went to the room to get out three boat tickets.

Normally, scalpers sell fifth-class general seating for fifteen yuan each, and fourth-class cabins are even more expensive.

Ye Xingguo was well aware that boat tickets were hard to come by, and since he had only met the seller once before and didn’t have a deep relationship, he was grateful for such help at a critical time, so he didn’t mind the high price of the tickets and readily paid one hundred yuan, asking if he could possibly get one more.

Huang Jiangsheng complained that they should have mentioned it earlier; it was too late at night to find any tickets.

"We’ll talk about it tomorrow morning, if we really can’t buy it, we should think of a way to get on the boat."

Shen Rulan knew from the moment she found out that Little Salted Fish wanted to learn English that this child was worth nurturing, she turned back and comforted Han Yu, who looked anxious.

Han Yu asked with a bitter face, "Sister Shen, how can we get on the boat without tickets?"

"Adults can bring children, just follow us when they check the tickets. If the ticket inspector asks, you say you’re twelve years old this year."

"Will they believe that?"

"Speak nicely to the ticket inspector at the time, there won’t be a problem, and if needed we can pay the fare on board."

"Alright."

"Rest early; we have to catch the boat early tomorrow and can’t oversleep."

In the several rooms next door were police from Bailong Port Police Station and from Binjiang who rushed over. Salted Fish was with those foreign exchange dealers, so there was nothing for Huang Jiangsheng to worry about. After chatting a few more words with Ye Xingguo, he rode his bicycle away.

Zhang Asheng and Shen Rulan, the couple, shared one room.

Han Yu and Ye Xingguo shared another room.

After riding a motorcycle for more than an hour and in the middle of the night, they were so tired that they could barely keep their eyes open and went to bed without even washing their feet.

When they woke up, it was already seven o’clock in the morning, and Ye Xingguo was urging with a cup of tea in his hand, "San’er, get up quickly and wash, after washing, let’s go eat breakfast."

"Manager Ye, I’m not hungry; I want to sleep a bit more."

"We have to go to the waiting room soon, get up now, you can sleep on the boat."

Han Yu wasn’t really fond of sleeping; he was just worried about being recognized by the people of Bailong Port if he went out like that.

But the tickets were to be checked for the boat at eight o’clock; he couldn’t stay in bed any longer and had to get up. He looked back at the travel bag that served as his pillow last night, yawned, and said, "Okay, I’m getting up now."

Ye Xingguo, curious to see him immediately checking his bag as soon as he woke up, asked, "How much money did you bring?"

"One thousand two hundred and sixty-five!"

"That much? You don’t look like it, but you’re a little rich kid."

"I only have two hundred and six. The one thousand was given to me by my dad the last time he returned, he knew I wanted to buy a tape recorder."

"What kind of tape recorder do you want to buy?"

"I want to buy Sanyo, if there’s no Sanyo then I’ll buy Yanwu."

Ye Xingguo couldn’t help singing with a smile, "Yanwu, Yanwu, a song brings a whole lot of feelings!"

Han Yu laughed and asked, "Manager Ye, you know about it too?"

"It’s on TV every day, who doesn’t know."

Ye Xingguo laughed heartily and motioned for him to go to the washroom to wash up and brush his teeth.

Just as feared, after washing up and packing his bag, he ran into an acquaintance as soon as he stepped out of the inn!

Zhang Erxiao was hawking cigarettes, Ye Xingguo and Zhang Asheng happened to be running low on cigarettes, and they actually stopped him to ask about the price of Peony brand cigarettes.

Han Yu didn’t even have time to hide; his heart was pounding with nervousness.

To his surprise, not only did Zhang Erxiao not recognize him, but he also vaguely asked, "Boss, where are you headed to, did you manage to get tickets?"

After paying for the cigarettes, Ye Xingguo quickly looked around: "We are going to Sixteen Piers, do you have tickets?"

"Do you want fourth-class tickets?"

"How much for one?"

Zhang Erxiao looked around towards the ticket office to ensure that there were no police from Bailong Port Police Station at the entrance, and discretely stated: "Twenty."

Ye Xingguo, worried about Little Salted Fish not being able to board the ship, asked in a low voice, "That’s expensive, can it be cheaper?"

"It can’t be helped, that’s the price."

"Okay, I’ll buy one."

"There are four of you, one ticket is not enough."

"We have three, just short of one."

"All right, there are too many people here, let’s go over there."

Han Yu realized that Director must have tipped him off, and Director was probably nearby. Not daring to look around, he quickly unzipped the travel bag.

Ye Xingguo pressed him down: "It’s on me, first go to the opposite side and have breakfast with Manager Zhang."

"Manager Ye, how can this be."

"Don’t say anything, there are too many people here."

Zhang Asheng, anxious to meet those Indian sailors in East Sea and not wanting to find scalpers and complicate things, pulled Han Yu’s arm, "San’er, listen to Manager Ye."

...

After cracking down on ticket scalping at Bailong Port, he became somewhat of a celebrity there, though not as famous as Xu Sanye.

Many people around him used to recognize him, but now it seems like no one does anymore, which made Han Yu feel like everything was so unreal. Finally, the weight he’d been carrying in his heart began to lift.

After finishing breakfast and waiting for a bit in the waiting room, he went to check his ticket and board the ship.

Shao Lei was on duty today, and his reaction was much like that of Zhang Erxiao, constantly reminding passengers not to crowd and to watch their step.

Han Yu was almost certain that Director Zhang had given the ship’s crew a heads-up, trying to hold back laughter as he followed Ye Xingguo and the other two to their cabin.

Meanwhile, having been busy all morning, Xu Sanye returned to the police station.

Li Weiguo had a meeting to attend at the Police Bureau in the morning and was not present.

Old Zhang arrived early and was sitting in the cafeteria, drinking porridge and chatting with Old Qian.

"Director Xu, hurry up and eat breakfast before it gets cold."

"I’m here, I’ll just wash my hands first."

Old Qian ladled out a bowl of porridge for him and chuckled, "Director Xu, Zhang Lan called to say there’s an issue in her department, and she won’t be coming today. Captain Wang has gone to the Transportation Bureau to deliver paperwork for licensing, and he won’t be back by noon. Director Liu and Manager Wu have gone to Binjiang to buy equipment; not sure when they’ll be able to return."

Xu Sanye turned back to ask, "What about you, Old Zhang?"

"Captain Chen called this morning, saying it’s been a while since all those fishermen from their area have been around, it’s rare to catch them all. I’m planning to take a ferry to Longyong soon, and I probably won’t be back until tomorrow."

"What about Zhu Baogen? Why isn’t he here today?"

"Baogen took the day off. An old man from Baisha Sixth Team died, and the funeral is today. They asked him to help carry the coffin."

There were fishermen on this side of the river, and also in Longyong Town across the river.

And any fishermen who fished in Linghai Waters fall under the jurisdiction of Yanjiang Police Station.

Old Zhang was in charge of household registration, so knowing that those fishermen were around, he of course needed to take the ferry over to urge them to get their papers in order.

As for Zhu Baogen, he was just a member of the Cooperative Defense Team with a meager salary, just fifty yuan a month.

If someone asked him to help clean up a dead body or to carry a coffin, and if the station wasn’t too busy, they would definitely approve his leave and let him earn a little extra money. Otherwise, what could he do with such a small salary?

Thinking about these things, Xu Sanye shook the water off his hands, sat down, and said, "Old Qian, so it seems it’s just the two of us for lunch today."

"Yeah, when there are fewer people, I don’t even know how to go about cooking."

"Just cook something simple for us."

"The thing I’m afraid of is cooking ’something simple’. Director Xu, what do you want to eat?"

Little Salted Fish was unexpectedly entrusted with an important task by the Binjiang Port Police Station—attaching to a specific assignment.

The more Xu Sanye thought about it, the more entertaining he found it, and he couldn’t help but laugh, "I feel like eating salted fish pancakes, Old Qian, can you make them?"

Confused, Qian Dafu reluctantly replied, "Making salted fish pancakes is easy, but it’s not cold enough, we haven’t pickled any salted fish, and you need little salted fish for that dish."

Xu Sanye laughed heartily, "Let’s pickle some little salted fish when the weather gets colder."

For Qian Dafu, who liked dealing with fish, this wasn’t a big deal at all, and he agreed without hesitation, "Sure."

Seeing Old Qian taking it seriously, Old Zhang couldn’t help but laugh.

After gobbling down his porridge in just a few mouthfuls, Xu Sanye set the bowl down and walked out of the cafeteria.

Old Zhang followed him and asked, "Director Xu, how is the situation with the Salted Fish?"

Xu Sanye glanced back and replied with a smile, "The investigation is leading to bigger and bigger things; there’s some substance to it."

"How big?"

"Now it’s involving several foreigners. Luckily we took a shortcut and passed the lead on to Zhang Junyan. If we had to investigate it ourselves, it wouldn’t be easy."

"Why not?"

"To arrest foreigners, especially a whole bunch of them, do Director Yang and the ’wall grass’ have the guts for that?"

Xu Sanye offered a cigarette, looking up towards the direction of Bailong Port Police Station, "Binjiang Port Police Station is different from us; they’re at a higher administrative level and can report directly to their bureau, and their leadership can go straight to the Ministry of Police.

If we were to handle it, we’d have to report it to the City Bureau from our bureau, and then the City Bureau would take its time to report to the Provincial Police Department, and by that time the Provincial Department would finally report to the Ministry of Police, and then the matter would have grown cold.

Moreover, if offsite investigation is required, we’d have to seek assistance from the East Sea colleagues. For them, going to East Sea is like going back to their mother’s house; they’re provided with vehicles and manpower."

Local police refer to the Provincial Police Department as "Provincial Department".

Since Binjiang Port Police Station is under the Ministry of Transport Police, they refer to it as their "bureau".

Their phone call can reach the Capital; something the Linghai Police Bureau definitely can’t do.

Old Zhang nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "What do you mean by ’going back to their mother’s house’? Where would they go to find vehicles and assistance in East Sea?"

"They would go to Changhang East Sea Branch. They were originally a police station under them, later placed under the management of Binjiang Port Authority. Although now their personnel and financial resources are managed by Binjiang Port Authority, they are still part of the transport system."

"Will the Changhang police assist them?"

"Zhang Junyan said that the leadership of their bureau had called Changhang East Sea Branch and requested full assistance, and if necessary, they could jointly investigate."

"Involving Changhang police too, what does that make of us?"

"The case is complicated. There are reasons why the leadership of the Ministry of Transport Police made such a request; we shouldn’t be short-sighted."

With more parties involved, more will need to share the merits...

Old Zhang, puzzled, inquired, "What reason?"

Xu Sanye explained, "Involving six foreign suspects, if we really were to extradite them back here, where would Zhang Junyan and his team send the suspects? Which detention center would accept them? In the future, if they are sentenced, which prison will they be sent to?"

Old Zhang understood as if by divine enlightenment, "The East Sea Police Department’s detention center has the conditions to imprison foreign suspects, and East Sea also has a prison dedicated to incarcerating foreign criminals."

"That’s why the leaders of the Ministry of Transport Police are insightful, thinking things through very comprehensively."

"Never expected it would blow up this big. Director Xu, is it appropriate for us to only have Salted Fish, a kid, handle it?"

"What’s inappropriate about it? Besides, this isn’t our case to begin with; we’re just outsourcing labor. If we send too many people, Director Yang and the ’wall grass’ will definitely badmouth us later, or even accuse us behind our backs of being disloyal."