Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 349 - 247: Taking the Big Picture into Account

After finishing the wontons, I continued wandering the streets.

Walking around, I surprisingly bumped into Zhang Erxiao, who was also street shopping with his girlfriend.

As long as one has the capability, they can find a good partner. His girlfriend is actually the second daughter of Principal Gao from Bailong Port Primary School.

Though they’ve known each other since childhood, they absolutely couldn’t be considered childhood sweethearts.

Not only was he orphaned and raised by his grandmother, but he also dropped out of school early to sell cigarettes and was even caught more than once by the tobacco company. He was notorious as a local hooligan in Bailong Port; nearly everyone thought he was bound to end up in jail sooner or later.

Meanwhile, the second daughter of Principal Gao, Gao Xiaoqin, excelled both in behavior and academics from a young age; she skipped grades twice in primary school due to her excellent performance.

She entered junior high a year later than Han Yu. Although her middle school entrance exam wasn’t as good as Han Yu’s, getting accepted into a normal school was still impressive. At only seventeen, she graduated and was assigned to teach at Four Factory Primary School, making her one of the most promising young women in Bailong Port.

Han Yu never expected the two of them to end up together and couldn’t help but tease, "Master Gao, you really should give President Zhang some extra tutoring. Now that he’s a big boss, he can’t afford to write poorly. Otherwise, signing contracts with his name all crooked and twisted won’t do."

Gao Xiaoqin had long recognized Han Yu, the once "junior policeman," but had never had any interaction with him.

Blushing with embarrassment, Gao Xiaoqin stood by as Zhang Erxiao chuckled and said, "I’m not good at writing anything else, but I’ve practiced my signature. It cost me a hundred bucks to get a calligrapher from East Sea to design it for me—it looks really beautiful."

"You had it specifically designed?"

"Why would I lie to you? It’s the same style as a celebrity’s autograph."

Zhang Erxiao glanced over at Han Xiangning, who was watching silently with a smile, and then animatedly continued, "I almost forgot to tell you, my formal name, as in on my ID and residence booklet, is Zhang Wuya. It’s just a nickname they call me in Bailong Port; outside, everyone calls me by my formal name."

"Zhang Wuya, did you pick that yourself?"

"Yep, ’wuya’ as in ’wandering the ends of the earth.’ How does that sound?" Zhang Erxiao said, beaming with pride.

Gao Xiaoqin felt so embarrassed she almost wanted to stand on end. She tugged at his sleeve and said apologetically, "That’s because he got inspired by reading martial arts novels. Zhang Wuji, Zhang Wuya; he said the names make you feel the magnificence of the martial world. It sounds so tacky; he even went to the Police Station to change his name."

Han Yu laughed, "Zhang Wuya is quite good. Now that President Zhang is a big boss with a status, it makes sense for a name change, no more ’Zhang Erxiao.’"

"What’s good about it?"

Gao Xiaoqin turned and glared at her boyfriend, muttering, "Wuya sounds like ’no teeth,’ and no teeth means ’toothless,’ which sounds just like ’shameless.’"

A teacher is indeed a teacher—what a power of association.

Han Xiangning finally caught on and couldn’t help covering her mouth to laugh.

Han Yu could not restrain his smile, "Master Gao, you teach Chinese, don’t you?"

Just as Gao Xiaoqin was about to respond, Zhang Erxiao grinned and said, "Shameless is shameless. If I didn’t have thick skin, if I wasn’t shameless, how could I have pursued you?"

"Brazen, not afraid of others laughing at you, and still proud to say it!"

"Salted Fish and Xiang Ning aren’t strangers; there’s no shame in speaking up."

Zhang Erxiao smiled proudly, took out his "brick phone" as if showing off, checked the time, and then got down to business: "Salted Fish, Brother Huang and I went to Liangzhuang for a look. The quality of oil from Liangzhuang Oil Mill is pretty decent, the factory director was straightforward, and Liangzhuang Town’s Secretary Lu was even more approachable, treating us to a meal, toasting us, and even arranging an Audi to drive us back."

If I were a factory leader or township leader, I would be just as enthusiastic with such major clients.

The reason Four Factory Oil Mill doesn’t take you seriously is that they’re too familiar with you.

As for the leaders of Four Factory Town, they also see you few "speculators" for what you are. Even though they know you’re wealthy, they truly look down on you.

So there’s some truth to the saying, "Monks from afar can chant the sutras well."

While walking, Han Yu asked with a laugh, "So how did your negotiations go, are you planning to buy oil from them?"

"We had great talks, they deliver to our doorstep and will help us transport the oil to East Sea. They even included the freight in the pricing, and the price per tonne of soybean oil is almost the same as the wholesale price from Four Factory Oil Mill, so why wouldn’t we buy theirs?"

"How much did you purchase?"

"We started with eight tons, made the advance payment last Thursday, and the oil was delivered the afternoon before yesterday."

"Once you’ve sold all the oil, make sure to pay them the final sum promptly."

"Don’t worry, we just opened a grain and oil wholesale store in Pudong. Pudong is undergoing major development, construction sites everywhere, and we’ve started supplying rice and oil to the construction site canteens. It won’t take two months, at the latest by the end of this month, we will transfer the payment to Liangzhuang Oil Mill."

Han Yu was genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart to see that his friend’s business was growing bigger and even helped him significantly.

Han Xiangning was even happier, because Huang Jiangsheng and Zhang Erxiao’s cooperation with Liangzhuang Oil Mill directly affected whether her dad would have face when he next visited his hometown, and even whether her aunt could transition from a private to a public school teacher.

In Liangzhuang, relationships mattered a great deal.

Her aunt had said more than once that Secretary Lu would almost every year convene large meetings to mobilize the town’s cadres and teachers and employees of enterprises and institutions to make an effort to establish relationships, helping businesses like Liangzhuang Construction Station, Liangzhuang Building Materials Machinery Factory, Liangzhuang Refractory Material Factory, and Liangzhuang Oil Mill to secure more business.

Whoever can bring business to the village enterprises, they are the village’s heroes.

Those without an official status would think up every means to solve their placement, while those who have it would be considered first for promotion, and at year’s end, there would even be a grand meeting to commend them, awarding red flowers and certificates of merit to those who have made contributions to the economic construction of Liangzhuang.

Just as the two couples were chatting and laughing, Instructor Old Li from the Four Factory Police Station rode his bicycle hurriedly to Bailong Port Long-distance Bus Station and found Old Ding on duty there.

After understanding his purpose, Old Ding holding a teacup laughed and said: "Instructor Li, if there’s no budget you should look for the Police Bureau leaders, what use is there to find an old guy like me who has stepped down?"

"Chief Ding, you are our old leader!"

"What old leader, I never led you, nor did I ever lead Director Shi."

Old Ding took the cigarette emphasizing: "I did serve as police station chief for eight years, but the money I borrowed and the debt I incurred during my term, I’ve paid it all off. I didn’t leave Yang Xihui a penny of deficit. If grievances and debts have their respective owners, then you shouldn’t be looking for me, you should go to the Southern City Police Station to find Yang Xihui."

Instructor Old Li said with a distressed face: "Director Yang definitely does not want to leave us a deficit, it hasn’t been easy for him to maintain it for a few years."

"So what do you mean?"

"Chief Ding, doesn’t your squad have some oil tickets? Money is equal to oil tickets, could you lend us twenty thousand to tide us over?"

"The oil tickets are with me, but for this matter, you have to look for Salted Fish; he’s the squad leader now. I’m just an ordinary police officer keeping watch at the bus station, and must have the right mindset to obey the squad leader’s orders. If Salted Fish agrees to lend, I’ll immediately get you those oil tickets."

"That kid is stubborn, just like his master. He won’t listen to what I say, but you help talk to him. He will definitely give you face."

"I thought you didn’t know who his master was, since you know, do you think he will give me face?"

"Since you’re his old leader and also an elder who has watched him grow up, he will definitely give you face. Besides, this is also for the police station’s work, it’s about considering the bigger picture."

Subordinates have money, the police station doesn’t, and is urgently in need of money, Old Ding can understand Instructor Old Li’s feelings.

Having been the chief of Four Factory Police Station for so many years, to say there’s no affection would be a lie. However, affections may fade over time.

Old Ding sighed quietly, speaking bluntly: "Instructor Li, your big picture is different from Salted Fish’s big picture, there is too big of a discrepancy, I can’t do this job."

Instructor Old Li said full of expectation: "Please try to help us."

"No need to try."

Old Ding tapped off his cigarette ashes and looked up: "Those oil tickets that are saved were brought back by Salted Fish from the Water Police Station. You could say that’s the Water Police Station’s special fund for Salted Fish to repair boats, only because it was not convenient to account for, could not set up a ’small treasury’, they had to be converted into oil tickets temporarily."

Instructor Old Li said eagerly: "We are just borrowing, we will return it once the budget is allocated."

"You think Salted Fish is a three-year-old child, he is Xu Sanye’s disciple!"

"So what should we do?"

"One should not engage in politics beyond their station, don’t ask me about this."

Old Ding thought for a moment, laughed, and looked at Instructor Old Li: "Actually, Salted Fish is already considering the bigger picture enough. To talk about paying the wages of auxiliary police, Old Yan, Zhu Baogen, and Xiao Yu are also currently auxiliary police of Four Factory Police Station. Did Salted Fish ever mention to you about paying Old Yan, Zhu Baogen, and Xiao Yu?"

Instructor Old Li was stumped by the question, speechless for a moment.

Old Ding struck while the iron was hot: "As for case handling funds, the squad still has over three thousand yuan of invoices not yet reimbursed. In the past one could find the Police Bureau leaders to sign off, and then go to the financial department for reimbursement. Now the Police Bureau leaders ask us to go to our own stations; has Salted Fish ever gone to you for invoice reimbursements?"

"The station is so poor we can’t even make ends meet, even if he comes to us, we have no money."

"That’s it then, he knows the station’s funds are tight, so he chooses to struggle on rather than make trouble for you, isn’t that considering the bigger picture?"

"What struggle? He’s got enough money, just in oil he has saved over thirty thousand."

"You’re just eyeing those oil tickets, I already said that’s dedicated funds for repairing boats, it has to be used for specific purposes, no one can misappropriate them!"

"Old leader, this is turning a blind eye to our plight! If we can’t complete the strike-hard campaign, and the station gets criticized later, you’ll also lose face."

"If you talk about lacking money, it’s not just the Four Factory Police Station that’s short on funds. The Police Bureau appointed you as police station chief instructor, it’s the leaders’ trust in you, think of some solutions, overcome it."

Other difficulties can be overcome, but how can you overcome the absence of money...

Instructor Old Li came full of enthusiasm, but left frustrated and disappointed.

Old Ding wouldn’t care whether he was happy or not, as if nothing had happened, took a round through the waiting hall, checked the ticket office, and then, as per usual, stood chatting with Old Liu who had just come out from the waiting room in the square.

"How many wanted notices did you receive?"

"It’s still those few we were told to keep an eye on last month; no others were issued after that."

Old Liu glanced back and whispered: "We received twelve, all of them are recent escapees, the local police bureaus suspect that they might be fleeing by boat, and through Changhang navigation police, they asked us to be vigilant."

Old Ding subconsciously looked at the ticket office and said inconspicuously: "Show them to me later."

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺