Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 361 - 255: The Timing Is Wrong

Cracking down on shore, we must be just as tough on the water.

At nine o’clock in the morning, the City Bureau held a meeting for the heads of waterway security management departments of each district and county police bureau at the Water Police Station.

Linghai Police Bureau does not have a specialized waterway security management department, but only a Water Police Squadron at Bailong Port. Han Yu was specifically named by the bureau to attend the meeting.

It was unexpected that only a few days after returning to Bailong Port from the sub-bureau, there was such a big change at the sub-bureau, which had suddenly set up three new waterway police stations including Gaoru and Jiezhi Gate, extending their jurisdiction over waterway to coastal wholesale seafood markets and other units.

What was even more unexpected was that during the meeting, a City Bureau leader in charge of the Water Police Team (Water Police Station) mentioned the name of the Four Factory Police Station Water Police Team, announcing the capture of a theft suspect and the retrieval of the guns for the Four Factory Public Security Department.

Even had him stand up to be commended in front of so many people.

Luo Wenjiang, who was also in attendance, couldn’t contain his excitement, relentlessly giving knowing looks, as if his face was inscribed with "Captain Yu is awesome!"

After the meeting, Han Yu slipped into the Political Commissioner’s office, closed the door, and curiously asked why there were such significant changes at the sub-bureau.

"What’s so surprising? Relying solely on combating waterborne crime won’t feed everyone; we have to request jurisdiction from the City Bureau."

Wang Wenhong closed the door and spoke lightly.

Han Yu asked in amazement: "If there’s jurisdiction on shore, is there an opportunity to generate revenue legally and perhaps collect some security fees?"

"It’s all because we’re being squeezed by a lack of money."

"Political Commissioner, I was planning to scrounge a meal at the canteen before leaving, but after hearing what you said, I’ll skip it and head back now."

"Even if we are poor, we still won’t miss feeding you. Eat before you go."

"No, my mother-in-law knows I’m attending a meeting at the sub-bureau; she wants me to come home for dinner and afterwards take me to see how the newly bought house is getting set up."

Wang Wenhong unconsciously asked: "The one at the People’s Hospital family quarter?"

Han Yu grinned and said, "That’s the only one I have."

"Since you have things to do, you should hurry up and not keep your mother-in-law waiting."

"Should I really go now?"

"Go on, why all the fuss."

Wang Wenhong impatiently dismissed Salted Fish, and recalling what Zhang Junyan mentioned over the phone yesterday, he couldn’t help but sigh heavily.

At that moment, Director Peng knocked on the door and came in.

"Old Wang, Old Jiang quietly pulled me aside and said a few words just now."

"What did he say?"

"He said they couldn’t secure funding and wanted to take over Salted Fish’s dunship and the 001 from the city leadership. The city leaders all agreed, and Director Chen didn’t seem to object either. It’s only Yang Zhengguo who didn’t agree."

Director Peng’s "Old Jiang" refers to the deputy director of the Changhang Bureau, who attended the meeting as a representative and sat at the main platform along with the City Bureau leaders.

Wang Wenhong didn’t expect Old Jiang to tell Director Peng and hesitated before he said, "Yes, there’s such a matter. I only found out about it this morning."

"What exactly does Yang Zhengguo mean? If he doesn’t have the funds to repair Salted Fish’s ship, why doesn’t he just readily sell it to the Changhang Bureau?"

"The crux is not his sale, but the City Bureau’s sale, and whether the money might actually reach the Linghai Police Bureau is another story. Even if the bureau gives anything, the City Bureau is bound to skim off the top."

It’s normal operation for the managing departments to take a cut from the funding allocated by superiors.

Director Peng was about to say something when Wang Wenhong continued, "Moreover, what was once will not be now. He has been the director in Linghai for so many years, and if he’s not shuffled around this year, he will be next year. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t hand over the prestigious ’First Post of the Yangtze River’ at this point."

"He’s looking to leave behind a good reputation?"

"Who wouldn’t want to leave behind a good reputation when they’re about to move on?"

"I understand. He doesn’t want to sell, he just doesn’t want to sell the dunship and 001 while he’s still in charge, nor does he want to relinquish the ’First Post of the Yangtze River’ reputation to Zhang Junyan."

"Whether the money can be obtained is also a factor."

"So, from his point of view, there’s some rationale behind not selling."

"If he doesn’t agree, I bet Old Ding won’t agree either. So, timing is very important in everything we do. If Zhang Junyan wants the boat, he’ll have to wait until he is relocated and Old Ding steps back."

"But how long will this delay last?"

Things are different now; it’s so hard to get anything done.

An almost successful endeavor turned sour because Director Yang wouldn’t nod, and starting over would mean going back to square one.

After all, city leaders can’t be brought around to your schedule, and the city finance bureau isn’t always flush with cash; in short, there’s no point in bringing this up again within a year—it would be futile.

Wang Wenhong really didn’t know what else to say, silently reproaching himself for not working on persuading the two senior leaders earlier if he had known it would come to this.

Now it’s too late; he can only sigh in resignation.

People’s thoughts can be strange sometimes.

When Salted Fish was seconded to the sub-bureau, Director Peng didn’t like him.

But now that Salted Fish has returned to his original unit and achieved some success right away, Peng couldn’t help but feel the lad was not bad, sighing, "Those two old foxes are too selfish. For the sake of some lame reputation, they can’t bring themselves to do a kindness; Salted Fish holds such respect for them."

"Director Peng, Salted Fish only knows that there’s an opportunity to be transferred to the Changhang Bureau in the future, but he is unaware of Changhang Bureau’s plans to buy the boat. Not to mention that he must follow the boat, and the boat must follow him."

"Did you not tell him?"

"We haven’t told him, such matters are not necessary for him to know."

"Best not to tell him to avoid distraction at work. As for the transfer, there’s no rush; after all, Liu Xinmin from the Bailong Port Police Station can still work for a couple more years."

The matter of Salted Fish being transferred to the Changhang Bureau to take over the work of the Bailong Port Police Station from Liu Xinmin is an open secret within the Changhang Bureau.

Though Salted Fish is very young, most of the middle-level cadres in Changhang Bureau think it’s only natural, with hardly anyone objecting and even quite looking forward to it.

Such circumstances are unthinkable in other departments, but there are reasons for that.

Because Salted Fish was assigned to the Binjiang Port Public Security Bureau to participate in the investigation of illegal foreign exchange transactions when he was still a short and young kid.

At that time, the case didn’t seem significant, but it was indeed a major case.

From the Director and Political Commissioner of the bureau to the personnel of the Criminal Investigation Department, the Security Department, the Political Security Department, and the Firefighting Department, as well as police officers from several police stations, nearly everyone was involved.

Salted Fish fought shoulder to shoulder with others and made great contributions, which made everyone like him a lot.

Moreover, Salted Fish graduated from the Shipping School, his sister worked at the Binjiang Port Police Station and his brother-in-law was the head class of the Binjiang Port machinery repair class; he was regarded as one of their own.

After the Binjiang Port Public Security Bureau was fully incorporated into the Changhang navigation police, they had to respect the opinions of the Port Authority for personnel matters, and likewise, needed to listen to the Changhang Police Bureau.

Compared to having an individual from the Changhang Police Bureau take over, they would prefer Salted Fish to replace Liu Xinmin.

After all, that superior unit of Changhang Police Bureau was in Hanwu, far away from Binjiang, many police officers had never been there, and even the Director and Political Commissioner’s surnames were unknown to them, so there was no attachment to the superior unit.

When Wang Wenhong and Director Peng were wondering when Salted Fish would be transferred to the Changhang Bureau with the dunship and number 001, Salted Fish was settling accounts with his sister who had just returned home.

"Lecture fees four hundred and sixty, towage labor fees from the past two months, one thousand and eight hundred. Last month’s salary should be two hundred and thirty-seven, but only one hundred and ninety-seven was received."

"Where did the forty go to?"

"This year, a typhoon caused heavy rains and floods. Although Linghai was not severely affected, several towns in Si Gang were flooded. The city called for donations, twenty per person, directly deducted from our salaries."

While counting the money, Han Xiangning asked with a smile, "What about the other twenty?"

Han Yu spoke softly, "A police officer at Dongzao Police Station, his wife got cancer, I forgot which type, but it’s treatable. It will cost a lot of money though, and his family’s not well-off, so the bureau mobilized us to donate, and I had to contribute as everyone did."

"Lucky you can freelance at our bureau, otherwise what would we do with just this salary."

"Our bureau is actually not bad, I heard Si Gang Police Station only pays seventy percent of the salary to police officers, and even that is often in arrears."

"Why do you always compare with Si Gang, why not compare with our counterparts across the river from Jiang?"

"Their townships have more enterprises, and the economy is more developed."

No sooner had Han Yu finished speaking than Friend Han walked over with a smile and asked, "San’er, what’s going on with Si Gang?"

Han Xiangning didn’t want her father to think she was making fun of her hometown, so she quickly replied, "Nothing."

Friend Han sat down, enthusiastically asking, "San’er, are you off this weekend? Do you have time?"

"Our water police team is short-staffed, but we can adjust shifts. Dad, you have something?"

"There’s a comrade-in-arms of mine visiting his hometown this weekend; he did better in the military than I did, he’s already a Commander. His son just got married, and they’re planning to return to his hometown for a reception. If you and Ningning have time, come back with me to attend the wedding celebration and also visit your grandmother."

Han Xiangning realized her father wanted San’er to drive him back, and was looking to show off, she couldn’t help but laugh and said, "Dad, they’ve invited you, not us."

My partner will be on duty this weekend and can’t leave.

Friend Han didn’t want to go back alone, pointing to his daughter, he said, "It’s different organizing a wedding banquet in rural areas than in the city, there can be over a dozen or twenty tables easily. It’s okay if we all go."

I don’t know anybody, how awkward would it be to go and eat at that banquet?

Han Yu asked with a smile, "Dad, how about we go back with you, but we don’t attend the wedding banquet? We’ll stay home to accompany grandma."

Friend Han couldn’t miss this opportunity to return to his hometown triumphant and said, "That comrade-in-arms is from Liangzhuang, he’ll definitely invite Secretary Lu, and Secretary Lu will surely attend, and your second aunt will be there too. With Secretary Lu and your second aunt present, what’s there to be afraid of?"

"Liangzhuang?"

"Yes."

"Why would my second aunt also go?"

"My comrade-in-arms is your second aunt’s and your second uncle’s matchmaker, that engagement was brought up during a chat while we were in the army."

"How did the chat go?"

"Your second uncle is his cousin, he knew your second aunt was single at the time, and asked if he could introduce her to his cousin. So I wrote a letter to your grandfather, and after someone made inquiries on your grandfather’s behalf and found that your second uncle was a decent man, they responded to my letter agreeing to it."

"Then what happened?" Han Xiangning asked with a playful smile.

Friend Han laughed, "I then told him about it, and he quickly wrote a letter home, urging your second uncle’s family to find a matchmaker to arrange the marriage proposal with your grandfather. Back then, communication wasn’t as convenient as now. From him bringing it up to your second uncle’s family visiting the matchmaker, to finally approaching your grandfather, it took about three to four months, mostly due to the letter and responses."

Listening to the gossip of the elders is quite interesting.

Han Yu couldn’t help but laugh and asked, "Does my second aunt know about these things?"

"She pretended not to know at first, but then found out that the day after she saw the first letter, she ran to Liangzhuang Foundry alone to secretly look at your second uncle, wanting to know what he looked like."

"My second aunt is quite something!"

"She really is, back then our family was poor, we didn’t have a bicycle, so she truly ran there on foot."

Han Xiangning eagerly inquired, "And then?"

Friend Han smiled and continued, "After that, your second uncle received the letter from his cousin, and since he knew Yang Liu from our Team Three, he pretended to visit Yang Liu as an excuse to sneak a look at your second aunt in our family’s village."

"What happened after that?"

"First, he had to figure out what your second aunt looked like. In those days, there were quite a few rural girls about the same age as your second aunt, and we had more than a dozen in our team. So, he inquired with Yang Liu. Once Yang Liu realized what he wanted to do, he helped to pave the way."

Han Xiangning eagerly asked, "What happened next?"

Friend Han looked at his wife who was standing at the kitchen door, smiling without saying a word, and said with a laugh, "After that, they used Yang Liu’s house as a base, meeting up like underground operatives, secretly behind your grandparents’ backs. Yang Liu would stand guard at the door. They did a great job keeping it secret until they formally visited to propose when both acted like strangers."

Han Xiangning giggled, "Was it necessary to be so sneaky? But it must have been interesting and exciting to date like that."

Xiang Fan came over with a laugh, "Exciting? It was like walking on eggshells."

"Walking on eggshells?"

"That was when the countryside was still collectivized; it’s not like now. If someone caught you, it was seen as a problem of decadent behavior and you’d be dragged out for criticism."

...

PS: I’m going to take a train to Zhejiang tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow to receive the Mao Dun Literature Newcomer Award. I won’t be able to write while traveling or attending events, so I’ve worked overtime and pre-uploaded two Chapters tonight. Thus, there will be no update tomorrow.

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