Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 441 - 310 The First "Case

At four o’clock in the afternoon, at the Changhang Bureau.

Director He returned to the office after the meeting, and as soon as he sat down, Political Commissioner Jiang followed him in to report on work.

The ideological work of the last few old comrades had been smoothed over, some chose to retire early, and some responded to the call of the bureau to retire and recuperate internally.

Director He felt a weight lifted from his shoulders, handed over a cigarette with a smile, and asked, "What’s that Salted Fish busy with?"

"Repairing a ship, I heard the project is quite big, it will take a month to fix."

"The law enforcement rescue boat is broken?"

"001 is fine, it’s that water platform he’s fixing."

Reform always involves personal and even departmental interests, so it’s not easy to carry out.

Especially for a unit like the Changhang Bureau, which is to accept the double leadership of both the Changhang Police Bureau and the Binjiang City Police Department on operational matters, while the salaries of the police and auxiliary police, as well as case handling funds, all come from the Port Authority. Whatever is done must first take into account the attitudes of the Local Police Department and the Port Authority.

Speaking of relationships, most of the bureau’s police come from the Port Authority, and each has connections.

The situation of that fish at Bailong Port is even more special, not only does he have connections in the Port Authority and the Port Supervision Bureau, but also having worked in the local police for so many years, he has relationships in the Binjiang City Police Department and even the Jiangnan Province Police Department.

It’s no exaggeration to say, despite his youth, that fish is the most complex, toughest backed, and strongest connected of all the police in the bureau!

Adjusting the scope of work under the jurisdiction of that fish first was intended to leverage the fish’s clout to establish authority.

With Salted Fish not rebounding, the work of others would become easier.

After all, if even a capable, well-connected fish with a promising future complies obediently with organizational arrangements, what’s there for you folks, nearing retirement, to fuss about?

It turned out to be the right move: otherwise, the ideological work with the old comrades certainly wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.

Director He was thinking about whether to call Zhang Junyan later to explain that the move was out of sheer necessity when Political Commissioner Jiang lit a cigarette and chuckled, "I told you, as long as those two ships aren’t touched, Salted Fish probably won’t say anything."

"Those two ships belong to the Port Supervision Bureau, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t touch them."

"That’s for sure."

Political Commissioner Jiang didn’t think using Salted Fish to establish authority was a good idea and couldn’t help asking, "Director He, Salted Fish has always performed well since he was transferred to the bureau. This adjustment to his work allocation might well affect his future work enthusiasm. Shouldn’t we find an opportunity to have a heart-to-heart with him or find some way to compensate him?"

Having taken office only three months ago, not only had the middle-level cadres voluntarily reported their work, but many police had also found opportunities to do so, the only exception being that fish.

As the saying goes, listen to their words and observe their actions.

Over these three months of unobtrusive observation, Director He found that Salted Fish didn’t feel much allegiance to the bureau and, considering how young he was, said lightly, "Let’s wait until this busy period is over for the heart-to-heart. As for so-called compensation, I don’t think it’s necessary."

It seems that the director does not like Salted Fish for always being "self-willed"!

However, Salted Fish’s situation is different from other police; what looks like "self-willedness" to others is, in fact, because he isn’t just a police who does the work assigned by the bureau.

With the director wholly focused on team building, Political Commissioner Jiang really didn’t know what to say, so he simply changed the subject.

...

Meanwhile, Han Yu, who rarely visited the Bailong Port Police Station office, was receiving the worker couple Old Wang from the pier.

"Although he didn’t do well on the high school entrance exam, we never scolded him, let alone hit him!"

"Brother Wang, sister-in-law, don’t panic. Xiao Sheng is already seventeen, he should be fine."

"We’ve been to his classmates’ homes, and they don’t know where he went. How could we not be anxious when a living person just disappears like that?"

Director Jiang has returned to the city center to serve as the leader of the Severe Punishment Task Force.

The former deputy director, Zhang Guishan, took early retirement. Although the retirement proceedings have not yet been handled, he stopped coming to work at Bailong Port two days ago.

Director Liu had to take a day off today for family matters.

As the deputy director of Bailong Port Police Station, Han Yu had to be on duty at the pier, also responsible for receiving and dealing with police calls. He didn’t expect that those who came to report were not passengers but rather pier workers.

Han Yu picked up a pen and asked, "Sister-in-law, when did you notice Xiao Sheng was missing?"

"He didn’t come home the night before last, I didn’t think much of it at first, but then yesterday I didn’t see him either and started looking. We haven’t found him till now!"

"Think about it, where might he have gone?"

"We don’t have many relatives, and we’ve looked everywhere we can."

"Did you ask both relatives and classmates?"

"We did."

"Did he ever say anything before this, or did he show any unusual behavior?"

"No, Xiao Sheng at our house is quite honest, not the kind of unruly child."

"Did he have any money on him?"

"There should be some pocket money, but not much."

"Then is there any money missing at home?"

"Salted Fish, are you implying he stole money from home?"

"It’s not stealing when it’s from home—it’s taking."

"I was so focused on looking for him, I didn’t think about these things."

"Is there any money in the house?" Han Yu pressed.

Without hesitation, Old Wang’s wife replied, "We just withdrew three thousand a few days ago. My cousin was borrowing it to build a house. He didn’t come to take it, so we hid the money in the house."

Han Yu stood up: "Let’s go, let’s visit your home first to check if the money is there."

Old Wang said with a distressed face, "My Xiao Sheng wouldn’t have stolen money, he’s never taken anything since he was young."

"Brother Wang, I know Xiao Sheng isn’t a bad kid. I watched him grow up, but he’s missing now, so you should go back and check."

"Okay."

The Wang family actually has two dorm rooms, and they are not far from where Han Yu is staying now.

The three of them arrived at the dormitory area of Bailong Port Passenger Pier. As soon as Brother Wang’s wife entered their dorm, she opened the wardrobe to search and found out the three thousand yuan hidden inside had vanished into thin air!

In the past on East Sea Shipping Bureau’s passenger ships, it wasn’t just once or twice that runaway children were encountered.

Han Yu was unfazed by this and asked them to open Xiao Sheng’s room. They started to go through Xiao Sheng’s belongings.

Without searching they wouldn’t have known, but after searching for a while, they found a clue!

There was a stack of old newspapers on the desk, and one of the newspapers had a recruitment advertisement for a vocational school in Gaozhou City, East Guang Province.

Xiao Sheng had not only read it but also marked it.

Upon checking the desk drawers, they found a diary, which held many thoughts about going out to forge his own path. Looking at the binding of the book, one page was torn out.

Han Yu carefully examined it and picked up a pencil from the desk, gently scribbling on the page below where it had been torn.

In no time, a letter from Xiao Sheng to his family appeared before their eyes.

The kid really wanted to go to that vocational school in Gaozhou City, East Guang Province, had taken the three thousand yuan from home, and planned to pay the tuition to learn sewing machine repair.

Looking back at the recruitment advertisement in the newspaper, there were no requirements for academic qualifications, and the training period was very short, only three months to graduate, not only issuing the mechanic’s certificate but also arranging jobs in clothing companies in places like Shenzhen Special Zone and Wandong.

The wages were quite high, eight hundred per month for a three-month probationary period, and after that one thousand two hundred per month...

Old Wang was stunned and asked in a murmur, "Salted Fish, do you think Xiao Sheng could really have gone to East Guang?"

"He even left you all a letter, just not sure why he ended up tearing it up and not leaving it in a visible spot, or maybe he did leave it somewhere and you just didn’t see it."

"He’s only seventeen this year, and East Guang is so far away. I’ve heard it’s quite chaotic over there!"

"Don’t worry, as long as we know his general whereabouts, it’s easy to handle. Besides, he’s going to learn a skill, not go do something bad."

"So what do we do now?"

Han Yu thought for a moment, then looked up and said, "Let’s split up. I’ll go to the ferry terminal to ask Chief Ding and Director Zhang for help, to see if the ferry terminal staff and the passing drivers have seen your Xiao Sheng. You two go find kids who normally hang out with Xiao Sheng. Going to East Guang is a big deal; he wouldn’t leave without leaving you guys a letter. He’s a sensible kid and definitely wouldn’t want you worried."

Brother Wang’s wife asked eagerly, "Then what?"

Han Yu picked up the newspaper again, looked at the advertisement and said, "If he’s set on making his way to East Guang, he would have left the day before yesterday, so he’s probably still on the road. Contacting the school now wouldn’t help."

"You mean we should contact them in a couple of days?"

"Kids all have their pride. If we contact them just like that and he finds out, he might worry that you’ll come looking for him, he might worry that you’ll insist on him coming back. It’s hard to say whether he might run away again."

"We only have this one child, we definitely can’t let him drift out there. Besides, he doesn’t have to go to East Guang to learn skills. He just didn’t get into high school; he could go to a vocational school in Binjiang."

"Sister-in-law, are you saying you hope he returns?"

"He must come back—he’s only seventeen, what does he know."

"Alright, let’s start by splitting up. As for how to bring the kid back, we can discuss it when we meet tonight."

...

Both of Brother Wang’s parents work at the pier, so the kid probably wouldn’t dare to take a boat to East Sea and then take the train to East Guang, for boarding a ship might mean running into both relatives or familiar faces, even if his parents don’t catch him.

Han Yu rushed to Bainiu Ferry and asked Old Zhang and Old Ding for help, then called back to the station to contact Four Factory Police Station, asking Shi Shengyong to help find out about the situation in Gaozhou City, East Guang Province.

After all, there were quite a few enterprises in Four Factory Town, with many salespeople going all over the place, and some of them might have been to East Guang, those who are experienced and well-informed.

China is a society of personal connections; there’s nothing that can’t be solved over a dining table.

Having had a meal with Shi Shengyong not long ago, they were now on very cordial terms. After about forty minutes, Shi Shengyong called back.

"Director Yu, I’ve got some info. Gaozhou is on the western side of East Guang Province, far from Shenzhen Special Zone. It’s a poor area; even our Linghai has a better economy. I suspect there’s something fishy about the school advertising in the newspaper to recruit students. If there was really such a good deal where you could get a well-paying job after three months of training, the locals would be all over it. Why would they need to advertise nationwide?"

"Director Shi, those enterprises in Four Factory, is there anyone who’s in Gaozhou?"

"That’s a poor place, who would go there for no reason? I’ve asked around, and really, no one."

"Okay, thank you."

"We’re all colleagues, no need for politeness. Are you free in the next couple of days? We should get together."

"I’m trying to help find a child who ran away from home for the port workers. After I’m done with that, I’ll treat you."

"Alright, you go ahead and do your thing."

If it were in East Sea, trying to find information about a school would be easy.

But that’s East Guang, and there are no acquaintances over there!

Han Yu suddenly realized he had too few friends, propped his chin, and wracked his brain for a while until he finally thought of someone. He quickly picked up the phone sponsored by Customs to the Water Fire Rescue Team, opened the contact list, found the mobile number of Secretary Lu from Liangzhuang Town, and dialed it using the station’s landline.

The same as before, after two rings, the call was hung up.

Waited for about ten minutes, and Secretary Lu called back with the landline, and as soon as it connected, his familiar and booming voice could be heard.

"Xiao Han, did you head back to your hometown?"

"I didn’t go back home, Secretary Lu. Sorry to call you out of the blue, but I wanted to ask if you have any friends in East Guang."

"There’s nothing to be sorry about. I do have quite a few friends in East Guang, but East Guang is big. What’s the matter exactly?"

Han Yu, knowing he was busy, quickly summed up the situation briefly.

Old Lu laughed heartily: "These kids nowadays really need to be watched carefully. To think a seventeen-year-old would dare to go to East Guang all alone. Speaking of which, it’s quite a coincidence, we do have someone from Liangzhuang in Gaozhou, a military officer promoted to deputy battalion last year. I’ve got their unit’s phone number. You give me the name and address of that vocational school, speak slowly so I can jot it down, then I’ll have someone help you check it out."

"Thank you, Secretary Lu!

"No thanks needed, it’s not a big deal. Hurry up and give me the address; I’ll help you get the word out right away."