Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 472 - 333: The Price Went Up Again

Night fell, and a drizzle began to sweep over the outside.

Deputy Mayor Jiang, neither in the mood nor wanting to brave the rain for a meal, had Han Ning quickly send Xiao Gong out to buy boxed meals and some fruit. Along with Zhang Lan, they joined the leader for dinner.

Being female comrades and on business trips, their superior-subordinate relationship turned sisterly.

"Sister Jiang, how did you come to be seconded to our Linghai?"

"My son is going into his third year of middle school in the second half of this year, a crucial time. If I had a choice, I definitely wouldn’t have taken a secondment, but the superiors required all eligible officials to take turns."

"Secondment can be good too, Vice Mayor, not everyone can get such a position." Zhang Lan said with envy.

Deputy Mayor Jiang laughed: "What Vice Mayor? I was just running errands and doing odd jobs at my original unit, and it’s the same in Linghai."

Han Ning, who also respected a fellow woman who could become a senior leader, looked up and said, "Sister Jiang, you’re the Vice Mayor, how could you just run errands?"

"You haven’t worked at the City Committee and the Municipal Government. If you’ve worked in the City Committee Office or the Government Office, you’d understand. For seconded vice mayors like us, we either assist other vice mayors in attending meetings, or help the city to receive inspections and research visits from superiors. We don’t hold any power, and even using a car requires us shamelessly asking the City Government Office to arrange it. Isn’t that running errands and doing odd jobs?"

Deputy Mayor Jiang smiled and switched topics immediately: "Han Ning, your brother is impressive, so young yet he’s up for a Deputy Director position."

"Sister Jiang, you’re not old either, already being at Director-level. San’er is young, but he’s been working for seven years, and our bureau’s Deputy Director position is different from that of Local Police Bureaus, as we’re a public institution."

"It’s not a fair comparison, I’m basking in the unit’s glory. At our department, a Director isn’t even considered a leader. As long as you work hard, advancing to Deputy or Full Department Level is easy, and rising to Vice Director isn’t too tough. It’s quite difficult for your brother to achieve Deputy Director at his age at the grassroots level."

"Our Changhang Bureau also has a high institutional level; the Linghai Police Bureau is a Full Department Level unit, while Changhang Bureau is Director-level."

Discussing Salted Fish, Zhang Lan couldn’t help but ask again: "Sister Jiang, do you think San’er and them will be able to negotiate a result tonight?"

Salted Fish and Director Li went to attend a banquet, reportedly not far from the hotel.

Deputy Mayor Jiang took a bite of pineapple and analyzed, "That Director Huang must be negotiating with Salted Fish under the instructions of his superiors, which shows they neither want to lose nor escalate the matter. But not wanting to lose is the premise, and they would only make concessions on the basis that they won’t lose."

"How are they going to compromise?"

"Give money, what else? Isn’t your brother here for the money?"

Zhang Lan, feeling somewhat embarrassed, covered her mouth and giggled, "Sister Jiang, how much do you think they’re willing to give?"

Deputy Mayor Jiang thought about it and shook her head, "I wouldn’t know about that."

...

Just as Deputy Mayor Jiang analyzed, Huang Wenhua toasted everyone and started talking candidly.

"Director Chen, Captain Han, I know you’ve done a lot of work before this, and it’s not good for us to retreat without explaining to those above and below. But this case is really sensitive, and we’re indeed in a difficult position being stuck in the middle. How about we each take a step back?"

"What do you mean by each taking a step back?" Director Li set down his glass and asked with a smile.

"Hand over the main suspects to us. Regardless of how much you confiscate from the main suspects, it will all be yours, and we’ll add four hundred thousand on our side, a hundred thousand each, so that you won’t have made the trip in vain."

Afraid the other four peers wouldn’t agree, Huang Wenhua emphasized again, "This is the best outcome our Police Bureau can strive for; otherwise, we can only be at a stalemate."

"Let’s be at a stalemate then."

Han Yu took over the conversation, nonchalantly saying, "To be frank, we confiscated over four hundred thousand from the main suspects. We spend at most two thousand a day here, and four hundred thousand is enough for us to stay here for half a year."

"Captain Han, it’s never as good outside as it is at home, not to mention our conditions here aren’t that great. There’s really no need to do this."

Huang Wenhua put down the wine bottle, picked up a drink, filled Han Yu’s glass, and after thinking it over, added, "Moreover, we’ve already filed a case on our side. If you insist on investigating it as a fraud case, our Police Bureau can only send someone with the necessary paperwork to request your assistance." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Han Yu asked with a smile, "Director Huang, do you think our bureau leadership would hand over the main suspects to you?"

"If your bureau doesn’t hand them over, we can only go to your superiors. It’s clear who would benefit more from investigating this case. Even if your superiors don’t give in to ours, if it really goes to the Ministry of Police, I estimate the Ministry will designate our jurisdiction."

"Director Huang, are you so confident?"

"It’s not me being confident, it’s our leadership."

"Alright then, if you can fish at the bottom of the pot, we can fight a guerrilla war just the same."

"Captain Han, what do you mean by that?"

Han Yu turned to look at Director Yu and Chen Zikun, and chuckled, "The masterminds should be arriving at Linghai by now. Naturally, you will first have to go to the police bureau of the place where the masterminds are located. When you eventually reach the Jiangnan Province Hall, the Linghai Police Bureau will then transfer the masterminds to Director Yu."

Yu Wei Qiang suddenly had an epiphany, raised his glass with a smile, and said, "When that time comes, you’ll have to first look for our bureau’s leaders. If our bureau doesn’t agree to the transfer, you’ll have to look for the East Sea City Bureau."

Han Yu picked up the conversation, "Once the leadership of your Provincial Department and the East Sea City Bureau have negotiated, our Changhang Bureau won’t hesitate to take over custody of the masterminds. Then, you’ll have to come to us again, and even go to Hanwu to our Changhang navigation police, or to the Capital to our Ministry of Transport Police."

"The Ministry of Transport Police?"

"We are part of the shipping police; our superior is the Ministry of Transport Police, commonly referred to as ’the Ministry.’"

Utilizing all relationships, mobilizing all connections, you might ask superiors to help facilitate and coordinate once, but you cannot always trouble the superiors!

Huang Wenhua was dumbfounded. After being stunned for a good while, he reluctantly smiled and said, "Captain Han, it’s no fun if you play it like this. I came to you with all sincerity."

"We are equally sincere!"

Han Yu knocked on the table and said earnestly and seriously, "So many people in our jurisdiction areas have been deceived, and we already hold many clues and even evidence. Logically, we should investigate thoroughly, but considering the impact on you, we have already made a huge concession by only investigating Huayuan alone. What else do you want?"

Huang Wenhua asked in a low voice, "Does this mean there is no room for negotiation?"

"There is no room for negotiation."

Thinking of the lousy idea Old Lu had proposed, Han Yu dipped his finger in tea and drew on the dining table while saying coldly, "Compared to your local police, we, the Changhang navigation police, indeed seem less significant. Although our jurisdiction isn’t large, we oversee a lengthy expanse of water.

From Nanyun, Mountain City, to Binjiang, East Sea City, spanning for over two thousand kilometers, it crosses Nanyun, Gui Zhou, Xichuan, Beihu, Nanhu, Xijiang, Hui’an, Jiangnan, and East Sea—nine provinces and cities, with dozens of ports and nearly a hundred docks, many of which are passenger terminals.

If you insist on local protectionism, to ensure that the masses along the river are not deceived again, I am duty-bound and responsible to request our superiors to mobilize colleagues from the various bureaus along the Yangtze River to remind people and tourists at ports, docks, and passenger ships that there are many fraudulent schools in your place, advising them not to be fooled."

Old Huang had never been to Jiangnan Province, nor seen the Yangtze River, but he could imagine how long the Yangtze River was.

Hearing what Han Yu said, he suddenly exclaimed, "Captain Han, if you do this, it will create an extremely bad impact on us!"

"We have a responsibility to our jurisdiction’s people and tourists. If you think I’m slandering, you can sue me."

"What use is a lawsuit once a bad impact is made?"

"Actually, your leaders do not care much about this, otherwise they wouldn’t blatantly allow those swindler schools to con people everywhere, nor would they engage in local protectionism."

"Captain Han, you can’t say it like that."

"Our stance is very clear, the three accomplices must be taken back, and the proceeds of the fraud must be fully confiscated. Given your leaders do not support our investigation, we now add another condition."

"What are you adding?"

"We have a preliminary list of the victims defrauded by a few other vocational training institutions in our hands. Those fraudulent schools must fully refund the tuition fees and compensate for the corresponding economic losses. Exactly how much the tuition fees and economic losses amount to, after the meal, we will need our colleague Han Ning from the joint special task force and Zhang Lan to properly calculate."

The tougher you are with them, the higher their price goes.

If they had known it would come to this, why bother initially?

If Lin Chunsheng had just refunded the tuition fees for the three kids readily, would there be so many troubles now?

Huang Wenhua inwardly cursed Lin Chunsheng for being a bastard and decided not to discuss work further, consistently toasting everyone diligently instead. After all, the differences were too significant, and no result could come from further discussion.

After entertaining the guests and returning to the bureau, I reported to the waiting bureau chief.

Chief Dai couldn’t believe that Han Yu and others had actually rejected the olive branch thrown out by the city officials. Furrowing his brow, he said, "It seems they are determined to confiscate Huayuan’s money, but the city and ours have made our stance very clear. Where do they get the confidence from?"

"Don’t be fooled by Han’s youth; he has a deep background. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have moved the Linghai work group over and then collaborated with several police bureaus for the investigation."

"Even if he has a deep background, it’s all within Jiangnan."

"Chief Dai, I’m not trying to be alarmist, but I think he must have a backup plan."

"You just said that they plan to drag it out with us, to wage a guerrilla war against us, and even plan to mobilize their entire system to sling mud at us. But the city should not care about that; we are so far away, what does it matter if the reputation goes down the drain?"

"It’s not about that; he might have other backup plans."

Huang Wenhua thought for a moment, then cautiously said, "Chief Dai, what does it matter if they investigate Huayuan? Lin Chunsheng is not a good person to start with, and it’s not worth the city’s effort to protect him like this."

Chief Dai took several deep breaths, saying helplessly, "This isn’t just about Huayuan or Lin Chunsheng alone. From the city’s perspective, this precedent cannot be set. If it gets set, it will trigger a chain reaction, causing a series of adverse effects."