Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 473 - 334: Flip the Table!

In the early morning, Zhou Huixin, the Police Chief of Linghai City, turned on the radio and, while eating breakfast prepared by his spouse who had just transferred from Binjiang to Linghai, he listened to the news and newspaper summaries broadcasted by Central People’s Broadcasting Station.

This is the longest-running program on Central People’s Broadcasting Station and also the one with the highest ratings since it’s broadcasted by radio stations in every province and city.

As usual, it started with major domestic news.

The program wasn’t very long, and it would soon be time for international news - could it be that the news from Salted Fish today wouldn’t make it on air?

Worried, Zhou Huixin was suddenly disturbed by a knock on the door; his spouse walked over to open it and saw it was the old Director from the third floor, the soon-to-retire Vice Chairman from the Political Consultative Conference, Chairman Li.

"Chairman Li..."

"My radio is broken."

Old Li nodded with a smile at Zhou Huixin’s spouse and hurriedly walked to the dining table.

Zhou Huixin quickly signaled his spouse to serve up a bowl of porridge, and just then, the long-awaited news came through the radio.

"Huaxin News Agency reports, many private vocational colleges in East Guangzhou offer fraudulent diplomas. Driven by substantial profits in running schools, some private vocational institutes have become a tool for a few to amass wealth!"

"This year, I won’t be paying the school fees or seeking a diploma," decided Xu Guangsheng, a Jiangnan Province student, as he courageously decided to leave Huayuan Technical School in Gaozhou City, East Guang Province, to search for a job alone in the Pearl River Delta.

Last summer, after just one year at the school, many classmates were organized by the school to ’intern’ in the Pearl River Delta, yet Xu Guangsheng stayed behind in the dormitory. He spent over 8,000 yuan on tuition in one year but learned only the basic electrician skills daily, leaving him feeling very depressed.

Like Xu Guangsheng, since 1993, there’s been a surge in public complaints about private vocational education schools in Gaozhou. Receiving admission notices without applying, high tuition fees and poor educational quality, mismatched job placements with low salaries, and diplomas not recognized by the state—many students lament being deceived.

Recently, our reporters conducted undercover investigations on 23 private vocational education schools in Gaozhou, finding that many schools have numerous irregularities in recruitment, teaching, and management under the sole motive of profit-making. For further details, please tune into our secondary economic program broadcasted by this station." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Zhou Huixin had been awaiting this news all morning. He quickly switched the radio to the economic channel of Central People’s Broadcasting Station and couldn’t help but laugh: "Reporter Wang is truly the Crownless King; not only can he make noise, but he can also voice it on national media. His exposure is more effective than us sending any number of work groups or special task forces!"

"It’s not as simple as you think; this might just provoke outrage, and they might be forced to fight back fiercely."

"Chairman Li, are you saying they aren’t afraid?"

"It’s because they are afraid that they can’t back down; they have to grit their teeth and push through, maybe then they can repair the situation. If they just back down now, they lose everything."

It made sense, considering their first concern was protecting their positions.

Zhou Huixin dared not be so optimistic anymore and pondered aloud, "Reporter Wang was too polite toward them. Talking about the presence of ’numerous irregularities in recruitment, education, and management,’ he’s essentially acknowledging that they tacitly allow those schools to scam!"

Old Li reminisced about the scenes when Reporter Wang exposed the eel fishing battles and shook his head slightly: "National media has to consider various impacts when releasing news, and media can only provide supervisory opinions, not act as judicial authorities directly specifying the nature of the issues."

"Chairman Li, are you suggesting the report just broadcasted differs from Reporter Wang’s original news draft?"

"It was definitely edited, but don’t worry, news like this will probably be treated like the exposure a few years ago about endless eel fishing boats on Jiangshan River. Part of it is publicly reported, and detailed situations are reported to relevant leaders in the form of internal memos."

...

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Jiang, Commissioner Ding, and Director Li, among others, had just finished listening to the news and newspaper summaries. Han Yu was busy calling Reporter Wang to express gratitude.

"When does the economic program on channel two broadcast?"

"I don’t know."

"What are we in a hurry for now? They should be the ones feeling the urgency."

"Mayor Jiang is right, what are we rushing for?"

"Mayor Jiang, do you think they will come after us angrily after hearing the news?"

"It’s possible, if I were here alone, I’d probably be scared, but with so many police around, I have nothing to fear."

While they were joking, Han Yu hung up the phone and squeezed over.

Director Li looked up and smiled, asking, "Salted Fish, what did Reporter Wang say?"

"He didn’t say much, just that he’s just arrived in Shenzhen and is about to go to Hong Kong."

"What’s he going to do in Hong Kong?"

"He’s suing someone there for plagiarizing his work and distorting facts; he filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong’s court."

"To take the lawsuit to Hong Kong, impressive!"

If the most respected person was his master, then the most admired had to be Reporter Wang.

Thinking of Reporter Wang’s legendary experiences, Han Yu couldn’t help but laugh: "These past two years, apart from engaging in supervisory reporting, he’s been involved in lawsuits, specifically intellectual property right lawsuits, with a significant exemplary effect. I heard that the province plans to select him as a legal personality."

Vice Mayor Jiang, who had been assigned to Linghai from Jiangnan Province, didn’t know much about Reporter Wang.

Although Director Li had never met Reporter Wang, he had heard of Reporter Wang’s great reputation more than once, and Commissioner Ding had even hosted Reporter Wang in the past and was more familiar with him. Both were eagerly providing an introduction of Reporter Wang, this celebrated and influential figure from Binjiang, to the city leadership.

Having won the highest news awards both provincially and nationally, attended the national journalism conference and received personal greetings from central commanders, no wonder he had such broad capabilities.

Vice Mayor Jiang was secretly lamenting that "a mountain does not have to be high; it is the presence of immortals that gives it spirit." After this incident, he realized they should not underestimate the media journalists in Binjiang again. Han Yu’s phone rang.

"Mayor Jiang, Commissioner Ding, Huang Wenhua is looking for me."

"Answer it."

"Okay."

Han Yu looked up at everyone present, pressed the call button, and raised the phone to his ear. Before he could start speaking, he heard Old Huang urgently saying, "Captain Han, you’ve gone too far this time. We could have discussed whatever the issue was, what do we do now that it’s turned into this mess?"

"Director Huang, what has gone too far, and what has it turned into?"

"Don’t play dumb. You guys actually got the reporters to expose it, is that how you handle things?"

"Oh, you’re talking about that. I just heard about it too, it’s purely coincidental."

"Coincidental, and it has nothing to do with you?"

Han Yu, seeing Vice Mayor Jiang and Commissioner Ding smiling without speaking, awkwardly responded: "Speaking of involvement, there’s a bit. When the students cheated by Huayuan filed a complaint, they happened to encounter reporters. The reporters were interested in the case and came to me for information. Of course, I had to tell the truth; one mustn’t offend journalists, right?"

I knew this guy was full of tricks.

Not only did he have tricks, but he also played a winning hand.

The City Committee is now in turmoil; the Police Chief just received an urgent notice to attend a meeting at the City Committee.

Huang Wenhua never expected to be involved in such a big incident one day, helplessly said, "Captain Han, by doing this, you’ve left no room for maneuver."

"What do you mean?"

"The city leadership will definitely not be pleased. The arrangements I discussed with you last night will probably all be void now."

"A clean break?"

"It was you who flipped the table first. Who is to blame for that? Although the leadership is still meeting and hasn’t come to a conclusion, I don’t think you can expect to catch those three accomplices or chase down any illicit goods. We, on the other hand, won’t ask for those few main suspects from you."

"If we don’t have the accomplices and you don’t have the main suspects, how will this case conclude?"

"Why conclude? Just drag it out, even if it leads to nothing."

Han Yu hadn’t expected them to possibly throw caution to the wind, but putting himself in their position, they might really do so. After all, they had no way out but a desperate fight.

Hanging up, Han Yu bitterly said, "Mayor Jiang, Commissioner Ding, you heard them, they said we flipped the table."

Vice Mayor Jiang hesitated for a moment, then sighed lightly: "I warned you yesterday, but once the bow is drawn, there’s no turning it back. Reporter Wang has already sent the piece, and there’s no withdrawing it now. You’re in a situation similar to theirs, trapped in this position, and can only fight desperately."

Commissioner Ding said with a wry smile, "We’re all fed by the state, doing this really is almost like flipping the table. If I think about it, it feels somewhat unkind."

"What should we do now?"

"Your ask me? How should I know?"

"I’ll make a phone call."

"Who to?"

"Secretary Lu, you don’t know him."

Han Yu went to a corner and hurriedly dialed Old Lu’s mobile phone.

Surprisingly, this number had never gone through before; it would ring twice and hang up, waiting a while before a return call came from a landline. But today, it connected immediately.

"Xiao Han, I’ve heard the news, well done! Reporter Wang is considered half a person from Si Gang, our Si Gang is his second hometown, and he is Si Gang’s pride. Aren’t you familiar with him? When you have time, help me introduce him; I’d welcome him to visit and provide guidance in Liangzhuang."

"Secretary Lu, we can discuss the introductions later. I’m currently facing some trouble."

"What trouble? It’s even been reported by Central People’s Broadcasting Station, what trouble could there be?"

Han Yu quickly briefed the situation, and Old Lu suddenly realized, furrowing his brows, "Getting furious out of embarrassment, they are like dead pigs not afraid of boiling water."

"That’s why this is tricky; it has put us in a difficult position."

"What difficult position? There’s nothing to worry about."

"Secretary Lu, I don’t quite understand."

"They are probably figuring out how to handle it now, mainly concerned about how to explain to their superiors and how to deal with the media. Since you’ve taken the media route, then strike while the iron is hot and make a move in the media."

"How?"

"Reporter Wang isn’t just one of our Binjiang journalists, his stage isn’t limited to Binjiang only; he definitely has many friends in major media outlets across the country. Please ask him to help mobilize more journalists to go there for interviews and follow-up reports."

"And then?"

"With so many journalists showing up at once, it signifies that the situation has escalated and is nearly out of control. The relevant departments there certainly won’t dare to accept interviews lightly. You don’t rush back; you need to actively and even collaboratively engage with the journalists for interviews, since the masks are off anyway, there’s no need to cover up for them."