Chapter 215 - 167: I Don’t Owe You

Chapter 215: Chapter 167: I Don’t Owe YouJiangnan Province holds self-study exams four times a year, in January, April, July, and October. This time Han Xiangning has enrolled for two subjects. Considering she has exams the day after tomorrow, the Traffic Control Center director did not schedule her for duty today and let her use the office time for last-minute study. After spending the whole morning with books, feeling dizzy, a colleague reminded her to answer the phone. "Ningning, the call is for you, pick it up quickly, so I can disconnect the external line." "Oh, thank you." Han Xiangning came to her senses and quickly grabbed the phone nearby. She was about to check if the colleague had disconnected the call from outside when she heard a voice of a young brother on the phone saying, "Sister Ningning, it’s Salted Fish." It has been more than four months since they last saw each other; she missed him terribly, especially just after he was transferred back from Bailong Port, and she wasn’t used to not having the little one around. When Han Xiangning heard Han Yu’s voice, she was genuinely delighted and asked eagerly, "Are you back?" "Just got home, took the ship back." "I thought you weren’t coming back for the exams." "I’ve paid the fees; how could I not come back?" "All you care about is money. When are you coming to Binjiang? Do you want me to pick you up on my light motorcycle?" "No need, Director Xu asked me to take the long-distance bus in the afternoon." "What time is your bus? I’ll pick you up from the bus station!" "I’ve just got to the Dunship and haven’t had time to buy a ticket yet. I’m not sure which bus I’ll catch." "You go buy your ticket first. Once you’ve got it, call me, and I’ll come to pick you up in the afternoon." "Don’t you have work this afternoon?" "I have exams the day after tomorrow. My superior told me to focus on studying and didn’t schedule me for duty these two days." "Alright, I’ll call you once I’ve bought the bus ticket." Calls from Bailong Port to the city are expensive because it is considered a rural area, so Han Yu chatted briefly and hung up. Han Xiangning put the phone down, thinking that it was not easy for him to come back; what should she take him out to eat tonight? Then, remembering that her parents had asked about ’San’er’ a few days ago, she decided to call People’s Hospital. The hospital was always busy. Xiang Fan was overwhelmed with work, but when she heard her elder daughter was calling, she quickly gave a few instructions to the young nurses and rushed to the head nurse’s office. "Ningning, what’s up?" "Mom, Sanye’s back. He just arrived at Bailong Port and is coming to Binjiang this afternoon. If you’re not on duty tonight, could you get off work early and buy some groceries? I’ll bring him home for dinner. If you’re on duty tonight, I’ll take him out to dinner." When her daughter mentioned Sanye, Xiang Fan couldn’t help but recall something Old Han had mentioned in private. In the old days, people used to find child bridegrooms for their sons who couldn’t find a wife. Old Han, on the contrary, actually thought of finding a child bridegroom! And the most amusing part was that Salted Fish’s superior was very supportive, and the two kids got along exceptionally well. For instance, when Salted Fish went to East Sea to learn how to pilot a large ship, he actually lent Ningning his most valuable possession - a light motorcycle. Ningning had been riding it for over four months and, unclear about the situation, truly thought it was hers. Well, if he’s going to be a child bridegroom, so be it. If that doesn’t work out in the future, they could treat the boy as a nephew. Xiang Fan glanced at the duty roster, smiled and said, "I’m on duty tonight, but I can swap shifts with someone. While you’re at it, ask Sanye if he has a place to stay for the night. If not, let him stay at our place tonight. I can sleep with you, and he can sleep with your dad." "He has a place to stay; the Water Police Station must have dormitories, and besides, his sister is at the Port Authority." "Still, you should ask; it’s polite." "Sanye is not an outsider; we don’t need to stand on ceremony." "Okay, I’ll hang up now." ... Meanwhile, Han Yu saw the second third-level merit medal he had received since joining the police. It was delivered by Zhang Junyan, who watched him fondly and explained with a smile, "The commendation ceremony was held during your second month in East Sea. I thought of asking Old Zhang or Instructor Li to accept it on your behalf, but Director Xu suggested we keep it with me until you came back so that I could personally hand it to you." "This commendation comes from the Ministry of Transport Police; of course, it’s supposed to be handed to Salted Fish by you." Xu Sanye chuckled and then said, "It’s not just the medal and certificate; there’s also a cash prize. The Ministry of Transport Police is more generous than our City Bureau; the bonus is three hundred, enough to buy one square meter of a house." Han Yu opened the envelope tucked in with the certificate and was surprised to find actual money inside. Zhang Junyan sighed, "Working for just one year and already you’ve been awarded two individual third-level merits, Salted Fish; you’ve set a record in Linghai Police Bureau." "Thank you, Director Zhang." "No thanks necessary; you’ve earned it." The commendation was for his work in cracking down on illegal currency exchange cases. Thinking about how he’d been transferred from Binjiang all the way to East Sea for this case, Han Yu asked curiously, "Director Zhang, have Ye Xingguo, Zhang Asheng and Shen Rulan been sentenced?" "They have been sentenced." "How severe was the sentence, how many years did they each get?" Zhang Junyan exchanged a glance with Xu Sanye and casually said, "At first we had no idea, but later we found out Shen Rulan was pregnant. After she was extradited back from East Sea City, we allowed her to be released on bail pending trial. As a result of her pregnancy, she was sentenced to six months of fixed-term imprisonment with a probation of one year." Han Yu exclaimed in shock: "She won’t have to serve time in prison!" "That’s the state regulation." Zhang Junyan paused for a moment, then continued, "Ye Xingguo had a good attitude in admitting his guilt and showed significant merit, so he received one year of fixed-term imprisonment. Because it’s a short term, he’s serving it at Binjiang City Bureau’s First Detention Center. He’ll be out in a few more months." Han Yu couldn’t believe his ears and pressed on: "What about Zhang Asheng?" "Zhang Asheng was an accessory, same as Shen Rulan, also got six months of fixed-term imprisonment. With time served pre-sentence being offset against the sentence—a day for a day—he will be released in about ten more days." "That’s such a light sentence!" "Their families hired a very capable lawyer from East Sea City to defend them. That lawyer provided a pile of precedents from other provincial courts pertaining to similar cases. Our judges in Binjiang haven’t really dealt with cases like this, they didn’t dare to give too heavy sentences, so they could only refer to the others’ decisions." Taking a cigarette from Xu Sanye, Zhang Junyan added, "If it wasn’t for the fact that Ye Xingguo genuinely had significant merit, and there were indeed reasons for the court to be lenient at its discretion, the procuratorate was almost about to appeal." Han Yu asked further, "What kind of meritorious contribution did Ye Xingguo make?" "Before Ye Xingguo went into business, he worked at a bank. After he was apprehended, he provided a lead, or to be exact, he whistleblowed on two people—one was an employee from the remittance department of their former unit, and the other was a salesman from the import division of an import and export company. Those two people took advantage of their positions, privately forged the financial seal of an import and export company and the specialized approval seal used for foreign exchange allocation by the National Foreign Exchange Administration’s Central Foreign Exchange Business Center, faked two private seals, and bought fake Foreign Exchange Quota Application Forms and Payment Books, to deceive the issuance of foreign exchange quotas and make illegal profits." "Directly defrauding foreign currencies from the bank!" "Due to the seriousness of the case, the Ministry of Police designated the East Sea City Police Bureau to carry out the investigation. Our counterparts in East Sea City discovered during the investigation that they used methods like forging the National Foreign Exchange Administration’s Central Foreign Exchange Business Center’s specialized approval seal and fake Foreign Exchange Quota Payment Books to swindle US $140 million in foreign exchange quotas from the China Bank." Zhang Junyan tapped off some ash from his cigarette and added, "They then connected with a few other suspects to contact the users of the foreign exchange, reselling the fraudulently obtained foreign exchange quotas to entities such as China Xin Hua Electronic Enterprise Group and Guangzhou Foreign Economic Development Company, netting obscene profits of over U.S. $44 million and RMB 46 million." Considering the fraud of foreign exchange, Ye Xingguo and the other two paled in comparison to those people. Listening, Han Yu felt a chill and murmured to himself: "In that case, his merit is indeed significant." Xu Sanye wasn’t too concerned about how lightly or severely these money-crazed guys were being sentenced, but he regretfully said while smoking, "It’s a pity we don’t have much experience with such cases; otherwise, with such an important lead in our hands, we wouldn’t have had to hand it over for others to investigate." "Right, it’s a shame to miss out on a truly big case like that." "Even if we had the experience, it wouldn’t have mattered. The superiors already knew about it; for sure, they’d let a more suitably experienced unit take over the investigation." As soon as Xu Sanye finished speaking, footsteps were heard from outside. Looking up, to their surprise, it was Director Ge of the Transportation Bureau. Last year, Director Ge had come to the station for the dunship inauguration ceremony. Han Yu had some recollection of him. Xu Sanye got up, somewhat astonished, and warmly greeted, "Old Ge, how come you have time to come check on our work here?" "I wouldn’t dare to inspect your work; I’m just passing by." Director Ge glanced at Han Yu, fearing that Xu Sanye would bring up old matters again, and then explained: "The county is considering the inconvenience of vehicle transportation across the river and plans to invest in the construction of a car ferry. These past few days have not been very busy, so I brought Master Lv and others to the riverside to take a look in person." Although the Bainiu Line has a passenger ferry, the ferry is too small and not a professional car ferry. It can only carry a few cars at a time, and heavy trucks that are too large can’t even get on board. Plus, there are very few trips each day. The county wants to carry out infrastructure development to solve the transportation problems on the shore and on Zhuangming Island. Xu Sanye is very supportive and smiles, asking, "Have you thought about where to build the ferry terminal?" "Not yet, we’re in the midst of an on-site inspection." Director Ge greeted Zhang Junyan and sat down with a smile: "Secretary Chen requires that if we build it, we must consider all aspects. Not only to open a car ferry route to Zhuangming Island but also to Dacang. At the present stage, the main task is research. Once we have a proposal, we’ll report it to the City Transportation Bureau, then to the Provincial Transportation Department." Xu Sanye, resting his chin on his hand, asked, "How many years will it probably take to turn the plan into reality?" "At the fastest, it would take two to three years." "Can it be done faster?" "We would like to speed it up, but is this something that can be rushed?" "Then why are you not out doing your research and instead coming here, is there no one to take care of your lunch?" Searᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Director Ge turned to look at the 001 parked outside and said with a smile: "Sanye, we can’t make out anything just by looking from the shore; can you take us out on the river to have a look? Plus, choosing the location for the ferry terminal isn’t the same as just setting up a bus station; we need to consider waterway, route, and other factors, and we need to hear the opinions of you and Port Supervision." "I have to ask whether Captain Wang has enough fuel." "Don’t set a trap for me. Shameless Zhang may not know how large your oil tank is, but I do, and I don’t have that much money for fuel!" "Old Ge, since you know how big the fuel tank on the 001 is, then you should also know how much fuel the 001 consumes. Your Transportation Bureau wants to go on the river to do research; why should I pay for the fuel?" "The 001 was a gift from our Transportation Bureau to you all; the entire boat was given to you for free. Isn’t it only right to take us out on the river for a look?" That seemed to make some sense, and Zhang Junyan felt that Yanjiang Police Station shouldn’t be petty about this issue. Xu Sanye, however, wasn’t so easy to talk to. He knocked on the table and said: "Old Ge, your reasoning isn’t strong enough, and I don’t like what you’re saying." Director Ge laughed and asked, "Why isn’t it strong enough?" Xu Sanye turned to look at Han Yu, and said very seriously and sternly: "I didn’t know about the 001’s past and present life before, but now I’m very clear about it. It was originally purchased by a state-owned tile factory. Later, that factory realized that having its own fleet wasn’t cost-effective, so they used it to pay off their freight fees to the shipping company. After the shipping company restructured, no one was willing to take on the contract for this tugboat, and there wasn’t enough money for maintenance, so it was just left idle until it was nearly scrapped. Later I suggested towing it to Bailong Port, Director Yang helped me talk to the county leaders, and after they called you, you finally agreed." "Yes, I gave it to you, didn’t I?" "Is the tugboat yours? What right do you have to give it away!" Xu Sanye’s face became stern, he emphasized: "Although the shipping company is affiliated with the Transportation Bureau, as far as I know, from the formation of the shipman’s co-operative to the establishment of the shipping company, and up to its restructuring, the shipping company not only hasn’t received much investment from the county but has made significant contributions to the county’s economic construction. In other words, the tugboat belongs to the shipping company, it belongs to all the shipmen, and that includes a share for Salted Fish’s family. I, Xu Sanye, only owe the shipping company, only owe the shipmen, I don’t owe the Transportation Bureau, and I certainly don’t owe you, Old Ge. You want to use the boat, sure, but first go and add a thousand RMB of fuel; otherwise, forget about it." ""