Chapter 34 - 32: Running Out of Money Again

Words : 2053 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Chapter 34: Chapter 32: Running Out of Money AgainAfter joking, let’s get to the serious matter. For the behavior of Yanjiang Police Station acting first and reporting later, and for making sudden expenditures, the Police Bureau reluctantly approved it. Given the huge investment, qualifying it as this year’s biggest infrastructure project, the Police Bureau specifically established the "Yanjiang Police Station Infrastructure Project Leadership Group". Master Ding personally took on the role of group leader, pulled Zhang Lan from the logistics division to manage finances, and planned to invite the retired technology deputy director from the ship repair factory of the shipping company to help supervise the quality and progress of the project. After all, everyone has their own expertise. Dunships are boats too, with the footbridge also set upon several small iron boats. Ship repair requires more expertise, and nobody in the bureau knows about these, so they could only hire external experts. Li Weiguo smiled and asked, "So, does that mean the project group’s office will be located at our station?" "Clear out the reception room to serve as their office. The three of us will move the beds to the office later and vacate those three dormitories for them. It’s just for three months anyway." "Director Xu, what about me?" Han Yu asked in a low voice. Xu Sanye waved his hand, "You don’t need to bother, Old Qian already lives in the kitchen, there’s no need for him to move." Old Zhang didn’t care about whether he had a dormitory since he lived close by. He offered a cigarette smilingly and asked, "Director Xu, Master Ding won’t come every day, right?" Xu Sanye accepted the cigarette, and said contemptuously, "That wall grass, having done things that weigh on his conscience, is most scared of seeing me. He will at most come tomorrow to re-sign the contract and sign when paying money. He definitely would leave the specific work to Zhang Lan and Director Liu; he wouldn’t come every day." In front of him, the Instructor couldn’t look him in the whole face but now as part of the bureau leadership, Li Weiguo didn’t want him to lead Little Salted Fish astray, so he swiftly changed the subject: "Director Xu, are we just letting go of the issue regarding the sound financial systems?" "How could we? They are currently mending the fence after the sheep have escaped." "What does the bureau leadership plan to do?" "They’ll continue to perfect the financial management systems, with regard to the return rates for seized forfeited money, it might be calculated based on the total amount in the future, refunded in different bands. For example, if a thousand yuan is seized, what rate it would be refunded at. From one thousand to two thousand yuan, what rate again, it can’t be limitless like before." "Bureau leadership is learning from their mistakes." "All the fuss is useless unless the treasury can fully guarantee the funding for case handling." Xu Sanye took several puffs of his cigarette and then laughed, "No matter how much they perfect it, it doesn’t concern us much. They know once we enter the Yangtze River, money will be spent like flowing water. They made it very clear to me, moving forward, we will still split fifty-fifty, but we must ’bear the profit and loss on our own.’" "What does ’bear the profit and loss on our own’ mean?" "After burning through twenty thousand yuan of fuel, we have to figure out how to handle it ourselves, this also applies to costs for maintaining law enforcement ships, office and case handling expenses. Also, cases that occur on the river should be resolved on the river." "What does ’resolved on the river’ mean?" "For example, if a body drifts down from upstream and it can be determined as a homicide, it would be great if we could solve it. If we can’t, we’ll have to turn to the Changzhou Police Bureau, Chonggang Branch, or even Binjiang City Bureau. The body drifted from their area, they can’t neglect it." Li Weiguo had a sudden realization and grimly asked, "The bureau isn’t planning to handle it?" "If we handle it, it means the bureau handles it. Their concerns are understandable; after all, it’s not a murder case that occurred in Linghai. Most bodies that drift here are unidentified. Often, they are so decomposed that facial recognition is impossible, leaving no clues, how could Wu Ren Guang investigate? Moreover, handling cases costs money, an endless amount of money, and failing to solve cases affects the murder case resolution rate." Xu Sanye didn’t think this was a big issue and quickly switched topics: "Once the tugboat is repaired, it’ll head to the riverside. Then, there will be no law enforcement ship here. But our responsibilities not only cover the security of the Yangtze but also the main waterways of Bailong River and Bin Qi River. Salted Fish, the bureau has two small motorboats, let’s find a boat tomorrow afternoon and pull those two motorboats over." Han Yu had seen those two motorboats ever since he began maintaining records. He looked up and asked, "Are those the ones stopped under Lingbei Bridge?" "Yes, those are the ones." "They’ve been parked under the bridge for many years, the engines are probably broken by now." "If they’re broken, we’ll replace them. This place will become the office of the bureau’s infrastructure project leadership group tomorrow. Repairing one boat or three boats is still repairs. The bureau should not mind this small amount of money after spending so much. Even if there’s no value in repairing them, a coat of paint and parking them at the riverbank can still have a deterrent effect." This is getting more and more extensive... Li Weiguo cautioned, "Director Xu, from one boat to three boats, do we have that many people to operate them? Xiao Han mentioned just the tugboat alone requires a driver, a Mechanical Engineer, and a sailor." In just three months max, he could lead a "fleet"! Before Xu Sanye returned, he had made a special trip to the County Armed Forces Department, asking Minister Gao for help, to see if he could get a military telescope for better observation and command. Now it seems we need more boats, not fewer. He waved his hand grandly and said, "It’s not like several ships are mobilized at the same time, and besides, if we don’t know how to operate them, we can learn. We can start practicing on the river after the ships are fixed, and then practice on the Yangtze River, it shouldn’t be too difficult." "I can’t do it, I get seasick easily, and I’m not a good swimmer..." "Old Zhang, you’re not in good health, you don’t need to get on the ship. If we don’t have enough people, we can recruit ourselves and completely set up a water-based Security Cooperative Defense Team." "Why do it if there’s no funding for security cooperative defense, what will we use to pay people?" "We can continue to crack down on illegal activities; as long as there are seizures, there will be money." If we could recruit some people who can repair ships, then we wouldn’t have to be so exhausted in the future... Seeing Xu Sanye reveal that the station is short of money again, Han Yu suddenly remembered the matter of someone trafficking Foreign Exchange Certificates and quickly raised his hand to report. After Xu Sanye clarified the situation, he pointed at Han Yu’s forehead and said, "Such an important clue, why are you only reporting it now!" "Director Xu, I was preparing to tell you a few days ago, but you were so busy, and then I got busy as well, and it just slipped my mind." "This is not as simple as you think. Arresting people requires evidence, and we can’t just arrest them because they have Foreign Exchange Certificates on them. If they insist they have overseas connections and claim that the certificates are from friends or family abroad, what then? There’s no way to investigate." "How should we investigate such a case?" asked Han Yu cautiously. "We need to operate carefully and keep a close watch." Xu Sanye realizes that Little Salted Fish is a lucky charm, always bringing good fortune when money is tight. Realizing his tone was a bit harsh just now, he quickly stood up and patted Han Yu’s shoulder, speaking in a soothing tone like to a child, "It’s not too late to remember now, and you’ve made a great contribution. Call Huang Jiangsheng over later, and tell him I want to talk to him." "Yes." "I haven’t finished." Xu Sanye drops his hand and turns to Li Weiguo and Old Zhang, "We also need to prepare ourselves. If the suspects show themselves, we need to follow them and see who they sell the Foreign Exchange Certificates to. The port police and the onboard police are familiar with us, so we need to inform them beforehand; otherwise, our identities will be exposed, and it could scare them off." "Okay, I’ll go see Director Zhang tomorrow morning." Li Weiguo picks up his teacup, thinking it’s true that following you means there’s never a dull moment, but then again, solving a few cases before retirement wouldn’t be too bad. Xu Sanye touches the corner of his mouth and turns back to say, "Salted Fish, we also need to find out who they got the Foreign Exchange Certificates from. You should be quite familiar with Binjiang, and you might need to play a role like when we cracked down on ticket scalping before, and go work incognito as a street vendor in Binjiang for a few days." Han Yu hurriedly said, "Director Xu, there aren’t many foreigners in Binjiang; they must have gotten them from the sailors of foreign ships docked at the port. As long as we find out the docking times of these ships, we can stake out." "Can you find out the docking times?" "Yes!" The knowledge he learned finally came in handy, and Han Yu explained excitedly with a smile, "The hydrology and topography of the port’s waterways are related to national sovereignty and security, so foreign ships must contact Port Authority in advance every time they enter or leave the port to arrange for a pilot to guide them. This is mandatory." Xu Sanye smiles and asks, "So, we just need to ask the Port Authority?" Han Yu pondered for a moment, "Before a foreign ship arrives at the port, there’s a lot to prepare; actually, we don’t need to find the Port Authority, we can go directly to the Ship Agency." "What does a Ship Agency do?" "It’s a company that handles shipping agency services, they specifically help foreign ships with entering and leaving port procedures, and help them find Port Supervision, Border Inspection Station, Customs, and coordinate loading and unloading goods with all port departments on behalf of the ship, and undertake all ship-related businesses!" "Do you know someone from a Ship Agency company?" "I do, one of my classmates was assigned to a Ship Agency company." "A Ship Agency company in Binjiang?" "They are directly affiliated with China Foreign Transport Corporation." Xu Sanye further asked, "What is China Foreign Transport Corporation?" "It’s the China Foreign Transport Corporation, a state-owned major enterprise, higher in rank than the Binjiang Port Authority." Han Yu scratched his slightly itchy ear as he added, "There are only two Ship Agency companies in Binjiang, one is them, and the other is by Cosco, so they are generally referred to simply as China Foreign Trade." Xu Sanye pondered for a moment and asked again, "Where do foreign sailors usually exchange their Foreign Exchange Certificates?" Han Yu replied without a second thought, "The port has an exchange point, usually unmanned, but when a foreign ship docks and foreign sailors disembark, the staff will go there to handle the exchange. If foreign sailors exchange a small amount and it’s not enough after entering the country, they can also exchange at the Sailor Club or the People’s Bank." ...... Sёarch* The Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. PS: One Chapter was deleted, should be released soon.

Chapter 34 - 32: Running Out of Money Again

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