Chapter 366 - 258: The Boat is His Livelihood

Words : 2300 Updated : Oct 9th, 2025

Chapter 366: Chapter 258: The Boat is His LivelihoodWest Mountain Province, Bali Gou Mine. A truck carrying coal drove by, kicking up a cloud of dust so thick it left people gasping for air. Shi Shengyong squinted as he wiped his face, which immediately turned into a "multicolored face" smeared with coal dust. His face, neck, and clothes were all covered in dirt. Li Shichang, who had come along to help capture the fugitive, was worried about his newly-bought buns getting dirty and quickly stuffed the steaming buns into his shoulder bag. The two men walked back along the uneven dirt road compressed by the truck wheels, where a single step would submerge their shoes in dust, returning to the small hostel adjacent to the post office. Xiao Liu, the auxiliary police officer who had stayed in the room to watch their luggage, hurried to fetch water for them to wash their faces. There were no beds in the room, only a clay kang. Everything was covered in dust; it was quite an adjustment upon arrival. But this was a mining area, not a city, and one couldn’t find better accommodation. The three of them had no choice but to adapt to the local ways. Xiao Liu cleaned the table, took the buns and pork head meat out of Li Shichang’s shoulder bag, and then turned to fetch the half bottle of wine left from last night out of the bag. While he helped pour the wine, he sighed with emotion. "Director Shi, Brother Li, it may look dirty around here, but the people are quite wealthy. Just now, several Japanese imported SUVs passed by the door, and there’s even a karaoke lounge ahead." "Where there are coal mines, there’s money." Li Shichang washed his face, meticulously cleaning even the dirt from under his fingernails, and the basin of clean water quickly turned as murky as the waters of the Yangtze River. Shi Shengyong had already noticed the karaoke lounge Xiao Liu mentioned. At noon, as they walked out, he even spotted two flamboyantly dressed and coquettishly behaving young women by the entrance of the lounge, and he could almost be certain that those women were in the flesh trade. If this were in Four Factory Town, a strict crackdown would be enforced. But this was someone else’s jurisdiction, and they needed the help of local colleagues, so they had to pretend as if they had seen nothing. Xiao Liu didn’t know what the Director was thinking and couldn’t help asking, "Director Shi, have you found the Bali Gou Police Station?" "We found it, and they said they’d ask around for us." Shi Shengyong took off his filthy shoes and sat cross-legged on the kang, picking up his chopsticks and sighing lightly, "I didn’t expect it to be so similar to Four Factory in the past. There are actually two police stations here. One is from the Local Police Bureau, and the other from the coal mine’s police department. It’s too late today, so we’ll go to the mine’s police station early tomorrow." Xiao Liu, curious, asked, "How is the relationship between the two?" "From the attitude of the Old Brother we met this afternoon, it seems their relationship isn’t that good. But it doesn’t involve us; we are here to catch a fugitive, as long as we can bring him back." "It’s been seven days since we’ve been out, and we’ve already visited three mines. Is Xu Chunhua really hiding here?" "He should be in this vicinity; beside here, where else could he go?" Xu Chunhua was a member of the second group from Dongfeng Village in Four Factory Town. The crime he committed wasn’t major, just suspected theft, but it had a very bad impact. Stealing bicycles, stealing fish from people’s homes, stealing grains, stealing sheep from the elderly villagers, stealing chickens from breeders, and even killing other people’s dogs with poison to sell them—there was almost nothing he didn’t steal. In the last month of ’89, he even teamed up with his two equally ill-behaved cousins and stole almost the entire New Year’s goods of every villager in one local community—salted fish, salted meat, brown sugar, jujubes, dried chicken, oil... a whole boatful! Starting from opportunistic theft, he proceeded to sneak up to people’s doorstep at night, locking the villagers inside their own houses, then raiding chicken pens, leading sheep out of their pens, prying open kitchens to gather New Year’s goods, and even breaking into storerooms to fill woven bags meant for fertilizer with grain. They say a rabbit doesn’t eat the grass around its burrow, but he did the opposite, even stealing from a neighbor in his own team. Dongfeng and the surrounding villages were deeply affected, and Yang Xihui, when he took office, targeted Xu family brothers as the focus of a crackdown. But Xu Chunhua was highly alert and had two large wolfhounds at home. Despite being very cautious during the arrest, the dogs were still agitated. Xu Chunhua, hearing the wolfhounds barking madly, kicked open the cement window behind the west room, leaped out the window, jumped into the river, and fled. He had a wife and a daughter. His wife was from outside the area, had some mental issues, wasn’t good-looking, and there were rumors that he was involved with a widow in the neighborhood. Shi Shengyong, having gotten hold of this clue, immediately went to find the widow. Unexpectedly, the rumor was true; the widow admitted to her affair with Xu Chunhua, disclosing that Xu Chunhua had secretly returned to Four Factory the year before last and even brought her over to Bali Gou Mine Area in West Mountain for a three-month cohabitation. She, not accustomed to the climate and diet here and also worried about her child, returned to Four Factory from West Mountain. Up until three months ago, they were still corresponding, and Xu Chunhua even sent her a thousand yuan four months ago. The visits and inquiries over the past few days had confirmed this as well. Only they were too late; a few fellow miners who had gone down into the mine with Xu Chunhua said that he had a falling out with the foreman three months ago and came over here with another co-worker. Being unfamiliar with the place, they could only rely on the help of local colleagues. Shi Shengyong was contemplating whether to invite some local colleagues for a meal tomorrow when Li Shichang suddenly asked, "Director Shi, has Director Jiang found anyone?" "Not yet, I asked Instructor Li to relay the message at noon, since we’re already out here, let’s search thoroughly. I told them not to be stingy with travel expenses, to search for another week, and then return if still no one is found." "We are all outside catching fugitives; there are only three people left in the station. Can Instructor Li and the others handle it?" Mentioning the work at the police station, Shi Shengyong pondered, "I didn’t expect Salted Fish to consider the bigger picture at a critical moment, knowing that the station is short-staffed, he took the initiative to propose taking turns on duty with Old Zhang and Old Ding." "What big picture is he considering? He’s a police officer at the station now; it’s only right for him to help out when the station is busy." Becoming a squad leader at the age of twenty-two is just ridiculous. If it were not for being Xu Sanye’s disciple, he’d never have his turn to be a squad leader! The more Li Shichang thought about it, the more frustrated he became, and he couldn’t help but say, "Director Shi, there’s something I don’t know if I should speak of." "Just say it. What’s there to consider?" "When we handed Wu Qingjun over to the Criminal Investigation Team, Director Jiang and I interrogated him again. Wu Qingjun said that he was caught by Salted Fish and Xiao Yu, and Master Jiang from the Bailong Port Police Station didn’t lift a finger, nor did he see the onboard police from Bai Shen." Shi Shengyong put down his wine bowl and looked up to ask, "What are you exactly trying to say?" Li Shichang had always felt it strange and couldn’t hold back any longer, saying bluntly, "I suspect this matter has nothing to do with the Bailong Port Police Station or the Bai Shen Police Team." Whether it’s related or not, it has to be treated as if it is! If there was truly no relation, what else could have intimidated the leaders of Four Factory at the time. Shi Shengyong was inwardly lamenting that this veteran colleague of nearly ten years seemed to have an even poorer sense of the big picture than Salted Fish, when Li Shichang couldn’t help but murmur, "Heaven knows who has the 200,000 that Four Factory sponsored and where the money went. He helped them make a fortune; even if they don’t give it all to him, surely they’ll kick back some." When money was mentioned, Shi Shengyong felt that Li Shichang’s suspicion had some merit. The station did come up with a hundred thousand, but only over twenty thousand was left after paying off debts and issuing back pay for auxiliary police salaries. Now splitting efforts with Jianghai to capture fugitives, though not exactly splurging, costs for both sides added up to seven or eight thousand. Four Factory Town wouldn’t become peaceful just because of the crackdown; there would surely be more cases like this or that in the future, and solving any case meant spending money. Several auxiliary police still needed to be paid. Cars needed fuel; electricity, phone, and water bills needed to be paid. Besides the two fugitives whose whereabouts are being tracked, there are still quite a few more to be caught. In short, there are a lot of places to spend money coming up. The remaining funds would only be enough to last three or four months. After pondering for a moment, Shi Shengyong said with furrowed brows, "He’s a small tycoon, isn’t he? He, as a squad leader, is richer than me, the Director." "He’s saved over thirty thousand just in fuel tickets, and it’s certainly more by now." "So what if it’s more? He’s been neighbors with Bailong Port Police Station and Bai Shen Police Team for so many years; they’re as close as if wearing the same pair of trousers. Even if I send Instructor Li to audit, nothing will be discovered." "Director Shi, are you saying he’s set up a private fund at Bailong Port Police Station?" "It’s possible." "This is just absurd; the management at Changhang Bureau is too messy." "He was raised by Changhang Bureau’s Director Zhang Junyan. Zhang Junyan is now a Director, ranking even higher than Director Yang. If Zhang Junyan covers for him, what can we do?" "Isn’t he just playing both sides?" "Salted Fish may not always consider the big picture in some matters, but it’s unlikely he would privately divvy up or embezzle public funds. If he really wanted to make big money, there are plenty of routes. I’ve heard his certification for piloting ships is hard to come by; maritime companies need talent like him. If he wants to go out to sea, he could earn at least thirty to forty thousand a year." "That much!" "Maybe even more; I’ve looked into it, just helping the Port Supervision Bureau and Port Authority with piloting. Piloting just three or four times a month could earn him over a thousand." Li Shichang couldn’t believe it was true and muttered, "He clearly has better opportunities, yet he insists on making things difficult for himself for what?" Shi Shengyong couldn’t help but think of Xu Sanye and said with resignation, "The dunship and that old tugboat are Xu Sanye’s political legacy. He’s Xu Sanye’s closed-door disciple, so he’s determined to uphold this legacy for Xu Sanye. And as far as I know, he was involved in the construction of the dunship from the beginning; he personally upgraded and remodeled the tugboat." "He participated in the construction and even handled the upgrades? How old was he then?" S~eaʀᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "His father worked for a shipping company; he grew up on ships. He knows not just how to operate them, but also how to repair them." "So he values those two ships more than anything!" "Those two ships used to be Xu Sanye’s lifeline; now they’re his lifeline, as well as the foundation of his standing in our police system. Without those ships, could he be the Water Police Captain?" "But he’s now a police officer at the station; he can’t just think about those two ships." "Exactly, which is why I say one shouldn’t get too tunnel-visioned. Once someone gets stuck, they can’t get out." Li Shichang asked in a low voice, "So what do we do now?" After thinking for a while, Shi Shengyong said indifferently, "If it weren’t for him, the station wouldn’t have made it through that difficulty. Asking him for money now would be unreasonable. Since he has some sense of the bigger picture and knows the station is short-staffed and volunteered for duty, from now on, let him be involved in everything, big or small, at the station. After all, he is the squad leader." Treating Salted Fish as half a station leader and consulting him on everything would mean that he couldn’t just stand by when the station faces tight budgets in the future. Li Shichang caught on and cracked a smile, "That’s a good idea. From now on, I should show him more respect."

Chapter 366 - 258: The Boat is His Livelihood

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