Chapter 54 - 50: I Am the One Praising Others

Chapter 54: Chapter 50: I Am the One Praising OthersThe Baptism Wine definitely needs to be arranged, but that’ll happen a few days later. Spent the night on a makeshift bed at the Ji Family’s place, and early the next morning, went to the butcher shop next to the brigade office to buy a set of pork offal. I asked Mr. Ji and Mrs. Ji to clean them and stew a soup to nourish my sister-in-law’s body. Then, taking along a big basket of red eggs, I had Mr. Ji bike them to the Linghai Bus Station, where I caught a bus back to the station to work. Upon arrival at the station, it was already nearly nine o’clock. The door to the Director’s office was ajar. I intended to distribute the red eggs first, but just as I was about to knock, I saw Director Xu, the instructor, and Director Zhang from the Bailong Port Police Station talking. "Director Xu, Instructor, Director Zhang, go ahead with your matters; I’ll come by later." "No hurry, come in and talk. You’re the future director of our Yanjiang Police Station, we have no secrets from you here!" Xu Sanye laughed heartily and, seeing the basket I was carrying, asked, "Did your sister-in-law give birth?" "She did. She had a boy last night at 7:23, weighing six and a quarter pounds." "Congratulations, congratulations." "Salted Fish, I didn’t expect you to become an uncle." Xu Sanye’s expression turned serious, and he said with a hint of gravity, "Old Zhang, what’s the big deal with Salted Fish becoming an uncle; he’s been an uncle for a long time. In the future, whether his nephew is taking exams, enlisting, looking for a spouse, or getting married, they’ll have to invite him to take the seat of honor." Li Weiguo slightly nodded, suppressing a laugh as he added, "If there’s a family conflict at his sister’s house, they’ll need to invite him to mediate. If his sister ever considers separating her household from her son’s, they’ll need him as a witness." Director Zhang couldn’t help but laugh, "Well, Salted Fish, it seems your status in the family is quite high." "Don’t believe Director Xu and Commander Li; I have no say at home. Whatever I say, my dad won’t listen, or believe." Sёarᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Mainly because you’re a bit young, give it a few years and he’ll listen. Hahaha." Han Yu, embarrassed by the teasing, quickly began handing out the red eggs. After the jokes, Xu Sanye, while inviting everyone to eat the eggs, spoke of serious matters: "Shall we report to the county and ask for recognition?" "This was suggested by Director Wang from the Political Work Office during a call with me." "What else did he say?" "For the collective honor, only the 9.17 Special Task Force can be commended and rewarded. He said to rest assured, that they will help our station and Captain Wang’s team, asking the county committee and the government to recognize us as an advanced unit in the fight against speculation." What’s the use of commending the task force when it’s about to be disbanded? As for the advanced unit, that’s really just a certificate of commendation. Xu Sanye realized this wasn’t just Wang Xiazhi’s idea, and jokingly scolded, "Really slick, let them commend however they want, as long as they don’t leave anyone out." Zhang Junyan gave a wry smile and said, "But what we want isn’t this kind of collective honor!" Peeling a red egg, Xu Sanye laughed and said, "Where in the world can you take advantage without any loss? You took away three hundred thousand, I not only took three hundred thousand but spent several thousands more of theirs. It’s only fair to let them vent a bit." Han Yu could roughly understand and couldn’t believe the director was so easy-going. Li Weiguo knew Xu Sanye too well and wasn’t surprised by his reaction. Zhang Junyan felt it was strange, just like Han Yu, and reminded, "Director Xu, but will your county approve this commendation and reward for you?" "Old Zhang, do you think I care about these things?" Xu Sanye retorted with a question and laughed, "Let me put it this way, I, Xu Sanye, am a person who gives commendations to others, who distributes certificates of merit! Even if the county planned to commend me, I wouldn’t bother to accept the award." Almost forgot that he once sat in Director Yang’s position, and did so for several years. Zhang Junyan suddenly realized, thinking that this sort of honor really doesn’t mean much to him. After finishing the egg, Xu Sanye dusted off his hands and pointed to the banners hanging on the wall, "Gold cups, silver cups, none as good as the common folks’ good word. I’m content with these, and all I need is the people’s approval." "That’s true. Every time I see so many banners when I come here, I feel envious. Our station has only received two in all the years since its establishment." "We also have letters from the people, lots of thank-you letters stored in boxes." "Old Brother is truly the Boss; we should learn from you." Regal banners and thank-you letters were all earned from combating the ticket scalping. It’s fine to show off to others, but showing off to Director Zhang, who also fought against ticket scalping, would be over the top. Listening, Han Yu felt awkward as if taking credit for Heaven’s work. Xu Sanye also realized he chose the wrong person to boast to and quickly changed the subject, "Old Zhang, it’s good you’re here today. We’re about to take a major action, are you interested in another collaboration with us?" "What action?" Zhang Junyan asked with a smile. "An operation against Foreign Exchange Certificate scalping. We’ve gotten hold of two suspects from East Sea, if we’re able to nab them in a few days, the results should be significant." Selling Foreign Exchange Certificates is even more profitable than ticket touting! Zhang Junyan said without hesitation, "Of course I’m interested." Xu Sanye, though indifferent to honors, decided to show Bailong Port Police Station and the scalper who dared to suppress Yanjiang Police Station a lesson when he thought about their audacity. "From what we have gathered, those two suspects have not just traveled once to Bailong Port by boat, then taken a long-distance bus to Binjiang. Moreover, once in Binjiang, they mainly engaged in the illegal activity of reselling Foreign Exchange Certificates in the Port District. This involves jurisdictional issues, and we cannot mess around like others do, so I plan to have you take the lead in investigating this case." "No problem. If there are any confiscations or penalties, once they are returned, we will split them equally between our two departments, just like last time!" This is like a pie falling from the sky... The more Zhang Junyan thought about it, the more excited he became. Seeing Xu Sanye’s half-smile, he quickly added: "Moreover, with us taking the lead, our bureau will have the initiative. When it comes to awards and recognitions, we definitely won’t be as petty as your bureau." "They are not being petty, they just lack a sense of ownership and an overall view." "Lack a sense of ownership?" "It’s simple. These more than forty kilometers of the Yangtze River are in our Linghai, otherwise it wouldn’t be called the Linghai section of the Yangtze River North Branch Channel. But they are afraid of troubles and reluctant to invest without thinking, which is equivalent to handing over their jurisdiction to others. If this is taken to the national level, it amounts to a loss of sovereignty and humiliation to our country." Xu Sanye tapped the desk and continued, "Actually, not only them, but our County Transportation Bureau and Agricultural Bureau are the same. I have already made the necessary investments. Once the riverside enforcement base is constructed, I can even spare some offices for them to move in." Zhang Junyan asked curiously, "What did the Transportation Bureau and Agricultural Bureau say?" "They think it’s troublesome, and that the water traffic management of the Yangtze River Linghai Section falls under the jurisdiction of the Binjiang Port Supervision Bureau, and the fishery management of this more than forty kilometers of water belongs to the Fishery Station of the Binjiang City Agricultural Bureau." "Maybe they are considering manpower and funding..." "It’s not a matter of whether we have people or money, it’s an issue with their work attitude. I won’t look for them anymore in the future, and they should not bother me with matters either!" Xu Sanye snorted coldly, then changed the subject, "Salted Fish, Captain Wang said the ship inspection department will come for a field inspection at the end of next month, but now we need to submit a lot of materials. Captain Wang is good at repairing and sailing ships, but he doesn’t know how to handle the materials. These next few days, you don’t need to do anything else, hurry up and prepare the materials needed for the ship inspection department." There is a set of procedures for ship registration and inspection, and a series of steps to be followed. From the design drawings, they must be submitted for review, and a large amount of documentation must be prepared, without errors at any step. is an old vessel, where to find the relevant documents is a task more daunting than replying to the public’s letters... Han Yu was about to say that those documents can’t just be organized as one wishes, when Xu Sanye continued, "They will come only once and plan to finish all the inspections at once, which might include a trial run. A trial run means sailing the ship, which means burning fuel, which in turn costs money. Old Zhang, I’m planning to take the opportunity of the trial run to conduct a firefighting exercise. When you go back, help me ask the person in charge of the Port District if they would like to participate." "Director Xu, how do you intend to do it?" "They set up several fire points, we drive 001 over there, turn on the water cannons and hoses to extinguish the fire. If conditions permit, we’ll add two more exercises: rescuing stranded ships and saving people who have fallen into the water. In any case, if the ship is moving, this fuel cannot be burned in vain." "Safety above all else, they will definitely be willing." "You first help me communicate with them, Old Li, go this afternoon to find the people in charge of the sluices and gas stations. If several units are willing to participate, we’ll arrange a time for them to come over for a meeting to discuss the exercise together." The main duty of Yanjiang Police Station is to manage the population on the water, maintain public order in the Yanjiang and Bailong River, prevent and combat various illegal and criminal activities, and protect the safety of water transport and the lives and properties of the people. Now he has even added rescue and firefighting to their "services," expanding their scope of duties all at once. Li Weiguo didn’t know what to say to him, but he could only respond with a smile, "Okay." Xu Sanye looked at Han Yu and then at Zhang Junyan, "As for the operation to combat the resale of Foreign Exchange Certificates, next Tuesday a foreign vessel will be docking at Binjiang Port. Foreign sailors may disembark, and those suspects involved in reselling the certificates will definitely not miss this opportunity. The lead was collected by Salted Fish, and I was originally planning to let Salted Fish and Zhang Lan call up community activists familiar with the suspects to go together. Now that you have joined us, and with you taking the lead, there’s no need to involve Zhang Lan anymore, to avoid unnecessary talk in the bureau later." He is good at stirring things up, but he has too few people under him. Old Li not only has his main job, but also has to work with Four Factory Police Station to investigate the bicycle theft cases. Old Zhang is responsible for managing the water population, and he is too busy just mobilizing shipmen to handle water household registrations, Seaman’s Certificates, and identity cards. Now that a Cooperative Defense Team member skilled in retrieving bodies is assisting, things are a bit easier than before. As for the newly recruited Liang Xiaoyu, not to mention that her lack of education means she can’t be of much help at the moment, being merely a Cooperative Defense Team member even if she could help. Zhang Junyan is very familiar with the situation of his neighbor, Yanjiang Police Station, and said without any hesitation, "Binjiang Port is our stronghold. I’ll have Old Liu go with Salted Fish. We have plenty of brothers there to coordinate with." Xu Sanye watched him with a smile and asked, "Old Zhang, since this case is primarily your responsibility, and entrusting it to you is indeed more conducive to the investigation, are we only sending Salted Fish from our side?" "Just having Salted Fish is fine. Besides, you’ve already done a lot of preliminary work, leave the follow-up to us!" Zhang Junyan had already tasted the sweetness and naturally would not be stingy, so he agreed very readily. Han Yu never expected that he, as a newcomer, could actually take on such a responsibility, feeling like he was in a dream. Li Weiguo was well aware of the subtext in Xu Sanye’s words, indicating he was planning to send Salted Fish alone, and then sit at home waiting to share the money and credit. He couldn’t help but look at Han Yu, as if his face read, "You should go and help the station earn a good sum."