Chapter 8 Quite Fitting

Chapter 8: Chapter 8 Quite FittingXu Sanye had something to do, so he rode off on his tricycle, looking quite stylish. The instructor had to attend some family planning meeting and left on his bicycle as well. After tidying up the dorm, laying out the bamboo mat, setting up the mosquito net, Han Yu intended to take the key, go downstairs, and ride the bicycle borrowed from Xu Sanye to Bailong Port. There he planned to buy pots, pans, ladles, soy sauce, vinegar, and some vegetables, as he would have to cook for himself from now on. Seeing the police uniform and the big-brimmed hat that Xu Sanye had helped to borrow, he remembered he was now a policeman and couldn't help but take off his Dique Liang shirt and trousers, and put on the police uniform and big-brimmed hat. The dorm had a bed, a desk, a cabinet, a chair, and a TV, but it notably lacked a mirror. So he simply stepped out of the dorm and used the window glass in the corridor as a mirror. Just as he felt that the uniform looked pretty good on him, Old Zhang came up with a cup of tea. "Xiao Han, trying on your police uniform?" "Uncle Zhang, is there something you need?" "Nothing urgent, just came up to have a look. The uniform is a bit old but it fits well." Han Yu felt somewhat embarrassed to be caught by the senior comrade. Zhang Mingdong looked him up and down and couldn't help but laugh, "It really does fit well. There's a photo studio opposite Bailong Port Bus Station. Since you're going to buy things, why not wear your uniform and get a photograph taken? First day on the job, first time in uniform, it would be meaningful to take a photo for keepsake. You'll appreciate it when you look back on it in the future." Han Yu took off the big-brimmed hat to check the cap badge, then turned to look at the epaulets, and then looked at Comrade Old Zhang's uniform, patting his chest, asking, "Uncle Zhang, mine doesn't have pockets, but yours has. Why are ours different?" "I'm wearing the long sleeves, and you are wearing the short sleeves, of course, they're different." "Oh." "Go quickly and have your photo taken, you still have to buy groceries and cook." "Thanks, Uncle Zhang, I will head over now." "Do you know the way?" "Yes, I've been to Bailong Port before." Taking a photo in his police uniform for the first time was indeed worth it. Han Yu complied amiably. Grabbing a cloth bag, he went downstairs, rode the bicycle straight to Bailong Port. There are three large organizations by the river, one is Bailong Port, under the jurisdiction of Binjiang Port Authority; another is Bailong Port Bus Station, under Binjiang Motor Transport Company; the last one is Bailong Port Lock Management Office, under the Provincial Transportation Department. There were also quite a few smaller units: over twenty warehouses, several hotels, and stores of commercial companies. There was a bustle of activity in the passenger terminal ticket hall and the square in front of the bus station; people bustling about and shoulder to shoulder, the noise of crowds was deafening. There were those disembarking from boats, buying tickets, waiting for people, waiting for boats, doing small businesses, riding tricycles, as well as those scalping boat tickets – all sorts of people, hustling and bustling, making Bailong Port, which was just an administrative village, exceptionally lively. After taking a two-RMB photograph at the photo studio, Han Yu didn't rush to buy things. Instead, he rode to the river embankment not far from the lock. Gazing into the distance at the river, the ships on the water looked like flat boats bobbing with the waves. If you listened closely, you could hear the steam whistle of a ship slowly sailing toward Binjiang. Looking toward the lock, the river was vast with waves, the reeds on the riverside beach stretched out endlessly, and dozens of inland riverboats, around twenty or thirty tons each, were waiting at the lock's anchorage for instructions from the lock management staff. Looking back in the direction of Yanjiang Police Station, Han Yu truly understood why Xu Sanye was so anxious to repair the boat. Yanjiang Police Station was responsible for maintaining public order in the Yangtze North Branch Channel of the Linghai Section. As a policeman of Yanjiang Police Station, it wasn't enough to stay by the Bailong River; one had to enter the Yangtze River to genuinely maintain order on the waterway. With these thoughts in mind, he hurried to buy things and return to the Police Station to cook. Using the electric rice cooker for the first time, he didn't know how much water to add and was too shy to go downstairs to ask Old Zhang, so he ended up turning the rice into porridge. After eating the pickles he brought from his sister's home, he changed into work clothes and headed straight to the boatyard to find Boss Wu. Boss Wu only knew how to repair outboard boats below fifty tons; welding a boat hull was simple to him. He had never repaired a tugboat like "Linghai Tuo 012" before and saw this as an opportunity to learn by stealth. He called several workers, borrowed two outboard boats anchored by the river, and steered them behind Yanjiang Police Station, untied the tugboat's cables, tied them to the two outboard boats, and towed them northward for more than two hundred meters, all the way to the river beach by the boatyard. Then they secured the tugboat with steel cables on the shore. The winch on the shore pulled while the outboard boats pushed from the river, using the simplest method to get the tugboat onto the river beach. Xu Sanye left two packs of cigarettes in the morning before he left. Han Yu, borrowing to show benevolence, gave them all away. After thanking those who helped, just as he was ready to go back to the Police Station to fetch tools, Boss Wu, wiping his sweat, smiled and asked, "Xiao Han, how do you plan to repair it?" "Start with the main engine, but first we need to clear out the engine room. Manager Wu, is there a place nearby that collects waste oil water?" "Yes, I'll have someone call for you." "Wish I knew there was someone collecting it; should have waited for them to pump out the dirty water before dragging the tugboat ashore." "It doesn't matter, they have oil pumps, and the oil pipes are quite long, should be enough to reach." "Then I'll trouble you." "No trouble at all. Xiao Jiang, whom I introduced earlier, I'll have him call the waste oil water collectors. Later, when you need a hand, just ask for him." "Thank you, Manager Wu." Having help truly made a difference. By the time the tools were brought to the river beach for repair, the boat that collected waste oil water had already arrived. They seemed to be able to refine something from the waste oil water they collected, though it was unclear what could be refined. But handing over the waste oil water in the cabins for them to pump out was better than discharging it directly into the Bailong River, plus they had the pump, which made the process quick and easy. On the river, they'd pay for the recovery service. Now, though not on the river, and the waste oil water in the cabin not belonging to him, Han Yu felt awkward discussing payment, so he simply sat in the shade and watched them pump. While trying to figure out when he could finish smoking, a man in his twenties walked over. With long hair, he wore a floral checkered short-sleeved shirt and a pair of fashionable bell-bottoms, plopping himself down right next to Han Yu. "Are you police?" "May I ask who you are...?" The man in the checkered shirt pulled out a cigarette, offered one, and said with a smile, "My last name is Huang, Huang Jiangsheng. That Xiao Jiang who helped you find someone to collect wastewater is my cousin." "Nice to meet you, I don't smoke though," Han Yu declined with a smile, then asked, "From your accent, you're not one of the Linghai people." "I'm from East Sea." "Are you visiting Xiao Jiang's family?" Huang Jiangsheng flicked his hair, lit his cigarette, and said with a singsong inflection, "Born into hunger, class stopped as soon as I went to school. Sent to the countryside after graduation, no work when I came back, just had to make small trades to get by." Han Yu stared for a moment, then quickly realized, "You were one of the educated youths?" Huang Jiangsheng took two drags of his cigarette and said self-mockingly, "Graduated from middle school at fifteen, farmed in the North Border for six years, and I ran back here secretly. Not only jobless, I couldn't even get my household registration filed." Han Yu curiously asked, "What kind of household registration do you have now?" "Pocket Household." Huang Jiangsheng dramatically patted his backside and said with a bitter smile, "The household registration given out by North Border is just in my pocket. I had a chance to settle it, but when my two older brothers saw that I came back, they hid the family's household registration book to stop me from registering at the Police Station." Han Yu puzzledly asked, "Why did they hide the household registration book? Why wouldn't they let you register at the Police Station?" "The house is only so big; it's them two families living there now. If I register, it means the three brothers have to share. Tell me, this is a blood brother from the same womb." Huang Jiangsheng tapped the cigarette ash and sighed again, "Policies change too quickly; they vary daily. Even if they bring out the household registration book now, I still couldn't register." "Why can't you register?" S~eaʀᴄh the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The government doesn't want us educated youths, telling us to go back to North Border. Who would want to go back there to farm?" "So, you're homeless now?" "Yeah, homeless." "What kind of business do you do?" "I collect eggs and sell them, dealing in new rice when the autumn grain comes in." Afraid that this young cop might not understand, Huang Jiangsheng explained with a smile, "I buy them in Linghai, take them on East Sea-bound boats, and sell them in East Sea to make a little money for living." Han Yu had seen him talking to passing shipmen by the river yesterday afternoon, and realizing he was looking for a boat to East Sea, he blurted out, "Speculation and profiteering!" "Don't exaggerate, I earn my money through hard work. Even People's Daily says those of us who transport goods over long distances aren't engaging in speculation and profiteering." "Then what is considered speculation and profiteering?" "Those ticket scalpers at Bailong Port are. They buy low and sell high, making tenfold with just a flip, earning ill-gotten gains." Taking a drag, Huang Jiangsheng thought and then added, "There are also those who trade in Foreign Exchange Certificates. Last time on my way back from East Sea by boat, I met one exchanging RMB for Foreign Exchange Certificates with foreigners, one for one. Then they'd exchange the certificates at a rate of one to 1.4 or even one to 1.5 to those who need them, making money so easily and quickly." Han Yu was aware of the Foreign Exchange Certificates, as his sister worked at the Sailor Club. Foreign Exchange Certificates were in demand; you could buy imported electrical appliances, chocolate, and high-grade cigarettes from Friendship Stores and venues like the Sailor Club that regular stores didn't carry. It's said that many East Sea people who couldn't get Foreign Exchange Certificates in East Sea would specifically run to Binjiang to exchange them with foreign seamen docked there, then take them back to East Sea to exchange with others who needed them. Foreign seamen were willing to exchange as well because once ashore, they could only use foreign currency to exchange for Foreign Exchange Certificates, and weren't allowed to directly exchange for RMB. This meant that those foreigners could only spend in places like Friendship Stores and Sailor Club that catered to foreigners, and yet these foreigners also wanted to go other places and buy different items. Such activities were not only speculation and profiteering but also violated the state's financial policies. However, Han Yu was just a police officer who repaired and operated boats, and this being only his first real day on the job, he wasn't concerned with these matters. He asked with a smile, "Are you looking for a boat, or waiting for one?" "I was waiting for a boat. The one I arranged with ten days ago never came back and still hasn't shown up. Eggs can't be kept for too long in such hot weather, unlike rice, so I had no choice but to look for a boat at the river's edge." "I'm by the river every day; I'll keep an eye out for you." "Thanks." "Don't mention it, it's the least I could do." Han Yu meant that sincerely; after all, this man's situation was not easy, even pitiable. He was sent off to North Border as a young educated youth, and now despite making it back to East Sea, he couldn't return home and was even shunned by his own brothers. Compared to him, although Han Yu grew up on a boat, he considered himself much more fortunate. Huang Jiangsheng found this young cop interesting, with a grin he said, "I saw you this morning at Bailong Port Bus Station entrance." "Is that so?" "Were you the one who cycled there this morning, wearing a uniform?" "You really did see me, I was there this morning." "Speaking of which, you're a male cop, why were you wearing a female officer's uniform?" "Oh..." Huang Jiangsheng watched him with a smile and asked, "Don't you know the difference around the chest area?" Han Yu suddenly recalled Old Zhang's smile from this morning, and then, realizing he had been running around excitedly taking photos while wearing a female police officer's uniform, he was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.