Chapter 1337: Chapter 158: Leadership Inspection (2)

Han Xiangning got on the boat too.

It was freezing outside, and she was just about to go to the crew cabin to get out of the wind when the walkie‑talkie crackled with a call from the Deputy Director of the Bridge Office.

"Comrade Han Xiangning, are you there? Please respond if you hear this."

"Here, Director Qian, go ahead."

"Hurry to the bridge, Minister Yuan wants to get a grasp of the waterway situation."

"Yes, right away!"

Han Xiangning put down the walkie‑talkie and, under the envious gaze of the heads of the various departments, quickly pulled open the hatch door and, moving as if she’d done this a thousand times, ran up the stairs toward the bridge.

The Maritime Bureau wasn’t under Binjiang’s jurisdiction, but today it was ministry‑level leadership doing the research.

Director Xu had also come along. Seeing his subordinate going to brief the ministry leader, he not only didn’t get jealous, he even showed a knowing smile. After all, the bridge was to be built in the Changzhou Maritime Office’s jurisdiction, so it was perfectly normal for the superior to seek out the person in charge there to learn the situation.

If he, the bureau director, went up to report and couldn’t answer the ministry leader’s questions, that would be pretty awkward.

Just as he was curiously examining this little gunboat of Salted Fish’s, a crew member walked over and, without making a big show of it, said, "Director Xu, it’s cold outside. Secretary Han invites you to sit in the captain’s cabin for a bit."

"Alright, thanks."

"This way, please."

The head of the bureau’s general office who was accompanying them had no idea what was going on, and just watched, eyes wide, as he followed the crew member away.

Director Xu was genuinely delighted. He thought to himself that it really wasn’t bad for the Maritime Bureau to have a family member like Salted Fish. After winding this way and that behind the crewman, he pushed the door open and squeezed into the captain’s cabin, only to see Vice Mayor Qin sitting on a small bunk drinking tea.

"Director Xu, sit and have some tea. This was brewed especially for you."

"Mayor Qin, just the two of us get hot tea?"

"Life on the boat isn’t like on shore; this is all the boat’s got." Being able to enjoy special treatment and not have to freeze out on deck, Vice Mayor Qin was quite pleased as well, feeling that all these years of looking out for Salted Fish hadn’t been in vain.

Director Xu picked up the teacup and suddenly realized he could smell the tea but couldn’t see any leaves. What was steeping in the cup turned out to be a small packet of tea dust, with the cotton string from the little sachet still hanging over the rim.

Vice Mayor Qin laughed and said, "Don’t stare at it, just make do and drink. Minister Yuan and Secretary Lu get the same treatment."

"This tea was very likely ’brought back’ by Salted Fish from a hotel when he was on a business trip." Director Xu chuckled and took a small sip. Maybe it was just too cold outside, but it actually tasted alright.

"What do you mean ’very likely’? Have a little confidence—that’s exactly what he brought back from a hotel."

Vice Mayor Qin set down his teacup, bent over, and fished out several pairs of disposable slippers from under the little bunk. Then he opened the drawer of the small desk, pulled out a few disposable toothbrushes, and couldn’t help laughing: "Look, all of it, hahaha."

Director Xu finally got to see what real frugality was. Cradling his teacup, he sighed, "Salted Fish has known hard times; he understands thrift. If we’re talking budget, the Water Anti‑Smuggling Department has funds, the Rescue Boat Team has funds, even the Water Firefighting Association has funds, but he just can’t bring himself to buy proper tea leaves."

"Yeah, cadres like Salted Fish are getting rarer and rarer."

...

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Yuan had already finished asking about the waterway situation. He put down his binoculars and looked over at the two pennants that had just been hung on the bulkhead.

Secretary Lu smiled as he introduced them: "Minister Yuan, although Boat 825 is a Customs law enforcement boat, it had only just been delivered to Binjiang Customs and hadn’t even had time to go out to sea for anti‑smuggling operations before being seconded by the superior to assist your Ministry of Transport Maritime Bureau in carrying out outer‑ring security for the tri‑service cross‑sea combat exercise off the Southeast Coast, and it was awarded a collective Second-class Merit. This is the Second-class Merit pennant conferred by the General Administration of Customs."

"I only knew that a few anti‑smuggling boats were seconded for the exercise. I didn’t expect Boat 825 to have taken part as well, and even won a merit!"

"Salted Fish, I remember there was a police officer who received a Second-class Merit— is that police officer here?"

"Reporting to Secretary Lu, the one who received the individual Second-class Merit is our boat’s chief engineer, Comrade Gong Jian. He’s not here today; he’s gone to Yangzhou on assignment."

There was still some distance between here and the waters where the bridge would be built.

They had nothing better to do anyway.

Curious, Secretary Lu asked, "What task did Comrade Gong Jian go to Yangzhou to carry out? Yangzhou isn’t even your jurisdiction."

Han Yu hesitated for a moment, then reported truthfully: "Over the past few months there’s been a series of thefts on the river. We suspect the suspect’s been drifting down from Yangzhou. Our comrades from the Water Police Station and the Changhang Bureau went over to investigate. Xiao Gong is from Yangzhou and knows the situation over there pretty well, so I had him go back home to handle communication and coordination."

A "river thief" had been rampaging through the Binjiang Waters, and the whole matter had already been blown up into legend, with some gleeful members of the public almost turning it into another "Swallow Li San."

Since it involved a foreign vessel, not only had Secretary Lu heard about it, he had a distinct impression of the case.

Seeing that Han Yu hadn’t washed his hands of it just because he’d been transferred to the Smuggling Crime Investigation Branch, Secretary Lu was very pleased. Curious, he asked, "Any leads? Can you nab that suspect soon?"

"We’re in the middle of investigating. I estimate we should have news in the next two days."

"Good. You need to put some heart into this case."

"Yes, sir!"

Deputy Minister Yuan, meanwhile, was looking curiously at the pennant on the left and asked, "Friend Salted Fish, judging from the date on the inscription, this pennant was presented by the public just yesterday?"

Han Yu quickly replied, "Reporting to Minister Yuan, our Boat 825 doesn’t just do anti‑smuggling; we also assist the Maritime Bureau with waterborne rescues. The night before last, a pregnant female crew member’s water broke..."

They used a motorboat to pick up the pregnant woman from the anchorage and bring her ashore, then drove her to the hospital.

Mother and child were both safe; she gave birth to a "century baby."

This very meaningful good deed wasn’t done by Boat 825 alone; the Binjiang Maritime Bureau Control Center also played its part!

Deputy Minister Yuan was delighted. Turning to the China Transportation News reporter in the entourage, he said with a smile, "A century baby—Even the Evening News ran a story on that sort of thing. I didn’t expect the Binjiang Maritime Bureau to run into one too. You lot spend all day reporting on where we go, what meetings we hold, which events we attend—what’s the point? What Comrade Salted Fish just told us is an excellent piece of news material. You can go back and do some interviews on it."

What Secretary Lu most liked to see was the leadership in a good mood; if the leadership was happy, then the business of building the Yangtze River Bridge would go smoothly. He couldn’t help laughing: "The century baby was born yesterday, so that means the child and the child’s mother should both still be in the hospital. Journalist Liu, if you’re interested, I’ll have the comrades from the Propaganda Department accompany you over."

"I’m interested, thank you, Secretary Lu."

...

Everything Secretary Lu was doing wasn’t for himself, but for Binjiang.

Han Yu felt that at such a critical moment they had to "present a united front to the outside," so he promptly started reporting on how Binjiang Police, Changhang navigation police, Fishery Administration, Water Administration, Customs, and the port and shipping enterprises along the line had assisted with Maritime enforcement and rescue.

The Yangtze River waterfront section is a "golden waterway," with thousands of large and small vessels passing through every day, so building a Yangtze River Bridge at Binjiang had to take navigation safety into account.

Although Han Yu’s report didn’t mention the Yangtze River Bridge by name, it was directly related to the bridge that was about to be built. Secretary Lu was very satisfied and thought to himself that having Salted Fish accompany the inspection was really the right call.

10:27 a.m.

China Customs boat 825 arrived at the waters currently being surveyed.

Hai Xun 39, Hai Xun 48, and Changhang navigation police boat 110 were on the river providing security and guard duties for the survey vessel. The staff from the Changzhou Maritime Office and police from the Changhang Bureau, seeing 825 arrive, immediately sounded their whistles in salute and stood at the rail to salute from afar.

The two engineers accompanying the Ministry leaders on the inspection asked about the waterway conditions, and Han Xiangning answered every question, with answers that were impeccable.

The Ministry leader once again raised his binoculars, looked at the South Bank, then at the North Bank, and then bent over to study the expressway planning map on the shore.

At Secretary Lu’s signal, the deputy director of the "Bridge Office" hurriedly called over the Transportation Bureau chief and the Transportation Bureau’s chief engineer, who knew the situation best, to give a briefing...

At 11:36, boat 825 arrived at the Sanhe Waters and berthed at berth No. 3 of Linghai Port.

Linghai’s Secretary Qian and Mayor Shen had been waiting all morning and hurried to invite the leaders ashore to dine at the newly opened Sanhe Hotel.

The Sanhe Hotel was an investment attraction project that Mayor Shen had brought in the year before last.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that it was built on the riverbank, far from Linghai City District; it was still Linghai’s first and only foreign-related hotel!

They’d only planned on receiving foreign crew members at first, but they hadn’t expected business to explode after opening.

Actually, that was normal. There were so many enterprises in the development zone, including large companies like Linghai Port, Hailuo Cement, and Shenglong Shipbuilding, yet there was only this one decent hotel. Whenever the development zone enterprises had any business reception, naturally they all came here.

Han Yu had the good fortune to bring the entire boat crew along to freeload a buffet meal.

After eating and drinking their fill and walking out of the restaurant, he was just about to gather everyone to head back to the boat and return to base when his senior schoolmate grabbed him. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Your pocket’s bulging—what’ve you got in there?"

"Pears."

Han Yu instinctively glanced back at the restaurant.

Han Xiangning froze for a moment, then yanked him into a corner. "You stole their pears?"

"How is that ’stole’? It’s a buffet—take whatever you want to eat."

"At a buffet you can only eat here, you can’t take things away!"

"You eat till you’re full and then have fruit; I was eating as I walked out!"

"So you eat half and save half to eat on the way back?"

Han Yu covered his mouth, laughing. "I was pretending to eat, I didn’t actually eat any."

Han Xiangning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "And how is that any different from stealing?"

"Don’t keep saying ’steal,’ it sounds awful." Han Yu shoved his hands into his pockets and, feeling the pear, said with great righteousness, "In winter there are only apples and tangerines, no pears. Pears are expensive right now. What’s wrong with me taking two back for Han Han to eat?"

"That’s true. Wait here, I’ll go grab one too."

Han Xiangning giggled and turned around to run back into the restaurant.

You talk about me, but aren’t you going back in to take one too?

Han Yu was quietly snickering to himself when Vice Mayor Qin, who should have been upstairs in a private room accompanying the superior leaders at lunch, suddenly walked over.

"Salted Fish, don’t rush back just yet."

"There’s more?"

"Minister Yuan isn’t taking a break at noon. In a bit he’s going to visit the Linghai Maritime Bureau, then the Linghai Reserve Camp. Secretary Lu wants you and Ningning to accompany the whole way."

"Okay, but I need to run back to the anti-smuggling boat first."

The leaders were about to come downstairs, and Vice Mayor Qin, afraid of delaying official business, asked in puzzlement, "Why do you need to go back to the anti-smuggling boat?"

Han Yu looked a little embarrassed. "I need to drop off the pears."

"What pears?"

"It’s nothing, it’ll be quick—I’ll be right back."

"Minister Yuan and Secretary Lu are almost done eating; they’ll be coming down any moment!"

"Ningning alone is enough to accompany the visit to the Maritime Department. Secretary Lu telling me not to leave is definitely because he wants me to accompany Minister Yuan to visit the Linghai Reserve Camp. I’ll just go straight to the camp later and wait there, and help you guys feel things out in advance while I’m at it."

"That works too—hurry, though."

Han Yu had taken a few steps when he remembered that his senior had also gone to ’steal pears,’ so he ran back to find her, took the pear from her with his back to Vice Mayor Qin, and then bolted for the pier...