Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 32 - 30: Cooked Rice into Mature Meal

"We’ve gone off-topic. The issue of illegal eel fry fishing is extremely urgent—you might think that this should be under the jurisdiction of the Fishery Administration. Before taking office in Bailong Port, I thought so too.

But after two months of investigations, I discovered that every year, several or even a dozen people drown because of eel fry fishing."

"Speaking of accidents on the river, on the seventh day after I took office, Old Li and I could only watch helplessly as a living person drowned due to a boat overturning. Not only could we not save them, but we couldn’t even find the body."

Xu Sanye took a deep breath and continued, "Director Yang, as a Binjiang native, you must surely know about the major boat collision in the waters of Binjiang Port on May 8th last year. Others might not have heard of it, but you definitely know.

A fleet from Hanwu capsized a small passenger boat, drowning a total of 114 people, with only six saved.

The frequent passenger boat services and not a few cargo ships in Bailong Port, what if a water traffic accident occurs? There’s neither a base nor a boat by the river, how am I supposed to carry out rescue efforts?"

In terms of reasoning, who could outtalk him?

Director Yang’s face darkened as he turned to look at Secretary Li.

Secretary Li coughed and reminded him, "Sanye, river traffic is under the control of the Port Supervision."

Xu Sanye turned to ask, "Where’s the Port Supervision, Secretary Li? You’re a county leader; tell me where the Port Supervision is."

The Port Supervision is in the Transportation Bureau, with just a sign hung up.

Usually busy with issuing certificates to ships, hardly managing inland rivers, let alone the Yangtze River...

Secretary Li touched his nose, somewhat embarrassedly saying, "I’m not in charge of transportation."

"I know you don’t oversee transportation. What I’m trying to say is that there’s neither Port Supervision nor Fishery Administration by the river, just my Yanjiang Police Station. If something happens on the river, who else will take care of it besides my Yanjiang Police Station?"

"Moreover, our Linghai is situated at the Yangtze River Tail. No matter whether someone drowns upstream or if a murdered victim is disposed of in the river, the bodies might end up drifting to us.

Last month, locals discovered a corpse. Without a boat, by the time we got there, the body had already drifted off who knows where, impossible to find."

Xu Sanye stubbed out his cigarette butt, speaking with heartfelt pain, "Not finding means no problem, Wu Ren Guang is the happiest. But what do we do, comrades, we are the police, the life floating on the river could even be a restless soul!

I don’t care what others think, as long as I, Xu Sanye, am the Chief of Yanjiang Police Station for one day, I will hold my ground at the Yangtze River Tail!"

"Today I lay it out here, if we encounter another floating corpse in the future, no matter how decomposed, and no matter how unhappy Wu Ren Guang is, I will get the corpse pulled out and have Wu Ren Guang come to examine the body."

He stands on the moral high ground, legal and conscientious; his arguments are forceful—how could anyone contradict him...

Director Yang’s face remained gloomy, silent.

Instructor Ding realized that if he let him continue speaking, he might even criticize Director Yang next, so he hurriedly raised the contract in his hand to change the subject.

"Sanye, you’re planning to install air conditioning, is it one or three units?"

There’s no air conditioning in the Police Bureau, only in the County Committee and their guest house. A police station installing air conditioning, whether one or three units, does seem a bit excessive...

Secretary Li found it strange and subconsciously looked at Xu Sanye.

"Old Ding, do you know how hot it gets on a ship in summer? I can tell you, at least 60 degrees. You can fry eggs on the deck, and the hull walls can’t be touched by hand. It’s very cold in winter, just wait and I’ll take you on the ship to experience it."

"A Dunship and a pontoon bridge aren’t necessarily made of iron; we could totally use a few concrete boats."

"I really considered it at first, but then learned that concrete boats are unsafe. Once they sink, it’s difficult to salvage them, which can block waterways. Now the ship inspection authorities will not issue certifications for concrete boats, a Dunship is still a boat, and it has to have a certificate if it’s parked by the river. We are the police; we can’t break the law knowingly."

"You have a good relationship with the Bailong Port Police Station. You could completely communicate with the Port Authority through Bailong Port Police Station and have your tugboat parked at Bailong Port Passenger Pier."

"Their berths are limited, sometimes several passenger boats are docked close together, and passengers have to cross through temporarily idle boats to get on. There’s no berth for us to borrow."

Not understanding the situation and being presumptuous, that’s exactly what people who sit in offices are like...

Xu Sanye quietly scoffed, then continued, "Besides, with many ships, it’s easy to scrape or even collide. They’re involved in passenger transport, safety is above everything else. Do you think it’s a big city parking lot where you can park anywhere?"

Instructor Ding, already used to being reprimanded by him, flipped through the contract and asked, "What’s all this oil for then?"

"Ships burn oil, not water, so what do you think I’m buying oil for?"

"That’s way too much oil to burn."

"It’s not so much; do you think the ship is a Binjiang tricycle? Let me put it this way; for one hour of navigation on the river, it burns diesel worth fifty or sixty yuan. Patrol our jurisdiction’s waters, and it’s two to three hundred yuan’s worth of fuel."

"In just a few months, the oil price has gone from sixty cents per liter to one yuan and thirty cents, who knows how much more it will rise. If I have the money now, of course, I want to store more, otherwise, I’ll have to burn expensive oil in the future."

Instructor Ding flipped to the last contract and pursued, "What’s up with pulling electricity?"

"After the Dunship is built, it will be docked by the river, not parked in the station. Generating electricity with expensive oil is unaffordable, of course, I need to get an electric power installation company to lay a power line."

"Building ships, repairing them, constructing pontoons, erecting buildings, laying electric lines, all that adds up to three hundred thousand. Do you have that much money?"

"I asked Wu Ren Guang. The criminal part of the 9.17 case seizures wasn’t small, plus the security seizures and fines, it should be about enough once the returns come in."

"But the current financial system..."

"How am I supposed to know about your improved financial system? It’s like legal application; you can’t use the current system to deal with past matters."

The contracts have been signed; there are a series of breach clauses below. Besides, he is motivated by public interest, not corruption and embezzlement.

Secretary Li exchanged glances with Director Yang, pondering and then saying, "Since the rice has already been cooked, let it be. But this can’t set a precedent."

"Secretary Li, what do you mean by ’not setting a precedent’? You make it sound like I’m being insincere."

"Don’t get too cocky!"

Secretary Li glared at him and then turned to point at the two chiefs from the Police Bureau, "Hurry and apologize to Director Yang and Instructor Ding."

"I didn’t do anything to apologize to Director Yang for."

Xu Sanye retorted, looking at the Instructor: "As for Old Ding, he owes me an apology, not the other way around."

During the investigation back then, Instructor Ding followed the tide and said some things to the leadership of the inspection team that were unfavorable to Xu Sanye.

Secretary Li didn’t expect him to hold such a grudge, still remembering it to this day. He quickly said, "I’m not talking about who you owe an apology to, I’m talking about your attitude towards your superiors."

"Director Yang is both a superior and a comrade. Shouldn’t comrades treat each other with honesty, and shouldn’t there be a promotion of democracy within the Party? Secretary Li, Director Yang, I think it’s not a bad thing for comrades to sit together, bang on the table, and get red in the face."

Seeing Secretary Li grinding his teeth, Xu Sanye realized he had gone too far and quickly changed his tune:

"We should both promote democracy and carry out self-criticism. Director Yang, I was a bit agitated just now—just agitated, it was not directed at anyone, so don’t take it to heart.

To be honest, I do respect you as the director. You’re more reliable than Zheng Dahuang and more capable too. If you could be a bit tougher, we’d respect you even more."

Is this praise... or insult?

Director Yang, unable to hold back his anger, sneered, "I’m not tough enough, but you’re very tough, more like a director than me. You should take charge of the work; you’d probably do a better job than me as the director."

"No, no, no, times have changed. I couldn’t handle your position. With my abilities, I’m only fit to be a police station chief."

"What do you mean you couldn’t handle it? You’ve done it before, and for several years at that."

"Ha ha ha, Director Yang, you’re making fun of me again. Is it really that fun to make jokes about me, someone who’s been restricted from using certain things?"

Xu Sanye chuckled meaningfully, saying, "Give me a year, let me achieve something on the riverbank, and then you can go and make fun of Old Ge, Shameless Zhang, Glasses Jiang—they’re the ones who’ll be really funny."

Old Ge is how he refers to the head of the Transportation Bureau, Shameless Zhang is the head of the Agricultural Bureau, and Glasses Jiang is the newly appointed head of the Environmental Protection Bureau. The Political Work Office Director is called Wang Xiazhi...

Director Yang suddenly realized that Xu Sanye was actually being polite to him, at least he hadn’t given him a nickname.

And there was some logic to what he said; squabbling with him wasn’t really meaningful.

Winning wouldn’t get you praised for being capable.

Losing would make you a laughingstock.

Besides, without him, they wouldn’t have achieved such a great victory.

He only squandered a bit in his lawless ways, but the big profits were in the Bureau, so technically the Bureau should thank him.

Director Yang weighed his options, pointed to a pile of contracts on the table, and said, "The matter of taking action without prior approval will not be discussed once you’re out of this door. The returned funds will be deposited into the accounts according to the new financial system. As for these contracts... they can be continued, but they should be re-signed with them."

"Re-sign?"

"You’re just a station chief, not even a legal person. What makes you think you can sign contracts with them!"

Director Yang snorted and turned to say, "Old Ding, handle this yourself. Sign with them in the name of the Bureau. You’ll be responsible for overseeing the project’s progress and quality."

Making a slight adjustment to pass the station’s works to the Bureau, to save face for the Bureau...

Xu Sanye suddenly caught on, grinning and saying, "That’s going to trouble you, Old Ding. Old Zhang might be able to manage household registrations, but he’s certainly no good with accounts. With you in charge, I’ll be even more at ease."

You’re more at ease? Who do you think you are?

Instructor Ding was extremely frustrated, but since the Director had spoken, he could only brace himself and say, "Okay, I’ll handle it tomorrow."

Director Yang handed the contracts to Instructor Ding, then added, "One more thing, Old Wang said you’re having Little Salted Fish learn some engine technology. Although he’s young, he is still a police officer. Isn’t it misguiding to have him learn that?"

"Director Yang, we are Yanjiang Police Station. It’s not just Salted Fish who needs to learn about engines—I’m even planning to learn how to pilot boats properly after dealing with the 9.17 case."

Xu Sanye paused, then emphasized, "It’s the same principle as traffic police needing to learn to drive, but our Yanjiang Police Station’s specialty is much stronger than a traffic police team, and not just by a bit or two."

The Yangtze River without wind is three feet wavy; one mistake can lead to death.

Thinking about the many people who drowned in the river every year, Director Yang realized the necessity of learning such technology and self-mockingly said, "You’ve got me all worked up and nearly made me forget that you guys are going to enforce the law on the river."

"Not just law enforcement, but also rescue. If a fire breaks out on the river, we even have to act as firefighters."

Xu Sanye was full of spirit, speaking with stirring enthusiasm.

Secretary Li couldn’t help but recall his demeanor when he returned from university to become the deputy head of the Human Protection Group, brimming with ambition.

If it were someone else who had gone through so much, their edges would have long been blunted.

But him? He’s still as sharp as ever.

...

PS: Just found out that now whether you get recommended placement depends on the follow-up reading data.

I kindly ask brothers and sisters who like the story of Salted Fish and Old Xu and who are used to accumulating Chapters before reading to please open and take a look when you have time.

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