Dark Light Chaser.

Chapter 237 The Way Out
Jin Ping'an was dumbfounded.

Are you a devil?!

Jin Ping'an felt like he had a fever of 40°C and had finally managed to get leave to go home and rest.

The students were given two fever-reducing pills by their parents and sent back to school, just like the other students.

Are you still a human being?
Jin Ping'an really couldn't hold back this time; he just had to cancel his contract.

A lump of air swirled in my throat, and I just couldn't swallow it.

"You know how bad my grades are. In junior high, I barely passed any of the other subjects except for Chinese!"

Jin Ping'an slammed the drawing board down: "Even if you bring me a junior high school math book, I might not be able to understand it, let alone a high school one!"

After listening, Tian Hao nodded and said quite sincerely, "It's precisely because your grades weren't good in junior high that you need to make the most of the resources at Experimental Middle School. That way, you'll have a chance to improve your grades."

Jin Ping'an snorted coldly: "My grades are lagging behind because I'm in the criminal investigation team investigating cases every day."

Excluding weekends, I take four days off per week.

After a month of going to school, I haven't even attended a full week of classes. There's no way I can keep up!

Given your intelligence and the teaching quality of that junior high school, even with regular classes, your grades probably wouldn't be that good...

Tian Hao muttered to himself, but seized the opportunity to say aloud, "Back then, we hadn't fully grasped your abilities yet."

Don't worry, high school won't let you take leave every day. Make the most of the opportunity to study hard, and ask your teachers questions if you don't understand something.

Tian Hao perfectly seized upon the loopholes in Jin Ping'an's words, leaving him with no room for rebuttal.

Jin Ping'an's face immediately turned ashen, like someone who had just grabbed the last cup of instant noodles from a convenience store and found there was no oil packet or fork inside.

His mouth was like a constipated intestine; he couldn't utter a single word of rebuttal.

After all, he said those words himself.

Jin Ping'an's original intention was to complain to Tian Hao about how much he had sacrificed for the criminal investigation team, how he had shed blood for the police force, and how he shouldn't treat him like this.

But who is Tian Hao?

Cunning and treacherous adults.

He completely avoided talking about Jin Ping'an's contributions, instead taking a different approach and discussing the issue from another angle.

It's like when you talk to your boss about safety, he talks to you about efficiency;

When you talk to him about efficiency, he talks to you about quality.

After finishing the work, you ask for a raise.

He starts talking to you about the company's market prospects and future outlook, in short, that hardship is a blessing and the future is promising.

Mixing mud and stirring up water is an essential skill for every adult.

Tian Hao was no exception.

Although Jin Ping'an, this young man, has more experience than his peers, he is not so experienced as to be able to bridge the gap of more than twenty years of experience between the two.

Some things are simply impossible to understand until you reach a certain age.

Just like city kids can't understand why some people still live on rainwater.

Children who have never left the mountains in their entire lives cannot understand what a department store actually looks like.

Unable to argue with Tian Hao, Jin Ping'an sat in the car, silently fuming while holding his drawing board.

When he got off the bus, he slammed the door shut and walked straight into the school without even looking back.

Upon entering the school gate, Jin Ping'an walked straight towards the dormitory building.

At that moment, his stomach made a rumbling sound.

It just so happened that it was time for school to let out, and Jin Ping'an, who was sulking, didn't think much of it and subconsciously followed the crowd to the cafeteria to queue up.

After waiting for about five minutes, it was finally his turn.

"What would you like to eat, classmate?"

"That's what the lady serving the food asked."

The sudden sound brought Jin Ping'an back to his senses, temporarily snapping him out of his resentment and dissatisfaction.

He was just about to order a set meal with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish when he suddenly remembered that he couldn't eat anything yet.

Looking at the fragrant shredded pork with garlic sauce, braised pork belly, and Kung Pao chicken on the tray...

Jin Pingan couldn't help but swallow hard.

But in the end, reason prevailed: "No, thank you."

After saying that, he left the window and gave up his seat.

The students behind Jin Ping'an all looked at him with strange eyes.

Is this person crazy? They wait in line for ages, only to turn around and leave when it's their turn? What kind of performance art is this?
Despite the strange looks from others, Jin Ping'an forced himself to suppress the thought that 'it's okay to eat a little less,' and left the group with stiff steps.

From the canteen to the dormitory, a mere few hundred meters, every step was arduous.

People always find excuses to indulge themselves.

For example, you can go to sleep after finishing this game, and if you don't win, you can continue playing. If you win, you can reward yourself with another game.

Even if Jin Ping'an asked the cafeteria lady to give him less food, it wouldn't be by much.

It's the same principle as asking her to cut more meat; it won't make a huge difference.

Can you rely on your own willpower to endure eating only two bites and then stop?

Jin Ping'an is quite self-aware of his own self-control.

He hadn't eaten a proper meal for a week.

While eating, thoughts like "I'm only eating this once anyway, so I might as well finish it" or "It's bad to waste food" will probably pop into my head to excuse myself.

People compromise step by step, constantly making concessions, and then the concessions become bigger and bigger until they finally cross the line.

So he simply stopped eating.

Eating may feel good in the moment, but you'll likely have a stomachache in the middle of the night.

A tear in the cardia and a rupture in the esophageal mucosa allow stomach acid to churn up once it begins to digest food.

That cold, aching sensation felt like an ice scalpel slicing through your body—it was incredibly intense.

It'll hurt so much you'll drool.

Jin Pingan swiped his student card to unlock the door and walked to the desk.

Then I took a small box down from the shelf under the desk.

Upon opening it, I found it was full of vacuum-packed rice cereal.

This is his food ration for the week.

Jin Pingan will need to eat liquid food for at least another week before he can barely resume a normal diet.

Moreover, for a month after recovery, he could only eat half full at each meal.

As for the illness, a tear in the esophagus isn't a serious one; it's just uncomfortable.

After all, fighting against physical desires is often a very difficult thing.

Otherwise, why would some punishments involve starving you for two or three days?

Jin Ping'an struggled to pick up a bag of rice cereal, his face extremely pale: "Why isn't there any rice cereal with braised pork flavor? Aren't you afraid that everyone will feel like throwing up from drinking it all the same flavor...?"

"Ping An, you're back so soon!"

Jin Pingan turned around and saw Cheng Lejia carrying a paper bag of steamed buns.

Judging from the size of the paper bags, there probably aren't many.

"You're eating steamed buns again today?"

Jin Ping'an stared at the paper bag without answering the question.

But Cheng Lejia had known Jin Pingan since childhood, and he could tell at a glance that his good friend was not in a good mood.

He put down the paper bag and said, "Let me guess, did Uncle Tian send you here? And tell you to study hard for the next two years and try not to interfere in police affairs?"

Realizing he couldn't hide it any longer, Jin Ping'an turned his face away.

But he still didn't answer the question directly.

"Although what I'm about to say might sound like a lecture, I still want to say it: Uncle Tian, ​​this is for your own good."

Cheng Lejia put on two layers of disposable gloves on his right hand, then took a meat bun from the paper bag and took a bite: "It's true that the criminal investigation team needs your abilities, but you can't put all your eggs in one basket, can you?"

"Don't tell me that having more skills means having more career options. How could the criminal investigation team go out of business?"

Jin Pingan turned to look at Cheng Lejia, finally getting down to business.

"Although you have special abilities, abilities are only one aspect; you also need a decent diploma."

With your current grades, even getting into a third-rate public university will be a problem.

Cheng Lejia began to analyze Jin Ping'an's future: "Ping'an, you are still young, but we don't know how many more years Uncle Tian and the others can work. They will retire before you."

Nobody knows what kind of people will be coming to the criminal investigation team next. Can you guarantee that those people will be as upright as Uncle Tian and his team?

Even if others let you stay in the criminal investigation team because of your old leader, could you stay?

Most criminal investigators are not young, and some people can't stand it when someone with no college degree, who is about their age or even younger, is their senior.

As he listened to Cheng Lejia's analysis, the disdain on Jin Ping'an's face slowly faded.

He bit his lip and stubbornly said, "The criminal investigation team is a place where you get things done based on ability, not personal connections."

"But the management of units is ultimately done by people, not machines. Where there are people, there will be human relationships, and human relationships are an inseparable part of this society."

Cheng Lejia gave an example to point out the problem: "In Hu Yingshao's case, didn't you encounter a lot of obstruction?"

Jin Ping'an remained silent.

"For example, our grades were not good enough to get into the top class, but why were we still admitted?"
Because the school owed my family a favor during its construction, and the company helped maintain many of the facilities.

Compared to all the effort I've put in, the small requirement of getting into the honors class is utterly insignificant.

Cheng Lejia swallowed the bun and continued, "The same goes for the criminal investigation team. They've lived for so many years, they've more or less accumulated some favors."

Wang Youcai and Hu Yingshao donate money to public security organs through official channels every year to help public institutions upgrade their facilities.

For things like drunk driving, the traffic police won't even leave a record.

This example was spot on, leaving Jin Ping'an speechless.

Having worked as a consultant for the criminal investigation team for over two years, he knew a thing or two about these things.

The government allocates ample funds for equipment, but when it comes to the construction of the working environment, the approval process becomes much stricter.

That's when external donations came in.

Giving money directly is strictly prohibited.

But they have so many ideas.

To give a simple example, for a project that costs a maximum of two million, someone else directly offers ten million. Even if everything is done according to the original deluxe version, there will still be several million more left.

You're talking about this extra money...

For example, you said you couldn't provide financial support?

Then I can donate some daily necessities, such as water purifiers, fitness equipment, office computers, etc., is that okay?
It's perfectly normal to secretly give small gifts at the dinner party after the bidding process.

Over time, this favor was incurred.

Here's a joke: A seasoned project supervisor can tell whether a project meets standards just by squeezing the thickness of an envelope.

Some things are just not out in the open; they don't exist or don't exist, it just depends on whether you dare to.

Another issue is gray income.

Putting everything else aside, a fixed salary of a few thousand yuan is barely enough for one person to live on.

However, when it comes to a family's expenses, that's far from enough.

Therefore, almost everyone in the police force has some kind of illicit income, though it's not usually the kind that involves serious violations of discipline or the law.

As for the specific ones, I won't list them all.

Cheng Lejia was worried about Jin Ping'an and his resistance to these unspoken rules of the adult world, so he gave a milder example.

“Ping An, look, I’m the class monitor now, right? If the teacher asks me to do a surprise inspection of the dormitory hygiene, it turns out that some dormitories haven’t taken out their trash.”

To avoid being criticized in the class meeting, they'll definitely ask me to record the dormitory cleanliness as "good," and then they'll take out the trash after the inspection.

Cheng Lejia tapped the table: "Look, this is what social interactions are all about."

Cheng Lejia has a natural talent for being a teacher.

Because he can always explain something in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

It will help you understand its meaning.

"Your achievements are indelible, but you are still too naive when it comes to human relationships."

Not everyone can be like Lao Tian and his group, disregarding seniority and age, and treating a young man like you, barely an adult, as an equal.

After finishing the meat bun in his hand, Cheng Lejia reached out and took a vegetarian bun filled with cabbage and radish: "During your three years of junior high school, you didn't have a single friend besides me, right?"
Since Uncle Tian wants you to focus on your studies, then don't go to the criminal investigation team for a while. Try to be a normal high school student.

If we want to stay together in college, you need to study hard now, at least to the point of passing every subject. Otherwise, it will be really difficult for my relationship to work out.

Jin Ping'an remained silent.

After a while, he didn't say anything more about the criminal investigation team.

Instead, he asked Cheng Lejia, "In other people's eyes, wouldn't I be considered as just accompanying the prince in his studies?"

Cheng Lejia swallowed the bun in a few bites and stared directly at Jin Ping'an: "Don't you know very well?"

The two stared at each other for a while, then suddenly burst out laughing.

"Alright, what kind of relationship do we have? Let those people gossip if they want. They're just envious of you."

Cheng Lejia waved his hand: "There's a night study session in class tonight, are you coming?"

Jin Ping'an sighed and lay back on the bed: "No, no, there are no teachers teaching, why would I go to the classroom?"

"But roll call is tonight."

Cheng Lejia reminded him.

"What's there to be afraid of? I've already taken leave. Besides, you know what level my grades are at. I'll definitely be going to the office a lot more often in the future, so this one time won't make a difference."

Jin Ping'an knew he had a lot of problems, just like someone who owed billions wouldn't mind owing another two or three thousand.

As the saying goes, "Many lice don't itch, and many debts don't worry."

I'll just go straight for a bad setup.

Looking at Jin Ping'an, who had turned his back to him, he seemed completely unfazed.

Cheng Lejia said helplessly, "Fine then, I'll go to the classroom by myself."

Oh, by the way, the teachers will be checking the dorms after evening self-study. I just finished tidying up this afternoon, so don't get them dirty. If you're going out, remember to change into slippers when you come back..."

Jin Ping'an covered his head with a pillow and said in a muffled voice, "Alright, stop nagging like a hen, hurry up and go to the classroom!"

Cheng Lejia reluctantly stuffed the paper bag containing the buns into the plastic bag.

Before leaving, he did a quick check to see if there was any trash left.

After confirming that everything was correct, Cheng Lejia gently closed the door and left the dormitory, leaving Jin Ping'an alone.

(End of this chapter)