Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 197 Zeng Hong's Past

The following morning, the duty hall on the first floor of the Zhongshan Institute was bustling with people.

Comrade Xiao Wang, the "King of Gossip" at Zhongshan Institute, stood ramrod straight on the chair behind the duty desk, holding a rolled-up notebook as a microphone, and declared righteously:

"Today, I, Chen Shu, stand right here! It's either you or me. Either you obediently put down your cleaver and surrender, or we'll fight it out."

"Damn it!" Xiao Qiang, who was standing below, clenched his fist and shouted.

Zhu Chaoran retorted, not to be outdone: "Xiao Wang, what about me? Why hasn't it been my turn to go on stage yet!"

Xiao Wang glared, baring his teeth as he prepared to speak, when suddenly his expression changed, and he regained his composure. He casually tossed aside the "microphone," stepped off the stage, spread his arms, put them on the shoulders of two colleagues, and half-pushed, half-bumped them out of the front hall: "What are you doing here! Don't you know you need to go to work?"

Everyone turned around and saw that instructor Zeng Hong was standing behind them, watching them silently.

"Eat, eat!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Let's go to the cafeteria for noodles!"

With a whoosh, the crowd immediately scattered.

"Humph!"

Zeng Hong snorted and swept his gaze around authoritatively. Seeing that the duty hall had returned to its usual orderly state, he then walked upstairs to his office.

At the entrance to the third-floor corridor, seeing that Chen Shu's office door was ajar, and with my mind preoccupied with the follow-up publicity and reporting on yesterday's hostage situation, I casually pushed the door open and went inside.

"Chen Shu, what's wrong with you!"

Zeng Hong couldn't believe his eyes. He saw Chen Shu lying on his desk, fast asleep, early in the morning.
Chen Shu looked up, his eyes bulging like panda eyes, and greeted him weakly, "Oh, Professor Zeng."

Zeng Hong walked to the desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down, asking in confusion, "Weren't you on duty last night? Why didn't you sleep?"

He leaned forward and sniffed: "You haven't been drinking either?"

Chen Shu shrugged: "Yesterday was a workday, how could I dare to drink?"

A document recently issued by China this year, "Regulations on Strictly Prohibiting Unauthorized Banquets and Drinking," includes a first provision that strictly prohibits police officers from drinking alcohol on working days. Therefore, within the police force, colleagues who have transferred out of the public security system or resigned often celebrate their newfound freedom to drink. This reflects both envy of others and a sense of helplessness regarding their own current situation.

Zeng Hong stared at Chen Shu suspiciously for a long time.

Chen Shuyi propped himself up on the table, staggered to the coffee table, took an HIV test strip, and threw it in front of Zeng Hong.

"Teacher Zeng, I got injured yesterday and bled quite a bit. I'm worried about that guy."

Zeng Hong immediately understood what was going on. Being veteran police officers, they knew the test strip wouldn't detect anything. He took out his phone and pretended to make a call: "Have you asked the Criminal Investigation Department if your partner has any illnesses?"

Chen Shu wore a bitter expression: "They're all sleeping now. When I called last night to ask, they all said they'd take them to the CDC on their way to the detention center today, and get back to me after they've checked."

Zeng Hong nodded, agreeing that this case-handling procedure was good.

"So I couldn't sleep last night." Chen Shu spoke softer and softer, afraid of being looked down upon by the old policeman in front of him who had worked on the front lines for decades, braving wind and rain.

After listening, Zeng Hong pondered for a while, then suddenly started talking about his past: "In 200X, I had just retired from the army and transferred to civilian life. I was full of energy, but also lacked experience. I participated in an arrest operation for a rape case. The victim was an 18-year-old girl, and the suspect was a neighbor who had brought her out to work. During the process of subduing the suspect, my right hand was scratched by him, and the wound was about three or four centimeters long."

Yes, I bled at the time.

Later, during the interrogation, the suspect claimed to have AIDS. After the interrogation, we took him to the CDC for testing, and the result was positive. At the time, we didn't think much of it, as we didn't really understand it.

But soon after, I caught a cold that didn't get better for a week. Thinking about this, I secretly went to the CDC for a checkup and found out that it would take a month to get the results. During that month, my cold still hadn't healed.

Two things happened this month. First, insomnia—night after night of sleepless nights and hair loss; second, estrangement from family. This past month has been the darkest, coldest, and most terrifying period of my life so far.

Chen Shu listened intently and couldn't help but ask, "And then what happened?"

Zeng Hong laughed and changed the subject: "Then I ran into you bunch of brats who always cause me trouble."

"So everything's fine?"

Zeng Hong took out a pack of blue Liqun cigarettes from his shirt pocket, pondered for a long time before tearing it open, pulling out a cigarette and putting it in his mouth, then handed the pack to Chen Shu.

As a seasoned smoker, Chen Shu naturally knew its value and recognized it as a rare find. He reached out and took two cigarettes, keeping one clipped to his head.

Zeng Hong lit a cigarette, smoked it for a long time, and continued telling his story:
“Once, while on plainclothes patrol late at night, I saw a woman stealing a car. I shouted to identify myself as a police officer and rushed over first.”

At this point, Zeng Hong paused, shaking his head self-deprecatingly, "Still haven't learned their lesson. Yeah, I was the first one to rush over. When that woman saw us coming, she immediately pulled out a knife from her pocket."

However, she was still clumsy, and I pinned her to the ground when I was only halfway through drawing the knife. Later, during the interrogation at the station, she turned out to be an HIV patient. She hadn't drawn the knife to attack us; she wanted to cut herself to scare the police and then escape.

At work, I was surrounded by colleagues, so I didn't feel anything. But when I got home from get off work and lay alone in bed, I couldn't fall asleep no matter how much I tossed and turned. In the middle of the night, I got up and touched the sheets, and they were all wet.

Oh, I was so scared afterwards.

Chen Shu frowned: "After all this talk, are you implying that insomnia is a normal thing to do in this situation?"

Zeng Hong's eyebrows immediately rose, and he leaned over to pat Chen Shu on the shoulder with his large hand: "That's right. It's normal to be worried. It's okay, we police officers have to go through this a few times in our lives to feel good."

Chen Shu looked distressed and couldn't speak.

Zeng Hong got up, went to the water dispenser in the corner of the room, poured two glasses of water, handed one to Chen Shu, and took the other and gulped it down. He felt much better.

After talking for so long, my throat definitely needs some water to moisturize it.

She put down her cup and asked with a smile, "I heard from Xiao Zhu that yesterday you knew the thug inside was carrying a kitchen knife, but you didn't wear cut-resistant gloves when you rushed in to arrest him?"

Chen Shu nodded and finished the sentence for him: "Serves him right."

Zeng Hong grunted and walked towards the door. As he opened the door, he turned around and said in a deep voice, "Next time you go on a mission, remember to protect yourself. We police officers are human too; we can get hurt."

A friend's mentor accidentally made a mistake while arresting someone at a bar. Some time later, he was promoted to deputy shareholding officer without anyone questioning it, but privately everyone felt it was a waste of his talent.

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(End of this chapter)