Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 222 Getting off the bus and going home
At 11:30 a.m., at the school gate

As time passed, the crowd at the gate thinned out, and it was estimated that in a few more minutes the school security guards would come out to close the gate.

Chen Shu stood up and kicked his slightly sore and numb calves, feeling that he definitely had no chance today.

The boy stood up and they both craned their necks to look at the entrance. He casually asked, "Brother, who are you arresting? I know the place well, want me to ask for you?"

Chen Shu chuckled inwardly: "What, did I come here to arrest someone? Couldn't I have come to pick up a child?"

"Brother Shu, you really did come to pick up the kid!"

Before the boy could respond, Zhu Chaoran, who was squatting next to him eating peanuts, was stunned, his jaw almost dropping to the ground.

Chen Shu gently touched the fat man's heel: "Fatty, don't make lame jokes, they're not funny."

The boy chuckled and shamelessly followed Zhu Chaoran's lead, shouting, "Brother Shu, whether you're here to pick someone up or to arrest someone, I know this place well. In short, it'll make things twice as easy."

These are things that only students at school might truly understand. Sometimes, even the teachers in charge of the class might not know about certain sensitive matters, let alone parents.
A memory suddenly flashed through his mind: during his school days, he got into a fight with a classmate during lunch break, and the two of them overturned half of the desks and chairs in the classroom. Less than twenty minutes later, the students had the classroom completely restored. The homeroom teacher, who came to teach the first class afterward, didn't notice a thing.

Chen Shu touched his nose and asked, "What's your name?"

"Jianghai".

"Jiang Hai, has anyone (Bai Yi) killed anyone at your school recently?"

Schools are public places, and from a management perspective, such an extremely negative situation as (White One) killing is indeed not suitable for publicity or amplification. Because schools are semi-enclosed environments, the negative emotions and atmosphere conveyed by (White One) killing are contagious. Some students with weaker immune systems are easily infected by this negative influence.

Jiang Hai looked puzzled, but still thought for a long time before saying, "No one died, but I heard that a few people in other classes had the same idea, but they were stopped at the time."

Generally speaking, for a school the size of No. 13 Middle School, it's normal to have only one student every few years. The fact that Jiang Hai mentioned several is rather strange.

"what reason?"

Jiang Hai wrapped his old coat tighter around himself and sniffed his nose, which was red from the cold: "I heard it's because he borrowed a lot of money and couldn't pay it back."

What do college students borrow money for?
He still owed so much money that he was so desperate to commit suicide because he couldn't pay it back?

"Did all of them do so because they borrowed money?"

"Yeah, both."

Chen Shu threw away his cigarette, glanced at Zhu Chaoran who had just graduated from junior college last year, and felt a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

The two said at the same time, "Campus dai."

Campus lending originally referred to lending services offered by some online lending platforms to college students. Now, many criminals are taking advantage of college students' relatively poor social awareness and weak sense of security to conduct short-term, small-amount lending activities. On the surface, these loans appear to be "low-profit, high-volume," but in reality, the criminals are earning interest rates 20 to 30 times higher than banks, blatantly profiting from students.

Even worse, they are actually targeting the parents behind the students.

When lending money, lenders require collateral of a certain value and collect copies of students' student IDs and national ID cards. If students fail to repay on time, lenders may resort to intimidation, beatings, threats against students or even their parents to collect debts through violence, and may even threaten female students to take indecent photos, causing serious harm to students' personal safety and the order of the university campus.

Chen Shu's expression was serious: "Fatty, this thing has spread to high schools now? Are you aware of this situation?"

Zhu Chaoran spat, his round face contorting into a grimace for the first time: "I don't know, I graduated a year ago."

Chen Shu knew this wasn't the time to just stand there and wait. Times had changed; society was developing rapidly, and even if he squatted there until school let out in the afternoon, he wouldn't see those motorcycle gangsters again.

This matter needs to be discussed further at the institute.

Chen Shu glanced at Jiang Hai, who was still standing beside him taking small puffs of cigarettes, thought for a moment, then took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his inner jacket pocket and stuffed it into Jiang Hai's hand, saying, "Smoke sparingly, and remember to get into a good university!" "Let's go!"

Chen Shu waved his hand and led Zhu Chaoran straight to the Santana parked not far away.

Wow, this is the first time in my life I've been given a whole pack of cigarettes by an adult. Jiang Hai looked down at the red stain on his palm, suddenly realized what was happening, took a deep breath, and followed.

The two got into the Santana. Chen Shu held down Zhu Chaoran's right hand, which was about to turn the key to start the car, and waited a moment before saying, "Go to the grid."

"Where to?" Zhu Chaoran didn't react.

"boom."

"boom."

The rear door was opened and closed once.

"Dawn Grid, Yan Chenxi's place. This matter may still need to be handled by their street office."

After speaking, Chen Shu turned his head and met Jiang Hai's clear eyes.

"Why aren't you home after school?" Chen Shu's tone was stern.

Jiang Hai shrugged nonchalantly, his tone casual: "Nobody's home. Yeah, my parents ran away."

"You ran away, you're a poor kid too," Chen Shu softened his tone. "You're in your final year of high school, you need to go back and study. Didn't you say you wanted to get into your dream university?"

Zhu Chaoran chimed in, "Kid, you're relying on cigarettes to stay awake. You'd be better off going home and getting some sleep instead of following us around like this."

Jiang Hai took off his schoolbag, held it tightly in front of him, and looked out the window. After a long while, he said, "My parents ran away because of these old Gaos."

Chen Shu stopped Zhu Chaoran, who was about to continue persuading him, and pondered for a moment: "Have you ever seen a police officer leading students on a case? This will put us in a very difficult position. If we get reported, we'll be in big trouble."

If you want to come along, fine, I won't stop you, but your actions will harm us.

The old trick: shift the pressure onto the other party.

Jiang Hai decisively took off his school uniform jacket and stuffed it into his backpack. He zipped up the backpack, patted it, and said nonchalantly, "Brother Shu, I'm already 18! Besides, we citizens have an obligation to cooperate with the police investigation!"

The post-00s generation of boys in the new 21st century, besides those who came out to reorganize the workplace some time ago, are also students who are just as impressive.

This unreasonable attitude troubled Chen Shu. He couldn't bring himself to use force against these students, and he couldn't bring himself to scold the children left behind by their parents who had run away.

Seeing that Chen Shu seemed to be softening his stance, Jiang Hai quickly added, "Brother Shu, I'm the one who knows the ropes when it comes to school matters. I can definitely help with your case!"

Chen Shu opened the car door and got out. He walked to the back seat, opened the door, bent down, and said to Jiang Hai with a serious expression, "Jiang Hai, let's go home."

Seeing the smiling policeman suddenly turn pale, Jiang Hai's last shred of hope shattered, and he grabbed his backpack strap, lowered his head, and crawled out of the carriage.

"boom!"

Chen Shu closed the car door and got into the passenger seat without looking back: "Drive."

The Santana sped away.

Jiang Hai was left standing alone by the roadside. He slung his backpack back over his shoulder, watched the departing car, and clutched the red Zhonghua cigarette tightly in his pocket with his right hand.

(End of this chapter)