Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 377 Dismissal
Zhengming District Branch Bureau, Director's Office.

A middle-aged man with a serious face, wearing a white police shirt, sat upright behind a large desk, looking at the police officers sitting opposite him one by one.

The newly arrived district police chief, surnamed Zhao, was formerly the director of the provincial education and training department—a truly high-ranking official, what people privately called the "white-shirted big shot." He was the only one among the hundreds of police officers in the entire Zhengming District Police Station wearing that white shirt; to exaggerate a bit, he was the only one among the eight branches and thousands of police officers under the entire municipal police bureau.

"Ahem." Director Zhao coughed a few times, then concluded, "Let's skip it then."

Ren Guoqing, also a member of the leadership team, raised objections due to his age:

“Director Zhao, this Old A is a murderer who shot one of our comrades earlier. No matter what, it is justified and legal to kill him. If we punish our own people under such circumstances, no police officer will be willing to step forward if something else happens in the future.”

Director Wu of the branch's political department agreed with Ren Guoqing's statement, but he also understood that he had to save face for Director Zhao, so he compromised and advised:
"Director Zhao, you may be new to Zhengming and not yet aware of some things. This deputy captain of the special police unit, Chen Shu, was an outstanding officer in our branch every year when he was a regular policeman, consistently ranking first in the entire bureau in terms of the number of arrests."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

A young policeman, around twenty years old, standing behind Director Zhao, suddenly interrupted Director Wu's speech. This man had been transferred to the Zhengming Branch from the next higher level of the system with Director Zhao. Although he was young and still a junior staff member, his work style was extremely assertive.

The younger generation of police officers in the bureau all respectfully call him "Brother Wang".

He glanced at the elderly men sitting opposite him and said impatiently:
"You all know how difficult it is for Director Zhao when he first arrived, right? We just arrived at the beginning of the month, and this guy named Chen Shu has already caused a mess. You know, let alone your Dongzhou, a prefecture-level city, how many years has it been since something like this happened? Even looking at the whole of Donghai, how many years has it been since something like this happened?"
"If someone with malicious intent takes this picture and posts it online, taking it out of context and exaggerating it to create something out of nothing, who will be responsible for the losses? Who can bear that responsibility? In the end, it'll still be our Director Zhao who takes the blame. Hehe, you guys haven't seen the kind of incident that triggers a large-scale public opinion crisis. Let me tell you, when it comes to public opinion, only the result matters, not right or wrong."

"What's the most important job for us police officers? Is it solving cases or cracking down on crime? And you even said in a meeting that cracking down on crime is our top priority. I'll repeat myself: our most important job is maintaining stability! This Chen Shu, daring to fire a shot in the current social climate, I just wonder if he's out of his mind."

"Snapped!"

Director Zhao slammed his hand on the desk, his voice slightly loud: "Xiao Wang! Do you even have the right to speak here?!"

Seeing his secretary, whom he had brought from his superiors, speaking increasingly outrageously in front of several branch office leaders, Director Zhao immediately stopped her.

Xiao Wang, who couldn't stop talking, was startled and immediately shut his mouth and stood in the corner, but his face was still indignant.

Director Zhao looked at his colleagues sitting opposite him with a gloomy expression, and said in a somewhat harsh tone: "Young Wang is young and speaks a bit roughly, please don't take it to heart."

Director Wu and Ren Guoqing waved their hands to indicate that they wouldn't mind, while Director Zhang Xuming, sitting to the side, picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and made no comment.

Director Zhao remained silent for a moment before finally speaking: "But there is some truth to this. If our unit fails to handle this matter properly in a timely manner, it will easily give rise to criticism and cause extremely negative social impact."

The office fell silent immediately.

Actually, it's not entirely Zhao's fault. He's new to Zhengming District and should be expected to achieve something. Even if he doesn't, he shouldn't cause any problems. From his perspective, the most urgent task is naturally to minimize the impact of this incident. After all, he went to great lengths to come down here, and he can't afford to let a small matter ruin his important mission.

"Clang."

Zhang Xuming placed the empty teacup on the desk in front of him. The teacup made a crisp sound as it hit the table, not loud, but it drew everyone's attention. He looked up at Director Zhao and nodded in agreement: "Director Zhao is right. We must handle this matter as soon as possible and release our results to the media as quickly as possible. Only in this way can we shut their gossipy mouths."

Director Zhao was unaware that it was because he had just been transferred to the Zhengming District Branch Bureau, but Ren Guoqing and Director Wu were very clear about Zhang Xuming's feelings for Chen Shu.

He was treated like a closed-door disciple, extremely favored.

They remained calm, waiting for the "but" to follow.

Zhang Xuming continued, "My opinion is the same as Director Zhao's; let's skip it."

Standing behind Director Zhao, Brother Wang glanced at the criminal investigation captain and the director of the political department sitting next to him. Seeing the shocked expressions on their faces, he felt extremely pleased.

Director Zhao nodded in satisfaction; he had already been given enough face.

Then Zhang Xuming nodded slightly and said, "Director Zhao, I have an idea, I wonder if I can share it?"

Director Zhao, feeling smug, waved his hand and said, "Director Zhang, we're all on the same side, so feel free to speak your mind."

Zhang Xuming said, "The position is waived, but the rank will be retained for the time being."

It's a simple declarative sentence, not a choice sentence, and certainly not a question sentence.

Director Zhang Xuming made his stance clear.

Director Wu, who was in charge of publicity, was experienced in dealing with people and interpersonal relationships. He immediately realized what was going on and quickly said:

"When the time comes, I'll release the announcement and put 'dismissal' in a prominent position. The media will definitely be satisfied. They won't understand rank; they'll only be focused on the administrative position of 'deputy battalion commander'."

“Director Zhao, this ‘section level’ is actually a name used internally by our branch for ease of management. It’s not recognized by the personnel bureau. In their files, Chen Shu is still a clerk! You’ve come from the province, so you probably don’t know the dirty tricks of our rural area.” Ren Guoqing, who had been buried in cases for many years, suddenly realized what was going on and immediately picked up where Director Wu left off.

His expression was extremely ashamed, which gave him a crucial assist.

Director Zhao, who has been working in the provincial department since graduating from university, would not take a baseless "section chief" seriously; such a statement would seem to lack vision.

In the provincial government, a junior staff member can be promoted to deputy section chief! There's no such thing as "shares" or anything like that!
Feeling quite superior, Director Zhao quickly considered the matter in his mind before finally nodding modestly in agreement.

Secretary Wang had achieved his goal, so he didn't say anything more at this point.

The matter was settled.

(End of this chapter)