Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 471 Mature
Keshi City Public Security Bureau, Director's Office.

Director Liu helplessly spread his hands: "Half of the new recruits this year were assigned to you, and everyone else was assigned to the police station. No one was left in the bureau headquarters, not even half."

Snapped.

Standing opposite Director Liu, a muscular man, about forty years old and 1.8 meters tall, with a livid face, slammed his iron palms on Director Liu's desk.

"Director Liu, because we don't have enough extra police manpower, and with so many tasks piled up from the bureau, our team has been working overtime for two months straight! We're working 5+2 days a week, day and night, and no one has had a single day off! If we keep going like this, we'll all be gone!"

Director Liu, his expression calm and composed, still wore a smile: "Most of the people in the headquarters have gone down to the countryside to help the poor. At least you can go home and sleep on the kang (heated brick bed) after get off work, but they have to stay at the homes of the people they're helping every few days! Besides, the patrol and prevention brigade already has the highest attendance rate in the entire bureau; all the police stations combined don't even have as many people as your brigade!"

"Old Cheng, be content!"

As he spoke, Director Liu got up and refilled Lao Cheng's teacup with hot water, then cheerfully handed it to him personally, jokingly saying, "I don't have any people or money here. But this tea is plentiful!"

After all, he was the direct superior, and there was nothing wrong with his attitude. Lao Cheng, the captain of the patrol and prevention brigade, had no choice but to take the hot teacup and take a small sip. The water was a bit too hot, and he smacked his lips.

When the two stood together, the difference in height and build was immediately apparent. Although both were in their forties, Director Liu was already balding and hunched over, looking like a man in his sixties. Lao Cheng, on the other hand, was not particularly handsome, but his posture was extremely straight, and he stood there as solid as a rock.

Seeing that Lao Cheng had softened his stance and stopped harping on the money and people, Director Liu began assigning tasks: "A team from a police academy on the coast will be coming to conduct research later. Wang Hao will lead them through the bureau. In a few days, they will also visit several police stations on the streets. Wang Hao will contact you then. Okay, make the arrangements, just take them around the city. Okay, don't go to the countryside, be careful."

With an air of smug familiarity, Lao Cheng scoffed, "These people are just here for a cursory visit. All these people coming and going are a waste of money; we might as well allocate more funds to them!"

Director Liu glared at him and scolded, "These things are fine to say in my office! Don't go around saying them outside! If you don't correct your foul mouth, you'll probably be sent to a rural police station next time! Here's the information on the visitors. Take a look. Don't give them a hard time when you meet them. The people who come here are all real men, not much worse than us!"

"What kind of bullshit 'real men' are they? They're all fucking women."

Lao Cheng took the printed A4 paper, didn't even glance at it, casually stuffed it into his back pocket, waved to Director Liu, and left the office. In his eyes, apart from the police on the southwestern border and the police in XJ, the police in other places were all women, only good for intimidating people.

Lao Cheng's emotions are written all over his face. When he's happy, he can stand in a crowd and roar to the sky. When he's angry, no matter if you're a bureau chief or a department head, he'll slam his fist on the table, puff out his beard, and glare at you.

Director Liu, unfazed, paced around the room a few times, picked up the documents that Lao Cheng had slipped out of his back pocket, shook them, and looked at the photos and information of the visiting guests printed on them. He chuckled, "Lao Cheng, still as stubborn as ever. I wonder if he really lost them by accident or did it on purpose. But these two don't really look like they're here to do scientific research. One's a peacekeeping police officer, the other's a riot police officer—their resumes wouldn't be bad even here. Tsk tsk! They're top-notch talents!"

He turned around and sat back down in his old office chair, put the documents of Chen Shu and others into the drawer, and continued to review the documents that he had only half-finished submitting for approval. After all, for someone who could pile up mountains of documents every day, a police visit to a coastal city that was 18,000 miles away from Keshi City was really insignificant.

"Work hard for 100 days? I think it's 365 days! Damn it, every day is Level 1 duty! Level 1 enhanced duty! From now on, work will just be about duty!"

"Another visit! Another visit! These guys are just bored out of their minds! I'm already working like a dog, and I still have to find time to play with them! Get lost!"

The nagging old man circled the stairwell repeatedly before quickly jogging towards the first-floor exit. He had come to ask the leader for people and money, but he hadn't really expected to succeed.

But by crying and faking it, the leaders would be too embarrassed to assign more tasks to their team. That was Lao Cheng's real purpose. You could say that experience counts. Lao Cheng knew that the police officers in the bureau worked very hard, but at least they all had families. Having a small family meant they could stay in this wretched place for a while, and it also gave them something to look forward to, at least a place to go home to.

The patrol team was plagued by a lack of married young men, largely due to the nature of their unit. They spent their days doing manual labor, and without a woman and child to keep them occupied, they might be nowhere to be found one morning!
The bureau leaders especially love to ask these unmarried young people to do things for them!

Little did they know that today's young people are completely different from those of the past.

What's that saying online again? "Cure the workplace!" A few days ago, some newly hired employees were willing to give up their personal files and be unable to take the civil service exam for the next five years, just to make a quick getaway.

However, I don't blame them for being mature.

Upon arriving at the lobby on the first floor, they encountered a group of unfamiliar people led by Wang Hao entering from the courtyard.

Lao Cheng greeted Wang Hao with a smile.

Wang Hao, who came from Shenzhen, was quite to Lao Cheng's liking. First of all, Shenzhen and Kashi have been paired cities for more than ten years of assistance. Although the police from there change every year, they all work in the same local system. Even if the people change, everyone knows each other when they chat.

Secondly, although Shenzhen is a southern city, Wang Hao came from the Northeast. He's a straightforward drinker and efficient in his work, a stark contrast to the typically indecisive southerners.

Finally, and most importantly, Wang Hao, one of the few flag-granting special police assault teams in the country and a standout among them, truly has exceptional skills.

"Mature and experienced!"

Wang Hao was happy to see Lao Cheng, and quickly took a few steps forward to shake his hands.

After exchanging pleasantries, Wang Hao turned around and enthusiastically introduced Lin Dakai and his entourage who had come to visit.

So they really came for a vacation. Lao Cheng glanced at the four people opposite him, some old and some young, some men and some women, and was furious. He didn't even bother with a perfunctory response and hurriedly left the police station building.

Lin Dakai's outstretched hand lingered awkwardly in the air for a long time before finally retracting.

Wang Hao rubbed his forehead and explained, "Professor Lin, this guy is just like that by nature. He has made great contributions and solved major cases several times. When the director came to visit him, he still had a sour face as if everyone owed him something. Don't take it personally. He's from the patrol and prevention team."

"Oh, so all those police stations on the street belong to their brigade?"

"Yes, yes, those are their second and third squadrons. The first squadron is stationed at the brigade headquarters, responsible for riot control and emergency response. He's probably here today to ask for people or money. Lao Cheng's a celebrity in the bureau; he's a brigade commander, yet he still comes to the bureau every day to clock in and chat with the director, even on weekends, as if he's afraid someone will steal his stuff if he doesn't show up one day."

Looking in the direction Lao Cheng had left, Lin Dakai said with empathy, "These are all responsible and capable people. To be honest, we really owe them. Being a grassroots police officer is truly not easy."

(End of this chapter)