Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 645 Comfort
Around six o'clock in the morning, the eastern sky began to lighten.

In the morning light, Chen Chuan and Yan Song, supporting each other, appeared in the lobby on the first floor with faltering steps.

"Brother Chuan, what happened last night? My butt hurts."

"You're so ugly, what pain could you possibly be in?! If anyone's in pain, it's me!"

"Hey!"

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Chuan suddenly knelt on the ground and began to retch.

"Say less." Chen Shu, who had followed from behind, helped Chen Chuan up and, together with Yan Song, led Chen Chuan toward the cafeteria next to the office building.

Although he felt his throat was about 70-80% blocked and it was difficult to speak, Chen Chuan still stubbornly said, "Hehe, I told you, chilled wine is so much more enjoyable. Look at the iced wine you guys are drinking, tsk tsk, how boring! Not manly at all! But speaking of which, I drank 20-year-old Shaoxing rice wine at a party last year, boiled with plum water, tsk tsk, the taste was amazing!"

"Stop showing off and being so cocky. Go eat something and go back to rest." Chen Shu was furious at Chen Chuan, who reeked of alcohol.

Logically speaking, given Chen Chuan's drinking capacity, he should be able to handle at least a pound of baijiu (Chinese liquor), if not a thousand cups without getting drunk. How come he passed out so suddenly last night? This was the first time in all these years that Chen Shu had seen his old classmate, known as the "Nightclub Young Master Chen," suffer such a major setback when it came to drinking.

Zhu Yiba jogged up from behind, patted Yan Song, and gestured for the equally drunk Yan Song to rest for a while, while he would help support Chen Chuan.

After steadying himself, Zhu Yiba said leisurely, "Adding ice to this baijiu lowers its alcohol content, so it's fine for us to drink. But Chen Chuan was asking for trouble, insisting on drinking the chilled baijiu. When it's frozen, it loses all its spiciness from its room temperature state, and at first, it tastes a bit like soda water. Sometimes, once it gets going, it's hard to control the amount."

Chen Shu glanced at Yan Song, who could still walk, and asked, "Wasn't Yan Song drinking this wine with Chen Chuan behind him? He seems to be doing alright."

Last night, while they were drinking, Chen Shu and Zhu Yiba were chatting about border defense and frontier matters and didn't pay attention. Yan Song was the one drinking and chatting with Chen Chuan. Later, Chen Chuan prompted him to join in drinking chilled baijiu.

Yan Song stuck out his tongue and said with shame, "Although this is also my first time drinking this chilled baijiu, I have seen the elderly people in the village drinking it every year when I go back to my hometown. What impressed me most was during the family gathering at the Spring Festival, when one of the older brothers downed a whole bottle of chilled baijiu in one gulp."

"The rest of the time it turned out to be a cerebral hemorrhage. I heard he passed away peacefully, so I didn't dare to drink too much last night."

"You little brat, you knew about this and didn't even tell me." Chen Chuan, who was being held in the middle, joked weakly, "When I get old and can't get into bed, I'll definitely have to down two bottles of ice-cold liquor in a row, so I can pass away more peacefully."

Chen Shu slapped Chen Chuan on the head and criticized him, "You're so talkative, don't do it again."

Chen Chuan felt much better after vomiting earlier, and said cautiously, "Shu, why don't you help me back to sleep? Or you can just bring me some porridge or something. Don't worry, I feel much better now."

Chen Shu was furious and gave him another flick on the forehead: "You were the one who was making a huge fuss about getting up to go downstairs for breakfast. After waking everyone up and helping you downstairs, you want to go back? Are you kidding us?"

Chen Chuan shrank his neck and kept saying nice things, but he was still carried into the cafeteria by his armpits.

Today we had an early security duty, so the canteen opened early, and my uncle had been busy inside for half a day. However, because the canteen opened early, there were only some steamed buns, meat buns, fried dough sticks, and milk that my uncle had bought early in the morning.

Foods like noodles and porridge that require complicated preparation naturally disappeared.

Under Chen Shu's glare, Chen Chuan obediently took two steamed buns and a bottle of milk and sat down to eat. Since they were already downstairs, Zhu Yiba and Yan Song each chose their usual seats and ate together.

Chen Shu glanced around and saw Xu Mingliang sitting alone. He patted Chen Chuan on the shoulder and moved over to sit next to Xu Mingliang.

With greasy, messy hair and wearing a light blue coat, he could be described as dashing and casual, but in reality, he was rather slovenly. "Out on guard duty this morning?" Chen Shu took a sip of milk, finding it acceptable, glanced at the travel bag next to Xu Mingliang, and asked again, "Out of town?"

"It's a local security assignment. They notified me that the guests will be staying for a few days. Sigh, I guess I'll have to guard the gate for a few days." Xu Mingliang patted his travel bag next to him and said helplessly, "I'm getting old, and I feel like I can't keep up anymore."

Chen Shu suddenly remembered a small meeting held a few days ago in the brigade, attended only by the brigade leaders, which was about the whereabouts of several older police officers in the brigade.

Noticing the melancholy in Xu Mingliang's words, and after a closer look, he realized that the middle-aged man's preoccupied appearance didn't seem like he was deliberately putting on an act.

After breakfast, Chen Shu noticed that there was still some time before the assembly for the guard duty, so he called Xu Mingliang into his office for a chat.

During the chat, I learned that Deputy Instructor Xie had already notified everyone about the exchange program, including Xu Mingliang. The police station for the exchange was the most remote police station in Zhengming District.

Xu Mingliang's low mood today stems from this.

Chen Shu made Xu Mingliang a cup of tea and first reminisced about the interesting things that happened when they worked together in the special police detachment, trying to catch up on their relationship. Then they got down to business.

"Brother Xu, you don't need to think too much about it. It's not that the unit is looking down on you; it's just that we special police officers all have to leave when we reach the age limit. Look, isn't Li Da going to the legal department this time too?"

"Well, that's not what I meant. It's just that this police station is too far away. Look at Lao Yang and Lao Hu, they're all doing fine, they're all in the city. It's just me who was sent to Maqiao. It feels like I've been exiled."

"Brother Xu, you're a veteran SWAT officer, and you've worked in a life-or-death department like bomb disposal. How could we possibly reassign you? Actually, the training team from the branch came a few times, trying to get Instructor Xie to let you come back as an instructor, but in the end, you were the one who insisted."

Xu Mingliang sighed deeply, looking dejected.

Chen Shu knew he was thinking of his classmates who had sacrificed their lives, so he didn't say anything. He waited for the other person to calm down before continuing, "I just checked the list. This isn't exile; it's organizational care."

“Take care of me? How could that be! It takes more than an hour to drive to that remote place!” Xu Mingliang shook his head with a wry smile.

“Brother Xu, you’ve never worked in a police station, so you don’t know the specifics. In the SWAT team, someone like you, nearing forty, is considered an old comrade, and they generally won’t assign you any tough tasks. But once you go to a police station, the situation is completely different. Fifty-year-old veterans still have to work night shifts, and those under forty are the backbone of the station! They’ll be treated like beasts of burden!”

Chen Shu took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, shook it and one fell out, then handed it over.

Xu Mingliang was stunned, even forgetting to accept the cigarette: "Is it really that exaggerated? Hey, I still went to the institute, didn't I?"

"Your station is different from others. The Maqiao station gets less than one police report a day. Considering your commute is far, you generally don't need to clock in. Don't worry, the leaders will definitely turn a blind eye. The targets and tasks will be reduced. For a security mission like today's, you know that in such a remote place, we might not get one for half a year!"

As he continued, Chen Shu pointed to three fingers and said, "The Water Police Station, the Government Police Station, and the Maqiao Police Station you're going to—these three places are well-known retirement havens in the branch bureau. They're great places."

"It seems to make some sense. In those rural areas, no leaders would come to inspect or study things. It's like the saying 'the mountains are high and the emperor is far away.'"

"It would be bad if you said too much to me, since there are other people who are also sharing this information. Just know what's going on yourself."

Chen Shu smiled, knowing that she had soothed Xu Mingliang's worries.

For a moment, he felt that he was also a talented person, and that it would be reasonable for him to be promoted to instructor.

(End of this chapter)