Animal Detective

Chapter 297 Horse Farm Town

It's mealtime now, it wouldn't be right not to eat.

With strict regulations nowadays, it's not acceptable to go to luxurious places for lavish meals and drinks.

It was a mediocre restaurant near the Public Security Bureau.

The bureau chief didn't come; he went to a meeting in the city and won't be back in time.

But I instructed Zhao Helin to make sure we treated him well.

We ate a local specialty, a type of hot pot.

Zhao Helin enthusiastically introduced: "In our Juzhou, the hot pots are different in different places. There are convex pots and concave pots. In Huaiyi, we have a special name for them, called 'live oil hot pot.' You can see the difference in this pot."

He pointed to the iron pot in the middle of the table.

In the middle of this cast iron frying pan, there is a raised section supporting a bowl.

Zhao Helin continued, "The essence is this dipping sauce. Every shop has a different recipe, but there is one thing that cannot be omitted: lard."

"It's only fragrant with this lard. Paired with chili and sour sauce, it's both sour and spicy, with a rich aroma of oil. It's both appetizing and delicious."

"Then there are specific rules about what to eat. There's a saying that everything can be baked, and that's no exaggeration."

"Sliced ​​pork belly, marinated beef, konjac, dried tofu, and our local specialty potato cakes, served with some pickled cabbage, get more and more fragrant as they fry, and the more you eat, the more you want to eat."

Shen Xin, who was good at providing emotional support, smiled and said, "Director Zhao, you could be a food expert. Now that you mention it, I'm really hungry."

He Wenyu has a technical background, but having spent a long time in government offices, he is also quite adept at interpersonal relationships. He told Zhao Helin that there are now food bloggers online.

Zhao Helin's eloquence is better than any food blogger could describe.

He even took out his camera, saying he wanted to take a picture of this pot of delicious food so he could edit it into a documentary and properly introduce the cuisine of Huaiyi.

But I must say, it tastes really good.

It's both sour and spicy, and very appetizing.

Although Shen Xin was born in Nanjiang, which is known as the "sweet city", young people nowadays all like spicy food, so he is used to it.

I also drank some alcohol.

In remote county towns, the rules are not so strict.

Zhao Helin's hospitality was so warm that Shen Xin felt embarrassed to refuse.

We drank a local specialty called Shuihua wine.

I didn't drink much. In Zhao Helin's words, this stuff is so strong that you'll be overwhelmed by the wind; you can't overindulge.

Compared to Zhao Helin's liveliness, Li Xiaowen was much quieter, and it was clear that he was not good at socializing.

Guo Jin was even worse; he didn't say much and just kept trying to smile.

He drank little and didn't get sick from the wind.

After they came out, Zhao Helin invited Shen Xin to stay in Shiyao for another day.

But Shen Xin decided to go directly to Machang Town.

The main reason is that Guo Jin came specifically for this purpose. If we stay for another day, he will come again tomorrow.

Machang Town is almost 70 kilometers away from the county seat, and the entire route is mountainous, making it quite a troublesome trip.

Zhao Helin readily agreed, saying that once the bureau chief returned, they would go to Machang Town together the next day to hold a handover ceremony there.

It's a serious matter after all, a cross-provincial collaboration.

"Director Zhao, thank you for your hospitality. We'll be going now." After saying goodbye, Shen Xin got into Guo Jin's police car and headed to Machang Town.

Zhao Helin waved from afar.

He was still somewhat drunk, but once the car was far away, his eyes suddenly became clear.

Zhao Helin glanced at Li Xiaowen and complained, "Xiaowen, look at you! Just now at the dinner table, I asked you to have a couple of drinks with those people, and you wouldn't have it."

What they said was during work hours.

That's the rule, but wouldn't it be enough to just report it?

With the deputy director himself present, this step could be skipped entirely.

Ultimately, it's because he's too straightforward and hasn't been good at handling interpersonal relationships.

Zhao Helin continued his lecture: "Don't think I didn't see it. Look at those police dogs, their eyes are practically popping out of their sockets."

Shiyao is a remote county town, but it doesn't have professional police dogs.

If you want to use police dogs, you have to apply in Huaiyi City.

But Huaiyi only has a small police dog base with a total of 5 police dogs. In several counties of the city, that's hardly enough.

Li Xiaowen awkwardly said, "No way," thinking to himself that he wasn't that obvious.

Zhao Helin patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly, "I know you must feel that it's a waste to leave the police dog with Lao Guo and you're resentful, but it's not up to us to decide who gets the police dog."

The organizations that donated the police dogs were carefully selected.

The reason for choosing to donate to Machang Town is that Machang Town is very remote and has seen many cases of child abduction, which aligns with Shen Xin's original intention for this project.

Li Xiaowen quickly denied it, saying, "I didn't think that."

Zhao Helin shook his head slightly and continued to enlighten him: "You're also stupid. We don't have the resources to train police dogs here. They are big cities and don't care about this kind of investment."

“Since they’re willing to do this project, and Shen Xin is the person in charge, you should say some nice things and build a good relationship. If they send you police dogs later, you’ll have them.”

Li Xiaowen understood the reasoning behind this, and said, "The person has already left."

One more drink, or it'll be too late.

Zhao Helin said, "There's always tomorrow. Besides, they've come all this way, so you have to take good care of them. I always tell you, it's always good to be a little more tactful."

Li Xiaowen nodded and noted it down.

On the other side, Shen Xin and his group had already driven onto the winding mountain road.

The area is surrounded by mountains on both sides. In April, the grass grows tall and birds fly, and the lush greenery is a sight to behold, making one feel relaxed and happy.

With Zhao Helin absent, Guo Jin relaxed considerably. He came up to thank them first, saying he hadn't expected to be able to give them the police dogs.

"To be honest, we are really short-staffed. There are only 11 people in the entire station. Now we also have village-level police officers, and we want to make sure that every village has a police officer and that you can see a police officer every month."

"The problem is that we don't have enough people. There are 54 natural villages in the entire Machang Town, and we simply can't keep up. So having an extra police dog will really lighten our burden a lot."

He turned his head and glanced at Tian Kui, who was lying down in the back row, his face beaming with undisguised joy.

There are quite a few cases in the town, especially petty theft. With police dogs, solving cases becomes much easier. Shen Xin had worked at the police station before and could empathize with the situation.

Moreover, the entire Machang Town police station only has 9 staff members, including 2 auxiliary police officers, so the staff is indeed a bit small.

As Guo Jin said, the daily household registration management, basic legal publicity, and various cases are simply too much to handle.

During the casual conversation, Shen Xin introduced Tian Kui's situation.

"His abilities are undeniable, but he has a strong personality and doesn't easily submit to others. However, once he submits to someone, he is very obedient."

Shen Xin's biggest worry was that if it weren't for him, Tian Kui would become unruly.

Guo Jin said "Oh," and nervously asked Shen Xin what to do.

Shen Xin couldn't very well suggest that he fight Tian Kui, so he could only suggest that he spend more time with him and express enough goodwill, which Tian Kui would be able to sense.

Of course, strictness is still necessary when it's appropriate.

Tiankui's personality is similar to that of Tiger Stripe, so you can't be too polite to him.

Guo Jin wrote them down one by one.

The mountain road is rugged and narrow, so cars can't go fast.

Moreover, his Isuzu pickup truck was an old vehicle of unknown age. Shen Xin glanced at the odometer, which showed six nines, exceeding the limit.

After nearly two hours, the group arrived at the town nestled among the mountains.

Looking around, there wasn't a single tall building.

According to Guo Jin, the entire Machang Town has a population of less than 30,000. The town is distributed in all directions, with higher mountains to the west and a road leading to Shiyao County to the east.

To the east of the town, Provincial Highway 326 runs alongside it.

“Our place is called Machang Town, but that was many years ago. Now we mainly raise donkeys. There’s a donkey meat hot pot restaurant in town that’s pretty good. Let’s go there for dinner tonight.”

Guo Jin was very enthusiastic.

Shen Xin did not refuse. To be honest, training a specialized police dog generally costs between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan.

We're giving away a police dog for free; it's good enough for two nice meals.

Coming from the county town, it's an east-to-west county road that intersects with the north-south Provincial Highway 326.

This place has the only traffic light in town.

After crossing the crossroads, you'll reach the town's main street.

At the end of the street are the town government and the police station.

Around 2 p.m., there were hardly any people in the town.

He Wenyu took out his camera and shot some footage.

Not long after crossing the intersection, the old pickup truck shook violently twice, and the engine sounded clearly wrong.

Then it simply lay down in the middle of the road.

Guo Jin hurriedly tried to start the car, but it wouldn't start. He quickly explained, "This car is over ten years old. The starter motor has a problem. It's an old issue. Just throttle it a couple of times and it'll be fine."

Clearly, pressing the accelerator twice won't solve the problem.

Guo Jin glanced at the police station in the distance; it was still several hundred meters away.

"Okay, you drive, and I'll go down and push. This car can be pushed."

He hurriedly tried to get off the bus.

Shen Xin quickly stopped him and called He Wenyu to go down and help push the cart.

Guo Jin is 51 years old this year. How can he sit down and make Guo Jin push the cart?

"This won't do, you're our guests." Guo Jin got out of the car to stop them, saying he would call the police station to get help.

Shen Xin stopped him, saying, "Why bother?"

I am a guest, but I don't need to be so pampered.

After getting Guo Jin into the car, Shen Xin and He Wenyu worked together to push it.

The terrain to the west of the town is high, and it feels like an uphill slope, making it quite difficult to push.

But the two young men could still manage to push it.

The engine failed to start after two attempts.

"It's okay, come again."

Shen Xin exerted his strength and pushed even faster.

Just then, Guo Jin suddenly opened the car door, jumped out, and ran across the street.

Shen Xin followed him with a slightly bewildered gaze.

I don't want the car anymore.

He Wenyu, standing nearby, pushed blindly, but the direction was completely off.

Shen Xin quickly ran to the driver's seat and pulled the handbrake.

Turning my head to look across the street, I realized what had happened: a few young men were fighting outside an internet cafe.

3 against 1.

The one who got beaten up wasn't very tall, probably only ten years old, around middle school age.

The three on the other side were clearly much older, almost adults.

Outnumbered, the smaller ones were quite fierce, grabbing a nearby bicycle and sweeping through the enemy ranks.

"What are you doing? Stop it, all of you!"

Guo Jin was not young, but at this moment he ran very fast, shouting as he ran.

He was still wearing his police uniform, and the three of them turned and ran.

Guo Jin reacted quickly and caught up with one of them.

The remaining kid, completely blinded by rage, grabbed his bicycle and charged over.

Just as the object was about to hit Guo Jin, Shen Xin appeared and grabbed the brat.

(End of this chapter)