Period drama: Old Cao's carefree life

Chapter 34 Are you really planning to catch the murderer?
Seeing that others had already noticed, Xu Hancheng smiled awkwardly and sighed:
"Well, it seems I'm really not suited for acting."

"Alright, we're all brothers, so I'll just say what I have to say."

Duomen listened quietly.

"Hey bro, you have a neighbor who's a patrol officer in our station, right? I remember he's in your team, right? If I remember correctly, his name is Cao Weida, isn't it?"

"He's been with our bureau for seven or eight months now, how's it going, getting used to it?"

Duomen finally understood why Xu Han had come to him; it turned out it was because of Cao Wei Da!

It seems that Xu Hancheng knew that Cao Wei Da had aligned himself with Ono Oda, so he wanted to indirectly establish a relationship with Ono Oda.
Duomen glanced at the clearly visible five-finger mark on the other person's face, chuckled inwardly, but outwardly remained impassive, showering the other person with flattery:
"Director, you are so busy with your work, yet you still pay attention to the situation of us grassroots employees. That's why you deserve to be called director."

Xu Hancheng blushed a little, but fortunately the handprint was even redder, so there was no noticeable change.

"Haha, of course! I don't pay much attention to others, but I've always been keeping an eye on you, Duomen. As the most capable investigator in our bureau, it's only natural that I pay more attention to you. You're a flag bearer for our Outer Fifth District!"

Duomen scoffed inwardly. What kind of bullshit case-solving ability is this? Does case-solving ability even matter for a patrol officer these days?
Many times, not understanding is more important than understanding.

In many situations and in many cases, are patrol officers qualified to investigate?

Do you dare to investigate?
Does it matter whether ordinary people live or die?

Even if you solve a case for a thousand ordinary people, what good will it do?
Nowadays, Beiping is the domain of the Japanese. If the Japanese say you can do it, you can do it, even if you can't!

Do those Japanese devils care about the lives of Chinese people?
So, claims of strong case-handling abilities are all nonsense!

Flags, my foot! Have you ever even given me a second glance before?

Besides, if you're going to follow me, just follow me back. Why steer the conversation back to Cao Weida? It's just a blatant attempt to cover up the truth.

"Cao'er seems to be getting used to it. Under your wise guidance, Beiping is quite stable, and there's not much to do each day."

Xu Hancheng smiled awkwardly: "That's good, that's good. Actually, I think highly of Cao Weida. He looks clever and sensible. Plus, he's been learning from you for so long, so his case-solving abilities must be quite good. I have high hopes for him."

The claim of relative stability is simply due to the police's passive resistance; they're too lazy to bother with those trivial matters.

After all, no matter how well you do, it's all useless if you don't get the Japanese's approval.

“I have high hopes for both of you, especially Cao Weida, whose future is limitless. It’s a waste of his talents to keep being a patrolman, so I think his rank should be promoted.”

"But as you know, although I am nominally in charge of the Fifth District Branch, I actually have to listen to Ono-kun."

"I heard that Cao Weida is quite close to Ono-tai-kun."

“Director, you’ve asked the wrong person about this,” Duomen quickly waved his hand. “Although I live in the same courtyard as him, he has never said these things to me. It’s not that I’m not telling the truth, I really don’t know.”

"How about this, I'll call him over, and you can talk to Cao Weida yourself?"

"No need, no need. I just asked casually, nothing more. I mainly think Cao Weida is quite capable, and it's a waste of his talent to only make him a patrolman. I was just being greedy for money." Xu Hancheng chuckled, pulling at the injury on his face, immediately making him grimace.

"Those who are capable should take on greater responsibilities. They need to shoulder more burdens. Pressure is what motivates them."

Haha, guess whether I believe it or not?

Your intentions are as clear as day!

Seeing that many doors were not responding, Xu Hancheng was a little embarrassed, coughed, and changed the subject:
"Well, let's put this matter aside for now. There's something else."

Xu Hancheng's face turned bitter. "Two more Japanese soldiers have died this time. I'm under a lot of pressure as the bureau chief. When will we be able to catch the murderer with those good-for-nothings?"

"You're the head of crime-solving at our Fifth District Police Station, so you'd better pay close attention to this matter."

"As long as we can find any clues, if the Japanese commander is happy, your patrol officers and Cao Weida's police chief will be at his mercy."

Knock knock knock~~
"Cao'er, Cao'er?"

"Huh? Who is it?" Cao Weida, who was sleeping, woke up groggily when he heard the knocking.

"It's me, Duomen. I need to talk to you."

"coming."

Cao Weida yawned, got out of bed, opened the door, and rubbed his sleepy eyes, asking, "What's wrong, Master Duo? What's the matter in the middle of the night? *yawn*"

"You slept quite comfortably." Domen shook his head with a wry smile, entered the room, closed the door behind him, sat down on a stool, took out a cigarette, and lit it.

"Something happened tonight, so we need to keep a low profile for the next couple of days."

"What happened?"

"Two Japanese soldiers died on Dongdan Archway Street. The Japanese advisor was furious and is now searching the whole city for the murderer."

"Hey, I thought something had happened," Cao Weida shook his head dismissively. "What's so strange about that? A few people die here every now and then, don't we?"

Anti-Japanese elements never gave up resistance. In enemy-occupied areas, they often used guerrilla tactics to outwit and outmaneuver the Japanese invaders.

He'd been there for over six months, and every two months something would happen where the Japanese soldiers got killed; everyone got used to it.

Just like last time, a Japanese soldier and two traitors died. On the surface, the arrests were intensified, but in reality, it wasn't that serious. In a few days, the incident would be over, and everyone would go back to doing what they were doing.

“This time it’s different.” Duomen wanted to laugh. “According to the director, two Japanese soldiers died this time. They were stripped naked, down to their loincloths, and were thrown out onto the street. Many people saw them.”

"The Japanese felt they had lost face, so this time they were serious and determined to catch the culprit."

"Our bureau chief is really unlucky. Ono Oda had nowhere to vent his anger, so he got a good beating from him."

"I wonder which hero did this, it's so satisfying!"

Cao Weida also laughed. His original intention was just to annoy the Japanese, but he didn't expect it to be so effective.

"That bureau chief is really unlucky, but it shouldn't have anything to do with us. Anyway, we don't need to do the search, and even if we don't find it in the end, we won't be blamed."

"That was indeed the case originally, but now it seems unlikely."

"What do you mean?"

After recounting everything that had just happened, Cao Weida listened, his lips twitching, and said speechlessly:

"So, that bastard Xu Hancheng is determined to drag me down with him and make me, a patrol officer, take charge of this case?"

Domon nodded helplessly. "This time, Ono Oda is really angry. He knows it's basically impossible to catch the culprit, and he probably found out about your relationship with Ono Oda, so..."

"So you're planning to shift the blame and make me take the fall, huh?" Cao Weida said, both amused and exasperated. He had originally intended to provoke the Japanese and drag that good-for-nothing bastard Sang Liuji into the mess as well.

Now look what's happened; he's dragged himself down with him.

what is this?
Did the boomerang pierce your own butt?

Xu Hancheng, that bastard, is really cunning!
"Of course, he wanted to shift the blame, and I couldn't help him take it on, so I refused outright, but I can't escape being asked to assist in the investigation."

Many departments wanted to avoid sticking to the pan, but there was nothing they could do. Rank is everything, and Xu Hancheng was too persistent. It was impossible to get rid of him completely, so they could only settle for second best and accept the title of assistant.

Cao Weida understood that it was unrealistic to expect to completely cut off all contact, since the other party was, after all, the bureau chief; how could he not give him any face at all?
"So, what do we do next?"

"Put your clothes on and come with me to the scene."

"No, Master Duo, are you really planning to catch the murderer?"

"What are you thinking?" Master Duo rolled his eyes. "Whether or not we investigate, we have to at least make a show of it. It doesn't matter if we can find out or not, but if we don't even have the attitude, it'll be hard to explain."

"You know, old ginger is spicier!" Cao Weida gave a big thumbs up.

Duomen laughed and scolded, "Are you praising me or insulting me? You little rascal, hurry up and get to it."

"Alright, I'll wear it, okay?"

Just as the two were joking around, not only the Fifth Outer Branch Bureau, but also the Seventh Inner District General Bureau was mobilized, with countless patrol officers grumbling as they put on their uniforms and took to the streets.

They finally got some peace and quiet, only to be suddenly called back to work overtime. They were just like the overtime workers of later generations, and they were quite resentful.

People have to vent their anger, and the people being inspected have become their punching bags.

“Bozi, we’ve been neighbors for so many years, don’t you know my family situation? How could I possibly harbor a murderer who killed an Imperial Army soldier? A close neighbor is worse than a distant relative.”

The man called "Bowl" didn't show him any mercy and rebuked him bluntly: "Yan Bugui, don't try to get close to me, do you think you're cultured?"

"Let me tell you, the ones who rebelled against the Imperial Army the most were you educated folks!"

"Get out of my way right now! If you dare to block my way again, believe me, I'll arrest you on charges of colluding with a criminal!"

Yan Bugui's face twitched. He knew that Bo Zi was doing this on purpose, trying to extort money from him.

But he had no choice, mainly because he really didn't dare to let the bowl in, as he couldn't explain what was inside it!
We can't just expose Cao Wei Da, can we?

Putting aside the fact that this would offend Cao Wei Da, even though he considered himself an intellectual, he wouldn't have the face to do such a thing.

Well, let's just pay up to avoid further trouble.

He gritted his teeth, endured the pain, took out a silver dollar from his pocket, and quietly slipped it into the bowl-maker's hand.

"Master Bo, as you know, my wife just gave birth and is still in her postpartum period. It's really not good to disturb her. The baby has just fallen asleep."

"Please, have mercy on me, please don't make things difficult for me."

Seeing that Yan Bugui had finally come to his senses, Bo Zi, who knew him well, didn't make things difficult for him. He quietly slipped the silver dollar into his pocket, pretended to peek through the curtain, and then said with a smile:

"Look at what you're saying, Lao Yan. We're all neighbors, do you think I don't know what kind of person you are?"

"Alright, it's getting late, I won't disturb your wife and kids' rest any longer, come inside."

As he spoke, he ticked Yan Bugui's address in his notebook, then went to another house and violently knocked on the door.
"Open the door! Everyone come out for inspection!"

(End of this chapter)