Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 690 is another unexpected event.

Xiao Liu said, "It seems the boss isn't here."

Xiao Wei told Wang Ziqi, "The pager was made from here. It's been called more than forty times in the past month. I feel that person probably lives in this neighborhood. It's unlikely that an outsider would come all the way here to make the call, right? There are public phones everywhere."

Wang Ziqi said, "That's not necessarily true. What if they're afraid of being seen by acquaintances? They might deliberately go a little further away to make the call."

Xiao Wei turned to look at Xiao Liu, who stared blankly at him for a long time before saying, "I think she's right."

Xiao Wei took a breath, nodded, and said, "Yeah, I also feel she's right. So, it's like we played for nothing, right?"

Wang Ziqi was a little embarrassed and said, "I just said it casually, don't listen to me. If we stay here for two days, the people in this area should come out eventually."

Xiao Wei rubbed his face and said, "Let's wait, let's wait two days. If it doesn't appear in two days, then Xiao Ziqi was probably right. What should we do then?" He turned to ask Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu looked towards the convenience store and said, "Let's look. If we can't find it here, we'll look there. We'll take our time. Two days isn't enough, maybe a week."

Xiao Wei glanced at his watch and said, "It's 4:10 now. How long are we supposed to stay here?"

Xiao Liu said, "When you're camping out someone, you have to be ruthless. Call home and tell them we'll camp out until the convenience store closes. Then tomorrow morning I'll come over, you come over in the afternoon, and we'll do it together in the evening, from when it opens until it closes, for a week. Wang Ziqi, could you do me this? A week, okay?"

Wang Ziqi said, "Okay, you helped me, so I definitely won't pee. Just don't forget about me later." She wasn't entirely willing, but she couldn't bear to miss the opportunity to work with two capable people, especially two policemen. Since she had to do it anyway, she might as well do it well and say it nicely.

Xiao Liu said, "Okay, you're a good buddy. I'll give you Xiao Wei's phone number and pager in a bit. I consider you my friend. Call him if you ever need anything."

Xiao Wei turned to look at Xiao Liu: "You admit it, so you're calling me?"

Xiao Liu turned to look at the convenience store: "I really hope that person shows up soon. Things have gone so smoothly today, even the big shots above us came over to shake hands. Logically, we should be in high spirits. We'll definitely make it."

He pulled out his pistol, looked at the magazine, put it back in, chambered a round, ejected the chamber, fiddled with it a few times, stopped, turned to Xiaowei and said, "Handcuffs, we're out of handcuffs."

Xiao Wei said, "You still haven't written your shooting report. You fired three shots in total, damaged a car, and scared a bureau chief."

Xiao Liu asked, "Shouldn't you be writing this report?"

Xiao Wei said, "The gun is yours, and I'm not qualified to carry one."

Xiao Liu opened his mouth, and said indignantly, "You're not qualified to carry a gun, but you dare to drive it however you want, right? You even dare to take a taxi? You even dare to scare the bureau chief? You're just relying on the fact that you can push the blame onto me, aren't you?"

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Wang Ziqi chuckled and said, "You two are really funny. You have such a good relationship."

Xiao Wei and Xiao Liu both scoffed and turned their faces away.

Smoke a cigarette, drink some water, chat, and a few hours will slowly pass. Squatting on the toilet is definitely a test of energy, ability, and endurance. It's boring and tedious, there's nothing to do, and you can't wander off or daydream. The downside is that your butt hurts from sitting in the car, and you can't open the windows all the way because it's stuffy and uncomfortable.

Xiao Wei asked, "Have you ever used to squat in a toilet? Did you squat like this?"

Xiao Liu took a sip of water and said, "Which policeman hasn't been on stakeouts? Sometimes it's normal to be on stakeout for half a month. Chief Huang once spent thirteen days on stakeout at the end of November, wearing two layers of coats and lying in a snowdrift for thirteen whole nights."

Xiao Wei's mouth dropped open: "Won't they freeze to death?"

Xiao Liu said, "Back then, where were the cars? Where were the conditions now? We had to force people in. To be honest, the conditions are getting better and better now. Being a policeman is so much more comfortable than before."

Xiao Wei asked, "Where does Huang live? I've always seen him stay in a dormitory, but I also heard he has a child, a son, is that right?"

Xiao Liu said, "His family lives on the outskirts of the city. His rank isn't high enough to get him a decent apartment. His family is quite poor; his parents are in poor health, his sister-in-law doesn't work, and the whole family relies on his salary. Huang has never bought clothes or eaten out. Sometimes people try to chip in to help, but he gets angry. Anyway, Huang has a tough life, but he's a good person. He's honest."

Xiao Wei asked, "Then why doesn't he go home?"

Xiao Liu said, "I will call and go back, maybe once every one or two months, and stay for a day. I can't bear to spend the money on the train ticket. I ask him to drive the police station's car back, but he won't do it, saying that it's not right to take advantage of public resources for personal matters or something."

Wang Ziqi asked, "How much would a train ticket home cost?"

Xiao Liu said, "It costs three yuan to go back and forth. If you go back every week, it will cost about ten yuan. It's nothing to us, but to be honest, for Huang's family, ten yuan is not a small amount. He only earns a little over three hundred yuan a month."

Xiao Wei asked, "Don't the elderly receive retirement benefits?"

Xiao Liu said, "Huang is a retired soldier who transferred to civilian work. His family is from the countryside. Where would he get a retirement pension? Farmers just grow crops to eat. When they get old, sick, or can't farm anymore, they just go hungry. Who cares? Where would they get money?"

Xiao Wei asked, "And his sister-in-law?"

Xiao Liu said, "My sister-in-law's household registration has been changed; Officer Lu handled it for her. The change means her child now has an urban household registration and can attend school in the city. But my sister-in-law doesn't have a job. What's the use? It seems she just stays home taking care of the elderly and maybe does some mending and sewing for the neighbors to earn a little extra money. I haven't asked for details; how can I ask?"

In those days, a child's household registration was tied to their mother's. If the mother had a rural household registration, the child would also have a rural household registration. Even if you married someone from an urban household and lived in the city for decades, and your child was born in the city, it wouldn't matter. The only way to change your household registration was through schooling—getting into a vocational school, junior college, or university. After graduation, you would have an urban household registration. Those who couldn't go to school could join the army and move to the city after their service. In some places, high schools also allowed people to change their household registration.

Xiao Wei said, "When you have time, find an excuse to go to his house and see him. There are elderly people and children there, so it's only natural for us to help out, right? He can't refuse then."

Xiao Liu said, "Okay, let me think of a way. This is a bit difficult. Going there specifically won't work; Huang will turn against us."

"Hey, hey hey hey," Wang Ziqi poked Xiao Wei with her hand while looking out the window, "That one, that one, the one who just came over, carrying something, went in, went in, it's him, it must be him, once when Xiao Hong and I came over, he was the one who picked us up at the station."

Xiao Wei and Xiao Liu turned to look.

Xiao Liu said, "Damn it, we're doomed."

(End of this chapter)