The game of power begins with the police officers at the local police station.

Chen Shi walked into the break room, where several police officers were chatting. Chen Shi greeted them and sat down next to Zhang Hu.

Zhang Hu is in a great mood lately. He's in love, and after confessing his feelings to Xu Mengmeng, she agreed to be his girlfriend.

Unfortunately, Xu Mengmeng is very conservative and can only kiss and hold hands. She resolutely refuses any further inappropriate behavior.

Xu Mengmeng told Zhang Hu with righteous indignation that she could only save her virginity for her future husband.

If you want to do that kind of thing, you have to wait until you get married.

Zhang Hu was all smiles, and Chen Shi joked, "People in love are just different; they're always smiling."

"Is it that obvious?"

"It's so obvious, it's practically written all over my face, I'm in love. I used to be frowning all the time, but now I'm all smiles. Everyone in the police station knows you're in love."

Zhang Hu lowered his voice and said, "Xiao Chen, teach me a couple of tricks. Xu Mengmeng won't let me touch her. How did you manage to win over Wang Yanhong and get you to live with her?"

Chen Shi gave a mysterious smile: "I'll treat you to dinner tonight and teach you a couple of tricks."

"I'm not free tonight, I have a date. How about tomorrow?"

"Alright, I'll teach you a couple of tricks." Chen Shi lowered his voice and said, "When you take her on a trip, make sure to tell the hotel owner in advance that there are no rooms available, just one room. It's best to make sure it's late, after 11 p.m.

When a man and a woman are alone together in a room, and you deliberately tease her until she can't control herself, once it happens, it will happen countless times. Women are more addicted to this than men.

Zhang Hu looked incredulous: "Really?"

"Xu Mengmeng has tasted the sweetness and is even more proactive than you. In this matter, men put in the effort, and women enjoy it, understand?"

Zhang Hu was skeptical, but he had no other choice. All he wanted to do was sleep with Xu Mengmeng as soon as possible.

Who talks about love without sleeping? If you don't sleep, what kind of love is that? That's the difference between men and women.

Ma Guoliang walked into the lounge and looked at Zhang Hu and Chen Shi.

"Xiao Zhang, Xiao Chen, you two take three auxiliary police officers and go to Longtougou Village. Two cows and a horse belonging to villager Ma Shuang were stolen last night. Go investigate and make sure you find clues, catch the thief, and give the villagers an explanation."

Chen Shi thought to himself, "What a load of crap. There are plenty of cattle and horses stolen in the village. Calling the police is just a formality. Anyone with a brain knows it's an inside job, someone from the village."

When you go to someone's village, where you are unfamiliar with the place and the people, unless you stay in the village, thieves who steal cattle and horses will not dare to act. As soon as you leave, they will steal immediately, making it impossible to guard against.

It's not the theft itself that's scary, it's having someone eyeing it.

There is a way to catch this thief, but it requires effort, money, and resources.

There's no reward for solving these cattle and horse theft cases. Solving them is your job, and if you can't, nobody cares. Since it doesn't involve any criminal offenses, who would bother to spend money and effort on it?

Chen Shi smiled and said, "Brother Ma, let's go right now."

Zhang Hu's face darkened. Longtougou Village was more than 40 kilometers away from the town, and the road was bad, just a dirt road. By the time he got back to the town, he didn't know what time it would be, and his date was ruined again.

With so many villages involved in cattle and horse theft, this particular village, Longtougou, is clearly connected to Ma Guoliang; they must be related to him.

He didn't want to go, but he was forced to go, even though he was a hundred times unwilling. He had to go because the other person was about to take over as deputy director.

That's the advantage of having power; if they tell you to go, you have to go, and you can't refuse.

Seeing Zhang Hu's dark face, Ma Guoliang raised his voice and asked, "Little Zhang, you don't want to go?"

Zhang Hu replied irritably, "I wouldn't dare."

"If you're afraid, hurry up and set off, don't waste time."

Chen Shi said with a big smile, "Brother Ma, let's go right now."

The two walked out of the lounge. Zhang Hu said, "What the hell? It's so cold. If we go to Longtougou Village, we won't be able to come back tonight. The roads will be icy tonight, and we'll be stuck there. The roads are difficult to travel, and the police car can't drive back. We'll have to walk 20 kilometers back."

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and go, go through the motions, and come back to give Ma Guoliang an explanation."

"He wants us to arrest the thieves who stole the cattle and horses, just to go through the motions, okay?"

Chen Shi rolled his eyes at Zhang Hu: "Brother Zhang, you're not a new cop. Catching cattle and horse thieves isn't that easy. His relative's house was robbed, and we went out to give him face. You actually believe that we can catch the cattle and horse thieves in one trip?"

Zhang Hu thought about it and realized that it was true. How could that be possible? He couldn't even dream of staying there for a month.

Chen Shi added, "This call to duty is different from other calls to duty. We need to do a good job of making a big show of it, but the actual work will be minimal."

Zhang Hu nodded: "Okay, I'll do it your way."

The two officers called three auxiliary police officers to accompany them on the mission, only to discover they were out of gas when they got to the police car.

Zhang Hu asked, "Xiao Chen, do you have any money left? Go ahead and buy some gas; I've been spending a lot lately and I'm heavily in debt."

Even without Zhang Hu saying it, Chen Shi knew that dating costs money; it's not just about talking. With Zhang Hu's meager salary and his extravagant spending, it wouldn't even be enough for him.

Chen Shi gave a wry smile: "My pockets are emptier than my face. This is a government matter. Go to the logistics office and get an advance of two hundred for gas."

Chen Shi wasn't short of money; he had some, which he saved to treat people to meals.

It's a public matter, so what kind of behavior is it to pay for gas out of your own pocket?

The two arrived at the logistics office, where Zhang Youcai was sitting with his legs crossed, holding goji berries in his thermos and taking sips of his drink.

Zhang Youcai, in his fifties, is the cousin of the deputy director, Lao Chang. Relying on his cousin's connections, he lives a comfortable life at the police station.

Chen Shi smiled and said, "Uncle Zhang, are you busy?"

Zhang Youcai looked up at Chen Shi, and, not wanting to be rude to someone who was smiling, asked, "What do you want?"

"Brother Ma asked us to go to Longtougou Village to investigate thieves who steal cattle and horses. The police car is out of gas, so we came here to get an advance of 200 yuan for gas."

"You two don't even have two hundred?"

Chen Shi said with a forced smile, "Uncle Zhang, we young people have big expenses, our pockets are emptier than our faces, we're all broke by the end of the month, we don't have any money on us."

Zhang Youcai raised his voice and said, "It's not that I don't want to give you an advance, it's just that the station chief stipulates that expenses must be paid first and reimbursed later. You can borrow two hundred from someone first, and after you finish the call, bring the receipt to me for reimbursement."

Zhang Hu said irritably, "Old Zhang, be lenient with us. Where are we supposed to borrow money for gas? This is official business, not some kind of game we're playing around in a police car."

Zhang Youcai's face darkened. He was very dissatisfied with Zhang Hu. Chen Shi kept calling him Uncle Zhang. Who do you think you are, calling me Old Zhang?

He didn't think much of it when the director called him; after all, the director was a leader, and it was a friendly way to address him.

It's inappropriate for a young person like you to shout like that.

He slammed his thermos down on the table to express his dissatisfaction.

"Xiao Zhang, if you have any complaints, go talk to the director. This is the director's rule: no reimbursement without a detailed invoice."

Zhang Hu was furious, but he didn't dare to confront Ma Guoliang. "He's about to be promoted to deputy director, how can I not dare to confront him?"

He snorted coldly: "If the police car can't get gas, it can't go out on calls. If they investigate, I'll just say you didn't pay for the gas, and you'll take the blame."

Zhang Youcai shouted, "How dare you talk like that? I'm just following the rules. Let's go find the director and get some feedback."

Chen Shi quickly smiled apologetically and said, "Uncle Zhang, Brother Zhang is in a bad mood today. He's asking the director about something so trivial, but the director is so busy, so please don't bother him."

Zhang Youcai snorted coldly: "You're in a bad mood? I'm in a very bad mood right now."

Chen Shi smiled and said, "Uncle Zhang, calm down."

Chen Shi picked up the thermos on the table, poured water from the kettle into it, and placed it in front of Zhang Youcai.

"Uncle Zhang, we must abide by the director's rules. However, the cattle and horses belonging to Brother Ma's relatives have been stolen."

I'll go borrow 200 yuan from Brother Ma for gas. The police definitely need to be called; if things get delayed and Brother Ma gets upset, things will be difficult.

The deputy director is in charge of logistics. Everyone in the police station knows that Zhang Youcai's cousin is retiring. Ma Guoliang will take over from Lao Chang.

If I offend Ma Guoliang, I'll lose my job as the head of the logistics office.

Zhang Youcai's expression softened a bit: "Xiao Chen, for your sake, I'll give you an advance of two hundred yuan for gas."

Once you get back, quickly complete the expense report.

Chen Shi repeatedly said, "Yes, thank you, Uncle Zhang."