Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 153 Xu Suo Visits
Dawn Grid Service Center, Police Station
Chen Shu had absolutely no idea what Deputy Director Xu from the Dongming Institute was up to. He'd actually come all the way from the Zhongshan Institute to this grid area so early in the morning!

They practically forced him out of the grid manager's office!

They're having a serious conversation!
The guy just stood there at the door, smiling and looking inside without saying a word.

Who could stand this?
Chen Shu placed the disposable cup filled with water on the coffee table in front of Xu Chaofan with a little force, spilling some water.

He sipped his water and sat down, waiting for the other person to speak.

Xu Chaofan started by chatting casually: "Aren't grid police chiefs supposed to be assigned to the community staff? Why were they assigned to you? You have to handle both maintaining public order and managing the community. Can you manage it all?"

Chen Shu continued sipping his water.

Xu Chaofan patted the cushions on the sofa: "I haven't seen such a clean police station in a long time. This place is pretty good!"

Chen Shu put down his water glass, took out the last Liqun cigarette from his pocket, and lit it for himself.

Xu Chaofan scratched his head, knowing there was no need to beat around the bush any longer, and said apologetically, "A-Shu, I've come to ask you for a favor."

Chen Shu, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, said, "Brother Xu, you're too kind. Just give me a call if you need anything."

Xu Chaofan took the briefcase he brought with him, pulled out a file from it, placed it on the coffee table, and pushed it toward Chen Shu.

"Ah Shu, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the murder case from last night."

Chen Shu glanced at the thick case file folder on the coffee table, both curious about how Xu Chaofan had collected and compiled so much information in such a short time; and also wondering why a deputy director of a police station would get involved in a case that should belong to the Criminal Investigation Department.

Judging from the tone of the female forensic doctor yesterday, Xu Chaofan usually tries to avoid handling these major criminal cases; he doesn't seem like the type to volunteer for them.
“Brother Xu, this case has now been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Division. We don’t need to get involved anymore, right? It’s not in accordance with regulations.”

Everyone here is an adult, and all of them are police officers. To speak only halfway and leave things unsaid is truly a poor approach.

Xu Chaofan gave a wry smile and confessed: "This morning, an instructor from the Criminal Investigation Department contacted me and said that after lunch he would bring Zhu Li to a shoe factory in our jurisdiction to arrest people, and hoped that I could send some people to cooperate."

I suspect this person might be related to the case we encountered early this morning. I was lazy yesterday and didn't go into that room, so I don't know what's going on inside.

He paused for a moment and tapped the case file bag on the coffee table: "I'm a little interested in Julie, you know, the female forensic doctor who came over last night. But she's always prejudiced against our police station, thinking we only do trivial things."

This case just so happens to be in my jurisdiction. I just wanted to take this opportunity to show off and maybe strike up a conversation with her.

This time, Chen Shu smiled and took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his shirt pocket, handing one over: "I didn't realize Brother Xu was such a romantic."

"What a romantic. He's over thirty and still not married. It's a joke."

Chen Shu thought of his junior colleague Li Chaoyang, who was either at work or on blind dates, and sighed, "With our kind of upside-down jobs, it's really hard to find a wife."

Xu Chaofan took the cigarette, held it under his nose for a few sniffs, and wholeheartedly agreed.

"Ah Shu, I hastily put together this case file. Take a look. If you find anything, you can say a few words when the criminal investigation team comes over this afternoon."

Chen Shu picked up the heavy case file bag and weighed it in his hands for a few moments. To say he wasn't curious about this murder case would be a lie. What young policeman wouldn't be interested in this kind of thing?

It's good to take a look at this case that's been handed to us!
Chen Shu glanced at Xu Chaofan, whose dark circles were even more severe than his own, smiled, and nodded in agreement.

He took the case file bag, walked to his desk, sat down, and began to examine it carefully.

The bag looked extremely thick, and most of it contained phone records and other relevant personal information of people involved in the case.

With Xu Chaofan's authority as deputy director of the public security bureau, these people's data was naturally readily accessible on the internal network. However, how the victim's identity information was leaked from the criminal investigation department was rather interesting.

Xu Chaofan has been a policeman for over a decade, so it's normal for him to have some connections.

Chen Shu felt his empty pockets and found he had no cigarettes. Reluctantly, he took out a cigarette from his shirt pocket and lit it. He then casually took a few blank A4 sheets from the printer next to him and placed them on his right side for easy note-taking. He then settled down and began to look through the documents.

An hour later, Chen Shu returned to the sofa with a few sheets of paper and sat down.

Xu Chaofan, who had been quietly smoking nearby, sat up straight, glanced at the A4 sheets of paper filled with numbers and text in Chen Shu's hand, and grinned.

"Brother Xu, let me tell you some bad news first. This afternoon, the Criminal Investigation Department only sent two people, and one of them is a forensic doctor. This means that the person they want to arrest is obviously not taken seriously. It's probably just a formality to complete the chain of evidence."

Conversely, the fact that the Criminal Investigation Division needs our police station to assist in handling a case indicates that they are definitely short-staffed. Where did their missing officers go? They must have already identified the suspect and rushed off to make arrests.”

Xu Chaofan nodded. To be honest, he hadn't really thought that he and his two fellow police officers from a local law enforcement background could solve this murder case. Were the criminal investigation team officers, who dealt with murderers every day, incompetent?

How can it be!

He's only here today to take advantage of Julie's visit and show off a few skills; he doesn't have any other plans!

"The body's face was repeatedly struck, making this a homicide with very clear signs of revenge. The body was carelessly disposed of at the scene, and the murder weapon was a stone that could be found anywhere, indicating that the murderer acted on impulse. The victim was a woman, leading to the preliminary conclusion that it was a crime of passion stemming from a romantic dispute."

Chen Shu took out a call log and pointed to it: "The deceased's call records for the last day. After excluding irrelevant or first-time numbers, only these two numbers have appeared in previous records."

The owners of both phones are men, so the culprit is probably one of them. The person we went to look for this afternoon should be one of them…”

Chen Shu spoke eloquently.

Xu Chaofan listened and nodded, secretly making notes so he could say a few words to Julie when they met later.

Time flies, and lunchtime is fast approaching.

Chen Shu pulled Xu Chaofan to the grid's canteen. The first thing they saw upon entering was a large, fat man in a police uniform sitting upright, staring at the food on the table with a sacred and serious expression.

"Fatty, what brings you here? Aren't you going to eat at the station?"

The fat man turned around upon hearing this, and it was Zhu Chaoran: "Hehe! Brother Shu, I heard you were here at the grid, so I quickly followed you over."

(End of this chapter)