Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 267 Granting Second-Class Merit

On Friday morning, the Volkswagen Golf cruised smoothly on the highway, the three red letters "GTI" under the manufacturer's logo on the rear gleaming in the sunlight. The highway was bustling with traffic.

The journey from Zhongshan Police Station in Dongzhou to the Public Security Bureau (Chang-Ding) in the provincial capital takes about four hours. With a 20-minute rest stop at a service station in between, Chen Shu and Zeng Hong should arrive at their destination around noon if everything goes smoothly.

According to Zeng Hong's plan, after arriving at the provincial government building, he would first go to a nearby hotel to freshen up and change into a suit so that he could arrive at the provincial government building half an hour before work.

The driver was undoubtedly the young man Chen Shu, while the leader Zeng Hong sat in the passenger seat with the window open, comfortably smoking.

Zeng Hong, with the airs and tone of an old comrade, said confidently, "Xiao Shu, after you finish this matter, when you get back to the station, you have to wrap up the bureau's 'ice-breaking operation' properly. The previous cases were all small-scale, and now that it's almost over, it would be best if our station could handle a big case, a typical case, so that I can do some publicity."

The Anti-Poisoning Brigade under the Zhengming District Public Security Bureau mainly focuses on macro-level control of entertainment venues within its jurisdiction and leads several police stations in handling major cases.

Simply put, the anti-drug squad assigns tasks and quotas to the police stations, playing a supervisory and assessment role; they themselves do not handle specific cases.

Chen Shu nodded in agreement: "Try to get a big case. If there's really no other way, I'll make up for it with quantity."

The time spent chatting passed quickly, and Chen Shu drove his vehicle, bearing the Dongzhou license plate, off the highway with the flow of traffic.

After all, it's the provincial capital, constantly gathering resources and traffic from across the province. Chen Shu's car, with its out-of-town license plate, wasn't particularly conspicuous among them.

After driving for a while, following Zeng Hong's instructions, Chen Shu parked the car in front of a small shop in an alley. The shop was small, but there were quite a few cars parked outside. Chen Shu glanced at them and saw that most of them had local license plates, with a few cars from other places mixed in.

The two got out of the car and were greeted by a friendly young man at the door who led them inside to sit down.

Zeng Hong didn't take a menu; he simply ordered several dishes: sweet and sour fish, Dongpo pork, and braised duck from the provincial capital, and finally, stir-fried bok choy. Judging from his driving, he must have been to this restaurant several times and knew the place well.

Zeng Hong took two pairs of chopsticks from the chopstick holder on the table and handed one pair to Chen Shu: "There will be a good wine dinner tonight, but the food there probably won't be as authentic as here. You studied at the provincial capital for a few years, so try the food here."

Chen Shu got up and went to the cabinet next door to get a kettle of hot water to scald and wash both of their tableware. He said with some regret, "Back then, we were in a closed school, and the school only gave us four hours of fresh air on Sundays. I only ate provincial capital food a few times in the school's small canteen, but the canteen owner wasn't a local, so I don't know if it was authentic or not."

When the dishes he ordered arrived, after tasting them and experiencing their color, aroma, and flavor, Chen Shu finally knew whether the provincial capital cuisine served in the police academy's small canteen back then was authentic.

He naturally took out his phone, opened the Gaode Maps app, and carefully saved the location to his favorites.

After finishing their meal, Chen Shu, burping contentedly, paid the bill before Zeng Hong could. Once in the car, they headed straight for the hotel near the Public Security Bureau, which they had already booked.

After changing into suits in the room and tidying themselves up, the two arrived at the provincial government's gatehouse half an hour early. They then dutifully handed over their ID cards, swiped their cards to get a number, and joined the other people who looked like they were there on business to wait in line for security checks.

"Do we have to queue up when we come here on official business?"

Chen Shu, accustomed to the straightforward approach at the Dongzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau and Zhengming District Branch, was somewhat incredulous when he accompanied Zeng Hong to the higher-level unit and discovered that they were queuing up in the same way as ordinary citizens who usually went to the Dongzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Zeng Hong glanced at the serious-looking provincial police officer sitting in front of him, pulled Chen Shu to the waiting room, picked out two chairs in a secluded corner, and said in a low voice, "Who told you we were here on official business?"

Chen Shu was confused: "Isn't this about getting that second-class merit award?"

Zeng Hong smiled and said, "Your second-class merit award was reported to the provincial department a month ago according to procedure. Your identity information and application materials have long been on the leader's desk waiting for signature. But is it your place to handle this?"
"We're here today to make an appearance and let the leader know who you are, so he can compare you to the photo in the documents. When we get upstairs, you can't mention the second-class merit award, not a single word of it."

Chen Shu glanced at the ordinary suits the two men were wearing and immediately understood why Zeng Hong hadn't allowed them to wear police uniforms earlier.

Wearing a suit shows respect for the provincial leaders and also indicates that their visit today is a private get-together with friends. The fact that they are sitting obediently in the waiting room waiting for their number to be called is for the same reason.

At exactly 2:00, the police officer on duty at the front called out Chen Shu and Zeng Hong's names first, telling them to go in first.

Judging from the situation, it seems that the leader had given prior instructions.

Zeng Hong, who originally intended to keep a low profile, unexpectedly showed off in front of his apprentice, and couldn't help but raise his head.

The on-duty police officer probably sensed something, and his previously expressionless face softened considerably. He politely handed over a stamped receipt and let Zeng Hong and Chen Shu pass through the checkpoint.

The two entered the provincial government compound, where two extremely modern high-rise buildings stood before them. If the signs for the Provincial Public Security Bureau were removed, they would look exactly like two commercial office buildings.

Standing beside a rather elegantly arranged flower bed, Chen Shu said enviously, "I heard that if you work in the department for three years, you can be promoted directly to deputy section chief. The political and welfare benefits are already so generous, and the office conditions are not bad either. With such two big buildings, the dormitory should be two people per room, right?"

"Let's go, let's go. Let's go upstairs first, don't keep the leaders waiting," Zeng Hong urged.

The elevator was new and fast, and it took no time to reach the fourteenth floor government building. After getting out of the elevator, Chen Shu followed Zeng Hong into the corridor.

Along the way, although there were many police officers working in the offices and police officers coming and going in the corridors, there was none of the usual laughter and chatter among colleagues from Zhongshan Police Station or Zhengming Branch, nor any normal discussions or debates. The whole floor was unusually quiet.

The strangest thing is that the computer screens of the police officers in each office are all facing the door. The feature of this arrangement is that even someone like Chen Shu, who is just passing by in the corridor, can see at a glance what the police officers are doing on their computers.

Could this be to facilitate the leaders' supervision of the police officers? As Chen Shu walked along, seeing that several offices were arranged in this way, he no longer envied the work of the provincial department.

"Director Xia, hello, hello."

(End of this chapter)