Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 375 I, Chen Chuan, have been cowardly, afraid, and have lost. But I have never backed down.

"I'm actually never happy, I just like to put on a carefree and cheerful face."

—Chen Chuan

Ten years ago, in the restaurant on the first floor of a villa in the old overseas Chinese villa area of ​​Qidu Island, Zhengming District, Dongzhou City.

A rectangular Chinese-style table, seating eight people, was placed in the middle of the dining room, with only a family of three sitting at the south-facing end. The table was laden with a sumptuous six-dish meal and soup, complete with chicken, duck, fish, and meat. Strangely, however, none of the neatly arranged, colorful, and fragrant dishes showed any signs of having been touched.

"Only when you have real skills to live a life where you don't need any financial assistance from us will you have the right to talk to me about independence and freedom!"

A middle-aged man in a casual suit sat in an expensive leather chair, his face cold as he pointed at the table with his index finger and spoke slowly and deliberately to a young man sitting to his right.

The boy blushed and tried to argue.

"I completely don't understand what you mean by independence and freedom. Is it spending my money and repeatedly going against my will? Do you think that by listening to me, you've lost yourself? Can you only find your sense of existence by rebelling against me?"
"This is illusory independence! Rootless freedom! Unjustified resistance!"

The middle-aged man slammed his hand on the table, completely ignoring the young man's fragile explanation, and proceeded to summarize the entire conversation.

The boy, with tears in his eyes, bit his cheek and swallowed mouthful after mouthful of saliva, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

The middle-aged woman sitting next to the boy is clearly playing the role of a mother in the family.

She frowned and complained to her husband, "Why do you have to be so harsh with our son? He's still a child."

The middle-aged man stared at the boy with his head down, his tone unwavering: "He's eighteen, an adult. I'm telling him that reality and truth are far more cutting than these words!"

"enough!"

The big boy shoved the table and chairs aside with a bang and stood up, his neck bulging as he loudly declared, "One day, I will prove to you that I can succeed without you!"

His voice was hoarse and choked with sobs, and his eyes were brimming with tears, but his gaze was firm.

Seeing his son's expression, the middle-aged man's heart softened a little, but he still kept a stern face and scolded, "How will you prove that your success wasn't achieved by stepping on my shoulders?"

"you!"

The boy bit his lip, turned around, and ran out of the villa.

My name is Chen Chuan. I was born into a merchant family and lived a life of luxury. My parents were often away from me, so I compensated for their absence with money.

So, I have a lot of money, and I have a lot of friends.

As soon as we turned 18, we spent our days in the most expensive nightclubs in Dongzhou, drove the most expensive sports cars, and dated the most beautiful internet celebrities. We lived a truly carefree and happy life.

But every time I wake up from a hotel after getting drunk, even though there are always beautiful women by my side, my heart still feels empty, like it did when I was a child, as if something is missing.

That boy.

No, that man
Chen Chuan recalled that he first met Chen Shu during his final year of internship at the police academy. At that time, they were assigned to a police station in another city together.

In the police station's canteen, the other person walked towards him with a relaxed smile, placed a tray full of food on the table, and casually sat down opposite him. While eating the hot food, he spoke fluent Dongzhou local dialect:
"Hey bro, wanna grab a few drinks this weekend?"

Then, on the weekend, Chen Shu took him and several other fellow villagers from Dongzhou to the busiest street in the area, where they found a lively roadside stall and ate beer and barbecue.

The group ate and laughed, enjoying a pleasant evening.

It was an ordinary evening. There were no VIP guests, no beautiful young women, and no wealthy young master Chen Chuan who paid for everything.

All that was left were four police cadets in their final year of internship at the police academy, complaining that the school had sold them to the local public security bureau for 10,000 yuan each.

Near the end, Chen Shu, who organized the gathering, paid the bill and then posted a group payment request in the hastily created WeChat group. Chen Chuan cautiously asked, "Shall we split the bill together?"

Cheng Mian, who would later become famous as a "freeloader," looked at this moment with disdain: "With a monthly salary of only 500 yuan, what's the point of pretending to be a big shot?"

This disdain, however, felt novel to Chen Chuan, who was used to flattery, making him feel as if he had truly integrated into the circle.

The young Li Meng chimed in, "This way, everyone will feel less pressure, and we can get together more often."

Chen Shu laughed and said, "You didn't spend all your salary, did you? It's okay, you can let it go this time. You have to treat us to milk tea when you get paid at the beginning of the month."

Afterwards, in a luxurious bachelor apartment not far from the police station, Chen Chuan lay on his bed, reflecting on the little drinking session that evening, and suddenly realized what had happened.

It turns out that what he lacked was not just companionship, but also equality.

hospital.

Chen Chuan opened his eyes and saw a white ceiling, white curtains, and white walls.

He remembered that he was in a deserted area, chasing one, no, two suspects, when he fell and lost consciousness.

He tried to move his body, but found that he was in pain all over.

Chen Chuan stared blankly at the ceiling, somewhat forlorn, unsure whether they had caught the person in the end.

After an unknown amount of time, with a loud "bang," a group of people in police uniforms rushed into the ward, and Xiao Ran's ward immediately became noisy.

The one leading the group was none other than Chen Shu.

He walked over, pulled up a chair next to Chen Chuan, and sat down next to him, saying with a smile, "Chen Chuan, thanks to you this time, we managed to catch them all."

Also present was Cheng Mian, the long-absent "meal-crashing king," who is now a deputy section-level officer in the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Legal Affairs Division, responsible for reviewing those released on bail pending trial throughout the city.

He stood at the foot of the bed, his hands gripping the bed railing, his expression as disdainful as in his dream: "You didn't just arrest him, you just killed him! Watch your step, you'll be in trouble later."

"You killed him?"

Chen Chuan was startled and struggled to get up, but Chen Shu, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, gently pressed him down and made him lie back down on the bed.

Li Meng, who was already the deputy captain of the criminal investigation team, offered a rare word of comfort: "The other party is a murderer and also assaulted a police officer. It is disciplinaryly permissible for Chen Shu to execute him."

Chen Shu's eyes dimmed for a moment, then he looked at Chen Chuan with a serious expression and an appreciative smile: "You're still recovering from your injuries, so don't worry about these trivial matters. Just remember one thing: without your reconnaissance, Chen Chuan, we definitely wouldn't have been able to catch anyone in this operation."

"Yeah, yeah, if you weren't still lying in bed, Chen Shu, the on-site commander, would probably have had his hat taken off."

Cheng Mian continued with deliberate sarcasm, "I wonder who it is who keeps talking about safety this and safety that, but in the end, they still handed their own brothers over to the line of fire. Tsk tsk, they're really safe now!"

Chen Shu touched his nose, feeling somewhat ashamed.

Originally feeling somewhat guilty, Li Meng was happy to watch Chen Shu get the short end of the stick and enjoyed observing the situation.

Lying in the hospital bed, Chen Chuan looked around, his mind much calmer. He felt even more at ease after learning that the auxiliary police officer who was with him was also unharmed. In the end, however, he fixed his gaze on the azure sky outside the window.

He kept thinking to himself:

"I've been cowardly, I've been afraid, and I've lost. But I've never given up."

"Dad, I did it."

(End of this chapter)