Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 423 Are You Afraid of Death? (Bonus Chapter 2)

After Glasses expressed his desire to join the SWAT team's bomb disposal unit, the other three were not as shocked as he had expected.

Everyone nodded, calmly waiting for him to continue his explanation.

After waiting for a while, Glasses hesitated before saying, "Aren't you going to persuade me not to go defuse the bomb? That place is very dangerous."

He recalled a phone call from home a while ago, asking him which department he wanted to work for after graduation. Full of youthful arrogance, he applied without hesitation for his dream job: bomb disposal.

At the time, his family wasn't quite clear about the nature of the job on the phone. They probably asked someone they knew to find out, and the next day, a barrage of calls came crashing down on Glasses.

Seeing that Glasses was stubbornly refusing to give up, his family gave up on trying to persuade him. However, they didn't take the young man seriously; their phone call was just to inform him. As for what position Glasses would take after returning, they had already made preparations.

In the end, Glasses could only suppress all the doubts in the family by contacting his grandfather, who loved him the most.

However, his grandfather, who had retired from the military, still personally went to the provincial capital's public college to talk to him, hoping that he could spend some time as a special police officer and then obey the family's arrangements.

Looking at his grandfather, whose hair was gray, the man with glasses, the only heir of the three families, nodded.

"Bomb disposal is dangerous?" Old Liu scoffed, picked up half a shrimp claw from the plate, stuffed it into his mouth, and started eating it with a crunch.

Young Xu Mingliang didn't have as many thoughts as Glasses Brother. He turned to Lao Liu and asked, "Brother Liu, the way you're talking makes it sound like you're going to some super dangerous, super mysterious department? Tell me about it, and let's compare it with Glasses Brother's to see who's more dangerous."

Today was our farewell dinner, so naturally we all drank a bit too much.

Even the usually calm and cautious Lao Liu revealed a secret he had kept hidden for a long time: "Hehe, I want to go to the anti-poisoning camp, but I don't know if I can get in."

"Anti-poisoning? Go and deal with those sickly guys who get injections in their arms and legs?" Glasses, who was already worried, couldn't help but scold his bunkmate again when he saw that he wanted to go to the anti-poisoning department. "That's too shameful! Old Liu, I'm not trying to criticize you, but with your personality and abilities, I think you could definitely make it if you went to the criminal investigation department!"

Xu Mingliang was a little worried: "Brother Liu, everyone says those people have diseases. If we accidentally catch one, we'll be in big trouble."

“Those are minor issues. If the police station wants to take action, I won’t.”

The fact that Lao Liu, who is usually cautious, would think of banning poison left the other three completely baffled. Compared to Glasses' previous bomb disposal attempt, they were really trying their best to persuade him.

Old Liu took a few deep drags on his cigarette, then felt a prick between his fingers and realized it had burned out. He instinctively leaned forward and took another cigarette from the pack, lighting it.

He took another long breath, looked up at the ceiling and murmured, "Three years ago, when we joined the police force, it was the first open day for parents after the freshmen military training. That day, the school had the parents sit on the spectator stands and arranged a police review. Dorm leader, Glasses, and Lao Si, your families all came. Yeah, I saw it from the side."

"You were over there?" Xu Mingliang asked, a little puzzled, then frowned as he recalled the events of three years ago.

Old Liu waved his hand: "Don't bother thinking about it. You were all busy chatting with your families at the time, and you didn't even see me."

The dormitory head vaguely sensed that what Lao Liu was about to say might not be appropriate. He reached out and placed his hand on Lao Liu's forearm, and said softly, "Lao Liu, we're all brothers. If you want to vent your anger, just say so; if you feel uncomfortable, we'll stop here and continue drinking."

Old Liu suddenly realized, his eyes somewhat glazed over, but he continued, "My dad died on a mission that day. Yeah, he was a policeman too, in the anti-poisoning squad."

Everyone immediately fell silent.

A moment later, Glasses was the first to pick up his drink, shouting, "Let me tell you, this 'ban on poison' sounds impressive! I love it! I'll drink it first!"

Xu Mingliang also realized what was happening and joined in the teasing: "Glasses Bro, your bomb disposal skills involve defusing bombs! But it's pretty cool! I'll do it too!"

The dorm leader slammed his hand on the table, feigning anger, and said, "You guys think you're so great! I'm just a traffic cop standing on the road eating dust, the most useless one here!"

"Pick up some food."

"This lobster is really good! Glasses Bro, you've gone to a lot of trouble."

"Haha, fourth brother, eat more. You're the thinnest and smallest of us brothers."

"Drink, drink!"

The dorm leader kicked the empty liquor box, sending it crashing to the side: "We've finished all the liquor, what's the point of drinking anymore? Let's take a picture!"

"Take a picture! Let's take a picture! To remember this moment!"

Xu Mingliang was overjoyed and was the first to jump out in agreement. As the youngest in the entire dormitory, he also took the initiative to run around calling the hotel staff and find four chairs to neatly arrange on one side of the empty private room.

The four sat down in order of their dormitory bed numbers, from left to right, and all four were smiling broadly in the shot.

“1! 2! 3! 4!”

"eggplant!"

On January 10th, eighteen years later, in the evening, in a private room at the Sijiqing Hotel.

A dozen or so classmates, all graduates of the police academy, were sitting together, drinking and boasting.

Zhang Wei, who had been working as a traffic policeman since graduation, raised his glass and clinked it with Chen Shu's: "It's Police Day today, and surprisingly, no one is working overtime. Amazing!"

Chen Shu tilted his head back and finished his drink, wiped his mouth, and joked, "It's Police Day, you're making the judicial police very sad. By the way, how have you been lately? Busy with work?"

"We're just like that, standing on the street every day, what's there to be busy about? Apart from getting some dust in our mouths, we get off work on time, it's much more comfortable than yours."

Chen Shu shook his head: "You guys have it tough too, standing on the road without any safety measures, it's quite dangerous."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wei, who had been smiling, suddenly fell silent and whispered, "Sun Li from the undergraduate brigade is dead."

"Sun Li? Is that the guy who went to the highway patrol? How did he die?"

“Sigh! When we were responding to a traffic accident in the middle of the night, there was a female driver standing on the road who refused to get out. When he was trying to shoo her away, he was hit and killed by a large truck coming from behind. Sigh, I heard she died on the spot, and didn’t suffer much.” Zhang Wei’s eyes reddened as he spoke.

Chen Shu filled their glasses again and said with a single word: "Drink."

Afterwards, Chen Chuan, who had just finished using the restroom outside, returned to the private room and plopped down next to Chen Shu. He turned his head and said, "Shu, when I came back from the restroom, I saw Brother Xu go into a private room not far away. He must be here to celebrate with some people. Why don't we go over and offer him a toast?"

"Which Brother Xu?"

"Xu Mingliang!"

Chen Shu, who had already drunk quite a bit, had a flushed face, but when he heard that it was a colleague from his own team, he still laughed: "Xu Ge deserves a lot of credit for our team winning first place this time. Since he's here, we definitely have to go over there and toast him to help him pass the test, so as to give him face in front of his colleagues or classmates."

Chen Shu's words triggered his memories, and Chen Chuan asked in confusion, "You know what, before this competition, we had closed training in the team, and I think Brother Xu was probably the one who trained the hardest. He's the oldest among us. Hey? Shu, why did Brother Xu leave such a high platform in the branch and go to Zhengming to lie low? Why is that?"

The Special Police Detachment is under the municipal bureau's organizational structure, while the Zhengming Special Police is under the branch bureau's organizational structure. One is a prefecture-level city, and the other is a county-level city. Whether it's the ease of promotion or the potential for advancement, the municipal bureau is superior to the branch bureau.

Generally speaking, some young cadres in the municipal bureau do go to the branch bureaus for a few years to gain experience, such as becoming the director of a certain station. However, they will eventually return to the municipal bureau with the golden key of grassroots experience.

"There's probably a story behind it."

After saying that, Chen Shu took his empty glass with his left hand, stood up and greeted his classmates. As he left, he casually picked up an open bottle of red wine from the small table by the door and handed it to Chen Chuan.

"Chen Chuan, I'll walk around clockwise for a bit, and you can close the door counter-clockwise. We have to save face for Brother Xu." Chen Shu chatted casually with Chen Chuan as they walked.

"Don't worry, when have I ever lost a drinking contest? Who knows, I might just go for another round!"

"One round is enough. We still need to drink with Zhang Wei and the others later. Let's save some for later. That's enough for us."

The two of them pushed open the door and entered the private room where Xu Mingliang was.

"Brother Xu! Let's offer a toast!"

Chen Chuan greeted them loudly, but he froze as soon as he stepped into the private room.

Xu Mingliang was the only person in the private room, and he was sitting with his back to the door.

The table in the private room was small, with only four sets of bowls and chopsticks, but the dishes were extremely plentiful, including lobster, crab, and abalone rice.

There was also plenty of wine. Next to each set of bowls and chopsticks was a bottle of Shaoxing rice wine. Except for the bottle in front of Xu Mingliang, which had been emptied, the other three bottles had only been opened and a cup poured.

At first glance, it looked similar to Chen Shu and his friends' usual get-togethers, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that the dishes and drinks were all set out exactly as they had been.

Hearing the noise, Xu Mingliang turned around and asked in surprise, "Why are you here?"

Chen Shu subtly nudged Chen Chuan with his knee, then smiled and walked into the private room, naturally pulling over the chair next to Xu Mingliang and sitting down.

"Brother Xu, we're eating here too. We saw you go into this private room earlier, so we thought we'd come over and offer you a toast. Hey, haven't your friends arrived yet?"

"Ah, oh, right, they can't come because of something. Hmm, they can't make it." Xu Mingliang subconsciously picked up the cup in front of him to take a sip, only to find that it was empty.

Chen Chuan realized what was happening, followed Chen Shu to sit down on the other side of Xu Mingliang, and poured Xu Mingliang a full glass of red wine.

He tried to ease the tension in the private room: "Brother Xu, you ordered so much food, can you finish it all by yourself?"

These words suddenly brought tears to Xu Mingliang's eyes.

Chen Shu and Chen Chuan knew something was wrong and fell silent at the same time.

After a long while, Xu Mingliang gave a bitter smile, turned to Chen Shu and said, "Captain Chen, it's a holiday for me today, can you take a picture for me?"

"Row."

Xu Mingliang got up and took four chairs, arranging them neatly in an empty space in the private room. He then chose the seat at the very edge and sat down calmly.

Sit up straight.

"1, 2, 3, 4".

"eggplant."

Q: Are you afraid of dying?
A: Yes, I'm afraid.

Q: You're a policeman, are you afraid of dying?

A: I'm afraid of dying.

Q: So where is your honor?

A: What you fear is what I bear; what you see is what I hope for; your ordinary and peaceful days are my highest honor.

"But I'm still afraid of death. I'm not only afraid of my own death, but also of my brothers and friends."
colleague,"

“They died suddenly, one by one,”

"And that's what the police are."

(End of this chapter)