Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 534 Little things
Xiao Wu's case is crystal clear, and he has confessed to the theft without hesitation.

Zou Qing finished the transcript in just half an hour and, as if to claim credit, sent it to Chen Shu for review.

“Okay, not bad, very good…” Chen Shu read it through from beginning to end and said in surprise, “Logically speaking, you just graduated from the police academy. Even if you are a top student who gets scholarships every year, you can’t make such a professional record. After all, there is a big difference between the knowledge printed in books and actual work experience.”

Zou Qing, with her nose in the air, snorted, "Senior brother, after following you for so long, I must have learned something, right?"

Chen Shu shook his head: "I'd believe you if you'd spent some time in a police station, but you've been rolling around in the mud with Ma Bowen and the others every day."

Zou Qing wrinkled her small nose: "Senior brother!"

Chen Shu smiled and signed his name in the investigator's column on the record, then handed it back to Zou Qing: "Alright, alright, you're the only one with exceptional talent, aren't you? Take the record to your partner for signature and fingerprinting, and let Ma Bowen handle the subsequent procedures. When you're done, come with me to interrogate Xu Cheng."

For police officers, the complexity of handling cases, which mainly involve paperwork, often far outweighs the complexity of solving the cases themselves.

Even in the case of theft, which is simple and clear, and where the suspect confesses, there are still countless paperwork and procedures to be done during the investigation phase.

Sometimes, the review of legal matters really reaches the point where even a single word has to be carefully considered.

"okay!"

Zou Qing cheered and skipped away from the office, her ponytail swaying.

After leaving the house, she cautiously glanced at the closed door, took out her phone from her pocket, and happily sent a WeChat message to her classmate who worked at the police station.

Room inquiry.

Chen Shu threw the printed WeChat chat history and the box containing dead cockroaches in front of Xu Cheng, and Xu Cheng confessed everything.

Without even needing to use any pre-prepared threats or inducements, Xu Cheng completely convinced himself.

His face was covered in snot and tears, and anyone who didn't know him would think he had committed some terrible crime.

In just a few words, he explained everything clearly.

The man who was watching the incident was the person he had saved as his "cousin" on WeChat. It was his cousin who instructed him to use flying insects and cockroaches to maliciously damage the owner's reputation, making it impossible for her fried noodle stall to do business on the street.

My cousin's idea was also very straightforward. There were only two stalls on the street selling fried noodles and beef soup. As long as the owner's wife was forced to leave, he would be the only one left, and his business would never be bad.

Xu Cheng slapped himself repeatedly, left and right, saying, "Officer, I'm a terrible person! It's all my fault! I deserve to die! How could I have let my cousin bewitch me and do such a heinous thing! Ugh, I shouldn't have gone to that dinner he treated me to!"

Since Xu Cheng did not demand compensation from the landlady, his actions did not constitute extortion under the Criminal Law, and could only be handled according to the Public Security Administration Punishment Law.

These are all men, but this is really unethical of them to do this.

The proprietress is a woman who works hard at her stall at night. Her husband is seriously ill, and her children are crying for living expenses and school fees. She is already struggling, and life is really tough for her.

In fact, this is reality.

Thanks to Xu Cheng's confession, the record-keeping went smoothly, and the evidence was well secured.

When signing and affixing her fingerprint, Zou Qing inadvertently asked how many days she would be detained in this situation.

This sudden remark startled Xu Cheng, causing him to tremble all over. His face turned deathly pale, and he stared at Chen Shu, who was sitting on the interrogation table, with a pair of aggrieved little eyes.

"For this little thing, you're going to detain me?"

Chen Shu smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. You can be detained or fined. It depends on your behavior."

Xu Cheng shifted his position, wiped his dry eyes, and said with a mournful expression, "Boss, didn't you say that confessing would be treated leniently?"

"So it depends on your performance."

In the afternoon, under Xu Cheng's guidance, Chen Shu and others arrested his cousin, who was still sleeping, in a dilapidated building in an old urban village.

They were taken back to the brigade in two separate vehicles. Zou Qing followed suit and threw the identification record of Xu Cheng pointing out his cousin onto the small table on the tiger bench.

Imagining her senior brother's demeanor in her mind, Zou Qing tried her best to keep a straight face: "Look, isn't this photo of you?"

My cousin glanced at the statement, then lowered his head and remained silent.

Zou Qing then showed her a printed copy of a WeChat chat history: "Take a look, is this the person you're chatting with?"

My cousin glanced at it quickly, then lowered his head again.

Zou Qing suddenly raised her foot and kicked the leg of the tiger bench her cousin was sitting on, and said fiercely, "With this evidence, even if you don't talk, we'll still send you to the cage!"

"Cough cough!"

The first time Zou Qing tried to yell and curse in a gruff voice, her lack of experience caused her to choke, and she coughed incessantly while holding onto the table. But it actually worked!

My cousin shuddered, clearly startled, but then buried his head even deeper.

Zou Qing scoffed, "You call yourself a man? You dare to do it but not admit it. I'll send a letter to your family tomorrow to inform them of this, and see how your wife and children will survive back home."

After saying that, he didn't even look at his cousin, turned around and left the interrogation room.

As Zou Qing passed by her senior brother sitting on the interrogation table by the door, she rubbed her index and middle fingers together a few times.

Chen Shu was stunned by Zou Qing's previous actions, especially her statement "He's still a man," the emphasis on the last "ne" truly revealing a woman's contempt for men.

Chen Shu stepped down from the interrogation table, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and threw one on the small table: "Xiao Xu, why bother?"

My cousin broke down immediately. He raised his handcuffed hands, picked up the cigarette shakily, and said in a choked voice, "Officer, I was wrong. I accept the punishment."

Outside in the corridor, Zou Qing had her ears pressed against the door. Upon hearing her cousin confess, she couldn't contain her joy and jumped up.

"Yes!"

Giving herself a mental thumbs-up, Zou Qing quietly took out her phone and called her old classmate who worked at the Criminal Investigation University. While the call was going on, she left the corridor and headed towards the stairwell.

Evening, on Park Road.

Today, the team was led by Deputy Instructor Xie Chi, and the special police duty group was still carrying out armed patrols on the bustling street market.

During a break, Zhang Qing, the deputy squadron leader of the first squadron, offered Xie Chi a cigarette and suggested, "Instructor Xie, how about we grab some late-night snacks at a food stall later?"

Xie Chi, who was about to retire, cautiously returned the cigarette offered to him: "When we're on patrol, we're on duty. If we eat at some stall and someone takes a picture and posts it online, we'll be in big trouble."

Zhang Qing couldn't help but cough, and quickly swallowed back the words, "The fried noodle stall that Chen Da led the team to last night was especially delicious."

"Thank you, what's wrong with having a late-night snack? It's not like it costs them any money, and it's just getting in their way," Zou Qing muttered from the side, clearly dissatisfied with Xie Chi's caution.

Xie Chi knew perfectly well that the girl was making a veiled attack, but since he was several decades older than her, he couldn't stoop to her level.

"Zou Qing, didn't you finish your shift yesterday? Why are you still patrolling with us tonight?"

Zou Qing crossed her arms angrily and said, "I want to!"

Then, as if remembering something, he quickly took off his police uniform and equipment, shoved them into Zhang Qing's hands, patted his behind, and left.

"Thanks for the instruction. I'm off today. I hope no one will mind if I go out for a late-night snack."

Everyone was stunned as they watched Zou Qing skip away.

Zou Qing found the fried noodle stall run by the proprietress she had mentioned during the day's investigation. The business was booming, and the stall was packed with people.

Zou Qing approached the noodle shop owner who was frying noodles, stared at her for a long time, and muttered, "Not that great," "She's quite old," and so on.

The proprietress glanced at Zou Qing standing to the side, then put down her spatula, packed up the freshly cooked bowls of noodles and beef soup she had prepared, and handed them over.

Zou Qing was taken aback: "Boss lady, I didn't say I wanted to eat late-night snacks?"

The proprietress wiped the sweat from her forehead and said with a smile, "Officers, this is for you."

Officer Zou Qing looked down and saw that the T-shirt she was wearing had a circular SWAT insignia printed on the chest.

"Boss lady, if you give it to every policeman you see, you'll have worked for nothing all night, and you might even lose money."

The proprietress craned her neck to peek behind Zou Qing a few times, and laughed, "Were those special police officers who came yesterday your colleagues? Will the leader leading the team come again today?"

"Oh, he's off today."

The proprietress pursed her lips and thought for a while before saying, "When I first set up my stall, Xiao Xu came over to apologize to me and even left me several hundred yuan. What's interesting is that the foreman also brought some people to eat noodles here, saying that if he ever found a rat in his noodles, he would swallow it."

"Hehe, that's a really hard question—whether to be happy or upset. Hmm, I'm guessing it must have been your boss who helped you, so..."

Zou Qing immediately recognized it as the case she had handled that morning. She wondered what her senior colleague and those two scumbags had talked about afterward, but in the end, they only paid a 500 yuan fine and let them go.

At that time, she was so angry that she gritted her teeth.

However, it seems that the result is not bad. At least the proprietress's business should be able to stabilize from now on.

Zou Qing waved her hand, mimicking her senior's gesture, and said with a grin, "It's nothing! This is what we police officers should do!"

(End of this chapter)