Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 659 The Lost Dream

The afternoon sun in Dongzhou was slightly warm, and the lush green special police compound was filled with the rustling of leaves, making it a leisurely day.

Inside the gatehouse at the entrance of the compound, there was a small loft, which served as a separate office for Comrade Chen Chuan, who was assigned by the Municipal Bureau, by Captain Li Da.

After all, this guy never clocks in at work and plays on his phone without restraint while sitting in the office. Afraid of affecting the new colleagues, they set up a "Shangri-La" for him.

The most interesting thing about this office is that there is a small open space next to it, where a few shelves were originally placed for people to temporarily put their packages.

In order to provide Chen Chuan with a place to park, Li Da waved his hand and cleared away all the shelves in the small space, leaving just enough room for Chen Chuan to park.

When people arrive at work, they can simply slide their gleaming Panamera into the car, open and close the door, and walk right up to their second-floor office. After get off work, they can just walk a few steps downstairs and drive home – it's incredibly simple and convenient.

Through Li Da's painstaking efforts, Chen Chuan, the so-called cadre dispatched by the Municipal Bureau, was effectively isolated from the other members of the team, so as to prevent others from catching the carefree and irresponsible habits of the sons of the Municipal Bureau officials.

Of course, Chen Chuan was happy to be free. However, since that group of border guards transferred over, the attic had gained another good buddy, Zhu Yiba.

Before even reaching the top of the stairs, they heard Chen Chuan's heavy sigh: "Sigh, we're all just trying to live."

Upon going upstairs, Chen Shu saw Chen Chuan scrolling through Douyin (TikTok). He laughed and scolded, "It's true that Zhu Yiba and I are trying to survive, but you, a rich kid, are trying to survive? Trying to pick up girls, huh?"

Without further ado, Chen Shu grabbed the video from Chen Chuan's hand and scrolled to the front to watch it again.

The text at the beginning of the short video is quite eye-catching.

"This is outrageous: setting up a street stall resulted in a 10,000 yuan fine from the police!"

Chen Shu found it quite strange. Shouldn't street vending be the responsibility of the urban management officers? Why was it the police who were issuing fines? And these fines could amount to tens of thousands of yuan.

As I watched, I realized that this happened in the United States, except that the street vendor was Chinese or of Chinese descent, and the police officer in charge of the law enforcement happened to be of Asian appearance, and both of them were speaking Mandarin.

If he weren't a fellow professional and could immediately recognize that the people in the video were wearing American police uniforms, he would have resorted to keyboard warrior tactics based on the title.

One more thing to add: the police uniforms in the United States are the exact opposite of those in China.

In China, whether they are security guards or urban management officers, they all like to make their uniforms resemble police uniforms as closely as possible. If it weren't for the laws and regulations, these people might as well just put on police uniforms directly.

In the United States, it's quite the opposite. Not to mention different professions, even within a single state, the uniforms of state police, city police, and town police may not be the same.

Police badges vary from state to state; they might be deemed too traditional this year and changed tomorrow, so it's not a stable system.

The root of the difference between the two countries lies in the fact that the police system in the United States was established from the bottom up, while that in China was created from the top down.

Chen Chuan had already watched part of the video, so he didn't watch it again. He sat on the side, still angry, slapping his thigh and lamenting the hardships of people at the bottom of society.

After reading it, Chen Shu tossed the phone to Chen Chuan: "You're just spouting nonsense. Setting up stalls on the sidewalk is not allowed in any country. These street vendors like to flock to crowded places. If we don't control them, not only will cars be blocked, but people won't be able to move either."

Chen Chuan chuckled: "In the beautiful country that champions freedom, I believe it would be permitted!"

Chen Shu suspected he had misheard, so he took back the phone that had been tossed in front of Chen Chuan, looked at it again, and then, smiling, turned the phone upside down and shoved the screen into Chen Chuan's hand.

"Look closely, the video shows the United States!"

Chen Chuan picked up his phone again, looked at it silently for a while, and then quietly locked the screen.

After thinking for a moment, she said calmly, "Sorry, I misread it. What I meant was that you should abide by the local laws no matter where you are. Look at that understanding street vendor, she didn't make a fuss when the police dealt with her, she obediently accepted her punishment, and that attitude is very commendable."

Chen Shu laughed and scolded, "It's a real shame you're not a public intellectual, what a double standard! If this happened in China, it would definitely be a trending topic and a long post on the internet."

Chen Chuan waved his hand seriously and said, "I'm not joking, I'm just stating the facts."

"The problem is, the police over there really do shoot!"

Having watched the entire performance by the two officers from the sidelines, our dear border guard comrade Zhu Yiba revealed the secret in a single sentence.

Seeing that it was almost time, Chen Shu said goodbye and prepared to return to his office.

On his way upstairs, he stopped by the general office on the second floor and saw Xu Mingliang, who was about to be transferred to a police station due to his age, with his laptop open and QQ logged in on the desktop. Xu Mingliang, a veteran of over a decade and once the top bomb disposal expert in Dongzhou, was now in charge.

That was in an era without high technology or machinery, relying solely on the courage of bare hands to defuse bombs. Such a dedicated police officer, embodying both courage and skill, ultimately ended up as a community police officer in a remote suburban police station.

Although this is a form of care from the organization and can be considered a good job for retirement, it still gives people the illusion of a hero in his twilight years.

Chen Shu thought for a moment, then knocked on the door and entered the office, intending to chat with the person while they were still at work.

"Brother Xu, what are you doing?"

Xu Mingliang didn't turn around, his eyes fixed on the computer desktop in front of him. He clicked his tongue and sighed, "I'm getting old. I wanted to find some photos I took when I was in the special police unit and put on my QQ space, but I've lost the password and can't remember it right away."

"QQ password?" Chen Shu frowned and thought for a while, then smiled wryly, "I think I've forgotten what my password is. Right, there's a password retrieval service, it should be quite convenient, right?"

Xu Mingliang looked up, past the top of the laptop screen, at the young man sitting opposite him who had just joined the SWAT team, and suddenly asked:
"Fatty Ding, what is your dream?"

Fatty Ding, who was eating a biscuit, paused for a moment and replied, "To be a policeman?"

The tone rises.

He himself was clearly not very confident about this issue.

Chen Shu bent down and read the text on the computer screen word by word: "Appeal, Question: What is your dream?"

Startled, he turned to ask, "Brother Xu, this is your QQ password hint. Did you ask the wrong person, Xiao Ding?"

Xu Mingliang touched his nose and chuckled briefly: "It's been more than ten years, I've long forgotten what I filled in back then. I tried a few but none of them were right, so I thought I'd try Fatty Ding."

Fatty Ding realized that his earlier lack of confidence in his answer was somewhat embarrassing, so he joined the two of them and asked curiously, "Brother Xu, what did you try earlier?"

Xu Mingliang's gaze was calm, without any deliberate affectation. After all, given his experience of lying down in the brigade at his age, there was really no need for him to be as serious as he was when he was younger.

He said calmly, "Money, beautiful women, houses, traveling the world—the answers are all wrong. Come on, Fatty Ding, you come here and try. Let me see what the dreams of you young people are."

Fatty Ding scratched his head, feeling embarrassed to refuse his older brother, and reluctantly moved over. After fiddling around for a long time, he finally managed to type a single word.

"An English teacher? With your burly, bear-like appearance, you want to be a teacher? You'd be more like a PE teacher. Hey, being handsome probably has nothing to do with you. Are you trying to make up for something you lack?" Xu Mingliang curled his lips and casually teased.

Chen Shu suddenly understood the loneliness in Xu Mingliang's eyes: What he lost wasn't a password, but his original dream.

He said sincerely, "Brother Xu, I think if you find the answer to this question, it might be more valuable than your QQ number."

Xu Mingliang's eyes were calm as he silently pulled a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

At that moment, the walkie-talkie hanging on Chen Shu's shoulder suddenly rang.

The brigade leader's walkie-talkie usually doesn't ring; everyone is used to communicating by phone. But when it does ring, it must mean something serious has happened.

"Emergency deployment!"

"Xiao Ding, take a headcount of the number of people and equipment. Xu Mingliang, you take your men to the armory to collect the guns immediately."

"Everyone, get moving!"

The clattering sound lasted for a short while, then the entire floor, and even the entire building, fell silent.

The sudden "whoosh whoosh" of police sirens outside the window grew fainter and fainter, fading into the distance.

A few rays of sunlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the still-lit laptop screen.

At this moment, only one word was left in the password appeal response box:

"Britain".

(End of this chapter)