Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 753 Business is not as important as life.

Just as the couple was about to leave the hotel, Chen Shu, dressed in plain clothes, disregarded his status as an out-of-town police officer who should have avoided suspicion and rushed out to stop them, wanting to inquire about the girl's social connections.

"Are you a police officer?" Hearing Chen Shu's out-of-town accent, the man looked him up and down for a moment, then asked suspiciously, "Why aren't you wearing a police uniform? Where's your identification?"

"We criminal investigators wear plainclothes," Chen Shu said casually, then quickly pulled out his police ID and flashed it in front of the two men.

In China, police ID cards are identical in format across all police branches and provinces. The official name is "People's Police ID Card." The front features a short-length photo of the holder in uniform without a hat, while the back lists the holder's information, such as name, gender, blood type, position, and rank, among other details.

The police ID cards of the northernmost and southernmost police officers in China are basically the same, except for a small difference in the job title section. You can't tell the difference without taking a few minutes to look at them carefully.

Another interesting point is that the police officers of the Public Security Bureau, the State Security Bureau, the courts and hospitals, and the prison police are all from completely different systems, but their police ID cards are similar. The only difference is in the designation of their unit. The black cover of the police ID card is similar to a wallet for holding money, with a metal police badge pinned inside. The markings below the badge will vary depending on the unit.

Public security officers are public security officers, national security officers are national security officers, court bailiffs are court officers, procuratorate bailiffs are procurators, and prisons are judicial organs.

Ordinary people may not have the opportunity to speak with the police for several years, so they have virtually no ability to distinguish between genuine and fake identification documents, let alone differentiate between different police departments or even the subtle differences between police forces in different provinces.

It is worth mentioning that, due to the influence of TV dramas and movies over the years, the general public has become accustomed to the assumption that the police should simply flash their badges in front of them, believing this to be the standard demonstration.

Therefore, unless you hold the police ID up close and examine it closely, most people won't be able to notice the difference.

"Oh, you're a detective? I understand, I understand." The woman standing to the side, relying on her imagination from the police dramas she watched, convinced herself of her situation and then politely asked, "Officer, is there anything else I can help you with?"

Holy crap, there are your two daughters' corpses lying upstairs, didn't you even think about going up to take a look?

And you're asking me what's wrong? Are you two out of your minds?
Suppressing his surprise, Chen Shu followed standard procedure and asked the deceased couple to go to the Criminal Investigation Brigade for questioning, or to find a quiet place nearby to cooperate with the police in making a statement.

The man glanced at his wife beside him, and seeing that she didn't say anything, he shrugged and said, "Since you police are here, I'll leave this to you. Just call me if you have any problems. We've run into some urgent business here, so we have to go."

Chen Shu asked in surprise, "What could be more important than this? Can't we postpone it?"

The man was even more surprised: "Aren't you criminal investigators? Such a serious matter as my daughter's death should be investigated, right? It'll probably take quite a while. By the way, once you've finished your investigation, could you help send her to the funeral home?"

One minute they're talking about trivial matters, the next it's urgent, and now this huge problem has arisen. Chen Shu couldn't understand their logic at all, but he could sense the couple's indifference towards their children.

It even carried a hint of disdain.

Having said all that, Chen Shu felt he couldn't hold back any longer and asked as tactfully as possible, "You...won't you go upstairs to take a look?"

The man looked troubled and was about to refuse when his wife glared at him and muttered something, so he shrank back and pursed his lips without saying a word.

The woman muttered two very short words, but Chen Shu heard them clearly: bad luck.

A surge of anger welled up within him. Chen Shu could no longer suppress his rage. He reached out and grabbed the man's forearm, shouting, "I need to verify your identities and those of the deceased. Come with me!"

Before the man could speak, his wife interrupted, her voice no weaker than the police officer's, her finger practically poking Chen Shu's nose: "You don't even have a police uniform! I'd suspect you're a fake cop! Let me tell you, we've already checked with the officers at the police station. Go ask them if you don't believe me! What's with blocking us?" Seeing the situation escalating into an argument, the veteran auxiliary police officer who had brought the couple to the local station ran over and confirmed the couple's identities to Chen Shu. The man was indeed the deceased's biological father, and the woman was his stepmother.

"Humph!"

As she left, the woman held her head high.

The deceased's father, without even glancing at his dead daughter, was pulled away by his current wife. His phone contained 30,000 yuan that the hotel manager had just transferred to him, and he hurriedly left.

Chen Shu suddenly felt a bit disinterested. Even the parents didn't care about the deceased's death, so why should he, a policeman who was visiting from out of town, get involved?
With millions of people dying unnaturally each year across the country, is it his place to scrutinize each and every one of them?

For a fleeting moment, Chen Shu suddenly thought of Zhang Yang, the reporter who traveled all over the country for the victims. What was she doing all this for, and what was she after?

Isn't his unjustified, purely altruistic intervention in a murder case essentially the same as Zhang Yang's?

They should be different.

Zhang Yang's actions were more purely altruistic, while his were more motivated by a desire to help his friends, which could be considered somewhat selfish.

"Thirty thousand yuan is gone just like that, aren't you angry?" Chen Shu noticed the approaching general manager standing with him on the steps, looking at the parents who were happily leaving after receiving the money.

"Don't be angry." The general manager's usually smiling expression suddenly turned serious.

"."

"Officer, you can tell why the girl committed suicide just by looking at this family. They don't seem to care about their daughter at all. All they do is come in and talk about money, money, money. After giving them the money, they immediately stopped crying and left satisfied." The general manager stretched out his right hand and angrily pointed in the direction the couple had left.

"Didn't you say you weren't angry? That doesn't sound like it." Chen Shu took out a yellow cigarette from his pocket, handed one to the gray-haired old man, and lit it.

"Don't be angry. Well, she's a good girl. She even helped this old man press the floor button in the elevator yesterday. This 30,000 is a small parting gift for her. By the way, officer, if you need anything for your investigation, just let me know at the store. I've already made arrangements with the staff. I'll keep the girl's room and the two rooms next to it safe for you."

"Three rooms? That'll cost a lot of money."

"It's alright, we don't need that little bit of money."

"Aren't you afraid it will affect your business?"

"Business is nothing compared to life."

After saying that, the general manager turned around and silently returned to his office.

(End of this chapter)