“Yo, so awesome. How much is the destroyed drugs worth?”
“Mouse, can you talk less? Are you not afraid of being seen as a joke?”
“Hey, hey, I just said something casually. You don’t even know it.”
“Go, go…”
“Look, look… that’s the anti drug police. My cousin is part of it. Their equipment configuration gradually advanced by each generation, especially the communication equipment, which is the most advanced in the world. We are playing with pinhole cameras now, but they hadn’t used it since years ago.”
“That drug dealer is not good. He looks like Doubao and with just a glance, you can see he’s not a nice person.”
“Who is talking about me? Traitor (hanjian), Lao Er (second child/ euphemism for penis), don’t think I can’t hear you.”
Amidst the whispering of students arguing with each other, Doubao yelled. The crowd laughed and no one cared about him. The drug trafficker being interrogated on the screen had a round face. When his facial features were pinched together, it’s really similar to Doubao. Someone whispered to compare him to Doubao, which caused more laughter.
In a cubicle, Section Chief Shi, Director Jiang, and Xu Ping Qiu, who arrived at the door, were listening. They looked through the cracks in the door from time to time. There were three representative criminal cases. A case of cross-border drug trafficking, a serial homicide, and a firearms case which was originally intended to shock them. Unexpectedly, from the discussions among the students, the things they heard made them grit their teeth. Seeing the destruction of drugs, some people feel distressed about how much it’s worth. Seeing the cooperation of multiple police departments, some people feel envy at their advanced equipment. Seeing the mastermind of the serial murder case, many people though this suspect was a bit stupid.
Stupid? He must be, but that was after they already knew the answer. Before that, that case put everyone in a certain city at risk.
“Chief Xu, the students nowadays have a bit less self-discipline and a stronger personality, unlike our innocence back then.” Director Jiang XiaoYuan heard the students discussing, and came up with this sentence, fearing that these two people, who came here to recruit, would be disappointed. After all, they were from the provincial government.
“Very good. If they have no personality, I’m afraid they won’t have any promise.” Xu Ping Qiu didn’t think too much. At this moment, Yu Zui’s face was still lingering in front of his eyes. He asked casually: “This year’s graduating class is here, but one of them didn’t come. He seemed to be called Yu Zui. Director Jiang, what’s your impression of this student?”
“Yes, he’s pretty good, just a little timid and not willing to engage in the profession of criminal police.” Jiang Xiaoyuan said.
Xu Ping Qiu was stunned by the completely different evaluation, more so at such a big difference. It seems that there’s a big discrepancy in the data records, so he calmly said: “Timid? What about other aspects?”
“Well, his other performances are fairly good. The guard duty and dormitory inspections are all taken care of by the students. He’s been doing it for three consecutive years. This is volunteer work since no one wants to do it except for the extra credits. He also takes the lead in participating in public welfare activities every semester. Although he’s not in the student council, he does more tasks than the student council… en, in his major, he’s in the middle ranks. He’s a good seed.” Director Jiang said, his words of praise as if praising a flower. Section Chief Shi didn’t think anything of it since he didn’t understand, but Xu Ping Qiu felt it was strange, and straightforwardly said: “Is he? Aren’t you just exaggerating? Nowadays, there’s no such person who’d work voluntarily everyday.”
“It’s the truth, and there’s a record… by the way, he was especially recruited because of his excellent physical fitness. He’s even a guard on the school basketball team and had won a silver medal in the five kilometers marathon during the Provincial Games.” Director Jiang said. Evidently, his evaluation of Yu Zui was not low.
At this time, Xu Ping Qiu remembered the evaluation of those students in the classroom. There’s too much difference, but he knew what to believe. He’s afraid that the teacher would be one-sided if he understood the students’ side, so he didn’t reveal anything, but asked in a strange tone: “If he was so good, why didn’t he participate in the selection?”
“Well, you have to ask him yourself. Didn’t many people not participate? Why, is Chief Xu interested in him?” Director Jiang asked with a smile. Xu Ping Qiu also smiled noncommittally.
While waiting, due to many years of professional habits, Xu Ping Qiu compared the students’ personal data and recalled the graduating class he saw at this school. Some were very dazzling, like Jie Bing, An Jialu, Yin Bo, Li Zhenghong, and others. Regardless of their personal traits or family background, just one was enough to attract attention. In comparison, the other group was unremarkable, like Yi Min, Yan Debiao, and Dou Xiaobo. Unlike the other students, their resume was so pale that he wondered where they’d go after graduating. Of course, there’s one he couldn’t see through, like Yu Zui. In the eyes of teachers and students, he’s completely different.
There were hundreds of people and hundreds of faces even among these unfettered rookies. He had to investigate them one by one, which was not easy.
The whole observation took three hours with a 15 minute rest in between. Some were already yawning when it was over. The concluding remarks were done by Section Chief Shi. They’re still under observation, so he didn’t require anything. The intention was to learn more about the personal characteristics and psychological tendencies of these students from some details, so he just assigned interesting homework for everyone. They can write as they like without putting their real names, but it must be a substitute name they thought of. Anyway, it’s like posting on the Internet. They didn’t have to worry about anything. If some really have insights, they’d have the opportunity to be invited by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Provincial Government. It didn’t matter if they had none since it wouldn’t be recorded.
This arrangement aroused the students’ interest. At least there’s no need to bite the bullet and compose a format that said our iron police are very brave and criminals are stupid. The students got up and left the media room one after another. Many greeted Xu Ping Qiu. The last to go out was Mouse and Doubao. These two smiled at Chief Xu and Director Jiang, then speedily ran away, as if they didn’t want to see them. As soon as he saw these two goods, Director Jiang became angry and whispered that there’s something wrong with their quality. They never participated in public welfare activities, and didn’t pull down their private activities. They especially like gambling, because this matter has received verbal warning. If they hadn’t readily admitted their mistakes, he would have put it in their files.
As the speaker unintentionally spoke, the listener intentionally listened. Xu Ping Qiu just smiled and took a second look at those two. He really didn’t realize that those two have this ability. Though those two had troublesome personalities, he became more interested.
…………
…………
In winter, the days are shorter and it gets dark earlier. It’s already dark before six o’clock after dinner. Back at the guest house, Section Chief Shi brought back the video of the classroom and the audiovisual room. Xu Ping Qiu unexpectedly didn’t look at their information again. He looked at their faces, seemingly instinctively looking for the person he’s looking for. When Section Chief Shi asked him something, he answered absentmindedly. Seeing that Chief Xu was so engaged, Section Chief Shi was embarrassed to interrupt him, so he came out for a walk.
In this male-dominated environment, the decoration also looked strong. The bushes were trimmed into angular squares. The garden in the middle had the national emblem with the words “Establishing Police for the People”. Even in their free time, the students who came out had straight backs and a positive step in their stride. Section Chief Shi looked at this place known as the cradle of police in the province. Their mission this time was the easiest. He strolled leisurely on the campus, looking at the pedestrians passing by, as if recalling the years when he was young with a slight smile on his face.
After dinner, there were people walking out everywhere. Unlike other universities, couples were rarely seen here because of the serious imbalance between men and women.
There were exceptions. Across the building, Jie Bing was on the phone with An Jialu on the other end. After a while, seeing the beauty of his heart coming out of the dormitory, he greeted her with a smile, but An Jialu complained unhappily: “Why did you make me come down? I have to prepare my report and hand it in tomorrow. Are you done?”
“Are you seriously doing it? It’s not easy for you. How about we take a walk and stroll around the campus for a while?” Jie Bing smiled, an attentive smile on his handsome face. Regarding this standard version of the Prince Charming, An Jialu couldn’t refuse. She seemed reluctant as she walked with him, then said: “When did you have this hobby?”
“Today.” Jie Bing smiled.
“There’s always a motive in everything. What’s your motive today?” An Jialu smiled.
The relationship between these two was as Xu Ping Qiu guessed when they’re separated. However, it’s undeniable that in the eyes of outsiders, this pair of girl and boy were a couple. What Jie Bing liked was this kind of beauty with a delicate mind. He smiled mysteriously and said: “I did have one, but I’m not going to tell you. You can guess.”
“What? Do you have inside information about the selection?” An Jialu blurted out, very concerned about this matter.
“No, you guessed wrong.”
“En, then… do you want to surprise me?”
“Yi? You seem to have guessed it.”
“It’s not hard to guess. It’s not only girls whose IQ declines in love, boys decline even more severely.”
“Then are we in love?”
“No, it’s you who love me. Didn’t I tell you I’m not ready to love yet? For the time being, the conditions for love cannot be established.”
An Jialu smiled and said that. Beautiful women don’t mind teasing their suitors, let alone a handsome guy. As they spoke, he intentionally stopped behind a holly bush. In the hazy sky, Jie Bing saw that the collision was successful. He smiled and raised his eyes without speaking.
An Jialu turned her head and strangely saw three tall boys push a boy, who had just come out of the toilet against the wall. The leader slapped the boy in the face. It was too much. Upon closer inspection, the boy seemed vaguely familiar. When she wanted to take a step, her arm was pulled by Jie Bing. On his smug expression was a somewhat disdainful smile.
“Let me guess. Evil will be rewarded with evil, don’t know if you believe me?”
Jie Bing said while holding An Jialu’s arm, just in case An Jialu wanted to save the one being beaten…