Chapter 13: Why is it so difficult?
“Haha… haha.”
The last shred of hope in Jiang Xia’s heart finally died.
She had been wondering why her Reputation Points had been skyrocketing lately, already climbing past eighty. So this was the reason—they’d been advertising her the whole time!
“Really? What a coincidence.”
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Xia calmly picked up a piece of chicken with her chopsticks.
The King of Thieves was the King of Thieves. What did that have to do with Jiang Xia?
“Yeah. They’re terrified that thief might stick around here,” the veteran railway police officer continued. “But if you ask me, a thief with skills like that wouldn’t be interested in a little backwater like ours. He was probably just passing through on the train.”
Exactly! That’s what I think too!
Nodding inwardly, Jiang Xia quickly steered the conversation elsewhere.
“Speaking of which, with so many thieves gathered in one place, was it hard to arrest them?”
“It was pretty dangerous. We never expected there to be that many of them. We almost…”
The old railway officer launched into a thrilling account of the arrest and subsequent interrogations, embellishing the story with no small amount of exaggeration.
Having seen his fair share of such tales, Chief Wu wasn’t particularly interested. Still, he politely played along to save the man’s face. Hu Wei, on the other hand, was completely captivated, so engrossed that he forgot to touch his chopsticks.
Since the topic of the King of Thieves had been dropped, Jiang Xia kept quiet. She chimed in from time to time while speeding through her meal.
She no longer wanted to lead the operation to arrest He Tuzi.
To gain his trust as quickly as possible today, she’d had no choice but to show off a bit, letting He Tuzi see that she was an expert pickpocket with exceptional skill.
Although she’d been disguised, it wasn’t as if she’d changed her face. From a distance, he might not recognize her at a glance, but up close, after a careful look, he’d almost certainly realize they were the same person.
There was a real chance he’d recognize her during the arrest.
For the sake of Chief Wu’s heart, Jiang Xia figured it was better if she stayed out of it.
The problem was that Chief Wu would almost certainly want her to lead the team. After all, she was the only one who had been to He Tuzi’s house. Neither Chief Wu nor the others had ever seen the place, nor did they even know what He Tuzi looked like.
She needed to solve that problem first before coming up with an excuse not to go.
So, after quickly finishing her meal, she returned to the office, grabbed a notebook, and began sketching furiously.
Without any drinking, the meal wrapped up much faster. Even with everyone chatting away, they finished eating in just over forty minutes.
The veteran railway officer knew Chief Wu had work to do that afternoon, so he didn’t stay any longer. After leaving behind a letter of appreciation stamped with his department’s official seal, he packed the four empty plates back into the lunch carrier, waved goodbye, and left.
Chief Wu brewed himself a strong cup of tea.
He had a feeling it was going to be a very busy day.
Carrying his enamel mug back into the office, he immediately noticed several sketches spread across Jiang Xia’s desk.
Aside from a few rough drafts, there were three main drawings.
One was a portrait of a man in his thirties or forties. He had a slightly round face, triangular eyes, and thinning, patchy hair.
Another depicted the entrance to a courtyard. Spring Festival couplets flanked the gate with the character “Fu” (“Good Fortune”) pasted upside down in the center, while the shabby wooden gate had part of its frame broken off.
The last was a map of the surrounding area, with routes and landmarks marked in remarkable detail.
“You really prepared everything.”
Chief Wu picked up the portrait and narrowed his eyes as he studied the face.
“So this is the He Tuzi you mentioned?”
“That’s right.”
Jiang Xia pushed the map toward him, covered her mouth, and let out an enormous yawn. She looked utterly exhausted.
“I got a good look inside the house. There’s a bed, so he definitely lives there. But the stolen goods are hidden outside, probably not far away. When I bought something from him, it only took him seven or eight minutes to go get it and come back. If you search the surrounding area, you should be able to find the stash.”
“That’ll make things even easier.”
Catching a thief with the stolen goods in hand was naturally the ideal scenario. It would leave him with very little room to deny the charges during interrogation.
Chief Wu glanced at Jiang Xia. Seeing the fatigue written all over her face and the faint dark circles under her eyes, he lowered his gaze and thought for a moment.
“You’ve had an exhausting morning. How about you sit this one out this afternoon and get some proper rest here at the station?”
His prized workhorse had just finished plowing the field—of course it deserved the best feed and care afterward. What if he worked her into the ground?
Jiang Xia hesitated.
“Will it really be okay without me leading the way?”
“Don’t worry.”
Chief Wu waved the portrait in his hand, the paper rustling through the air.
“Back in the day, we could track someone down with nothing more than a name. Now we’ve got a portrait and a map. If we still can’t catch him, we’d be a disgrace. Just stay here and wait for the good news.”
“Well… all right then.”
A reluctant expression appeared on Jiang Xia’s face, but inside, she was overjoyed.
Hehe. I knew Chief Wu couldn’t bear to overwork me.
With her disguise already in place, she hadn’t even needed to bring it up herself. Chief Wu had taken the initiative and told her to stay at the station and rest.
Now all she had to do was wait for them to bring the suspects back in custody.
Once it came to official business, Chief Wu moved with his usual decisiveness. Before everyone had even assembled, he had already begun laying out the arrest plan. As soon as the team was complete, they set off without delay.
He fled.
They pursued.
There was no escaping.
The Next Day
At the police station…
The moment Chief Wu had left with the rest of the officers yesterday, none of them returned for the rest of the afternoon. Worried about how things had gone, Jiang Xia deliberately got up early and came to the station first thing the next morning.
As soon as she walked through the front gate, she spotted Hu Wei.
He had just come out of the interrogation room, a notebook in hand. His eyes were bloodshot, streaked with red from staying up all night, yet he looked incredibly energized.
“Brother Hu? When did you guys get back?”
Jiang Xia walked over and asked, “How did it go? Did you catch them?”
“We got every last one of them!”
Hu Wei exclaimed excitedly.
“We caught the second-in-command of the fencing operation and those three thieves. While the iron was still hot, we interrogated them overnight. They confessed to several other cases. You wouldn’t believe it—the biggest job they’d pulled was worth over ten thousand yuan!”
Jiang Xia sucked in a sharp breath.
Just as she’d expected, this gang had committed far more than a single theft.
She simply hadn’t imagined one of their cases would involve such a staggering amount.
Fortunately, they’d been caught.
Recalling the criminal law, Jiang Xia said, “With repeated thefts totaling that much, they’re basically looking at life imprisonment.”
“Yeah,” Hu Wei replied with a grin. “You could say they’ll be eating the state’s rice for the rest of their lives.”
He rubbed his eyes vigorously.
He was exhausted to the point of collapse, yet his nerves were still buzzing with excitement. He couldn’t fall asleep even if he wanted to. But if he didn’t get some rest now, he’d be too wiped out to work over the next couple of days.
“I’d better head home and get some sleep. I’ll come back this afternoon. If anything comes up, could you cover for me?”
As he spoke, Hu Wei handed his notebook to Jiang Xia.
“No problem.”
Jiang Xia took the notebook and walked into the office in an excellent mood.
The office was nearly empty. The only person inside was Hu Wei’s mentor, Shen Huoda, who was stretched out across a row of chairs, fast asleep. His snores were loud enough to shake the room.
It looked like he’d had an exhausting day yesterday as well.
Rather than wake him, Jiang Xia quietly tidied up her desk before opening the notebook to read through the interrogation records.
Excellent.
Although He Tuzi had named several accomplices, he hadn’t mentioned her at all.
That settled it.
Everything had worked out perfectly.
Jiang Xia finally let out a sigh of complete relief.
“You’re here early today.”
Chief Wu walked in through the doorway carrying a paper bag.
“You haven’t eaten yet, have you? I picked up some meat buns from the state-run restaurant. Here, have one.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a steaming hot bun and stuffed it into Jiang Xia’s hand before she even had a chance to refuse.
His apprentice really was a lucky star.
A theft case involving more than ten thousand yuan—even if they’d solved it incidentally, it still counted as a major achievement. Their top contributor deserved a good meal.
Since he’d practically forced it into her hand, Jiang Xia didn’t decline.
She took a bite.
Beneath the thin wrapper was a generous filling of juicy minced meat. Rich broth burst into her mouth, filling it with a savory, mouthwatering flavor that was almost intoxicating.
No wonder it came from the state-run restaurant.
The bun was genuinely delicious.
The only problem was that it was scorching hot.
Slowing down, Jiang Xia looked at the dark circles beneath Chief Wu’s eyes.
“Master, were you up all night yesterday too?”
“No. I turned in after midnight. Old Shen handled the rest of the interrogation.”
Chief Wu looked at Jiang Xia, growing more pleased the longer he looked.
“You’ve only been here a little over a week, haven’t you?”
“That’s right. Today makes exactly my tenth day.”
Jiang Xia nodded.
“What’s up, Master?”
“A rookie who solves two cases in ten days…”
Chief Wu chuckled.
“That’s a first for me.”
“One of them was even a major case. Add in the letter of appreciation Old Qin sent over, and with those achievements alone, you’ll probably receive a district-level commendation this year.”
Real life wasn’t like the novels.
Even a district-level commendation wasn’t something you could get casually. There were only three slots available each year, while more than a thousand people competed for them.
The fact that Chief Wu believed Jiang Xia had a real chance of winning one spoke volumes about how highly he thought of her.
Jiang Xia smiled, and an idea suddenly struck her.
“A district commendation isn’t enough to make you proud, Master. Why don’t you give me a little more support? If I solve a few more cases, maybe I can aim for a city-level commendation instead.”
“Oh?”
Chief Wu raised an eyebrow.
“What kind of support?”
“Let me do some research!”
Jiang Xia said eagerly.
“It’ll really help with solving cases. Take the garment factory burglary, for example. If I hadn’t examined the tool marks on the lock, I never would’ve been able to tell it was the work of a seasoned thief.”
Chief Wu fell silent.
…Why was his apprentice still so obsessed with her “research”?
He seriously suspected that what she really wanted wasn’t research at all, but an excuse to practice picking locks.
“Come to think of it…”
He stroked his chin.
“The thing you used the other day—that magnifying glass. You called it… trace examination?”
“That’s right. The Municipal Public Security Bureau even has officers who specialize in it.”
Seeing that Chief Wu seemed to be wavering, Jiang Xia hurriedly pressed her advantage.
“Just let me study more cases in the future. It’ll help me improve my ability to identify evidence.”
“Ohhh…”
Chief Wu deliberately drew out the sound.
Then he answered with unwavering conviction.
“No.”
The sudden reversal caught Jiang Xia completely off guard.
“Why not?!”
Mimicking Jiang Xia’s habitual gesture, Chief Wu spread his hands.
“Don’t think I don’t know that research costs money. Who knows how many locks you’d have to pry open doing all this? Our station is already poor enough as it is. Where are we supposed to get the money to buy locks just so you can take them apart?”
So…
The only reason he was refusing was because of the cost?
The explanation was so unexpected—and yet so perfectly reasonable—that Jiang Xia almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
“I can pay for them myself…”
“No, absolutely not.”
Chief Wu waved the suggestion away.
“You still have a family to support. How can I let you throw your own money into a bottomless pit like that?”
Chief Wu waved his hand dismissively.
“With all the skills you’ve got, why not work on something that doesn’t cost money? I think your portraits are excellent. That sketch of He Tuzi yesterday was incredible—it looked exactly like the real guy. Why don’t you practice that more? Ideally, someone describes what a suspect looks like, and you draw them as if you’d taken a photograph. That’d make our job catching people a whole lot easier!”
He was talking about forensic sketching.
Wanted portraits had existed since ancient times, so it wasn’t surprising that Chief Wu had thought of the idea. The profession of forensic sketch artist wouldn’t become formally established until the late 1980s. The main reason was that portrait drawing was difficult to master. Not only were there very few artists capable of producing truly accurate likenesses, but anyone with that level of skill could earn far more money in other professions. There simply wasn’t much incentive to become a police sketch artist.
Jiang Xia, however, wasn’t interested in making a fortune.
Her portraits were accurate enough that she had every qualification to become a top-tier forensic sketch artist.
But…
In her previous life, she’d spent over twenty years drawing. She’d also taught intensive entrance-exam art classes for nine years, spending every day sketching from eight in the morning until one or two o’clock the next morning.
She’d drawn herself sick of it.
Sketching a little now and then was fine.
Making it her career again?
No way.
Not a chance.
Even if someone beat her to death, she wouldn’t do it.
“That’s completely different, Master!”
Jiang Xia tried to discourage him by explaining just how difficult it was.
“Drawing someone I’ve actually seen and drawing someone based only on another person’s description are worlds apart. The first is like writing out a passage I’ve already memorized. The second is like someone giving me a few random sentences—or even just a few words, maybe with typos and in the wrong order—and asking me to figure out which text they’re from before writing the whole thing out from memory.”
“If I guess correctly, great. But if I guess wrong, the portrait could end up looking nothing like the suspect, and that would only make the investigation harder.”
“That does sound difficult.”
Although he knew nothing about drawing, Chief Wu understood the comparison.
But instead of giving up on the idea, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two yuan.
“That’s exactly why you should practice.”
He held out the money with a grin.
“Here. This is for paper and pencils. From now on, whenever you’ve got free time, just draw for fun. I won’t stop you.”
Damn it.
Looking at the banknotes Chief Wu was offering, Jiang Xia couldn’t help giving him the middle finger in her heart.
All she wanted was to practice picking a few locks at the station.
Why did it have to be so difficult?