Chapter 15: Plainclothes officers are catching pickpockets!
Sunday, early morning.
Although it was a day off, neither of the Jiang sisters slept in. Both were up at the crack of dawn.
The police station couldn’t exactly close for the weekend. Someone had to stay on duty every Sunday, so the neighborhood officers rotated their days off. Jiang Xia’s turn wasn’t until next Wednesday, which meant she had to report for work as usual.
Jiang Ying, on the other hand, did have Sundays off. But she planned to set up her market stall, so she had even more reason to get up early.
“You’re up, Xia?”
Their cousin, Zhou Guangtao, had come over to help and was quietly carrying boxes outside. Seeing Jiang Xia step out of her room, he gave her an honest smile and lowered his voice.
“Your sister told me to tell you breakfast’s still steaming in the pot. She also left you some vegetarian jerky in the cupboard. Don’t forget to eat.”
“Got it.”
Still half asleep, Jiang Xia let her feet carry her automatically toward the bathroom. She waved lazily.
“I’m not seeing you guys off. Hope everything sells out today!”
“Thanks! We’ll take that blessing!”
After brushing her teeth, she splashed cold water onto her face.
The icy shock made her shiver, finally clearing away the last traces of drowsiness.
She finished washing up, slipped into the kitchen, grabbed a piece of vegetarian jerky, and tossed it into her mouth.
This was the product Jiang Ying was planning to sell.
The so-called vegetarian jerky was actually a soy-based snack—closer to seasoned dried tofu than real meat. It tasted surprisingly similar to modern spicy gluten strips: savory and spicy with a hint of sweetness, and its chewy texture even resembled meat. It was the kind of snack that became more addictive with every bite.
Jiang Xia sincerely hoped her big sister’s business would take off. Once they could open a proper workshop and package the jerky in sealed bags, she’d finally have a reliable snack to munch on during her night shifts.
After finishing breakfast, she checked the time.
She was running late.
Grabbing her bag, she dashed for the door—but before leaving, she couldn’t resist stuffing another piece of vegetarian jerky into her mouth.
Then she hurried downstairs.
Her bicycle wheels spun furiously as she raced toward the police station.
As the days on the job accumulated, the novelty of being a rookie had gradually worn off. Jiang Xia was beginning to evolve into an old hand, having already picked up the veteran habit of arriving just barely on time.
She pedaled at full speed.
Screech—!
With a sharp squeeze of the brakes, she brought her bicycle to a perfect stop in front of the office.
Just then, Shen Huoda ambled through the station entrance at his usual leisurely pace.
The corners of Jiang Xia’s mouth immediately curled into a broad grin.
“Oh yeah! Right on time again today!”
“So you’ve been using me as your clock?”
Shen Huoda was another master of cutting it close every morning. One look at her expression was enough for him to figure it out. He laughed helplessly.
“Xiao Jiang, if you’re that worried about being late, why don’t you just buy yourself a watch? Makes checking the time a lot easier.”
“No thanks.”
Jiang Xia shook her head repeatedly.
“A watch costs two months’ salary. I can’t afford one.”
Besides, in a few years they’d be dirt cheap. There was no rush to buy one now. At the moment, her salary was much better spent on food.
“Ahem.”
Chief Wu cleared his throat.
This time, he wasn’t holding his trademark enamel mug.
Standing in the doorway, his gaze swept over Jiang Xia and Shen Huoda, both dressed in plain clothes, before landing on Hu Wei, who had just emerged from the storage room carrying a coil of rope.
“Everyone’s here. Let’s get moving. Before we leave, let me emphasize this one more time. Today’s plainclothes anti-pickpocket operation is mainly for training. Xiao Jiang, Xiao Hu—you two are here to learn, so pay close attention.”
That’s right.
Today’s assignment was field duty.
Jiang Xia’s primary task was to learn how to catch pickpockets.
She wasn’t entirely sure what there was to learn, but she was confident she’d be able to contribute quite a bit.
Thanks to the generous experience package from her top-tier Criminal Master System, she knew pickpockets inside and out.
“Don’t worry, Master. I’ll study hard.”
Jiang Xia rubbed her hands together eagerly, ready to show her mentor what she could do.
“Good. Then let’s head out.”
Chief Wu gave a broad wave of his hand.
“Let’s go—to the Municipal People’s Park!”
What a coincidence.
Jiang Xia paused as she turned her bicycle around.
Wasn’t that exactly where her sister had gone to sell the vegetarian jerky?
She wondered where Jiang Ying had set up her stall. Maybe she’d run into her.
The four of them rode their bicycles to the Municipal People’s Park.
…
The park wasn’t within Zhouying Police Station’s jurisdiction. In fact, it was quite a distance away.
That was precisely why Chief Wu had chosen it.
The pickpockets in their own district all knew the local officers by face. Changing into plain clothes didn’t help—those thieves would bolt the moment they spotted them.
To catch them, they needed to work somewhere unfamiliar.
With early summer just around the corner, the breeze carried a pleasant warmth.
The pagoda trees at the park entrance were lush with dense foliage, their branches heavy with clusters of white blossoms. The lower flowers had already been picked by people to make soup, but plenty remained higher up. Whenever the wind stirred, a sweet floral fragrance drifted through the air.
Since it was Sunday, many families had brought their children to the park. Young couples, standing a cautious half-meter apart, waited bashfully in line to buy tickets.
Despite the crowds, there were only a handful of vendors in the open space outside the entrance—three or four at most. One sold candied hawthorns, another roasted melon seeds and peanuts, and another operated a foot-powered cotton candy machine that had already attracted a swarm of children.
To Jiang Xia, the contraption looked both nostalgic and fascinating, and she couldn’t help stealing several glances at it.
“Vegetarian jerky! Delicious vegetarian jerky! Tastes just like real meat!”
A vendor’s call rang through the air.
Huh?
Jiang Xia looked toward the voice.
Only then did she notice another stall a short distance from the ticket booth, surrounded by a crowd of customers. Looking closer, she spotted her older sister and cousin right in the middle of it.
She actually ran into them.
Her sister really knew how to do business. Setting up outside the park entrance meant they didn’t even have to pay for admission.
There were too many people, and besides, Jiang Xia was technically on duty, so she had no intention of going over and getting in the way. She simply joined Chief Wu in the ticket line.
While they waited, Hu Wei sniffed the air.
“Wow, that vegetarian jerky smells amazing.”
He turned toward the source of the aroma.
“Huh? Jiang Xia… that woman running the stall kind of looks like you…”
Halfway through the sentence, something seemed to occur to him, and his voice gradually trailed off.
Jiang Xia answered directly.
“Of course she does. That’s my sister.”
“She’s running a street stall?”
Chief Wu turned his head, a slight frown forming on his face.
“Xiao Jiang, why has your family started doing this?”
Back then, most people believed that holding a regular job was the only respectable path. Street vending wasn’t considered proper work, and many looked down on it. Chief Wu was no exception.
Before Jiang Xia could answer, Shen Huoda smoothly cut in.
“Come on, Chief Wu. Selling food to make an honest living isn’t a bad thing.”
He sniffed appreciatively.
“It smells pretty good, too. I’ll buy a bag myself on the way back and give it a try.”
“Come on, Wang—there’s no way I’d let you pay.”
Jiang Xia wasn’t bothered in the slightest by what others thought. She answered openly and without embarrassment.
“When we head back, I’ll treat everyone to some.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear!”
Shen Huoda’s cheerful grin never wavered as he smoothly changed the subject.
“No wonder it’s so crowded—it’s Sunday. The park’s packed.”
Chief Wu frowned slightly before quickly relaxing his expression.
He said nothing more.
After getting their tickets checked, the four of them entered the park.
Walking beside Chief Wu, Jiang Xia looked around.
It was peak blooming season. Vast swaths of magnolias were in full blossom, drawing countless visitors who had come to admire the flowers. The park was bustling with people.
Where there were crowds, there were bound to be pickpockets.
Jiang Xia’s “professional radar” immediately kicked in. She had already spotted someone who looked suspicious.
She carefully studied the man’s appearance, committing every detail of his face to memory.
The four of them walking side by side would have been far too conspicuous, so Shen Huoda naturally slowed his pace and drifted several steps behind, strolling with his hands clasped behind his back as though he didn’t know the others.
The three ahead continued normally, with Chief Wu in front and Jiang Xia and Hu Wei walking on either side.
To anyone watching, they looked just like a father taking his son and daughter for a leisurely outing.
“All right, let me go over the basics of plainclothes surveillance.”
Once they had moved a little farther from the densest part of the crowd, Chief Wu cleared his throat and lowered his voice.
“The first rule is to act naturally. Don’t look stiff. If the pickpockets realize you’re police, they’ll take off immediately.”
“Xiao Jiang’s doing well in that regard. She looks just like any other visitor out enjoying the park. Xiao Hu, on the other hand, you’re too rigid. Relax a little. Stop standing so straight with your chest out. One look at you and people would think you just got out of the army.”
“Old habits die hard.”
Hu Wei scratched his head sheepishly.
“I didn’t realize it made me stand out that much.”
“It’s fine. Right now, we look like a family out for a walk, so we aren’t drawing much attention. Just work on it over time.”
As he spoke, Chief Wu’s eyes continued scanning the crowd.
After a moment, he said,
“You’ve both learned the basics of surveillance. All right then—take a look around. Which person here do you think is the pickpocket?”
Jiang Xia had already been observing the crowd before Chief Wu asked the question, so she wasn’t nervous at all. She simply gave the area another casual sweep.
Sure enough, it really did take one to know one.
Now she could spot a fellow thief with a single glance.
They’re all walking performance bonuses.
Thanks to all my generous supporters for the tips. I’ll be sending each of them a complimentary pair of silver bracelets in just a moment.
Meanwhile, the moment Chief Wu posed the question, Hu Wei tensed up. His eyes widened as he painstakingly scanned the crowd over and over, examining each person one by one.
After several minutes, he admitted awkwardly,
“Chief Wu… there are just too many people. I can’t find any pickpockets, and I can’t tell who looks suspicious.”
“Mhm.”
Chief Wu’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.
The outcome was exactly what he’d expected.
Hu Wei was still a rookie. Although he’d learned investigative techniques, his training had been in a different field. He hadn’t even spent that long in the army. It was perfectly normal that he couldn’t identify a thief in such a large crowd.
Only veteran police officers with decades of experience could pick a thief out of a sea of people at a glance.
Chief Wu turned to Jiang Xia.
“What about you, Xiao Jiang?”
He already had a rough idea of what her answer would be.
Police academy training was certainly more relevant, but schools focused far more on theory than practical experience. When it came to applying those skills in the field, graduates often struggled.
Still, Jiang Xia had talent. She learned quickly and had a knack for this line of work. She should perform better than Hu Wei.
By his own count, he’d identified three suspicious individuals.
Given Jiang Xia’s ability, she ought to have spotted at least one.
As he was thinking that, he heard Jiang Xia click her tongue.
“Master, the pickpocket problem here is really out of control.”
She shook her head.
“There aren’t even that many people in this section of the park, and there are already four pickpockets lurking around.”
Her words caught Chief Wu completely off guard.
Four?
She’d counted one more than he had?
She couldn’t just be guessing… could she?
“Xiao Jiang.”
Chief Wu frowned slightly.
“Tell me—which four?”
Jiang Xia knew exactly what he was thinking.
He suspected she was just making wild guesses.
Jiang Xia smiled and answered without hesitation.
“Over by the magnolia flower beds—the middle-aged man in the blue shirt wearing the newsboy cap is one. The guy to his left in the gray jacket with the narrow, squinty eyes is another. Those two are probably working together. The man smoking under the pagoda tree is a third. And the last one’s by the pond, the one carrying his jacket draped over his arm.”
The moment she finished speaking, Chief Wu fell silent.
For one simple reason.
Three of the four she had identified were exactly the same ones he’d picked out.
And she’d even found one more than he had.
She was better than a veteran detective with decades of experience.
What kind of eyes does this girl have?!
Chief Wu was genuinely stunned. After a long pause, he finally asked,
“The others I can understand. But how did you identify the guy in the gray jacket? And how are you so sure he’s working with the one in the cap?”
The moment she heard the question, Jiang Xia knew Chief Wu hadn’t spotted that one.
The corners of her lips curled upward.
Stand back. It’s time for me to show off.
“It was mostly intuition,” she said with a smile. “But I also watched their eyes and their habits.”
“The man in the newsboy cap has been standing in one place the whole time, constantly glancing left and right at people’s pockets. That’s an obvious pickpocket.”
“The guy in gray looks perfectly ordinary at first glance. He’s keeping some distance from the man in the cap and pretending to admire the flowers while walking around. But his eyes aren’t on the flowers at all. Every few seconds he sneaks a look at the guy in the cap, and he keeps pacing back and forth between those two trees. That’s not normal behavior. It looks like he’s waiting for a signal, so I figured they’re partners.”
“…Hmm.”
Listening to her explanation, Chief Wu took another careful look at the man in gray.
Then he shook his head with a helpless laugh.
“Forget teaching you how to catch pickpockets. You’re already ready to graduate.”
A trace of regret welled up inside him.
A slow learner could drive a mentor crazy.
But having a disciple who was too talented wasn’t necessarily a good thing either. Other than teaching her mediation skills and how to navigate interpersonal relationships, there was practically nothing left he could teach her.
That inevitably left him feeling a little dejected.
Then he glanced over at Hu Wei, who was still scratching his head in frustration.
On second thought…
Maybe it was better for a disciple to be clever after all.
“Come on, Master,” Jiang Xia said.
Having successfully shown off her skills, Jiang Xia grinned in satisfaction and spread her hands.
“I can spot them, sure, but I’m terrible at actually catching people. My hand-to-hand arrest techniques ranked near the bottom of my class.”
Chief Wu snorted.
“You little rascal.”
That was like winning first place in a math competition and then saying, ‘My Chinese score was only ninety. I’m such a poor student.’
A police station was an organization. There were plenty of officers capable of making an arrest.
The truly rare talent was someone who could tell who needed to be arrested.
As they spoke, the pickpocket who had been smoking suddenly made his move.
He flicked his cigarette butt onto the ground and walked straight toward a well-dressed man.
Thump.
He deliberately bumped the man’s shoulder, apologized repeatedly, then hurried toward a quiet path with far fewer people.
“He’s making his move!”
Chief Wu’s eyes sharpened instantly before a hint of delight flashed across his face.
“And he’s heading down a quiet path? Ha! He’s practically delivering himself to us. Come on—we’re taking him!”
There were four pickpockets operating in the area, and they didn’t have enough manpower to arrest them all at once. The moment they moved against one, the other three would undoubtedly scatter.
But if a pickpocket voluntarily walked into an isolated area…
Why hesitate?
Leaving Shen Huoda behind to keep watch on the remaining suspects, Chief Wu ordered Jiang Xia and Hu Wei to tail the pickpocket while he took a detour to cut the man off from the front.
The moment he heard the plan, Hu Wei perked up.
Finally!
It was his chance to prove himself.
There weren’t many people on the path.
The smoking pickpocket had no idea he was being followed.
Casually, he tossed a cloth coin purse—crumpled into a ball—into the shrubbery beside the path. Humming a tune to himself, he continued walking, his eyes roaming for another target before sidling up to another well-dressed passerby.
Thump!
The instant the pickpocket bumped into the pedestrian and started apologizing as he turned to leave, Hu Wei exploded into action.
Launching himself forward like a tiger pouncing on its prey, he tackled the man to the ground in one swift motion.
“Police! Don’t move!”
The passerby stood frozen for two seconds before finally realizing what had happened.
He frantically checked his pockets.
“My wallet’s gone!”
“You’ve got the wrong guy!” the pickpocket shouted. “You’ve arrested the wrong person!”
The pickpocket lay face-down on the ground, writhing as he shouted,
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Save it. I saw you make your move.”
Hu Wei didn’t need anyone’s help.
Half-kneeling, he pinned the pickpocket’s back with one knee, pulled a strip of cloth from his pocket, and swiftly tied the man’s hands behind his back. Then he removed the man’s belt before patting down his jacket in search of the stolen wallet.
After checking him from top to bottom, though, he came up empty.
“Huh? Where’s the wallet?”
“He’s hidden it in one of his secret pockets.”
Experienced pickpockets knew they wouldn’t always get away cleanly. Many had concealed pockets sewn into their clothes. If they were caught, they’d immediately stash the stolen goods inside. When the police searched their regular pockets and found nothing, it could create enough doubt to help them wriggle out of suspicion.
That trick might fool other people, but it couldn’t fool Jiang Xia.
She crouched down, pulled open the pickpocket’s jacket, and easily located the hidden compartment. From it, she retrieved the passerby’s missing wallet.
“Here.”
She held it out to the victim.
“This is your wallet. Be more careful next time.”
As she spoke, Jiang Xia casually slipped the wallet straight back into the man’s pocket with a smooth, practiced motion before reaching into another hidden pocket to search for more stolen items.
The instant her hand went in, she froze.
Wait… what did I just do?!
Jiang Xia screamed inwardly.
Oh no… it’s become a habit!
She hurriedly looked up.
Hu Wei was still busy keeping the struggling pickpocket pinned to the ground and hadn’t noticed her little flourish at all.
The victim was equally bewildered.
He had instinctively reached out to take his wallet, but before he could, it had already been tucked neatly back into his pocket. His hand hung awkwardly in midair for a second or two before he finally reacted, reached into his pocket, and pulled the wallet back out.
After checking it, he let out a long sigh of relief.
“It’s mine. Thank goodness it wasn’t lost. Thank you, Officers!”
Everything had happened so suddenly that the man was still dazed. It never occurred to him what it meant that someone had slipped his wallet back into his pocket with such uncanny precision.
He simply thought the young policewoman had remarkably nimble hands.
Whew…
Jiang Xia quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
Nobody noticed.
She turned back, ready to continue emptying the pickpocket’s hidden pockets.
Only then did she realize that Chief Wu had somehow appeared directly in front of her.
He was staring at her.
Without blinking.
…Crap!
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