Chapter 29.2: Jiang Xia’s Dream
Just then, as the thought crossed her mind, Huang Xueling suddenly began flipping through her papers with exaggerated movements, letting out a quiet wail.
“Why are fingerprints so haaaard?!”
Jiang Xia looked up.
Studying really did drive people crazy. After just a single day, Huang Xueling had already developed exactly the same world-weary aura as Yang Lihua. They both looked utterly dead inside.
“You’re always trying to become fat in one bite. Of course it’s going to be hard,” Trace Examiner Li said. Picking up his old-fashioned tobacco pipe, he lightly tapped the back of her hand. “You haven’t even learned to crawl, yet you’re trying to walk. Slow down. Start by isolating and circling one pattern at a time. Finish marking one fingerprint, then move on to the next. Circle a few hundred of them first.”
That’s way too monotonous!
Even though she knew it was the most effective method, Huang Xueling still found it unbearably tedious. Tugging at her hair, she replied with a miserable expression, “Yes, Master.”
Seriously… Not studying made her anxious, but studying made her feel even worse. The longer she stared at fingerprints, the more nauseated she became.
How on earth did Yang Lihua manage to memorize textbooks every day without getting sick of it?
After calming herself down, Huang Xueling gritted her teeth and continued.
Trace Examiner Li withdrew his gaze from the fingerprint cards and smacked his lips lightly.
“Come to think of it, Jiang Xia, your idea of having Xueling make fingerprint impressions for identification is really a good one. I’d honestly never thought of it before.”
Had he really never thought of it?
Jiang Xia merely smiled without saying a word.
People had been pressing fingerprints onto paper as signatures on contracts for centuries. If he’d actually wanted to teach an apprentice, he would certainly have thought of the method. Trace Examiner Li simply hadn’t wanted to.
Over the past two days, although she hadn’t interacted with everyone very much, Jiang Xia had more or less figured out the personalities of the people in the office.
There wasn’t much to say about Section Chief Liao or the younger officers. As for Forensic Examiner Sun, he had probably made too many mistakes in the past and had often been questioned because of them. Now he was holding his frustration in, studying with relentless determination, determined to prove his abilities to everyone else.
As for Photographer Zhao, he simply coasted by on his photography skills. As long as no one disturbed him, everything was always, ‘Fine, fine, fine.’
Trace Examiner Li on the other hand, was undoubtedly the most contradictory person of the bunch.
You couldn’t say he was a bad person. He was easygoing, never offended anyone, and was always encouraging whenever he saw someone with talent. Yet when it came to his own apprentices, he was astonishingly detached, practically treating them like strangers. Then, every now and then, he’d offer them a bit of guidance. He was a thoroughly peculiar man.
Jiang Xia was sure there had to be a story behind it.
Still, she wasn’t all that interested in digging into other people’s pasts.
It didn’t affect her anyway.
Smiling, Jiang Xia said, “It wasn’t my idea. One of my teachers at school taught us that. But if you really want to learn trace evidence examination, you need actual specimens to study. If all you have are theories and written descriptions, you’ll rack your brain and still have no idea what the real thing looks like.”
“That’s very true,” said Forensic Examiner Sun, looking up after growing tired from studying. Taking off his glasses, he nodded in agreement. “The same goes for forensic pathology. We need to see real human bodies and actually perform dissections. Especially Xiao Yang. Reading textbooks alone won’t teach you what real wounds actually look like.”
“That’s a bit difficult,” Jiang Xia said, leaning back in her chair. “At least trace evidence examiners can get hold of physical samples. You can’t exactly get your hands on corpses. You can’t expect Xiao Yang to bring his own teaching materials to school!”
“Hahaha!”
The entire office burst into laughter. Even Yang Lihua doubled over laughing.
“If I could bring one with me, I wouldn’t even need to come up to the second floor. I’d be taken straight to the interrogation room on the first floor!”
“Not that far,” Forensic Examiner Sun said with a chuckle. “Once you’ve studied for a while longer, I’ll take you to hospitals and medical schools more often. If we’re lucky, you might even get a chance to practice on a donated cadaver.”
“That would actually be great.”
A hint of regret entered Jiang Xia’s voice. “You can at least print fingerprints and footprints on paper to practice with. But other kinds of tool marks are much harder to come by. You can only study them when a case comes in and you get to examine the crime scene. It’s all down to luck.”
“Exactly.”
At the mention of that, Trace Examiner Li sighed regretfully.
“Besides, there are so many different kinds of crime scene traces, and they don’t last very long. They’re not exactly easy to preserve for teaching, either.”
Hearing that, Jiang Xia suddenly realized it was time to bring out the map of Yan.
Her lock-picking dream!
“Hey, Teacher Li, what if all these traces could be preserved, then sorted and organized into a handbook? Wouldn’t that make teaching trace evidence examination a whole lot easier in the future?”
Hmm?
Oh no. That map of Yan is aimed at me!
Photographer Zhao, who had been happily listening to the conversation, immediately caught on.
“Jiang Xia, don’t tell me you’re talking about photographing them. That’s not happening.”
“Photography is expensive. And for each trace, you’d have to take several shots from different angles. Just like that, a month’s salary is gone. Our department doesn’t have that kind of budget.”
Jiang Xia wasn’t surprised by the rejection in the slightest.
In research, money was always the biggest problem.
At present, taking and developing a single photograph cost nearly one yuan. There were countless different types of traces, and each required photographs from multiple angles. Just the cost of the photographs alone would likely run into the thousands of yuan. There was no way the Technical Division would spend that kind of money merely to make teaching trace evidence examination a little more convenient.
This was a tough problem.
“It really is too expensive.”
Resting her chin in her hand as if she had genuinely been stumped, Jiang Xia pondered for a moment before suddenly saying,
“Hey, Brother Zhao, what if I drew them instead?”
“Now you’re joking.”
Trace Examiner Li shook his head. It wasn’t that he doubted Jiang Xia’s artistic ability; he doubted her perseverance.
“There are so many different kinds of tools, and each can leave all sorts of different marks. At the rate you’re talking about, you’d still be drawing when monkeys learn to wear hats.”
“I’ll just draw whenever I have time. We don’t have anything now, so every drawing is one more than we had before.”
Jiang Xia spoke casually.
“Why not start with the common ones? Like the pry marks left on door locks and cabinets during residential burglaries?”
“Even that wouldn’t be easy.”
Photographer Zhao continued pouring cold water on the idea.
“Even if you’re going to draw them, you still need something to draw from, don’t you? But you don’t know how to pick locks.”
Jiang Xia fell silent for a moment.
Thanks for asking. I’m not particularly talented, but lock-picking happens to be one of my specialties.
Forensic Examiner Sun glanced at Jiang Xia.
Although she had spoken casually, his instinct—born from being a stubborn workaholic—told him that Jiang Xia might not have been joking at all.
A willingness to learn was always a good thing. Even if this was only a passing enthusiasm, he was still happy to offer a suggestion.
“That’s easy enough. Just bring over a cooperative burglar from the detention center and have him pick the locks for us.”
After saying that, he paused, frowned slightly, and added,
“Though it still won’t be easy. The real problem is the damage to the doors and windows. Even if you can repair them afterward, you’ll still need locks, lumber, glass, cabinets… Altogether, that’s no small expense.”
Compared to the cost of taking photographs, the expense was insignificant, but compared to an individual’s salary, it was still substantial. There was no way the department could be expected to foot the bill.
Jiang Xia frowned slightly.
If all she wanted was lock-picking marks, then the only real expenses would be locks and strike plates. At most, it would cost a dozen yuan or so. She could easily pay for that herself.
But if she went to all this trouble and stopped after documenting just one category, wouldn’t that be a terrible waste?
Besides farming system points, Jiang Xia genuinely wanted to produce something useful.
Tool mark examination was simply too underdeveloped at the moment. The textbook she’d used in school was already more than a decade old, with Russian still printed throughout it, and huge sections on tool marks were completely blank. If students couldn’t learn the material, how were they supposed to solve cases after graduating?
She had to establish at least one complete category. Even if it was only residential burglary, it would still help the bureau—and even the city’s police as a whole—investigate cases of that type.
Having made up her mind, Jiang Xia looked toward Section Chief Liao.
He hadn’t interrupted the discussion once. Up to this point, he had simply listened quietly, expressing neither approval nor opposition.
Good.
Not objecting meant tacit approval.
As long as nothing went wrong, she had permission to proceed.
Although it seemed feasible, Jiang Xia still hadn’t solved the problem of where the money for the materials would come from. All she could say for the moment was,
“I’ll think of something. If all else fails, we’ll just start with the cheapest category.”
Now that she’d put it that way, Photographer Zhao and Trace Examiner Li exchanged glances. Neither of them said anything more to discourage her.
—
The sun was sinking toward the horizon.
It was time to get off work.
The staff of the Technical Division packed up their things and gradually headed home.
Jiang Xia picked up her bag as well and was just about to leave when a head suddenly poked through the doorway.
Looking up, she saw it was Zhao Zhenzhong, captain of the Second Squad.
He looked into the office, and the moment he saw Jiang Xia was still there, he visibly relaxed.
“Comrade Jiang, you’re still here?”
Showing up at this hour…
Jiang Xia had a bad feeling. Taking a deep breath, she set the strap of her bag back down and asked,
“I am. Captain Zhao, is there something you need?”
“Yes, but not today. I wanted to ask whether you’re free tomorrow.”
Now that the First Squad had successfully rounded up all of their suspects, Zhao Zhenzhong could no longer sit still. He had immediately gone through their old case files with his subordinates, picked out two suitable unsolved cases, and hurried over.
Rubbing his hands together, he said, “Our squad has two cases where we know what the suspects look like but haven’t been able to catch them. We’d like to ask you to draw their portraits. If you’re free tomorrow, I’ll contact the victims and have them come in.”
Tomorrow? That was much better.
Relieved that she wouldn’t have to work overtime, Jiang Xia smiled.
“I’m free tomorrow afternoon. Just have them come by, Captain Zhao.”
The timing was perfect.
“Good, good, good. Then I’ll head back and notify the victims’ families right away. See you tomorrow.”
Jiang Xia nodded.
“See you tomorrow.”
“All right, everyone. See you tomorrow!”
…
Changning Weekly Editorial Office.
Even though it was already past quitting time, the editor-in-chief was still in a meeting. He wrapped things up with just a few brief remarks, draped his coat over his arm, and addressed everyone present.
“One last thing. You reporters shouldn’t spend all day sitting in the office. Get out there more. That’s the only way you’ll find real news and write stories that the public actually wants to read.”
Cao Haiyan’s pen never stopped moving as she wrote the editor-in-chief’s words into her notebook.
She was a rookie reporter who had joined the Changning Weekly only a little over three months ago. So far, she’d mostly been running errands, only occasionally getting to accompany senior reporters on interviews. As a result, she had yet to write a single article worth mentioning, much less have one published.
That was perfectly normal. After all, she was still new. There were countless things she didn’t know yet, and learning them would take time.
Even so, the more ordinary her days became, the more determined Cao Haiyan was to write an article worthy of publication.
The other reporters around her had already gotten up and gradually left the office. She set down her pen and flipped to the back of her notebook.
A portrait of a five-year-old boy came into view.
A few days earlier, while heading home, she’d seen a traffic police officer at an intersection holding up the portrait and searching for someone. Her journalistic instincts had prompted her to ask what had happened, and she’d learned that the child had been kidnapped by traffickers.
That evening, since she had nothing else to do and noticed the officer had several copies of the portrait, she’d asked for one herself and joined the search.
She hadn’t been looking for long before someone came to announce that the traffickers had already been caught and all the children had been rescued.
Although she hadn’t actually contributed much, Cao Haiyan felt that the successful cooperation between the police and the public in solving a child trafficking case was newsworthy.
Unfortunately, when she brought the idea to the senior reporter mentoring her, he dismissed it. In his opinion, the story was too minor and nowhere near as worthwhile as covering the foreign investment dispute at the Daily Chemical Factory.
Besides, Cao Haiyan still hadn’t received her official press credentials, and without authorization she couldn’t interview anyone at the police bureau.
So the matter was simply left at that.
She sighed.
Where else was she supposed to find news?
Closing her notebook, Cao Haiyan slung her shoulder bag over one shoulder, left the newspaper office, and pedaled her bicycle down the street, still thinking about what the editor-in-chief had said.
Get out more.
But where exactly was she supposed to go to find news?
As she rode past the entrance to a narrow alley, still worrying over the question, something in her peripheral vision caught her attention.
Quite a crowd had gathered inside the alley, all staring intently at a public notice board.
Huh?
What’s going on here?
Cao Haiyan braked, turned her bicycle around, and rode into the alley.
Snippets of conversation drifted into her ears.
“Look! That’s what the murderer looks like!”
“He even dared to rob a government cadre. The guy’s got some nerve!”
“We’d better keep our eyes open. If we see anyone who looks like him, we need to report it to the Public Security Bureau…”
…
…
A murderer?
Cao Haiyan’s heart skipped a beat. Unfortunately, she wasn’t tall enough to see over the crowd. She hurriedly parked her bicycle, squeezed past an elderly man, and forced her way forward.
“Excuse me, Grandpa, let me through so I can take a look!”
After struggling her way to the very front, Cao Haiyan looked up—and froze in astonishment.
Why was the drawing style of this murder suspect exactly the same as the one used for the missing child’s portrait?
She read the notice beneath it.
Municipal Criminal Investigation Division Notice:
Several days ago, a cadre from Hongxing People’s Commune was robbed and murdered while traveling to the Municipal Supply and Marketing Cooperative. There were three suspects, all approximately twenty to twenty-five years old. One of them appears as shown in the portrait above. This suspect is exceptionally vicious and poses a serious danger. Members of the public are urged to provide information if they encounter anyone whose appearance and age match the portrait.
Cao Haiyan’s brow gradually furrowed.
Something wasn’t right.
She had originally assumed that the portrait of the missing child had been drawn from a family photograph by an experienced artist before being printed. But after reading this notice, she realized that couldn’t possibly be the case.
The notice gave no names, made no mention of the suspects being on the run, and only provided the appearance of one of them. That meant the police didn’t know the identities of the three suspects, nor had they located their homes.
So how did they know what this robber and murderer looked like well enough to draw his portrait?
She couldn’t figure it out, but Cao Haiyan was already getting excited.
This was news.
Big news!
She was going to the police bureau for an interview!
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