Chapter 30.2: Criminal Law and Royalties
Jiang Xia lowered her eyes and glanced at the reporter’s ID. When she saw the two enormous characters for “trainee” on it, she immediately understood.
No wonder she was working so hard.
But, sorry, I can’t tell you.
After Jiang Xia had reminded Tan Bingyi a couple of days ago to keep the technical aspects confidential during the preliminary stages, he had mentioned it to Section Chief Duan. Section Chief Duan had then emphasized to everyone in the municipal bureau that Jiang Xia was now a secret weapon and that her identity was strictly forbidden from being disclosed. There was no way she could possibly accept a reporter’s interview.
But the Changning Weekly…
Jiang Xia suddenly had an idea.
She could submit articles and earn royalties to use as research funding!
With the idea in mind, Jiang Xia immediately asked, “Comrade, does your weekly accept submissions from ordinary people?”
“Huh?”
Cao Haiyan had no idea how the conversation had suddenly veered in this direction, but being able to talk was better than being flatly rejected. She asked in return, “What kind of submissions?”
“Stories about educating people about the law.”
Jiang Xia had a little experience writing fiction, though most of it came from her younger days, when she wrote fan fiction for the love of her favorite pairings. That sort of thing was too embarrassing to let anyone see, let alone publish.
There was no way her ordinary writing could compete with the established writers of the day, so she’d have to take a different route. She could use some sensational cases that naturally grabbed people’s attention, then wrap them in the politically correct packaging of legal education. That would surely improve her chances of getting published.
As Jiang Xia recalled some examples, she said, “For example, a seventeen-year-old boy went to his neighbor’s house and stole five yuan. The neighbor called the police, the police came and arrested him, and he was sentenced to three years.”
“And there were two farmers who went out to herd sheep together. They got hungry along the way, and they were craving some mutton. After discussing it back and forth, they said, ‘If we slaughter yours, you’ll feel bad. If we slaughter mine, I’ll feel bad. How about we steal someone else’s sheep and slaughter it?’ So they agreed on the spot, stole a nearby sheep, slaughtered it, and ate it. The next day, the police came and arrested them. They were sentenced to eleven years and thirteen years respectively.”
Cao Haiyan was dumbfounded.
“Wait, I know those things were wrong, but they only took five yuan and ate a sheep. How could they possibly get such heavy sentences?!”
Jiang Xia raised one finger. “Theft of public or private property carries a prison sentence of up to five years, with heavier punishment for serious circumstances. Although the amount was very small, breaking into someone’s home to steal is considered a serious circumstance, which is why he was sentenced to three years.”
“And as for the sheep, those two had quite the eye for quality. They ate breeding sheep imported from overseas by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. They had been shipped all the way here, and each one was worth more than four thousand yuan.”
“Gasp—!”
Cao Haiyan immediately sucked in a breath.
Well, then the sentence really wasn’t unjustified.
But she had no idea that burglary was considered such a serious offense.
Cao Haiyan suddenly realized that, when it came to the law, she was practically illiterate.
After taking a moment to recover, she thought it over carefully. Then she looked up and said seriously, “Comrade, after hearing you explain it, I really think these kinds of legal-education stories are a great idea. The premise is perfectly sound, but if you want to get one published, you’ll still need to make it interesting and well-written.”
So they did accept submissions.
Jiang Xia nodded. “Then how much do you pay?”
“Our weekly… doesn’t pay very much.”
Cao Haiyan looked a little embarrassed as she mentioned it. She wrote down the submission address in her notebook and handed the note to Jiang Xia.
“For newcomers, it’s the lowest rate—ten yuan per thousand characters. But if you write well, we’ll raise the rate.”
Ten yuan, and that was the lowest rate?
Publishing fees really weren’t bad in this era.
Jiang Xia became even more determined to start writing. She accepted the note and said, “Thank you, Comrade.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Cao Haiyan felt that the two of them had become somewhat acquainted by now, so she steered the conversation back to the subject she’d originally wanted to ask about. She looked at Jiang Xia expectantly.
“Then, Comrade, could you tell me who drew these portraits?”
“No.”
Jiang Xia refused outright. But since the other woman had just answered her question, she kindly offered a little more explanation.
“There is a reason the police don’t allow outsiders to interview this person. Have you ever considered that once the story is published, this master’s identity could become known to the criminals’ accomplices, who might then retaliate against them?”
“Of course, you could say that you won’t reveal their identity. But what about the investigative methods? Even if you only mention them vaguely in passing, potential criminals in this city could still figure out how the police are preventing them from getting away with their crimes. If that happens, the police won’t be able to use those methods to solve cases anymore and will have no choice but to let the criminals remain at large.”
“But—!”
When Jiang Xia first refused, Cao Haiyan had been somewhat disappointed. Now that she’d heard the explanation, however, all she felt was a lingering sense of fear.
Her face flushed red as she repeatedly apologized.
“I’m sorry, Comrade! I really didn’t realize the consequences could be so serious!”
She was an outsider, and a young reporter eager to get a story. It wasn’t particularly surprising that she’d made such a mistake. Fortunately, she hadn’t actually caused any dangerous consequences. Jiang Xia didn’t try to comfort her and simply said, “Now you know.”
“Yes. I’ll leave right away.”
A publishable story was certainly important, but compared with the safety of that master craftsman and the general public, it was insignificant. Cao Haiyan immediately gave up on her plan to stay and wait for another opportunity.
She turned around and was just about to leave when she suddenly stopped. She came back and seriously reminded Jiang Xia, “By the way, I suggest you be extra careful. The notices you’ve put up are big news, so other reporters will definitely hear about them. And they may not all use proper methods. Some might privately invite people out for drinks and try to pump them for information. There are also plenty of small newspapers these days that love sensational stories just to attract attention. They might very well report on this, so it’d be best to give them a heads-up in advance.”
Jiang Xia raised an eyebrow.
She really hadn’t thought of that.
But then again, this trainee reporter seemed like a decent person. She wasn’t the sort of unscrupulous reporter who would disregard other people’s safety just to get a story.
“Thank you. I’ll report it to my superiors.”
Jiang Xia nodded, then added, “Give me your contact information. I might need to get in touch with you sometime in the future.”
“Sure, sure.”
No matter what, knowing a police officer was a good thing. Cao Haiyan tore off another sheet of paper and quickly wrote down the phone numbers for her home and the newspaper’s editorial office. As she handed the paper to Jiang Xia, she said, “Um, if you have something to submit, you can send it to me first. I can help proofread it, and I can also have the editor take a look and tell you what needs to be revised!”
Jiang Xia nodded in agreement.
This time, Cao Haiyan really did leave.
Thinking about how she’d skipped an entire morning of work for no reason, failed to get her interview, and would still have to endure her supervisor’s scolding when she returned, she couldn’t help feeling dejected.
Sigh. At least she’d made the acquaintance of a police officer. Maybe the other woman would actually submit something to the paper. That counted as not having made the trip for nothing.
With that thought, Cao Haiyan stopped again, turned around, and shouted toward Jiang Xia, who was seven or eight meters away.
“Comrade! Don’t forget! You absolutely have to submit something!”
This girl was really persistent. She had the makings of a great reporter.
Jiang Xia smiled, but she also felt that she could put writing those little legal-education stories on her agenda.
Her grand lock-picking enterprise had taken another huge step forward and was almost within reach. How delightful!
＊
After lunch, Jiang Xia returned to the Technical Department.
Huang Xueling and Yang Lihua were sitting at their desks, both wearing identical expressions that seemed to say they wanted nothing more than to die.
Jiang Xia suddenly got a mischievous idea.
Grinning, she said, “Come here, Xueling. I went to the supply and marketing cooperative today, and I brought you a little present~”
“The supply and marketing cooperative?”
Huang Xueling instantly perked up. “What present?”
“Ta-da!”
Jiang Xia pulled out her notebook. “A complete collection of shoe-sole patterns and bicycle tire treads! When you’re tired of recording fingerprints, you can switch things up and study these instead to relax~”
The smile on Huang Xueling’s face instantly froze.
Seriously, was that even something a human being would say?
How exactly was switching to recording something else supposed to count as a break?!
At that moment, Jiang Xia looked like nothing short of a demon in Huang Xueling’s eyes.
She took the notebook in a daze and opened it. Looking at the densely packed notes inside, she suddenly felt like crying.
Why did trace evidence work require learning so many things?!
Was it too late for her to quit now?
Jiang Xia continued, “Hey, Xueling, why are you crying?”
Huang Xueling squeezed her eyes shut and said against her conscience, “I’m crying because I’m happy.”
“Jiang Xia, you’re just too good to me!”
Hahahaha!
Seeing her like this, Jiang Xia was practically rolling around laughing in her head.
…
A little after two in the afternoon.
Xiao Tang, a young officer from Second Squad, came over and knocked on the door.
“Comrade Jiang, the victim and witnesses are here. Could you bring your tools and draw their portraits?”
“Sure.”
Jiang Xia picked up her tools and walked out.
This time, the portrait-drawing location had been moved to the utility room next door.
Oh, right—the sign on the door had already been changed.
It now read: Portrait Room.
The victims from both cases were waiting in the reception room on the first floor. Xiao Tang called one of them up first—a young woman accompanied by her mother.
After chatting with her for a few moments, Jiang Xia realized that this family had truly been caught up in something completely beyond their control.
In early spring, the young woman had gone to the supply and marketing cooperative with her older brother to buy some things. On their way home, they were harassed by two local hooligans. One of them even hurled a string of obscene insults at her. Her brother couldn’t stand it and turned around to confront them.
He never expected the other man to pull out a knife, stab him twice, and then run away.
Fortunately, the young woman was a student at a medical secondary school and knew some basic first aid. Her brother’s arteries hadn’t been injured either, so they managed to get him to the hospital in time for emergency treatment.
But he was still lying in a hospital bed even now. The injuries had damaged his internal organs, and he was supposedly no longer capable of doing heavy physical labor in the future.
The moment the subject came up, both the young woman and her mother couldn’t help crying again.
The local hooligans really were becoming more and more brazen these days.
Jiang Xia sighed inwardly. She patiently comforted the mother and daughter while slowly drawing the portrait.
As usual, she emphasized that the information must be kept confidential before seeing the two of them out. Then she welcomed the next witness.
This case sounded fairly straightforward. Both the criminal and the deceased victim had been involved in profiteering and black-market dealings, but the victim had been more capable and had connections that allowed him to obtain watches and radios to resell.
The criminal had been green with envy.
Originally, he’d wanted to pay the victim for the connections he used to obtain those goods, but the victim refused to sell them. The criminal then developed malicious intentions and decided to use force to make him reveal his source.
In the end, things escalated into murder and robbery. After killing the man, the criminal disappeared without a trace.
After hearing the details, Jiang Xia had a feeling.
This criminal was probably going to be difficult to catch.
But no matter how difficult he was to catch, having a wanted poster with his portrait was still better than having nothing. Perhaps someone would recognize him after seeing the portrait and report him to the police.
Jiang Xia carefully drew this man’s portrait as well.
When it was about time, Zhao Zhenzhong arrived right on schedule and waited outside the door. As soon as the witness walked out, he entered.
“Captain Zhao, the portrait is finished.”
Jiang Xia dusted the sawdust off her hands and asked, “Are you planning to have these printed in bulk at a printing plant, or are you going to use the mimeograph to make just a few copies?”
“I actually came here to talk to you about that.”
Zhao Zhenzhong awkwardly rubbed his hands together. “Well, we recently organized a team to crack down on some vegetable-market bullies, and we went a little over budget. So we’ll take the murderer’s portrait to the printing plant and have that one printed. As for the street hooligan’s portrait, a few dozen copies should be enough. At worst, we’ll just have to do a bit more legwork ourselves.”
“Sure.”
Jiang Xia readily agreed. It made sense to adjust things according to the circumstances.
Since there was no need for quick-drying ink this time, she didn’t bother mixing any. She borrowed a mimeograph from the Personnel Department and began cutting the wax stencil.
Halfway through, someone knocked twice on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and Lu Yixing was standing outside.
Jiang Xia raised an eyebrow. “What? Did you come looking for me?”
The words she’d heard a few nights ago instantly resurfaced in Lu Yixing’s mind. He stiffened slightly, and Captain Tan’s repeated instructions echoed in his ears again. He took a deep breath.
“No.”
Lu Yixing said, “Brother Chen told me you’d just carried a mimeograph upstairs, so you must be printing something. I figured you’d need someone to lend a hand, so I came over to see if there was anything I could help with.”
As he spoke, he glanced into the room and asked with slight confusion, “Didn’t anyone from Second Squad come over?”
Why did that sound so… passive-aggressive?
Young man, you’ve learned some bad habits.
Jiang Xia quickly realized that this was definitely Captain Tan’s doing.
He’d sent one of the team’s young, handsome officers over to help with the work. It would save money while also earning some goodwill with her—a textbook case of killing two birds with one stone.
As the beneficiary, Jiang Xia was obviously all for it.
The more help, the better!
She wanted to finish her work as soon as possible so she could get started on writing her articles.
“Sure. I’m just about finished with the stencil and will be ready to start printing. Why don’t you wait here for a bit?”
Lu Yixing gave a slight nod. “Okay.”
He took a couple more steps and leaned against the open doorway, quietly waiting.
Jiang Xia lowered her head and continued cutting the stencil with her stylus.
The last time Jiang Xia had been cutting a wax stencil, Lu Yixing had been too anxious about whether they would be able to find the missing children to pay any attention to what she was doing.
This time, however, he was calm enough to observe her carefully.
Sunlight streamed through the window, making the edges of a few strands of Jiang Xia’s hair glow faintly. The movements of her hands were light and fluid, carrying an indescribable sense of grace.
Lu Yixing’s gaze lingered on her hands for quite some time before he suddenly snapped out of it and instinctively turned his head away.
“It’s done.”
Jiang Xia stood up and quickly opened the screen frame, replaced the stencil with the one she’d just finished cutting, and said, “You can come help now. You change the paper, and I’ll do the printing.”
“Ah, okay.”
Lu Yixing looked as though he’d only just come back to his senses. He stepped forward and began replacing the sheets of paper with practiced efficiency.
He asked, “Comrade Jiang, do you like drawing?”
Jiang Xia tilted her head slightly. “What, did Captain Tan ask you to find out what my hobbies are too?”
Lu Yixing was silent for a moment.
“No, he didn’t.”
“He only said that if you need any help with anything, you can go directly to him.”
Huh?
Jiang Xia suddenly had an idea.
There was the lock-picking expert she desperately needed!
“I actually do need something,” Jiang Xia said immediately. “I’d like to ask Captain Tan to find someone who knows how to sneak through doors and pick locks.”
“Hmm?”
Lu Yixing looked surprised. “What do you need someone like that for?”
“Portraits have their limitations. I think I’m pretty good at trace evidence examination, so I’d like to keep studying it.”
Jiang Xia briefly explained her plan, then continued, “For now, I want to start with residential burglary. I still need a place to practice and someone who knows how to sneak through doors and pick locks—a ‘talent’ who can create the traces for me to examine. That way, I’ll have something to draw.”
“I see.”
Lu Yixing didn’t dismiss it as her simply fooling around. Instead, he thought about it seriously before saying, “Someone like that would be easiest to find among convicted criminals. But we’d have to go through the records and then contact the labor reform facility. It’ll take some time before they can arrange for someone to be transferred here, so you’ll have to wait a little longer. As for a place… there’s an old one-story building behind our office that’s currently being used as a storage room. There isn’t much inside, though, so we could clean it up and use it.”
That was even better than she could have hoped for!
Now everything was ready. All she needed was for the article royalties to come in!
Since she had nothing else to do over the next few days, Jiang Xia bought a copy of the Criminal Law and wrote six legal-education stories in one sitting. After revising them, she delivered them to Cao Haiyan.
It would take time for the editors to review them, and she still had to wait to find out whether they’d be accepted. For now, Jiang Xia could only go to the woodworking shop to pick up the finished miniature mimeograph and print-box.
She even tested them specifically, and both worked perfectly. No modifications were needed at all.
As for how they’d perform in actual fieldwork, she’d have to wait until there was a case to find out.
Another peaceful day passed.
After finishing another batch of legal-education stories, Jiang Xia happily turned off the light and went to sleep.
＊
Late at night.
A figure pushed a heavy bicycle forward.
A man was sprawled across the rear seat, both arms hanging downward, his fingertips dragging a faint line through the muddy ground.
Ahead, rows of streetlights illuminated the entire road.
They had arrived.
The person pushing the bicycle stopped.
He turned his head and glanced at the man lying across the seat. Then he reached out, untied the rope, and gave him a gentle push.
The man immediately slid off the rear seat and fell to the ground. His head hung limply, and a large, bloody wound was clearly visible on his forehead.
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