Chapter 6: Arrested and Brought to Justice
The new recruit at Zhouying Police Station, Jiang Xia, really was something.
Thinking to himself in admiration, Chen Dong got the location of the gambling den from the neighborhood loafer and hurried back into the courtyard.
Now that the case had reached the arrest stage, Chief Wu was in an excellent mood. A faint smile appeared on his face.
“I’ve asked the head of the Security Department to go back and gather some men. What about your side? Did you find anything?”
“I did. The gambling den Wang Qiang frequents is in the warehouse of the Ribbon Factory. There are usually twenty to thirty people there. They’ve got lookouts posted, three dealers running the games, and the leader goes by the nickname Laizi.”
Chen Dong continued, “A gambling addict who just stole some money will most likely head straight to the gambling tables. If you ask me, instead of just testing the waters, we might as well bring enough people and raid the whole place.”
Chief Wu had been thinking the same thing.
He nodded.
“I know the place well. I’ll lead the operation.”
“Sounds good.”
Not long afterward, the head of the Security Department arrived with more than twenty men.
Jiang Xia looked at them curiously.
They were carrying police batons. Three of them wore green police jackets but blue trousers, giving them an unusual appearance.
They were economic police, or jingjing.
During the 1980s and 1990s, China had a special branch of law enforcement known as the Economic Police. They belonged to the Public Security Bureau and held official positions, but they were stationed in the security departments of state-owned enterprises. Their primary duty was to maintain security at factories. They had law enforcement authority and were even issued firearms. Whenever necessary, they also assisted local police stations with operations.
Once everyone had assembled, Chief Wu instructed Lu Fusheng to escort Dong Aihua back to the station to give her statement. After emphasizing a few precautions, he quickly led the rest of the team toward the Ribbon Factory.
The group rode there on bicycles and soon reached their destination.
They stopped around a street corner.
About a dozen meters farther ahead stood the warehouse of the abandoned Ribbon Factory.
Outside the warehouse, a young man stood watch, vigilantly scanning the surroundings.
The officers quietly parked their bicycles.
“Weidong, you and Officer Chen take four men and circle around from the left. Section Chief Liu, you take five men and go around the back. Ten minutes from now, move in as soon as you hear the whistle.”
After quietly assigning everyone’s roles, Chief Wu turned to Jiang Xia, who had come along with the team.
“Xiao Jiang, you’re still a rookie. You’re here today to gain experience. Stay with Hu Wei from here on out. Your main job is to keep yourself safe. Understood?”
Leaning lightly against the wall, Jiang Xia pressed her foot against the ground, feeling her blood racing with excitement.
She had only just started the job, and now she was already taking part in an arrest operation. Everything was happening so fast that it almost felt like a dream.
But what police officer had never dreamed of catching criminals?
Jiang Xia had often imagined herself pinning a suspect to the ground, snapping a pair of handcuffs onto their wrists, then saying in a cold, composed voice:
“You’re under arrest.”
The thought alone had always seemed unbelievably cool.
Now that her dream was about to come true, she could barely contain her excitement.
Then Chief Wu’s words hit her like a bucket of cold water.
She immediately wilted like a frost-bitten eggplant.
“Okay… got it.”
I got ahead of myself.
A rookie with no field experience would only get in the way during an arrest. There was no way Chief Wu was going to let her take part in the actual capture. Bringing her along this time was simply so she could become familiar with the process.
Oh well.
Finding Wang Qiang comes first.
After all, they still couldn’t be completely certain he was the thief.
I hope my deduction was right.
I hope he’s the burglar… that he’s inside the warehouse… so we can catch everyone in one sweep and recover every last cent stolen from Aunt Dong.
Jiang Xia prayed silently.
Beside her, Chief Wu glanced down at his watch. Seeing that the time was right, he signaled to the economic police officers, who had already drawn their pistols. Then he put the whistle hanging around his neck into his mouth.
The next second, he charged forward.
The economic police officers and factory security personnel rushed after him.
“Police!”
“Nobody move!”
The shrill blast of the whistle shattered the silence.
The lookout heard the word “police” and his legs instantly went weak. Before he could even shout, “The cops are here!”, he was tackled to the ground.
“The cops are here! Run!”
Hearing the commotion outside, the gamblers inside the warehouse scrambled for the exits like fish pouring out of a breached dam.
But the moment they rushed outside, they ran straight into the officers closing in from both sides.
The police swarmed them, pinning the gamblers to the ground one after another.
“Everybody squat down with your hands on your head!”
Following Hu Wei, Jiang Xia hurried into the warehouse.
The entire building was filled with thick smoke. Before she even stepped through the doorway, the pungent smell of cigarette smoke hit her, mixed with the musty odor of a building that had long fallen into disrepair.
Chief Wu was handcuffing the gambling boss, Laizi, while the other officers were busy restraining the gamblers.
For the moment, no one was paying attention to Wang Qiang.
Lowering his voice, Hu Wei barked,
“Which one of you is Wang Qiang?!”
“I’ll tell you!”
One of the gamblers sold out his companion without the slightest hesitation, pointing toward a young man crouching in the corner.
“That’s Wang Qiang!”
Squatting with his hands on his head, Wang Qiang’s face had gone deathly pale.
His lips trembled as he repeated over and over, “I… I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything!”
It was practically a confession.
At that instant, Jiang Xia felt the weight on her heart finally lift.
She let out a cold snort.
“Didn’t do anything? Then where’d you get the money to play Golden Flower Poker? You stole the money from Dong Aihua’s house, didn’t you?”
The moment he heard the name “Dong Aihua,” Wang Qiang’s legs gave out.
With a thud, he collapsed onto the floor.
Escorting Wang Qiang along with more than twenty gamblers, the officers marched back to Zhouying Police Station in an imposing procession.
The other gamblers were placed in temporary detention while Wang Qiang was interrogated first.
The officers also found more than four hundred yuan in cash stuffed into his pocket.
He had never imagined he’d be caught so quickly.
With the stolen money piled in front of him and the other gamblers identifying him, his resolve completely crumbled.
He quickly confessed to the entire burglary.
After signing his confession and pressing his fingerprint onto the statement, Jiang Xia finished counting the recovered money and followed Chief Wu into the reception room.
By this time, besides Dong Aihua, her second son—who had been keeping watch at the hospital—her youngest daughter, and her husband, who had hurried over from work, had all arrived.
As the officers approached, all four members of the Dong family sprang to their feet.
Four pairs of hopeful eyes stared at them eagerly, yet none of them dared to ask, afraid that the news they had just heard was too good to be true.
“Well…”
Chief Wu cleared his throat.
“The case has been solved, and we’ve recovered the money.”
The entire Dong family let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Aunt Dong, here’s the 923 yuan that was stolen from your home. Please count it and make sure it’s all there.”
Jiang Xia handed the money over.
“Thank you so much, Officer! You’ve saved our whole family!”
Dong Aihua’s hands trembled so violently that her son took the money from Jiang Xia on her behalf.
She herself grabbed Jiang Xia’s hands and shook them vigorously.
“Thank you… thank you, Officer. You’ve saved my family’s life. If this money hadn’t been recovered, I… I really wouldn’t have known how to go on.”
In the past, when something was stolen, it was considered lucky if even one out of ten victims ever got their belongings back. If not for the young woman standing before her, the money would almost certainly have been lost forever.
Words alone couldn’t express what Dong Aihua was feeling.
Overcome with emotion, her knees suddenly buckled.
“Thank you so much. I… let me kowtow to you!”
“Please don’t!”
Jiang Xia hurriedly caught her before she could kneel.
“You’ll shorten my lifespan if you do that!”
“My mother’s just overwhelmed.”
Dong Aihua’s daughter quickly held her mother up and said apologetically,
“If it weren’t for all of you, my brother’s family would have been ruined. We really don’t know how to thank you.”
“We’re police officers. Serving the people is our job,” Jiang Xia replied with a smile. “There’s no need to thank us. You should hurry back to the hospital and pay for the operation.”
It took quite a bit of persuasion before Jiang Xia finally managed to see the endlessly grateful family off.
By the time it was over, she was drenched in sweat from the heat.
She was a little tired, but her spirits were soaring, as if she’d just eaten a piece of incredibly sweet candy. Excitement coursed through every part of her body.
“Feels good, doesn’t it?”
Chief Wu was grinning from ear to ear as well.
“Being a police officer is hard work—it’s tiring and often thankless. But this is the one thing we’ve got that most people don’t. When someone thanks you from the bottom of their heart… there’s no feeling quite like it.”
“I’m pretty happy.”
Jiang Xia’s cheeks flushed slightly.
She had to admit—it really did feel amazing.
She found herself wanting to solve even more cases.
If only I could become a master detective… solving every case that came my way…
“All right, that’s enough. You’ve only just come back today, and you’ve been working nonstop without even eating. Go home and get some rest.”
The more Chief Wu looked at Jiang Xia, the more he liked her.
In less than three hours, she’d helped solve a residential burglary and busted an illegal gambling den.
It was a double victory.
A talent like this couldn’t be overworked.
“Get a good rest. Come back to work tomorrow.”
At those words, Lu Fusheng—who was busy writing up reports—instantly turned green with envy.
There were so many gamblers left to interrogate, and they were desperately short-handed.
So why was she the one being sent home to rest?
Where’s the justice in that?!
Jiang Xia had no idea someone was silently fuming behind her.
A day off?
She was more than happy to take it.
Cheerfully, she pedaled her bicycle home.
As she climbed the apartment stairs, a rich aroma with a hint of sweetness drifted through the hallway.
Braised pork.
The smell was coming from her own home.
Click.
Before Jiang Xia could even take out her key, the door swung open from the inside.
“I knew it was you the moment I heard the footsteps!”
Her mother, Zhou Mei, wore a delighted smile, though she couldn’t help grumbling,
“You should’ve told us you were back. And why did checking in for work take you so long?”
“There was a case,” Jiang Xia replied with a grin.
“I went along… and even helped solve it.”
“So our great Sherlock Holmes has finally come home?”
Her older sister, Jiang Ying, emerged from the kitchen carrying bowls of rice.
“Hurry up and wash your hands. You’re so late the food’s about to get cold.”
“Okay!”
Jiang Xia hurried off to wash up.
There were only four people in the family, and she was the youngest.
The family was close-knit, and now that she’d graduated and returned home, they’d immediately prepared a lavish meal to celebrate.
After drying her hands, Jiang Xia took her seat at the table.
“Time really flies,” someone said.
“In the blink of an eye, you’ve graduated and started working.”
Jiang Weiguo, her father, sighed with satisfaction.
“Time really does fly. Your sister’s become the head cook in the textile factory cafeteria, and now you’ve got a job too. There are four people in our family, and three of us are now permanent employees. Life’s finally getting better.”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Jiang Ying said. “Our family’s only going to do better from here.”
She popped the cap off a bottle and poured everyone a glass of orange soda.
“Come on, let’s all have a toast!”
Jiang Xia raised her glass in return before picking up a piece of braised pork.
It was rich without being greasy, melting in her mouth the moment she bit into it.
The aroma was so delicious it was almost intoxicating.
It tasted even better than the braised pork she’d had at the finest restaurants in the provincial capital.
My sister’s cooking has gotten even better…
No, more like she’s finally recovered the culinary skills she had before transmigrating.
That’s right.
From Jiang Xia’s observations, her older sister was also someone from the modern world. She had “changed souls” before the original Jiang Xia fell into the water. Whether it was transmigration or rebirth, Jiang Xia wasn’t sure, but she was fairly certain her sister had ended up with the classic “gourmet protagonist” storyline.
Either way, Jiang Xia was benefiting from it.
In those days, eating a truly good meal wasn’t easy.
With braised pork, pickled cabbage fish stew, and eggplant in savory sauce on the table, Jiang Xia polished off two large bowls of rice in one sitting.
Patting her full stomach with a satisfied burp, she returned to the bedroom to rest.
The Jiang family’s apartment was one of the newest employee dormitories allocated by the Steel Mill. It had its own kitchen and bathroom, but it wasn’t large—only about forty-five square meters, with two bedrooms and a living room.
The two sisters shared one bedroom, furnished with a bunk bed.
Jiang Xia slept on the bottom bunk.
Jiang Ying slept on the top.
The moment Jiang Xia lay down, the system’s notification sounded in her ear.
[Ding! Reputation +4.]
Current Reputation: 51/100.
How did my Reputation increase again when I haven’t done anything?
Looking at the gauge, now more than halfway full, Jiang Xia stroked her chin thoughtfully.
Was it because the pickpocket gang from the train had been talking among themselves? Or had word spread beyond them?
She couldn’t figure it out.
I wonder what I’ll get once it reaches one hundred?
She felt both excited and uneasy.
Excited because, although the system’s rewards were all related to crime, they were like a knife.
Whether they became a force for good or evil depended entirely on the person using them.
She could always use them to solve cases.
But what worried her was that the rewards were all crime-related.
Whether it was a skill or a title, using it would not only look suspicious, but each one seemed to come with some kind of side effect.
Please don’t let the system screw me over again this time…
Just as she was silently praying, Jiang Ying quietly slipped into the bedroom.
She closed the door behind her, lowered her voice, and whispered,
“Xiao Xia, can you do me a favor?”
“What is it?”
“You work at the police station, so you hear all the local news. Could you help me find out where it’s safe to set up a street stall? Somewhere the neighborhood police won’t chase us away.”
Jiang Ying continued,
“This isn’t profiteering anymore. The government allows small businesses now. Our cousin’s been back for a while and still hasn’t found a job. I was thinking he could start by selling food from a street stall. At least he’d have some income. It’s better than hanging around all day doing nothing.”
So my sister’s got the ‘food entrepreneur’ storyline…
Jiang Xia thought to herself.
Patting her chest confidently, she said,
“Leave it to me.”
A food stall, huh?
Looks like I’m going to have even more delicious meals in the future.
The next morning.
Bright and refreshed, Jiang Xia rode her bicycle to Zhouying Police Station.
“You’re Xiao Jiang, right?”
“Morning, Xiao Jiang!”
“Good morning!”
The moment she walked through the door, the community officers greeted her warmly, their attitudes far friendlier than before.
Hearing the commotion, Chief Wu came out of his office carrying a teacup.
Unlike yesterday, when he had worn a perpetual frown, he now looked at Jiang Xia with unmistakable affection.
Though… the way he looked at her didn’t seem like he was looking at a person.
It was more like he was admiring a young ox in the prime of its working years.
“Yesterday was so hectic I completely forgot—you still haven’t picked up your uniform.”
Turning toward the office, he called out,
“Old Wang, bring me the keys. Open the storeroom and get Xiao Jiang a police uniform.”
“Oh no…”
Old Wang emerged from the office looking embarrassed.
“I was in such a rush this morning that I left the storeroom keys at home.”
“Hm?”
Chief Wu frowned.
“What about Sister Chen? She handles household registration. She has a set of storeroom keys too.”
“She said yesterday that she’d be taking Xiao Liu out today to verify household registration records,” Old Wang replied. “She won’t be back until tomorrow.”
Old Wang scratched his head awkwardly.
“It’ll take me over an hour to bike home and back. How about I bring the keys tomorrow?”
Chief Wu shot him a look.
“You could’ve forgotten them any other day, but you had to forget them today? You’re holding things up!”
“Uh… how about I give it a try?”
Jiang Xia wanted her uniform now. It didn’t seem right to make someone ride all the way home just because of a set of keys. Besides, she’d already mentioned yesterday that she knew how to pick locks.
She might as well open it herself.
“Oh, right—you do know how to pick locks.”
Chief Wu slapped his forehead.
“Perfect. That padlock’s the same type as the one at Aunt Dong’s house. Give it a try.”
He led Jiang Xia over to the storeroom door.
A lock this simple…
If she couldn’t open it within three seconds, she’d be insulting the Master-Level Lockpicking skill the system had given her.
But just as professional locksmiths deliberately work a little slower so customers feel they got their money’s worth…
Jiang Xia needed to do the same.
If she opened it too quickly, people would think she was too good.
So she’d go slower.
Make it look a bit clumsy.
A little bit lucky.
That way, no one would suspect anything.
She removed a stiff wire from the bracelet on her wrist and bent the tip into a hook.
Then she took off the little ear pick hanging around her neck and inserted it into the keyhole as a makeshift tension wrench.
Holding steady pressure with the ear pick, she carefully worked the wire inside the lock.
Every so often she furrowed her brow and deliberately paused.
She stretched the process out for more than three minutes before—
Click.
The padlock sprang open.
The instant it did, the system’s notification rang in her ears.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! You successfully picked a high-difficulty lock under a police officer’s direct observation without being arrested. Free Experience +20!]
Wait… that counts?!
And the reward is this high?
One lock was worth as much as stopping twenty pickpocketing attempts!
Jiang Xia’s heart leaped.
Did I just discover a new way to exploit the system?
Suppressing her excitement, she turned to Chief Wu.
“Chief Wu, it’s open!”
To her surprise, Chief Wu didn’t look pleased that the lock had been opened.
Instead, he stared silently at Jiang Xia.
His eyes were filled with curiosity…
…and suspicion.
Jiang Xia’s heart skipped a beat.
My acting was fine…
And I deliberately dragged it out for more than three minutes.
Why is he looking at me like that?
Was it still too fast?
As she was wondering, Chief Wu finally spoke in a faint, thoughtful voice.
“Xiao Jiang…”
“What are you doing carrying a piece of wire around on your wrist?”
Jiang Xia instantly broke out in a cold sweat.
Oh no.
I completely forgot about that.
After all…
What kind of normal person carried a piece of steel wire around with them at all times?