Chapter 60.2: Journal Approved!
Forget it.
She now knew how to read feng shui, too. In the future, she could even choose a good place for her own…
Uh, no. Too many people would come digging if she picked a prime location. She didn’t want someone hauling her out of the ground after death just to make her do sit-ups. A hundred years from now, she’d rather be cremated and have her ashes scattered in the water.
Jiang Xia remained perfectly calm.
No big deal. Besides feng shui, she could now appraise cultural relics. One glance was all it took to tell whether a bronze artifact was from the Shang or Zhou dynasty.
In the future, she’d have a chance to browse antique markets, hunt for treasures, and pick up a few undervalued pieces. That would be enough to secure her financial freedom for the rest of her life.
She’d just have to find some books on the I Ching, feng shui, and cultural relics to study later, so she could give her new skills a plausible cover.
With that thought, Jiang Xia felt sleepiness wash over her. She yawned and drifted back into dreamland.
Uncle B was simply too authoritative. After learning from his lessons, even a real haunted burial chamber didn’t seem all that frightening anymore.
After all, everything had rotted away. How could that be as scary as something fresh?
Time to sleep. She could sort through everything after waking up.
…
Let’s turn the clock back to more than twenty days earlier.
The editorial department of Criminalistics, in the capital.
Early in the morning, Editor-in-Chief Zhou followed his usual routine and brewed himself a cup of tea first.
He settled into his chair.
Another day of manuscript reviewing had begun.
Hadn’t there been a few manuscripts left unreviewed yesterday?
Compared with other journals, the field of criminal investigation was certainly more specialized. However, Criminalistics was one of the country’s most prestigious publications, and forensic and criminal investigation professionals from all over the country submitted their work to them.
As for the quality…
It was, to put it mildly, wildly inconsistent.
Editor-in-Chief Zhou opened a letter and read the manuscript titled The Influence of Illness on Footprint Age Estimation word by word. He quickly reached a verdict.
There was nothing particularly wrong with the content, but the margin of error was too large, and its practical applicability was limited. It simply wasn’t suitable for publication.
He neatly wrote a standard rejection letter, set it aside with the manuscript and the author’s address, then moved on to the next submission.
“Editor-in-Chief, these dozen or so submissions all arrived yesterday.”
Amid the morning’s bustle, a newcomer walked over carrying a stack of mail. He placed it on the desk and remarked casually, “This envelope looks really thick. I wonder what they wrote to make it so bulky?”
Editor-in-Chief Zhou looked up.
Indeed, this particular envelope was a full two fingers’ width thick, nearly four times thicker than the others, which were barely half a finger’s width.
As the saying went, ‘A genuine master passes down the truth in a single sheet of paper, while a fraud fills ten thousand volumes with nonsense’.
Judging by past experience, the more useful the information, the less there was to write about. The more useless it was, the more pages it took up. With a package this bulky, there was an eighty-percent chance it was another so-called “groundbreaking masterpiece” fit only for the bathroom.
He might as well rule it out first.
With that in mind, Editor-in-Chief Zhou reached out and pulled it from the pile.
Leaning back in his chair, he casually glanced at the address first.
Changning City.
He took a knife and slit open the envelope.
Inside were two more packages.
One was extremely thin, while the other was remarkably thick. Editor-in-Chief Zhou took both out and opened the thicker one first. Inside was a large quantity of stiff paper. He pulled out the contents and discovered that they were all diagrams he couldn’t make heads or tails of.
The diagrams were circular, each marked with a number in the upper-right corner. Every one was about the size of a baby’s fist and appeared gray and indistinct. Some resembled scratches, while others looked like indentations. It was impossible to make out their full shapes clearly.
All of these drawings were done by hand?
Now that was interesting.
As Editor-in-Chief Zhou looked at the thick stack of illustrations, he began to have a vague feeling that this submission might not be worthless after all. He hurriedly took out the thinner document from the envelope and opened it.
A title immediately caught his eye.
Characteristics of Lock Marks Left by Different Lock-Picking Tools and a Unified Authentication Standard
Whoa!
What an ambitious title!
Editor-in-Chief Zhou straightened up slightly and raised an eyebrow. His eyes moved down the page.
This paper was written by Jiang Xia. I would like to thank my unit’s leadership, Liao Zhongsheng, for his support in determining the research direction and coordinating resources, as well as all department members for their hard work and dedication.
Project leader: Liao Zhongsheng.
Illustrations: Jiang Xia.
Standard verification: Jiang Xia, Li Dechang.
Assistant: Huang Xueling.
Contributors: Sun Guochang, Zhao Zhengwu, Yang Lihua.
Editor-in-Chief Zhou glanced over the full list of names before focusing all his attention on Jiang Xia.
It was immediately obvious. The others were just window dressing, their names added for appearances. Jiang Xia had done all the difficult work herself.
As for adding names to a paper… Well, everyone knew how that worked. There was no need to say more.
Editor-in-Chief Zhou continued reading.
Everything was covered, from the types of locks and their internal structures to common lock-picking tools and the shapes of the marks they left behind. The marks had even been drawn and labeled. Finally, the authors had included details of their experimental procedures and sample sizes.
They had examined a total of 476 samples and drawn more than 2,000 observational diagrams. The illustrations included in the submission were merely a portion of the full collection.
The further he read, the more astonished he became. Without even realizing it, he had straightened up in his chair. He took out his glasses and put them on, then retrieved the numbered diagrams cited in the paper and began comparing them with the corresponding illustrations.
He flipped back and forth between the pages for more than an hour before finally stopping.
Good heavens! The paper is logically rigorous, the experiments are thorough, and there don’t seem to be any problems at all!
Had he just struck gold in a pile of sand?
If he remembered correctly, the field of forensic identification based on marks left inside lock cylinders was still virtually unexplored. Yet burglary and break-in cases were extremely common. If these experimental results were accurate and the proposed standards were sound, then the practical applications of this research would be extraordinarily far-reaching!
Editor-in-Chief Zhou didn’t dare take any chances. He picked up the manuscript and headed straight to another building to find an expert reviewer.
Criminalistics had been established by the Ministry of Public Security, and its editorial office was located close to the ministry’s other departments. After the initial editorial review, manuscripts were sent to experts for a second assessment to determine which ones were suitable for publication.
“Expert Yao!”
After knocking and hearing a voice call, “Come in,” Editor-in-Chief Zhou pushed open the door. He greeted the man and quickly explained, “We’ve received a submission on forensic identification of marks inside lock cylinders. It looks to be very high quality. Could you take a look and tell me whether the findings hold up?”
“Oh? If I remember correctly, no one has researched this particular subject before, have they?”
Expert Yao put on his glasses and reached out to take the manuscript.
The author’s name was completely unfamiliar, and he’d never heard of the place listed in the return address. Yet the content was unexpectedly detailed. He read the entire paper once, then went through it two more times before suddenly reaching for the lock on his office door.
He took out his tools and dismantled the entire lock in a few swift movements. Then he removed the pins and carefully examined them under a microscope.
Only after quite some time did he finally raise his head.
“This submission should be sound.”
Expert Yao explained, “What I just observed matches these microscopic drawings perfectly. In fact, they’re practically identical!”
They really had struck gold!
“Really? That’s wonderful!”
Editor-in-Chief Zhou was visibly excited. “The scope of forensic examination of lock-cylinder marks is enormous. This submission even includes a unified identification standard and illustrated reference examples. Once it’s published, technical personnel across the country will be able to apply it directly. It could help solve a great many cases!”
But as soon as he’d finished speaking, Editor-in-Chief Zhou remembered something.
“The only problem is… the July issue has already been finalized. There’s no way to include this manuscript now. Should we wait until the September issue?”
“Wait until September? Why should we?” Expert Yao immediately objected. “Our journal doesn’t have a fixed page limit! This is an incredibly useful technique. I’ll get people to verify it on an expedited basis right away. As long as all the findings hold up, we’ll add it to the issue immediately. The sooner it’s published, the better!”
Expert Yao waved his hand decisively. He instructed his apprentice to call someone in to prepare some locks for testing, then picked up another microscopic drawing and remarked with admiration, “This author’s drawing skills are really impressive. The illustrations look exactly like photographs taken with a camera. And there are more than two thousand of them! It would probably take a year or two just to draw that many. That kind of perseverance is truly remarkable.”
There was something else he didn’t say aloud.
Anyone with this level of skill, capable of conducting such an extensive forensic trace examination independently, had to be highly competent. Someone like that should have a reputation in their professional circle. So why had he never heard of them?
It was truly strange.
Perhaps he should make some inquiries later.
In the end, the investigation into the author’s background was put on hold because a case came up. Nevertheless, Expert Yao brought in two other experts to help verify the findings, and they all agreed that the paper should be added to the upcoming issue.
And so, the submission was included directly in the July issue. The printing company was instructed to rush the printing, binding, and packaging. The finished journals were then dispatched to the provincial authorities, which would distribute them to the cities under their jurisdiction, one level at a time.
Naturally, this method of distribution wasn’t particularly fast. By the time the journal finally made its way back to Quzhou City, Jiang Xia still hadn’t had a chance to look at it. However, while she was traveling by train, the Changning City Public Security Bureau finally received its package and got its hands on that month’s issue.
At home.
Liao Zhongsheng stood by the wall, counted the days on the calendar, and let out a long sigh.
It was the eighth day since Jiang Xia had left.
I miss her.
Sigh.
Those two really had terrible luck. How on earth had they managed to run into robbers just by going out of town?
Heaven only knew how terrified he’d been when he heard about the incident from the phone call the railway police had made to Captain Duan. Those two were absolute treasures! He couldn’t afford for either of them to get hurt. For one horrifying moment, he’d felt his entire career flashing before his eyes, as though all his prospects were about to go up in smoke!
Thankfully, both of them were safe and sound.
As for the commendations and expressions of gratitude, those weren’t important.
All right, fine. A Second-Class Merit Award was certainly tempting, but even if he wanted one, he couldn’t get it himself.
Still, Jiang Xia and Lu Yixing should just forget about doing this sort of thing again. It was far too nerve-racking!
Liao Zhongsheng desperately wanted to summon the two of them back as soon as possible. From now on, he wanted to keep them practically attached to his belt, taking them wherever he went. Under no circumstances could he let them put themselves in danger again.
Unfortunately, Lu Yixing had called to say that Jiang Xia had been badly shaken by the incident and needed another couple of days to recover before returning. There was nothing Liao Zhongsheng could do about that. He could only sit alone in his office, counting the days on the calendar and hoping the two would come back soon.
Above all, he hoped they wouldn’t get dazzled by the exciting world outside and decide to stay away.
With these thoughts in mind, Liao Zhongsheng headed to the Municipal Public Security Bureau.
The moment he stepped into the corridor, he seemed to sense someone’s gaze locking onto him. But before he could locate the person watching him, Tan Bingyi suddenly appeared and called out to him.
“Section Chief Liao! You’re finally here. I was just about to find you and tell you something.”
“Captain Tan?”
Liao Zhongsheng stopped searching for the source of that gaze and turned to Tan Bingyi. “What do you need me for?”
“Oh, just wanted to let you know they’re safe and sound.”
Tan Bingyi replied casually, “You weren’t here yesterday, remember? Xiao Lu called yesterday afternoon and said they’d be coming back today. They should already be on the train by now. According to the schedule, they’ll arrive tomorrow evening, but trains are often delayed, so they probably won’t reach Changning until the morning or noon of the day after tomorrow. That’s why he asked for another day of leave for Jiang Xia. She’ll be back at work the day after that.”
“They’re coming back?”
Liao Zhongsheng immediately brightened. “That’s wonderful! As long as they’re coming back, that’s what matters!”
What did a little extra leave matter? The important thing was that they would be back in the city!
As for how long they might stay afterward…
Better not to think about it.
Just the thought was heartbreaking.
After thanking Tan Bingyi, Liao Zhongsheng continued upstairs. He pushed open the office door, only to discover that everyone had gathered together, jostling one another in a desperate attempt to get a look at something while trying to keep quiet.
“Let me see! Come on, let me see!”
“That’s me! My name’s in there too!”
“Jiang Xia really is generous. I only helped find a few locks for her, yet she included my name as well… I honestly don’t deserve the credit!”
Liao Zhongsheng stared at them in bewilderment.
“Hey, what on earth are you all looking at?”
“This month’s issue of Criminalistics!”
Trace Examiner Li was visibly more excited than usual. He picked up the open journal and handed it straight to Liao Zhongsheng, his voice trembling slightly as he said, “Jiang Xia’s paper on lock-cylinder marks has been accepted! It’s even been certified by three leading forensic trace examination experts in the field. They’ve called it one of the best in the country, saying it fills a gap in forensic examination of lock marks!”
“Oh?!”
Liao Zhongsheng’s mouth fell open, and he couldn’t close it.
For a moment, he wondered if he’d heard correctly. But he quickly realized that his hearing was perfectly fine. He hurriedly took the journal, turned it around twice, and finally flipped it over to examine the names on the cover.
[Technical Division, Criminal Investigation Division, Changning City Public Security Bureau, Lu Province.
Author: Jiang Xia.]
And directly beneath that, he’d been listed as the project leader.
Liao Zhongsheng was stunned.
To be fair, the department had indeed provided funding for the project. But Jiang Xia had been entirely in charge of it, and she’d done most of the work herself. Aside from keeping the project within the department’s circle and coordinating the supply of locks, he had contributed very little. Naturally, he had no intention of taking credit for her achievements.
Besides, as long as she listed their department as her affiliation, he would already look like a section chief who knew how to lead his people. There was no need to make a big deal out of it.
So when Jiang Xia had asked him to review the manuscript, he’d paid little attention to the matter. Even when he’d seen the title without the list of names, he hadn’t thought much of it.
Who could have imagined that she’d intended to include everyone involved—and had even given him the prestigious title of project leader?!
This was…
Far too generous of her.
Liao Zhongsheng suddenly understood what that gaze from the corner had been about when he’d first arrived.
He fell silent for several seconds.
Goodness! With such wonderful news, there’s no way I could possibly have heard about it yet, right?
Why don’t I take another stroll outside and see who comes to congratulate me?
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