Chapter 76.1: Eating
Meng Tiefeng scratched his head.
Where had Changning City dug up this kind of talent? Someone who knew a little of everything, yet somehow none of it seemed particularly related?
The earlier skills were easy enough to explain. They were all related to drawing. If Jiang Xia came from a family with some sort of artistic tradition, whether they had worked at a state-owned printing factory, a private one, or a privately run factory that had later been incorporated into the state system, then it made sense that he would have picked up those skills.
But what about feng shui, geomancy, and tomb site selection? Where had those come from?
What, did his family also have someone who performed shamanic rituals?
No, that wasn’t right. Shamanic practitioners were mostly concerned with exorcising evil spirits. This looked more like the work of a proper feng shui master.
If he knew how to read tomb sites, then he would know how to locate tombs. And if he knew how to locate tombs, then he would… Hmm.
Come to think of it, antiques and calligraphy and paintings really were all part of the same circle. Antique treasures unearthed from tombs were about as authentic as they came. So it wasn’t entirely impossible for someone who painted to also associate with antique collectors.
That made sense.
Just kidding.
This man’s skills all revolved around a single brush, and while his list of abilities covered practically everything, there was also a lot of exaggeration mixed in.
Meng Tiefeng only believed the first few entries. The rest were probably just ordinary abilities or personal hobbies—things he could perhaps talk about at length, but not necessarily do particularly well.
As he thought about it, a question suddenly crossed his mind.
Strange. Why hadn’t the forensic trace examination work that had earned him a published paper been listed first?
Had the order been mixed up?
On the other hand, that specially designed mimeograph machine for rapid duplication seemed much more immediately useful—provided the person was stationed locally. Its practical value would be enormous then.
He would have to think about how to transfer Jiang Xia over.
After all, the municipal bureau only needed to train him, whereas transferring someone to the provincial department involved considerably more factors.
Jiang Xia’s abilities were all about timeliness. The best way to make use of them would be to send him around to provide support in different locations, just like Old Chen, who was constantly traveling from place to place. In that case, transferring him here would be a bit…
Lost in thought, Meng Tiefeng set down Jiang Xia’s personal skills sheet. His gaze shifted downward, where he suddenly spotted another personal skills sheet.
Name: Zhao Zhengwu
Position: Technical Division Staff Member
Main Skills: Crime scene investigation, proficient in operating various types of cameras… skilled in preparing common explosives and gunpowder mixtures, familiar with common toxicology.
Huh???
Wait a minute. Why would a crime scene investigator whose job was to take photographs know anything about toxicology?
Meng Tiefeng froze for a moment. His brows drew together slightly as he lifted the sheet and moved on to the next person’s file.
Sun Guochang, Technical Division staff member. Forensic pathologist. Skilled in autopsies and forensic examinations, braising meat in a giant pot, firearms manufacturing, and lockpicking.
???
Meng Tiefeng fell silent. Unwilling to give up, he flipped to another sheet.
Li Dechang, Technical Division staff member. Forensic trace examiner. Skilled in searching for various kinds of evidence at crime scenes, handwriting identification, footprint analysis, distinguishing soil types and excavating earth, and lockpicking.
Meng Tiefeng felt his brain starting to itch.
A forensic pathologist who was also good at braising meat?
Tsk. Would anyone actually dare to eat something he made?
And this Trace Examiner Li—why had he listed earth excavation as one of his skills? Was he trying to say he knew how to dig up corpses? Or how to bury bodies?
Still unwilling to believe what he was seeing, Meng Tiefeng flipped to another sheet.
Tan Bingyi, Criminal Investigation Squad Leader. Skilled in directing arrest operations, proficient with firearms, basketball, and wrestling.
Chen Dong, Criminal Investigation Squad Detective. Skilled in practical shooting and male-voice choral singing.
Phew.
Looking at these two skills sheets, Meng Tiefeng slowly let out a breath of relief.
Finally! Some normal people!
See? Now this was how a skills sheet was supposed to be filled out!
The first few had gone way too far off the beaten path!
He looked back and forth through the Technical Division’s files again, his expression caught somewhere between wanting to say something and not knowing what to say.
There was definitely something unusual about Changning City’s Technical Division. He’d thought having someone like Jiang Xia was already unbelievable enough, but it turned out every single one of them had something peculiar going on!
Where on earth had they gathered all these eccentric talents?
And when they wrote down their skills, hadn’t they thought something was a little off?
Good question.
If only one person had written a list like that, it would obviously be strange. But when everyone wrote theirs the same way, then surely the problem wasn’t with me, was it?
Besides, this wasn’t some formal application for professional certification. They’d filled in plenty of skills and left hardly anything blank. That was already more than generous of them!
After making a few comments about the files, Meng Tiefeng put the matter out of his mind.
He didn’t give it much further thought.
They had all been vetted by the organization, so there was no need to worry about their conduct. As for their bizarre personal skills, they were probably either things they’d picked up through past experience or peculiar hobbies they’d developed while researching their respective technical fields.
He had to admit, though, that Changning City’s police bureau Technical Division had left him with quite an impression. One he probably wouldn’t forget anytime soon.
He took the portrait Jiang Xia had drawn from his desk drawer. After a moment’s thought, he went to the Technical Division and retrieved the Criminalistics Journal as well. Carrying both, he headed toward the deputy director’s office.
Bringing in additional personnel for the crackdown on cold cases was neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy.
Getting a police officer transferred over to help with the work was simple enough. If Jiang Xia had been an officer from Quancheng, Meng Tiefeng wouldn’t even have needed to get involved. One phone call from a squad leader under his command would have been sufficient.
The problem was that Jiang Xia was in Changning City, in another jurisdiction. And he wasn’t being brought over to run errands or serve as an assistant to the experts. That made arranging things somewhat complicated.
After all, the cold cases being reopened weren’t chosen at random. They had been screened in advance according to the areas of expertise of the incoming specialists, so that their valuable time and energy could be devoted to cases with the best chances of being solved.
So should they also select suitable cases based on Jiang Xia’s abilities?
And don’t forget, besides drawing portraits, he could also examine locks!
That would mean quite a bit of additional work for the officers under his command.
Then there were the accommodations, meals, and other benefits. The experts who came in had their food, lodging, and transportation taken care of, and the standards were quite generous. Ordinary police officers didn’t receive anything like that. They’d be lucky just to get a bed in the provincial department’s dormitory.
They couldn’t very well expect Jiang Xia to pay out of his own pocket just to come to work, could they?
The problem was that he was still too young and didn’t have much of an impressive track record to his name. Otherwise, Meng Tiefeng could simply have invited him as an expert, entitling him to the same treatment as the others. As things stood, he’d need a senior leader’s endorsement to make that happen.
With that in mind, Meng Tiefeng knocked on Deputy Director Xue’s office door.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in.”
Meng Tiefeng pushed open the door and walked inside.
Deputy Director Xue was no longer a young man himself.
He was forty-seven this year. Outside the system, that was generally the age when people were already grandparents, carrying their grandchildren around. But within the government system, he was still considered middle-aged. In fact, among officials at the department-director level, he was still regarded as a “young man,” with plenty of prospects for further promotion.
With a promising career ahead of him, Deputy Director Xue was naturally ambitious. Not only did he frequently work overtime, but he was also a decisive man who knew how to get things done.
“Oh, Meng Tiefeng. It’s you.”
Seeing who had come in, Deputy Director Xue asked, “What brings you here?”
Meng Tiefeng placed the Criminalistics Journal, already opened to the relevant page, on Deputy Director Xue’s desk. He then laid down the photograph and portrait one after another before explaining:
“Well, the annual cold-case crackdown is about to begin, and Director Chen recommended someone to me. I’ve come to ask for your opinion, Deputy Director Xue.”
Someone recommended by Chen Yongyi?
Deputy Director Xue became interested. He put down his pen and picked up the teacup beside him.
“Who did he recommend?”
“Her name is Jiang Xia. She’s a forensic trace examiner from Changning City, here in our province.”
Meng Tiefeng went straight to her two most impressive abilities.
“She recently published a paper in the Criminalistics Journal on forensic lock examination. Her expertise is quite good. She’s also skilled at portrait drawing. She can reconstruct a suspect’s appearance based on eyewitness descriptions, with an accuracy rate of around eighty to ninety percent. Director Chen has worked with her before. Together, they solved the Quzhou family murder case in just two days.”
The Criminalistics Journal?
That was quite an achievement.
Deputy Director Xue gave a slight nod and took a sip of tea.
“Her abilities sound pretty impressive. What’s preventing us from inviting her?”
It didn’t sound like a particularly serious problem. Surely it would be easy enough to resolve?
“She’s too young.”
Meng Tiefeng smiled wryly.
“Jiang Xia is only nineteen this year, and she hasn’t even been on the job for a full year. When it comes to seniority, she’s a little—”
“Nineteen? Cough!”
Hearing that age, Deputy Director Xue nearly choked on his tea. After recovering, he set his teacup down heavily on the desk and asked again, just to make sure.
“You’re not pulling my leg, are you? Someone who’s only nineteen has already published in a national-level journal like this?”
“Would I dare make something like that up?”
Meng Tiefeng instinctively reached out as if to steady him.
“I’ve confirmed it twice. That’s really her age. This young woman must be exceptionally gifted, particularly when it comes to drawing and observation. There are several thousand illustrations in this study of forensic lock examination, and every single one of them was drawn by her.”
“She’s a woman, too?”
Deputy Director Xue looked rather surprised. He picked up the journal and began flipping through it.
“That’s certainly not something you see every day.”
“Exactly.”
Meng Tiefeng nodded in agreement.
“I was startled myself when I found out.”
There weren’t many women in the police force. On top of that, Jiang Xia’s name was gender-neutral, so he’d always assumed she was a man. It wasn’t until he saw the gender listed on the form just now that he realized she was actually a young woman.
There was no need to elaborate on the prestige of the journal. After flipping through a few pages, Deputy Director Xue set it down. He then picked up the portrait and photograph, comparing the two before falling into thought.
After a moment, he spoke directly.
“Old Chen is getting protective of talented people again.”
It didn’t take much thought to understand. Jiang Xia’s particular abilities weren’t all that essential to the cold-case crackdown. However, it wasn’t often that so many experts gathered in one place. With the aptitude of a genius, she would undoubtedly have plenty to learn from them.
After considering it briefly, Deputy Director Xue gave his approval.
“I think we can make this work.”
Talent that developed this rapidly had to be nurtured. At this rate, she could produce results within a year or two. That would be far more valuable than training dozens of ordinary technical officers.
Besides, it wasn’t that the cold-case crackdown had no use for her abilities. They simply weren’t in particularly high demand.
The only real problem was finding an appropriate position for her.
After all, she was too young. Give her a low-ranking position, and she’d feel slighted, while the people under her might not take her seriously. But give her a high-ranking position equivalent to that of the experts, and some of those experts and other people might take issue with it.
“Hmm… Let’s add a specially invited position.”
Deputy Director Xue quickly came up with a solution.
“Make her a specially invited specialist. Her accommodation and meal allowances can be one grade below those of the experts, but everything else should be on the same level. And remember, solving cases must always come first.”
With the department head’s approval, everything was settled. Meng Tiefeng immediately agreed.
“Understood, Deputy Director Xue. I’ll go back and make the arrangements right away.”
“Mm. Go ahead.”
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