Chapter 045 Publicity and Investigation Team
Because of the haunting, the elderly haven't been chatting in Courtyard No. 1 lately. It can't be helped; their legs aren't good, and they can't just walk up and down the stairs to use the restroom. There are public restrooms in other courtyards, so they can chat elsewhere.
People of their age still believe in these things to some extent, and would rather walk far away to other family compounds than stay in Compound No. 1.
Just now, Jiang Nan and Zhou Zhixing, who had just got off work, felt that the yard was particularly quiet for the first time. They only looked at Old Chengtou and a few other brave old men in the public toilet. The other uncles and aunts had moved to other places.
"You and Cheng Meijuan used to be close?" Zhou Zhixing asked tentatively. At work, Sister He told him the supply and marketing cooperative had received a shipment of Dacron fabric, so they headed straight for it after work, but they were still late.
Dacron was a scarce commodity, and its arrival caused a frenzy. Jiang Nan was helpless. She wanted to ask Cheng Meijuan if she had any, as she had done before, but the girl ignored her. Jiang Nan knew with a flick of her finger that Fang Nanshan was behind this. He must have known about Sun Qiaolian's "borrowing money" last time, and he was taking revenge.
"It's okay, it's just about buying things, nothing serious. But it may not be easy to buy good things in the future." Jiang Nan sighed.
"That's nothing. Let me introduce you to some old ladies. They are all veterans in speculation and profiteering. Their connections are definitely stronger than Cheng Meijuan's." Zhou Zhixing took the responsibility.
"You just got here, and you know more than I do?" Jiang Nan teased.
"Don't you see what I did in my previous life? I was a top-notch playboy. I know everything about this."
[Host, Fan Taohua has stopped Cheng Dazhu in the grove and is discussing having Wu Chunli go to the countryside in place of Cheng Gaigai.]
Jiang Nan's eyes lit up and he nodded at Zhou Zhixing, thinking that Wu Chunli was indeed moved.
Zhou Zhixing understood, and the two of them smiled at each other. A plan doesn't have to be sophisticated, as long as it works. And look, the fish has taken the bait. Ahem, they weren't the only ones who did this. They were police officers. It was a scheme orchestrated by Jiang Mancheng, Chen Jinhai, and Chen Wanli. Chen Wanli had put aside his work to give his all to the show.
Well, they didn't know, they had no idea at all.
Back to the point, Fan Taohua's business has been particularly bad lately thanks to Jiang Nan's threats. She's being targeted by everyone, making everything difficult for her. She's so angry. She can't yell at anyone else, and she can't even hit her own daughter!
Or perhaps it's just that human nature is complex. When Fan Taohua divorced her, she was so concerned about her daughter's well-being that she insisted Wu Chunli was Wu Dachui's child. Whether that was true or not, she wasn't sure. During that time, Wu Dachui was frequently away on business, and he had a lot of people with him. And Wu Chunli looked like a spitting image of her, so you couldn't tell just by looking at her. While she was selfish and didn't want to burden her child, she also had her child in mind.
But ever since she was kicked out by her parents' home, she's been thinking about her daughter again, even thinking about asking her daughter to help her drum up business. This isn't just heartless, it's downright evil. But Fan Taohua, in order to make a good living, did it without blinking an eye. Now that business is bad, she blames her child again, beating people with real brutal force. Moreover, Fan Taohua didn't hit visible areas, but instead hit those private places like the thighs and chest, leaving Wu Chunli speechless.
Wu Chunli was so upset after being beaten that she happened to hear someone talking about going to the countryside while she was buying groceries. She gritted her teeth and decided that her life now was better than going to the countryside. At least she could be a clean and honest girl if she went there. But if she followed her mother...
When Fan Taohua heard that Wu Chunli was going to the countryside, she didn't refuse outright. Although she had paid a price to have her daughter's name removed from the Youth Educated Office, the situation was different now, and she remembered what she had seen two days ago.
That afternoon, she went to the grove behind the scrapyard to do some "business" when she stumbled upon three people not far away: two men and one woman. They seemed to be discussing something, talking and arguing, their emotions very excited. She quickly hid herself, and only then did she overhear their conversation.
I heard a man anxiously say, "Brother Da Kui, we're about to go to the countryside, how could your family change their minds now? Are you trying to increase the price? This is really not fair."
The other man, known as Da Kui, sneered twice and said in a gruff voice, "Er Gouzi, you can't blame me for this. Your family originally said you were going to the rural area near the city, so it was fine for my little Feng to go in your little Wen's place. But now you've changed your mind and said you're going to the Northwest. That won't do. The Northwest is so harsh, it's not a place for people to go. Our little Feng was spoiled when she was little at home, and she can't go and suffer that hardship."
A woman muttered a few words, sounding like Er Gouzi's wife. Fan Taohua cautiously peeked over and saw two people huddled together, secretly discussing something. Not long after, Er Gouzi gritted his teeth and said, "Two hundred. My family will pay two hundred, and let Feng go to the countryside in place of my Xiao Wen. Is that okay? If you guys keep asking for trouble, we'll find someone else. Two hundred is no small amount of money these days."
Da Kui laughed heartily, and the others, seemingly having reached an agreement, sneaked out of the grove. Fan Taohua, hiding behind a tree, witnessed the entire process. It was the first time she'd heard of this "business" of substituting labor for rural work. Two hundred! That's two hundred!
Fan Taohua rolled her eyes. Now that Chunli couldn't help her drum up business, she couldn't afford to support her if she stayed. She might as well go to the countryside. She didn't want all the money. She would give Chunli 100 yuan and Fan Taohua would take 100 yuan. It could be considered as the retirement money given by the maid. At worst, she wouldn't let the maid support her in the future.
Thinking of this, Fan Taohua looked at the girl in front of her and felt that she was still somewhat useful. She said softly, "Chunli, don't worry. I'll think of a way to get you to a place where the hardship is not so great. Don't blame me. We've been struggling to make ends meet these past few days, and I'm worried too."
Wu Chunli kept her head down and said nothing throughout the whole process.
Fan Taohua cursed him inwardly, but then she thought of Cheng Dazhu. She'd heard that the Cheng family's eldest daughter, Gaigai, had been signed up by Old Cheng to go to the countryside. Given the Cheng family's lifestyle, it probably wasn't a difficult place. If Chunli could go there on their behalf, wouldn't that be the best of both worlds? She knew Cheng Dazhu was a very generous person, usually spending lavishly. He wasn't someone who didn't care about his daughter at all, so he'd probably be willing to spend the money.
After two days of waiting, Fan Taohua showed up. After some sex, Fan Taohua naturally asked about Gaigai's going to the countryside. She said, "How could your family bear to let Gaigai go to the countryside? Didn't your family support him until he reached high school? How could you bear to let him go?"
Cheng Dazhu was also troubled by this matter. He also favored boys over girls, but in his heart, his daughter was useful. If she married well, she could help her brothers. But now, without consulting anyone, the old man had signed up his daughter to go to the countryside. Although it was in the nearby city, it was still a rural area. If she worked hard, her skin would become rough. How could she still marry well?
He impatiently straightened his clothes, glanced at Fan Taohua, and said, "You have the time to spare?"
Fan Taohua was not annoyed. She glanced at Cheng Dazhu with a charming look and said angrily, "A day of marriage is a hundred days of grace. We have been married for so many days. I am just worried about you, and you blame others."
Her eyes were full of spring, and she continued softly, "What do you think about my Chunli going to the countryside to replace Gaigai? Everyone knows everyone in this village, right? Then we can say Chunli is Gaigai. The oil field is so big, who would know? Besides, I also know someone in the Youth League Office. If you agree, I will go and do it, but..."
She twisted her hands and said with a smile, "Whenever you get things done, you can't do without this, right?"
Cheng Dazhu paused as he adjusted his shirt. He looked at Fan Taohua suspiciously and said, "Do you still have the connections? Can you get it done?"
"You're looking down on me, aren't you?" Fan Taohua threw a coquettish glance, puffed out her chest, and said proudly, "There's no man I, Fan Taohua, can't win."
Although Fan Taohua was considered average-looking in Jiang Mancheng's eyes, she was actually quite famous in the oil field. If she hadn't been born in the countryside, how could she have married a mere Wu Dachui? She would have married an official based on her looks and become his wife.
Seeing this, Cheng Dazhu began to think seriously. He was a cook and was in charge of the kitchen in the cafeteria, so he was very familiar with the leaders of the Operations Department. He had spotted a few suitable candidates in the past few days and was waiting to find out more about them so that his daughter could marry into them.
He pondered for a moment and then said, "If you can do it, I'll give you 160 yuan. How about that? It's a lot, right? This is all I have. If you can do it, then do it. If you can't, don't even think about taking advantage of this money. I, Cheng Dazhu, am not someone you can cheat."
The two men talked back and forth in the grove for a while and finally agreed on a price of two hundred yuan.
Jiang Nan listened to the entire thing. Knowing the plan was going smoothly, she stopped paying attention. The rest was just some name-changing stuff, which she couldn't handle as an out-of-towner.
Soon, half a month later, the Publicity Department of Headquarters came to the Operations Office to publicize the penalty regulations, and the entire Sixth Group was busy. Group Six coordinated publicity and archival research, while other groups went to the various residential areas of the Operations Office to investigate and verify household registration, whether registered residents matched the actual residents, and so on. The entire police station was extremely busy.
There were a total of six people from the Propaganda Department, four men and two women. They were led by a director named Song. He had a slightly balding head and always smiled at everyone he met. He was a very good person.
When he saw Director Shen, Deputy Director Lan, and Guan Shun, he greeted them all with a smile, and even enthusiastically handed out cigarettes to the publicity department colleagues of the Operations Office: "Thank you, thank you for your support for our work."
Even when meeting Jiang Nan and Zhou Zhixing, they were all "young and promising" and had a lot of words to say.
Just when Jiang Nan thought that this was an old hand in the office, Director Shen brought Lan Qingshan, Guan Shun, her and Zhou Zhixing to a small meeting. Jiang Nan then realized that this person was actually from the security department.
This is really, really good acting.
Director Song changed his smile and said seriously, "Excuse me. I don't know how well I'm doing, but I can get by. Let's get down to business. This time, we'll be going through the files of all the personnel in the Tenth Operations Office, including their families. The time is short and the task is heavy, and we're also responsible for publicity work. Shen, Lan, what do you think, how should we arrange these personnel?"
"How many people can your group spare to do the publicity?" Shen asked directly without any nonsense.
"One, the others have to look at the files. Fortunately, there are quite a few people in the Publicity Section of the Operations Office, and the publicity work mainly depends on them."
Director Song didn't say anything empty. Director Shen nodded and said, "Then we'll let Wen Qiang, Zou Li, and Xiao He take care of the publicity. Xiao He is a female comrade, so she can cooperate with the women's publicity work. Xiao Nan, Xiao Zhou, Guan Shun, Qingshan, how about we look at the files together?"
No one objected. Wen Qiang, Zou Li, and He Lin didn't know about the investigation team and didn't attend the meeting, but they all agreed. Being able to go to various brigades to spread the word was a great thing. Lunch was included, and the food was definitely no worse than in the cafeteria.
Since the work was done by employees of the former special vehicle team, the first stop for this publicity is of course the special vehicle team.
Early in the morning, the six groups split up. Wen Qiang and Zou Li went to the compound of the special vehicle team, while Jiang Nan, Zhou Zhixing and Guan Shun followed Director Song to the office building of the Operations Department to look at the files.
It's best not to move something as important as a file. If anything goes wrong, it could be very troublesome. Therefore, Director Song didn't request that the files be moved to the police station. Instead, he took his men directly to the archives room in the Operations Office building.
It was a coincidence, Jiang Mancheng was the archives manager, and because of his long service, he was the boss. However, the archives were not crowded, and with Jiang Mancheng and the other two, he was only slightly better than a commander without troops.
Despite the small number of people in the archives room, it's still quite spacious. After all, tens of thousands of files are no small amount, and they need somewhere to be stored. The archives room is nearly 100 square meters, making it a very large room. A table is set up behind the door, blocking the way. Anyone entering must register and verify their documents before being allowed in. The requirements are very strict.
Early that morning, Jiang Mancheng received an order from his office director, saying that headquarters would be sending someone to check his files and asking him to cooperate fully. This kind of thing happens every year, after all, there are still many personnel transfers within the oil field. He didn't take it seriously, until he saw his daughter.
"Xiao Nan, why are you here?" Since he had received the order, Jiang Mancheng pretended to be very diligent and sat in a daze behind the table with his colleague Yang Dazhi. Suddenly seeing his daughter, Jiang Mancheng immediately cried out in surprise.
Before the words fell, Yang Dazhi's eyes flashed over like searchlights. This little girl specially recruited into the police station actually looked like this. He'd heard Jiang Mancheng bragging a lot, and he'd heard he was even planning to recruit a son-in-law. He scanned the crowd, trying to figure out which boy he was recruiting.
"Hey, Dad, I'll help look at the files." Jiang Nan laughed, ignoring Yang Dazhi's inquiring gaze. She had been worried all the way that her father would be discovered for slacking off, but she hadn't expected him to be so prepared. As expected of someone who had been in the harem, his vigilance was unparalleled.
Zhou Zhixing glanced at his future father-in-law's workplace and lamented that he'd arrived too late. Otherwise, he'd have wanted to get a piece of this great place. Now, hey, that middle-aged man with the searchlight next to him—he's obviously a fellow traveler, and he can't squeeze out.
In front of so many people, the father and daughter didn't say much. They just exchanged a few words of greeting, registered the form, and the group of ten people were quickly buried in the ocean of files.
Tens of thousands of files were initially screened, eliminating those with low probability of problems, such as veterans and long-term tenants, and then selecting those with high probability of problems. Only then could they be reviewed in detail. Otherwise, even if ten people were to review so many files day and night, they wouldn't be able to finish.
Because of the tight schedule, Jiang Nan had to fetch lunch from the cafeteria. Of course, Jiang Mancheng gave his daughter a piece of braised pork liver on the way and watched her finish her meal before letting her go.
Everyone ate a few quick bites and then buried their heads in reading again. Jiang Nan really admired this dedication to work. Although she couldn't do it, it didn't stop her from admiring the people of this era. They were truly simple and noble.
Buried in files all day, Jiang Nan felt bored for the first time. Alas, the days of working in an office all day in her previous life were gone forever. Ever since the system came into being, she'd been out and about all day, and now, suddenly having to stay inside all day, she felt a little unaccustomed.
Reading the files is not the end. It’s half past five and everyone has to go to the police station for a meeting to share today’s gains and strive to make tomorrow’s work more focused.
After a busy day at work, Jiang Nan felt drained and even more tired than after a day of fighting outside.
Pushing the car out of the carport, Zhou Zhixing saw Jiang Nan looking listless and said with a smile, "Come on, I'll take you to meet someone."
Jiang Nan raised his eyelids and asked lazily, "Who are they? Your friends?"
"Hey, Comrade Jiang Nan, it seems you're very prejudiced against me. How can my friends be considered bad company? They're all talented young people like me, okay?"
The two of them pushed their bicycles out of the police station yard. Zhou Zhixing whispered, "Don't you want to buy some fabric? Coincidentally, I know an old lady who has some. Do you want some?"
Jiang Nan was now interested. She asked softly, "Where did you meet him?"
"Don't worry about it. Come on, follow me." Zhou Zhixing got on his bicycle and led the way.
The two soon arrived at the glass fiber reinforced plastic residential complex. Zhou Zhixing walked to a house in the southwest corner with familiarity. He knocked twice on the door. An old lady with graying hair tied up in a bun and wearing a long gown with a slanted collar opened the door. Seeing that it was Zhou Zhixing, she immediately smiled and said, "Oh, Xiaoxing, you finally remembered to come and see me."
The old lady smiled so brightly that her teeth showed, and when she saw Jiang Nan, her eyes sparkled: "Hey, are you Xiaoxing's girlfriend? Come in, come in."
She closed the door, lowered her voice, and whispered, "Xiaoxing, you came at the right time. I have some new stock. Come in and take a look."
The house was a small open space with no partitions in the middle, only about 20 square meters. Apart from a bed and a table, the rest of the space was filled with either bundles or sacks, making it difficult to find a place to step.
The old lady mysteriously untied a brown bundle and let Jiang Nan and Zhou Zhixing choose one.
As soon as the bundle was opened, Jiang Nan's eyes lit up. It was Dacron, and it had red floral patterns. It was much better than what He Lin had bought at the supply and marketing cooperative. Jiang Nan paid for it without hesitation. Although the old lady said it was defective cloth, it would definitely not affect her ability to make clothes. She was making a profit by buying it.
Jiang Nan was a designer in her previous life, and she was very good at making clothes. She smiled at the thought of making a dress.
After paying, they were about to leave when the old lady held Zhou Zhixing's hand, reluctantly saying, "Xiaoxing, you must come here often. Don't worry, I'll keep all the fabrics here for your wife. Once she's done choosing, I'll show it to others."
"Oh, that's great, you have this." Zhou Zhixing gave a thumbs up, and the old lady smiled happily.
After they left the complex, Jiang Nan asked, "You're quite talkative. How did you get to know Grandma Lan?"
"Well, that was before I even started working. Grandma Lan went to buy coal and couldn't carry it, so I helped her out. That's how we met. Don't worry, Auntie Lan is the aunt of the director of the supply and marketing cooperative. The director's parents weren't related, so Grandma Lan took care of him when he was raised. That's how she got the defective cloth. It's not a bad connection. I'm a police officer, so I have some awareness."
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