Chapter 14

Jiang Guoping said that if it wasn't his concern, he wouldn't care, but he came to the unit early the next morning to ask for leave from his supervisor.

Building a house is a big deal. His son had a girlfriend who said she wouldn't marry him without a house, so this couldn't be delayed any longer. The factory leadership understood and approved his leave for one and a half months, even extending it to two months. Jiang Guoping didn't want to waste a moment and, after a brief greeting, returned home excitedly to set up the shed.

According to the procedure, the shed had to be set up first, and the household items moved inside. Then he would dismantle the old house himself, and after that, find masons and carpenters to rebuild it.

There was no concept of a contractor for individual house construction; it was all about labor. The number of people who came each day, how many were skilled workers and how many were unskilled, were recorded in a notebook and the wages were calculated at the end.

The homeowner had to provide lunch, and there couldn't be a lack of cigarettes and alcohol. There must be meat on the table. In the afternoon, they had to buy steamed buns, flatbreads, or rice cakes to fill the workers' stomachs.

Any missing building materials had to be bought quickly, and the workers had to be supervised closely.

They would come at around seven in the morning, take a break at noon, and finish work around six in the evening, working for only a few hours in total. If not closely supervised, a job that should take one and a half months could stretch to two months, costing thousands of extra yuan. Once the masons arrived, he couldn't leave for a moment.

In short, for the next month and a bit, he wouldn't have time to come to the unit.

Han Bo, as the deputy section chief in charge, found that there wasn't much work to manage. Any matters from higher-ups were usually sent to the factory office, which would then forward them to the security department. Sitting in the office for half a day, the phone didn't ring once. If it weren't for the union chairman Liu coming to introduce a match and the finance department's Aunt Huang coming to discuss renovations, he would have been bored to death.

Gao Changxing had been on duty at the night market until past midnight the previous night. He was supposed to start work at two in the afternoon, but perhaps wanting to make a good impression at his new unit, he came at ten thirty.

"You stayed up so late, why didn't you get more sleep?"

"At the police station, we often work overtime and don't see home for ten to fifteen days at a time. I'm used to it."

Although he didn't get promoted, he finally had a formal job with a higher salary and more regular working hours, which made his family happy. Gao Changxing was in a good mood, and his mental state was clearly better than the day before.

He had mentioned the day before that there would be a meeting today. As soon as he sat down, Yang Xiaomei came in.

"The canteen opens at eleven, we have half an hour, let's get started."

Han Bo gestured for them to sit down and formally discussed the work: "The first thing is to divide the internal responsibilities. Aunt Yang, starting today, you will also serve as the internal affairs officer of the team, responsible for attendance and finance. The guard room has two rooms, and the guards can't sleep all day, so we'll move the bed out and use it as the team office. I've arranged for two desks from the factory office; you and Gao will each have one, and you'll work there from now on.

Gao will be in charge of the team's work, police appearance, political study, and drill training. Anything required by the 'Economic Police Management Regulations' that we can do, we will do."

He was clearly focusing on the key points and not getting involved in the specific work of the team.

To be fair, the security department wasn't a police agency. If it weren't for the night market cleanup last night, the economic police team would have nothing to do and would be so idle that they wouldn't know how to pass the time.

Gao Changxing nodded, with no objections.

Yang Xiaomei didn't want to be a leader; she just wanted to work the night shift and hesitated to speak.

She had a difficult family situation, and Han Bo had already considered this, smiling and saying, "Aunt Yang, you have to work during the day and also take care of other team tasks, which is a form of overtime. As the deputy team leader, it's like 'working in place of a leader,' and you should receive a position allowance. When Section Chief Jiang left, I asked for permission, and the section will give you 100 yuan in overtime pay and 50 yuan in position allowance each month."

435 plus 150 is 585, which is what a regular cadre in the factory earns, nearly 200 yuan more than her husband, who is a township cadre. Yang Xiaomei was delighted and kept thanking him.

"This is what you deserve, no need to thank me."

Han Bo gestured for her to sit down and turned to smile at Gao Changxing, "Gao, you will also receive 150 yuan from the section. Considering that the deployment of police forces adds pressure to the team leaders of the sub-factories, each of the six team leaders will receive a 50 yuan allowance, whether they come to the night market or not."

The total salary plus the section allowance was over 500 yuan, while a formal police officer at the Public Security Bureau only earned 300 to 400 yuan, and their pay was often delayed. Gao Changxing had no complaints and wanted to say he had no objections, but the decision on pay was up to the section chief and deputy section chief, so he could only nod and smile.

"Of the remaining 1200 yuan, the section will keep 300 yuan. When we go to check on the posts, we can use it to refuel the car or buy a meal for the team. The other 900 yuan will be used as overtime pay for the night market duty, with 7.5 yuan per person, totaling 900 yuan."

Yang Xiaomei couldn't help but ask, "Section Chief Han, what about you and Section Chief Jiang?"

"Section Chief Jiang said that the police do the work, and the money is collected for the police, so he won't participate. If the section chief doesn't participate, how can I, as the deputy section chief, participate? I can't."

"But he needs to build a house, and his son will get married next year. He's not well-off."

"The section will keep 300 yuan. I can go check the posts a few times, and 100 yuan for fuel is the most. As for visitors, the security department has never had a reception task, so we don't need to entertain. The remaining 200 yuan can be used as a subsidy for various occasions, like when the house is completed, when his son gets married, or when he has a grandson. There are many opportunities."

"But what about you, Section Chief Han?"

"I don't have as many burdens as you. My current salary is enough, and I don't need it, really I don't."

He had a motorcycle, his sister and brother-in-law dressed fashionably, and his family conditions were good, which almost everyone in the factory knew. Yang Xiaomei realized this and couldn't help but smile bitterly, "A hundred or two hundred yuan isn't much to you, Section Chief Han, but it's a big help to us who earn a fixed salary."

"Relying on parents isn't a skill. Let's talk about the real issues."

Han Bo handed the remaining half pack of Yuxi cigarettes to Gao Changxing and continued, "This morning, I called the three factory managers of the silk reeling sub-factories to discuss the deployment of one police officer each. They were very supportive and even wished I would bring everyone back."

"Why?" Gao Changxing didn't want to put the cigarettes in his pocket, took one out, and put the pack back on the table.

"I was also puzzled at first, but then I learned from Aunt Huang in the finance department that there are five or six privately-owned silk reeling factories in the county, two of which are run by former employees of our factory. Private enterprises have fewer burdens, and the price of raw silk is more competitive, so the factory plans to lease the silk reeling sub-factories.

The factory managers are interested in leasing, and they see the economic police as idle staff who will require additional wages in the future. However, they have a point. Many construction sites and other units only hire one person in their fifties to guard the premises, working 24 hours a day, with a lower salary than ours."

If the sub-factory leaders see it this way, the main factory leaders will see it the same way.

Yang Xiaomei felt uncomfortable and said with a frown, "I understand now. Without education or skills, it's really tough. If the main factory is leased to private owners in the future, we might have to beg for jobs again."

"People say that scholars are useless, but actually, the most useless are police academy graduates like me, who have no special skills and are nothing without the police force." Gao Changxing deeply agreed and looked dejected.

Having a sense of crisis is good. Being able to work together is a bond, and Han Bo decided to remind them.

"Working in security is also a youth-oriented job, and we should be prepared for the worst. Not just us, but all our colleagues. Although we have long working hours, there's not much to do during the day, so we can use this time to learn. I will lead by example, studying law and taking the bar exam next year. You can sign up for self-study exams, which are recognized by the state. Choose any major you like, and it will be useful when you have the opportunity to transfer. Don't waste your time."

"I want to study accounting, and I'm also enrolled in a correspondence course for accounting."

"I want to learn driving, but it's expensive and time-consuming."

"Studying accounting is good, and learning to drive is also good. Gao, you don't need to worry about the cost or time. Driving is actually quite simple. I can teach you, and once you know the traffic rules, you can get a license directly. It costs about 800 yuan, saving you a lot. But if you want to learn to drive a large vehicle, that's a different story, and I can't help with that."

Not being promoted and only "working in place of a leader" had nothing to do with him. He was a state cadre from the start, and going to a government agency was a lateral move, not competing for a promotion. If it weren't for the higher-ups requiring the establishment of an economic police team at the silk factory, he would be sitting in the sales department on the second floor, earning a monthly income of thousands of yuan.

Having such a superior, what was there to complain about?

Gao Changxing was about to thank him when Han Bo continued, "Learning is important, but so is our main job. Currently, we have two main tasks: one is the night market duty, for which we must take responsibility. The second is the safety of night shift workers on their way to and from work. The economic environment is poor, and many young people are unemployed or underemployed, leading to various security issues.

As the weather gets hotter, they can't sleep at night and wander around. Our workers are at risk when they walk at night. I mentioned this the day before yesterday and again yesterday, but no one listened. As security personnel, we can't lack a sense of prevention."

Women are not men, and the security situation is indeed serious. Yang Xiaomei couldn't help but ask, "How do we prevent it?"

"From the factory leaders' perspective, once the workers leave the factory, it's not the factory's concern. We can't think this way, nor can we give the impression of creating problems. I plan to start tonight, organizing the police officers on night market duty to secretly protect the areas where incidents are likely to occur. The night market closes