Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 149 Comrade Lao Yu has a story
Zhang Chao suddenly realized, and thought to himself that he had come to the right place. How could he have imagined such details without experiencing them personally?
Zhang Chao immediately said, "I'll park the car outside now."

Then, ignoring Director Xia's obstruction, he immediately started the car in the yard, drove out of the alley, found a small parking lot, parked it, and then walked over.

When I walked back to the office, the woman with the piercing voice had been taken to a small office. Although the door was closed, I could still hear her voice piercing my eardrums from time to time.

Zhang Chao asked Director Xia, "Do all the people who come here to do business have this attitude?"

Director Xia waved his hands and said, "It's just an isolated incident. If it were all like this, wouldn't our institute be like a flower-fruit mountain?"

Then he led Zhang Chao into an office where four policemen, three men and one woman, were sitting. They all stood up when they saw Director Xia come in. Director Xia said, "This is Zhang Chao, a great writer. Yanshi University asked him to come to our station to experience the daily work and life of a 'patrolman'."

Zhang Chao greeted everyone and said, "I'm here to learn from you. Just do what you normally do and treat me as invisible."

An older male police officer stepped forward and said, "Welcome, welcome. My name is Yu Zhandong, and I'm in charge of community patrols. This is Kuang Lijun, this is Li Kaining, this is Xu Zheng, and this is Ling Danlei. The other two just went out on patrol."

The police officers who were called took the initiative to greet Zhang Chao. Kuang Lijun and Li Kaining were in their 30s, Xu Zheng looked younger than 30, and Ling Danlei was even younger, looking like she had just graduated.

Director Xia said: "Old Yu has worked in our institute for more than 20 years. He knows this area very well. If you have any questions, just ask him."

Zhang Chao said: "Just don't find me annoying."

Yu Zhandong said: "No, no, it would be great if a writer could come and learn about our real life."

Ling Danlei also said: "That's right! Otherwise, people who don't understand will think we have nothing to do all day long!"

Director Xia glared at her, and Ling Danlei shut up tactfully.

Next, everyone cleared a space in the corner for Zhang Chao to put down his laptop and helped him connect to the Internet. Zhang Chao's one-month experience of life in a grassroots police station officially began.

Grassroots police officers do not have so many exciting police and criminal stories. Instead, their work is full of busyness, triviality, and even repetition and boredom.

As it was approaching noon, Zhang Chao saw that everyone was getting busier and busier, constantly answering the phone, making calls, preparing materials, going in and out, without a moment's rest.

At 12 noon, it was finally time for lunch break. At this time, only two police officers, Yu Zhandong and Xu Zheng, were left in the office. The others had gone out on patrol and had not returned yet.

Yu Zhandong took Zhang Chao to the institute's small canteen for a simple lunch.

Zhang Chao ate his noodles while asking, "How many police reports do you receive every day?"

Yu Zhandong said: "When it's less, there are 20 to 30 cases, and when it's more, there are 50 to 60 cases."

"What are these cases?"

"Most of them are not considered 'cases'. They catch chickens, birds, and sometimes geckos. If a cell phone is lost, they call the police and ask us to find it. Another time, an old lady lost her dog and asked us to find it."

"did you find it?"

"I did find it, but I only found 5 kilograms, and they were ripe and fragrant."

Zhang Chao almost spit out a mouthful of noodles. He finally stopped laughing and asked, "Do you feel that this kind of work is different from your ideal when you first became a police officer?"

Yu Zhandong thought for a while and said, "When I was in the police academy, I wanted to solve cases, solve major cases, and catch more bad guys. I handcuffed killers, drug lords, and KB elements one by one. Later... Oh, I won't say it. But I never thought I would work as a "local police officer" for 20 years. But then I realized that it is not necessary to do big things to be glorious. I think it is also glorious to do ordinary practical things well."

Xu Zheng, who was eating with us, concluded: "Those who are good at fighting don't have great achievements!"

But Zhang Chao had a question in his mind, but he didn't ask it.

In the afternoon, Yu Zhandong led Zhang Chao to patrol the area, explaining the situation as they walked:
"The situation here is actually very complicated. On the one hand, there are cultural relics such as the Bell and Drum Tower, the Imperial College, and the Confucius Temple, and on the other hand, there are all those old alleys. All kinds of illegal construction and random wiring are really too common.

If a fire breaks out here, not only will the common people suffer, but also the old cultural relics and old buildings will be lost. The ventilation in the hutong is poor, and in the summer some people sleep without closing their doors to keep cool. In the winter, they light stoves to keep warm.

Therefore, we focus on three aspects: theft prevention, fire prevention, and gas poisoning prevention.”

Zhang Chao asked: "Is it mainly through publicity and visits?"

Yu Zhandong said: "It's not enough to just talk, you have to do it. In the summer, when we go to the alleys to check at night, we have to help the neighbors close their doors when they sleep with their doors open. In the autumn, leaves fall all over the roofs, and Beijing is dry, so sparks will catch fire, so we have to help sweep the fallen leaves from the roofs.
In winter, I check stoves and chimneys in every household. I help install chimneys for those who don’t have them, and clear blocked chimneys.

As a "local police officer", you have to treat the people like family and make them trust you, so that you can do your job well. "

Yu Zhandong was not exaggerating at all. As he patrolled the alley, residents greeted him warmly from time to time along the way.

Zhang Chao listened and took notes. This was completely beyond his life experience in two lifetimes. Wherever he lived for a long time before, whether it was Changfu, a small county in the south, or Shenzhen, a representative of modern cities, or the Yanda faculty and staff community where he currently lived, he generally did not see such scenes.

However, in this area, the job of the local police is to maintain such a presence in order to maintain order and safety.

When the two passed by a courtyard, they heard a noise from inside, and it was obvious that someone was arguing. Yu Zhandong hurried in, and Zhang Chao hurriedly followed.

After entering the courtyard, I found that it had actually become a large compound with no less than seven or eight families living in it. The original courtyard was almost completely occupied by various structures, leaving only a narrow aisle filled with an indescribable stench.

The quarrel was between a tall, fat middle-aged woman and a thin old man. When the old man saw Yu Zhandong coming in, he quickly grabbed him and said, "Old Yu, you have to make the decision for me. We pay the electricity bill according to the rules, but this woman insists that I pay an extra 6 yuan every month."

The middle-aged woman also started to yell: "Who told you to buy a big refrigerator? Why should I pay for the extra electricity?"

The old man shouted, "You are just jealous! If you have the ability, go and buy your man a big refrigerator too!"

After listening for a long time, Zhang Chao finally figured out the clue:
Several households here share one electricity meter and share the electricity bill. But the old man's family replaced a large refrigerator last month. As luck would have it, when the electricity bill came out that month, it was 6 yuan more than before. The middle-aged woman decided that the extra money was spent on the large refrigerator, so she asked him to pay an extra 8 yuan every month in the future...

The two families were both quite loud, and each of them had several other families to support them. For a while, there was chaos and Zhang Chao was so confused by the noise.

But Yu Zhandong was neither anxious nor annoyed, and he took his time. He first gradually calmed the emotions of the two families, and coaxed the few families who had come to join in the fun back into the house. Then he went to the old man's house to look at the new big refrigerator, especially the model and power.

After coming out, he explained to the middle-aged woman and others: "This new refrigerator uses new technology. It looks big, but the power consumption is lower than the old refrigerator..."

After the dispute was settled, Yu Zhandong walked out of the courtyard surrounded by the crowd. The old man held his hand and kept thanking him.

After turning a corner in the alley, Zhang Chao's doubts deepened - no matter in terms of quality or ability, Yu Zhandong should not stay in such a position until he is about to retire.

Considering the sigh he made during lunch, there must be some story behind him!
(End of this chapter)