Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

While eating, Song Wanqing suddenly put down her chopsticks, took out a red envelope from her apron pocket, placed it on the table, and pushed it towards her.

The red envelope was bulging, not the thin piece that could be easily stuffed into an envelope.

Jiang Ruolan was stunned for a moment. She was already over thirty years old and hadn't received a red envelope in many years.

She reached out to take it, and the red envelope was much heavier than she had expected. When she opened it, she found a thick wad of cash inside.

"Mom, what's wrong—"

"New Year's money." Song Wanqing picked up her bowl, took a bite of rice, and spoke calmly, as if she were just saying how nice the weather was. "You're all alone in Yi'an, and there are many things that will cost you money. Don't be stingy; eat and dress as you please. Your father left me some money when he passed away, and I can't spend it all by myself. You can take it; consider it a gift from your father."

Jiang Ruolan looked at the stack of money, feeling as if something was stuck in her throat.

She didn't refuse; she simply folded the red envelope carefully and put it in her pocket.

After a long while, she finally spoke, her voice a little softer than usual: "Mom, I'll be back on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. I'll eat well at home these few days. I'll eat whatever you want to cook, and I'll wash the dishes afterward."

"That's more like it." Song Wanqing lowered her head, picked up a dumpling, took a bite, and said in a muffled voice, "It's mutton filling, and the saltiness is just right."

Jiang Ruolan later learned that the mutton and carrot dumplings were made by her mother at four in the morning. On New Year's Eve, she watched the Spring Festival Gala alone in front of the TV until midnight. Her neighbor's son and daughter came back for the New Year with their grandchildren, and their laughter came through the wall. She sat in the living room for a while and turned up the TV volume a few notches.

Song Wanqing didn't mention a word of these things to her.

She heard it from her neighbor, an older woman—on the second day of the Lunar New Year, her neighbor came to visit and told her with a smile, "Your mother was really looking forward to your return. She watched TV alone until late into the night on New Year's Eve, and got up before dawn the next day to chop filling."

She was peeling an apple in the kitchen when she heard those words, and the knife paused on the apple peel for several seconds.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the provincial department held its first departmental meeting of the new year.

Jiang Ruolan, as the director of the Yi'an Municipal Bureau, attended the meeting and sat in the last row of the conference room, with a report on Yi'an's experience in front of her.

At the meeting, the director announced that the provincial department had decided to promote Yi'an's "systematic source clearing" model throughout the province, requiring public security organs in all cities and counties to conduct thorough investigations into cases involving organized crime and gang-related activities, and to simultaneously promote industry rectification and grassroots governance.

Starting this year, the screening of old cases involving organized crime and gang-related activities across the province will be fully rolled out with reference to the standards of Yi'an. The Provincial Department has set up a special office under the Criminal Investigation Corps, with Zhou Pei serving as the director of the office.

"The experience of Yi'an proves one thing - cracking down on organized crime is not just about arresting a few people, the key is to turn over the soil that breeds organized crime and expose it to the light."

The director stood at the podium, his gaze sweeping across the entire conference room, finally settling on Jiang Ruolan in the last row and corner. "Comrade Ruolan has made outstanding contributions in this regard. Now, let's invite her to introduce the specific methods she has employed."

Jiang Ruolan stood up, without her notes, and walked to the podium.

Her gaze swept calmly across the audience, lingering for a moment on Zhou Pei's face before she spoke.

Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the conference room could hear her clearly:

"Distinguished leaders and comrades, Yi'an's approach can be summarized in three sentences: starting with individual cases and avoiding a campaign-style approach to full coverage; investigating the protective umbrellas and not treating organized crime as an isolated phenomenon; and carrying out industry-wide rectification in tandem to ensure that governance does not remain superficial."

However, to promote these practices throughout the province, several bottlenecks need to be addressed.

The most prominent issues are insufficient police force and outdated technology at the grassroots level, especially in remote counties and districts, where some police stations do not even have a decent investigation device.

During special campaigns, the short-term gains can be made up for by concentrating police forces, but once the campaign becomes a regular practice, it must be supported by systematic capacity building.

She took a USB drive out of her pocket, plugged it into the computer, and a form popped up on the screen.

The table lists the handling status of more than 300 backlog cases identified by Yi An in the past two years—how many were solved, how many were closed, how many were suspended, and the reasons for each suspension.

Each number is followed by a detailed note, and each note points to a specific procedural loophole or institutional shortcoming.

Her speech contained not a single slogan or adjective; it was entirely based on data and solutions.

In the end, she concluded her speech with one sentence:

"The value of promoting the Yi'an model lies not in what Yi'an did right, but in what mistakes Yi'an made and what setbacks it encountered. These are the things that other cities and counties in the province need to understand most. Thank you."

The meeting room was quiet for a moment, then the director led the applause.

Zhou Pei sat in the second row, clapping and nodding slightly at her.

After the meeting, he caught up with Jiang Ruolan in the corridor and shoved a document into her hand:

"I didn't have a chance to tell you at the meeting earlier—the Provincial Organization and Establishment Commission has approved the upgrade of the Yi'an Municipal Bureau to a deputy-department-level institution starting this year, and the Shiqiao County Bureau under its jurisdiction has been upgraded to a full-fledged division-level institution."

The staffing has been expanded, funding increased, and more positions added. The personnel and equipment you requested will gradually be in place starting this year. The director's intention is for you to continue serving as the director of the Yi'an City Bureau, with your rank simultaneously adjusted to deputy director-general level.

Jiang Ruolan took the document, flipped through a few pages, then closed it and looked up at Zhou Pei.

Zhou Pei felt a little uneasy under her gaze: "What's wrong? Not satisfied?"

"No. I was just thinking about something—Shen Wangshan once said that the officialdom in Yi'an had been protecting him for thirty years. Now that umbrella has fallen, but the framework that supported that umbrella—insufficient grassroots capabilities, an unsound supervision mechanism, and chaotic industry management—cannot be solved by arresting a few people."

The staffing has expanded, funding has increased, and the number of positions has increased, but if the system doesn't keep up, Yi An, no matter how abundant its resources, will just be an even bigger empty shell.

She returned the documents to Zhou Pei, saying, "I'll go back and write a detailed list of needs. Personnel and equipment are just the basics; what I need are systemic things—a cross-departmental information sharing mechanism, independent case-handling authority for grassroots police stations, and a tiered training program for criminal investigation technical personnel. Please submit these to the department for me."

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