Diary of a Criminal Investigator

On the way back, Lu Chuan was looking a little tired.

The provincial department’s major crimes task force was like the fire brigade of the entire provincial public security system—wherever there was a big case, a major case, an unsolved case, the task force had to be dispatched.

But the task force is made up of people too. Over the past year or so, they had cracked more than a dozen major and critical cases in a row.

To be honest, it was pretty exhausting, and on top of that everyone still had cases to handle in their own units.

Back at the Haizhou City Public Security Bureau, Lu Chuan was one of the key backbones among the backbones.

Solving big important cases in Haizhou City always depended on him.

So naturally, he had even more on his plate.

Still, the more work you do, the more experience you gain.

Although Lu Chuan had been on the force for less than three years, the number of cases he’d been through already exceeded what many veteran detectives saw in a lifetime.

Haizhou City had been relatively quiet lately, with no major cases coming up.

Compared with the year before last, the incidence of major crimes this year was a bit lower.

Overall, the pressure of solving cases had eased slightly, but that didn’t mean the workload had gone down.

After Lu Chuan left the Criminal Investigation Team, a lot of work there seemed to have gone back to how it used to be.

Some cases that had been easy to crack when Lu Chuan was around were now taking more time for some reason.

Sometimes, out of sheer helplessness, Qin Yong would call Lu Chuan back to help with some crime scene work.

When it came to crime scene work—fingerprint analysis, bloodstain examination, footprint identification and so on—Lu Chuan was unquestionably sitting in the number one chair in all of Haizhou City.

By the time Lu Chuan arrived in Haizhou City it was already noon, just in time for lunch.

He went to the Criminal Investigation Team to pick up Forensic Doctor Shen, and the two headed straight for Chenguang District.

Lu Chuan’s mother had made dumplings, filled with chive and egg.

Lu Chuan had loved this ever since he was a kid.

"Mom, did you put dried shrimp in?"

"I did, I did, hurry up and wash your hands and eat."

A mother knows her son’s habits, of course. In Lu Chuan’s words, the soul of chive-and-egg dumplings doesn’t lie in the chives or the eggs, but in whether or not you put dried shrimp inside.

It has to be dried shrimp from the cold offshore waters near Haizhou, caught and sun-dried by the fishermen themselves—that has the best flavor.

The output of this kind of dried shrimp was particularly small. When Lu Chuan was little you could still buy them on the street, but now fishermen basically just catch them to eat at home.

Because Lu Chuan was so fond of them, Lu Yao had contacted quite a few fishermen to buy this stuff specially.

It was pricey, but absolutely authentic.

As soon as the dumplings came out of the pot, that unique aroma drifted out.

Lu Chuan usually wasn’t particular about food—he ate whatever was there.

But he was very particular about how he ate these chive dumplings his mother made.

You couldn’t eat them, or even touch them, right after they came out of the pot piping hot.

You just left them on the plate to cool a little, and waited until the skins and filling stuck together before you started eating.

Lu Chuan had another habit: when eating chive-and-egg dumplings, he didn’t use vinegar, only soy sauce.

He would put some chicken essence into the soy sauce and add a bit of dumpling broth.

The taste wasn’t overly salty, but very fresh.

He’d pick up a dumpling, roll it around in the sauce once, then pop the whole thing into his mouth and bite down so it burst.

"Hah, delicious!"

Everyone seems to have a particular way of eating some specific food. Lu Chuan’s mother had no idea why her son had developed this habit just for chive-and-egg dumplings.

Neither she nor Lu Chuan’s father had this habit.

So he definitely hadn’t picked it up from them.

And among the other members of the Lu Family, nobody seemed to have this habit either.

Lu Chuan ate quickly—twenty dumplings down and he was basically full.

After resting a while at noon, he drove Forensic Doctor Shen back to the Criminal Investigation Team; then instead of going straight back to the High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team, he went directly to the City Public Security Bureau.

He had just returned from the major crimes task force and needed to give Song Jiangguo a brief report on the situation.

During the investigation of this case, Song Jiangguo had called him.

All the members of the major crimes task force had gotten calls from their own bureau chiefs.

Because the province attached special importance to the case, it had issued a formal notice.

Song Jiangguo hadn’t expected Lu Chuan and the others to crack it so quickly.

"You did a good job on this case. Before you even got back, Director Li Donglin from the provincial department had already called me to thank our Haizhou City Public Security Bureau for supporting the task force’s work."

For Song Jiangguo, having Lu Chuan in the provincial major crimes task force was actually a good thing.

As director of the Haizhou City Public Security Bureau, Song Jiangguo was responsible for more than just solving cases; he had to manage everything. One of the most important aspects was talent cultivation.

Obviously, Lu Chuan was the most outstanding detective Song Jiangguo had fostered during his tenure.

Every time Lu Chuan distinguished himself in the task force, it was essentially the Haizhou City Public Security Bureau making a contribution.

And that was very beneficial to Song Jiangguo’s own career.

"Director Song, you’re too kind. This is just what I’m supposed to do."

Lu Chuan simply loved being a detective.

Otherwise, with his family background, he wouldn’t need to be out here grinding.

He wasn’t in it for the money either.

In these two or three years as a cop, the salary Lu Chuan had earned was less than the change he’d donated away.

So to be honest, Lu Chuan didn’t really seek promotion in terms of rank.

He went with the flow—if he got promoted, great; if he didn’t, so be it. As long as he could solve cases, that was what mattered.

The leaders like Song Jiangguo were well aware of this.

After all, given the relationship between Qiangsheng Group and the city, and its influence in Haizhou City, if they really wanted to pull some strings, Lu Chuan wouldn’t be in the position he held now.

The fact that Lu Chuan had the position he did now could basically be credited to his own hard work.

In fact, given his ability and merits, if it weren’t for his short time in service, Lu Chuan could long since have filled a higher post.

"By the way, the Criminal Investigation Team in Tianshan District had a case about a week ago. They haven’t found any leads yet. The Tianshan District sub-bureau filed a report with us, and I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve decided not to hand this case over to the Criminal Investigation Team at the city bureau."

"We’ll assign the case to your High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team for investigation, and Tianshan District’s Criminal Investigation Team will assist. What do you think?"

Lu Chuan paused for a moment.

A case from another district, assigned to him?

Lu Chuan himself didn’t really care whether it was "okay" or "not okay"—a case is a case—and the New City District Criminal Investigation Team didn’t have any major cases at the moment anyway.

The key was whether Tianshan District would be willing.

After all, they were at the same level.

"Director Song, I don’t have any problem with it. I’m just worried that..."

"Haha, you don’t have to worry about them. If they know you’re taking over this case, they’ll be overjoyed; they definitely won’t object."

"Alright, here’s what we’ll do. Go back and get some rest this afternoon. Tomorrow morning I’ll have the Tianshan District Criminal Investigation Team captain come find you."

With the director saying that much, Lu Chuan naturally wouldn’t refuse.

That afternoon, Lu Chuan called the squad to confirm there was nothing pressing, then went home to catch up on sleep.

He still had a battle to fight tonight.