Chapter 1125: An Iron Police Officer

A green-skinned train puffing smoke sped along, guided by an endless track, clattering away.

People on the train were sitting or standing, squatting or lying down, laughing and cursing, the noise deafening. The clothes they wore were mostly the same color and shape, mostly monotonous.

Although looking at them, nine out of ten were malnourished, there was a spirit surging out of them, showing a very spirited outlook. Their voices were loud, full of confidence—they were the people who were the masters of their own house.

This was an era where the country and the people were wild in their style, an era where the big events had just ended and the road ahead was uncertain.

"Come on, we're arriving at the station soon. Those getting off, pack your things. Come, come, come, make way, make way. Tsk, brother, are you moving house?"

The conductor, Cai Xiaonian, walked slowly, checking everyone's tickets one by one, while also cracking jokes and snapping at those who didn't cooperate.

The newly appointed train police officer, Wang Xin, was also walking around the carriage.

Just then, a big rooster flew up, startling the crowd in the carriage for a moment. Wang Xin was quick-eyed and grabbed the rooster's wings. "Whose big flying chicken is this? Keep an eye on it."

Just as he was about to walk away, he saw two legs dangling in front of his eyes. He looked up and saw a man sitting hunched over on the luggage rack at the side of the carriage, and couldn't help but say irritably, "What's this? Did you buy a sleeper? Why don't you fly to the sky? Get down immediately!"

After scolding that person, Wang Xin returned the big rooster to its owner. "Get a rope and tie it up. Look, it's already flown onto someone's head."

"Yes, yes, thank you, police comrade." The owner of the chicken thanked him repeatedly.

"Impressive, impressive, caught it in one go. Truly worthy of being a policeman." Someone on the side praised him without any reason.

Cai Xiaonian cracked another joke: "Nothing fresh. His hands are for catching bad guys; catching a chicken is just a piece of cake. This is using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken."

"You're exaggerating." Wang Xin patted Cai Xiaonian on the shoulder; both were thin and tall, and the uniforms they wore were blue, looking quite harmonious.

"Wang Yan, tell me, am I right?" Cai Xiaonian looked behind.

Wang Yan was also in a blue police uniform, wearing a big-brimmed hat, looking very upright. This was the 72-style police uniform; the jacket and trousers were both dark blue, with red collar badges buttoned at the collar. Like the military uniform, the police uniform at this time didn't show rank.

On his arm was a red armband with the words "Train Police" written on it, letting people know at a glance.

At this moment, he was holding onto the back of a chair, dodging the things on the floor, and walking forward. Hearing this, he nodded with a smile. "Not a single flaw."

"Look at that." Having received approval, Cai Xiaonian spread his hands to Wang Xin, meaning the eyes of the masses were sharp.

Wang Xin looked at Wang Yan speechlessly. "How did you become like him too?"

Wang Yan waved his hand. "Stop dawdling, let's go."

Wang Xin couldn't help but smile helplessly and turned to continue walking toward the front carriage. Just as he reached the next carriage, he heard someone standing on a seat shouting.

Seeing Wang Xin coming over, the person stepped forward anxiously: "Police comrade, you must save me, my bag was touched away..."

"What touched?" Wang Xin didn't understand.

"It means stolen. The bag was stolen, that's what it means, comrade?" Wang Yan translated thoughtfully.

"Right, right, it was stolen. Police comrade, you must help me."

Wang Xin asked, "What was in your bag?"

"Three sesame cakes."

Wang Xin nodded seriously, still waiting for the man to continue saying other valuable things, but there was no follow-up, so he couldn't help but ask: "That's it? Just three sesame cakes?"

"There's also half a pack of ginseng cigarettes, and a pack of medicinal herbs. I was holding them in my arms the whole time, how could they be lost?" The man jumped in anxiety.

"You look into it; if there's anything, call me. I'm going to the front to take a look." Wang Yan patted Wang Xin on the shoulder, letting him handle the matter, while he continued to walk toward other carriages.

Clearly, this time his identity was a policeman, a railway policeman, referred to as an iron police officer, and his position was a train police officer who maintained order and handled various incidents along the way.

This identity was no surprise; as usual, his parents were both gone. His father was a railway policeman who fought with criminals on the train and died heroically in the line of duty, posthumously awarded as a martyr. His mother was weak and sickly, and passed away a few years later.

As for himself, because he was a martyr's child, he was recommended to attend police school, studied with the male lead Wang Xin, and was assigned back to continue the railway career. According to the "Living Father," he had already been working for two months. However, he had just arrived, opened his eyes on the train, and was directly thrown into work.

He had been a policeman in the new century and a Hong Kong policeman, but this was his first time being an iron police officer. For him, this was also a new experience in life.

He didn't help Wang Xin solve the problem of the comrade from the south who lost his bag containing three sesame cakes, because the probability of finding things lost on the train was truly too small. He could only make a registration and wait until the thief was caught, and if he was lucky, count this incident to sentence the thief.

Of course, Wang Xin did solve the case of the person who lost things this time. At the next stop, he caught the thief.

Since that was the case, Wang Yan had even less reason to stay there, as he himself had tasks.

A train had eighteen carriages and over a thousand passengers, but there were only three policemen maintaining order. One was a veteran, and the remaining two were the newcomers, Wang Yan and Wang Xin.

The public security in this era was clearly not good, and on a train with frequent movement of people, it was naturally even more so. Stealing things and stealing children were common occurrences.

The train they were on was a special line between Ningyang and Harbin, and it also passed through Chunlin, taking care of three major cities in the Northeast. It was a lifeline of the Northeast railway, and the passenger flow was quite large.

Moreover, this train was steam-powered, burning coal, with a speed of only forty-something kilometers per hour. Ningyang was six hundred kilometers away from Harbin, galloping on the tracks without stopping, taking twelve hours. If you added the stops of varying lengths along the way, it was basically a day and a night.

The passengers on the train were from the south and the north, a mixed bag, and it was already chaotic. Add to that such a long time, as well as people getting on and off, theft was almost inevitable.

At this time, there was no information technology for ticket checking at the station, and there were no surveillance cameras on the train. There wasn't even air conditioning in the train. During the late spring cold, it wasn't cold in the train; it was just people huddling together to warm up. The sanitary conditions in this era were also poor, and there were all kinds of smells in the train.

Under such conditions, if you wanted to do the best job of public security work and ensure the safety of the people's lives and property, all you could do was walk back and forth in the carriage.

Let everyone on the train see the police, let all kinds of criminals be wary, and not dare to act rashly. But in reality, things were still lost, and children were still lost.

However, compared to doing nothing at all, it clearly had some effect.

They were about to arrive at the station, and the people on the train were quite restless. Those who knew each other and those who didn't were chatting and talking enthusiastically. People in the Northeast were relatively extroverted and very quick to get familiar. It was like people in Tianjin who wouldn't let a conversation drop, or people in Beijing who loved to chat—people in the Northeast were actually not much different.

Especially at this time, transportation wasn't convenient, and material goods weren't developed. Those who could travel far were more or less worldly. In this journey, they naturally wouldn't be lonely; they could really talk for the whole way.

Wang Yan quickly threw himself into his new work.

"We're arriving at the station soon. Pack your things well. Things were lost in the carriage ahead; check if your things are missing." He shouted loudly, his eyes scanning everyone sharply.

"Police comrade, why don't you catch the thief then?" Someone bold enough took the words to tease Wang Yan.

This was truly bold. Although civilization in law enforcement was advocated in this era, clearly, the supervision of various items and the quality of public officials were uneven. In actual work, it was also very wild.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be the case that in the new century, there would occasionally be players with bags that looked like they had three tons of water in them, making people wonder how that kind of person became an official...

"If I catch a thief, I'll be credited. If I'm credited, I'll be commended. Don't you think I want to catch a thief? It's just that I can't catch them. Do you think the thief has words written on his face, and I can catch him whenever I say so?"

Wang Yan wasn't annoyed, responding to the passenger's words, scanned the circle, and continued toward the next carriage.

It was the same words, the same actions, observing everyone within sight. His information processing ability was very strong, observing multiple people and analyzing them at the same time. Based on his understanding of various occupations, the current social situation, and his understanding of people, his eyes were the ruler...

With this look, he made a discovery.

It was a middle-aged man of medium build, thin and dry, with messy hair, about forty years old. He wore a large coat and held his stomach with both hands. When he met Wang Yan's gaze, he looked away instantly, his eyes wandering, not knowing where to look. Then he pretended to talk to the person next to him, saying he wanted someone to hold his seat while he went to the bathroom.

Just as he left his seat, Wang Yan had already walked quickly to his side.

"This comrade, wait a moment."

"Police comrade, I'm in a hurry to go to the bathroom, I have a bad stomach, oh..." The man hunched over, holding his stomach with one hand and waving his other hand repeatedly, even wanting to push Wang Yan away.

"I don't think your stomach hurts; it looks like you have something."

"Oh, police comrade, my stomach really hurts, you can't wrong a good person. I... ah... why are you..."

Just as the man was speaking, Wang Yan had already made his move, hooking his shoulder, and when he let go, he took a leather bag directly from under his clothes.

This made the man swallow all the quibbling he wanted to say, and he started to argue instead.

"Police comrade, I picked this up. Picking up things isn't a crime, right?"

"Oh my, that's really interesting. According to you, if I pick up your mother and give you a father, and reluctantly recognize you as a son, that's not a crime either?" Someone couldn't stand it and ruthlessly roasted him.

Wang Yan shook his head with a laugh. "Did you hear that? Who would believe you? Alright, shut your mouth. If you get beaten, don't say I didn't stop them."

Seeing people eager to try, the man swallowed his saliva, wisely closed his mouth, and was pressed by Wang Yan to the dining car. Opening the leather bag, he really saw the sesame cakes, cigarettes, and medicinal herbs inside.

This wasn't Wang Yan stealing credit; it was really the credit bumping into him.

He let Cai Xiaonian, who was passing by, pass the word, and not long after, Wang Xin brought the passenger who lost the bag over.

"Take a look, is this your stuff?" Wang Yan said to the passenger.

"Oh, yes, yes, it's mine, it's mine. Look, here's my introduction letter." The passenger excitedly took the bag.

"Alright, now your sesame cakes are found."

"Hey, this isn't an ordinary sesame cake." The passenger took out the sesame cake and took out a roll of money from it. "This is RMB-filled."

Wang Xin suddenly realized: "I was wondering why you were so anxious about those few things. You're really good at hiding; I'm enlightened."

"So what if I can hide? It was still stolen by him." The passenger glared at the thief who was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and squatting on the ground.

The latter was dejected, not daring to look at everyone's eyes. He was probably regretting it too; if he had known to flip through the bag, he would have taken the money and thrown the bag away, and he wouldn't have been caught. It's just a pity there's no regret medicine...

The passenger pushed the sesame cake to Wang Xin, but Wang Xin hurriedly waved his hand: "No, no, no, we have discipline; we don't take a single needle or thread from the masses."

"I don't know that, I'm just treating you to a sesame cake. As for the money, keep it for me; I'll feel at ease if it's with you. This money is for marrying a wife; I'm here in the Northeast to propose."

"Oh, then you've come far enough to propose."

"The elders in the family are good brothers; the arranged marriage was decided years ago."

Wang Xin curiously started chatting; he was an extroverted chatterbox, spoke bluntly, and was very willing to chat.

After the veteran iron police officer in charge of the two came to handle the situation, the train arrived at the station. They got off the train and handed the thief over to the station's police station. That counted as finishing the case.

"You're impressive; you've caught several thieves recently." Wang Xin's envy was written all over his face.

Wang Yan took out a pack of Hongtashan cigarettes, shared one with Wang Xin, lit one for himself, and took a puff before replying: "Strictly speaking, none of the ones caught were proper thieves. They were just ordinary people who were greedy, acted on impulse, and had no technical content. The one I just caught—he looked at me with wandering eyes and was nervous as hell."

"Must it be those who use blades to cut bags?"

"There are all kinds of people. In the old society, although these people were in the lower nine classes that couldn't be brought to the table, they were also people of the stealing sect who had gates, factions, masters, and unique skills. Stealing is different from stealing. Do you think they only know how to cut bags? They know how to sing, how to do some tricks, attract people to watch the fun, and then their accomplices keep watch and steal. Teamwork—these people are the difficult ones. Catching one of these is more useful than catching ten who act on impulse."

Wang Xin looked down on him: "Mysterious and god-like, all the dregs of the old society are brought up, and what stealing sect. Brother, it's long been New China. If you're a dragon, coil for me; if you're a tiger, lie down for me. I'll catch them to death."

Wang Yan shook his head with a laugh. This was more appropriate for him, Wang Mou, to say. Wang Xin, this kid, was simply a newborn calf not afraid of a tiger...

He wasn't lying; there are indeed many tricks to being a thief, and they come in all sorts of forms. The methods in the movie *A World Without Thieves*, directed by Feng Kuzi, are certainly exaggerated, but the reality of the situation is indeed like that.

The two of them, with cigarettes in their mouths, stood by the train, watching the passengers getting on and off, helping to maintain order, and chatting aimlessly like this.

After a while, the train whistled, steam sprayed, and it slowly accelerated with a clatter, heading all the way north... ===== CHAPTER 1126 =====