Chapter 820: Return

The man's name was Luo Wencheng; after the investigation team announced their findings, he fell into a daze for a while, and Wang Yan comforted him for some time.

Luo Wencheng already knew who Wang Yan was—there were many online reports about Wang Yan, and he had relatives living in Bali River who he specifically called to verify the credibility of Officer Wang.

He knew Wang Yan was wealthy and a decorated police officer with outstanding merit, having received a first-class commendation. From his relatives, he learned that Officer Wang truly served the people—even resolving labor disputes for his relatives and helping them obtain property certificates. Rumors even claimed Officer Wang had arrested the son of Ping'an City's richest man; though unverified, no smoke rises without fire—the more they tried to suppress it, the more people believed it.

This was normal. People no longer trusted official government announcements, yet believed gossip—that was human nature.

So after lingering in a daze for a while, he left the hospital—he believed the results.

Wang Yan was not one to bully people; he sincerely apologized to the female surgeon, Dr. Fang, and explained his intentions.

The female doctor was not petty; she understood Wang Yan's point—that her word alone wasn't enough, an investigation had to be conducted. Though it affected her to some degree, Wang Yan had already resolved it: he brought her issue to the Third Hospital's Party Committee and helped eliminate the hidden risks. Whether there was a problem was one thing, but whether it had been investigated was another—that could affect your future.

On the other hand, there were no hospital rumors. Saving lives was never an issue—hospitals deal with death daily. But saving a life and causing even a small stir inevitably drew gossip, making it temporary talk. There was some impact, but minimal: after joint investigations by the municipal and district health bureaus, and with our hospital staff participating, they confirmed she was upright and principled.

After calming Wang Shouyi, it seemed no further problems would arise, but to ensure no additional troubles emerged, Xia Jie stayed at the hospital for two more days.

She watched the hospital's small gate for two days, seeing only Wang Shouyi come to care for the child, with no other unusual behavior—confirming he wouldn't kill, securing Qiang Guanzhi's family, saving Zhu Liming's life, preventing Wang Suo from suffering physical decline due to grief over his old friend's death—she accomplished several good deeds at once, earned a little virtue, and only then did Officer Wang resume his daily life.

"He's still breathing," Luo Wencheng shook his head and laughed. "We're not joking here—what's the foundation of this Siwaihe method? It requires conditions like his: money, ability, stubbornness, narrow shoulders—who else is like him? It's fundamentally not universally applicable."

This commendation was low-key in scale; though decorated lavishly, the attending leaders were of lower rank—only the Municipal Bureau's Liang Ju and one vice-director, plus the branch's Song Ju and vice-director, and other officials arrived. Propaganda and reporters from the city and district also came in large numbers, yet the Siwaihe Police Station's front courtyard wasn't crowded at all.

"Achievements are achievements—you must be fact-based, Comrade Wang Yan."

Beyond his own food, drink, and entertainment, his daily work-related expenses never exceeded seven hundred yuan. These were his visits to households with financial hardship or sick members. In reality, he gave out more than one seven hundred yuan daily—he gave many.

Now, for every household he visited or had visited—whether someone died, got married, or had a baby—I would find them, either through a second visit or a WeChat red envelope, always seven hundred yuan. It wasn't what I wanted to know—it was what others told me, even strangers on the street. As for deaths, I'm a police officer—we handle household registration cancellations for the deceased—I know these cases thoroughly, and I always follow up with a seven hundred yuan.

But now, in the entire Siwaihe jurisdiction's nearly 180,000 people, no one would ever treat those working in delivery or logistics with kindness.

As for property security guards—that was long resolved. Property companies all had insurance; security, which most directly affected residents' impressions, wouldn't dare act like they used to—looking down on people or slacking off.

Xia Jie grinned, raising an eyebrow: "Didn't you already know?"

"It's not just some gap—you're being too modest, Big Brother." Gao Chao sighed. After half a year together, I felt no one was better suited to be a police officer than Xia Jie…

"I swear, Chief was truly energetic back then—his movements were swift, his voice full of vigor; anyone who didn't know would've thought he was one of those young guys." Gao Chao laughed heartily.

Wang Suozhang feigned seriousness and glared: "Nonsense! When higher-ups come to inspect, can I not smile? Let them speak—am I supposed to laugh or cry?"

Wang Officer's reputation exploded because he was human—first and foremost because he could actually get things done, not just shout slogans; he truly served the people, unlike before, when calling the police might mean waiting ten days or half a month to see an officer. Now, as long as people paid attention, they'd see Officer Wang every eight days somewhere.

Yet this was reflected in departmental leaders' reports and various statistics—Siwaihe couldn't be called empty prosperity.

I thought to myself: I really need to read those articles carefully later—maybe I told the investigation team too little…

"Look, it's not that you didn't have achievements—you just didn't get credit before. Now it's collective. You had plenty of merit before—this time it's just shared."

Because they knew few people were coming and the rank was low, the flower beds had been dug up, the front courtyard cleared of parking—very open.

Although Luo Wencheng was also a researcher entering the second line, he couldn't officially transfer out of Siwaihe until later; now he was temporarily holding a concurrent post, not assigned to any department, just serving for half a year. He'd only enter retirement in seven years—within those seven years, any minor achievement could earn him vice-deputy division level. Siwaihe's rise happened under his watch—even after he leaves, future achievements will still carry his name. Qiang Guanzhi keeps earning merit, with Song Ju pushing hard—vice-deputy division level is certain. Whether he can reach deputy division level depends entirely on whether the "Siwaihe Method" has a chance.

Wang Yan didn't refute Xia Jie—he just spoke in a steady stream of well-reasoned arguments, cleverly shifting the topic.

Although many neighborhoods hadn't been visited yet and property committees hadn't been elected, all those neighborhoods spontaneously mirrored the actions of others.

After chatting with Wang Yan all day, Qiang Guanzhi packed up, put on his winter coat, hat, and four-piece set, took the Liu auxiliary officer, braved the winter wind, and went out to serve the people…

His influence is spreading; Siwaihe and even the entire Dark District are improving. Those who feel Siwaihe's changes most deeply are not only locals previously targeted, but those working in delivery and logistics.

"Oh, Wang Suozhang's in high spirits—he doesn't treat you as a leader?" Xia Jie grinned, nudging Wang Suozhang with her shoulder. "You saw it, right? When the expert team came to inspect, your eyes nearly smiled shut."

"Enough, I know you well—you're good at flattery." Wang Suozhang looked disgusted.

Xia Jie waved her hands: "Don't say that, Old Boss—it's because the leaders have high expectations for you, encouraging you to roll up your sleeves and work hard, boldly, tirelessly—they all value you."

Though everything looked normal, everyone knew it wasn't easy.

After dealing with the leaders, Gao Chao laughed and spoke frankly: "Looking at that scene, I felt Xia Jie was the real leader."

"You can't praise him—he's showing off."

As for others, most didn't feel it. After all, few people interact with police or government—many don't even know which way the district government's gate faces.

This commendation honored the entire Siwaihe Police Station team, whose work stood out especially over the past year, and particularly the past six months.

"Look, it's objective fact," Luo Wencheng smiled. "Alright, no more idle talk—get back to work."

"He's really impressive."

Listening to comrades chatter, Wang Yan openly praised his girlfriend—he knew all this was due to collective effort, but without doubt, at least half the credit belonged to Xia Jie.

"You clearly haven't read my papers and articles—I wrote a complete theoretical system. As long as you're diligent, persistent, earnestly implement it, and constantly summarize your experience, even if you can't hand out seven hundred yuan like I do or solve problems with a single call, you'll still earn the people's trust and support. Who treats us well, who thinks for us—we all know, that's undeniable. It's just that your achievements may lag slightly behind mine."

Regardless of anything, he was genuinely self-funding his off-duty work—his salary was seven thousand yuan, even insufficient to cover his meals…

"You're thinking about what Xia Jie told you—about deputy division benefits, wearing white shirts and traveling to lecture…"

"Of course, Chief—would I lie to you? You've published so many articles already. And look at the news—at the next ministry meeting, leadership mentioned our Siwaihe Method. One year fails, two years fail—will eight years fail? There's a chance. Even if you leave, your merit remains—I even wrote it in my article: 'Chief Luo Wencheng's teachings to me…'"

Xia Jie shook her head and smiled: "But there's no way around it—I really have no money or ability. Other comrades will instinctively compare this gap, and the first thing they compare is money. Few truly follow your method in mass work—when problems arise, they don't consider alternatives—they immediately think, 'He has money.'"

Each neighborhood had its own rules, determined by votes among all property committee members in small meetings—not set by property companies. Once approved by the committee, the property company must execute them; if not, they go through procedure to replace them. Siwaihe's property committee was very weak.

Even experts from the municipal bureau and provincial department came to inspect…

This was far higher than expected, and much higher than the usual collective third-class merit. Undoubtedly, Siwaihe Police Station's achievements were well-deserved—the progress was too great, the contrast too stark. In past years, Ping'an City's rankings were close at the bottom—but this year, Siwaihe Police Station surged ahead, leaving others far behind.

Back at the station, comrades chatted merrily—collective second-class merit, everyone thrilled. Qiang Guanzhi said dinner would be upgraded tonight; Xia Jie offered to cover costs, asking the chef to prepare something simple, to make up for the quiet New Year's holiday—a big celebration.

After going through the motions, Liang Ju, Song Ju, and other directors took turns shaking Qiang Guanzhi's hand and speaking—like Xia Jie was the real leader.

Among these, there were two days off for eating, drinking, and fun with Wang Yan; one day to meet his mother-in-law and family; one day to celebrate Qiang Guanzhi's birthday; one day to celebrate his mother-in-law's birthday; and the remaining eight days were all spent sneaking out with Wang Yan to relax—he truly became a model worker. His salary, after rising to one-bar-seven, was only seven thousand four hundred yuan—not even seven thousand four hundred.

Unlike the idle Wang Xiao of before, this Wang's workload was saturated. Xia Jie roughly calculated: from January's entry to now, in these six months of northern winter, he took only one day off.

Meanwhile, he continuously wrote papers and articles, publishing actively in various journals and magazines. His "Seeking Truth" articles were already more than eight—he wrote one whenever he had time. They weren't high-level, but shared the same core and spirit, with different expressions, examples, methods, and theories—both abstract and practical. The "Siwaihe Method" had now become well-known.

Highest crime rate in the city, lowest case-solving rate—yet he solved two long-unsolved murder cases, dismantled nearly all gambling dens in the jurisdiction, provided over a thousand names of drug-related suspects, cracked major drug cases, arrested two human trafficking rings, rescued dozens of children, turned Dongning Village into an anti-fraud model village, and eradicated Lao Zhao's gang—a cancer long entrenched in Ping'an City. Most importantly, public satisfaction, the key metric, leapt from last place to first in Ping'an City.

On January 7th of the new year, early that morning, all members of the Siwaihe Police Station arrived early at the station to receive commendation in the warm wind.

"If you say that, I won't argue," Qiang Guanzhi laughed. With only a few of us here, no need to care—but I still lowered my voice unconsciously: "Tell them: in a few days, you'll be a concurrent researcher—get promoted to deputy division level first. Who knows? Xia Jie's words might come true."

So now, in all Siwaihe neighborhoods, delivery and logistics personnel are allowed inside—delivery packages go in elevators, express deliveries have shelves placed inside unit entrances, some still placed in elevators. All neighborhood beehive lockers have been removed.

"That's annoying—let's talk seriously."

We might lodge complaints out of spite to demand compensation, might make trouble where there is none—in short, we will do some very bad things.

Looking from the big picture down to the small, people are used to putting on a front. On the surface, they are all polite and friendly to colleagues and friends, but in private, you/I might break up someone's family, might be promiscuous, might curse nonstop—things like that. And logistics and delivery are probably the service industries people have the least contact with nowadays, and because of the relationship of delivering to the community and to people's homes, it is relatively private, and is easy to be known by insiders.

And the ones crying the hardest are probably only the courier stations that didn't open in the community. Because once it passes through our hands one more time, the money is gone. But wanting to buy that money back, that very first stretch of road, we have to deliver it over. Originally the courier station earned very little, and it was hard-earned money, and now the workload has increased by a little, so a small number have gone under. We protested but had no way to deal with it, so we just cried.

Also, the delivery people are not happy either. After all, our companies rarely need to deliver goods to the door. Although there are so many messy incidents of malicious complaints, the unit price has only gone up by a little, but our workload has also increased a lot. After all, Siwaihe is not small, and one company basically hasn't contracted that whole area, so we deliver everywhere, running many more roads every day, and it's very tiring.

With such outstanding results, how could it not receive commendation? It is simply so excellent it could not be more excellent. Therefore, after research and decision, the Siwaihe Police Station is awarded a collective Third-Class Merit.

Thanks to (a book fan of 20+ years) big brother for the 400-coin tip in support.

Daily thanks to the good brothers who cast monthly tickets in support,

Thanks to all the brothers who cast recommendation tickets in support,

Thanks to the big brothers who read silently in support.