Chapter 281: Which Matters More—Talent or Credit?

He really shouldn't have suspected the big leader.

But the facts were right before his eyes, and Yu Dazhang couldn't help but develop such doubts.

What would he do?

"Um..." Yu Dazhang hemmed and hawed:

"Actually, just find someone to take over next. The case was cracked here to begin with, and most of the task force members are locals, so..."

"So what? So what." The big leader cut him off with a dark expression:

"It's not as complicated as you think. Just do your job properly, and don't waste your energy on irrelevant matters."

He's throwing his weight around again... Yu Dazhang could no longer resist calling in reinforcements.

Does he really think Fatty Hu has no one backing him?

He had thought about leaving Province S directly and heading back to Songhai, but that would look like deserting, and word getting out would affect him too.

Besides, doing that would mean burning bridges with this side.

The two places weren't far apart after all, so it was best not to let things get too stiff.

Leaving the provincial bureau.

Yu Dazhang sat in the car, unable to figure out no matter what the provincial bureau big leader's intentions were.

After much deliberation, he still decided to get in touch with the Songhai side.

Scrolling through his contacts, he called Li Jun.

As soon as it connected, he started complaining:

"Captain Li, the leader over here won't let me go back. The case is clearly over, but they keep coming up with all kinds of excuses to keep me."

He had assumed Li Jun would take his side, but who would have thought the other's attention wasn't on that at all.

"The case is cracked?" Li Jun asked in surprise.

"You didn't know?" Yu Dazhang countered:

"Didn't Province S contact you guys?"

He counted the days in his head—Han Lianwu had been dead for five days now.

Even if the case hadn't been closed, the system should have circulated a notice about it. After all, this was a joint operation between the two places.

"No, definitely no one notified me." Li Jun replied:

"If there had been a case notice, I would definitely know."

After a pause, he asked again:

"How was the case cracked, and who cracked it? Last time we spoke, you said you were the task force leader."

Does that even need asking... Yu Dazhang cleared his throat and answered in a deep voice:

"I won't go into the specifics over the phone, and as for who cracked the case—yours truly."

His relationship with Li Jun was much simpler, so he didn't talk so stiffly.

He'd been away from home for over a month now, and even just talking on the phone with Li Jun felt warm.

"Just as I thought."

Li Jun said with a smile:

"No matter where you are, kid, you never let anyone down."

It's still the folks back home who know how to talk nice... Yu Dazhang pulled the topic back:

"What should I do now? I've been out here over a month. What's the deal with always working over here?"

The other end of the line went silent, seemingly considering something.

After half a minute, Li Jun spoke again:

"If I'm not mistaken, the leader over there has designs on you."

"Designs on me?" Yu Dazhang didn't catch on for a moment:

"Isn't it about taking credit?"

The participant is blind.

He didn't think he was that important, so naturally he couldn't see the well-disguised greed in the other's eyes.

"If you were the leader, which do you think is more important—talent or credit?" Li Jun asked in return.

That question stumped Yu Dazhang.

He really had never thought about this from the other's perspective.

Now that Li Jun had asked it, he suddenly saw the light—turns out things were that simple.

This wasn't even a question.

Because credit is earned by people in the first place. Flip it around—without people doing the work, where would the credit come from?

So talent is what matters most.

"Then... what do I do?!" Yu Dazhang was really panicking now, stumbling over his words:

"I helped them crack a case in Province S, and now I've become a Province S person. I helped out and ended up making a mistake—now I've thrown myself in completely."

"Besides, my home is in Songhai, and my parents only have me as their son. I can't just leave home right after starting work, can I?"

"Captain Li, you know too—I have a girlfriend in Songhai. If it drags on too long, she'll run off with someone else."

"And besides, I..."

Seeing him rambling on endlessly, Li Jun cut him off irritably:

"Alright, alright, what a mess. Wait for my call. Even if you want to leave, our side can't let you go either."

After ending the call, Yu Dazhang let out a long breath.

Li Jun's last words were like a reassuring pill for him.

As long as Songhai doesn't let go, no one can transfer him away.

!

Although he didn't have much of a voice, Director Liu did — and in terms of rank, Director Liu was certainly no lower than the big leader over here.

As for the credit, he simply didn't care.

Besides, no one could snatch away the credit for this case.

The twelve wrongful convictions were overturned by him — who would dare claim that credit?

The Twelve Young Masters of Xicheng were dug up by him — that was plain for all to see.

In the end, Han Lianwu was also tracked down by him, and finally pinned down in the demolition zone.

To avoid being held responsible for acting on his own, Yu Dazhang, before taking action, deliberately gathered all the members of the task force together.

The solo meeting with Han Lianwu was also designed by him to look like a chance encounter on a narrow road.

As for Han Lianwu's death, the autopsy report was the evidence — Yu Dazhang wasn't worried about any problems at all.

Apart from Captain Xu noticing something off, he hadn't left a single handle on this side of S Province.

Now the only variable was that the big leader didn't plan to let him go.

Actually, thinking it over carefully, Yu Dazhang could also understand the leader's difficulty.

The provincial bureau had investigated for a full three months before.

If not for him, this case really might have become a cold case — because once Han Lianwu finished his business, all that would be left was waiting to die.

By then, even if Conan showed up, he'd just be staring helplessly.

So in the leader's view, this case being solved had more than a little luck to it.

But if another complicated case came up next time, they couldn't just rely on luck, could they?

S Province had a permanent population of over eighty million.

With that base, the probability of major and serious cases occurring was bound to be higher than in Songhai, with its population of only a little over twenty million.

To prevent the recurrence of complicated cases being hard to crack, the best method right now was naturally to keep Yu Dazhang around.

That evening.

After dinner, Yu Dazhang called Ma Jian, Liu Miao, and Ye Zhiyu together.

"Now that the case has entered its wrap-up phase, S Province can handle it entirely on its own."

Yu Dazhang looked at the three of them and said:

"So tomorrow you can head back to Songhai."

Hearing this, all three showed relaxed expressions on their faces — clearly, they had been missing home for a long time.

Especially Ye Zhiyu — his joy was written all over his face, barely stopping himself from laughing out loud.

But he was also the quickest to catch himself, quickly reining in his emotions and hurriedly asking:

"You're not leaving?"

"I ran into the same thing you did before," Yu Dazhang said, a bit helplessly:

"And this time I don't even have the power to refuse."

Ye Zhiyu wasn't part of the system, so he could refuse outright — he could decide for himself.

But Yu Dazhang couldn't.

Obeying orders as one's sacred duty wasn't exclusive to soldiers — police teams were the same.

"The same thing as me?"

Ye Zhiyu muttered the line, then immediately understood:

"That won't do — if you stay here, President Qu will definitely dump you, and without that connection of yours, I won't be able to stay at Yisheng Group either, so wouldn't I…"

"Have to go back to working at the sorting yard!"

(End of chapter)