Chapter 2733

It's no wonder Junzi was happy—his brother wasn't valued at the Gongan Bureau; if he could get to know a vice mayor, wouldn't that be a huge stroke of luck?

Su Xinghui wanted to meet Junzi's brother because he simply had no one reliable at hand—he needed to build his own team as soon as possible, and if Junzi's brother truly had potential, he wouldn't mind giving him a boost.

After making the call, Junzi rushed back excitedly and told Su Xinghui: "My brother says he's coming right away."

Su Xinghui nodded and resumed chatting casually with Zhai Yingjie and Junzi.

Less than five minutes later, Junzi's brother arrived—he was in his thirties, looked very much like Junzi, equally tall and built, with a sharp, capable expression.

As soon as he arrived, Junzi introduced him: "Brother, this is Vice Mayor Su."

Junzi then turned to Su Xinghui: "Vice Mayor Su, this is my brother, He Weidong."

Junzi's full name was Ren Weijun; their names clearly marked them as brothers.

He Weidong quickly extended his hand to Su Xinghui: "Vice Mayor Su, nice to meet you. I'm He Weidong, working in the Technical Team of the Criminal Investigation Brigade at the Baozhou Municipal Public Security Bureau."

Su Xinghui had already learned from Junzi that He Weidong was a graduate of the police academy, a trained professional who once worked on the front lines of criminal investigations, serving as head of the Major Cases Unit, excelling in his duties and once holding the rank of deputy section chief—but in recent years he'd been moved from the front lines to the Technical Team, given no official position, and assigned fewer and fewer tasks.

Su Xinghui shook He Weidong's hand and said: "You're He Weidong? Sit down."

As he shook He Weidong's hand, Su Xinghui noticed how different he was from the directors of those bureaus—He Weidong's back remained perfectly straight; though polite, his height made standing upright inherently disrespectful to superiors, revealing his character—no wonder he wasn't valued by his superiors.

Su Xinghui himself was tall, over 1.8 meters, but He Weidong stood half a head taller—at least 1.9 meters—making him a giant even in the north, and with his upright posture and rugged, spirited face, Su Xinghui couldn't help but silently admire: this was truly a fine man.

On this first meeting alone, Su Xinghui already felt much more favorably toward He Weidong.

He Weidong sat down, yet even seated, his spine remained rigidly straight.

Su Xinghui asked: "He Weidong, which school did you graduate from? What year?"

He Weidong replied: "I graduated from the Provincial Police School in 1986—it's been fourteen years now."

Su Xinghui said: "That's quite a few years ago—so you have no official position in the Technical Team now?"

He Weidong's expression darkened slightly; he shook his head: "I'm just a general helper in the Technical Team. Otherwise, how could I have so much free time? Back in the Major Cases Unit, I was constantly rushing from one case to another—barely a day went by without overtime."

Su Xinghui asked: "Then why were you transferred to the Technical Team?"

He Weidong's expression turned strange: "The bureau said I'd excelled in criminal investigation technology at the police academy, so they moved me to strengthen the Technical Team."

Su Xinghui said: "If it was to strengthen technical capacity, why didn't they assign you an official position?"

He Weidong replied: "Nowadays, every position is filled. When they transferred me, their leadership had no vacancies—so naturally, I got no position."

Su Xinghui asked: "Then how come you call yourself a general helper? Didn't your Technical Team leaders assign you any specific duties?"

He Weidong said: "Maybe my rank was a bit too high for them to assign me easily—but it's fine this way. Now I have time every night to go home and be with my wife and kids."

Su Xinghui nodded slightly—he understood these bureaucratic games perfectly. Using the pretext of strengthening technical capacity, they'd moved He Weidong from the Major Cases Unit to the Technical Team, yet given him no real duties—effectively sidelining him. In a few more years, once he grew older, he'd be finished, with no chance of revival.

Su Xinghui asked: "Who did you offend?"

He Weidong looked at Su Xinghui in surprise—he hadn't expected such bluntness. A vice mayor shouldn't ask such a question—was this vice mayor just as naive as he was?

Yet Su Xinghui's bluntness made He Weidong like him even more; after a brief pause, he said: "I offended Director Ye…"

The Director Ye He Weidong mentioned was Ye Bingsheng, current Executive Deputy Director of the Baozhou Municipal Public Security Bureau. Years ago, Ye Bingsheng had been the deputy director overseeing criminal investigations; his cousin, drunk, had severely injured someone—and that case was handled by He Weidong.

After the assault, Ye's cousin fled. Despite knowing he was Director Ye's cousin, He Weidong still deployed multiple resources to track him down in a neighboring city, arrested him, and under immense pressure, ensured he was sentenced to eight years through legal proceedings.

Less than a month after that case, He Weidong was transferred to the Technical Team.

Hearing this, Su Xinghui's expression turned solemn—he'd heard of Ye Bingsheng, a rising star in Baozhou's public security system, only in his forties yet already Executive Deputy Director of the Baozhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, a level-10 official, with strong prospects of becoming the next director of the bureau and head of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

So He Weidong had offended such a powerful figure—no wonder he'd been sidelined for so long, and no wonder no one spoke up for him. Within the public security system, if he wanted to rise again, he'd need the personal intervention of Gu Aimin, the head of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and director of the Public Security Bureau.

But now Su Xinghui knew about this—if he judged He Weidong to be a capable man, he could certainly help him too. The key now was whether He Weidong truly was a talent.

So Su Xinghui merely nodded slightly and asked: "Do you regret it?"

At that question, He Weidong sighed deeply; after a long silence, he said: "If I said I didn't regret it, that would be a lie—but if it happened again, I'd still do the same. If I hadn't arrested him, what kind of cop would I be?"

He Weidong's words made Su Xinghui view him differently—his reply was honest, utterly devoid of pretense; it was precisely this that made Su Xinghui feel He Weidong was genuine.

After thinking for a moment, Su Xinghui asked: "He Weidong, how would you feel about a transfer?"

He Weidong replied: "Vice Mayor Su, where do you want to transfer me? I don't want to leave the public security system—I love being a cop."

Su Xinghui smiled: "I'm not asking you to leave the system—how would you feel if you were transferred to a county-level bureau?"

"Transferred to a county?" He Weidong was stunned.

Su Xinghui intended to transfer He Weidong to the Yingshan County Public Security Bureau—away from Ye Bingsheng's watchful eye, and under the protection of County Magistrate Xing Guodong, who could look out for him; if He Weidong truly had ability, he'd also become a valuable asset to Xing Guodong.