Chapter 14

☆ Act now or it'll be too late!

Jiang Xia got nothing — no money, no funding.

But two days later, Wu Suo still brought her a nice notebook — hard black cover, a long snap-on strap, plus a box of Maries pencils.

As long as it wasn't too outrageous and actually helped with cases, Wu Suo was pretty encouraging. He didn't even care if people slacked off during downtime.

But Jiang Xia would rather crack sunflower seeds and sip tea than touch that notebook.

She'd starve, she'd quit, she'd walk out the door — but she was done practicing portrait sketches!

Anyway, that's getting ahead of things.

Right now, Jiang Xia was deep in thought.

Wu Suo had a point. No matter what you're researching, it usually comes down to two words.

Burns cash.

The station was strapped for funds, so of course they wouldn't back it.

Which meant her plan — using 'research' as cover to pick locks in front of colleagues and farm System points — was completely dead.

She got it. Grassroots unit, grassroots mindset. No point pushing.

But if that road was blocked, she needed another way.

Right now her only skills were theft techniques: mainly lock-picking and pickpocketing. Lock-picking was off the table for public display, so that left pickpocketing.

From the System's perspective, stealing something and returning it fast was the quickest, most efficient way to grind points — but that was straight-up crime. Way past the line. Hard pass.

But other methods...

Jiang Xia genuinely couldn't think of any.

If only there were something the System would flag as a crime, that her colleagues wouldn't suspect, and that she could pull off freely.

No luck. Jiang Xia twirled her ballpoint pen and circled back to lock-picking.

The station was out, but the city bureau was a different story. They had a forensics division and a dedicated trace-evidence unit. The thinking there was more advanced — even if she picked locks every day, nobody would gossip about it behind her back.

The idea started to grow on her.

The city bureau... actually a solid option.

Not only could she exploit System bugs for points, there were more cases, and she wouldn't have to deal with all the petty nonsense at the station.

And honestly, with her skill set, getting into the city bureau wasn't that hard.

She thought about it for a moment, then let it go.

Skill was one thing. Her whole family were ordinary people — no connections, no network. Running around asking favors would be exhausting and expensive, and even if she got in, she'd be starting from the bottom of the pecking order.

Better to let things unfold naturally.

With her abilities still improving, the city bureau would notice her sooner or later.

While she was thinking, Shen Huoda gradually stopped snoring.

He'd pulled an all-nighter. He opened his eyes and slowly peeled himself upright.

'No wonder it smells so good — Wu Suo, you brought pork buns? Any for me?' Shen Huoda wiped his face and shook his head hard, but the exhaustion still clung to him. He said, 'Xiao Jiang, grab me a basin of cold water, would you?' 'Sure.'

Jiang Xia stopped thinking. She set down her pen and stood up to get the basin.

The moment she moved, the hem of her jacket caught the pencil and swept it off the desk.

Well, that was clumsy.

Jiang Xia smacked her own head and bent down to pick it up.

Before her fingers even touched it, she stared at the pencil — and a thought flashed through her mind.

Could she steal it? No wait — could she lift it?!

Jiang Xia's heart jumped.

A pen wasn't worth much. Taking someone else's was no big deal — they'd just tease you about it, and you could keep doing it over and over. Way better than lock-picking, which she could only show off a few times!

The only question was whether the System would count it.

Find someone to test it on?

No time to waste. Jiang Xia kept working and waited for her chance.

That afternoon.

Hu Wei, fully recharged after a morning's rest, took over from his mentor with a burst of energy and went with Xu Deputy Chief to interrogate the suspects caught the day before.

When she saw him come out of the interrogation room with a pen and notepad, Jiang Xia grabbed her own notebook and walked over.

'Anything? Did they talk?'

'Nothing.'

Hu Wei shook his head, a little disappointed. 'Xu Deputy Chief says they've definitely got more cases on them, they're just not talking.' 'That's normal.'

Jiang Xia said, 'These guys are looking at life sentences, maybe worse. Why would they open their mouths? Here — this is yesterday's testimony. I reorganized it. Take it back and get them to sign.' 'Got it.'

Hu Wei took her notebook and handed over the one in his hand. 'This is the new statement.' 'Let me see.'

Jiang Xia flipped through it a few times. 'This part's kind of a mess?' 'Oh, that's a place name — some city called Qi? I don't know how to write it.'

'I know it. It's Qicheng — present-day Qi County. Let me borrow your pen.' Jiang Xia took the pen from Hu Wei's hand, writing as she asked, 'Hey, Hu bro, did you find out about good spots for a street stall?' 'I was just about to tell you the other day, but you weren't around in the morning.' Hu Wei said, 'My buddies say the stalls in their district are always getting hassled. But inside People's Park is better — there's patrol, so it's safer, though you have to pay five fen for a ticket. Red Star Road is also pretty safe, and the customers there are more generous since it's right next to the government offices.' 'Got it, thanks Hu bro. I'll head back and get to work.'

Jiang Xia let her right hand — still holding the pen — drop naturally to her side. She raised the statement with her left hand, gave it a little wave, and walked back to the office.

One step away, the familiar System chime rang in her ear.

[Congratulations, Host, on completing a minor crime. EXP +1]

It worked!

Jiang Xia's heart leapt. Her steps got a little lighter.

Perfect. Starting today, she was the pen-lifting queen.

＊

Wu Suo interrogated back and forth for another full day. When nothing came out and there was no evidence, he closed the case and called Beifu Factory's Liu Kezhang to come pick up the recovered goods.

They'd only had the stuff for two days, but He Tuzi had already sold off some of the bedsheets and pillowcases — a mix of bulk and individual sales, hard to track down — though luckily not much had moved, and over eighty percent was still on hand.

When Liu Kezhang got the news, he was over the moon.

He'd thought the goods were gone for good — which would've meant a year-end scolding and no bonus. But somehow it all turned around: the thief was caught and almost everything was recovered. No scolding after all!

A thrilled Liu Kezhang packed up some gifts, called two guys to come along, and rode over to the station to collect the goods.

'You've done us a massive favor!'

Inside the office, Liu Kezhang handed out bundles of fabric scraps to everyone. 'I can't thank you enough in words. I don't have anything fancy — just some leftover scraps. The factory doesn't need them. Patch a hole, slap some paste on them, make a shoe sole — put them to good use.' 'Here, Comrade Jiang, this one's yours.'

With that, Liu Kezhang passed a bundle of scraps to Jiang Xia.

Fabric was still scarce these days — you needed ration coupons to buy cloth. Scraps this small weren't worth much, but they were practical. Wu Suo didn't stop anyone; he just smiled and said, 'Guess we hit the jackpot today. Everyone take yours.'

Jiang Xia picked up her bundle.

It was noticeably heavier than the others, and the pieces were bigger and more intact.

She raised an eyebrow. She looked up — and caught Liu Kezhang grinning right at her.

Not for nothing he's a department head. The man knows how to work a room.

After seeing him off, it was almost time to clock out.

Jiang Xia carried her scraps home.

Jiang Ying was busy in the kitchen. Their mom wasn't idle either — she sat by the coffee table, pasting cardboard.

Jiang Xia dropped the bundle in front of her. 'Mom, look what I've got.' 'So many scraps?'

Zhou Mei looked up, instantly delighted and surprised. 'Where'd you get these?' 'Liu Kezhang from Beifu Factory gave them to us.' Jiang Xia smiled. 'The station caught the guy who stole from their factory and got the goods back, so he brought some of these over as thanks.' 'That explains it.'

Zhou Mei untied the string and happily started going through the pile.

There was a good amount — maybe six or seven jin. Spread out, it covered most of the coffee table. Mostly white, pink, blue, and grey, all sizes, though the bigger pieces dominated — most were about the size of a hand towel. Plenty of good things you could make with these.

Look how capable my daughter is!

Zhou Mei felt a quiet swell of pride. She picked out the biggest pieces and thought aloud: 'These are really nice. Put them together and you could sew a whole outfit! But we don't need clothes right now... Oh, I remember your bag's getting old — I could make you a striped bag. The rest I'll figure out later.' 'Take your time, Mom.'

Jiang Xia said, 'I'm going to see what my sis is cooking.'

'Go on, you little foodie.'

Jiang Xia slipped into the kitchen.

The kitchen smelled of spices. Jiang Ying stood at the stove adding chili powder. When she saw Jiang Xia, she said, 'No snacks today — I'm making seasoning. The smell gets all over you. Go back out and play.' Hm?

Jiang Xia pulled the door shut behind her and protested, 'Sis, do you really think all I do is eat?' Jiang Ying: ...

'Don't you?'

Thinking about what she said the moment she got home every day, Jiang Xia really couldn't argue.

'That's only because you cook so well, sis.'

She cleared her throat and changed the subject: 'I've got a lead on that place you asked me to look into.' She listed the spots Hu Wei had found, then hesitated and asked, 'But sis, are you really planning to have our cousin run a street stall? It's not easy.'

Sure, people in the 21st century loved to romanticize the '80s and '90s as a golden age where anyone could get rich. But now that Jiang Xia was actually living in this era, she could see how hard it really was.

For starters, everything was still rationed. Just sourcing goods was a massive problem, not to mention the whole debate about whether you'd be labeled a capitalist.

Most people who actually made it had connections and networks. Regular folks didn't have that kind of leverage.

'I'm not planning on running a stall forever.'

Jiang Ying knew this better than anyone — private enterprises hadn't taken off yet.

'This is just a pilot. Once we have sales figures, we can take them to the commune and pitch for investment to set up a workshop. Then it becomes a public-sector operation — nobody can say a word against it.' Fair enough.

Her sis had a plan. Jiang Xia didn't need to stress about it.

Jiang Xia said, 'Then go for it, sis. I'll be waiting for your workshop to become a factory — and then I'll go around telling everyone my sis is the factory director.' 'You and your big mouth.'

Jiang Ying flicked Jiang Xia on the forehead: 'We haven't even started yet!' 'I'm serious — sis, with your skills, you'll definitely make it!' 'Now that I love to hear. Keep going.'

＊

While the Jiang sisters were laughing it up at home, the city bureau had a different atmosphere entirely.

City Public Security Bureau, Criminal Investigation Division.

Squad leader Tan Bingyi sat in his chair without a word, rolled up his sleeve — his arm was covered in twenty or thirty big welts, all mosquito bites from staking out in the field.

'Here, Tan Dui, tiger balm.'

Chen Dong handed over a half-used tin. 'Still nothing?' 'Nothing.'

Just thinking about it made Tan Bingyi furious. 'Three days of stakeout and not even a fart!' 'Robbery-homicides are too random. Nothing we can do — no leads, so we're stuck with the dumbest method.' Chen Dong shook his head, then seemed to remember something. 'Speaking of which, Tan Dui, remember that theft case at Beifu Factory a few days ago? It's been solved.' 'Oh?'

Tan Bingyi perked up a little. He rubbed tiger balm onto his arm. 'Who cracked it?' 'Jiang Xia — the one I mentioned before.'

Chen Dong said, 'Apparently the guy was a repeat offender working across districts. After stealing over ten thousand yuan in wages from workers at a chemical plant in Qi County, he came here — and she tracked him down and caught him.' 'So that's why you brought up the case. You were leading up to this.' Tan Bingyi set the tiger balm on the desk. 'You want me to transfer her to the criminal investigation team?' 'She's got real talent. Can't let it go to waste at the grassroots level, right?'

Chen Dong lowered his voice: 'And honestly, Squad Two has been on a tear lately. If we don't recruit some talent soon, all the good people are going to end up with them!' 'Still don't need a woman for this.'

Tan Bingyi stretched out his arm. 'Look at these mosquito bites. This is the criminal investigation team — it's all hard, dirty work. The moment a case drops, you're running nonstop. If we say stake out in the field overnight, you stake out overnight. Could she handle that? And even if she could, how many years would she actually last? Once she gets married, most of her energy goes to the family. That's a bureau slot wasted.' That was a real problem.

Chen Dong couldn't argue with it, but sticking to his belief that talent had to be grabbed first, he said, 'Just bring her over on a temporary transfer and see. Figure out the rest later.' 'That's even worse.'

Tan Bingyi frowned. 'She just started — she's still learning from her mentor. If I pull her over on a temp transfer, she won't be settled at her original unit and she won't have a foothold here either. What's she supposed to do then?' 'She'll be fine.'

Chen Dong was pretty confident on this point. 'With her abilities, I'm sure she'd stick around.' Tan Bingyi wasn't buying it.

A fresh graduate — how capable could she really be? Good at tracking footprints, sure, but the team already had people like that.

He brushed it off: 'Let's wait and see. No rush.'

Chen Dong couldn't help pressing a hand to his forehead.

Their Tan Bingyi was a decent guy — genuinely principled — but his vision was way too short. If they didn't move now, once Jiang Xia made a name for herself, it'd be too late!