Siheyuan, my new life

A convoy of seven jeeps drove quickly along the bumpy road, honking their horns from time to time to remind pedestrians and ox and donkey carts ahead to get out of the way.

People who were originally walking slowly on the road under the scorching sun, when they heard the shrill car horns, obediently moved to the sides of the road in advance. They couldn't help but stop and curiously watch the jeep convoy speeding past. Only after the convoy was far away did they start talking loudly with their fellow travelers, expressing their own guesses.

In the third jeep in the convoy, Director Bai Wu of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Municipal Bureau glanced at Qin Ming who was concentrating on driving, and said with a smile: "Hey, Director Qin, you are now the director of the Security Department of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, why don't you arrange a driver? Although there are not many people who can drive nowadays, there must be some soldiers who can drive among those who have just retired from the army."

Although they are both called directors, Bai Wu from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Municipal Bureau enjoys the treatment of deputy director-general. As soon as he came out of the secretary's office just now, Bai Wu followed Qin Ming directly into his jeep. It was obvious that he had something to say on the way to Machikou Village in Changping.

Qin Ming looked at the bumpy road ahead and laughed softly, saying, "Even our secretary drives himself, how can we possibly have another driver? Besides, compared to the previous Red Star Steel Mill Security Department, we are very satisfied. You know, before the secretary came, the entire Red Star Steel Mill Security Department only had an old eight-handed broken jeep and two broken cross-car three-wheeled motorcycles from the Japanese era. Now we have upgraded our weapons."

Bai Wu was aware that the security departments of other factories and mines of the same level generally only have cars allocated to the directors. Even the deputy director of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill does not have his own car. He only has a small car team in the fleet, and anyone who needs a car can only arrange it through the factory office.

It's just that Bai Wu was just making small talk just now. Among the several directors and deputy directors of the Security Department of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, he had only dealt with Qin Ming a few times due to work reasons and was relatively familiar with him. That's why he got into his car today. The reason why he didn't take his own jeep was because he had something he wanted to test Qin Ming's opinion on.

So Bai Wu stopped beating around the bush. He took out a box of Peony cigarettes, lit two directly, handed one to Qin Ming, and said with a smile: "Director Qin, we are all retired from the army, so let's not waste words. I am envious of the members of your action team now. Today I want to discuss with you, the director, whether you can assign a team from your action team to our municipal bureau? To be honest, almost all the members of our Criminal Investigation Department are dispatched, plus the cooperation of the various police stations and branches below, as a result, we have just found out a little clue here, but your action team has already found the criminals' lair. It is said that people will die if compared with people, and goods will be thrown away if compared with goods, but we have to admit that the gap in strength between the two sides is too big. If I say that I am not as good as the people in your action team in arresting criminals, I am convinced of this, but I am also inferior to you in solving cases. If I tell others, won't people laugh at me? You know, criminal investigation is our profession."

Qin Ming couldn't help showing a smug smile on his face. He took a puff of his cigarette and said with a smile, "Hey, Director Bai, you came to me for such an important matter. Did you make a mistake? Besides, our secretary is also the deputy secretary and deputy director of the Municipal Bureau. He is also your leader. Can't you just go and discuss it with Secretary Lin directly?"

Bai Wu looked at the leaves outside the car window that had wilted due to the high temperature and said with a wry smile, "Director Lin rarely goes to the Municipal Bureau. As far as I can remember, he has only been there three or four times since he took on the posts of deputy secretary and deputy director of the Municipal Bureau."

Of course Qin Ming could hear the other party's implicit meaning. It was obvious that Bai Wu knew that he could not communicate with Secretary Lin at all, so he complained in front of Qin Ming. However, this matter was really difficult to deal with.

After a moment of hesitation, Qin Ming said, "Director Bai, to be honest, I really think you need to think carefully about this. Your city bureau also has personnel who have taken medicinal baths at our base. Think carefully, with the current conditions of your city bureau, can you afford to support an action team?"

Bai Wu's heart sank after hearing this. There were indeed three people who had undergone medicinal baths in their municipal bureau. Now the three of them were cooking separately in the small kitchen every day. He really didn't know the daily consumption of these people. So he turned to look at Qin Ming and asked directly: "Director Qin, I really haven't paid attention to it. Could you please tell me the daily consumption of a member of your security department's training base action team?"

Qin Ming raised his lips slightly. "You may not believe this, but now every member of our action team has unlimited steamed buns and rice as their staple food. Every lunch and dinner is half a pound of beef or pork. In the morning, each person has four eggs plus various side dishes and staple foods."

Bai Wu was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped. He looked at Qin Ming in disbelief and said, "Director Qin, you are kidding, right? Now every city resident only has three meat coupons per month, and each coupon only buys three taels of meat."

Qin Ming couldn't help showing a hint of pride. In order to make Bai Wu give up, he continued, "At the Red Star Steel Mill Security Department Training Base, every ordinary employee can purchase three to five kilograms of affordable meat every month. Leaders above the department level can purchase ten kilograms each, and all members of the action team can also purchase ten kilograms. In addition, an equal amount of flour and rice can be purchased at the grain store supply price."

Bai Wu couldn't help but gasp. He had only heard that the city had purchased large quantities of grain, pork and beef from the Security Department of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill many times before, but he never expected that even those ordinary employees now had such high welfare benefits. Not to mention others, even he himself felt jealous when he heard it.

Although with Bai Wu's current status, it is not difficult for him to buy some meat and grain from the meat processing plant and grain store, but he can only buy three or two kilograms of pork and ten or twenty kilograms of flour every month through connections, and he still owes favors to others.

Bai Wu really didn't want to ask for money unless it was absolutely necessary. After all, the nature of his job was different. In order to avoid trouble, he would rather go to the pigeon market secretly and buy some pork and grain at a high price to improve his family's life.