“Car accident, drunk driving, two people seriously injured—fortunately, no one died. Now he’s been sent down to the workshop.” Charles Wilson said offhandedly.

Sent down to the workshop? David Carter turned this over in his mind. That’s pretty harsh—demoted all the way to the bottom?

Seeing that David Carter seemed skeptical, Charles Wilson casually added, “Secretary Xie, who was close to his father, already retired the year before last when he reached retirement age.”

So that’s how it is, David Carter realized. After all, he’d been a student leader at school; to get any position in the student union, you needed some skills. Even though being deputy captain of the discipline team wasn’t much, he still had some sense of how these things worked.

David Carter nodded silently. New emperor, new officials. The party secretary at the factory was an absolute authority, but once retired, their influence naturally waned—especially after three years. The position of fleet captain was a cushy one, and the current leadership would naturally want to appoint their own favorite. The fact that they’d tolerated it this long and only now seized the opportunity to act was already remarkable.

Chapter Three: First Arrival

After seeing off the somewhat absent-minded Charles Wilson, David Carter checked the time—it was about right—so he headed straight for the Jiangmiao Police Station.

Jiangmiao Police Station was on the main street along the river in Jiangmiao Town, diagonally across from the Jiangmiao District Party Committee. David Carter carried his bag past the open gates of the District Party Committee. The sign at the entrance, with the red characters “Communist Party of China Jiangkou County Jiangmiao District Work Committee,” was already a bit faded, and the white paint was peeling. He glanced inside—seemed like no one was working—and didn’t bother to look further, hurrying across to the police station.

David Carter hadn’t even reached the entrance when he heard a loud engine roar from inside the gate. He didn’t need to guess—it was the sound of a police Shandong 750 three-wheeled motorcycle starting up. Every police station in Jiangkou County had one of these sidecar motorcycles; stations near the county seat, like Chengguan, Beijiao, and Xiwai, usually had two.

A police sidecar motorcycle shot out from inside the gate with a swish. Before David Carter could see who it was, the rider braked sharply right in front of him.

“Hey, Xiao Zhao, you’re here already?”

David Carter looked closely. The man wore a khaki police uniform open at the chest, showing a broad torso. Two red collar tabs stood out, and a blue-and-gold Great Wall police armband fluttered in the wind. It was Mark Lee, a police officer at Jiangmiao Police Station.

“Yes, Brother Lee, I just arrived and was about to report in.” David Carter had some impression of the local police—he’d been back a few times, and though they weren’t close, they at least knew each other.

“Mm, what bad timing—Chief Qiu isn’t here, only Instructor Liao is around. He was just talking about you. Come on, let’s go inside and talk.” The dark-skinned Mark Lee was very enthusiastic. He jumped off the bike, tossed David Carter’s bag into the sidecar, then spun the bike around with a screech of tires and drove back into the police station courtyard.

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, David Carter heard Mark Lee’s booming voice: “Instructor Liao! Instructor Liao! Xiao Zhao, David Carter is here to report in!”

It wasn’t the first time David Carter had felt so many eyes on him. From a door on the right end of the second floor, a man in his fifties emerged, wearing a white shirt tucked in, a wide police belt cinching his somewhat faded police trousers tightly—though his slightly bulging belly betrayed his age.

Many eyes from the first-floor office turned his way. Several sturdy men in police uniforms without insignia sized him up. A woman poked her head out from the single-story building by the garage—that was the household registration office.

“Oh, Xiao Zhao, you’re here! Welcome, welcome! Chief Qiu isn’t in—he told me before he left. Come on up and have a seat.” The man, his temples already flecked with gray, came down the stairs with a kindly smile that immediately put David Carter at ease. This was Jiangmiao Police Station’s political instructor, Samuel Grant, a veteran who’d worked there for over a decade.

“Instructor Liao, I’m here to report in. From today, I’m under your command—whatever work you have, just assign it.” Before coming, David Carter had already changed into his summer police uniform. After a standard salute, he looked both respectful and a bit nervous.

“No need to be so polite! From now on, we’re all comrades in the same trench. Let’s go upstairs to the meeting room.” Samuel Grant warmly took David Carter by the hand and led him upstairs. As a former soldier, he clearly had a good first impression of David Carter. They’d met before at the bureau, but weren’t familiar—today was their first real interaction. “Mark Lee, call everyone who’s here upstairs so we can all meet. We’ll be working together from now on.”

Even though Chief Qiu Yuanfeng wasn’t present, the meet-and-greet still helped David Carter quickly get to know all his new colleagues at the station.