Chapter 252: The Turnaround

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The passport was useless for the moment, but Dai Li went to the service hall of the public security bureau to get it anyway.

Dai Li also booked a ticket home. He planned to get the passport in the morning, take the train at noon so that he would get home before dark and have supper with his family.

"This picture on my passport is quite good. It's much better than the one on my ID card. I should change to a better-looking photo the next time my ID card expires and needs to be changed."

With his passport in his hand, he looked at the photo on it carefully.

He had barely gotten out of the service hall when he saw a dozen people or so go out the the building next to the service hall one after another. Meanwhile, a minibus went over.

…

"Captain, why not stay here a little longer? It's so rare an opportunity that you can come here." Director Qin held the hand of an old man firmly.

"Qin, I have job to do in Qing City. I need to visit several units here. I just dropped by to see you. All right, since you are very alive and sound, I will worry about you no more. I'll go now!" The old man waved his hand.

The deputy directors next to them were a little awkward when they heard that the old man address their director as "Qin." Anyone in the public security bureau, when seeing Director Qin, would address him as "Director Qin" out of respect. This was the first time they had heard anyone addressing him as "Qin."

However, those deputy directors also knew that this old man was very much qualified to address their director as "Qin." When they were in the army, Director Qin served as a combat squad leader, while this old man was his company commander. When they were demobilized, this old man went to Huajing City and had a position of as a senior official. He had been the one everyone looked up to due to not only his qualifications and service history, but also his position.

The old man was about to turn around and leave when he saw Dai Li standing not far away on the stairs in front of the gates of the service hall.

"This lad has also come to Qing City." After a moment of thought, he said, "I see an acquaintance of mine and want to say hi to him. You stay here. Don't follow me."

Director Qin nodded immediately and watched him walking toward Dai Li. The others, seeing that Director Qin obeyed the old man's order and stood there, dared not follow.

The old man came to Dai Li and Dai Li also saw him.

"Hi, young man! We meet again! Do you remember me?" the old man asked with a smile.

"Hi, it's you! Never expected to see you here." Dai Li walked up to him quickly and then asked, "Have you been running a marathon recently? Do you have cramp anymore in your leg?"

This old man was the one who fell during the Jinyan Lake half-marathon. Dai Li helped him then and treated him with a massage.

"My leg is okay. But I cannot run marathons anymore." Seeing Dai Li's passport, the old man said, "You are here to get a passport. Are you going abroad? I remember you are a coach. Are you going abroad for a match?"

"Not for a match. It was an exchange learning program. But I cannot go now. My quota was taken by some official!" Dai Li's voice was full of dissatisfaction.

"Taken by an official?" There was a glitter in the old man's eyes. Then he changed his tone and said as someone who had been in Dai Li's place, "When I was young, I once had a chance to go to Hungary. I was told that I would not be able to go just two days before leaving. I was so upset at that time. Where were you going?"

"America." Dai Li then said, "The Sports Bureau is organizing the coaches to be able to learn from the training centers in America. Each team has a quota for one coach to go. My team sent me. But some division chief took my place."

"What division is the division chief from? He wants to go abroad so badly?" the old man asked with a smile.

"The division of Retired Officials," Dai Li answered, feeling speechless.

"Retired Officials Division? What is he going to learn in America? They don't have any management of the retired officials. This is a waste of the public fund!" the old man frowned.

"Surely it is! I wouldn't complain about it if it had been someone who was in charge of the training, competition, or even sports development. Yet he was from the Retired Officials Division! What can he learn?" Dai Li got quite angry.

The old man nodded and noted it down in his heart. Then he changed the subject and said, "All right, young man. We were in such a hurry last time I saw you. I still don't know your name."

"My name is Dai Li. I'm a coach for the provincial track and field team." Dai Li did not hold back his identity from him.

"I'm Dayong Jiang. I think I might be a little older than your father. You many call me Uncle Jiang," the old man said with a smile.

Dai Li nodded and looked in the direction from where the old man had come. There was quite a crowd there waiting for him.

"Uncle Jiang, are you a leader of the Public Security Bureau?" Dai Li asked carefully.

"I'm not a leader. I'm almost retired." Pointing at the crowd, Dayong Jiang said, "I was in the army when I was young. That's an old pal of mine from the army there. I was here to see him."

…

"Who was the young man? How does he know Supervisor Jiang? They know each other quite well. He might be someone powerful."

"It seems to me that the young man was here for some business of his. You see? He has a passport in his hand. Did he come here to apply for a passport?"

"Might be. But that is good. If he is here for his passport, we can look it up in the service hall so that we might know who he is."

Some in the crowd were whispering to each other. It was not that they really cared about who Dai Li was. They were just concerned about Dayong Jiang's every move.

…

The number one conference hall of the provincial party committee was fully occupied by the leaders from the institutes and enterprises subject to the provincial administration.

Sitting on the rostrum were naturally the big bosses of the province. The faces were familiar, except Dayong Jiang's.

Dayong Jiang sat close to the middle of the rostrum. He wore a pair of reading glasses and was speaking eloquently with a few pages in his hand.

"The usage of the three public expenses has been a key point for our inspection group. During the inspection of the several provinces, we have found a lot of problems. In some regions, the information on the three public expenses is not transparent and lacks supervision; in some regions, the supervision and inspection of the financial sector is extremely deficient and the inspection of the budget spending of some units is insufficient; and in some other regions, overspending happens every year and the expenditures are not in compliance with the budget."

Then Dayong Jiang's expression suddenly turned cold and he said, "apart from this, the waste of public expenses is very severe. The accounting of the expenses in some units is a mess. The expenditures are not recorded under the specified items and are even intentionally recorded under some other items; in some other units, no evidence is provided for the reimbursement of public expenses. They reimbursed the expense for official receptions without any official letter or any review or approval. Illegal items such as gifts and local specialties were also found."

"For going abroad on public expenses, lack of supervision was also discovered in some units. They take going abroad as sightseeing. Those who should go don't have the chance. Some who should not go are going instead." Dayong Jiang paused, and then continued, "Assuming that we are going to send some sports coaches to American training centers to learn and advance their training experience, why are some irrelevant personnel, such as people from the labor union, retired official management, and family planning management going instead of coaches? Isn't this a waste of public expenses?"

"America is a capitalist country. What are those who manage the labor union going to learn from them? Organizing strikes? And what are those who manage the retired officials going learn from them? Do Americans have the same retirement system as ours? And what will those from the family planning learn? Do American people have a family planning system?"

"I don't want any of these irregularities to happen in this province. As we are to learn their training experience, we should send those who are really in the business—the frontline coaches. We should not allow irrelevant people to go sightseeing abroad with the money from the state and the people. We should be aware that the money belongs to the country; it is the money of the people. Comrades, the money was given to us by the people. It should not be squandered. Every cent of it should be used for meaningful purposes, not even one cent should be wasted. This is not just money, it's our responsibility, it's our duty!

The leaders at the rostrum took the lead to applaud, and those who sat opposite to the rostrum followed their lead.

Director Zhang from the Sports Bureau began to feel a little nervous.

"We are organizing our coaches to go to America for exchange learning. Why did Supervisor Jiang from the Inspection Group of the Central Committee use it as an example instead of other things? It's too much of a coincidence. Is he implying something? Is it us that he means?"

Director Zhang was alerted immediately. His political sensitivity told him that Dayong Jiang would never say anything like this without a purpose.

"He is from the Inspection Group of the Central Committee. This surely is not child's play. I need to have it checked out if there is anything wrong in my bureau."

The next moment, Director Zhang took his phone and sent a text message quickly.

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