Chapter 28 Bonus Rewards

Han Yu returned to the office with an utterly shocked feeling, only to find Xu Sanye, the Instructor, and Old Zhang still in the office negotiating a contract with some clients for a contracting project.

On-site drawing, on-site budgeting, bargaining, signing contracts on-site...

This scene reminded him of a loud slogan: Time is money, efficiency is life!

But Linghai was just a county under the jurisdiction of Binjiang, a coastal city, not the Shenzhen Special Zone. Was there a need to rush at the speed of Shenzhen?

The leaders were too busy and overwhelmed to even care about eating.

If the leaders hadn't eaten, he and Old Qian felt it wasn't right to eat before them.

The two sat in the reception room, staring at each other, until 1:30 PM when the leaders finally sent off the last group of clients and started having lunch.

Xu Sanye and Old Zhang had to attend a meeting at the bureau and didn't even have time to wash their hands, quickly wolfing down a few bites of food, then rode off on a tricycle.

Han Yu took a sip of fish soup and asked perplexedly, "Instructor, didn't they say the meeting starts at 2:30? Isn't it a bit early for Director Xu and Uncle Zhang to go now?"

"They're not just going to the meeting, they also have other matters to handle."

Thinking about the bureau possibly being in chaos today, Li Weiguo was somewhat worried, ambivalent, and a bit excited.

…

Salary day was just over ten days away, and it was crucial to settle all travel allowances and bonus rewards before the end of the month to avoid complications.

Xu Sanye and Old Zhang rushed to the logistics department as soon as they arrived at the bureau.

The travel allowance was surprisingly as much as ten yuan a day, and the bonus pay along with the bureau's matching rewards were directly capped!

Zhang Lan was startled and, unable to decide, simply passed the related documents to Sister Jiang, who had just started work.

The head of the department disappeared as soon as he saw Xu Sanye at the logistics department.

Sister Jiang couldn't escape and after looking at the documents and searching for the relevant files, she said grimly, "Director Xu, this travel allowance doesn't seem a bit high, it's way over the standard."

"Old Jiang, do you know how expensive things are in East Sea?"

"I've heard some."

"Since you know, then why do you think this allowance is excessive!"

"Special circumstances should be treated specially, or else I could ask the leaders about it later."

Sister Jiang put down the travel allowance document and picked up the bonus pay application, then said with a bitter smile, "Theoretically, this bonus pay meets the criteria, but the document requires that it not be distributed evenly."

Xu Sanye, sitting nonchalantly where the department head usually sat, picked up a newspaper, "Then don't distribute it evenly. We have four police officers in our department; one gets ninety-nine, one gets ninety-eight, one gets ninety-seven, one gets ninety-six. Isn't that fine?"

What is the difference between that and even distribution, Zhang Lan laughed, and Old Zhang couldn't help but chuckle as well.

Sister Jiang, who had been his subordinate for many years, dared not offend her old leader and said helplessly, "Director Xu, I can arrange it like this on the payroll, but the leadership definitely won't approve."

"The leaders are all upstairs, just do it, and once it's done, go find them for signatures."

"The leaders definitely won't sign."

"They definitely will sign; want to bet?"

"Alright then," Sister Jiang picked up her pen and continued, "Director Xu, I can arrange your and Commander Li's, and Old Zhang's bonus wages on the payroll, but it's tricky for Salted Fish."

Xu Sanye took the tea handed over by Zhang Lan and asked, "Why is it tricky?"

"The document stipulates that new public security police officers undergo a one-year internship period. During the internship, they do not receive regular wages but are compensated with temporary wages. Salted Fish is a vocational school graduate, making fifty-three per month; there's no such thing as bonus wages for him."

"Is that the rule?"

"Yes, if you don't believe me, I can show it to you."

"What rule are you referring to?"

"It's the notice issued by the Ministry of Labor and Personnel in December '85 by the Wage Reform Team concerning the reform of the wage system for public security officers; we all follow this notice for wage distribution."

"Old Jiang, you can't just focus on crunching numbers and not study. Look further, see if there's another document."

"What document?"

Before coming, she had discussed with the Instructor and Old Zhang, and Xu Sanye was not so easy to fool; he casually mentioned, "The document number sixty issued by the Provincial Labor and Personnel Department in '86, it's called the Notice on the Wage Reward Issues for Staff of State Organs."

Sister Jiang had never paid attention to the allowance for intern police officers before; seeing that Xu Sanye didn't seem to be joking, she quickly stood up, opened the filing cabinet, and indeed found the document he mentioned.

After carefully reading it, she said with a mixed expression of laughter and tears, "Director Xu, it says here that during the internship period, bonus wages are not issued as a principle, only those who perform exceptionally may receive it."

"Salted Fish has performed exceptionally!"

"Director Xu, stop joking, he's just a kid, he's only been at work for a month."

As Xu Sanye was about to speak, he saw a police officer passing by the doorway, and quickly shouted, "Jiang Liping, come in!"

Security officer Jiang Liping was startled and hurriedly walked in, saluting, "Hello, Director Xu, what are your instructions?"

"Has there been any instruction? I have a question for you: How many years have you been working?"

"Three years."

"How many individuals have you interrogated or questioned, and how many written records have you completed in these three years of work?"

Jiang Liping did not expect him to ask this, and after thinking carefully, he cautiously answered, "Reporting to Director Xu, our division hasn't handled many cases on its own, I don't remember how many individuals I have interrogated. As for the written records, I should have done about five or six hundred."

"There's nothing more for you here; you can go back to your tasks."

"Yes!"

Jiang Liping was puzzled, saluted, and quickly left the logistics division.

Sister Jiang looked confused, not knowing why Xu Sanye would ask such questions.

Zhang Lan had visited Yanjiang Police Station several times and guessed the general reason.

Old Zhang knew exactly why and simply smiled without speaking.

Picking up his cup Xu Sanye took a small sip of tea and said unhurriedly, "Old Jiang, in the three years Jiang Liping has worked, the number of individuals he has interrogated and the written records he has made combined are even less than what Salted Fish has done in just over a month. Do you think Salted Fish's performance stands out?"

"Really?"

"For real, what's real cannot be fake, and what's fake cannot become real. If you don't believe it, you can go to the criminal investigation department and check the evidence materials for case 9.17, and count how many are from Salted Fish!"

Seeing that Sister Jiang was still skeptical, Zhang Lan hurriedly said, "Sister Jiang, the reason this operation against the illegal sale of boat tickets was so successful is because we had ample evidence. And all that evidence was collected by Little Salted Fish, Commander Li, and Uncle Zhang when they questioned the passengers on the boat."

Sister Jiang, surprised, asked, "Little Salted Fish was also involved in the operation?"

"He was."

Xu Sanye set down his tea cup and said very seriously and solemnly, "To gather evidence, Old Li, Old Zhang, and Salted Fish were busy for ten days and nights, questioning over four thousand passengers who couldn't buy tickets at the ticket windows and had to resort to scalpers for black market tickets."

"They took more than four thousand interrogation records, and all this evidence collection had to be completed before the passengers disembarked. They wore out several pens and used up several bottles of ink, their wrists are still aching from all the writing."

Little Salted Fish comes from a poor family background, not even owning a house on shore.

Old Zhang also felt that it was time to advocate for a bonus reward for Little Salted Fish, opportunistically saying, "Accountant Jiang, the leads on case 9.17 were essentially discovered by Salted Fish. If it wasn't for his reminder, we wouldn't have thought about targeting those scalpers."

That kid did so much work, it would be inappropriate not to reward him.

But whether Salted Fish's performance was truly outstanding, Xu Sanye's word alone doesn't suffice, and neither does hers as the accountant, especially since there is no precedent in the office for awarding intern police with bonus wages.

After thinking it over, Sister Jiang stood up and said, "Director Xu, Old Zhang, maybe I should ask Director Wang upstairs."

"Go ahead, I'll wait here for the news."

"Alright, please wait a moment."

...

Sister Jiang went upstairs and after searching around, finally found Director Wang in the Director's office.

The reason she sought Director Wang first, instead of the Deputy Director who handles finances and logistics, was mainly because whether or not performance stands out should be determined by the Political Work Office.

Upon understanding the situation, Director Wang quietly asked, "Director Yang, Instructor Ding, how should we handle this?"

Compared to two or three hundred thousand, what's two hundred dollars in reward?

What's coming next is the major accounts, there's no need to upset Xu Sanye over such a trivial matter...

Instructor Ding stroked his chin, pondering, "This request is not unreasonable, especially since Little Salted Fish did indeed perform well."

Director Yang thought the same, looking up at Sister Jiang, "Since the documents exist, follow the procedures in those documents."

"Yes."

If you disagree, it's me who suffers.

Sister Jiang finally breathed a sigh of relief, quickly turned, and walked out, remembering to gently close the office door behind her, returning the office to its previous silence.

Whether the upcoming financial management meeting could proceed smoothly was unclear to Director Yang, Instructor Ding, and Director Wang.

After all, the police stations had their "financial autonomy" previously, and choosing to "formalize" the financial management system at this sensitive time was clearly aimed at the funds managed by Xu Sanye.

To ensure absolute certainty, they invited Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, Deputy County Magistrate Yu, who oversees the public security, and Director Zhao of the Finance Bureau to attend the meeting later.

Secretary Li had a good relationship with Xu Sanye. If even Secretary Li and County Magistrate Yu couldn't manage Xu Sanye, that would be awkward.

But as the saying goes, the arrow was on the bow, they had to shoot.

Director Wang looked at his watch, suggesting, "Director Yang, Instructor Ding, Secretary Li and County Magistrate Yu should be arriving soon. Shall we go down to meet them?"

Recently, central authorities had experienced a "price breakthrough" which failed.

For Director Yang, today was also about breaking through, and failure was not an option; otherwise, the hard-earned respect would be utterly lost.

He took several deep breaths, slowly stood up, and said, "Let's go."