Chapter 488: Chapter 459 Continuing with the Second Point_1
The next day.
Zhou Ning entered the Technical Division past eight o’clock. When they left last night, it was nearly midnight, and he yawned as he walked through the door.
This continuous round-the-clock work was indeed tiring, but fortunately, Xia Momo wasn’t with him this time. After all, the case here had come to a closure, and she would be attending a seminar at Qin University these few days on behalf of Zhou Ning.
Just as he entered the office, he saw Xu Dayuan seated in Zhou Ning’s chair, chatting with Liu Yongxin. From their limited body language, it was clear that they had transferred the case files early in the morning.
"Director Xu, you’re early!"
Xu Dayuan smiled, fiddling with Zhou Ning’s hand-painted mug.
"The case files have been transferred. I’m waiting for Liu Yufei to come and pick up someone later. I had nothing else to do, so I came here to sit for a while. Why, aren’t you welcoming me, or do you have something against me?"
Zhou Ning quickly raised his hands, at a loss for how to respond to that.
"My mistake, leader. Speak frankly; I’m just a worker bee. If you’re blunt with me, at least I have some reassurance. With this politeness and small talk, I can’t help but expect the worst."
Xu Dayuan laughed, fiddling with his fingers, and looked at Zhou Ning.
"Two things, first, Mr. Hu is looking for you. Come with me later; the leadership have some new work arrangements and need your opinion. The other thing, I only found out this morning myself: the case involving Wang Kaitao has been sentenced—you remember, the male nurse, right?"
Liu Yongxin paused, glanced at Zhou Ning, and then at Xu Dayuan, surprised, said:
"Including the New Year holiday, how many days has it been? Not even two months in total, and he’s already been sentenced?"
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"I was shocked when I heard the news this morning, but the sentencing result was quite unexpected to me."
At this statement, Zhou Ning’s mind began to spin. If even Xu Dayuan found it very unexpected, then it wasn’t a harsh sentence. Perhaps they had made a more humanized judgment following new guidelines from the Supreme Court.
"Could it be, three to four years of imprisonment with a suspended sentence?"
Xu Dayuan paused, his mood that had just been building collapsed instantly as he stared at Zhou Ning and snorted.
"I was getting all emotional here, couldn’t you just play along and ask ’oh how was he sentenced?’"
Zhou Ning rubbed his nose while Mr. Zhao turned around, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably as he clearly struggled to contain his laughter. His reaction only irritated Xu Dayuan further, but Liu Yongxin just waved dismissively.
"Continue please, leader. We want to hear the details."
Xu Dayuan gestured dismissively.
"What details? I don’t know the specifics; it wasn’t a public trial, after all, given the controversy around euthanasia involved. The judgment for Wang Kaitao was three years imprisonment, suspended for three years.
Although the trial wasn’t public, during this period, the seven or eight patients cared for by Wang Kaitao and their families petitioned outside the court every day, collectively hoping for a lighter sentence. Their petitions were quite thought-provoking.
These people said that what Wang Kaitao did was somewhere between the hospital’s treatments and the families’ care. As a professional caregiver, he provided personalized family care services, easing the worries of the relatives while ensuring the patients had a better quality of life. They argued that a heavy sentence would rob these seriously ill patients of any hope to continue living."
Liu Yongxin sighed.
"They’re speaking the truth. Without such care, families would be overwhelmed and the quality of life for the patients hard to maintain. This could indeed sway a judge. But this sentencing sets a precedent, doesn’t it?"
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"Nationally, it’s indeed a precedent. Alright, Zhou Xiaozhou, come with me."
Zhou Ning hung up his coat and straightened his police uniform, still somewhat uneasy inside, not knowing what work adjustment Xu Dayuan was referring to.
He was currently managing the second forensic department, and the staff of the Technical Division’s forensic and trace evidence teams had grown, not just by a little, since two years ago. Although the team had expanded, there wasn’t much room for a forensic doctor to advance. Could it be they were planning to establish an independent judicial assessment center?
Zhou Ning shook his head. That was unrealistic, especially considering the talent shortages at Qindao’s Technical Division.
In particular, when it came to entomology and forensic botany, they always had to consult with experts, which was not only time-consuming and laborious but also didn’t allow for in-depth research.
"Won’t the leader give a hint?"
Xu Dayuan glared.
"What’s with all this chatter? Hurry up and come with me. Don’t delay my meeting with Fang Mu."
Mr. Zhao coughed and quickly approached.
"Leader, is there something going on between Fang Mu and Mrs. Fei?"
"I think you’re the one interested. What on Earth is everyone thinking about? I’ve reviewed Fang Mu’s information. The kid is capable, truly academically trained, strong in both theory and practice, and stable in handling his duties. Later, I plan to let him practice in the first squad, and if there are no issues, I’ll arrange the next step."
Mr. Zhao nodded and quickly helped open the door for Xu Dayuan.
"Alright, I just wanted to inquire on behalf of Doctor Chen. There’s an old saying: ’He who takes the king’s coin becomes his man; he who eats the king’s bread sings the king’s song.’ Doctor Chen really cares about Mrs. Fei, so we can’t stay out of it, right?"
Xu Dayuan paused, seemingly pondering who this Doctor Chen was.
Zhou Ning hurriedly hinted,
"Stop guessing, you don’t know him. This Doctor Chen is Mr. He’s colleague, an attending doctor in the emergency department. He’s very handsome, skilled professionally, and has a good character. Most importantly, he’s very attentive to Mrs. Fei, so we are all trying hard to match them up. Please don’t be the one to break them apart, leader."
Xu Dayuan realized what was happening. If these words came from Mr. Zhao, he would naturally be skeptical, but coming from Zhou Ning, especially with such high praise, it was clear that Doctor Chen had a good character.
"Then you all should continue your matchmaking efforts. Okay, enough delays, Zhou Xiaozhou, come with me."
Seeing there was no escape, Zhou Ning stopped talking and followed Xu Dayuan out of the technical department, heading straight to the office in the front building. As they entered upon an invitation, Zhou Ning couldn’t help feeling a bit nervous, following Xu Dayuan into the office like a quail, very honestly.
Hu Guangjian looked at the two men and, seeing Zhou Ning’s expression, burst out laughing.
"What’s the matter with you, Zhou Ning? Are you worried there’s some bad news?"
Zhou Ning shook his head, looked at Hu Guangjian, then at Xu Dayuan, sighed, and hurriedly said.
"Mr. Hu, actually, I’m not worried about bad news. At work, I am hardworking and dedicated. Our team hasn’t made any mistakes, and we’ve done our best in every case, utilizing all possible resources. My worry is that you’re thinking of promoting me."
Hearing this, Hu Guangjian started to laugh, but by the end, he wore a puzzled expression.
He exchanged a glance with Xu Dayuan, then quickly asked,
"Explain why you’re worried about getting promoted?"
Zhou Ning scooted forward on his seat, leaned in, and said seriously,
"Honestly, since coming to work in Qindao, under the leadership of Mr. Hu and Director Xu, I’ve felt I could give it my all. It’s been a tremendous boost to my personal development, especially the unconditional trust granted to me, without which so many cases could not have been solved.
I’m just someone who works on the technical side, collaborating with Qin University and learning from Professor Li Chengbin. If I’m promoted and taken off front-line work, it would mean giving up my own profession."
Hu Guangjian nodded, walked from behind his desk to the sofa in front of Zhou Ning, sat down, and patted Zhou Ning’s knee, saying,
"What I admire the most about you is your dedication to your work. Not everyone can do that. Don’t be in a hurry to disagree. Dayuan and I have discussed it, and Mr. Peng will retire in March. The technical department needs someone to step up. My intention was for you to take over as the head of the department.
But since you’ve said this, I won’t make it difficult for you. We’ll let Mr. Pang be the head of the technical department, and you can take on a deputy position, responsible for forensic, trace evidence, and laboratory work. As for merging the two forensic offices, it’ll stay the same as before, with you also acting as the director. How about this arrangement?"
Zhou Ning felt a bit embarrassed, but what he had just said was truly from the heart. He did not wish to be removed from front-line work, and since the leaders had spoken in such a manner, they probably intended for Mr. Pang to take over. By expressing his stance first, the situation had turned out even better for him. He smiled and let out a slight sigh of relief before saying,
"I will follow the leaders’ arrangements. But since we’re dividing tasks this way, I suggest that Zhu Xingxing temporarily take over as the acting head of the criminal case team. The other teams will remain unchanged. Given the high volume of traffic accidents, we could rename their teams sequentially as four, five, six. Would that work?"
Hu Guangjian laughed, and Xu Dayuan grunted twice.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, did you already guess what we were going to talk to you about? Is that why you came up with this? You’re making Mr. Hu feel even more reluctant, aren’t you?"
Zhou Ning was taken aback.
"Leader, I did not think of it that way. Mr. Hu asked me to speak the truth, so I did. Surely, I shouldn’t keep my thoughts hidden. Besides, I’m just a forensic doctor. I can do the work, but I’m really not cut out to be a leader. However, speaking of which, there are two things I’d like to report to both of you leaders."
Seeing Zhou Ning’s earnestness, Hu Guangjian and Xu Dayuan looked at each other and then gestured to Zhou Ning to continue.
"Speak up about any issues or difficulties. Your department is a star department in the Qindao City Bureau, and you’ve certainly given me many opportunities to shine at the provincial level. What equipment investments are needed, or what other kind of support?"
Zhou Ning continued,
"I’ll talk about them one by one. First, since our technical department has chosen to collaborate with Qin University, we should specialize in certain areas. We should not be content with merely assisting criminal investigations in solving cases but follow the developments in domestic and international advanced technology. I think we can set our sights further."
Hu Guangjian showed interest, his fingers interlaced and his elbows propped on his knees.
"Explain more about these targets, both long-term and short-term. I’ve heard that you have a ten-year plan for the research and development center at Qin University, with annual goals. I’ve been envious of this, not for just a day or two."
Zhou Ning rubbed his nose and pulled an envelope from his pocket. Upon unfolding it, there was a stack of A4 papers filled with writing. Hu Guangjian and Xu Dayuan exchanged looks, both raising their eyebrows.
"You’ve come prepared, haven’t you?"
"Not really, but since both leaders have such intentions, I might as well share the ideas I had previously. I need to keep up with the leaders’ pace, don’t I?"
Xu Dayuan laughed and handed Zhou Ning a bottle of water.
"Go ahead, let’s see what you’ve got in mind."
"This contains detailed reasons and demands, but I’ll just give a brief overview. Many judicial appraisal institutions in other cities have applied for various patents. I’m not going to think about that since, relying on Qin University, we’ll have plenty of that kind of thing later.
I believe that since we’re handling a large volume of actual cases, we should take some difficult cases and those new types where the forensic standards and determination criteria are vague, and create a set of our own guidelines. It’s like drafting industry standards so that in the future, such cases will require certain types of evidence.
For example, in the recent case of a high fall causing death, in general, the standards for determining high falls are vague, and there’s no specification as to what kind of evidence is required for determination. The distance of the fall, scuffle marks, palm print locations, the nature of contusions, and so on.
We can base our standards on this case and similar high-fall cases, summarize and deduce, and compile a set of determination criteria. With those, we can propose our drafted suggestions and, if they are recognized as industry standards, then Qindao City Bureau’s status in the industry will become even more prominent."
Hu Guangjian’s eyes lit up, very pleased with what Zhou Ning had said. He snatched the manuscript out of Zhou Ning’s hands and waved him on impatiently,
"Don’t be like squeezing toothpaste, go on with the second point."
