Animal Detective

Chapter 263 - 233: The Old Dog of the House Lives On (3)

After washing up, Shen Xin found Ding Yuwei and nervously asked if he had made a fool of himself yesterday.

It wouldn’t look good to get wild and unrestrained in front of his superiors.

It was mainly because the colleagues from Pingyu had been too enthusiastic; everyone had insisted on having a drink with him.

"You didn’t," Ding Yuwei said, shaking her head. She then asked Shen Xin if he still wanted to see Liu Jie.

She mentioned that when they were leaving the restaurant yesterday, Liu Jie had grabbed Shen Xin’s hand and told him not to go.

Shen Xin had just kept nodding and agreeing.

So now that they were leaving today, should he go say goodbye?

Shen Xin thought about it and decided against it. After some consideration, he carefully composed and sent a WeChat message to Liu Jie.

He thanked him for his care over the past few days and said that he had learned a lot from him, and so on.

Not long after he sent the message, he received a reply.

A handshake emoji.

Everything was understood without words.

"Let’s go. Time to go home."

Shen Xin tossed the car keys to Ding Yuwei. He hadn’t been home in a while and was actually feeling a little homesick.

Soon, the two of them returned to the branch bureau.

"Huh, no one’s here to welcome us back."

Shen Xin grumbled, looking at the empty space in front of the office building.

’I represented Nanjiang, solved the case beautifully... I should at least get a merit commendation for that, right?’

Ding Yuwei said, "Did you tell Director Lv and the others when you’d be back today? What, you expect Director Lv to wait at the entrance for you?"

"I wouldn’t dare."

Shen Xin immediately shook his head and got out of the car with his bag.

Before he even reached the door, he ran into Zhao Tianxing leading Tiger Stripes out.

Seeing the two of them, Zhao Tianxing’s eyes lit up. "Well, if it isn’t the divine couple," he teased. "I thought you were having so much fun you’d forgotten the way home."

WOOF!

Tiger Stripes broke free and rushed over to circle Shen Xin, wagging his tail furiously to show his affection.

[Happy]

Shen Xin could even hear his thoughts.

’This guy entered Stage Two a long time ago, too.’

Zhao Tianxing shot the dog an annoyed look. "So much for loyalty," he said sourly. "And to think of all the chicken legs I’ve fed you these past few days. What a waste."

Shen Xin ruffled Tiger Stripes’s head. "Having so much fun we’d forgotten the way home? You make it sound like we were on vacation."

Ding Yuwei also glared at Zhao Tianxing. ’Can’t he say anything right?’

Shen Xin then asked how things had been at the station these past few days.

As the three of them walked toward their unit’s office, Zhao Tianxing said dejectedly, "How do you think? Busy, of course. Especially with you two gone, all the paperwork fell on me and Gan Yong."

He then leaned in and sniffed.

"You guys must have drunk a lot at your celebration dinner. So, did Captain Sun say anything about throwing a welcome-back party for you? I haven’t had a decent meal in ages."

Shen Xin said, "I’d think so. After all, we solved the case so brilliantly and brought honor to our branch bureau."

’Forget an official commendation, I don’t dare to dream that big. But we at least deserve a celebration, right?’

He ran into another colleague and immediately greeted them with a wide grin.

"Whoa, you’re back! How’d the case go? Did you solve it?"

Shen Xin replied instantly, "What kind of question is that? We went all the way out there. We couldn’t possibly come back without solving it and embarrass our branch, could we?"

The colleague gave him a thumbs-up.

"Alright, that’s enough out of you."

Seeing that Shen Xin wanted to stop and chat with every colleague he met, Ding Yuwei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she dragged him into the main office.

It was almost noon, so there were only a few people in the office.

Chen Chao wasn’t there either. According to Zhao Tianxing, he’d gone to Houxia for a case.

Sun Zhao was there, talking with Li Haifeng. When he saw Shen Xin walk in, his face lit up instantly.

He walked over, applauding.

"Kid, not bad. You weren’t even back yet and we already got a thank-you call from Liu Zhi. He couldn’t stop praising you."

He looked gratified.

’My own guy gets borrowed to help solve a case, and he actually goes and solves it, and does a beautiful job at that. When word gets out, it makes me look good, too.’

’Besides, now that this case is solved, doesn’t that mean Liu Jie owes us a favor?’

’Next time we have to handle a case in Pingyu, won’t things be much more convenient?’

With that, he wanted to pull everyone into a meeting to have Shen Xin share the process of this investigation and see if they could summarize some lessons from it.

He’d heard from Liu Jie that it hadn’t been an easy case to crack.

Speaking of which, Shen Xin really did have some insights to share.

Working on this case with Liu Jie, he really had learned a thing or two.

But before he got the chance, Director Lv, having heard the news, rushed over with Wang Xihai.

"You’ve got the stuff, kid."

He started praising him right off the bat.

To be honest, Liu Jie’s rank was even higher than his own.

So when Liu Jie called him to heap praise on Shen Xin, how could Director Lv not be happy?

’He’s one of my own men, after all.’

"Two homicide cases spanning two provinces... Kid, your reputation has spread beyond our province now."

On this trip, Shen Xin had also ended up helping Pingzhou solve a cold case.

Wang Xihai chimed in, "That’s why Xiaoshen is truly a master when it comes to investigating these kinds of cold cases."

Shen Xin just smiled and listened, but couldn’t help muttering to himself internally.

’Don’t just praise me, give me something tangible.’

Director Lv seemed to have guessed what Shen Xin was thinking. He pointed at Wang Xihai and said, "Director Wang is right. You certainly have a knack for solving cold cases."

"Didn’t you mention to me last time that you wanted a plaque for a ’Cold Case Investigation Office’? I think that’s a good idea. It’s time to give you some more responsibility."

Beside them, Sun Zhao smiled and nodded.

Clearly, the two of them had already discussed this.

Shen Xin’s eyes lit up. He hurriedly expressed his thanks and promised that he would do his best.

"Oh, right."

Director Lv beckoned Shen Xin over and pulled him aside. "The cold case unit isn’t urgent. But that matter with the police dogs you mentioned before? The city bureau has approved it."

"And Director Zhao specifically requested that you be in charge. There’s a budget and funding, too. You have to take this on and do a brilliant job for me."

The cold case unit was just a matter of getting an office, a plaque, and a car.

At the end of the day, it was still an internal affair of the Criminal Investigation Detachment.

But the police dog matter was different.

This was an official project discussed and approved at a city bureau meeting. It even had a budget. It would require coordinating with multiple departments; it was a serious undertaking.

If he did it well, he’d get the credit, and the leadership would remember it.

But if he messed it up, wasted the funds, and left a huge mess, then to put it bluntly, his superiors would conclude that his abilities weren’t all that great after all.

Director Lv patted Shen Xin’s shoulder and gave him a knowing look.

In his view, Shen Xin had already taken a significant risk just by proposing the idea.

After all, if he hadn’t pursued this, there would have been no negative consequences for him.

Shen Xin understood.

But this was something Shen Xin genuinely wanted to do.

"By the way, Director Lv, how much budget was approved?"

’Men and horses must be fed and watered; the costs won’t be small.’

Director Lv held up one finger. "For now, they’ve approved one million. And from what I hear from Director Zhao, he’s very supportive of this project, so if it’s not enough, there’s a possibility of more."

Shen Xin’s eyes lit up. One million. That wasn’t a small amount; in fact, it was a lot.

This budget alone showed that the leadership must be taking this project very seriously.