In the office.
Zhou Ran stood in front of the desk, taking several deep breaths. He was trying hard to mentally prepare himself.
After all, bringing something up with Director Liu was not an easy thing to do—especially when it meant asking for funding again.
Ring ring ring.
But before he could even brace himself for a scolding, the phone rang first.
He frowned and picked it up: “Hello, this is the Qingcheng Police Department, Director’s Office. Zhou Ran speaking.”
“Old Zhou, how’s today’s arrest operation going? Did you catch Jiang Chuan?” Director Liu’s authoritative voice came through the phone.
Zhou Ran instantly tensed up.
Well, well. He hadn’t even called Director Liu yet, and here Director Liu was, calling him first.
Seeing that there was no way around it now, Zhou Ran smiled helplessly: “Uh, Director Liu, here’s the thing… um, we didn’t catch Jiang Chuan in this operation.”
“What? He got away? What the hell were you all doing! How could you let Jiang Chuan escape? Old Zhou, I trusted you so much—I specifically gave you the authority to deploy the SWAT team and let you command freely. And what do you do? You let Jiang Chuan get away! What on earth were you thinking!” Director Liu tore into him without holding back.
After all, in his view, an arms dealer—no matter how well-connected—couldn’t possibly bring a large group of people into Jiuzhou territory. The target would be too big and far too easy to expose.
Under those circumstances, with most of a city bureau’s police force plus the SWAT team, catching Jiang Chuan’s criminal gang shouldn’t have been easy, sure—but there was no way they should have let him slip away.
For Zhou Ran to let Jiang Chuan escape with such an overwhelming advantage… that took some real talent.
“It’s not that, Director Liu. We didn’t let Jiang Chuan get away—he never showed up at all!” Zhou Ran’s face was full of grievance.
And that was the truth. He would have loved to catch Jiang Chuan.
But the man never appeared. What was he supposed to do?
“He never showed up?” Director Liu was stunned.
Zhou Ran quickly explained: “That’s right, Director Liu. Jiang Chuan is extremely cautious. He didn’t deliver the goods himself—most likely he just sent his men to do it.
So we decided to pay Jiang Chuan the remaining balance first. Otherwise, our identities could very well be exposed.”
Hearing this, Director Liu was silent for a moment on the other end.
He pondered for a long while before saying: “You mean, we just act like buyers and purchase this batch of guns?”
“Yes, Director Liu.”
“You’re the one who went to Jiang Chuan to buy firearms, right? Old Zhou, should I go talk to the higher-ups and get you a position as our police force’s procurement officer, specifically to liaise with Jiang Chuan, so from now on we just buy guns from him?” Director Liu said with a sarcastic tone.
Zhou Ran shook his head: “No need for that, Director Liu.”
“You can’t tell when someone’s being sarcastic, can you!” Director Liu snapped.
Zhou Ran finally caught on: “Director Liu, no, I mean—we should complete this first transaction first.
Then, we can use this opportunity to conduct a second transaction with Jiang Chuan. And for this next deal, we can increase the purchase volume, and not just limit it to firearms—we can also buy other military weapons.
That way, we can use the excuse that the total value of the goods is very high and that both parties need to meet in person for the transaction, to make Jiang Chuan deliver the goods himself.
As long as Jiang Chuan comes to Qingcheng, and we’ve set up an inescapable net, he definitely won’t get away! I guarantee it, Director Liu.”
Hearing this, Director Liu didn’t speak for a moment.
Zhou Ran gritted his teeth: “Um, Director Liu, actually we’re not losing out either. Jiang Chuan’s firearms—in terms of quality—are better than guns produced by some domestic military factories! And every single gun has been carefully selected. There’s absolutely no problem with them.
We’ve inspected them all. Most importantly, the price isn’t too expensive. Even though we’re spending the funds, these guns are still usable—you can totally treat it as our police force procuring a batch of guns.”
Director Liu let out a helpless sigh.
“Alright, how much do you need this time? I’ll go apply to the higher-ups,” Director Liu finally compromised.
There was no other way. Jiang Chuan hadn’t shown up during this arrest operation, which meant all their preparations had to be postponed. And if they didn’t pay Jiang Chuan the remaining balance now and set up another transaction to lure him out again…
Then everything they’d done would truly be for nothing.
Zhou Ran did some quick mental math: “At the current exchange rate, the remaining balance is about 70 million. For the next batch of weapons, we’ll need to pay a 20% deposit. Last time the deposit was 15 million. This time I’ll try to negotiate it down, but we should still prepare around 10 million.”
Director Liu nearly spat blood on the other end of the phone.
70 million on one side, 10 million on the other—that was 80 million in funding at the drop of a hat. Good grief, did they think the police department’s money grew on trees?
“Director Liu, I know this is a lot of money, but as long as we catch Jiang Chuan, we’ll get it all back. Besides, with those ten thousand guns, we’re not really losing money, are we?” Zhou Ran said with a smile.
Director Liu clenched his teeth: “Fine! You just wait. I’m going to go apply for the funding from the higher-ups right now.”
With that, he slammed the phone down with a bang.
Zhou Ran let out a breath of relief. The heavy stone hanging over his heart finally dropped.
No matter what, Director Liu had agreed—and that was absolutely a good thing.
At least it was far better than him talking until his mouth was dry and Director Liu refusing outright.
And since Director Liu was going to apply for the funding, they now had the capital to continue negotiating with Jiang Chuan.
He just didn’t know if this time they could earn Jiang Chuan’s trust, successfully get him to sell them another batch of weapons, and agree to the request of delivering the goods in person.
Thinking of this, he smiled bitterly and shook his head, then turned and walked out of the office, heading toward the conference room.
…
Arriving at the conference room.
Facing everyone’s gazes, Zhou Ran nodded: “Director Liu from the provincial bureau has agreed to our request and is going to apply for the funding. I believe it won’t be long before the funds are transferred to our designated account. Then we’ll send it directly to Jiang Chuan.”
Jiang Zhuyu nodded firmly: “Please rest assured, Director Zhou. I will transfer the remaining balance the moment I receive the funds.”
She had always been the one responsible for that payment account.
Zhou Ran nodded, then looked at Jiang Zhuyu: “Officer Jiang, from today onward, you’ll still be the one to handle the liaison with Jiang Chuan. After all, you were the one who received the goods this time—Jiang Chuan surely knows who you are.
If you’re the one contacting Jiang Chuan, the other side’s guard will come down a little.”
Jiang Zhuyu raised her hand in a salute: “Yes! Please rest assured, Director Zhou. I will not let you or everyone else down. I guarantee I will bring Jiang Chuan to justice!”
“Alright, everyone head back for now. Once the funding arrives, we’ll contact Jiang Chuan and conduct the second transaction.”
“Yes! Director Zhou.”
