Chapter 55: Applying for the Police Force (Part I)

"Dad, please don't worry, I'm really fine. Actually, I've always been very clear in my mind that for the current stage of my life, my focus should be on career development. After all, I've just stepped into the professional world not long ago. If I were to get distracted by romantic relationships at a time like this, it might affect my work performance and professional planning.

Besides, finding a partner is not as easy as finding a job. With employment competition being so fierce nowadays, I need to secure a stable job first! Otherwise, how can I support myself?

Dad, look at Xiao Li next door. The reason he manages to balance both work and romance is simply because he is highly capable. But I am different from him; it is much more practical for me to focus steadily on doing my job well first. Once I achieve success in my career, it won't be too late to consider personal matters. Am I right, Dad?"

Yet, when the topic of finding a job came up, this very sentence slipped out of his mouth in a moment of panic...

Upon hearing his son mention looking for a job, the father stared at him with a puzzled expression and asked, "Aren't you working steadily and securely at the police station, you little rascal? Why are you suddenly talking about going out to look for a job? Something fishy must be going on here!"

Zhang Heng froze instantly, standing rooted to the spot in silence without uttering a word.

At that moment, his father looked at the silent Zhang Heng and continued, "Hey, why have I struck you dumb? I'm asking you a question! Did your boss give you a paid vacation this time, or were you fired?"

Hearing his father put it this way, the anger in Zhang Heng's heart was instantly ignited. He clenched his fists tightly, his lips trembling slightly as he prepared to retort loudly, but his father spoke again:

"Let me ask you, what is the deal with the large sum of money you brought back this time? Could it be that you accepted ill-gotten gains and that's why you were expelled from your unit? Give me an honest explanation right now!"

Faced with his father's stern interrogation, Zhang Heng remained silent, though beads of fine sweat had already broken out on his forehead. Seeing this, his father's tone became even sharper:

"Fine, Zhang Heng, my son! I always thought you were my pride, but now it seems I was completely wrong! Tell me quickly, where on earth did this money come from?"

"If you don't speak up, I'm going to call the police!" With that, the father actually reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and made a motion to dial the emergency number.

Seeing that his father was about to make the call, Zhang Heng finally couldn't help shouting out, "Dad, can you stop messing around? I'm already heartbroken enough as it is, what more do you want from me?" Zhang Heng looked at his father with a pained expression, his voice carrying a hint of entreaty.

"Alright, son, Dad won't pressure you anymore. Now, tell Dad honestly, where did the money you brought home this time come from?" the father asked seriously.

Hearing his father's words, Zhang Heng took a deep breath and tried hard to calm himself down. He knew that if he couldn't provide a plausible explanation, his father definitely wouldn't let the matter rest. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he decided to fabricate a story.

"Dad, to tell you the truth, this money is the reward and severance pay I earned from my work," Zhang Heng replied, feigning calmness.

"What?" His father's eyes widened, clearly extremely surprised by this answer.

"Dad, it's like this. Didn't I mention it to you before? I participated in solving that sensational capital city department store case. At the time, I successfully cracked the case in just three days, and the unit rewarded me with thirty thousand yuan for it. Moreover, when the victim's family learned that the true culprit had been caught, one of the family members was extremely grateful and offered me two hundred thousand yuan as a token of appreciation. But I firmly refused; after all, it was part of my duty. Later, when it became truly impossible to decline, my leader told me to accept a portion of it—namely, one hundred thousand yuan—for myself. As for the rest of the money..." At this point, Zhang Heng deliberately paused to observe his father's reaction.

Before Zhang Heng could finish speaking, his father quickly pursued the questioning, "Then you might as well tell me, why on earth were you fired and dismissed?" Zhang Heng hesitated for a moment before responding, "Dad, do you want to hear the truth or a lie?" His father answered with a serious expression, "Naturally, I want to hear the truth! Give me an honest and clear account of everything." So Zhang Heng took a deep breath and truthfully recounted to his father everything that had happened to him over this past period.

As it turned out, the crucial reason for Zhang Heng's dismissal this time was that he had accidentally acquired a piece of vital confidential information during his undercover mission... Following that, Zhang Heng detailed how he penetrated a drug trafficking ring in Shanxi Province, endured all kinds of dangers and challenges, and ultimately completed the mission successfully before leaving Beijing. After listening to these thrilling events, the father felt incomparably shocked and generously praised him, saying, "Good boy, well done! You were truly fantastic, keep up the good work!"

At this juncture, Zhang Heng seized the opportunity to ask his father for advice: "Dad, since that's the case, do you think I should go and report those guys to the Ministry of Public Security, letting..." Before he could finish his sentence, however, his father suddenly fell silent. He pondered quietly for a full minute before slowly speaking up:

"Son, how about this? Let's put this whistleblowing matter aside for now. The most important thing right now is that you are safe and sound."

"Dad, do you mean I don't need to report this incident anymore?" the son asked perplexedly.

"My boy, your primary task right now is to find a job. Those internal state affairs are very difficult for people with our capabilities to resolve. However, we can focus on settling our own personal matters. For you, the most pressing thing at hand is to find a job," the father explained earnestly.

"Alright, Dad, I understand." The son nodded in acknowledgment.

Then, the father added, "There's one more thing, son. If you are going to look for a job again, Dad doesn't want you to take on dangerous work like criminal investigation police anymore. You can consider administrative positions within the police force."

"Administrative? Dad, tell me more about it specifically." The son showed considerable interest in this.

"Son, just think about it. You always used to rush to the front lines, and that was to protect everyone. But if you can become an anti-fraud police officer, you'll still be protecting everyone just the same..." The father patiently expounded his viewpoint to his son.

"Dad, are you saying you want me to look for an anti-fraud job?" Zhang Heng looked at his father in bewilderment, filled with incomprehension.

His father nodded and said earnestly, "My son, there are too many scams in society today, and countless people fall victim to them. This job is very meaningful; it can help more people avoid being scammed."

Hearing his father's words, Zhang Heng fell silent for a moment. He knew that his father had always been a kind and upright man, but he still felt somewhat hesitant about taking on such a job himself.

"However... Dad, I don't know anything about this field at all. How can I do it well?" Zhang Heng asked worriedly.

His father patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "Don't be afraid, child. As long as you have the heart to learn, there is nothing that cannot be done well. Besides, this is also a great opportunity to train and develop your own abilities!"

Zhang Heng pondered his father's words and felt they made some sense. Deep down inside, however, a trace of unease still remained.

"Alright, Dad, then let's go home and discuss it further," Zhang Heng finally made his decision.

Thus, father and son walked into the house together. They sat down on the living room sofa and continued to discuss career planning regarding this anti-fraud job.

Over the time that followed, the father and son exchanged many thoughts and opinions. Zhang Heng gradually came to understand his father's good intentions and also began to develop a strong interest in anti-fraud work.

Ultimately, after careful deliberation, Zhang Heng resolved to give this challenging job a try. As for his father, he always silently supported his choice, offering him endless encouragement and trust...

After the conversation ended, Zhang Heng unhesitatingly took out his phone and, right in front of his father, swiftly opened several commonly used recruitment apps on the screen: Boss Zhipin, Liepin, and Zhilian Zhaopin. Then, he proficiently tapped on these applications and began to search intently for job openings related to "anti-fraud police"...

However, after a thorough search, he still failed to find any matching positions. Faced with this outcome, Zhang Heng couldn't help but feel quite puzzled, while his father, who had been quietly observing his son's actions, spoke up:

"Heng'er, don't rush, search a bit more and see."

Hearing his father's words, although Zhang Heng felt somewhat helpless inside, he obediently followed his father's request and continued trying hard to search for information on anti-fraud police positions...

Yet, no matter how he tried, the results remained disappointing. Not only did he repeatedly search across multiple platforms, but he even expanded his search range to provincial capitals and other major cities, yet ultimately came up empty-handed.

Zhang Heng felt increasingly baffled, muttering to himself inwardly, "Could it really be that not a single police station or public security bureau needs to recruit anti-fraud police officers nowadays? Or is it that this position simply doesn't lack manpower?" Various doubts surged into his mind, plunging him into deep thought.

harboring a heart full of doubt, he decided to turn to the internet for help once again. Skillfully opening the commonly used search engines—Baidu Knows and the knowledge-sharing community Zhihu—he carefully formulated his question into text and uploaded it online, anxiously waiting for other netizens' responses and feedback...

True to expectation, on Zhihu, less than five minutes after uploading his post, an enthusiastic netizen's comment appeared below: "Dude, if you ask me, anti-fraud police can definitely be considered the most popular and easiest position within the police force. Such a sweet gig, how could it possibly be publicly advertised and recruited externally? To give you an analogy, if your family opened a company and it involved financial management, would you casually recruit a stranger from the outside to manage the accounts? Obviously not! Therefore, anti-fraud police positions are generally selected through internal referrals!"

Reading this comment, he experienced a sudden flash of insight and finally figured out why he couldn't find any job openings related to anti-fraud police on recruitment websites. Afterward, he truthfully conveyed this answer to his father sitting beside him.

Hearing this answer, an expression of astonishment also appeared on his father's face.

Zhang Heng took a deep breath and slowly spoke, "Dad, in my view, I should continue searching for police positions that match my own skills. After all, over these four years of college, I have specialized entirely in criminal investigation. If you ask me to switch to other fields now, I'm afraid I'll find it hard to adapt for a while. What do you think?" Hearing this, his father frowned slightly and fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

After a moment, his father finally broke the silence: "Very well, son. Since that's the case, then Dad hopes you can find a suitable criminal investigation police job right here on our doorstep, in our own city. That way, being close to home, we can look out for each other." Zhang Heng nodded repeatedly, expressing agreement with his father's proposal and promising to follow his instructions.

Promptly, Zhang Heng picked up his phone and began searching for relevant information within the city limits... Sure enough, many police-related positions instantly popped up on the screen. Looking closely, they included not only auxiliary police officers and traffic police, but also political-legal auxiliary police, administrative police assistants, and cyber police assistants, among others. These positions were diverse and distinctive, making Zhang Heng's eyes light up.

Then, he began to carefully review the basic information of the police-related positions one by one... After browsing through them, he noticed a universal phenomenon and pattern—most auxiliary police positions came from security companies, while those truly and directly recruited by public security bureaus or their subordinate units were assistant-level positions...

Having understood this situation, he immediately reported it to his father and expounded upon his findings. However, after listening to his words, his father gave a clear opinion: if he wanted to find a job opportunity, he should target positions directly recruited by the public security bureau or its direct subordinate units, while positions provided by security companies could be disregarded.

Having received this advice from his father, he felt a deep sense of agreement and resolved that henceforth he would only focus on jobs directly recruited by the public security bureau or its subordinate institutions...

He browsed the recruitment information carefully, and his gaze finally lingered on a position that made his eyes shine—[Case Analyst Assistant]. This seemed to be the job he had always dreamed of! What made him even more excited was that this position was directly recruited by a unit affiliated with the public security bureau, and the interview location was set right inside the courtyard of the public security bureau.

Immediately afterward, he eagerly checked the specific requirements and welfare benefits of the position... After reading them, he pondered inwardly: overall, all aspects of this job matched his expectations quite well. The only minor flaw might be that the welfare and benefits were slightly underwhelming, but this would not affect his strong interest in the position.

Especially when seeing the job requirements, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. It clearly stated that applicants graduated from the Public Security University would be given priority, and he happened to be a graduate of the People's Public Security University of China located in the capital; furthermore, it required sharp and agile thinking skills, which was naturally a breeze for someone as quick-witted as him; the final item mentioned that having relevant case-solving experience was preferred, and he had once participated in the investigation of a nationwide sensational capital city department store human dismemberment and organ packaging case—without a doubt, this would serve as the most powerful stepping stone on his job-hunting path...

However, regarding the welfare benefits provided by this job, Zhang Heng still held a trace of dissatisfaction in his heart. The recruitment information stated clearly: "As for salary, the base pay is two thousand five hundred yuan, plus bonuses, case-solving rewards, and various other allowances... The total monthly income can exceed four thousand yuan, and at the same time, five insurances and one housing fund are provided, along with meal subsidies and staff dormitories, with extra holiday gifts during festivals..."

As the saying goes, you cannot have both fish and bear's paw. It was not until this moment that Zhang Heng deeply grasped the truth of those words.

After much deliberation, he decided to share this matter with his father...

When Zhang Heng finished speaking, far from offering any blame, his father consoled him instead:

"My child, do not just look at immediate gains. Looking for a job shouldn't just be about staring at the salary and benefits; the key is whether you truly love this industry in your heart..." The father went on and on, offering earnest and persuasive advice.

Hearing this comforting advice from his father, Zhang Heng was suddenly enlightened. When he initially chose to major in criminal investigation at the Public Security University, wasn't it precisely because he hoped to serve and dedicate himself to the country in the future? Since that was the case...

Thinking of this, Zhang Heng made up his mind: no matter what, he had to get in touch with this position! Having made up his mind, he unhesitatingly tapped open the chat window with the other party...