It’s unknown since when it started, but Ping County’s Public Security Bureau has a tradition——a small team is sent to patrol the county every night, 365 days a year, every day.
The members of the patrol team are mostly young people, the office stipulated that those over 45 don’t have to stay up late to patrol, but Tan Yan is an exception.
He is 58 years old, an ordinary police officer in Ping County, despite having reached the age of near-retirement, he maintains a good figure, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, without a trace of extra flesh on his waist or abdomen. It is said that Tan Yan’s skills are also among the best, every year he ranks among the best in the internal martial arts competition of the security department of Yun Province, when the people who have fought against him heard that he is almost 60 years old, all of them nearly dropped their jaws. Someone once said that he can’t be more than 40 at most, this age is also spoken for the sake of the old face, if it were just about physical function, people would only believe it if it said that he’s 18. Don’t look that Tan Yan is older now, but he is good-looking, the new girl in the office secretly calls him the handsome uncle, looking at the unit’s historical photo of the younger him, making them a love-struck fool, almost 60 but can still compete for Ping County’s most handsome.
Despite the fact that he is not inferior to young people in all aspects, his age is older after all, the leader has long advised him to retire to the second line to do logistics work, but Tan Yan refused.
Tan Yan is a well-known eccentric, nobody knows what he thinks, nor what he wants.
He is not short of money, and the first-line allowance is dispensable to him. In the 1990s, a colleague who went to sea borrowed all of Tan Yan’s savings. As a result, the colleague lost money in business, so he gave Tan Yan the bungalow in his hometown to pay off the debt. Later, the colleague’s hometown became a tourist development area, and the bungalow was demolished, Tan Yan was compensated with two decent homes, and now the annual rent is quite substantial.
He is good-looking and has small assets, but he is still a bachelor and has never been in a relationship. He has quite a lot of savings, but he eats in the canteen of his work unit, wears ordinary sportswear, lives in the tube building allocated by his work unit in the early years, and travels with an out-of-date bicycle that can hardly be found in the market.
He can eat as long as there’s a mouthful of food, can sleep soundly on a board of wood, doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol, doesn’t need lavish meals, doesn’t indulge in sensual pleasure1聲色犬馬 shēng sè quǎn mǎ: music and women, keeping dogs and riding horses–sensual pleasure, and even rarely watches TV dramas. He seems to have no hobbies or interests, living a quiet and restricted life.
Since he joined the workforce at 18, he has been patrolling around Ping County every night on his bicycle for the past 40 years, without taking off duty for a single day, as if he knows neither fatigue nor illness.
He rarely gets together and chats with his colleagues in the unit, even if there is an occasion that he can’t refuse, he remains silent all the time, like a boring gourd, and won’t say a word for a long time. Just once, Tan Yan was forced to drink some alcohol, he seems to be a poor drinker, and he became a little confused after a sip of alcohol, then someone asked him, having lived most of his life, did he have any desire at all? Tan Yan blushed, after keeping silent for a long time, he finally choked out a sentence: “I want to retire. After my retirement, I’ll go to other places to relax.”
As a result, some people coaxed him to retire early, according to the regulations, he can apply for retirement after working for 30 years, since he has worked so hard and is not short of money, why not retire early and rest?
At that time, Tan Yan just shook his head, staring at the wall, as if looking at the far side through the reinforced concrete. Before anyone could ask any more questions, he fell straight down, his capacity for alcohol was so low that he fell asleep after just one sip.
Since then, no matter what others said, he won’t drink alcohol anymore, and no one ever heard what was in his heart.
In the early years, the police force was insufficient and the management was not strict. It was said that patrols were carried out in small groups, but in fact, Tan Yan was often alone. He rode his bicycle every night throughout Ping County, rain or shine, never off duty, it makes people feel tired looking at him, but he himself is very energetic.
But in recent years, he seems to be getting older. Obviously, the unit has equipped everyone with a small police electric bike, and many people are patrolling together. Most of the work was done by the young people, Tan Yan’s pressure has obviously decreased a lot, but he looks more tired than before. The new team members in the institute secretly said that every time, the way Uncle Tan looked at them when he was patrolling, made people feel creepy, they always felt that he seemed to think that the team members were in the way.
The team members also reported this matter to the leaders, and everyone felt that Tan Yan might be flaunting his seniority2以老賣老 yǐ lǎo mài lǎo: take advantage of one’s seniority or old age (to ignore manners, regulations, etc.), looking down on young people like them. Tan Yan is too weird, no matter which team he is assigned to, it’s difficult to integrate into it, and the team leaders all hope to kick him out of the patrol team.
Director Li of the Public Security Bureau Office slapped the table in front of young people on the spot: “What does it mean to flaunt one’s seniority? Do you know how many times Tan Yan has done meritorious deeds and how many vicious criminals he has personally caught? Do you know how hard he has worked these years? His footprints in Ping County these years can circle the earth! You think he is discriminating against you, has Tan Yan ever said such things? Has he made it clear that he doesn’t like you? Never, right? Is it necessary to convict someone based on speculation without evidence? Look at you not standing nor sitting properly, I can’t stand to see it. Tan Yan’s police discipline is the best in the police station, every year he is a pioneer, letting him take you is to give you the opportunity to learn well from the old comrades, go back, and be an open-minded person!”
Educating is educating, but after educating, he still has to solve the problem of old comrades. In fact, every time Tan Yan went out on patrol, Director Li’s heart felt nervous, this person is old, and no is one around to take care of him. Even if he looks healthy now, many people who are fine today will die suddenly from overwork tomorrow. Forty years without a break, and being a national-level model worker, Director Li feels terrible when he thinks about it. Is this a work intensity that people can bear? Only afraid one day his strings would break and he wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer, worried that he’ll be exhausted, he tried his best to persuade3苦口婆心 kǔ kǒu pó xīn: urge somebody time and again with good intentions Tan Yan to withdraw to the second line.
But Tan Yan disagrees.
“Wh, why?” Director Li completely didn’t understand.
“I have worked for 40 years, there’s two years left before retirement. I want to work in the front line until the very last day.” Tan Yan simply replied.
What else can Director Li do? If Tan Yan has some physical illness, he can force him to withdraw to the second line. But Tan Yan’s annual physical examination results are very healthy, even better than the many sub-healthy young people in the bureau. Such a person, with a suitable physical condition and enthusiasm for work, can’t dispel the other party’s enthusiasm.
So, regardless of what others think, to this day, Tan Yan insists on working on the front lines.
He still works diligently every day, but the fatigue in his eyes is getting deeper and deeper.
“Uncle Tan, it’s already past nine o’clock, you better go back and rest. Most older people sleep early, you should be sleepy too, right?” The patrol team’s Captain Wang saw Tan Yan’s electric bike swaying, and couldn’t help but worry.
“It’s okay, I’m just not used to riding an electric bike.” Tan Yan shook his head, pointing to a small alley with a broken street light and said, “The pipeline repairs over there have broke the wires in the past few days, the street lights are broken, and everything is dark and hard to see clearly, it’s not safe, I’ll go there to have a look, I’ll go back when I’m done.”
“Okay, Xiao Liu, follow him, and send Uncle Tan home after you’ve finished. You must send him to his doorstep. After you arrive, give me a call.” Captain Wang looked worried, he can’t even ride an electric bike well and still has to go out to work, what’s up with this?
Xiao Liu glanced at the time on the phone, his expression a bit embarrassed, but he nodded in agreement, turned the bike, and followed Tan Yan all the way to the dark alley.
There was no light at all at the entrance of the alley, even a big man like Xiao Liu was a little scared when he saw it. The electric bike seemed to be running out of power, and the headlights were a bit dim. Even with the headlights on, the road conditions in the alley couldn’t be seen clearly. Xiao Liu took out a strong flashlight and was about to turn it on, but Tan Yan held down his hand.
Tan Yan looked at him quietly, holding his finger on the flashlight switch firmly with his hand: “You still have to pick up your wife from the evening study, just go back.”
“Uncle Tan, how do you know that my wife is going to evening study by herself tonight?” Xiao Liu wondered, “It’s really not safe here, according to regulations, there should be more than two people patrolling, I can’t let you go in alone.”
Tan Yan, who has always been reticent, seemed a little anxious at this time: “I have been in Ping County for so many years, even with my eyes closed, I can travel all over the county. What can happen? Isn’t your wife pregnant? Hurry up and pick her up.”
After thinking about it, Xiao Liu thinks that he’s right, Uncle Tan traveled throughout Ping County when there were no electrical lights in each household, what can happen now? And he was really worried about his pregnant wife and wanted to pick her up. After a moment of hesitation, concern for his wife finally prevailed: “Then… thank you, Uncle Tan, I’ll invite you to dinner some other day!”
“Hurry and go.” Tan Yan took the strong flashlight away from Xiao Liu, “I’m fine here.”
Seeing his swift action to snatch the flashlight, Xiao Liu calculated in his heart that none of the three of them might be able to beat Tan Yan, and secretly sighed that Tan Yan was always strong, but at the same time he was completely relieved.
Seeing Xiao Liu riding his electric bike ‘whoosh’ away, the fatigue in Tan Yan’s eyes faded a little.
“Finally gone…” he breathed a slight sigh of relief and turned on the strong flashlight towards the alley.
It was still dark on the other side.
This is obviously a residential area, even if the streetlights are broken, there should be light from the houses. But the alley in front of him was like a black hole, even the starlight from the sky was sucked in, as if some ferocious beast opened its mouth and quietly waited for its prey to arrive.
Tan Yan put the electric bike aside and locked it, sighed silently into the darkness, and walked into the alley.
The darkness gradually engulfed him, and the moment he completely entered, light gradually appeared in the alley, and the streetlights also turned on.
However, the alley in the dim light was empty, and there was no sign of Tan Yan.
Hello, I’m RukaMatsu, a new translator. I hope you like this series, if you find any errors or inconsistency, I would appreciate it if you let me know so I can fix it.
If you like my translation, a cup of coffee would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!
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