As Li Ye neared Jingnan Group, he called Dong Shan and asked him to come down and meet up with him.
"Hello, Director Dong, I'm almost downstairs at the Group. If you're not busy, let's get going?"
"Alright, alright. I'll arrange a car."
"No need. Ride in my car! Save the Group some fuel expenses."
"Ah, alright, alright."
Two minutes later, Dong Shan came downstairs and got into Li Ye's car. Li Ye then began chatting with him with a smile.
"I'd barely left home this morning when I ran into the neighborhood committee aunties going door to door, reminding everyone that theft and other crimes had been increasing on the streets lately, so they were registering the circumstances of the migrant population.
I didn't know about any of that, and since my grandparents are in the capital, the registration delayed me for a while. I kept you waiting, Director Dong."
"It's fine, it's fine. I just finished dealing with a small matter myself. Actually, I'd heard something about the rising crime rate too."
Dong Shan said with a grave expression, "The floating population in the capital has been growing larger and larger these past two years, and this year, many enterprises and work units have been in terrible shape. It's not uncommon for wages to go unpaid for months.
Just last month, my eldest brother-in-law's neighbor was burglarized. The television, sewing machine, tape recorder—anything worth a little money was carried off clean. The house was wrecked into a complete mess. The investigators said one look was enough to tell that it had been done by some clumsy person who had just entered the trade."
Li Ye asked, "Why say it was a clumsy person who had just entered the trade?"
Dong Shan sighed. "That's what they said. Veteran thieves