Chapter 51: Departure
Chapter 51: Departure
About half an hour later, Peng Yu’ou appeared at a noodle shop outside the campus.
Zhou Hongsu was eating noodles.
He ate very slowly, though inwardly he was extremely anxious.
When he saw Peng Yu’ou arrive, the weight on his heart finally eased somewhat.
“Boss, one bowl of noodles, extra chili.”
Peng Yu’ou glanced around at the nearly full shop and walked to Zhou Hongsu’s table.
“You are...? Boss Zhou, hello, hello. Is anyone sitting here beside you?”
“No one, please sit, please sit. Professor Peng is here for noodles too?”
Zhou Hongsu picked up a stack of old books that had been occupying the seat.
These were old books he had bought back from students.
“Professor Peng, your noodles.”
“Thank you.”
Peng Yu’ou took a bite of noodles and seemed to choke on the chili, coughing repeatedly.
At that moment, Zhou Hongsu discreetly passed him a note.
Peng Yu’ou unfolded it and took a glance:
Bookstore meeting, No. 4.
It meant they would meet shortly at Zhou Hongsu’s bookstore, and No. 4 had urgent intelligence to report.
Peng Yu’ou’s expression changed slightly.
No. 4 was a senior agent operating undercover as a wealthy businessman.
More importantly, he had just obtained a legal commercial radio license and possessed a legitimate commercial radio station.
For No. 4 to request a meeting on his own initiative, something major must have happened.
Zhou Hongsu stood up, exchanged a greeting with Peng Yu’ou, picked up the old books, and left.
Without changing expression, Peng Yu’ou crumpled the note into a ball, dropped it into his bowl, mixed it among the noodles, and swallowed it in one large mouthful.
Two hours later, Peng Yu’ou arrived at the bookstore located at the intersection of Avenue du Roi Albert and Avenue Joffre.
Zhou Hongsu was dusting the bookshelves with a feather duster.
“Boss Zhou, has the local preface edition by Mr. Zhan Xing that I ordered last time arrived yet?”
Peng Yu’ou stepped inside and asked.
“Professor Peng! Ah, my fault, my fault. That book still hasn’t arrived. I forgot to tell you this morning.”
Zhou Hongsu apologized repeatedly.
Disappointment was hard to conceal on Peng Yu’ou’s face.
“Mr. Zhan Xing’s book hasn’t arrived, but I have just managed to find an early copy of Mr. Duhe’s Explanations of Classical Prose. Would Professor Peng be interested?”
Peng Yu’ou was delighted.
He followed Zhou Hongsu into an elegant private room in the bookstore’s rear courtyard to read it.
A man wearing gold-rimmed glasses was already waiting there.
“Old Peng.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
The two men clasped hands tightly.
No. 4 took out a sheet of telegram paper.
“An encrypted telegram from the Manchuria Provincial Committee.”
Zhou Hongsu brought over a book.
It was the codebook.
Very quickly, No. 4 translated the telegram onto a blank sheet of paper.
Then his expression froze.
Zhou Hongsu picked up the paper, glanced at it, and his face changed as well.
He handed it to Peng Yu’ou.
The first few lines read:
“Comrades Feng Jiazhang and Li Dingyun were betrayed by a traitor and arrested by the Harbin Police Department of the puppet Manchukuo regime on the third day of the second lunar month. Multiple rescue attempts failed. We have recently learned that after enduring extensive torture and remaining steadfast and unyielding, the two were murdered by the South Manchuria Railway Investigation Department of the Japanese occupiers.”
As soon as Peng Yu’ou read the contents, he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
He clutched at his chest and found it difficult to breathe.
An overwhelming wave of grief swept over him.
Comrades Feng Jiazhang and Li Dingyun were young comrades dispatched by the Shanghai Municipal Committee to Northeast China in support of the Anti-Japanese United Army.
These two comrades had only recently arrived in the Northeast before making the ultimate sacrifice!
The request documents for their deployment to the anti-Japanese front in the Northeast had been personally approved and signed by Peng Yu’ou, a senior official of the Shanghai Municipal Committee.
Zhou Hongsu and No. 4 wanted to comfort Peng Yu’ou, yet neither knew how to begin.
Peng Yu’ou and Feng Jiazhang were father and son.
“Old Peng, according to the intelligence from the Manchuria Provincial Committee, they have identified the traitor who betrayed the two comrades as Wen Changjian.”
“This man was formerly a courier for the Hangzhou Municipal Committee and poses an enormous threat to the organization.”
“He has already boarded a Hinomaru passenger ship and will arrive in Hangzhou shortly. The Manchuria Provincial Committee warns both us and the Hangzhou side to be wary of him.”
A shameless traitor!
Almost at the same time.
Shiliupu Wharf.
Song Fuguo was seeing Xiao Tao off.
“Safe travels.”
Song Fuguo patted Xiao Tao on the shoulder.
“Uncle, Wanyi and Yaya are in your hands.”
Wanyi was his wife.
Yaya was his daughter.
“Don’t worry.”
Song Fuguo fell silent for a moment.
Without saying more, he patted Xiao Tao’s shoulder again.
“Boarding now! Hurry up and have your tickets checked!”
Someone shouted through a tin megaphone.
Xiao Tao took two steps, then suddenly turned around.
Facing his uncle Song Fuguo, he bowed deeply.
“Uncle, tell Yaya that her father is a true Chinese man who stands tall beneath heaven!” he shouted.
Watching his nephew turn away, stride forward, and disappear into the surging crowd.
Song Fuguo finally could not hold back any longer.
He rubbed his face hard with both hands, tears flowing through the gaps between his fingers.
An assassination attempt by the Qingdao District of the Special Service Office against the collaborator Wei Yuanfeng had failed.
One team member had been captured and defected, and the entire Qingdao District had nearly been uprooted.
Director Dai Chunfeng of the Special Service Office was furious.
Several days earlier, he had ordered the Shanghai District of the Special Service Office to dispatch capable personnel to Qingdao to support the elimination of collaborators.
Tao Weiran had volunteered himself.
Song Fuguo had not stopped him.
Shanghai Railway Station.
Cheng Qianfan stood carrying a suitcase and saying farewell to Li Hao.
He had told Li Hao not to come see him off.
Li Hao had come anyway.
“While I’m away from Shanghai, if anything happens at the orphanage, keep an eye on it for me.”
“If anything comes up that you can’t handle, go to the police station and find He Guan. Tell him I sent you. He knows your name.”
Cheng Qianfan said.
Li Hao worked for him.
This was no secret within the police station.
Every constable had several assistants of this sort under him.
In the eyes of He Guan and the others, Li Hao was simply one such assistant.
“Understood, Brother Fan.”
“Remember this. During this period, don’t meddle in anything and don’t concern yourself with anything. Just do your job honestly.”
“Yes, Brother Fan.”
“Officer Cheng, we should be leaving.”
A balding middle-aged Frenchman waved from nearby.
Several sturdy men stood beside him, his bodyguards.
“Go on, take care of things here.”
Cheng Qianfan patted Li Hao’s shoulder and reminded him:
“Don’t forget to feed my cat.”
Cheng Qianfan and his group were traveling first class.
Under the attentive guidance of the train attendant, they quickly completed the boarding procedures.
Woooo, woooo.
The train whistle thundered through the station.
A thick column of black smoke shot skyward.
Standing by the carriage window, Cheng Qianfan watched the scenery and crowds outside gradually recede.
In his heart there was both caution and wariness toward the unknown, as well as a trace of anticipation and excitement.
Hangzhou.
The Special Training Class of the National Government’s Special Service Office.
It could be called a training camp for National Government secret agents.
For a Red agent, this was practically a place that existed only in rumors.
What awaited him there?
Hangzhou, No. 30 Xiongzhen Building.
A row of blue-brick tiled houses stood there.
This was the dormitory of the Zhejiang Police School’s Secret Police Training Class.
The Secret Police Training Class had been established in secret.
It operated under the Office of the Central Political Training Special Commissioner at the Zhejiang Police School.
Dai Chunfeng served as director, and Yu Ping’an as deputy director.
At the innermost section stood a detached two-story building.
At this moment, security around the building was extremely tight.
The surrounding area had already been completely sealed off by agents of the Special Service Office and police personnel.
Protected by numerous agents, Yu Ping’an hurried into the building.
“Deputy Director Yu!”
Several people were already waiting inside.
Upon seeing Yu Ping’an enter, they rose and saluted.
“What happened?”
An aide stepped forward to take his military overcoat.
Someone handed him a hot towel.
Yu Ping’an grabbed the towel and vigorously rubbed his face.
The warmth made him feel considerably better.
“Deputy Director Yu, an encrypted telegram from Hong Kong.”
“Director Chunfeng has been arrested and detained by the Hong Kong Police Department.”