Chapter 85: Great Merit

Dai Chunfeng accepted the telegram and glanced at it.

His expression changed slightly, and as his eyes fixed upon the telegram, anger appeared in his gaze.

In the end, all those intense emotions turned into a soft sigh.

He placed the telegram on the desk and temporarily ignored it.

Raising his head, he looked at the young man before him as though nothing had happened.

“What is Kawada Atsuto’s true identity?” Dai Chunfeng asked in a deep voice.

“Kawada Atsuto appears to be a direct descendant of the Kawada family in Japan. His father’s name is Kawada Yushi,” Cheng Qianfan said. “Both Okada Toshihiko and Sanben Jiro treated Kawada Atsuto with great respect. I infer that the Kawada family must be an extremely prestigious family within Japan.”

Dai Chunfeng pressed the call bell.

“Bring me the file on the Kawada family in Japan.”

The Special Service Office also attached considerable importance to intelligence concerning foreign political leaders and major aristocratic families.

At the Special Training Class, there were even courses devoted to foreign political figures.

Particularly regarding the Japanese, currently the Special Service Office’s most important adversary, every effort was made to obtain all valuable intelligence about them.

The Special Service Office also maintained undercover personnel inside Japan. Their primary task was gathering publicly available intelligence and transmitting it back to China for reference.

One important aspect of that work was studying Japan’s prominent families and aristocratic system, just as foreign intelligence services treated the Nationalist Government’s Four Great Families as key research targets.

Dai Chunfeng said nothing.

He picked up the telegram again and read it.

Cheng Qianfan stood respectfully.

A cup of water sat on the tea table in front of him.

Although his lips felt somewhat dry, Cheng Qianfan did not touch the water.

Dai Chunfeng could jokingly call him a “little fellow townsman.”

If he actually took those words seriously and behaved freely because of them, then he would have lost his mind.

A female secretary knocked and entered, handed a thick stack of documents to Secretary Mao, and immediately left.

Secretary Mao placed the documents on the desk.

“Director, the file.”

Dai Chunfeng picked up the file and rapidly flipped through it.

When he reached the third page, he stopped and read carefully.

His thick eyebrows repeatedly furrowed, relaxed, and furrowed again.

“Absurd! Outrageous! Have the Japanese had their brains kicked by a donkey?”

Suddenly, Dai Chunfeng slammed the desk and burst out in anger.

Cheng Qianfan looked up and saw that the Director’s face had flushed red and that sweat had actually appeared on his forehead.

The sight astonished him.

What could possibly have happened to make Dai Chunfeng lose his composure to such a degree?

The Director, still cursing under his breath, glanced up at Cheng Qianfan.

The more he looked at the young man, the more pleasing he found him.

Fortunately!

Fortunately there was this young fellow.

Otherwise, disaster would have struck.

“What about the Miyazaki Kentaro identity?” Dai Chunfeng suddenly asked.

He was asking whether the Miyazaki Kentaro identity could continue to be used and whether its security could be guaranteed.

Cheng Qianfan was somewhat puzzled. Dai Chunfeng had just been cursing the Japanese. Why had he suddenly brought up the Miyazaki Kentaro identity?

However, he knew Dai Chunfeng never spoke without reason.

Rather than answering immediately, Cheng Qianfan thought for a moment before responding cautiously.

“The only person known with certainty to know that I resemble Miyazaki Kentaro is Imai Futoshi.”

“Where is he now?” Dai Chunfeng pressed.

“Imai Futoshi went beyond the passes two years ago. Later I heard that he went to Xinjing in Manchukuo and became a Japanese military adviser to the Imperial Guard of the puppet state.”

Yes, the introverted and timid Imai Futoshi had ultimately become a Japanese soldier.

And an extremely fanatical Japanese soldier at that.

Cheng Qianfan had once received a letter from Imai Futoshi sent from Manchukuo.

In the letter, Imai Futoshi expressed fervent approval of Japan’s policy of supporting Manchukuo.

“Mr. Cheng, I now truly realize that once the stubborn elements have been eliminated, those remaining friends who are friendly toward the Empire, such as yourself, will surely make Manchukuo the most loyal friend of the Empire of Japan. My only wish is for Japanese-Manchukuo unity and enduring friendship between Japan and China.”

“Where is the real Miyazaki Kentaro?”

“He should be in Japan,” Cheng Qianfan replied.

That was the greatest flaw.

Upon hearing this, Dai Chunfeng frowned.

Imai Futoshi in Manchukuo, though troublesome, could still be dealt with.

Anyone personally marked for elimination by Dai Chunfeng had only one path ahead: death.

Moreover, eliminating a Japanese military adviser in Manchukuo would not arouse suspicion, since the Special Service Office already regarded killing Japanese personnel as part of its mission.

The Miyazaki Kentaro residing in Japan was the greatest problem.

He could not be killed.

If he died, whether through murder or disappearance, it would inevitably attract the attention of his family, neighbors, and the police.

Therefore, the real Miyazaki Kentaro could not be touched at all.

Dai Chunfeng shook his head.

That made the situation extremely passive.

If the Kawada family investigated in Fukushima, or perhaps did not even need to travel there, given the Kawada family’s influence, a single telegram would be enough to uncover the truth that there was another Miyazaki Kentaro altogether.

“What a pity, such a pity.”

Dai Chunfeng could not help shaking his head regretfully.

He looked at Cheng Qianfan, who was still somewhat confused, and laughed as he scolded him.

“You little rascal, your luck is truly extraordinary. You’ve earned another great merit.”

“Director, I don’t quite understand.”

“Think carefully.”

Cheng Qianfan adopted the appearance of deep contemplation.

The surprise in Secretary Mao’s eyes grew even stronger.

When Dai Chunfeng met with subordinates, he was usually stern and unsmiling, naturally inspiring awe even without anger.

As a result, even many veteran agents sat rigidly and nervously when appearing before him.

Yet today, the Director’s attitude toward Cheng Qianfan was clearly different.

In Secretary Mao’s view, this did not resemble the Director meeting a young agent.

It was more like an elder meeting, evaluating, and instructing a younger generation member.

Earlier, when the meeting had begun, Dai Chunfeng’s rapid-fire interrogation of Cheng Qianfan had already struck him as a senior testing the younger man’s knowledge and abilities. That had surprised him at the time.

“Director, could it be that Kawada Atsuto’s identity is extraordinarily important?”

After pondering for a while, Cheng Qianfan finally appeared to have a sudden realization and asked somewhat excitedly.

“Not entirely foolish after all.”

Dai Chunfeng nodded.

As he spoke, he handed over the file materials in his hand.

Cheng Qianfan did not accept them immediately.

“Director, this concerns confidential matters. I...”

“Read it,” Dai Chunfeng said calmly.

“Yes, sir.”

Cheng Qianfan accepted the documents with both hands.

Even though he had already suspected that Kawada Atsuto’s status was extremely distinguished, he was still shocked.

The Kawada family was an old aristocratic family in Japan.

The ancestors of the Kawada family had once been adopted heirs of the Fujiwara family during Japan’s Warring States period.

The Fujiwara family had produced Japan’s first regent-chancellor.

A regent governed on behalf of a child emperor, and after the emperor came of age, the regent would advance to the position of regent-chancellor.

The Fujiwara family produced the first regent-chancellor, and later it became institutionalized that only members of the Fujiwara family could hold the office.

The later Five Regent Houses, Ichijō, Nijō, Kujō, Konoe, and Takatsukasa, were in fact all branches of the Fujiwara family.

After Fujiwara no Tadamichi, the Fujiwara family split into separate branches that adopted different surnames, eventually forming these five supreme aristocratic houses.

All five families originated from the Fujiwara clan and all possessed the qualification to serve as regent-chancellor.