In a bright, clean office elsewhere, Su Sansheng sat at his desk, where a note and a hat rested under a paperweight. The note read: “Provide a detailed list of traitors in the Wang puppet government; the Whirlwind Team is about to be reestablished.” The wind blew through the room, rustling the paper as if it were crying.
After a moment of silence, Su Sansheng slowly smiled. He felt that the new Whirlwind Team would be snuffed out before it even had a chance to reignite, and he could finally stop living in constant fear. Stretching leisurely, he got up and stepped out of the room. As he exited, the soft, weak sunlight—though it carried little warmth—was glaringly bright. His watery, tired eyes, like bruised peaches, almost filled with tears.
Su Sansheng's gaze swept over Bi Zhong Liang, Chen Shen, and Liu Meina before he placed Tang Shan Hai’s hat on the table, pushing the note in front of Bi. Bi Zhong Liang lowered his eyelids, quickly scanning the words on the paper. He kept drinking his hot tea as the silence in the meeting room grew heavy. Occasionally, the sound of barking guard dogs from the courtyard or the tortured screams of suspects from the interrogation room filtered through the cracks in the door, drifting into the meeting.
Three excruciating hours passed. Bi Zhong Liang was the first to leave the room, his face stern, followed by Liu Meina and Chen Shen. Chen Shen kept gulping down kvass, while Liu Meina glanced anxiously at him. In the corridor leading back to the offices, she reached out and gently tugged his sleeve. “Are you alright?”
Chen Shen turned and smiled. “Do I look like I’m not?”
Liu Meina hesitated, then smiled too, revealing a row of small, white teeth. “As long as you're okay.”
Liu Meina walked ahead of him, hugging a stack of documents tightly to her chest as if she were cradling herself. Chen Shen suddenly thought that her quiet, graceful figure resembled a willow tree. She seemed like someone who should have been working at a telephone company or a bank, not in the Direct Action Squad. When he returned to his office, he found Li Xiaonan slumped over his desk, fast asleep, a puddle of drool on an open book—Zhang Henshui’s The Sorrows and Joys of Life. Chen Shen sighed and shook his head. He reached out, running his fingers gently through her hair before waking her up.
Li Xiaonan groggily lifted her head and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “Aren’t I supposed to be a famous actress from Mingxing Film Company?” she muttered.
Chen Shen asked, “Don’t you think you look like one?”
She nodded. “Don’t I?”
Chen Shen replied, “There’s a very important role you need to play.” He emptied his pockets, stuffing all his money into her bag, then headed to Bi Zhong Liang’s office. He was there to borrow money, which inevitably came with a lecture from Bi. Suddenly, someone shouted outside, and both Bi and Chen rushed out.
In front of Chen's office, a pale-faced Li Xiaonan was writhing on the ground, as if trying to stir up a storm. She clutched her stomach in pain, sweat rolling off her forehead and splashing onto the floor. Chen Shen shouted, “Get her to the hospital, now!” At that moment, Su Sansheng strolled out of another room, his face changing when he saw Li Xiaonan on the ground. He hurried over.
Chen Shen scooped Li Xiaonan into his arms, ready to carry her downstairs, but Su Sansheng blocked his way. With a smile, Su said, “Captain Chen, there’s no need for you to take her personally.” Two agents appeared behind Su. He asked, “What’s the nearest hospital?” One of the agents replied, “The Tongren Hospital on Wanhangdu Road.” Su Sansheng reached out, grasping Li Xiaonan’s clammy hand. Her lips were dry and cracked, and her body trembled like a frightened rabbit caught in a trap. Nodding, Su signaled for the two agents to carry her to the car parked in the courtyard.
Bi Zhong Liang leaned against the second-floor balcony railing, watching the car drive away. He looked up at the sky, noticing the gathering clouds and the thick blackness hovering over the entire Direct Action Squad. “It’s going to rain,” he thought, turning back to his office just as the sky opened up, and a downpour engulfed the city.
During those long, stifling three hours, Li Xiaonan was taken to the emergency room, with the two agents stationed at the door, not leaving her side. She was eventually wheeled out, her face waxy, exhausted. It turned out to be nothing more than appendicitis, which had caused severe stomach pain. After a quick injection of penicillin and two painkillers, she was moved to an observation room.
Back in his office, Chen Shen sat at his desk, kvass and a can of cherry-flavored cigarettes in front of him. Five cigarette butts lay still in an ashtray made from a machine-gun shell casing. In the nearby secretarial office, Liu Meina paced restlessly, unable to focus on anything. After typing a few lines, she stood up, walking back and forth in the room. Meanwhile, Bi Zhong Liang sat in his office, sipping hot water. It was a warm, clean cup of water, which he drank in small sips, setting the cup back on his desk between gulps. He trusted Su Sansheng’s information, convinced that the Military Command would soon be reorganized. Yet, Bi was more preoccupied with how he could use the situation to his advantage—how to land a blow on Su Sansheng and maintain his position as captain. Behind him, the window showed nothing but endless rain. In the steady drumming of the downpour, plans were being set into motion, events that Bi hadn’t even begun to anticipate.
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