At 5:55 PM, Bi Zhong Liang, dressed in a military raincoat, stood in the small courtyard below. He lifted his wrist and kept watching the hands of the watch. In front of him were the first action team led by Chen Shen, the third action team led by Su Sansheng, and four military trucks covered with tarpaulin. Bi Zhong Liang's gaze swept over the crowd, his lips pressed tightly together, saying nothing. At exactly 6:00 PM, he slowly lowered his raised wrist and muttered, “Begin.”
All the team members gradually boarded the vehicles. Bi Zhong Liang walked up to Chen Shen. Chen squinted and smiled, glancing at Su Sansheng, who stood not far away, brimming with ambition. He said, “Make sure you don't survive fighting the Red Bandits in Jiangxi only to die at the hands of your own people.” With that, Chen got into his vehicle. The moment he slammed the door shut, the car's engine roared to life.
Bi Zhong Liang bit his lip, watching as the four trucks drove out in single file. He looked up at the gray-black sky, and rain began to fall directly onto his face, soaking it instantly. He wiped the rain from his face without saying a word and turned to walk back. The sudden emptiness after the vehicles disappeared made his figure seem somewhat lonely.
At 6:50 PM, both teams returned to headquarters, empty-handed. The four trucks, like giant beetles, were now crouched in the courtyard. Hearing the sound of the engines, Bi Zhong Liang crossed the narrow balcony corridor and descended the open-air staircase. He saw Su Sansheng, just getting out of the passenger seat of one of the trucks. Su's expression was grim, and in the light of the streetlamp, his furious face appeared slightly greenish.
Su Sansheng cast a sidelong glance at Chen Shen and said to Bi Zhong Liang, “Everyone in Courtyard No. 55 is a suspect.” Bi Zhong Liang smiled, clasping his hands behind his back, and stood in front of Su, their faces close. “Including me?” he asked. Su lowered his head slightly and replied, “That’s what you said.” That evening, the two gloomy agents who had been guarding Li Xiaonan in the hospital observation room were recalled by Su Sansheng. Chen Shen appeared casually at the door of the observation room, pushing it open in the darkness and turning on the light. Li Xiaonan was sitting on the hospital bed. After staring at Chen for a long time, she finally asked, “Are you with the Nationals or the Communists?” Chen placed a can of salty pork porridge, freshly bought from a food stall, in front of her and replied, “I’m with the Emperor’s Collaborationist Army.” Li Xiaonan’s appetite seemed good, and under the bright light, she worked hard to finish the porridge.
What she didn’t know was that, at that moment, Su Sansheng was sitting in a parked car downstairs at the hospital. He knew Li Xiaonan was in the observation room, but he hadn’t found any flaws in her behavior. The streetlight shone through the car window, casting a direct beam on his face. If one were to look in from outside the car, the constant rain falling on the windshield made his face appear distorted. Su Sansheng’s deep sense of disappointment kept him from feeling any joy that night. He believed the operation had been compromised, but he didn’t know if it was Bi Zhong Liang, Liu Meina, or Chen Shen who had leaked the information, or how they had done it.
Through the rain-covered car window, the world outside appeared unsteady and shifting.
Only Li Xiaonan understood what was happening. She focused on drinking her porridge, occasionally glancing at the man sitting by the hospital bed. The man was half-soaked from the rain, but not a drop had fallen into the porridge, clearly showing he was someone with great attention to detail. On that dull afternoon, following Chen Shen’s instructions, she had found a way to pass a note to one of the nurses at the hospital, the only person Chen could contact in case of an emergency. Afterward, someone had smashed the window of Room 302 at the Dafang Hotel, allowing all the military agents from various local branches to quickly retreat in the nick of time. At the same time, someone had called Xu Bicheng, enabling her to disappear from her home just one minute before the raid, relocating to a rented room on the third floor of a house on Beile Road, Fuxu Village.
The situation was that simple. In this vast city covered in rain, everything unfolded methodically. Downstairs, Su Sansheng's car finally drove off slowly. An hour earlier, he had been called to Bi Zhong Liang’s office for tea. Throughout the tea session, Bi Zhong Liang remained silent. Just before Su Sansheng left, Bi Zhong Liang suddenly said, “You’ve started treating the Direct Action Team like your own Bureau of Military Statistics station, haven’t you?”
Su Sansheng was momentarily stunned, unable to respond immediately. He said, “The Bureau isn't mine; I’m just the deputy station chief.”
Bi Zhong Liang smiled, tilted his head back, and took a sip of tea. Then he carefully picked a small lump of soggy tea leaves with his fingers and put it into his mouth, chewing it attentively. Only then did Su Sansheng realize that Bi Zhong Liang was hinting at two things: first, if Su could betray the station chief, he could just as easily betray Bi Zhong Liang; and second, that he was acting arrogantly and disrespectfully within the action team.
So, as he sat in his car watching the rain fall incessantly on the windshield, Su Sansheng was still annoyed at his failure that day. He started the car, which surged forward into the night, disappearing like a fish swimming into the depths of the sea.
Then, a man holding a large umbrella appeared at the hospital entrance. He had just come out of the observation room and stood under the dim light of the hospital’s entrance like a striking exclamation mark. He was Chen Shen.
In a rented room on the third floor of Fuxu Village, a large sheet of corrugated iron was fixed above the balcony. When the rain fell, it created a loud clattering sound. Luckily, the monotony of the sound wasn’t disturbing but rather brought a sense of peace. In this peace, a timid-looking Pipi, with long braids and wearing a checkered suit, stood in front of Xu Bicheng. Xu Bicheng sat quietly under a floor lamp, one hand resting on the table, next to a machine she had brought with her when she left home. From the shadows not far away, Chen Shen smoked, recognizing at once the famous Von Gratton German radio set—a rarity, even for the Japanese. After finishing his cigarette, Chen stubbed it out in the ashtray and said seriously, “Your hair’s getting a bit long. Let me trim it for you.” With a flourish, he produced a cape, scissors, and a comb. Xu Bicheng smiled and said, “Alright.”
Xu Bicheng reached out and flicked on the Von Gratton radio, and a woman’s singing voice began to play. She then moved her chair, sitting properly with her back to Chen Shen. In Pipi’s bewildered gaze, Chen Shen, under the dim light, began trimming the hair of the beautiful woman. Pipi also heard the pleasant voice of the woman coming from the wooden box. He didn’t know the singer’s name was Zhou Xuan; he only knew that the woman kept singing “Jasmine Flower…”
The scissors in Chen Shen’s hand snipped rhythmically. The sound of the rain hitting the tin roof continued, and the night felt endless, stretched out by these repetitive, mechanical sounds. Amid this monotony, Xu Bicheng’s hair fell in gentle wisps. She smiled, clearly in a good mood, even humming softly in sync with the melody. Chen Shen said, “Pipi is an orphan from the General Hall orphanage. I’ve been sponsoring him. You don’t have any children—if you’re willing, I can have him call you godmother.”
Xu Bicheng’s eyes sparkled as she glanced at Pipi, who was standing nearby. Smiling, she nodded and said, “Alright.”
Chen Shen looked over at Pipi, who immediately called out, “Godmother.”
At that moment, Chen Shen’s scissors paused, and he suddenly said, “Tang Shanhai probably won’t make it out of Courtyard No. 55.”
A silence followed. Xu Bicheng acted as if she hadn’t heard those words, still smiling and softly humming the tune. The scissors in Chen Shen’s hand finally clicked again, and with the crisp sound of metal, a lock of black hair fell, accompanied by a stream of tears from Xu Bicheng.
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