Chen Shen, holding the key that had slipped into his hand from Li Xiaonan, made his way to the Shanghai Bank. Inside the safety deposit box No. 025, which Li Xiaonan had rented, Chen found a letter and a red wool scarf she had left behind. Finally, Chen realized that the scarf had been knitted for him, not for Su Sansheng, who was supposedly pursuing her. That day, Chen spent half the day with his face buried in the scarf, deeply inhaling its scent. Soon, a large patch of the scarf was wet with his tears.
Chen then went to the intersection of Oujia Road and Shajing Road, where he found the final command from the Doctor before her capture, posted on a wall of advertisements. The message was simple, yet it carried an urgent tone beneath its simplicity. It read: "Zero, zero, zero, zero, zero…"
Chen stood for a long time in front of the wall, listening to the distant sounds of pigs squealing from the slaughterhouse on Sha Jing Road. His mind raced. The various posters on the wall, faded and peeling, rustled in the wind. From a distance, one could see Chen’s broad back and the dry, cracked posters swaying rhythmically in the breeze. Before leaving the wall, Chen had made a decision: he would take the risk of exposing himself to get the Zero Plan as quickly as possible.
To get the Zero Plan, he would first need to unlock the iron door of the secretary’s office and then open the safe. Later, Chen would deeply regret what he did that day. He felt he had acted dishonorably. He had taken Liu Meina to the MGM ballroom to dance, plied her with drinks, and got her thoroughly drunk. Then, he had stolen the key to the iron door from her bag.
Chen hurried back to Courtyard No. 55, under the watchful eyes of the guards, claiming that he was there to retrieve a small bag for Liu Meina. To the others, it seemed as though he and Liu had developed a more intimate relationship. Using the key he had made earlier, Chen opened the safe, took the Zero Plan, and rushed back to the ballroom. By the time he returned, Liu Meina was still fast asleep on the large sofa in the private booth. When she finally woke up, the ballroom was about to close. Through her bleary, drunken eyes, she saw Chen sitting nearby. Chen smiled at her with narrowed eyes when he noticed she had woken up.
Liu Meina tried to stand but felt a sharp pain in her head. She swayed on her feet like a tree bent by the wind. That’s when she saw a train ticket and a bullet on the table. Her drunkenness immediately vanished.
She sat back down in dismay and said, “You want me to choose, don’t you?”
Chen Shen pocketed the bullet and said, “I hope you choose the train ticket.”
“When I saw extra cash in the safe, I knew you were with the Communists. I just didn’t want to say it out loud.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was afraid that if I did, you’d disappear.”
“Why not the Bureau of Military Statistics?”
“Their scent doesn’t suit you.”
After a brief silence, Liu Meina asked, “So, I’m choosing—death or escape? I choose to leave. There’s a man back home who’s been waiting for me to return and marry him. I just never liked him. Liking you was my own mistake…”
Liu Meina grabbed her bag and rushed out, her eyes brimming with tears. She knew her life was about to change drastically. Just as she was about to leave, Chen called after her, “You can’t go back to Lin'an, and you can’t return to your apartment either.”
Through her tears, Liu Meina smiled and said, “I haven’t had a home for a long time. Ever since I fell in love with you, I haven’t had a place to live, in either body or soul.”
After a long silence, Liu Meina asked, “Will we ever see each other again?”
“Yes.”
“When we do, will you still cut my hair?”
“Yes.”
Then Liu Meina’s footsteps faded, and she disappeared from Chen Shen’s sight completely. What Chen didn’t know was that, for the rest of his long life, he would never see Liu Meina again. She became a thorn lodged in his heart, one he could never remove. Meanwhile, Su Sansheng stood at the door of the secretary’s office, listening as a patrolling agent informed him that Chen Shen had come by to retrieve Liu Meina’s bag. Su closed his eyes tightly. By the time he realized what had happened, he stumbled down the stairs, yelling toward the car in the courtyard, “Go to Liu Meina’s place and Chen Shen’s house! Immediately! Split up!”
Both Chen Shen and Liu Meina vanished from Su Sansheng’s view. Before Chen could drop the Zero Plan into the mailbox on Doule Road, he stopped by the poster wall at the corner of Oujia and Shajing Road to check the encoded instructions. The new Doctor had indeed arrived, and the order was clear: if the Zero Plan cannot be delivered via the original network, it must be personally taken out of Shanghai and specific instructions awaited.
At the same time, under Bi Zhong Liang’s orders, Su Sansheng was frantically searching for Chen Shen. Bi and his wife, Liu Lanzhi, shut themselves inside their small house, sitting in silence for the entire day. Liu Lanzhi looked exhausted, as if all the strength had drained from her body. After a while, she finally shook her shoulders and began to sob. “You know,” she said, “I always thought of him like a brother. I was even trying to find him a good wife.”
Bi Zhong Liang sighed deeply and said, “I always knew he wasn’t simple.”
As Bi said this, his hands trembled uncontrollably. His addiction to alcohol had returned. His hands fumbled for the bottle of liquor on the table, quickly unscrewed the cap, and took a long swig. After downing half the bottle, he seemed more invigorated. Slamming the bottle down on the table, he repeated, “I always knew he wasn’t simple.”
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