That day, Chen Shen carried out the task given to him by Bi Zhong Liang—raiding a six-man Military Command group who were using card games at the Milan Club as a cover for their meetings. The mission came unexpectedly. Chen Shen was in the hallway, cutting the hair of the secretary, Liu Meina. The weather was a bit chilly, and the faint sunlight weakly illuminated Liu Meina’s damp hair. She was an old maid, though no one knew why she remained unmarried. She wasn’t unattractive, though her face was covered with small freckles. She was a distant relative of Li Shiqun, but she never mentioned it. When Li Shiqun occasionally visited 55 Jisifeier Road for inspections, he never looked directly at Liu Meina either. Some said she was a discarded lover of Li Shiqun. She was a quiet woman, only smiling occasionally. When Chen Shen cut her hair, she would squint her eyes, gazing into the distant sunlight and listening to the snipping of the scissors. She always hoped the sound of the scissors would never stop, that they would keep going, monotonously, until the day she died.
At that moment, Bi Zhong Liang walked up to Chen Shen. His hands were, as usual, in his coat pockets, and he patiently watched as Chen Shen finished the haircut before saying, “There’s a six-man Military Command group playing cards at the Milan Club.”
Chen Shen quickly packed up his scissors, comb, and cape, rolling them up into a bundle. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Chen Shen asked.
Bi Zhong Liang glanced at Liu Meina and said, “Because there’s still time. They’ll keep playing cards if you don’t go stop them.”
Chen Shen and his team, led by Bian Tou, swiftly captured the six-man Military Command group at the Milan Club. His men easily loaded them onto a tarpaulin-covered truck. Standing by the truck, Chen Shen, fully focused, drank his kvass. His body felt like burning coals, and he needed to drink this mildly alcoholic soda to cool down. A sparrow suddenly landed on a nearby patch of ground, cautiously looking around, its feet hopping together. Chen Shen squinted at the sparrow, recalling the first order he’d received from “Sparrow” two years ago: Infiltrate. And then, the famous Communist intelligence officer known as Sparrow vanished, as if they had never existed. Only recently had another order come from Sparrow—to meet the Prime Minister.
Chen Shen saw his team hurry out, the six men bound tightly with rope like six sticky rice dumplings. They were practically thrown into the truck. Chen Shen sighed, finished his drink, and carefully placed the bottle on the club’s steps before walking to the passenger seat. As he climbed into the car, he couldn’t stop thinking about how he, a mysterious infiltrator, was doing the exact opposite of revolutionary work—constantly capturing Military Command or Communist agents.
As the car drove away, Chen Shen glanced back at the kvass bottle on the desolate steps, standing there like a lonely, abandoned wife.
That evening, Chen Shen attended a banquet at the Shanghai Hotel. He sat next to Bi Zhong Liang’s wife, Liu Lanzhi, with Bi Zhong Liang seated beyond her. Chen Shen always addressed Liu Lanzhi as “sister-in-law.” Liu Lanzhi, although quite beautiful, looked as withered as a sick gourd, her complexion poor. She was an unwell woman, often sweating, anxious, and plagued by nightmares. Her life was far from comfortable. According to traditional Chinese medicine, these were minor ailments that could be treated with medicine. But no matter how many times Chen Shen bought her medicine, her health never improved. She remained as sick as ever and would often take Chen Shen’s hand, sighing deeply, “I’ll be ill until the day I die.”
Compared to Bi Zhong Liang, Liu Lanzhi spoke more openly with Chen Shen. She always saw him as a younger brother, especially since Chen Shen had once saved Bi Zhong Liang’s life during their campaign against the Red Army in Jiangxi. Liu Lanzhi constantly complained that Bi Zhong Liang didn’t care enough about Chen Shen. When she got upset, she would even call Bi Zhong Liang ungrateful. Bi Zhong Liang, frustrated, once approached Chen Shen and said, “You should hurry up and get yourself a wife. Consider it a favor to me. If you don’t, your sister-in-law will keep scolding me every day.”
That day, Chen Shen met Li Shiqun. It wasn’t until just before the banquet that he understood the situation—Colonel Tang Shan Hai, who had defected from Chongqing’s Nationalist army, had joined the Special Services Headquarters along with his wife, Xu Bicheng, and was assigned to the Direct Action Squad. The gift he brought with him was the six-man Military Command group. Li Shiqun was there to welcome Tang Shan Hai and present him with an award. Applause suddenly erupted, and Chen Shen saw Xu Bicheng, her complexion rosy, gracefully walking hand in hand with Tang Shan Hai on the red carpet. It was clear that Xu Bicheng was accustomed to such occasions. This reminded Chen Shen of events many years ago. Back then, Chen Shen was an instructor in the spy training program in Qingpu, where there were many female students, Xu Bicheng among them. He and Xu Bicheng had shared an ambiguous relationship, one that was never fully clarified. At the very least, Chen Shen had cut her hair numerous times, and there had been one intimate embrace. Their ill-fated relationship ended with the dissolution of the training program that winter, sending them in different directions. Even when Chen Shen later followed Bi Zhong Liang in defecting to the puppet regime, he still vividly remembered Xu Bicheng’s wind-chapped, red face from that winter. Now, however, Chen Shen felt he had merely taken a step ahead of her. Despite Xu Bicheng becoming a wealthy officer’s wife, she was still, like him, a traitor. What Chen Shen didn’t know was that Tang Shan Hai was a card played by Dai Li. The six Military Command members were nothing more than expendable pawns.
During the long banquet, Xu Bicheng acted as though she didn’t recognize Chen Shen, not even glancing his way. Yet, Chen Shen kept his eyes on her and her husband, Tang Shan Hai. Tang, dressed in a suit, was a strikingly handsome man, much like the leader Wang Jingwei. Chen Shen thought Tang Shan Hai resembled a native of Shanghai, known for their refined manners. Every movement Tang made was full of grace and sophistication. He drank red wine, smoked cigars, and his hair was perfectly groomed without a speck of dust. In contrast, Chen Shen felt like a street thug. His own hair was a dry, yellowish color, which Liu Lanzhi attributed to malnutrition. But Chen Shen knew it was genetic—his father had always sported a head of straw-like yellow hair.
Tang Shan Hai also provided Li Shiqun and Bi Zhong Liang with information on the “Hurricane Squad.” This squad was a Military Command special operations team sent to Shanghai, specializing in the assassination of traitors. Their methods were unpredictable, and their attacks rarely missed. In truth, whether or not Tang provided information about the Hurricane Squad and other assassination groups, Chen Shen already knew all about them. The previous winter, before the Wang Jingwei government was established, Zheng Pingru had attempted to assassinate Ding Mocun, the head of 76 Jisifeier Road, at the Siberian Fur Shop on Gordon Road, though she failed. After the government was founded, several officials were killed, and even Zhang Xiaolin, a pro-Wang, pro-Japanese Green Gang leader, wasn’t spared. Six months later, the unfortunate mayor Fu Xiaoan was decapitated in his own home by someone wielding a kitchen knife. Chen Shen often sighed, realizing how dangerous it was to hold office.
Of course, Chen Shen’s own risk was just as high. He didn’t know that the Hurricane Squad had already marked him as Bi Zhong Liang’s right-hand man, making him a top target for assassination. He was about to face a situation where he would be surrounded by enemies, utterly isolated, with no one to help him. Chen Shen continued to watch Xu Bicheng, and at last, her gaze shifted toward him. She smiled and raised her glass. Chen Shen raised his bottle of kvass in return, squinting and smiling, revealing a neat row of white teeth.
As the banquet ended, Chen Shen walked alongside Xu Bicheng, pretending to chance upon her. He wanted to say something, but after thinking for a long time, he didn’t know what to say. In the end, he could only watch as Xu Bicheng clung to the arm of the tall, handsome Tang Shan Hai, leaving him with the image of a perfect couple. He suddenly recalled the spring at the Qingpu training camp, when Xu Bicheng had worn her clean short hair and arrived on time, like a breath of spring wind. She had stretched one hand from behind her, holding a shiny, ten-hole blues harmonica.
Xu Bicheng flashed a small, toothy smile and said, “Teacher, this harmonica is for you.”
At that moment, a flood of bittersweet emotions surged in Chen Shen’s heart. In the imaginary sound of the harmonica, all he could see was the bright sunlight of that time and the radiant image of Xu Bicheng. Forget her! he thought. He realized that, at this moment, it wasn’t Xu Bicheng he truly wanted to see—it was Li Dongshui.
0 Comments