Liu Lanzhi suggested that Chen Shen move directly into the squad’s headquarters. "You’re a bachelor, aren’t you? Any place will do for you—just throw a bed together." Bi Zhong Liang agreed. He knew he wasn’t safe either, but luckily, he had a squad of bodyguards. Every moment, until the Hurricane Squad or the Military Command organizations in Shanghai were destroyed, he, Chen Shen, and the newcomer Tang Shan Hai could be blown away like grains of sand by the wind.
Of course, Li Xiaonan couldn’t stay at the squad’s headquarters. Chen Shen found her a place to live, but she made him pay the rent. When she visited Chen Shen at the headquarters, it was always Chen who covered the fare for the rickshaw. Staring at her gloomily, he said, "Do you think I’m a bank?"
Li Xiaonan replied, “No, I think of you as my man.” After a moment, she added, “At the very least, I think of you as my brother.”
That day, on the second-floor hallway, Chen Shen was cutting Li Xiaonan’s hair. Bian Tou and some of the squad members gathered around, teasing. Chen Shen growled through gritted teeth, “All of you, get lost! She’s my sister.” Li Xiaonan, wrapped in a cape, grinned and winked mischievously at the squad members. Just then, Chen Shen spotted Xu Bicheng from afar. She was wearing a qipao made of indigo cotton, quietly watching him from a distance. She had come to see Tang Shan Hai. Chen Shen raised his scissors and said, “Want to come over?”
Xu Bicheng smiled and strode confidently up the stairs toward the second-floor hallway. She had buried deep in her memory the times Chen Shen used to cut her hair back at the Qingpu training camp—after all, she was now Tang Shan Hai’s wife, and she had a mission. She remembered how, back then, while cutting her hair, Chen Shen would whisper in her ear. His deep voice often lulled her to sleep amidst the snipping sound of the sharp scissors.
Chen Shen still appeared somewhat refined, perhaps too gentle for a man. At times, he didn’t seem like one at all. He would fetch water for Liu Lanzhi and the other ladies when they played mahjong, or go buy them roasted chestnuts. No one knew what went on in the mind of this man who always carried hairdressing scissors. Apart from dancing, he didn’t seem to have any particular skills. He couldn’t play mahjong and didn’t even recognize the tiles. He didn’t drink much either, sticking mostly to kvass, a mildly alcoholic soda. When he was in a good mood, he might talk about his cousin, Jiang Dingwen, but it was clear no one really believed his claims of such high connections. It was like someone with the surname Qin never daring to say they were related to Emperor Qin Shi Huang.
Chen Shen’s behavior frustrated Liu Lanzhi. “You need to act like a man! Hurry up and get yourself a wife.”
“That would be exhausting,” Chen Shen replied. “If the Hurricane Squad assassinates me, the world will just have another widow.”
Liu Lanzhi grew anxious. “Don’t jinx yourself!”
Chen Shen responded thoughtfully, “What would the phoenix say instead?”
Chen Shen’s mind drifted back to the “Reset” plan. The Prime Minister had mentioned it, and he had asked Bi Zhong Liang about it. But all Bi Zhong Liang did was scoff and say, “Reset? In your dreams!”
So, was there really a Reset plan in the secret operations room of the Direct Action Squad? Or was it at the 76th Secret Service Headquarters? And if it was at headquarters, how could he get it? Amid the sound of Liu Lanzhi and the other ladies playing mahjong, Chen Shen felt a sense of melancholy. He thought to himself that perhaps the simplest thing of all was still just dancing.
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