Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 205 Telephone
Meanwhile, Gu Yansheng was resting at home.

The phone rang.

Ding-ling-ling. Ding-ling-ling.

"Hello." Gu Yansheng picked up the phone.

Ding Mochun's voice came through the phone, "It's me. I found something, but it might not be convenient to talk about it over the phone."

"Then let's talk about it in person."

Gu Yansheng arranged to meet him at a certain place and drove there.

Jisifeier Road Tea House.

Upon meeting him, Gu Yansheng praised, "Tang Huimin is very efficient."

Ding Mocun smiled and handed over a document. "It's not like we're catching spies. What's so difficult about checking bank records? We already have the bank's name. Tang Huimin went to the business registration office under the pretext of investigating a bank case, and he found this bank right away. The staff there remembers it. This is the bottom line."

Gu Yansheng pulled out the document and looked at the registered personnel information.

"Chen Junhui, from Nanjing, who is that?" Gu Yansheng had never heard of this name before.

Ding Mochun took a sip of tea. "I've checked for you. If it's not just a coincidence of names, then this Chen Junhui should be the Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Nanjing Reformed Government."

"People from Nanjing?" Gu Yansheng was greatly surprised. After thinking for a moment, he murmured, "Then this matter is interesting. I thought it was because the Shanghai Military Police Headquarters had lost its financial power and was trying to pull some tricks. I even wondered if the Asia Development Institute had opened up some new avenue. I really didn't expect that this matter would actually be related to Nanjing."

Japanese companies paid such a large sum of money to the Japanese military, but the Japanese military actually handed it over to the Nanjing Reformed Government.

There's an explanation for this.

"They've come to open a bank on our turf, how interesting." Gu Yansheng shook his head and chuckled.

Ding Mocun just kept drinking his tea. "I don't understand what they're here for, but it seems this is the best we can do for now. If we investigate any further, we'll have to trace it back to the Japanese. I think this was done by the Japanese, not by Chen Junhui alone."

"That's for sure." Gu Yansheng nodded. With such a large sum of money, there must be Japanese involvement from Nanjing, and they must be in high positions.

"Should I send someone over?"

"Let's leave it for now." Gu Yansheng waved his hand. "Who knows how long it would take to investigate in Nanjing? Is Chen Junhui still in Shanghai?"

"No, he has a house in Shanghai, but Tang Huimin went to see the house and no one has been living there for the past two days. He asked around and found out that someone had been there a few days ago, but no one has been seen in the past two days."

Their registered bank address is in Zhabei District. The shop is rented; it's a ready-made building, but it's currently undergoing renovations and hasn't had a sign yet, so there are no staff members working there.

Gu Yansheng thought for a moment and asked, "Is his house in the city center or the concession?"

"It's right on Yuyuan Road."

The traitor really liked living here. The villas were beautiful, there were many alleyways, it was close to the concession, and it was sold at non-concession prices, making it extremely cost-effective.

“It’s not far from here.” Gu Yansheng pointed to the telephone. “Could you find out the phone numbers he’s made in the last few days, what numbers they were, and who he called?”

"Are you trying to find out who he's contacting through the phone call?"

“That’s right. I feel that he must have reported this matter to the Shanghai supervisor. He definitely has the phone number of the Nanjing Reformed Government. Whether he has the phone number of the Japanese is another matter. I don’t know if he, as the Minister of Industry and Commerce, has the authority to report independently. If he does, we can get to the point in one step.”

"This is not difficult, I'll look it up for you right now."

The telephone lines on the section of road built beyond the boundary were operated by the telephone company in the concession. In theory, they shouldn't be able to investigate, but in theory, they can only do so in theory.

You can be unreasonable.

You can also spend money.

Even the employees of the telephone company in the concession needed to earn extra money.

Ding Mocun picked up the phone and dialed Tang Huimin's office. "Hello, it's me. Immediately find that informant at the concession's telephone company and have him check all the incoming and outgoing calls to that house in the last two weeks. Yes, I need detailed information, right now. Okay, I'll wait for your call."

Ding Mocun put down the phone and looked at his watch. "Even if he's at home, I can definitely find him within two hours of him going there to get the documents."

"Are their fees expensive?" Gu Yansheng casually inquired about the market rate.

Ding Mocun pursed his lips, sat down, and said, "It's not cheap. If you're looking for a nobody, like an ordinary employee, it might only cost ten or twenty silver dollars for them to check it for you."

But it's very slow; he has to find time to investigate and he has to do it discreetly.

"But if you're looking for a manager-level agent, it'll be quick, done in a few hours, but it won't be less than twenty US dollars. That's the price for a long-term partnership. Just for today, it'll definitely cost fifty US dollars."

“It’s not cheap, so I won’t reimburse you. You can ask Minister Zhou for it later,” Gu Yansheng joked.

Ding Mochun glanced at the inkstone on the table next to him with amusement: "You can refuse reimbursement, but I'll confiscate this inkstone."

As he spoke, he stepped forward and took it to play with.

Gu Yansheng immediately stopped him, "Dream on, this is Su Dongpo's inkstone."

"Su Dongpo's?" Ding Mocun's eyes lit up, and he became even more enamored with the book, turning it over and over to examine it.

Gu Yansheng sipped his tea and said, "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Beautiful," Ding Mocun exclaimed.

"fake."

"what?"

Ding Mochun's eyes practically popped out of their sockets. Gu Yansheng laughed heartily, "What are you thinking? If the Dongpo inkstone were real, why would I put it here? I would have kept it at home! I bought it by mistake at the antique market. It cost me 50 silver dollars. I thought I had found a bargain, but who knew it was a fake made by someone from the previous dynasty."

Ding Mocun, who had been losing interest, perked up again upon hearing this. "I was wondering why this piece was so beautiful. Even if it's a fake made in the previous dynasty, it would still be considered an antique today. Maybe it was made by a master forger. It's still worth something. If you don't want it, you can give it to me. I think it's quite nice."

"No."

"You can't even bear to part with a fake one?"

"I just can't bear to part with it. I have to keep it and observe it carefully to see what the difference is between the fake and the real one. Maybe I'll find the real one next time? When I do, I'll give this to you."

Ding Mocun chuckled, not dwelling on the topic, as it was just a joke. He picked up another trinkets from Gu Yansheng's table and said, "Hey, when did you become interested in antiques?"

"I was forced to do it. If someone gives me something and I can't even tell if it's real or fake, how embarrassing would it be if I got fooled?"

"Hahaha, you always speak the truth. Let me tell you, out of ten officials who like this kind of thing, eight of them study ancient artifacts because of this."

If no one gives me gifts, where am I going to get that much money to buy them?

"The same to you?"

"Yes," Ding Mocun said frankly.

We chatted about antiques for a while when the phone rang.

Ding Mocun answered the phone, grunted twice, and said, "I'm at the teahouse next to the Huxi Police Station. Bring it over right away."

"We got the items."

"Quick enough."

Fifteen minutes later, his subordinate delivered the documents.

Gu Yansheng glanced at the information, which included the phone numbers that had been dialed and received, the operator's registration time, the target area for transfer, and the registered address of the phone number.

"What's this blank space?" Gu Yansheng pointed to some of the registered addresses that were blank.

"Oh." The subordinate glanced at it and nodded. "Shanghai's telephone lines are divided into several branches. Calls made from the concessions and calls from the International Settlement to the International Settlement can be traced to specific addresses."

However, when calling from the International Settlement to the French Concession or Zhabei and Hongkou districts, the call must first be connected to a switchboard, which is the target area for the transfer. Unless the call is from outside the local area, there is no address recorded in the local area.

For example, "Hongkou Exchange - 7583" means that the call was made from the International Settlement to Hongkou, but the telephone company can only connect it to the Hongkou Exchange, which is the telephone company in Hongkou. Then, the telephone company in Hongkou will transfer the call to the HK area code 7583.

The people in the foreign concessions didn't know who 7583 was; only the telephone company in Hongkou knew.

Gu Yansheng understood. "So that means if I want to know who the owner of 7583 is, I have to contact the telephone company in Hongkou?"

"Yes."

"Good, well done."

Gu Yansheng wasn't stingy either, taking out several large bills and handing them to him, "Treat the brothers to a late-night snack."

The subordinate was overjoyed. "Thank you, Director Gu. Thank you, Chief. I'll be going now."

"No rush, wait a moment."

Gu Yansheng handed the paper to Ding Mocun, "There are five phone numbers that go directly to Hongkou. I only recognize one of them, the Military Police Headquarters. There are four others I don't recognize. See if you've seen them before?"

The fact that a bureau chief from Nanjing would call a Japanese person in Hongkou while overseeing the case in Shanghai is suspicious enough.

Ding Mochun took it and looked at it, then frowned and slowly shook his head. "Never seen it before, it's definitely not from the headquarters or the navy."

“If it’s not affiliated with Xingya Institute, then it’s private,” Gu Yansheng continued. “Can we check?”

"They can check. They can use the pretext of ruling out spy calls to access the data. It's just a matter of looking at the address book. The Japanese won't find anything out."

"That's good." Gu Yansheng wasn't giving away money for nothing. He said to his subordinate, "You know what to do?"

"I understand." The subordinate nodded.

"Okay, call here once you find it, then you can go get some late-night snacks and don't need to come back."

"Yes."

Gu Yansheng walked back and said, "The money that the Shanghai Military Police Command lost was given to the Nanjing Command by the military. That's fine, but the bank still has to open in Shanghai. What do you think the Shanghai Military Police Command will think when they find out?"

Ding Mocun shook his head helplessly, "I'm still completely confused."

It will be clear soon.

An hour later, his subordinates called, giving out the home addresses and names corresponding to each phone number.

Representatives from Mitsui & Co., Mitsubishi Corporation, Sumitomo Bank, and Takeo Imai, head of the China Division of the General Staff Headquarters, were present.
“Imai Takeo?” Gu Yansheng raised an eyebrow. “Alright, you’ve worked hard. Go and rest.”

Gu Yansheng put down the phone and looked at Ding Mocun. "It should be him. Considering Chen Junhui's role in overseeing things in Shanghai, he has no reason to contact this head of the China Section."

“This is not a good sign,” Ding Mocun said.

While negotiating with the Wang Jingwei faction, the General Staff's China Division also ordered the Nanjing Reformed Government to open a bank and issue military scrip. This did not seem like the negotiations were about to be completed.

Gu Yansheng nodded, "Alright, I'll go report to Minister Zhou."

(End of this chapter)