Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

Just then, two policemen came into the interrogation room carrying a pile of things, which were then placed on the table in the interrogation room.

A diary written in ciphertext, several yellowed photographs showing a young deaf old woman in a cheongsam standing under the flag of the White Party, several rolls of microfilm, a codebook, and a list.

The name of Deputy District Chief Chen was prominently featured on the list.

The deaf old woman was startled when she saw the things on the table, but her face remained expressionless, as if these things had nothing to do with her.

The police officer in charge of the interrogation said, "Long Xiaoni, whether you talk or not, this information is enough for us to find your accomplices."

"If you cooperate, we'll treat you with some dignity; if you don't, don't blame me for not warning you."

After he finished speaking, he ordered his men to take Long Xiaoni to the detention room and lock her up.

In the detention cell, the deaf old woman sat quietly on the hard wooden bed, with nothing in front of her except a toilet.

The walls of the entire detention cell were painted white, and there was a small window high up, through which a little pale moonlight was now shining.

She stared motionlessly at the sliver of moonlight shining through the window onto the wall.

Every time a police officer patrolling outside passed by, he would peek inside the deaf old woman through the small window in the door before walking away.

Ever since those things were found and placed in front of her.

She knew that not only she, but also her intelligence network and connections built up over the years would be wiped out.

However, she still dared not confess because she was unsure whether there were any superiors or other White Party agents watching her.

If she dares to confess that her son, who lives far away in the south, will likely be purged as well, a tactic commonly used by the White Party.

Every overseas agent has a family member who works for the White Party. As long as the agent is loyal, the family member is safe; if the agent betrays them, the family member will be purged.

Her son, Chen Weiguo, is now a section chief in the White Party's secret service, so she plans to end her own life for her son's sake.

"We can't involve Weiguo," the deaf old woman murmured as she pulled a hollow rubber elastic rope from her waistband. Inside the rope was the cyanide she had been preparing for herself.

She put one end of the rubber rope into her mouth and poured all the white powder inside in, then lay down on the bed to await her death.

The deaf old woman, who had just lain down, suddenly convulsed, and white foam dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

"Crutch," a White Party agent who had been lurking in Beijing for over twenty years, quietly went offline in the detention room.

As usual, the police officers on patrol opened the small window in the door of the deaf old woman's house and shone their flashlights inside. Only then did they discover that the deaf old woman was lying on the bed, foaming at the mouth.

The policeman quickly opened the door and went inside. Upon seeing that the deaf old woman was indeed dead, he immediately went to find Dong Aiguo to report.

In the conference room, Dong Aiguo was leading a group of criminal investigation experts and cryptography experts in processing the documents, codebooks, and some correspondence found in the home of the deaf old woman.

It contained a complete record of the deaf old woman's intelligence network and connections, involving people that surprised even the city police chief.

Because many of them had made meritorious contributions, and some even held high positions.

Just as a group of people were busy organizing various documents, the door was pushed open from the outside, and the person who came in was the policeman who was patrolling the detention room.

He approached Dong Aiguo, saluted, and immediately said, "Long Xiaoni is dead!"

Upon hearing this, Dong Aiguo immediately stopped what he was doing and stared at the policeman in shock. "Dead? How did he die?!"

"I saw that she was foaming at the mouth, so I guessed she was poisoned."

A criminal investigator standing nearby said, "It should be cyanide. People over there carry this stuff with them, and they usually do it very discreetly."

"If he's dead, he's dead. Even if he's not dead, we probably won't get anything of value out of him anyway."

After saying this, Dong Aiguo instructed the policeman to send someone to deal with the deaf old woman.

It was already daylight outside when the people in the conference room finished reviewing the documents in their hands, and arranged for people to be arrested for each of the people involved.

One of the team members was utterly shocked when he saw the arrest list in his hand.

Wu Jianguo is the deputy section chief of the Public Security Management Division of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, and he was just recognized as an advanced worker by the municipal bureau last year.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Wu Jianguo followed the flow of people to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. He had just greeted the gatekeeper and was about to enter.

Several police officers who were preparing to make the arrest followed Wu Jianguo in the crowd.

Wu Jianguo was taken into custody shortly after entering the municipal bureau's office building.

He didn't resist or shout when he was arrested, because he knew this day would come sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to come so soon.

After Wu Jianguo was arrested, all his personal belongings and records were packed up and sent to the Criminal Investigation Department.

South City Courtyard

Three spies were eating steamed buns; they had been silent since they last delivered the assassination mission.

They've been living quite comfortably lately, spending their days eating and drinking and doing odd jobs.

Just as they were enjoying their meal, the door was violently kicked open, and just as they were about to reach for their weapons, three dark pistols were already pointed at their heads.

As Deputy District Chief Chen was leaving his home on his way to the Municipal Party Committee, two police officers stopped him.

After handcuffing him, they put him in a jeep and took him directly to the city police station's interrogation room.

The rest of the people were either arrested at home or taken away from their workplaces, and the entire city of Beijing was shaken that morning.

Many people with questionable conduct were terrified and at a loss, fearing they would be the next to be taken away.

Just as the municipal bureau was conducting an intensive interrogation, Yi Zhonghai dragged his exhausted body back to the courtyard house.

He was interrogated four or five times last night, each time with the same questions asked in a random order.

He was only released after it was determined that he had only been close to the deaf old woman and had not participated in any enemy spy operations.

It was already dawn when he left the police station, and all the way there, his mind was filled with the thought that the deaf old woman was a spy.

He hated the old deaf woman for being a spy.

He hated Li Yu even more for exposing the fact that the deaf old woman was a spy, when everything was fine in the courtyard.

Ever since Li Yu was pushed down by Bang Geng, everything has changed. Not only is Li Yu doing better and better, but he also seems to have a police officer girlfriend.

As for himself, first he lost his position as an elder, then he lost face in the courtyard, and finally, even the last straw that saved the deaf old lady was pulled out by this guy.

So he hates Li Yu, he wishes he could kill Li Yu, and now all he can think about is how to kill Li Yu.

An elderly woman stayed up all night at home, and the fire in the stove was almost out, with only a tiny flame keeping it burning.

Just as the older woman was staring blankly at the stove fire, an older man pushed the door open and came in.

When the older woman saw that it was an older man returning, she quickly stood up and asked:

"Old Yi, are you alright? How's the deaf old lady? Has Zhuzi come back yet?"

"The old deaf man is dead. Sha Zhu should have been taken to the hospital, he'll probably be fine. I'll lie down for a bit now."

Yi Zhonghai came to the bedside and lay down on the bed without even taking off his shoes. The old lady was relieved to see that Yi Zhonghai had returned.

She quickly added some coal to the stove and then went to prepare a meal.