Courtyard House: Home Alone

Just then, there was a knock on the moon gate beside them. "Chunxing, go see if it's Zhuzi!"

Chunxing responded and quickly went out. A short while later, she returned with the deaf old woman.

"Young master, it's Mrs. Long from next door."

Lin Yifan knew the deaf old lady must have something to say, so he waved his hand and said, "Go and cook, there's no need for anyone to stay here."

Chunxing and the other two agreed and left the main room, with Qiuju closing the door behind them.

Seeing the three of them leave, Lin Yifan sat up straight and looked at Long Xiaoni in front of him: "Grandma Long, what brings you here?"

"Xiao...Xiao Fan, I came to tell you that someone from above has arrived. It's a man named Xu Zheng. Jia Xing sent a message asking me to cooperate, but I refused."

I thought this news might be useful to you, so... I came to tell you.

The deaf old woman spoke in a very low voice, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, but her eyes revealed a shrewdness.

Lin Yifan noticed that she had specially changed into a slightly worn navy blue cotton robe today, and her hair was also neatly combed—this was an outfit she was going out to see people, but she had deliberately suppressed it.

"Xu Zheng came to see you?" Lin Yifan slid off the daybed, his bare feet touching the blue brick floor, the coolness creeping up his soles. He gestured for the deaf old woman to sit, while he stood, so that their eyes were level.

"Just past noon today, someone came to see me with a letter from Jiaxing, saying that some special envoy from the Military Intelligence Bureau wanted to see me."

The deaf old woman sat halfway up the armchair, her back ramrod straight. "I didn't answer. I told the person who came that I've already left the Military Intelligence Bureau and never want to get involved with that stuff again."

"Grandma Long, I remember you were only fifty-six after the New Year... You still have decades of good days ahead of you, so it's best to avoid those who do such despicable things."

Lin Yifan's voice was soft, yet carried a maturity beyond his years, "But since you've made this special trip, it's probably not just to tell me you rejected Xu Zheng, is it?"

The deaf old woman's lips twitched slightly, her smile tinged with bitterness and admiration: "Xiao Fan, you really are a clever little devil."

She pulled a folded piece of paper from her bosom; the edges were worn, clearly having been handled repeatedly. "This is what that person left behind. He said if I changed my mind, I should go to Dashilan outside Qianmen within three days and find Manager Zhao of 'Ruifuxiang' shop, and tell him I want to order a bolt of 'Snow-Hidden' fabric."

Lin Yifan took the note but didn't unfold it immediately. He ran his fingertips lightly across the paper, his mental energy surging out like a tide, examining the note inside and out three times—there were no hidden layers, no secret marks, it was just an ordinary note.

"What do you think?" He placed the note on the table and looked up at the deaf old woman.

"What do you mean, 'I see'?"

The deaf old woman suddenly laughed, a laugh tinged with desolation. "I think Xu Zheng's intentions are not what they seem. What does he want with an old woman like me who has retired from the Military Intelligence Bureau? He just wants to use my mouth, my ears, and my old life to find out what 'Ghost' is all about."

She paused, her voice lowering even further: "Jiaxing said in his letter that Xu Zheng is coming to Beiping this time with Boss Dai's imperial sword in his hand. He can act first and report later regarding the Military Intelligence Bureau's station in Beiping. Xiaofan, you...you have to be careful."

Lin Yifan remained silent for a moment. The main room was so quiet that one could hear the fluttering of sparrows in the sycamore tree outside the window, and the faint cries of vendors coming from the alley in the distance.

"Grandma Long," he suddenly spoke, "what did you do in the Military Intelligence Bureau back then?"

The deaf old woman's body visibly stiffened. A sharp glint flashed in her cloudy eyes, like a long-sealed knife suddenly having its edge drawn.

"I?"

She looked down at her pampered hands and said, "Because I'm pretty and I meet a lot of people, they sent me to a training course for six months. I learned everything—telecommunications, mobile communications, makeup—but I'm not good at anything."

After I was released, they sent me back to Beiping to inquire about various things: the Zhang family, the 29th Army, and later the Japanese, until…

She didn't finish her sentence, but Lin Yifan understood the weight behind that "until". In the history of the Military Intelligence Bureau, there were countless such "until" statements, and for every such statement, countless nameless tombstones were buried in mass graves.

Do you know Xu Zheng?

The deaf old woman shook her head, then nodded: "I've never seen him, but I've heard his name. In 1935, an entire action group in the Shanghai district was wiped out, supposedly because of this man's scheme—using three fake traitors to lure out twelve real big fish."

Lin Yifan walked back to the bedside but did not go up to it. He just leaned against the bedpost and said, "Grandma Long, you made a risky move."

Since Xu Zheng dared to reveal his identity to you, he wasn't afraid of your refusal—he was waiting for you to tip him off, thankfully you didn't leave the courtyard.

The deaf old woman's face changed: "Are you saying that if I go to Dashilan, I'll be walking into a trap?"

"Although you have Jiaxing as your son, the Military Intelligence Bureau will not let you leave easily."

Xu Zheng's target this time is "Ghost". You have been in Beiping for so many years. He wants to test whether you are related to "Ghost", including your withdrawal.

If you make a move this time, you will once again be entangled with the Military Intelligence Bureau, and at the same time offend "Ghost".

Think about it, even Boss Dai himself was thoroughly humiliated by the "Ghost" when he came to Beiping last time, let alone you.

A layer of cold sweat seeped down the deaf old woman's back, and the collar of her dark blue cotton robe was slightly damp. She suddenly remembered the look in the messenger's eyes when he left that afternoon—a look of respect mixed with probing, like a cat looking at a sparrow under its paws.

"Xiao Fan, what about me...?"

"Your stillness is the best form of movement."

Lin Yifan straightened up from the bedpost, took a few steps barefoot on the blue brick floor, and said, "Xu Zheng wants the 'Ghost's' weakness, your weakness. Do you have any connection with the 'Ghost'? I think not. So, you should just stay in the courtyard. The more composed you are, the less he can figure out your true intentions."

He has a mission, so once you lose hope, he'll shift his attention elsewhere.

He walked to the table, folded the note in half, then in half again, until it was a square about the size of a thumb: "I'll keep this note. Grandma Long, when you get back, just do what you need to do—visit neighbors, buy groceries, bask in the sun—the more ordinary the better."

"But what about Jiaxing's side..."

"Huang Jiaxing is your son, and also a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau."

Lin Yifan's voice was flat, "He's caught in the middle, it's even harder for him than for you. Whether the letter is real or fake, whether it was written voluntarily or signed under duress, doesn't matter. What matters is—"

He suddenly laughed, a laugh tinged with a coldness unbecoming of his age. "Xu Zheng thought he had set up a series of traps, but little did he know that in this city of Beiping, someone was already waiting for him to make his move."

The deaf old woman stared at the folded paper strip and suddenly felt that the child in front of her was like a deep well. The well opening was no more than three feet wide, but at the bottom lay an unknown depth of cold water.