Courtyard House: The Long-Lost Eldest Son Returns with Military Merit

The lid of the box was lifted, revealing a pair of blue and white porcelain vases. A piece of information instantly flooded Jia Dongming's mind: "Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain vase with dragon and human figures on a plate-shaped mouth! Height 37.5 cm, mouth 8.5 cm, base 1 cm." The appraisal results from Eagle Eye made Jia Dongming's eyes light up. He had never expected that this skill would also have the function of appraising cultural relics. This was undoubtedly an unexpected gain.

After closing the first box, Jia Dongming opened the second one, and a golden hue came into view, causing him to gasp softly.

"Large yellow croakers! Net weight 31." Receiving the information from Eagle Eye, Jia Dongming excitedly counted the number of large yellow croakers in the box, muttering to himself, "There are twelve in this layer. Judging from the height of the box, there are at least thirty-six large yellow croakers in the whole box!"

"Based on the current bank purchase price of 20 yuan per gram, a large yellow croaker weighs 31 kilograms." With anticipation and excitement, Jia Dongming opened two more boxes. One box was filled with calligraphy and paintings, and the other box contained various jade artifacts.

Jia Dongming has not yet checked what is in the other boxes, but the contents of the four boxes that have already been opened are enough to ensure his future financial security.

Jia Dongming took a few deep breaths of the stale air, gradually calming himself down.

He inspected the remaining items in the boxes one by one and finally confirmed that there were two large boxes of gold bars, two large boxes of small gold bars, three boxes of silver coins, one box of jade, one box of jewelry, and the rest were various antiques and calligraphy and paintings.

After storing all the large boxes into the system space, Jia Dongming carefully cleaned up any traces that might have been left in the secret room, making sure there were no clues left before leaving the secret room satisfied.

After leaving the secret room, Jia Dongming restored the entrance to its original state, then walked to the well and used his eagle-eye ability to observe the secret passage in the well.

This time, Jia Dongming did not enter the well. Instead, he followed the path of the secret passage and left the abandoned courtyard. Then, he pushed his bicycle and slowly walked towards the direction in which the secret passage extended.

After walking for about two or three minutes, Jia Dongming discovered that at the end of the secret passage was a secret room of about forty or fifty square meters.

The secret room contained not only two radios, but also about a dozen wooden crates that appeared to be carrying weapons.

A middle-aged couple is standing in front of an open map, discussing something in hushed tones.

Seeing this, Jia Dongming immediately used his keen hearing to begin a conversation between the two.

"That idiot Koizumi, I told him long ago that as soon as the tunnel is dug, we should blow up the special workshop immediately."

However, he was too arrogant and completely disregarded the police, ultimately leading to the complete failure of his operation to sabotage the steel rolling mill's special workshop.

The middle-aged woman stared at the map and angrily accused Zhou Xudong to her companion.

"Keiko! I'm worried that Koizumi-kun won't be able to withstand the police's interrogation and will leak our 'Sakura Project'."

Seeing the middle-aged woman angrily beating Zhou Xudong, the middle-aged man, thinking of another plan they were still carrying out, couldn't help but look worried and remind her.

Upon hearing the middle-aged man's reminder, and recalling the organization's arrangements, Keiko confidently replied, "Yamamoto-kun! Koizumi's wife and children are still under the organization's surveillance."

Knowing Koizumi as I do, he would never reveal "Operation Cherry Blossom" to the police for the safety of his family.

After hearing Keiko's answer and seeing her confident expression, Yamamoto still reminded her, "Keiko! When you were reprimanding Koizumi earlier, you also mentioned that his plan was exposed and he was arrested precisely because he was too confident."

"Our secret warehouse in Xishan has been raided by the police. This alone is enough to show that Koizumi has likely confessed."

Therefore, we need to prepare for both possibilities.

After hearing Yamamoto's reminder, Keiko frowned deeply, then agreed: "Yamamoto-kun, your concerns are valid."

It now appears we must deploy another group of personnel to assist us in this operation.

Upon receiving Keiko's instructions, Yamamoto immediately replied respectfully, "Keiko! I'll take care of it right away..."

The conversation between the two enemy agents made Jia Dongming realize that the enemy agent named Yamamoto was at the same level as Zhou Xudong, while the enemy agent named Huizi was obviously the leader of this group of enemy agents.

As for their "Cherry Blossom Project," Jia Dongming's intuition told him that this project was probably even larger than the operation to blow up the special workshop of the steel rolling mill.

To clarify the "Cherry Blossom Project"

The specific details were as follows: Jia Dongming pretended to stop the car for a rest.

But just as he parked his bicycle, he suddenly felt a throbbing in his head. He could no longer see what was happening in the basement, nor could he continue the conversation between the two enemy agents.

"Ding!"

"The host's mental energy is severely depleted. The system has automatically shut down the Eagle Eye and Clairvoyant Hearing skills. The estimated cooldown time is twelve hours."

Just as Jia Dongming was puzzled by the sudden failure of his skill, a system notification sounded in his mind.

Upon receiving the information from the system, Jia Dongming realized that using these skills would consume his mental energy.

Feeling dizzy, Jia Dongming had no choice but to temporarily abandon the idea of ​​continuing to spy. He found a secluded spot and kept a close watch on the small courtyard above the secret room.

About twenty minutes later, the gate to the courtyard suddenly opened from the inside. A middle-aged man looked around a few times before pushing his bicycle out of the courtyard.

Jia Dongming was alone, but there were two enemy agents in front of him. Which one to follow became a very difficult question for him.

Through the previous conversation between the two enemy agents, Jia Dongming knew that Yamamoto left to carry out Huizi's order to activate the enemy agents who had been lurking in Beijing.

The fact that Keiko, who remained in the courtyard, could order Yamamoto around is enough to show that her rank was far higher than Yamamoto's, and she was even very likely the leader of this group of enemy agents.

Just as Jia Dongming was struggling with who to follow, the courtyard gate opened again, and an elderly woman who looked to be about sixty or seventy years old walked out shakily with a cane.

Although Jia Dongming's eagle eye skill was no longer usable, he immediately recognized the old woman as Huizi in disguise from her attire and behavior.

At this moment, Jia Dongming immediately made a decision to use his tracking skills to follow Huizi from a distance.

Disguised as an old woman, Keiko stumbled and staggered for nearly fifteen or sixteen minutes before finally reaching the nearby bus stop and boarding a bus.

Seeing the bus start moving, Jia Dongming rode his bicycle along the main road and followed far behind the bus.

The old lady got off the bus with her cane after it had passed five stops.

After getting off the bus, the old lady looked around first, then walked into a public toilet by the roadside with her cane.

From afar, Jia Dongming witnessed the old woman's actions as she got off the bus, and cursed inwardly: "These cunning Japanese invaders are so vigilant. If I hadn't mastered tracking techniques and always kept a distance of two or three hundred meters from the bus, I probably would have been exposed long ago."

Just as Jia Dongming was muttering to himself, a middle-aged woman dressed in a Lenin suit walked briskly out of the toilet.

Upon seeing his face, Jia Dongming's lips curled into a mocking smile as he murmured to himself, "No matter how cunning the fox, it will eventually be caught by the hunter's eye."

Huizi left the public restroom, quickly reached the bus stop across the street, and boarded another bus.

The bus kept stopping and starting before finally stopping at a station in Dongcheng District.

After the car came to a complete stop, Huizi quickly got out and walked forward along the street.

Jia Dongming stared intently in the direction Huizi was heading, his brow furrowed, for she was going directly to the Dongcheng Public Security Bureau.

To find out Huizi's true intentions, Jia Dongming chose to follow her from a distance, slowly pushing his bicycle.

"This is blatant misplaced knowledge! This Japanese woman, to become a leader of enemy agents, truly possesses extraordinary courage!"

When Jia Dongming saw Huizi walk into a tailor shop next to the branch office, he looked surprised and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Jia Dongming waited at the intersection for more than half an hour, but Huizi never came out of the tailor shop.

He wanted to use his Eagle Eye skill to investigate the situation inside the shop, but he had to give up because his mental energy would take twelve hours to recover.

Re-mounting his bicycle, Jia Dongming pretended to be nonchalant and rode towards the Dongcheng Branch.

Upon entering the branch office building, Jia Dongming strode to Li Xidong's office door. Seeing Li Xidong reviewing case files, he knocked and politely asked, "Director Li! Am I disturbing your work?"

Hearing the sound, Li Xidong looked up and saw Jia Dongming at the door. With a hint of doubt, he asked, "Section Chief Jia! What brings you to the branch office today?"

Without beating around the bush, Jia Dongming said directly, "Director Li! I want to see Zhou Xudong!"

When Li Xidong learned of his purpose, he thought that Jia Dongming was going to use torture again, so he quickly advised, "Section Chief Jia! Although enemy agents deserve to die, your interrogation methods are sometimes too harsh."

I believe the interrogation experts at the branch office will eventually get Zhou Xudong to talk.

After hearing this, Jia Dongming thought about the results of today's investigation. Although he wanted to tell Li Xidong that Zhou Xudong's superior had been discovered, he decided not to reveal it for the time being, considering the treasure recovered from the abandoned courtyard and the discovery of two enemy agents.

Seeing that Li Xidong refused to let him preside over the trial, Jia Dongming immediately assured him, "Director Li! I only have a few questions to ask Zhou Xudong, I will absolutely not use torture."

Li Xidong was quite surprised to see Jia Dongming insist on seeing Zhou Xudong.

His intuition told him that Jia Dongming might have obtained another crucial clue, and he needed to verify it with Zhou Xudong.

Faced with Jia Dongming's promise, Li Xidong asked seriously, "Section Chief Jia! Tell me honestly, have you discovered another important clue?"

Jia Dongming was not surprised by Li Xidong's suspicions, given the latter's special status.

When questioned, Jia Dongming couldn't help but think of Huizi's hiding place, and replied solemnly, "Director Li! I did find some clues, but because I was worried about being exposed, the information I obtained was incomplete."

The only solution right now is to get Zhou Xudong to talk.

Upon hearing this, Li Xidong noticed Jia Dongming's grave expression and immediately realized the situation might be serious. He then said, "Section Chief Jia! Let's go! I'll personally accompany you to interrogate Zhou Xudong!"

Soon, the two arrived at the door of an interrogation room.

Li Xidong led Jia Dongming inside, where they saw Zhou Xudong's limbs firmly handcuffed to the interrogation chair.

Li Xidong instructed the two police officers in charge of the interrogation: "Xiao Zhang! Xiao Wang! You two go out and rest first. Leave this to me and Section Chief Jia."

After the two men left and closed the door, Jia Dongming sat down at the interrogation table, his sharp gaze fixed on the exhausted Zhou Xudong. He said sarcastically, "Mr. Koizumi! You've lived in China for many years; you must understand the principle of 'leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist,' right?"

Zhou Xudong slowly raised his heavy head, looked at Jia Dongming and Li Xidong opposite him, and said sarcastically, "Jia Dongming! The saying should be 'Confess and you'll be leniently imprisoned; resist and you'll be severely punished, but you can go home for the New Year!'"

"Having lived in China for over twenty years, I am well aware of the principle that the victor is king and the loser is villain."

Now that we have fallen into your hands, there is no chance of survival.

"I'm going to die anyway, so why should I drag others into it?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongming sneered and mocked, "Mr. Koizumi! There's no need to portray yourself as so noble."

Your refusal to confess is simply because your wife and children are controlled by the organization behind you, and you fear that confessing would harm them.

Upon hearing Jia Dongming's words, Zhou Xudong's pupils suddenly narrowed, and a barely perceptible tension flashed across his face. He then feigned ignorance and replied, "Jia Dongming! My wife passed away many years ago. I don't understand what you're saying at all."

The subtle changes in his expression did not escape the notice of Jia Dongming and Li Xidong.

Seeing Zhou Xudong's feigned ignorance, Jia Dongming smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Koizumi! A man named Yamamoto once mocked you in front of his superior, Keiko, saying that you were too arrogant, which led to the failure of the operation and your eventual capture and exposure."

Upon hearing "Yamamoto," Zhou Xudong...

With "Huizi"

Upon hearing those two names, his legs began to tremble uncontrollably, and a strong sense of unease gripped his heart.