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

Jia Dongming's gaze was fixed on Zhou Xudong, his tone solemn: "Mr. Koizumi! Do you really think that as long as you don't expose Keiko and Yamamoto, your organization won't touch your family? We are interrogating you not because we know nothing about your background, but because we want to give you a chance to make amends."

Zhou Xudong kept putting up a brave face because he was afraid that if Huizi were arrested, his headquarters in the island country would assume that he had betrayed his accomplices, which would be detrimental to his wife and children.

He hasn't revealed a single detail yet, but Jia Dongming already knows about Huizi's existence. This undoubtedly indicates that Huizi and Yamamoto may have already come under the police's surveillance.

Thinking about the potential consequences for his family if Huizi and Yamamoto were arrested, Zhou Xudong's heart raced, but he still forced himself to play dumb: "Jia Dongming! I don't know any Huizi or Yamamoto at all. Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?"

Seeing that Zhou Xudong still refused to speak, Jia Dongming knew that the other party was at his limit and it was only a matter of time before he could get him to talk.

He looked at Zhou Xudong's trembling legs and asked with a hint of sarcasm, "Mr. Koizumi! Since you don't know them, why are your legs shaking? I advise you to stop struggling in vain and instead tell us about your 'Cherry Blossom Project'?"

"Jia Dongming! How...how did you know about 'Project Sakura'?"

Upon hearing this word, Zhou Xudong's mental defenses finally crumbled, and he blurted out in surprise.

Li Xidong, who was standing to the side, originally thought that Jia Dongming only had some clues, but after hearing the conversation between the two, he realized that the information Jia Dongming had was far more than what the division currently knew.

Seeing that Zhou Xudong's defenses had collapsed, Jia Dongming immediately pressed forward: "Mr. Koizumi! How we found out is not important."

Now I'll only ask you one question: Do you want to live, or do you want to die?

Zhou Xudong felt even more flustered when asked this question.

After a moment of silence, he raised his haggard face, looked at Jia Dongming and Li Xidong, and whispered, "Jia Dongming... could I have a cigarette?"

When Li Xidong saw Zhou Xudong ask for a cigarette, he immediately realized that this was a sign that the other party was about to speak. He quickly took out a cigarette case from his pocket, handed one over, and lit it for him with a match.

Zhou Xudong took a few deep drags on his cigarette before slowly asking, "Jia Dongming! If I'm not mistaken, before you were transferred to the steel rolling mill as the head of the security department, your intelligence department should have already been aware of our movements, which is why they sent you here, right?"

This question slightly surprised Jia Dongming, but he neither admitted nor denied it, instead smiling and asking in return, "Mr. Koizumi! Is this important? You've lived in China for many years, haven't you heard the old saying—'If you don't want others to know, don't do it in the first place'? Do you really think our public security bureau is just for show?"

He paused briefly, then continued, "Mr. Koizumi! You've been keeping us occupied for two days now. Judging by your energy level, you must be at your limit, right? Let's get straight to the point and talk about your 'Cherry Blossom Project'!"

Zhou Xudong took another deep drag of his cigarette and finally spoke in a low voice: "After the Empire was defeated, a group of special forces were left behind around Beijing. They were hidden in several secret warehouses."

"Project Cherry Blossom... is about launching this initiative and igniting it in several major cities across China."

"What! Special forces? How many did you bury? Where exactly is the warehouse located?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xidong's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly pressed for an answer.

Zhou Xudong shook his head: "The details of the warehouse...only Huizi knows, no one else knows."

Li Xidong immediately pressed, "Xiaoquan! Where is that Keiko you mentioned? Do you know?"

"Director Li! I know Huizi's whereabouts, there's no need to ask him."

Before Zhou Xudong could answer, Jia Dongming smiled and took over the conversation.

Zhou Xudong was immediately astonished—he himself did not know where Huizi was hiding, yet Jia Dongming knew so well.

"What! Section Chief Jia! You know where Huizi is? Is that true?"

Li Xidong also looked incredulous and quickly asked Jia Dongming for confirmation.

Seeing Li Xidong's anxious expression, Jia Dongming naturally understood why the other party was so anxious.

Faced with Li Xidong's questioning, Jia Dongming nodded solemnly and replied earnestly, "Director Li, I do indeed know Huizi's whereabouts. It's a hidden location that you would never guess."

As the head of the Kyoto City East Branch, Li Xidong was well aware that the enemy's conspiracy would have incalculable consequences if it succeeded.

Jia Dongming held crucial clues but failed to report them in a timely manner, which annoyed and aroused Li Xidong. He even felt that Jia Dongming was deliberately concealing this important information because he was afraid that the public security department would steal the credit from the steel rolling mill's security department.

Li Xidong glared angrily at Jia Dongming, his tone clearly showing his dissatisfaction: "Section Chief Jia, why weren't you informed of such important intelligence immediately?"

Jia Dongming immediately realized that Li Xidong had misunderstood.

Since Zhou Xudong was still present, he didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of outsiders, so he explained to Li Xidong as he walked towards the interrogation room: "Director Li, it's not convenient to talk about this here. Let's go outside and talk."

Upon hearing this, Li Xidong immediately left the interrogation room, instructed two police officers to continue interrogating Zhou Xudong, and then led Jia Dongming toward his office.

Upon entering the office, Li Xidong casually closed the door and, with an unhappy expression, warned Jia Dongming: "Section Chief Jia, I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation today, otherwise I will report your behavior to my superiors."

Jia Dongming originally intended to explain patiently, but Li Xidong's words made him unhappy, and his tone became stiff: "Director Li, it's not appropriate for you to say that."

"It was clearly a mistake on your part as the police that made the mistake, so why are you blaming me?"

After hearing this, Li Xidong asked seriously, "Jia Dongming, what do you mean by that? What oversight has our police made? Please explain yourself clearly."

With a grave expression, Jia Dongming explained to Li Xidong, "Director Li, I received a call from Da Pao early this morning. They said that based on Chen Jianfei's confession, they found a hidden warehouse in the suburbs of Beijing and seized enough weapons to equip a regiment."

As the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows.

Given the modus operandi of these enemy agents, it is highly unlikely that they would store all their weapons in the same location.

There must be other secret vaults around Beijing.

"Thinking of this, I remembered the results of your police search of enemy agents' residences, so I asked Dapao for details."

He told me that you only seized some valuables, a small amount of weapons, and a radio.

"Because I was still worried, I searched Zhou Xudong's residence again carefully, and as a result, I found an extremely hidden tunnel in the abandoned courtyard next door."

"In order to find out where the tunnel led, I sneaked in and found that at the end was a secret room, which contained not only two radios, but also a large number of weapons."

Above the secret room was a small courtyard, less than 100 meters from Zhou Xudong's residence.

"After confirming the location of the secret room, I planned to go to Chen Jianfei's residence to check it out. Just as I was about to leave, a mysterious man and woman entered the courtyard one after the other."

These two are Keiko and Yamamoto, whom I just mentioned. The so-called "Sakura Project" is something I learned about from their conversation.

"I wanted to continue to find out the details of the plan, but Keiko only instructed Yamamoto to activate the enemy agents who were lurking in Beijing, without mentioning any details of the plan."

That's why I requested that Zhou Xudong be interrogated.

After listening carefully to Jia Dongming's account, Li Xidong realized that he had misunderstood the other party.

Thinking about how his men had made such a huge oversight during the search of Zhou Xudong's residence, almost missing a crucial clue and causing a major mistake, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

At this moment, Li Xidong looked ashamed and sincerely apologized to Jia Dongming: "Section Chief Jia, I'm sorry! I, Li Xidong, was narrow-minded and misunderstood you. I apologize to you here!"

Seeing that Li Xidong took the initiative to lower his posture and admit his mistake, Jia Dongming stopped arguing and said, "Director Li, after I confirmed that these two people were Zhou Xudong's accomplices, I secretly kept watch outside that courtyard."

After the two enemy agents separated, I weighed my options and quietly followed the female enemy agent named Keiko.

"This female enemy agent is extremely vigilant."

When she left the courtyard, she disguised herself as a frail old woman, took a bus and drove around the city for a long time, making sure no one was following her before getting off and going into a public toilet by the roadside.

"When she came out of the toilet, she had changed from an old lady to a middle-aged woman. She then transferred to another bus and got off at a stop not far from your Dongcheng Branch. She eventually walked into the tailor shop opposite the branch."

"What? Chief Jia, you mean that female spy named Huizi is hiding in the tailor shop across from our branch office? Are you sure?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xidong's face was filled with disbelief and shock, and he hurriedly asked Jia Dongming to confirm the news.

Li Xidong's fierce reaction was not unexpected by Jia Dongming. If he himself had suddenly learned of such information, he probably would have found it difficult to remain calm.

Faced with Li Xidong's inquiry, Jia Dongming nodded in confirmation without hesitation and explained, "Director Li, based on my deduction, the reason why Huizi chose the tailor shop opposite your branch as a hiding place is partly to take advantage of the 'blind spot under the lamp' mentality, and partly because she is likely trying to secretly observe the movements of your branch."

Upon learning that the enemy's intelligence chief was lurking across from the branch office, Li Xidong's first thought was to personally lead a team to capture him.

He immediately pulled open his desk drawer, took out his service pistol, and said decisively, "Section Chief Jia, now that we've confirmed Huizi is hiding in that tailor shop, we should seize the opportunity and make her an arrest immediately."

When Jia Dongming saw that Li Xidong was about to gather his men, he hurriedly stepped forward to stop him and reminded him: "Director Li, I was the only one who followed Huizi before. The other enemy agent is still missing."

Furthermore, given this female enemy's consistent vigilance, there is a high probability that the tailor shop contained a secret passage for escape.

Unless absolute certainty can be achieved, I advise against taking any rash actions to avoid alerting the enemy.

Only after Jia Dongming's reminder did Li Xidong realize that his actions had been too impulsive.

He calmed down again, locked his pistol back in the drawer, and said sincerely with gratitude, "Section Chief Jia, this time it's all thanks to your meticulousness that you discovered this crucial clue in time."

Otherwise, if the enemy's plot succeeds, I, Li Xidong, might truly become a sinner in history.

If it weren't for "Hawkeye"

With "ears that can hear the wind"

With both skills still on cooldown, Jia Dongming was determined to find out what secrets were hidden inside that tailor shop.

Thinking of the "Cherry Blossom Project"

Regarding the special bombs involved, Jia Dongming solemnly emphasized to Li Xidong: "Director Li, although we have already located the female enemy agent's hiding place, we must pay close attention to the special bombs that Xiao Rizi has buried."

I suggest you report this information to your superiors immediately.

There was no need for Jia Dongming to elaborate on this matter; Li Xidong had already planned to report on the relevant information regarding the special bombs.

He immediately responded, "Section Chief Jia, please rest assured, I will report to the Municipal Bureau as soon as Zhou Xudong's statement is compiled."

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongming smiled slightly and said, "Director Li, I have achieved my purpose for this trip, so I will take my leave now."

Li Xidong personally escorted Jia Dongming to the office door and earnestly said, "Section Chief Jia, we will immediately arrange for personnel to closely monitor that tailor shop."

If you make any new discoveries, please let us know promptly.

Jia Dongming nodded in agreement: "Director Li, rest assured, I will communicate with you immediately if there are any new developments."

After saying goodbye to Li Xidong, Jia Dongming ran into Wang Dapao as soon as he stepped out of the branch office building.

When Wang Dapao saw Jia Dongming, he looked surprised and asked, "Dongming, when did you come to the branch office?"