Hidden Radiance

Number 76, Deputy Director's Office.

Li Shiqun leaned back in his leather chair, flipping through the yellowed copy of "A New Account of Tales of the World."

The edges of the pages are worn, and several blank spaces are filled with irregular dots drawn in pencil.

The action team leader stood in front of his desk, head down, reporting on the conflict that had just occurred on Qingyun Road in Zhabei.

"Lu Minghui gave you the book?" Li Shiqun closed the book and threw it on the table.

"Yes. Secretary Gu turned green with anger and was about to draw her gun. Director Lu stopped her with a single sentence."

Li Shiqun picked up a cigar and put it in his mouth.

What is Lu Minghui up to? He sent Fu Yewen to hell just two days ago, and today he delivered the Red Party's codebook to Li Shiqun's desk.

A slap followed by a sweet treat?

wrong.

If Lu Minghui wanted to get rid of him, he wouldn't have recommended She Aizhen to take over the guard brigade. She Aizhen is Sibao's wife and also his junior fellow apprentice.

Now they've handed over the codebook.

Li Shiqun chewed on the cigar filter but didn't light it.

Knock knock knock—

The urgent knocking interrupted his thoughts.

"Enter."

The door was pushed open. Gu Yunqiu walked in, her face cold and hard.

"Director Li," Gu Yunqiu said, walking to the table, "please hand me that copy of 'A New Account of Tales of the World.' It's crucial evidence against the Red Party members."

Li Shiqun struck a match and slowly lit his cigar. He took a puff, exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, and looked at her through the smoke.

"Secretary Gu, you haven't been with 76 for very long, so you might not be familiar with the rules yet." Li Shiqun leaned back in his chair. "The man was arrested in Shanghai, the hideout is in Zhabei, and the search was conducted by my 76's action team. This case belongs to 76."

"I arrested the person," Gu Yunqiu said, raising his voice. "Section Chief Nakajima authorized me to investigate the Red Party's infiltrative network."

"Section Chief Nakajima authorized you to investigate, but not to bypass the director of No. 76 and directly interrogate you or take evidence." Li Shiqun tapped the table with his cigar-smoked hand. "The book is here with me. The person is in the basement. Secretary Gu wants to interrogate him, that's fine. Submit a formal request for a joint interrogation, and I'll send someone to assist you."

Gu Yunqiu stared at the book on the table, her hand clenched into a fist.

Li Shiqun blamed Fu Yewen for her death.

"Director Li, you cannot bear the responsibility for missing a crucial opportunity."

"No need for Secretary Gu to trouble yourself." Li Shiqun waved his hand. "Go out, and remember to close the door."

Gu Yunqiu turned and left, her high heels stomping heavily.

The door slammed shut.

Li Shiqun sneered. He picked up the phone and dialed the confidential office.

"Director Lu, are you free tonight? It's the Great World amusement park, my treat."

Nighttime. The Great World Dance Hall.

Neon lights flashed, and a singer on stage was performing "Shanghai Nights." The private box at the far end of the second floor was extremely soundproof; once the door closed, the noise outside was immediately cut off.

There were four people in the private room.

Li Shiqun and Lu Minghui, along with Lin Zhijiang, the chief of the action team, and Sun Yaozu, the deputy captain of the guard team, were led by Li Shiqun and Lu Minghui, respectively.

Two bottles of foreign liquor and several exquisite cold dishes were laid out on the table. Li Shiqun personally opened the bottles and poured two glasses.

"Director Lu, you are young and promising." Li Shiqun raised his wine glass.

"You're too kind, Director." Lu Minghui raised his glass, clinked it against his, and downed the drink.

Li Shiqun put down his cup and picked up a bite of food.

"Thank you, Director Lu, for what happened in Zhabei today. I've already had someone decipher that copy of 'A New Account of Tales of the World' overnight. As long as we can get that rickshaw driver to talk, we can tear a hole in the Red Party's network in Shanghai."

"It's my duty." Lu Minghui took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth. "Secretary Gu has overstepped her bounds. Case No. 76 should be decided by the director."

Li Shiqun stared into Lu Minghui's eyes.

"Brother Lu, let's not beat around the bush. You killed my brother-in-law, and now you've given me such a huge gift. What exactly do you want?"

Lu Minghui met his gaze without flinching.

"First of all, I didn't kill Director Fu; secondly, I just want to live."

Li Shiqun squinted.

"Director Fu is greedy; he's harboring inappropriate thoughts, and in the eyes of the Japanese, he's already courting death." Lu Minghui picked up the wine bottle and filled Li Shiqun's glass. "Section Chief Nakajima is my senior, and I can't disobey him. Director Li is my superior, and I don't want to offend him either."

Li Shiqun smiled.

"Brother Lu is a wise man," Li Shiqun said, changing the subject. "If Sibao and my brother-in-law were even half as insightful as you, perhaps this unexpected disaster wouldn't have happened."

Upon hearing Li Shiqun mention Wu Sibao, Sun Yaozu froze, his hand holding the wine glass hovering in mid-air, neither retracting it nor bringing it to his lips.

He knew better than anyone how Wu Sibao died.

Wu Sibao and Li Shiqun were from the same school, both disciples of Ji Yuqing, a powerful figure in the Green Gang. Wu Sibao's ability to act with impunity in the 76th Division was due to Li Shiqun's tacit approval. After Wu Sibao's murder, rumors circulated within the 76th Division that it was the work of the Military Intelligence Bureau, but Li Shiqun never made a definitive conclusion.

Lu Minghui picked up his wine glass and ran his fingers along the glass twice.

"Wu Sibao wasn't killed by the Military Intelligence Bureau," Lu Minghui said in a low voice.

Li Shiqun's hand paused.

"Who is that?"

"Japanese."

The private room was deathly silent.

Li Shiqun's cigar remained at his lips, not being put in. His cheeks were clenched, the outline of his jawbone bulging out from beneath his skin, and his wine glass was placed on the table, the bottom of the glass making a crisp sound.

When Sun Yaozu saw Lu Minghui pinning Wu Sibao's death on the Japanese, his tense body relaxed.

Lu Minghui looked into Li Shiqun's eyes.

"Wu Sibao died in the alley, shot in the back of the head and then in the chest. The Military Intelligence Bureau was efficient at killing; they would shoot and run. Who would turn a dead man over and shoot him in the chest again?"

Li Shiqun did not respond. The smoke from the cigars slowly rose between the two of them.

"Kill the person first, then turn the body over and shoot them again—that's for confirmation." Lu Minghui paused for a moment. "The person confirming the kill isn't afraid of anyone hearing the gunshots."

Li Shiqun took the cigar out of his mouth and crushed the ash between his fingertips.

"What about the gold? Is the gold that Wu Sibao stole related to this?"

He asked about gold, but his eyes, fixed on Lu Minghui's face, were fixed on something else—how do you know all this?

"Those twenty chests of gold in Kunshan were stolen by Wu Sibao." Lu Minghui leaned back in his chair. "Wu Sibao is dead, and the gold is missing. Section Chief Nakajima didn't want to make a big deal out of it; he wanted to find the gold secretly. So he blamed Wu Sibao's death on the Military Intelligence Bureau to appease the 76th Division."

Li Shiqun unconsciously tightened his grip on the wine glass, and the veins on the back of his hand stood out.

Lu Minghui pretended not to notice and continued, "I took over Sun Yaozu's case, found out the whereabouts of the gold, and helped Section Chief Nakajima complete his task. The director can find out the cause and effect of these matters by going back and checking."

Li Shiqun's mind raced. This wasn't the first time the Japanese had killed their own lackeys to silence them. The logic made sense, but he wouldn't fully believe it just from words.

"And then what happened? The Mei Agency's vault was robbed, what happened then?" Li Shiqun asked.

"That's why I'm keeping this appointment today."

Lu Minghui leaned forward and placed his hands crossed on the table.

"Director, do you really think the robbery at the Mei Agency that night was carried out by the Military Intelligence Bureau?"

"The entire Kuomintang suicide squad was wiped out. Who else could it be but the Kuomintang?"

"The suicide squad belonged to the Military Intelligence Bureau. But the fake military police who took the gold were not."

Li Shiqun frowned.

Lu Minghui didn't rush to continue. He picked up the wine bottle, poured half a glass for Li Shiqun, and then poured one for himself.

"The fake military police cut in precisely during the troop rotation, their passwords were spot on." Lu Minghui held up his wine glass. "Thirty elite South Manchuria Railway soldiers were lying in wait across the street. And what happened? Gu Yunqiu got a hit on the back of the neck, and came to work the next day with a bandage on."

He didn't draw a conclusion. He held the cup to his lips, paused for a moment, and then drank it.

Li Shiqun's pupils suddenly contracted.

"you mean……"

Lu Minghui put down his cup.

"The number of people who knew the handover code that night could be counted on one hand."

Li Shiqun didn't respond immediately. He picked up his cigar, took a puff, and stared at Lu Minghui's face for a full three seconds through the smoke.

"The Military Intelligence Bureau doesn't have that capability," Li Shiqun added. "If the Military Intelligence Bureau had that kind of coordination ability, would they need to send suicide squads to their deaths?"

Lu Minghui remained noncommittal, only slightly swirling his wine glass.

"After the incident, Gu Yunqiu hurriedly went and grabbed a rickshaw driver, claiming he was a member of the Communist Party." Lu Minghui's tone was flat and even. "And he was indeed a member of the Communist Party."

Li Shiqun recalled Gu Yunqiu's forceful attitude in the office earlier that day, demanding the password book.

"She arrested the driver not for interrogation," Li Shiqun tapped his finger on the table, "but to silence him. Or... to protect him in some way."

Lu Minghui neither nodded nor shook his head.

He picked up his glass, swirled it around a bit, but didn't drink it.

"That driver was called Old Zhao. He was probably a key figure on the periphery of the Red Party, responsible for transportation or liaison. He most likely knew the whereabouts of those twenty boxes of gold. Gu Yunqiu arrested him and put him under his own nose, just to prevent others from interfering."

Li Shiqun slammed his fingers on the table.

"Could it be for..." His lips moved, but the rest of the word was swallowed by his cigar. He quickly changed his words: "To redevelop the Shanghai underground party?"

Lu Minghui didn't press him about the half-sentence he swallowed back; he simply put down his wine glass.

Li Shiqun stood up, walked to the door of the private room, opened the door, and gestured with his chin towards the outside.

"Zhijiang, Yaozu, please go downstairs and have a seat."

Lin Zhijiang and Sun Yaozu stood up and went out the door one after the other. The door closed again.

There were only two people left in the private room.

"The codebook is in the director's hands now. Once it's deciphered, we can get hold of the Red Party's contact information." Lu Minghui shook his head with a wry smile. "Unfortunately, Old Zhao is in her hands. She's investigating Red Party members on the orders of Section Chief Nakajima, so no one else can get involved. If she feels she can't cover things up and 'accidentally' kills someone during interrogation, we won't even have a witness."

Li Shiqun's face was gloomy.

"At No. 76, she didn't dare to kill openly."

"There are too many ways to kill someone, the director knows them better than I do." Lu Minghui looked at him. "If the director wants gold and achievements, he has to pry open Old Zhao's mouth. And he has to do it before Gu Yunqiu."

"you mean?"

"Secret interrogation," Lu Minghui uttered.

Li Shiqun paced back and forth in the private room.

The basement of No. 76 was crowded and noisy, so Gu Yunqiu was not alone in infiltrating Shanghai. If he made a move against Lao Zhao in the basement, Gu Yunqiu would definitely get wind of it immediately.

"Get them out of No. 76." Li Shiqun stopped and looked at Lu Minghui. "Find a safe place and launch a raid tonight."

"This is the best way," Lu Minghui nodded, "but the transfer process must be kept secret."

"I'll have the action team handle it," Li Shiqun decided.

"The action team is too conspicuous," Lu Minghui reminded. "It would be better to send She Aizhen. Her men are all from the Green Gang, and they are not part of the 76th Division."

Li Shiqun frowned and stared at Lu Minghui.

"We only have suspicions about Gu Yunqiu; we have no evidence. If someone from inside the 76th Division were to handle this, and word got out, it would be difficult to explain," Lu Minghui said calmly. "Using someone else's hand keeps things clean."

Li Shiqun weighed the options for a moment.

"Okay," Li Shiqun decided. "I'll arrange the location and let you know when it's ready."

"Can."

Lu Minghui picked up the trench coat draped over the back of the chair.

"Brother Lu," Li Shiqun called out to him. "After this is done, you'll be credited with the greatest contribution."

"Thank you, Director. I have official duties to attend to, so I won't drink."

Lu Minghui pushed open the door to the private room and walked out.

The music from the Great World was still deafening.

Lu Minghui walked down the stairs and across the dance floor. The colorful lights shone on his face, and he lowered his head, as if trying to avoid the lights.

Stepping out of the gates of the world, a cold wind hits you in the face.

Lu Minghui walked to the street corner and got into his Ford.

He started the engine. Instead of returning to No. 76, he drove towards the edge of the French Concession.

The car was parked in a dark alley. Lu Minghui got out and walked to a public phone booth.

Insert a coin and dial.

The phone rang three times, I hung up, and dialed again.

"Yongchang Grocery Store." A deep voice came from the other end of the phone.

"I'm a shop assistant at the rouge shop," Lu Minghui said into the microphone. "The batch of rouge at counter number twelve has arrived and will be shipped tonight."

"Which warehouse number?"

"Same as always, wait for further notice."

The phone hangs up.

Lu Minghui stepped out of the phone booth.