Hidden Radiance

The following morning.

Mei's office, section chief's office.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the blinds and fell onto the large desk.

Shinichi Nakajima sat behind the desk, flipping through the documents in his hands.

Nanzo Yunzi, dressed in a dark blue women's suit, sat in the chair opposite.

"Li Shiqun delivered a large amount of supplies to the east bank of Hongkou last night," Nanzo Yunzi said. "Matsui received the goods. When Ono led his men to pick them up, Matsui only handed over half of them."

Nakajima turned a page of the document without looking up.

"I asked him to intercept them. The Black Dragon Society needs supplies to expand its operations in Shanghai using Central Reserve Bank notes."

Nakajima signed his name at the bottom of the document.

"The gold went into the military police's vault, and most of the shortfall in reserves has been covered."

Nakajima closed the document and placed it beside him.

What do you think of Lu Minghui's response last night?

He raised his head.

Nanzo Yunzi rested her fingers on the edge of the table, her fingernails tapping the wooden surface before she withdrew them.

"He's still the same loyal and righteous Minghui-kun." Nanzo Yunzi paused for a second. "Section Chief, when Matsui called last night, Lu Minghui immediately turned on the radio on the table."

Nakajima leaned back in his chair.

"That's a habit he developed during his special training in Tokyo." Nakajima picked up the teacup on the table. "I taught him that myself."

He took a sip of tea and put down the teacup.

"Keep a close eye on him. But don't push him too hard. The Sugi Project can't function without him right now."

Nanzo Yunzi stood up.

"clear."

"What has Gu Yunqiu been doing these past few days?" Nakajima suddenly asked.

"She was only responsible for driving. Lu Minghui didn't give her any access to classified information."

Nakajima tapped his fingers twice on the table.

"The coded telegrams from the South Manchuria Railway have been consistently vague. That idiot Hashimoto can't even manage her own internal accounts, so she's pushing the trouble onto me. Let's leave her out for now."

Nanzo Yunzi bowed slightly, turned and walked out of the office.

At the same time.

French Concession, Avenue Joffre.

The Ford sedan was parked on the side of the road.

Gu Yunqiu rested her hands on the steering wheel and looked out the car window.

Lu Minghui got out of the car.

"Go to that pharmacy up ahead and buy some anti-inflammatory medicine." Lu Minghui patted the edge of the cast on his left arm. "The edge of the cast is chafed."

He took out a French franc and handed it to Gu Yunqiu.

"Use this money to buy from a shop assistant with a scar on her face."

Gu Yunqiu glanced at him, didn't ask any more questions, started the engine, and drove forward.

Lu Minghui watched the Ford sedan turn the corner and disappear into the shade of the plane trees.

He turned and walked along the street, his left arm in a cast hidden under his trench coat.

Ten minutes later, he walked into a high-end clothing store owned by a Frenchman.

A faint scent of perfume wafted through the store.

Lu Minghui walked among the clothes racks, his gaze sweeping over the rows of women's clothing, finally stopping in front of a dark green cashmere coat.

"Sir, you have excellent taste. This is a brand new style that just arrived from Paris." A French sales clerk approached and promoted the product in broken Chinese.

Lu Minghui glanced at the size.

"wrap up."

He took out a stack of Central Reserve Bank notes and placed them on the counter.

The shop assistant's expression changed when he saw the words on the banknote, but he didn't reach for it.

Lu Minghui kept his right hand pressed on the banknotes and did not pull it back.

"It's already in use at the dock. If you buy it now, you can make a profit from the exchange rate difference."

The outline of the Browning belt peeked out from under the trench coat.

The clerk hesitated for a few seconds, then took the money, turned around, and went into the back warehouse to pack it up.

Lu Minghui glanced behind the counter.

The shop window reflected the entire empty store behind it.

He walked to the edge of the counter and stood before the black crank telephone. The shop owner was a French expatriate, and the telephone was connected to an independent line run by the French Concession Municipal Council, bypassing the Japanese exchange.

Pick up the microphone, hold it around your neck, and dial.

Three long and one short. Pause. Dial two more numbers.

The call connected. There was no sound from the receiver.

"Eight o'clock tonight," Lu Minghui said in a low voice, speaking very quickly, "to the Moulin Rouge Café across from the Grand Cinema, for coffee."

A deep voice came from the other end of the phone.

Paper kite.

"it is good."

"I brought a woman. A Japanese woman. My ex-girlfriend." Lu Minghui paused for a moment, "Nanzo Yunzi, she's still useful."

There was a two-second pause on the other end of the phone. The kite's tone remained unchanged.

"……good."

Click.

Lu Minghui hung up the phone. He withdrew his right hand from the receiver and wiped the dial with his sleeve.

The warehouse door rang.

The shop assistant came out carrying a beautifully crafted paper bag.

Lu Minghui took the paper bag and walked out of the clothing store.

Street corner of Avenue Joffre.

The Ford sedan has been returned to its original position.

Gu Yunqiu took a bottle of anti-inflammatory medicine from the armrest compartment of the passenger seat and placed it on the dashboard.

Lu Minghui opened the car door and got in.

He picked up the medicine box, flipped open the seal at the bottom with his thumb, and rubbed the paper with his fingertip.

He put it back on the dashboard without saying a word.

Back to number 76.

Lu Minghui placed the paper bag on his desk, sat down, and opened the Guangda Huaxing material dispatch list.

Thumb scrolls down the list of items—Penicillin, two boxes, to be allocated to Confidential Office No. 76 for future use.

My thumb paused on the number for a moment, then swiped past it and back.

Two boxes, two hundred bottles, worth two hundred taels of gold.

He closed the list, folded a corner, and tucked it under the metal box.

The door opened.

Nanzo Yunzi walked in, holding another copy of the dispatch list in her hand.

She glanced at the paper bag and the French sign on the table.

"Minghui is in a good mood today and even has time to go shopping in the French Concession."

Nanzo Yunko placed the list on the table.

Lu Minghui pushed the paper bag in front of her.

"This is for you."

Nanzo Yunzi looked at him but did not reach out to take it.

"You were dressed so lightly last night." Lu Minghui leaned back in his chair, his right hand resting on the armrest.

Nanzo Yunzi opened the paper bag and pinched out a corner of the fabric.

Dark green.

She rubbed her fingertips on the fabric and then let go.

"You still remember my favorite color." Nanzo Yunzi stuffed the fabric back into the paper bag, her gaze never leaving Lu Minghui's face. "Minghui-kun, just tell me who you need me to meet tonight. No need to beat around the bush."

Lu Minghui chuckled briefly.

"Wear it tonight and come with me for a coffee."

Nanzo Yunko pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down.

"Who did you invite?"

I'll tell you later.

Lu Minghui walked out of the office with a nonchalant tone.

"Where to?"

Nanzo Yunzi placed her hand on the table, her fingertips slightly clenched.

"Is the section chief in the Mei Agency or the Special Higher Police?" Lu Minghui turned around and asked.

Nanzo Yunzi stared at Lu Minghui.

"Plum Blossom Agency".

"Then let's go to the Mei Agency." Lu Minghui's lips curled into a slight smile. "Does Yunzi want to go?"

Hongkou, Meiji.

Lu Minghui pushed open the door to Shinichi Nakajima's office.

Nakajima stood in front of the sand table, holding a small red flag in his hand, without turning around.

Lu Minghui walked to his desk and placed the black tin box on the surface.

Click.

Nakajima turned around, his gaze falling on the metal box.

"Li Shiqun's family background?"

"It's more interesting than family wealth."

Lu Minghui opened the box, took out the blue ledger and the sealed letter with sealing wax, and pushed them over.

Nakajima walked over and picked up the secret letter. He rubbed his thumb on the plum blossom mark on the sealing wax.

He put down the letter and opened the account book. He turned the pages quickly, one by one.

"Penicillin, seamless steel pipes, cotton yarn." Nakajima closed the ledger. "Wu Dazhi is smuggling strategic materials for the Military Intelligence Bureau."

"It's not just Wu Dazhi. Half of the 76th Division's action teams are making money through this line." Lu Minghui pulled out a chair and sat down, his left arm draped over his chest. "The Military Intelligence Bureau's dark web in Shanghai is deeper than we imagined. The 76th Division is rotten to the core too."

Nakajima placed his hands on the table, looking down at him.

"You want to follow the trail and uproot them completely?"

"No." Lu Minghui looked directly into Nakajima's eyes. "I want to do business with them. Since smuggling is inevitable, why don't we do it?"

Nakajima stared at Lu Minghui.

No accidents.

He walked around the desk to the window, put his hands behind his back, and rubbed his thumb against his index finger.

"I've known about the smuggling route No. 76 for six months."

Lu Minghui paused for a moment on his knee.

Nakajima did not turn back.

"Li Shiqun couldn't control his men. Those action team leaders were working for the Empire while simultaneously smuggling goods for Chongqing. I turned a blind eye because touching this line would paralyze the entire 76th Division."

Nakajima turned around, crossed his arms, and looked at Lu Minghui.

"Now you need to turn this hidden channel into an open channel. Explain your reasons."

Lu Minghui paused for a moment. Nakajima saw further than he had imagined.

"Section Chief, the gold bars that Ono-kun confiscated aren't enough to implement the Central Reserve Bank notes." Lu Minghui didn't back down. "For banknotes to circulate, there needs to be stock on the market."

Lu Minghui tapped the ledger with his right hand.

"The Military Intelligence Bureau needs these supplies. The Nationalist army is in dire straits at the front, but people in the rear are busy reselling supplies. If contraband falls into their hands, they will only line their own pockets and undermine the fighting capacity."

Nakajima did not respond.

He walked back to the table, picked up the ledger, turned to a page, and pressed his fingertip on a line of numbers.

"This batch of penicillin went through three intermediaries. Each time it passed through, the price doubled and the quantity was halved." Nakajima closed the ledger. "By the time it reached the front lines in Chongqing, less than twenty out of a hundred bottles remained."

Lu Minghui didn't move.

Nakajima has already done the math.

"Raising a tiger will only bring trouble." Nakajima uttered these four words, but his tone was more like weighing a problem than opposing it.

"If you don't feed it, it will bite you at any time. If you feed it well, it won't be in a hurry to hunt," Lu Minghui continued. "The Shan Project is a grand plan for the empire. At this critical juncture, Shanghai cannot afford to fall into chaos."

"Cutting off the supply side is like cutting off their throat." Nakajima threw the ledger back onto the table. "But if Tokyo investigates, who will be implicated in the smuggling case?"

"Li Shiqun," Lu Minghui answered without hesitation. "It's clearly written in the ledgers that the smugglers are from the 76th Division. Our job is to discover the problem, control the channels, and restrict the circulation. Reporting it isn't dereliction of duty, it's about minimizing losses."

Nakajima picked up the pen on the table, twisted the cap twice, but couldn't unscrew it, so he twisted it back on.

"How do you plan to answer?"

"I've already made an appointment with the Military Intelligence Bureau's Shanghai station." Lu Minghui glanced at his watch. "Tonight at eight o'clock, at the Moulin Rouge Café opposite the Grand Cinema in the French Concession."

Nakajima slammed his pen down on the table.

The sound of the pen striking the desk echoed twice in the empty office.

"Minghui," Nakajima's voice deepened, "you're getting more and more used to doing things first and reporting later."

Lu Minghui did not evade the question.

"If the section chief agrees, we'll discuss business tonight. If he doesn't, arrest him."

"Both options are valid, and I have to pay for what you've set." Nakajima tossed his pen into the pen holder with a crisp sound. "Third time's the charm, and this is the last time."

Lu Minghui lowered his head slightly.

"How do we negotiate business? How do we arrest people?" Nakajima walked around the desk and stood in front of Lu Minghui.

"When it comes to business, Yunzi and I will first scout things out," Lu Minghui said clearly. "Let Matsui-kun's Black Dragon Society handle the liaison. He'll make his profit, and the Military Intelligence Bureau will take their supplies. Yunzi will assist throughout the process and keep a close eye on the accounts. I'll just act as a middleman."

Nakajima's eyes flickered.

"Are you arresting them?" Nakajima asked.

"Arresting her is simple." Lu Minghui sneered. "I'll take Gu Yunqiu with me. Isn't she a suspicious person sent by the South Manchuria Railway? This is the perfect opportunity to prove her innocence."

Nakajima stared at Lu Minghui for a long time.

Lu Minghui remained expressionless.

Nakajima turned around and walked back behind the desk, opened a drawer, and took out a personal seal and a blank approval book.

"Let's talk business," Nakajima decided. "The Sugi Project needs stability. But you need to be careful about the boundaries."

He opened the approval book and stamped his personal seal on the first page.

"Every batch of supplies must be signed off on by me before it can be released. Category, quantity, and handover time—all three are indispensable. Yunzi oversees the entire process." He pushed the approval book in front of Lu Minghui, his finger pressed on the cover, not letting go. "The flow of supplies is summarized weekly and reported directly to me. There are no intermediaries involved."

Lu Minghui looked at the hand that was pressing on the approval book.

"clear."

Nakajima released his grip.

Lu Minghui picked up the approval book, turned around and walked towards the door.

"Minghui," Nakajima called out to him.

Lu Minghui stopped but didn't turn around.

"Yunzi." Nakajima's voice came from behind, flat and even. "You can use her. But you can't lose her."

Lu Minghui opened the door.

The door closed.