Hidden Radiance

The Ford sedan drove out of Yuyuan Road as the rain intensified.

Gu Yunqiu gripped the steering wheel with both hands, her gaze sweeping across the rearview mirror. The windshield wipers mechanically swung, slicing through a film of water.

"It had a tail." Gu Yunqiu's voice was flat. "A Buick sedan, license plate number 76. It followed us for three blocks."

Lu Minghui leaned back in the back seat, his eyes closed, the cast on his left arm swaying slightly with the car.

"Li Shiqun's men." Lu Minghui didn't open his eyes. "He just handed over half of his wealth, and he's angry, so it's only natural that he sent people to keep an eye on me."

"Should we get rid of him?" Gu Yunqiu asked.

"No need." Lu Minghui adjusted his posture. "Being followed is normal in Shanghai. You'll get used to it."

Gu Yunqiu glanced at Lu Minghui in the rearview mirror.

She looked away, took her right hand off the steering wheel, and tapped it lightly twice on the gear shift.

"clear."

The following morning.

Confidential Office.

Lu Minghui sat behind his desk, flipping through the documents for a while, his brows furrowing slightly.

He opened the drawer, took out a banknote, and pushed it to the edge of the table.

"Gu Yunqiu," Lu Minghui called out.

Gu Yunqiu walked in from the outer room.

"Go to that pharmacy on Xiafei Road and buy two more boxes of anti-inflammatory medicine. The area where the plaster cast was worn through is inflamed." Lu Minghui pointed to the money on the table.

Gu Yunqiu was about to reach for the money.

The door to the next suite opened.

Nanzo Yunzi came out, dressed in a smart suit, and casually picked up the French coin on the table.

"Miss Gu still needs to go to the logistics department to check the car repair bill." Nanzo Yunzi looked at Lu Minghui with a smile. "I'll go. I happen to have some business to attend to at the French Concession Municipal Council. It's on my way."

Lu Minghui looked at her but did not stop her.

"Then I'll have to trouble Yunzi."

Nanzo Yunzi took the legal tender and turned to leave the office.

Once inside her company car, Nanzo Yunko didn't rush to start the engine.

She held the banknote up to her eyes, examining it closely against the light. The paper quality, the serial number, the worn edges—there were no pinholes, no traces of invisible ink, even the creases were ordinary.

She folded the banknote and tucked it into a compartment of her handbag. Then she took out another banknote of the same denomination from her wallet.

Start the engine and drive towards the French Concession.

Avenue Joffre, pharmacy.

Nanzo Yunzi pushed open the door and walked in. The smell of medicine hit her.

Behind the counter, Ah Bing was tidying up the shelves.

"I'm buying medicine." Nanzo Yunzi walked to the counter and pushed the exchanged banknote over. "Two boxes of anti-inflammatory medicine."

Ah Bing turned around and his gaze fell on Nanzo Yunzi's face.

An unfamiliar Japanese woman.

His gaze shifted downwards, landing on the banknote. He paused for half a second.

Ah Bing expressionlessly put away the legal tender, turned around and took out two boxes of ordinary anti-inflammatory medicine from the glass cabinet behind him, placed them on the counter, and then gave them some change.

"Here you go."

Nanzo Yunzi did not leave immediately. Her gaze lingered on Abing's face for a few seconds, scanning from the beginning to the end of the scar, trying to catch a clue in his subtle expression.

Ah Bing had already turned around and continued tidying the shelves. His back was to her, and his hand movements were exactly the same as before.

Nanzo Yunzi picked up the medicine and some change, then pushed open the door and left.

Back in the car, she tore open the medicine box, poured out the pills, and read through the instructions.

It's all medicine, nothing but medicine.

She leaned back in her seat and rubbed her thumb against the leather of the steering wheel.

Inside the pharmacy, Ah Bing watched the glass door close.

He walked to the door and flipped the wooden sign on the door from "Open for Business" to "Closed for Business".

3 PM.

A rickshaw was parked outside the gate of No. 76.

The shop assistant at Yongchang Grocery Store carried a paper package, exchanged a few words with the gatekeeper, and left the package in the reception room.

Nanzo Yunzi just returned from outside.

She glanced at the paper package on the desk in the reception area. "Who sent it?"

"The clerk from Yongchang Grocery Store," the gatekeeper answered, standing at attention. "He said Director Lu wanted the Lao Dao brand cigarettes."

Nanzo Yunko reached out and picked up the paper package.

"I'm going to the confidential office anyway, so I'll just take it with me."

She did not return to the confidential office, but went directly to the Mei Agency.

Section Chief's Office.

Shinichi Nakajima is reading a telegram from North China.

Nanzo Yunko placed the paper package on her desk.

"Section Chief, does Lu Minghui often have cigarettes brought in from outside?"

Nakajima looked up and glanced at the paper package.

"The owner of Yongchang Grocery Store is his informant." Nakajima put down the telegram. "Occasionally, he would use the guise of delivering cigarettes to pass on some information about the market."

Nanzo Yunzi didn't say anything, but directly tore open the paper package.

One pack of Lao Dao brand cigarettes.

She tore open the cellophane wrapping and pulled out the cigarette pack inside. A carton of cigarettes should have ten packs, but there were only eight inside. The remaining space was stuffed with a few folded pieces of paper.

Nanzo Yunko took out a piece of paper and unfolded it.

It is a recent throughput statistics table of the Hongkou East Bank Wharf, which records in detail the waterline changes and unloading times of several naval cargo ships.

They even keep track of what time the cargo ships sound their horns.

Nakajima's gaze fell on the scattered cigarette boxes and torn cellophane.

His brows furrowed.

"You demolished it?" Nakajima's voice turned somber.

"I need to check what information he's receiving." Nanzo Yunko handed over the statistics sheet.

Nakajima did not answer.

"Yunzi." Nakajima leaned back in his chair. "Do you think he can't tell that the packaging has been tampered with? He can spot the glue's direction and the creases in a second."

Nanzo Yunzi paused.

"He's a top-notch intelligence expert." Nakajima tapped the table. "I'm sending you to keep an eye on him, not to provoke him."

Nakajima stood up and walked to the window.

"More importantly—you've let him know I'm watching." Nakajima didn't turn around. "He was just suspicious before, but now he's sure."

Nanzo Yunzi withdrew her hand and stuffed the statistics sheet back into the gap in the cigarette box.

"Your subordinate knows his mistake."

"If the cage door is locked tight, the eagle won't fly." Nakajima put his hands behind his back. "Send it back exactly as it was. Don't do such a stupid thing again. What you need is fatal evidence, not these scraps."

dusk.

Confidential Office.

Lu Minghui sat behind the table, looking at the old Dao brand cigarettes that had been re-glued together.

Nanzo Yunzi sat in the chair opposite, her expression unchanged.

"It was delivered from the general store," said Nanzo Yunzi. "The people at the delivery room are clumsy and they damaged the outer packaging a little."

Lu Minghui's gaze lingered for a second on the glue mark on the edge of the cellophane.

He smiled.

Thank you.

Lu Minghui tore open the packaging, pulled out the dock statistics sheet, glanced at it casually, and put it under the pen holder.

Then take out a pack of cigarettes, open it, take out one and light it.

"Any news from the Black Dragon Society about what happened at the docks?" Lu Minghui asked casually, exhaling a puff of smoke.

"Matsui-kun said we'll meet at Pier 3 at 10:00 AM tomorrow," Nanzo Yunko replied. "People from Dingmo Village will also be there."

"Very good." Lu Minghui nodded. "You'll go with the people from Dingmo Village tomorrow. Keep an eye on the accounts for me."

Nanzo Yunko looked at him. "Aren't you going?"

"You've already met the person." Lu Minghui flicked his cigarette ash. "I'm at ease leaving him in your care. I'm also at ease with Matsui-kun."

Nanzo Yunzi stood up.

"Get some rest." She turned and walked out of the office, closing the door behind her.

The smile vanished from Lu Minghui's face the moment the door closed.

He opened the drawer and threw the pack of cigarettes inside.

I glanced at the clock on the wall.

7:55 PM.

His gaze fell on the eight packs of cigarettes in the drawer, pausing for a moment. Then he moved to the report under the pen holder, his index finger pointing to the end of a certain line of numbers.

He reached out his right hand and turned on the radio on the corner of the table.

The buzzing sound of electricity echoed in the quiet office.

The three-day deadline has passed, with only one day remaining.

It's exactly eight o'clock.

The static disappeared, and a clear female voice rang out.

"Dear listeners, tonight we will be broadcasting the Pingtan storytelling piece 'The Legend of the White Snake: Borrowing an Umbrella While Strolling on the Lake'..."

Lu Minghui leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

The fingers tapped on the armrest, following the rhythm of the Pingtan drumbeats, one tap after another.

The drumbeats suddenly went off-beat.

Lu Minghui's fingers suddenly stopped, his eyes opened, and he stared at the speaker hole of the radio.