This matter had to be kept hidden from the rest of the He family — if the He family sent people to accompany them, everyone would know the He family was also involved, and no matter which faction the gold bars ultimately fell into, it would bring endless trouble to the He family.
For this reason, Wang Bide and his elder brother could not seek outside help; they could only go to the North District alone.
After they left, Hongdou felt exhausted to the extreme. Passing by the large floor-to-ceiling window in the corridor, she stopped, turning her face to look outside.
Dawn should have broken long ago, yet at a glance, the light was faint, the shadows of trees sparse — everything was hazy and secluded. The night had never been so long; the first light still seemed so far away.
She stood still for a long while, then raised her hand to touch the pendant on her chest. When He Yunqin left, she had originally wanted to ask him: what endures tempering better than gold is diamond. What endures tempering better than diamond?
After a night of trials, the answer had become perfectly clear. The one thing she felt fortunate about now was that when he left, she had expressed her love for him without any concealment.
Now both of them stood amid thorns, with nothing to do but wait and watch for each other. She could only hope this deep attachment and affection could turn into an unending source of strength, helping her and him weather the hardships of the years side by side.
The church staff at the gate of the Smoke Lightbulb Factory had long since evacuated; the vast factory building had now become a temporary shelter for refugees.
Within the International Settlement, two other locations suspected of hiding the gold bars — the Dunbi Cigarette Factory and a Western-style house built by a Frenchman — had also, due to long vacancy and lack of guards, become crowded with commoners dragging their families along.
These three locations either had rumors of hauntings or had been inexplicably vacant for over ten years. Had the war not broken out ahead of schedule, according to the original plan, each would have been a designated target for searching.
Now, on He Yunqin’s suggestion, they no longer fixated solely on these places, but redirected their attention elsewhere.
By the time the whole morning had passed, the three locations remained calm and undisturbed. Meanwhile, the companion who had gone out to gather materials returned.
This man’s surname was Liu; he worked at a newspaper office in the West District and understood the situation of the International Settlement better than the others. Coming in, he said, “I went through all the building records collected at the office. Yunqin was right — looking across the whole International Settlement, there are indeed two places that were vacant for a period ten years ago and then put back into use. One is Peiying Primary School, established by the British church mission. The school was founded ten years ago; when the mission temporarily withdrew, the school lacked funds and closed its buildings, only reopening a year later when the government took it over. There are now roughly a hundred-odd children enrolled, but they were all evacuated after fighting broke out last night.”
A primary school. Everyone frowned inwardly. That meant there would be many school buildings inside, making the search more troublesome.
“The other place is the Pearl Nightclub, built back then by the British Chamber of Commerce. It has three floors from top to bottom, extravagantly built inside and out, and even comes with a billiards hall and tennis court. It later closed for several years after a falling-out among the chamber’s leaders, and was only recently taken over and reopened by a Portuguese businessman. But because it’s not in a bustling district, business has been poor and it’s on the verge of closing. I passed by just now and took a look — worried about refugees flooding in to loot the place, it’s currently shut, with quite a few Indian guards posted at the door.”
Ruide said, “Never mind the primary school — as for the nightclub, it’s had people coming and going daily. Given the enemy’s usual methods, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill people one after another just to empty out a suspicious location again. If they suspected gold bars were hidden in either of these two places, they would have acted long ago. Yet right up until the fighting broke out yesterday, neither Peiying Primary School nor the Pearl Nightclub ever ceased operations — which shows that over all these years, the enemy and Wu Ruhai never suspected these two places at all.”
Yu Rui’s eyes gleamed with the light of impending victory. “Since they never thought of it before, and now that fighting has started, they probably won’t waste manpower specifically on that area either. This is a rare opportunity — as long as we get there first and find the gold, we can use the cover of darkness to move the bars right out of this district. Elders, once it’s dark we can set off, right?”
He Yunqin asked, “How many commoners are currently at Peiying Primary School?”
Old Liu’s nose had been reddened by the cold wind outside; he rubbed his hands and said, “That place is in the Central District — remote, and also close to the war zone. Commoners, fearing stray bullets, would rather crowd into the relatively safer West and South Districts than go there. From what I saw just now, there aren’t many refugees at the school, but there are probably still a few dozen.”
He paused, then added, “With winter approaching, daytime is manageable, but at night the wind is fierce and hard to bear. The refugees are homeless now, and it’s not easy to find a place sheltered from wind and rain. If we want to go in and search, we’ll need to lure these commoners away first.”
He Yunqin thought for a moment. “Since there are only a few dozen people, it shouldn’t be too hard to draw them off. In the latter half of the night, Yu Rui will hand out the relief grain and clothing we brought at the gate. While the commoners are occupied collecting their rations, we can seize the moment to close the school gate, then search the school thoroughly in the shortest time possible.”
Eight thousand gold bars — whether hidden underground or in the walls, careful surveying would surely detect something.
Yu Rui nodded excitedly. “Good.”
He Yunqin rubbed his chin and added, “But even if there aren’t many refugees at Peiying Primary School, we still can’t rule out enemy forces mixed in among them. To prevent them from sending word for reinforcements, before distributing the relief grain, we should first secure the area inside and outside the school. If we don’t find the gold at the primary school, it won’t be too late to go to the Pearl Nightclub afterward. Also — the Duan family suddenly inserting themselves into this — to avoid trouble, it’s best to have someone keep watch on them.”
A young man named Chen Zhong rose to his feet. “The Duan family’s car is easy to recognize. We’ll go down and keep watch now.”
Soon several people came back. “The Duan family’s rickshaws headed toward the French Concession side and show no sign of returning. It looks like they’ve given up looking for the gold and plan to return to the safe zone.”
Since there happened to be no spare manpower to allocate, He Yunqin nodded. “We already have little enough time to find the gold; we can’t afford to cut manpower further. Also, places like the Smoke Lightbulb Factory with ghost rumors — we should leave a few people behind there to confuse the enemy’s attention.”
Someone said, “We don’t understand architecture or forensic traces. Even if we followed along, we wouldn’t be much help. Let us stay behind.”
Nearly everyone present was a seasoned, battle-tested comrade. Ruide and He Yunqin accepted this suggestion — a small portion would stay behind, ready to create confusion at any time, while the rest would set out for Peiying Primary School as soon as it got dark. Once the gold was found, Ruide, in his capacity as an international medical relief worker in Shanghai, together with the other members, would disguise the gold bars as emergency medical supplies and deliver them where they needed to go.
Having settled the plan, Ruide said, “We only have one night. Whether we succeed or not, by early morning we must all withdraw completely.”
Hearing this, He Yunqin stood and walked to the window, fell silent for a moment, raised his hand to check the time, then turned to ask the companion in the corner who was dialing the telephone, “Still no line?”
“No.”
He Yunqin couldn’t hide his disappointment. From last night’s farewell until now, he had been apart from Hongdou for nearly thirty hours. With the sudden outbreak of war, given her intelligence, she would surely understand why he hadn’t returned yet.
Now, separated by gunfire, he longed to see her more than ever before. He wanted to see her smile, wanted to pinch her cheek, wanted to bicker with her.
Even if he couldn’t see her in person, hearing her voice would be good too.
Recalling the scene of last night’s farewell, he stared out the window, the corner of his mouth curving involuntarily. To cover it, he hastily lowered his head and took out a cigarette.
At the time, she had stood on the steps and told him “she loved him.” As she said those words, the light had cast her incredibly sweet smile, her posture and tone both so gentle they could melt anyone’s heart. Just remembering it all, his chest felt as though soaked in a warm spring, immediately suffused with a warm, glowing feeling.
Just as he was lost in thought, the companions behind him began arranging the route for transporting the gold bars. The sound reached his ears, and however deep his longing, he could only silently bury it in his heart. He snuffed out his cigarette, roused his spirits, and returned to the table, telling himself as he walked: at the latest by tomorrow morning, at the latest by tomorrow morning he would see her.
Throughout the whole day, by luck the fighting did not continue to spread, but as refugees kept pouring in, the surrounding area grew increasingly chaotic.
As they had expected, places like the Smoke Lightbulb Factory took in a great many commoners, yet the three locations showed no unusual activity — it seemed everyone understood the principle that one move affects the whole, and each faction was seeing who could hold out longer. Amid the rumbling artillery, without anyone noticing, dusk arrived.
According to the established plan, before nightfall, some members would go to the Smoke Lightbulb Factory and the other two locations to pose as refugees, while the rest would head to Peiying Primary School in the Central District.
The Duan family left the Smoke Lightbulb Factory and continued on to the abandoned cigarette factory rumored to be haunted, taking out the building plans to study at each location they visited.
After going through the three most likely locations for hidden gold bars one by one, Duan Mingfeng decided to abandon the plan to search for the gold. He took out the pass and turned the car around toward the French Concession. “This place has too many people, too mixed. Never mind whether gold is hidden here — even if it really is, with so many commoners, how would we lure them away? Besides, so many others have their eye on this gold too. By the time we find nothing, we brothers might lose our lives first. While things aren’t too chaotic yet, let’s go back.”
On the way back, Duan Mingbo pleaded earnestly the whole way. “Eldest Brother, you’ve always studied Western-style architecture in Shanghai — since we’ve already come this far, why not give it a try? Little Sister is right, the Duan family is already an empty shell; how much longer can we keep robbing Peter to pay Paul? Yesterday we spent so long coaxing information out of Mingyi’s brother-in-law’s family, and you spent the whole day afterward marking out suspicious buildings — how can we let that effort go to waste? With this place being watched by other factions, why not try our luck in some other out-of-the-way place? If we find it, good; if not, it won’t be too late to leave then.”
Duan Mingfeng said nothing in response to this, not until they reached the boundary of the concession, where he slowly brought the car to a stop. After a long silence, he said heavily, “What you say makes sense too — giving up like this doesn’t sit right with me either. But any place we could think of, others could surely think of too. We have no chance to move here. We can only go take a look in the Central District — I recall there are some foreign-style buildings there that, having no strange rumors attached, went unnoticed. Now that place is close to the battlefield, so I doubt any commoners would dare go there. If we still find nothing, I’d rather go back and formally declare the Duan family bankrupt than wade through this murky water again.”
Formally declare the Duan family bankrupt? Duan Mingbo’s face went ashen. For a Duan family that had been proud for a lifetime, this would undoubtedly be a fatal blow.
At least his elder brother had been persuaded. Having said this, he turned the steering wheel on his own and headed back toward the International Settlement.
To reach the Central District, they had to pass through the North District. After driving for a while, they entered a remote block. After orienting themselves for a moment, they were about to head toward the Central District when, just then, another car happened to drive past. As they passed each other, someone in that car caught sight of the blueprints in Duan Mingfeng’s hands and hastily lowered his voice. “Old Diao, look — that man’s holding building plans.”
The man called Old Diao was rather stout. Hearing this, he looked ahead and said in low astonishment, “The Duan family? I heard that young master Duan studied architecture. For him to dare come here braving the artillery fire at a time like this — could it be he knows where the gold is hidden?”
“Are they headed to the Central District?” the man in front said hesitantly. “That area doesn’t include any of the haunted buildings. If they really belonged to an organization, why would they be foolish enough to bring out building plans in front of everyone? It’s nothing more than them having caught wind of things and wanting a share. We don’t even need to lift a finger — someone else will deal with them. The higher-ups said the gold is in these few vacant buildings in the North District. We’re short-handed right now, so we should concentrate our forces here — it’s not wise to court more trouble.”
Old Diao disagreed. “Just because they say it’s in the North District, we only search the North District? The higher-ups only care about results, never the process. You’re the head of the Shanghai liaison station — if the gold isn’t found, we can manage well enough, but what will you tell them? In my view, it’s best to send a few people to follow this Duan family. If they find nothing, so be it. But if they really do find where the gold is hidden, we can reap the benefit without lifting a finger.”
“Nonsense — if they really knew where it was, would they only bring a few servants out with them?” After hesitating a moment, the man changed his answer. “Fine. You send two men to follow the Duan family. Find a couple of experienced hands. If there’s no news, pull back promptly; if there is, come report immediately.”
Old Diao thought it over. “I’ll go ask that ‘couple.’ Everyone’s attention is on the North District, and at this hour they should still be mixed in among the refugees with their child. The two of them are top-notch in skill — over the years carrying out missions, they’ve hardly ever failed. I’ll go tell them now, have them bring a few hands along to take a look.”
Before setting out, Wang Bide, recalling Hongdou’s words, had originally meant to leave, but made a temporary detour back to the detective agency.
Upstairs, he and Yu Chongyi worked together to dig out Shanghai’s building records.
After much effort, finding a few buildings vacant for over ten years wasn’t enough; they also went through records of buildings within the concessions that had once been vacant and then put back into use.
Since it wasn’t convenient to carry paper documents while traveling, they had to commit it all to memory.
By the time all this was done, it was already near noon. Yet in Wang Bide’s own words, this was called “sharpening the axe doesn’t delay the woodcutting.” Only, because of this, by the time they crossed the blockade line and reached the North District, it was already dusk.
The two of them brought nothing but the guns in their pockets. As soon as they reached the North District, Wang Bide parked the car. For safety’s sake, the rendezvous point was reset before every operation, and Wang Bide couldn’t guess where He Yunqin and the others would be operating this time. They drove around the blocks again and again, and in the end had to give up.
The two of them mixed into the crowd, wandering in turn near the Smoke Lightbulb Factory, the Dunbi Cigarette Factory, and that vacant Western-style house. But Wang Bide had only joined the organization the previous year through He Yunqin’s introduction, and had yet to meet many of its members face to face. After going all the way around, let alone He Yunqin and Ruide, he didn’t even see any other organization members.
Lingering until eight in the evening, Wang Bide’s resolve finally wavered. He stopped, turned Hongdou’s words over in his mind once more, and said to Yu Chongyi, “I don’t think we should keep wasting time in the North District. What if, while we still haven’t found He Yunqin and the others, Tailor Peng or Xiang Qisheng beat us to it — that would be bad. Why don’t we do as Hongdou said, and think about this differently.”
Though Yu Chongyi’s memory wasn’t as good as Wang Bide’s, since buildings with such characteristics were few, he thought it over and said, “So shouldn’t we leave the North District?”
Wang Bide was a man who, once he made up his mind, didn’t waver. “Right. If Hongdou’s reverse reasoning is correct, we should go search those few places in the Central District. That area is both close to the battlefield and yet quite far. Before the situation worsens further, let’s not delay — let’s go now.”
Yu Chongyi nodded, took out his gun, wiped it, and put it back in his pocket.
He didn’t dare let his guard down in the slightest, keeping his gun gripped in his pocket the entire time. Out of a keen sense of danger, he stayed ready at every moment to pull the trigger to deal with any sudden emergency.
Nine o’clock at night
Peiying Primary School
Being close to the battlefield, this place was far more desolate than the West and North Districts of the same concession. The rumbling artillery fire shook the ground beneath their feet, and shook everyone’s hearts as well.
What He Yunqin and the others hadn’t expected was that, because too many refugees had suddenly flooded in, the other districts could no longer accommodate them all, and the number of refugees forced to move to the gate of Peiying Primary School far exceeded what they had imagined — inside and out combined, about a hundred-odd people.
Old Liu and Yu Rui set up a temporary food and clothing distribution point several hundred meters from the gate. Old Liu, in his role as the so-called founder of a patriotic newspaper, deliberately spread word beforehand that, out of sympathy for the prolonged hardship of this war, any nearby commoner could come collect a share per head.
In other words, one person could collect one share; a whole family could collect several.
Hearing this, the commoners who had been hiding in the school buildings came pouring out. Once the crowd surged forward, Old Liu and the others deliberately slowed the pace of opening the crates. In their eagerness for food, the people showed unprecedented patience — Old Liu didn’t even need to organize order, as they spontaneously lined up in a long queue at the distribution point.
He Yunqin sat in the car, carefully examining everyone in the long line, finding no problems for now. He exchanged a glance with Old Liu, signaling him to stay especially vigilant, then got out of the car and entered the school from the other side to meet up with Ruide. Once the school gate was seen closed, Yu Rui also headed toward the school, while the rest stayed behind on guard.
For now, this place remained calm. If the gold bars really were hidden within the school buildings, it would make their long search worthwhile — success seemed within reach.
Just then, in the night, another group of refugees arrived in disarray — among them a couple, one fat, one short, each holding a chubby little boy in their arms, hurrying to the end of the line, their faces breaking into joy as they asked those around them, “Is this where they’re giving out food?”
Old Liu, experienced as he was, had already noticed this couple. Seeing that though their bundles were many, they still carried children in their arms — if they were hiding weapons, the first to be hurt would be those two chubby boys. With this thought, his guard relaxed slightly, and he let them join the end of the line, though he still glanced that way from time to time.