Yu Rui was utterly astonished—such an ordinary couple, why would Brother He be on guard to this degree? Could it be that after so long carrying out missions cautiously, he’d simply grown to trust no one at all?
Even as they spoke, the Peng family was jostled by the crowd until they could barely keep their footing. The children, terrified by the distant gunfire, cried and fussed more and more. The couple already had a fair amount of luggage on their backs, and with the children struggling now, they looked even more disheveled. They exchanged only a few hurried words with He Yunqin before being pushed forward by the crowd, helpless to do otherwise.
Order in the International Settlement was on the verge of total collapse. Concession police maintaining order could be seen everywhere; the shops lining both sides of the street were all shut tight. The people inside the shops knew full well how chaotic things had become outside—hearing the deafening pounding on doors from outside, they wouldn’t dare open up even if it cost them their lives.
Amid the chaos, there came a sudden crash—part of the front of some rice shop had collapsed. Someone in the crowd heard the noise and immediately turned, surging inside to loot the place.
The shop behind He Yunqin had its door left ajar, kept from becoming a makeshift shelter only because the people inside were pressing against it with all their strength. He had wanted to keep watching a while longer to confirm a few more things, but the situation on the street had already spiraled out of control—people could come crashing up the steps at any moment—so he had no choice but to return to the shop.
Hearing He Yunqin come upstairs, Ruide, staring outside, said, “Yunqin, isn’t that rickshaw across the street the Duan family’s?”
He remembered that the Duan family’s eldest son, Duan Mingfeng, had a dark green rickshaw—there weren’t many cars of that color in all of Shanghai. He’d seen it several times before, parked at the gate when the Duans came to have He Mengmei and the others examined.
He Yunqin walked to the window. The style and color of the rickshaw were quite distinctive, and he recognized at once that it belonged to the Duan family—only, since it was too far away, he couldn’t tell how many people were in it.
The direction the rickshaw was heading was clearly toward the Sima Light Bulb Factory they’d just passed.
He frowned.
The Duan family had served as officials for generations, and had only recently taken up business. Their shipping company and textile mill were both located in the French Concession. Now that fighting had broken out in Hongkou and the International Settlement was in chaos, why would the Duan family, instead of staying put in the French Concession, come running over here?
At this point Yu Rui pushed two tables together, dipped his finger in water, and drew on the tabletop. “There are three buildings in the International Settlement that have been abandoned for over ten years—the closest to us is that Sima Light Bulb Factory we just passed. Back then it closed within a year due to poor management, and I heard the owner changed his identity to escape his debts and went south—no one knows where he is to this day. The second place—”
This information couldn’t be carried around on paper; he’d had to memorize it all before coming out. Last night was his first time meeting with He Yunqin and the others, and eager to make a good impression, he was determined to remember every detail.
Ruide glanced at his wristwatch. “The Sima Light Bulb Factory gate is currently distributing relief grain—to get in you’d have to go through the church, and blowing anything up is out of the question. Searching would draw too much attention too. For now we can only wait until the relief grain’s been distributed before deciding anything. In other words, we still have an hour.”
An hour was a very long time—the situation was changing by the minute. If things spiraled completely out of control, even getting back to a safe zone might be an unattainable luxury.
He Yunqin fell silent, thinking, and didn’t respond.
Ruide asked, puzzled, “Yunqin, do you have a different idea?”
He Yunqin leaned back against his chair, pointing at a spot on the table where the water marks hadn’t yet faded. “We’ve been searching for these haunted houses for so long now, and we still haven’t found anything. Given the current situation, I’m thinking—what if our overall direction was wrong from the very start? If we keep taking risks trying each place one by one going forward, the cost might be too great. So I want to try a different approach.”
Hongdou was faced with a dilemma. When He Yunqin left, he’d put the building plans away in the safe in the bedroom. Although they didn’t clearly indicate the location of the seventh house, it wasn’t impossible to find some clues from among the remaining materials.
She had a copy of the safe’s key, but as Wang Bide himself had said, everyone wanted to get their hands on that pile of gold bars—before bringing out the building plans to share, she first had to determine Wang Bide’s true position.
So far, all she knew was that He Yunqin’s organization used a bicycle as their means of contact and “Light and Truth” as their coded phrase—but with just these two things, how could she bypass Wang Bide and find the organization’s meeting place on her own?
For He Yunqin’s safety, she absolutely dared not take unnecessary risks. If she couldn’t determine whether Wang Bide was friend or foe, should this message be sent or not?
She turned off the radio. “Inspector Wang, please wait a moment, I’ll go back to my room.”
Wang Bide, suppressing his anxious impatience, nodded at Hongdou.
Hongdou had already reached the door, but suddenly turned back. “Inspector Wang, I recall that when we examined the scene, though those several footprints were all size 39, judging from the shape of the prints, sometimes they seemed male and sometimes female. If you suspect Mr. Xiang is the killer, Mr. Xiang should at least have a female accomplice.”
Wang Bide was startled. “Ever since I traced it to Xiang Qisheng last night, I’ve suspected right up until just now that his accomplice was Miss Qiu. But as you said, Miss Qiu doesn’t wear a size 39 shoe, and Mr. Xiang holds an exceptional position in that patriotic organization—he could easily find a female accomplice elsewhere. Besides, I also found that Zhendan gold pen outside Chen Baidie’s apartment…”
In short, all sorts of clues pointed toward Xiang Qisheng.
Hongdou’s expression turned grave. “If, as you say, the mailing address of the imported medicine alone is enough to make Xiang Qisheng a suspect, then by rights everyone living in that house should be under suspicion.”
Wang Bide looked at Hongdou with suspicion. “Aside from your Yu family, I don’t trust anyone else in that building. But because that house’s origins were unclear, we already investigated everyone’s background thoroughly before—after all that digging, only Xiang Qisheng and Miss Qiu turned out to have unusual backgrounds among the residents. The Peng tailor couple on the first floor are, like your Yu family, perfectly ordinary common folk.”
But as he spoke, his tone grew more and more uncertain, and by the last word his mouth had opened, then abruptly stopped.
Hongdou’s heart pounded. Without thinking, she pulled open the door and went out. Though Wang Bide was casual and unrestrained by nature, he wasn’t someone entirely without strategy—the fact that he’d rather suspect Xiang Qisheng than the Peng tailor couple must mean this couple’s background was exceptionally clean. He Yunqin and the others were in the same organization as Wang Bide, and surely shared this understanding—no wonder every time he’d gone to Tongfu Lane before, he’d always been so courteous to the Peng family, not only greeting them but even giving candy to the children.
The more she thought about it, the faster her steps became, her heart rising higher and higher with each one. Whether it was Xiang Qisheng or the Peng tailor, neither was the type to raise anyone’s guard easily. Even if He Yunqin was highly vigilant, he had other companions with him—if their guard wasn’t high enough even once, being ambushed or attacked was almost a foregone conclusion.
Turning a corner, before she’d even reached her room, she heard He Ningzheng and Steward Yu talking in the hallway. She’d meant to avoid them, but having run right into them, she couldn’t help overhearing a few words.
She heard He Ningzheng ask Steward Yu, “When did Eldest Young Madam leave?”
“She left just a little while ago—said that because of the fighting, she absolutely had to go see her father-in-law and mother-in-law with her own eyes.”
He Ningzheng’s voice carried both displeasure and worry. “Even if she had to go, I should have accompanied her. Go get the car ready right away, I’m going to the Duan family’s to bring her back.”
Author’s note: The word count is a bit low today, so here’s a red envelope for everyone. Not trying to complain, but this arm of mine that got the rabies vaccine and serum shots really hurts.