Chapter Thirty-Two: The Roster

  That day, when she left Ying Suo's place, she ran into that short and stout man. He was from the Anhui clique, which Huaichen firmly believed without a doubt. Today, Ma Xiao Tian brought this Qingtong Temple mole Lu Zhongning, Ye Mingtian said he was also from the Anhui miscellaneous army, and even personally arranged for him to be with the puppet army. She had a strong intuition that there must be a connection between these two men, and what she needed to do now was to seek proof. If it were really as she thought, she would take the short and stout man to his grave with her own hands.

  Lu Zhongning's affiliation was something she had already inquired about clearly. The request to the archives room for all the miscellaneous military background information was just a cover-up. She pulled out the regimental roster of the unit Lu belonged to, and the personnel had been slightly dispersed. She also pulled out the rosters of two other related regiments and took out a magnifying glass to carefully verify them one by one.

  Dong Zhiyu had just escaped danger and felt a little grateful to Matthew, but at this moment she didn't have the time to bother with these two men. She was eager to figure out how the intelligence she provided to Xuan Tong Si was transmitted to the Anping side.

  "I'm really tired and want to go home and rest, can you two please not follow me?"

  "......I'll send you home." Yemintian felt that the other party treated himself and Matthew equally, which made him feel quite uncomfortable.

  "It's okay," said Dong Zhiyu, who then hailed a rickshaw and thanked Matthew in English as they drove off.

  Matthew was about to continue to pester, seeing Dong Zhiyu taking Ye Mingtian back so decisively, guessing that she would not bother with him at this moment either. Moreover, Ye Mingtian had already lost face in front of him, so he sneered, "No need to thank me, I will find you myself."

  Dong Zhiyu unknowingly furrowed his brow, this Matthew's whereabouts were indeed somewhat suspicious, why didn't he follow those antique merchants back to the United States? And how did he find him today? The rickshaw driver started running and kicked up a cloud of dust.

  The car stopped in front of the Golden Gate at night, and it was almost dusk. The store had almost finished changing the layout for the evening session. Fu Qiusheng caught sight of Dong Zhiyu entering the store with a look of surprise, feeling that it was too easy to let her go so quickly.

  There were few guests at this hour, and the two of them exchanged some perfunctory pleasantries.

  "Are we out of danger?"

  "It should be fine," Dong Zhiyu simply said about Matthew's appearance.

  Fu Qiusheng thought about Huaijin's analysis in the afternoon, hesitated for a moment, and felt that the problem should not be big.

  "Today during the trial, I heard that Anping and we reported my intelligence at the same time?"

  "That's right, we also passed on the intelligence to the Red Vane Party."

  "How did you get infected?"

  Fu Qiusheng furrowed his brow, "'Qiao' has her own channels. Zhi Yu, your curiosity is too strong, it's not good for you. You just escaped danger today, and by rights, you shouldn't have come over. In the future, you must restrain yourself from asking or doing things that are not suitable." He lowered his voice again, "The comfort woman incident also implicated 'Qiao', she volunteered for punishment, and you almost got transferred away. Don't let similar things happen again!"

  Dong Zhiyu was stunned, and being lectured by Fu Qiusheng was something she had anticipated. A mature intelligence officer shouldn't have asked "how did you get it" in the first place. However, to obtain a tiny clue from the organization, she would rather be seen as immature and ignorant. But unexpectedly, Huai Jin volunteered for punishment, and she almost got transferred...

  "Was it she who spoke for me?"

  Fu Qiusheng thought for a moment, he felt that he couldn't let Dong Zhiyu have the feeling of being protected and shielded here, although when reporting to Duan Yunong, he had tried his best to downplay it.

  "No. It was she who suggested transferring you away. Director Duan is giving you another chance because of the merits of your intelligence this time."

  Dong Zhiyu fell silent, with a sense of inexplicable loss in her heart. She had actually made up her mind to let herself go without any hesitation, and there wasn't even a hint of wavering. That day at Xiaoguan, when she lifted her head from the pit and saw her holding a machine gun, she felt an unusual warmth in her heart. After that, although her body and emotions were not suitable, deep down, she felt that she had a warm connection with her. As for Hua Jin's coldness the night before last, she thought it was probably due to her identity and personality. Even today, when they brushed past each other twice at Dingjia Bridge, she intuitively sensed his tension and concern... But now, knowing that she had actually made things so final, Dong Zhiyu suddenly realized that she had misread the situation, and was being overly sentimental. As for this "sentiment", she didn't think much of it - friendship, camaraderie, all of these were valid. She felt a sense of shattered self-respect, and even a bit of contempt for herself.

  She checked the rosters of three troops, initially only looking for officers above the rank of lieutenant, but her target's name didn't appear. So she started checking from the soldiers' list, going through nearly five thousand dense names one by one, and found two people with the same name. After verifying their files, neither their age nor experience matched... What was going on here?

  Suddenly, all the miscellaneous army corps were summoned, and at that time, there were about 20,000 people. Huai Jin pinched her forehead, perhaps she had been staring at the roster without rest, feeling a bit nauseous.

  It was dusk, and everyone had gone home from work one after another. She turned on the light, walked to the window, and lit a cigarette. She didn't often smoke, only using it to refresh herself when she was extremely tired or tense.

  Smoke swirled gently, and suddenly, the image of Dong Zhiyu's slightly furrowed brow floated into her mind. She thought that she was also a persistent woman, but what was she persisting in? Why did she risk her life to do things for Xuan Tongsi? When Fu Qiusheng told herself that "Song" was a progressive woman pursuing achievements, however, after getting in touch with her over this period of time, she felt that the other party's persistence and pursuit were not about personal achievements. The nation's crisis and the suffering of compatriots seemed to weigh more heavily on her heart than anything else. And as for herself, why was she risking her life for Xuan Tongsi? It was also the ideal of saving the country and its people, as well as the teachings of faith that her adoptive father had instilled in her since childhood: the mountains and rivers must not be broken, one must resist, unify, and adhere to the Three Principles of the People, so that future generations could live with dignity and integrity.

  The cigarette had burned out, and he walked back in front of his office desk. More than 10,000 names couldn't be finished today, so he asked his secretary to temporarily take away the files, and then he went out.

  The car moved slowly forward, not far from the Night Golden City. A familiar figure jumped into view. After such a tumultuous day, she was still walking on the street. Huai Jin pulled over to the side of the road.

  Dong Zhiyu also saw her car from afar and went up to greet her.

  "Are... you alright?" Huai Jin's eyes had a soft, gentle concern, making Qing Xuan's voice fade away by half, and the brim of his hat hide another small half.

  "I'm fine," what's there to worry about, must be just a misconception, looking at her standing so straight and elegant, cold nose bridge, cold lips, misconception! Dong Zhiyu almost shook his head, shaking off that misconception, "I have two things I want to ask you."

  Hua Jin slightly raised an eyebrow, "Speak."

  "Firstly, how did my intelligence get leaked to the Red Vvacuum Party?"

  "You need to understand two things: first, this is not your intelligence, it's Xuanwu Country's intelligence; second, it's not your turn to interrogate me."

  "Alright, assuming I understand these two points clearly, may I ask how this information was transmitted to the Red Vacuum Party?"

  "Why do you want to know?"

  "I am a member of the Xuantong Administration and it is my duty to dispel all doubts."

  "Do you suspect me?" Huai Jin almost smiled, "I have my reasons and methods, and Fu Qiusheng is also clear about this. What's your second question?"

  Dong Zhiyu bit her lip, she didn't expect Huai Jin to reveal everything to her, but now it seems that not even a single clue can be obtained. At least she has confirmed one thing: earlier, Fu Qiu Sheng said that Huai Jin had a channel, and at that time, she hadn't ruled out the possibility of Fu Qiu Sheng passing on intelligence to the Red Sky Party. Now, however, Huai Jin also says he has a way, so it seems certain that this information was passed by Huai Jin to the Red Sky Party. He is in contact with the organization, although it's impossible to determine how deep this connection goes at present.

  "The second question is, why did you want me to leave?" That pride and self-respect that was once so high and mighty would either remain intact or be completely shattered without leaving any room for remnants.

  "...because you've affected my work." Huai Jin said in a low voice, then turned around and walked back to the car, disappearing into the dust in an instant.

  Dong Zhiyu stood in the dusty sand, carefully pondering the words she left behind, "You affected my work." She suddenly felt that her self-esteem might not have been shattered after all.

  The author has something to say: I'll add a Weibo link to the article later, so it's convenient for everyone to communicate. However, all of you must still give me a rating after reading the article, hehe!

  Insert Bookmark