Chapter Thirty-Three The Man

  It's been a long time since the sunny day, but it was even colder in the morning. Huai Jin drove her car around the city and saw a large crowd of people gathered in front of Shui Xi Men from afar. She didn't like to join in the commotion, but out of duty, she drove closer without hesitation.

  Above the city gate, a row of eye-catching slogans read from right to left as "Building a New Order in East Asia". On both sides of the artillery platform on the city wall, there were four large characters each. The right side was "Same Culture Same Species", and the left side was "Coexist and Prosper Together". The slave education of the Japanese army had penetrated into all aspects of people's lives from top to bottom and from small to large.

  Under the city gate, a row of military trucks and jeeps were parked, occupying the original place where ordinary people set up stalls to do business. The crowd wearing bloated clothes, their faces somehow also looked bloated and numb like their clothes. Everyone looked out towards the city gate, but after looking for a while, they couldn't bear the weight of their heads and shrank back, expressionless, looking around in all directions, then trying to stretch their heads out again to look outside.

  Huajin drove the car all the way to the city gate, and the people who had been waiting for a while were bored, but now they had something new and interesting to look at. Several men simply stretched their heads out of the window as far as they could, without any scruples, staring at Huajin. Men, regardless of their identity or status, have equal initial rights to appreciate beautiful women, let alone this beautiful woman who is elegant and dignified, seemingly with supreme power. The men suddenly felt that this was more interesting than what happened outside the city gate.

  At this moment, outside the Water West Gate, a group of Japanese soldiers were escorting dozens of men and women with pale faces. They knelt on the ground, some already half-prostrate, their faces filled with endless desolation and numbness after great pain. Next to them, a Japanese officer was coldly scolding the crowd, and every time he scolded, a translator beside him would imitate his tone and scold again in Chinese. Huaijin recognized this Japanese officer as Matsumoto Hiroji, the commander of the unit that had inspected her by the river that day. She got off the car, and the men who had been staring at her with great enthusiasm earlier retreated, automatically giving way to a path for her.

  Huajing stood outside the enclosure of the Huaxia people, and it was only then that she clearly heard Song Ping's words. He said that these people were unwilling to be good citizens, destroying the prosperity of East Asia, and the crimes they committed were nothing more than smuggling silver coins, refusing to learn the Huaxia language, and not bowing to the Huaxia army when passing through the city gate - all trivial matters. No matter what, the punishment did not deserve death. However, now, dozens of men and women were tied up, and once Song Ping's speech was over, it would be time for their execution.

  Retaliation, typical retaliation, a trick of the Japanese military. Every time Japan loses someone, they take ten times more Chinese lives in revenge, and this time, Huaiyin knew clearly that it was because of the comfort women issue.

  Unable to bear it any longer, Huai Jin turned around, her heart heavy with guilt. At this moment, she felt a deep sense of powerlessness, almost despairing. She got into the car, the speech was over, and as the vehicle started moving, people outside simultaneously stretched their necks to look towards the city gate. Turning back, the familiar sound of machine gun fire came from behind her. Tears silently slid down, disappearing along the corner of her lips, a bitter taste she hadn't experienced in a long time.

  After checking the list of over 10,000 names, it was already past lunchtime. Ye Mingtian knocked on the door and came in with two lunchboxes containing hot food: "Hua Shenmou, you're working too hard, take a break and have some lunch."

  "Thanks," Huai Jin had no appetite at all, among the two million names in front of and behind her, not a single one matched, what was going on? She lit another cigarette, "Ming Tian, how did the interrogation of Lu Zhongning go yesterday?"

  "I don't know the specific situation yet, but don't you remember him? His shooting class was outstanding in Jiangwan."

  Waistcoat gently tapped off the ash, "Seems to have some impression. How did he fall into the net?"

  Ye Ming Tian made a gesture towards the door, took a glance, and approached Huai Jin in a mannered way, lowering his voice to say: "Let our undercover agent take him out."

  It was night, a slender black-clad man passed by Xu's grocery store and disappeared into a deep alley on the side. The large mansion at the end of the alley still had a warm glow, and with the occasional opening and closing of the sliding door, one or two faint and obscure tunes drifted out.

  Dong Zhiyu followed from a distance, watching as the person stopped in front of their old mansion but didn't enter openly. Instead, they stuck to the wall and quietly made their way around to the side building, quickly climbing up an old elm tree beside it. With a flip of their body, they lightly vaulted over the wall and landed silently on a wooden balcony on the second floor with a single leap, the entire movement as stealthy and silent as a hunting leopard.

  The man stuck to the door and listened for a while, then quickly pushed the door in. Inside, Makoto was just about to change clothes and wash her body. The plain-colored kimono had just fallen off her shoulders when someone suddenly rushed in from the balcony, scaring her pale. Just as she was about to scream, one hand pressed tightly over her mouth, while he wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto the tatami mat. It turned out that there was a candle on the low cabinet next to the tatami mat, and this roll was to get close to the cabinet and blow out the candle. From entering the house to controlling her to extinguishing the candle, the whole set of actions was completed in ten seconds.

  A cold dagger was pressed against Jing's throat, the newcomer lowered his voice to an unnatural level: "Listen, I only ask you one question, answer honestly, otherwise!" As he said that, he pressed the dagger again.

  Zhen Ji only felt that the voice was somewhat familiar, and in his mind, he recalled the moment before the candle was blown out, the other person's single eyebrow, under the black hat brim, a glimpse of eyes, layered and stacked, as a man, couldn't help but be too handsome.

  Makoto nodded, the room was pitch black, only a faint light from the red lanterns in the alley outside the window came in. After her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw Makoto's eyes shining brightly, seemingly less frightened and more determined.

  The other party hesitated, the hand covering her mouth relaxed slightly, and the dagger in the other hand tightened: "Be honest, don't play tricks."

  Before, Zhen Ji's muscles were still tense all over his body, but now they relaxed and he lay quietly under the other person, waiting for them to withdraw their defenses on their own.

  Perhaps sensing the change in Makoto's body, the "man" gradually loosened his grip, but the hand holding the dagger did not relax at all, and he lowered his voice again: "On Monday night, Kageyama Shōji met with several people here. Who were they?"

  Zhen Ji thought for a moment, "Two people, one is General Huai Jin, senior staff officer of the Military Advisory Council of the Wang government, and the other is He Shuqiang, a guest under Du Yuesheng, the Green Gang leader in Shanghai."

  The other party stiffened, fell silent for a moment, and then asked: "What did these two people discuss with Ying Zuo when they came here?"

  "Shinji paused for a moment, 'Hai Sanmu came and had a poetry recital with Kage Sōsuke, but later on, a small dispute arose, which made Shinji worried,' he said, his sparkling eyes fixed on the other person. 'Hai Sanmu is a noble and patriotic gentleman, if such a person has even the slightest mistake, Shinji will be uneasy for the rest of his life.'"

  The other party seemed to hold their breath for a moment, and then relaxed again. "Why are they arguing?"

  "Zhenji didn't hear and doesn't remember either."

  "And what about the second person? Why did he come to see Kageyoshi?"

  "He handed a list to Kageyoshi while they were talking, and Makoto was called away, so he didn't know what the list was."

  Just then, the sound of wooden sandals came from outside the door, getting closer and closer. A middle-aged woman's voice followed: "Makoto, are you asleep?"

  The author has something to say: The Year of the Horse is here, so I won't list any idioms with "horse" in them. Wishing everyone a peaceful and joyful new year!

  Sophie's sister said that Chunwan's facial expressions on Spring Festival Gala were so rhythmic and musical, it was simply too much for me to handle.

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