The First Book The Empty Spirit Chapter 14 Making a Mistake and Sticking to It

  This year, both top and bottom are making a profit, those who don't are idiots. The protection fees and bribes that the Shanghai police department collects on a regular basis are just ordinary income, enough to fill people's bellies. The real big head is another source of income.

  On the Shanghai beach, every year there are many people who come here with nothing to make a living, dreaming of getting ahead. But reality is cruel, honestly working hard for a year is just enough not to starve, in order to earn more money, many people don't care about what's right or wrong, whatever makes money they do it.

  Rules must be followed, as they relate to the interests of many people. Unauthorized arms, tobacco and antique trading must be cracked down on. The police bureau should also take this opportunity to report to the newspaper from time to time, giving a good impression to the vast number of Shanghai citizens, while also adding glory to themselves.

  According to the laws of the Republic of China, all kinds of stolen goods confiscated by the police must be confiscated and destroyed, such as contraband like opium.

  What is meant by confiscation is to return it to the public. The Shanghai Police Bureau is also a public institution, so there's no problem with that. As for opium, it's actually a good thing, and burning it would be a waste. Anyway, everyone from top to bottom understands what's going on - all the valuable things are being concentrated together, and most of them end up being traded to the Green Gang for cash.

  "Are you saying that the police department people wanted to sell a batch of military weapons to the Green Gang, and let them sell it outside? When they were making the transaction, we appeared, they thought someone was going to double-cross them, and we didn't reveal our identities either. As a result, both sides just started fighting?"

  Le You Xin's hands were now empty of guns, and he took out the Buddhist rosary he usually carried with him. After analyzing it, he began to recite Buddhist scriptures again, helping the deceased cross over.

  "It's roughly that. On one side are the police, on the other side are the Green Gang, I don't think there are any Communist Party members here. It's clear that the information was wrong, Old Shi, you deal with it this time. This time I risked my life and got injured, and the bleeding still hasn't stopped!"

  Wang Yaizu kept pressing his wound with a handkerchief, but the blood still seeped out from time to time. He didn't want to waste any more words on Shi Anguo now, he just wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible. The bleeding was too much, and it would make him feel uncomfortable for a long time.

  Shi An Guo's face was clearly visible in the firelight, and his complexion didn't look good. But he had no place to vent, everything was because Shi An Guo was too impatient, all the responsibility had to be borne by himself. From the beginning, it was only him who was wrong.

  "Send all the wounded to the field hospital. The rest of you, clean up here as quickly as possible, take everything that can be taken away, leave no corpses behind, and then set fire to this place!"

  Shi An Guo demanded that everyone speed up, the gunfire was so intense that the police would not come. At their usual pace, the Songhu Police Guard Command would arrive in ten minutes.

  Wang Yaowu and three others who were injured were first put on the car, one of whom was seriously injured. This action killed four people, and in the end it still ended like this. Listening to the miserable cries of the seriously injured, the other two lightly wounded people were not in good spirits, but no one dared to make trouble in front of Wang Yaowu.

  The Shanghai Field Hospital arrived soon, which was established by the Nationalist Party Army during the Northern Expedition War. Most of the wounded from the Garrison Command and the Shanghai Investigation Brigade were sent here for treatment, because it was safe here. The doctors were all officers of the Nationalist Party, and 70% of the nurses had military status. There were also soldiers patrolling inside and outside the hospital.

  The seriously injured were quickly pushed forward, and the other two slightly injured people seemed to have something left in their bodies, so they also needed special care. Only Wang Ya-zu came to a special treatment room for disinfection and bandaging with the accompaniment of nurses, and it was coincidental that tonight's shift was Le Yun-xin's wife, Di Wu-ya.

  "Sister-in-law, are you on duty today? Is it okay to leave Ruyu alone at home?" The fifth one was a double surname, a very special surname. At first, Wang Yaoyu thought it was an alias, but in the end, he confirmed that it was his real name.

  "Xiao Chen is well-behaved, and there's someone taking care of him at home, he must be sleeping soundly now. Yaozu, what happened? I heard from the nurse that you guys came in four times, one of them seriously injured, and even you got hurt!"

  The fifth Ya skillfully cut open Wang Yaozu's shirt with scissors, and the blood had already stuck to his clothes. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but this also made Wang Yaozu suffer a bit more, as he had to re-clean and disinfect the wound, thoroughly check the size of the wound and whether there were any foreign objects inside, before bandaging it, and finally get an injection to prevent tetanus.

  Wang Yaozu did not answer the fifth question, he was not going to let his sister-in-law lose her temper at this time, until everything was over, Wang Yaozu finally replied: "Sister-in-law, don't worry, Le Dage is fine, nothing happened to him, I can't tell you what specifically happened, it's a rule, but Le Dage really didn't have any problems."

  "Now I'm relieved, let Little Chen take you to the ward to rest. It's best not to turn over when sleeping at night, otherwise you'll touch the wound. Since it's just a scratch, it'll be fine after a few days of good care. If the wound opens up again, it needs to be re-bandaged."

  Wang Yaozu was really tired, Wang Yaozu's hospital bed had two beds, one of which was empty. This was a special arrangement by the hospital, as many people thought that Shanghai investigators were very troublesome, but they had to be specially taken care of to avoid any mistakes.

  Shanghai has many Western hospitals, the biggest boost is that the Nationalist government has been downplaying traditional Chinese medicine and promoting Western medicine, leading to a large number of foreigners coming to Shanghai to set up hospitals.

  But for foreigners and foreign churches, as well as some hospitals set up by Chinese nationals, people like Shi An'guo and Wang Yaoyu were extremely distrustful. They could only trust the field hospitals run by the military. It was not the first time, nor was it just one or two clues that pointed out that the Shanghai underground party organization used private hospitals and foreign church hospitals for their activities, but every time they took action against the hospitals, they failed. Private hospitals were somewhat easier to deal with, but if it was a hospital set up by a foreign church, things would be much more troublesome. The Nationalist Party had very few people who dared to provoke foreign churches, fearing that it would escalate into a diplomatic incident.

  Wang Yaozu slept very uncomfortably, waking up from time to time. The reason was that his sleeping posture was not good and he didn't sleep deeply. Every time he turned over, he would touch the wound, and each pain would wake Wang Yaozu up, then of course he would readjust his sleeping position and continue to rest with his eyes closed.

  When Wang Yaowu woke up for the last time, it was already bright outside. Wang Yaowu clearly felt that there was someone behind him, and behind Wang Yaowu was the door of the house. Wang Yaowu, who didn't dare to make a sound, clenched his fists and suddenly flipped over from the bed, only to find Shi Ankui. Wang Yaowu immediately lay back on the bed, touching what seemed to be an already cracked wound.

  "Don't you see I'm unhappy? It seems you're not as dull as I thought, I've been sitting next to you for ten minutes already." Shi An Guo remained seated, calmly looking at Wang Yao Zu.

  "If you were a beautiful female nurse in the hospital, I would be very happy. And also want to invite that female nurse for dinner. Unfortunately, you are not, and it's because of you that I got hurt."

  Wang Yaoyu lay on the bed, Wang Yaoyu lay flat on the sickbed, raised his head to look at the ceiling, but didn't go see Shi Anguo.

  "Last night, five of our men died, and the seriously injured one couldn't be saved. This operation was a complete failure, we really did kill the wrong people, it was just a normal arms transaction between the police station and the Green Gang. They used this trick to make us kill each other, to take revenge for that night's incident. I was too impatient, which allowed them to find an opening."

  Shi An Guo's tone was somewhat dejected and self-reproachful. Apart from the failure of their actions, the death of five people, and offending the Green Gang and the Shanghai Police Bureau, there were even bigger problems at hand, and Wang Yaozu finally sat up in bed.

  "Old Stone, the traitor in your hands is doomed. Let him be buried with our dead brothers, anyway you and I don't like traitors, we've used them enough, some worthless ones can be discarded. As for the Green Gang side, we can let Maozi take the lead, I'll go find Eighth Master again, as long as we save face, the Green Gang won't say much either. What's the reaction from the police station regarding such a big matter?"

  "When one side is damaged, both sides are damaged; when one side is honored, both sides are honored." Wang Yaoyu and Shi Anguo were people on the same boat. If the boat capsized, everyone would end up in the water. Even though Wang Yaoyu was naturally at odds with Shi Anguo, he still remembered Shi's usual care and repeated tolerance.

  "The police haven't sent anyone over yet, they don't dare to make a big deal out of this shady business. But sooner or later, they'll come knocking on our door. After all, we killed their people and cut off their source of wealth!" Shi An'guo said with a cold laugh, many people had forgotten what the Northern Expedition was fighting for back then, and now he could only hold on to his last bit of resistance.

  "Last night, all the people we killed were Communist Party suspects. Those Communist Party members attempted to purchase arms and cause destruction in Shanghai. Our Shanghai investigation team immediately foiled this plot and reported it to our superiors. In short, we killed Communist Party suspects, but as for the identities of the dead, not a word should be mentioned. The police officers who died were martyrs, and once things are settled, we'll just give them some compensation."