The First Book: The Empty Spirit Chapter 20: A Series of Fallacies

  "The question is, Old Stone, can you listen to reason? Ironhead and Maozi and I do indeed hope to get that batch of gold bars, but it doesn't harm you in the least. I really don't understand why you insist on being so stubborn."

  Wang Yaoyu withdrew his hand from the door handle and stood by the door. As he spoke, he looked at Shi Ankui.

  "After dividing up that batch of gold, it's actually not bad for me at all. I can still get my hands on some gold bars and then ask for money from above to compensate the police department using national treasury funds. Who knows, I might even be able to make a profit out of this. It's truly a good deal!"

  Shi Ankou spoke with a smile, seemingly excited. However, Wang Yaoyu still stood by the door, watching Shi Ankou take a sip of tea to moisten his throat.

  "But! Am I, Shi An-guo, such a person? Everything I have done is for the party and the nation, for the people! If I were really so greedy, I would not have joined the Tongmenghui in the first place! Would not have become a member of the Kuomintang! Would not have participated in the Northern Expedition! Would not be sitting in this position!"

  Shi Ankou slammed his hand on the table and let out a loud roar. Wang Yaowu covered his ears with his hands to avoid being startled by Shi Ankou's thunderous shout.

  "Do you have anything else to say, Wang Yaozu?" After roaring, Shi Anguo immediately lowered his voice and asked Wang Yaozu.

  "Yes, but if you continue to shout like this, I really can't talk to you. This is about the whole company's affairs. If Old Stone (you) continues to shout like this, I'll leave."

  Wang Yaoyu raised his head and turned his neck towards the door. Shi Ankou bit his lip with his teeth, finally nodded, pointed to the chair opposite him with his hand, and let Wang Yaoyu sit down and talk.

  "Old Stone. Our top priority is to catch, right? What you Old Stone want to do most is to catch all of them on Shanghai Beach, isn't it?" Wang Yaizu said while tapping his hand on the table.

  "That's right!" Wang Ya-zu asked, Shi An-guo replied extremely succinctly.

  "With our current morale and spirit among the soldiers, do you think that old stone can be grasped and great things accomplished?" Wang Yaizu's knocking on the table surface began to speed up.

  "It can't be done, but that's no excuse!" Shi Ankui knew this himself. Even if he gave strict orders now, his subordinates would still be the same and couldn't accomplish anything.

  "This is the reason. Old Stone, to put it bluntly, this is a matter of personal principle for you, and then it involves everyone's interests. You're afraid that if there's one, there will be two, and those two groups outside are also afraid that if there's one, there will be two. If you don't make a distinction this time, then next time everyone won't have anything to gain either. But none of these are the most important thing, do you want to hear what is?"

  Wang Yaoyu suddenly stopped tapping his fingers on the table after finishing his last sentence, and stared at Shi Ankui again.

  "Think, but if you can't convince me. Then you will be responsible for everything that has happened in these days!" Shi Anguo also had to find a way to solve the current problem at this time. Wang Yaoyu became the best candidate.

  "This is actually a subjective and secondary issue. What we are most concerned about now is grasping, but you, Old Stone, insist on dragging it to your personal principles. The action that night was absolutely wrong, more importantly, it made the stock members afraid, afraid of death. There isn't a single coward in the stock, but everyone wants to enjoy themselves well before they die, who knows when something like that night will happen again. That batch of gold bars has become what everyone's heart desires most at this moment. Am I right, Old Stone?"

  Wang Yaoyu said halfway through asking Shi Ankou, but Shi Ankou didn't respond at all, which was absolutely a good sign for Wang Yaoyu.

  "Now the problem has arisen, everyone is making a fuss over that batch of gold bars, while you, Old Stone, insist on your own principles. Because of your principles, everyone can't get their share of gold bars, and they are filled with resentment in their hearts. If we can't even catch them, then what's the use of us investigators? How can you, Old Stone, help the party and country? I've said all I need to say, now it's up to you to decide, I'm leaving first."

  Wang Yaozu got up and walked out, Shi Ankou temporarily didn't say anything, nor did he look at the files, he was thinking. Therefore, Wang Yaozu's opening and closing of the door were very quiet, when Wang Yaozu came out, a group of people outside were all staring at him.

  The foreigner gave Wang Yaowu a thumbs up, a habit he had learned from foreigners. Tie Tou also made a fist at Wang Yaowu. Both of them were thanking Wang Yaowu for speaking on their behalf and admiring his eloquence. Except for Le Yunxin, everyone else in the hall looked at Wang Yaowu with admiration and gratitude. That's how people's hearts are bought, and at least Wang Yaowu doesn't have to worry about being suddenly betrayed now.

  When Wang Yaoyu sat back in his seat, Le Yuxin suddenly shook her head at him. Wang Yaoyu understood what Le Yuxin meant, but he could only respond by shaking his head as well. Everything was helpless and inevitable.

  He sat back in his own position, Wang Yaoyu thought that Shi Anguo would take a long time to persuade himself, so he did some necessary things first, such as writing reports and reading the documents recently issued by the higher-ups. These didn't take half an hour, after half an hour, Wang Yaoyu started reading today's newspaper. There was a lot of information on this newspaper, although most were garbage information, but there would also be interesting things and special news. It wasn't a waste of time to take a look.

  The content of the newspaper is absolutely under surveillance. Any words attacking the government cannot be spoken, and any sympathetic words also cannot be spoken. If a newspaper does so, not only will the news department investigate, but also the investigation department and other departments will investigate to see if there are any accomplices. This accomplice is a serious crime, political prisoners who request it are useless, and people of all identities must go in.

  As for the Green Gang and other messy things, the government won't intervene, but the key is that journalists who write articles have to be careful not to lose their lives. For some people, it's easy to find a hitman in Shanghai, and to dispose of a body, just put it in a sack and throw it into the Huangpu River.

  Turning over several pages of the newspaper, it first writes about what achievements the National Government has made and what contributions they have made, page after page of nonsense, the Nationalist Party officials being interviewed only talk nonsense.

  The introduction of the government and officials is over, followed by large-scale romantic stories and various vulgar rural gossip. In short, it's just to make people who read newspapers happy, more interesting than what officials say, but still nonsense. Most of the newspaper's pages are just for killing time.

  It wasn't until the end that there was news of the Red Army. The newspapers didn't write anything about the repeated failures of the party and country in fighting against the Red Army. What they wrote before were all blaming the local army for being unfavorable to fight. Then it was half introducing how to sabotage locally, how to kill local gentry, and how to share communism and wives.

  In short, Wang Ya Zu has turned today's newspaper upside down and the only useful thing is the advertisement on it. The rest are all rubbish, at least recently there have been some new tricks, what's on sale in Shanghai and where are they doing activities.

  Wang Yaizu actually didn't like buying things, many things were handed over to Wu Ma to handle, and whatever was needed, she would take the money to buy. Except for the suits and cheongsam he wore on his body, which were specially made by a tailor to fit him, even his underwear was bought by Wu Ma.

  Wang Yaoyu is now writing down these trivial matters, all for Shangguan Hui. The young ladies of this era are no longer the traditional, secluded misses who never left their homes. The women's rights movement has caused quite a stir, and many officials who have returned from studying abroad are supporters of the movement, all in an effort to keep pace with Europe. Nowadays, young ladies go shopping and stroll through department stores. Wang Yaoyu wants to make Shangguan Hui happy. It's a kind of compensation for her.

  "Everyone gather!" When Wang Ya Zu finished writing everything down, he became bored and started playing poker by himself on the desk. He played for almost an hour until he was about to fall asleep on the table. Just then, Shi An Guo's roar echoed through the office. Wang Ya Zu heard the helplessness in Shi An Guo's shout and couldn't help but laugh.

  Those gold bars were kept in Shi An Guo's office safe. It was actually quite easy to open that safe, the key wasn't a big problem, there were experts at picking locks among them, and Maozi also knew how to do it. But the key thing was that no one dared to do so.

  Everyone gathered in the conference room, Shi An Guo finally opened the safe, carried a wooden box filled with gold bars alone and placed it heavily on the conference table. Almost everyone's eyes were fixed on the wooden box. Greed was written all over most people's faces.

  The wooden box was opened, and Shi An Guo pushed the entire box of gold bars onto the table. Everyone prevented the rolling gold bars from falling to the ground, but no one dared to pick up the gold bars, only using their hands to stop them from falling off the table.

  "Are you satisfied now?! Get your spirits up! In one month's time, I must see satisfactory results. We not only need to catch the one who escaped last time, but also more of them! There are still many Communist Party members lurking in Shanghai, if you want more rewards, you have to catch more Communist suspects!" Gunsmoke Unheard Volume 1 Chapter 20: Twisted Logic