Chapter 26: The Bund of Shanghai

  In a villa in Shanghai, an elderly man in his fifties sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, with a cup of steaming coffee on the European-style tea table beside him. He puffed on his pipe and flipped through the newspaper, seemingly searching for something.

  The stairs creaked, and an old man with white hair and beard came up, wearing a plain long gown, with no mustache under his chin, and a thin figure. He walked gently to the side of the elderly person reading the newspaper, "Old master, there is a letter, it's from the second young master of the Bai family." The voice was soft but had a somewhat unusual sharpness.

  "Oh?" The old man raised his head, and a pair of narrow, upward-slanting eyes suddenly showed a surprised gaze. He hastily took over the telegram. The long-shirted old man immediately stood by with his hands hanging down.

  The letter contained only two short sentences: "The person has been found and is on the way to Shanghai." The signature was "Bai Dingguo". There was also a photo enclosed in the envelope.

  The old man put on his reading glasses, carefully examining them, his fingers trembling slightly, tears welling up in his eyes, but a smile spreading across his face that he couldn't hide.

  "A Yao, come and take a look, it's too similar! It looks just like Xiao Jun!"

  An elderly man in a long gown secretly wiped away tears from the corner of his eyes, nodding repeatedly.

  "Ah Yao, has Chang Huan come back?"

  The old man in the long shirt nodded, "Came back last night, everything has been taken care of."

  The old man pondered for a moment, pointing to the photo, "Order Chang Huan to arrange manpower at the dock and station, pay attention to this person, but don't disturb him."

  The old man in the long gown was taken aback.

  The old man put down his pipe, spat out a mouthful of smoke, "I want to observe what's special about this kid. If he's a good material, it won't hurt to cultivate him well. Anyway, I'm getting old and need to find someone to take over; if he's useless, I'll arrange for him to have a worry-free life, so that when I pass away, I can give an account to Yuehua and Xiaojun!"

  The old man slowly turned his gaze towards the window, a gentle breeze blew by, accompanied by the swaying of the jasmine outside the window, and a faint sigh was heard.

  In the blink of an eye, Lin Xiaotang and Da Tou had been tossed about at sea for two days. According to their plan, they returned to Changsha, took a train from Changsha to Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, and then transferred to Xiamen, taking six days on land alone. No choice, everywhere was fighting, everywhere was air raiding, until they boarded an Italian merchant ship bound for Shanghai in Xiamen.

  Pretending to be a Shanghainese, the big head got on the boat and immediately showed his true colors, vomiting with great relish, until today he finally recovered a bit, but still pale-faced, even the fat big head seemed to have shrunk by one size.

  Lin Xiaotang stood on the deck at the bow of the ship, letting the scorching sunlight drench her entire body. Seagulls sang happily as they followed her, and she gazed thoughtfully at the piece of paper in her hand.

  On the piece of paper in his hand was an address and a name: Overpass Coffee Shop, Yu Gong.

  Bai Qi didn't say anything else, only telling him that when he was at a dead end, he could go find this person called You Gong. Lin Xiaotang asked him back, what exactly did You Gong need him to do? Bai Qi replied that regarding You Gong, nothing had been arranged, perhaps he simply appreciated Lin Xiaotang's skills and courage.

  Lin Xiaotang slowly tore the paper in her hand into pieces and threw it towards the azure sea, perhaps she didn't need this after all.

  The whistle sounded, and the sparse crowd on the deck suddenly burst into a commotion. "Shanghai! We've arrived in Shanghai!"

  Lin Xiaotang followed the crowd to the other side of the ship's rail, and in the distance, the outline of a city slowly emerged. Was that the Bund?

  A merchant ship slowly entered the dock, Lin Xiaotang sizing up everything in this city. Shanghai, the commercial, economic and financial center of all Asia, had just walked into Lin Xiaotang's world.

  The magnificent buildings of various countries stand like a string of bright pearls inlaid on the Bund, while ships and boats throng the Huangpu River, bringing with them a strong sense of prosperity.

  Dà tóu bù zhī hé shí yě lái dào le chuán xián shàng, tā zhāng kāi shuāng bì, dà shēng hǎn dào: "Mào xiǎn jiā de lè yuán, wǒ lái zhēng fú nǐ le!"

  Translation:

  The big head also arrived at the ship's side at some point, he opened his arms and shouted loudly: "Paradise of adventurers, I have come to conquer you!"

  Lin Xiaotang didn't smile, muttering to herself: "That's right, from today on, the history of Shanghai will be written by us!"

  Dàitóu yìyì de kàn zhe Lín Xiào Táng, "nǐ xiǎo zi, bǐ wǒ de yě xīn hái dà!"

  Translation:

  The big head stared at Lin Xiaotang in surprise, "You little guy, your ambition is even bigger than mine!"

  Lin Xiaotang didn't say a word, he just stared blankly at everything on the shore. At this moment, a strange idea suddenly popped into his head - when those legendary figures who once dominated Shanghai, such as Wang Yaqiao, Du Yuesheng, Huang Jinrong, Gu Jiatang and Jin Jiuling first arrived in Shanghai, did they also have the same desire to conquer this city like he did?

  At this time, Shanghai presented a kind of deformed prosperity. After the Japanese occupied Shanghai, since they had not yet gone to war with Britain, America and France, the public concessions and French concessions controlled by Britain, America and France declared neutrality, so the area south of Suzhou Creek became an isolated island surrounded by the Japanese army, a country within a country.

  Shanghai was already a prosperous city, and the concessions were even more so. Due to the outbreak of war, a large number of refugees poured into the concessions, including not only many truly poor people but also a considerable number of wealthy individuals. Some people had money, so Shanghai did not stop its development due to the war, but instead, like bamboo shoots after rain, a large number of industrial factories, tobacco shops, brothels, and casinos emerged. Shanghai was originally not lacking in rich people and middle-class citizens who were accustomed to a life of luxury and extravagance different from other cities, so life in Shanghai continued to be luxurious and leisurely as before.

  Against this backdrop, intelligence personnel of various nationalities representing different forces flooded into Shanghai, making it a battleground for spies, a dark battlefield hidden behind the prosperous scene.

  Lin Xiaotang also saw this point, so he resolutely accepted the order and chose Shanghai as his foothold. In a chaotic world, what nobility is there in being a king or a general? With one's own abilities, why not seize this opportunity to fight for a bright future for oneself and for the nation?

  Lin Xiaotang and the other person got off the boat and rushed straight to Zhabei, where the contact and reporting location arranged by the Military Commission for him were located.

  They hadn't gone far when Da Tou suddenly slapped his forehead, "Where's my hat?"

  Lin Xiaotang was taken aback and immediately touched her own head, only to find that her hat was also gone.

  "This is terrible! I was just afraid of being blown away by the strong wind when I got off the boat, but we've only walked a few steps and now it's gone!"

  "Never mind, let's not look for it anymore. We two are still trying to conquer Shanghai with our faces covered in shame. As soon as we got off the boat, we suffered at the hands of the Shanghainese. This is a disaster!"

  Lin Xiaotang looked puzzled and had to spend some more effort explaining it to him again.

  The "hat thief" refers to a person who steals hats from others when there are many people around. In the past, some hats were very valuable, such as the sun hat worn by Lin Xiaotang, which was worth over ten dollars. Stealing this kind of hat and selling it to someone who collects old clothes can earn a small profit.

  It is said that Du Yuesheng also started from this when he first entered the underworld, but Du Yuesheng's technique was more clever. As long as he passed through the crowd and lightly bumped into someone with his body, the person's hat would fly away like a flying saucer. His accomplices in the distance quickly grabbed the hat and stuffed it under their armpit, turned around and ran, while the person who lost his hat hadn't even realized it yet.

  The two people who were just full of energy and ambition suddenly lost their spirit, and the big head muttered: "Shanghai is really hiding dragons and sleeping tigers, even a small thief has such a good understanding."

  Touched the wallet, fortunately, it's safe and sound. Two people were afraid of getting on someone else's way again, didn't even dare to take a rickshaw, carried their luggage and walked straight to Zhabei.

  As soon as the two disappeared into the crowd, a young man in a suit on the dock withdrew his gaze that had been fixed on Lin Xiaotang and others, threw away the cigarette butt in his hand, and walked into a small alley by the side of the dock.

  There were already several people waiting in the alley, and when they saw the young man come in, they nodded their heads in unison, "Huan Ge!"

  Two men with green skin makeup, who were lying on the ground, saw a man called Huan Ge approaching and hurriedly made several bows. "Big brother, where are you from? We didn't recognize Mount Tai, please leave your name so we can report to our superiors!"

  Huan Ge squatted down, and slapped the person's face with a loud smack. "You little scoundrel, you're not even worthy of knowing my name! Go back and tell your boss that I'm Ah Huan!"

  Huan Ge stood up and handed over two hats, "Brother Huan, these are their things!"

  "Brother Huan took over, 'You take turns keeping an eye on them, remember, don't let them find out, report to me every day.'"

  Lin Xiaotang and Da Tou stuck out their tongues, exhaustedly gazing at this small shop named "Changjiu Department Store" in the muddy alley. That's right, it was here.

  Lin Xiaotang dragged her two lead-like legs and supported her big head as she walked into the store.

  There was only one shop assistant in the store. He looked at Lin Xiaotang and the other person's disheveled appearance, momentarily stunned, but immediately came forward to greet them, "Two gentlemen, do you need to buy something?"

  Dahou panted heavily, gesturing for Lin Xiaotang to answer. Lin Xiaotang glared at him with a bad temper and turned her head to ask the shop assistant: "Is Boss Qian here?"

  The fellow was taken aback again, and immediately regained his composure. He asked the two people to sit down on the chairs by the counter, then went to the back to invite the shopkeeper.

  Before long, a man in his forties came out from behind, with a signboard-like smile on his face. "I am the boss here, my surname is Qian. Are you looking for me?"

  "We are from Leshan, previously our warehouse's Liu boss had purchased a batch of cotton fabric from your store, but after the goods arrived, it was discovered that the quantity was incorrect, and 100 pieces were short, so we were sent to purchase some more."

  "Oh." Boss Qian's smile slowly faded away as he looked up and down at the two of them, "So that's how it is. Just recently, the price of cotton fabric has gone up, so we can't do this batch of 100 pieces at the same price as before. Alright, you two please go to the back and have a cup of tea, take a look at the quote sheet, and we'll discuss further."

  Lin Xiaotang and the two followed Qian Zhanggui to the backyard, where Qian Zhanggui poured them a cup of tea and looked at them. "I was informed earlier that you two would be coming over recently, please wait for a moment, I'll contact the higher-ups to see how to arrange your accommodation."

  Qian Zhanggui turned around and walked into the back room. Lin Xiaotang and the other person quickly picked up their tea cups to moisten their parched throats.

  Soon, Qian Guan came out of the back room, his face a bit awkward, holding an envelope in his hand.

  "Alright you two, this is your mission, and it's required that you take care of this person within a month!"

  Lin Xiaotang and Da Tou were stunned for a moment, but still took over the envelope.