Chapter 134: Playing House

"Can you help me kill Wang Shi'an?"

Li Wensheng paused for a moment, then chuckled. "Station Chief Chen, Deputy Station Chief Wang has always been very cooperative with your work. Back when I was at the station, many people would whisper behind your backs that Deputy Station Chief Wang was practically working himself to the bone for you. To think you’d want me to kill him—you truly have a ruthless heart."

"Working himself to the bone? That’s all a facade. Thanks to him, I barely made it back alive after delivering that crate to Shancheng," Chen Moqun said, gritting his teeth.

"Tell me, how did he stab you in the back?" Li Wensheng asked with a smile, looking as if he were settling in for a good show.

He was mostly gloating, though Li Wensheng was genuinely curious. Wang Shi'an was decent at socializing but lacked professional competence, mostly relegated to odd jobs. He wondered how such a man had managed to backstab Chen Moqun.

Chen Moqun took a deep breath and said slowly, "That crate was filled with classified documents. After I delivered it to Shancheng, headquarters was certain to investigate whether I had opened it. So, before leaving Shanghai, I sealed the keyhole with wax. Once I returned to headquarters and handed the crate to the Boss, the investigation began immediately. With the lock sealed by wax, I was innocent regarding the journey from the station to Shancheng. The investigation focused on whether I had opened the crate while still at the station. Before I left, Wang Shi'an was by my side the entire time; he could have testified that I never opened it. But the result of the investigation was that no one could prove I opened it, and no one could prove I didn't. If the Boss hadn't trusted me, I wouldn't have made it back."

"Haha!" Li Wensheng laughed heartily. "Old Chen, to think you’d be the one getting stabbed in the back. Wang Shi'an—tsk, tsk, he’s too timid. He was afraid of a deeper investigation. If it were me, I would have said I saw you open the crate with my own eyes to seal your fate."

Seeing Chen Moqun’s face turn as black as the bottom of a pot, Chen Wenqi gently tapped Li Wensheng.

At her touch, Li Wensheng stopped laughing, though his face remained bright with amusement.

"I’ve made things difficult for you in the past, but you also landed me in the hospital for half a month. We’re even," Chen Moqun said, sounding annoyed.

"We’re even, but I still find it delightful to see you get played. Tsk, tsk, I really didn't expect an old fox like you to be backstabbed by the little mouse by your side."

"Spare me the sarcasm. Are you going to help me with this or not?"

Li Wensheng’s expression sobered. "I’ll help. We’re old friends, after all. I’ll do it, but it will have to wait for a while; I have other things to attend to."

"Take care of it when you can, there’s no rush." Chen Moqun pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to Li Wensheng. "This is his address."

"Fine. Wait for the news." Li Wensheng took the note.

"Thank you. I’m leaving." Chen Moqun turned and walked away.

"Old fox, little mice only know how to scheme, but a cat knows how to kill."

Chen Moqun, having only taken two steps, stopped abruptly. He turned to ask, "Who is the cat?" But seeing that Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi had already walked away, he swallowed the words. Since Li Wensheng hadn't been clear and had left immediately, he wouldn't have answered even if asked.

Watching Li Wensheng’s retreating back, Chen Moqun pondered quickly. "Since he didn't elaborate, it seems the 'cat' by my side is someone from the Yanzhou faction. If it were anyone else, he would have been explicit."

...

"The documents from the Military Statistics Bureau headquarters say you and Station Chief Chen are at odds. Is that a lie?" Walking down the street, Chen Wenqi could not suppress her curiosity and asked in a low voice.

"It was true at the beginning, but it’s been a lie ever since."

Knowing Chen Wenqi had many doubts about his relationship with Chen Moqun, Li Wensheng quickly organized his thoughts before she could ask again. "After graduating from the Military Statistics training camp, I was assigned to the Shanghai station. Back then, I was a greenhorn who hadn't even seen blood. My psychological fortitude was poor, and the first mission I executed failed—I nearly lost my life. Later, I started assassinating traitors and Japanese soldiers on my own to train myself. At first, I caused quite a stir. I lacked experience and left many traces, and the Japanese caught up to me a few times, though I managed to eliminate them."

"Chen Moqun found out about me, but he didn't expose my identity. Instead, he did his best to suppress the news of what I was doing. He did this because he wanted me to be a loyal subordinate to execute secret missions. I had no intention of being his subordinate, so I refused flat out. There wasn't much he could do; exposing me would only lead to a commendation from above, and killing me wasn't something he could manage. He could only suppress me—assigning me difficult missions and deliberately finding trouble over small things, which made my life miserable for a while. I didn't take it lying down, though. During a station-wide operation, I deliberately lured the target toward him, which resulted in him getting shot and spending half a month in the hospital. After he was discharged, he couldn't swallow his pride, and we just kept sabotaging each other."

Recalling the past, a smile appeared on Li Wensheng’s face. "He’d use fake missions to keep me in a trash heap for a day, so I’d put a sack over his head in the middle of the night and give him a beating."

"You two sound like children fighting," Chen Wenqi couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't expected Li Wensheng to have a past like that.

Li Wensheng’s smile faded, and he let out a long sigh. "True, like children playing house. But those days didn't last long. Last May, three months before the war broke out, the Japanese spies lurking in Shanghai became increasingly rampant, and we started cooperating. He talked to me once: he would cover for my identity and suppress the noise, and I would kill as many Japanese as possible. For our own safety, we agreed that on the surface, he would continue to suppress me, and I would continue to defy him—we even had to stage incidents to make it look like we were trying to kill each other. When we needed to meet, we’d do it through classified ads in the paper, setting a time and place to talk."

Chen Wenqi tilted her head to look at the melancholy Li Wensheng, reached out to take his arm, and whispered, "The war will pass eventually."

Li Wensheng’s mind wasn't on her words; he was thinking, "She took my arm voluntarily! Voluntarily!"

"No wonder the bureau’s files say that when you went to Japan, Chen Moqun went to your house and left some documents related to Japan. He was doing that for others to see, creating a pretext for your trip."

"By the way, did he know you went to Japan to assassinate Emperor Showa?"

After a few seconds, hearing no response, Chen Wenqi turned her head and saw Li Wensheng wearing a foolish, lovesick grin. She immediately understood what he was thinking. She didn't pull her arm away but gave him a sharp pinch.

"Can you focus?"

"Cough, cough!" Pulled back to reality, Li Wensheng cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I’m paying attention, I’m paying attention."

"Did he know you went to Japan to assassinate Emperor Showa?" Chen Wenqi asked again.

"No. When I applied to go to Japan, he met with me and asked what I was going for. I only said I was going to cause some trouble for the Japanese. At the time, he only tried to talk me out of it."

"Then Station Chief Chen doesn't seem as cold-blooded and dismissive of his subordinates as the files suggest."

Li Wensheng shook his head slightly. "He is cold-blooded, even cruel, but that is all in service of completing his missions. It’s wrong to say he doesn't care about his subordinates; he treats his people quite well. Otherwise, the action team captain, Hu Daoyi, wouldn't be so loyal to him."

Chen Wenqi didn't continue talking about Chen Moqun. After a few steps, she asked, "The letter you had him deliver to Shancheng—did it say you were using your own file to protect my family?"

Chen Wenqi’s tone was low. Li Wensheng knew she was struggling with the feeling of being a burden.

"Yes, but don't overthink it. I did it because I knew you could help me with ideas."

Chen Wenqi immediately let go of his arm and stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" Li Wensheng looked around immediately, found nothing unusual, and asked in confusion.

"You must have never liked anyone before!" Chen Wenqi said angrily.

"Yes, what about it?"

Li Wensheng didn't understand why she was acting this way. He thought his comforting words were correct—wouldn't that ease her psychological burden?

Seeing that Li Wensheng still looked blank, Chen Wenqi took a deep breath and began to walk forward.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Li Wensheng hurriedly caught up.

"Nothing."

"That's not right. 'Nothing'? You were fine a moment ago."

"I said nothing is wrong!"

"Fine, nothing is wrong, nothing at all."