Chapter 142: The Safe House is Occupied

The foreigner Thomson was genuinely interested in the burlap sack business. Throughout dinner, he kept asking about the cost of the sacks and how many could be supplied.

Fearing that Thomson might notice anything amiss, Li Wensheng could only respond with cautious care.

Fortunately, at his flour mill, a great deal of goods were packaged in burlap sacks, and the mill frequently purchased them. He often strolled through the mill and looked over the accounts, so he remembered the purchase price of the sacks.

He quoted a price one-third lower than the market rate, adding that as they were currently a small factory, production volume was still insufficient.

Hearing this, Thomson kept saying the price was good, but to maintain strong competitiveness, the price had to be driven down even further, and production scale needed to be expanded immediately to boost output.

By eight o'clock in the evening, the meal finally came to an end, and Li Wensheng and Thomson returned to the apartment building.

"Mr. Li, you must expand the scale immediately. With that meager output right now, nobody would want them if you put them on the market."

"Understood, understood. Rest assured, Mr. Thomson, I will expand the operation as quickly as possible. Once the scale is ten times larger, I will contact you again."

After reaching the fifth floor, Thomson was still preoccupied with the business.

Having placated Thomson and watched him head up to the sixth floor, Li Wensheng breathed a sigh of relief and turned toward room 506.

Upon returning to room 506, he found the interior completely transformed. Under the glow of the incandescent light, the thick layer of dust and the disgusting musty odor were both gone, and the entire room was spotlessly clean.

"Do we have to live here?" Li Wensheng asked, sitting down at the living room table and looking across at Chen Wenqi, who was eating.

Chen Wenqi gave a slight nod. "Someone has already come to you to talk business; if we don't live here, it will look very suspicious.

Before this matter is resolved, we must stay here. Tomorrow, we'll check out of the inn and move our luggage over."

As for where to stay, Li Wensheng didn't mind. Since Chen Wenqi said they would live here, they would live here.

"In the middle of the night, we're going out for a trip to bring those two people from the safe house over."

Li Wensheng immediately wanted to say he would go, but the words died on his lips, and he changed them to, "Alright."

Chen Wenqi had cleaned the room, but quilts and pillows left idle for half a year retained a particularly heavy musty smell.

After finishing their meal, the two of them went out to buy everyday necessities such as quilts and pillows.

At a little past one in the morning, the moonlight illuminated Shanghai as bright as day, making the dazzling dance halls of debauchery look all the more striking under the moonbeams.

"Let's go." Chen Wenqi, lying on the bed, glanced at her watch by the moonlight filtering through the gaps in the curtains and stood up.

Li Wensheng, who was sleeping on a makeshift pallet beside the bed, immediately got up, put on his coat and shoes, and went out with Chen Wenqi.

At night, the apartment building was exceptionally quiet, without the slightest sound.

After heading downstairs, the two drove toward the safe house.

When they were still two streets away from the safe house, the car stopped by the roadside, and the two walked the rest of the way.

The situation involved Hinz. Moreover, around six o'clock that evening, the Japanese top brass in Shanghai had a meeting with the Municipal Council, informing them that Hinz had been kidnapped by a lone operative and expressing a desire for joint cooperation.

Germany had not yet occupied France, and the French of that era were obsessively proud; otherwise, Britain and the United States would not have formed the International Settlement while France carved out the French Concession all on its own.

Faced with the Japanese demand, the Municipal Council refused without a second thought.

As for the Japanese, none of the high-ranking officials wanted to take responsibility. The previous handling of Malone had already earned them reprimands for incompetence from their domestic superiors, and they were currently waiting for personnel from the Japanese mainland to arrive. Consequently, their attitude was no longer rigid; since the Municipal Council refused to cooperate, they simply washed their hands of the matter.

While the Japanese let it go, the Municipal Council took it to heart, ordering the patrolmen to search the safe house area day and night.

Deep into the night, there were still many patrolmen searching the vicinity of the safe house.

However, the patrolmen of the French Concession were entirely freeloaders—useless at real work, but absolute experts at slacking off.

They were somewhat dutiful during the day, but searching at night? Not a chance. They simply found a corner, sat down, and went to sleep, completely ignoring orders.

Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi walked down the alleyway toward the safe house for two minutes. Turning a corner, they saw two patrolmen ahead in the lane, leaning against the wall and sleeping on top of burlap sacks.

Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi exchanged a glance, nodded tacitly at each other, and lightened their footsteps as they walked forward.

The two patrolmen were fast asleep and did not react at all as Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi passed by.

Subsequently, Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi encountered quite a few more patrolmen, but every single one of them was asleep.

Arriving at the entrance of the safe house, Li Wensheng's pupils contracted slightly.

"Someone is living here," Chen Wenqi whispered.

Every time they went out, they would lock the door. Yet now, the lock was open.

Chen Wenqi reached out and pushed the door, but finding it immovable, she whispered,

"Climb over the wall and take a look."

"Alright!" Li Wensheng walked to the side, leaped up, grabbed the top of the wall, and quickly vaulted into the courtyard.

In the moonlight, the courtyard was clearly visible. Li Wensheng scanned it, found nothing out of the ordinary, and strode toward the main hall.

Entering the main hall, through the moonlight shining in from the doorway, Li Wensheng saw a teapot and teacups on the table.

Neither Li Wensheng nor Chen Wenqi had ever consumed tea here.

Li Wensheng walked quickly to the washstand and, seeing it spotless, hurriedly pushed it aside to open the secret passage.

Malone and Hinz were lying soundly asleep at the entrance of the passage, but Li Wensheng's expression changed drastically.

When he tore the adhesive tape, he had left a mark—the torn edge of the tape was jagged and diagonal. Yet now, the tape over the mouths of both men was neatly cut.

"Damn it, who the hell moved in here?"

After cursing inwardly, Li Wensheng was struck by curiosity: who on earth could it be, and why had they discovered these two men without taking any action?

Pondering for a moment, Li Wensheng walked out of the main hall and headed toward the side bedroom.

Just as he reached the doorway of the bedroom, amidst the absolute silence, Li Wensheng suddenly heard the sound of a gun being cocked from within.

Li Wensheng hurriedly drew his own pistol as well. Just as he was preparing to kick the door open, a voice came from inside, "Is that you, Wensheng?"

Li Wensheng paused, put away his pistol, and called out toward the interior, "It's me, Instructor. Why are you here?"

Footsteps sounded from within the room, and in the blink of an eye, the door was pulled open. Wang Tianfeng, dressed in pajamas, smiled at Li Wensheng and said, "I came looking for you. You fired shots nearby, and I found this place just a step ahead of the patrolmen's search.

Strictly speaking, you ought to thank me. If I hadn't been living here, the patrolmen might well have searched this house and discovered the secret tunnel."

Li Wensheng frowned and turned toward the front door.

"Instructor, let's talk later."

Walking to the courtyard gate, he pulled it open, just as Chen Wenqi was about to ask him about the situation, only to see Wang Tianfeng walking up behind Li Wensheng.

"Who is he?"

Chen Wenqi knew that since Li Wensheng hadn't killed this person, it meant they were acquainted.

"Come inside and talk."

After Chen Wenqi stepped in, Li Wensheng closed the door and asked Wang Tianfeng, "We ran into each other during the day; if you had business, you could have just said it then. Why bother waiting for me here?"

"What happened this time isn't convenient for outsiders to know."

Seeing Wang Tianfeng finish speaking and cast a wary gaze toward Chen Wenqi, Li Wensheng immediately stated, "She is my fiancée. There is nothing about my affairs that she cannot know."

Fiancée? Wang Tianfeng froze for a few seconds before breaking into a smile. "Congratulations. When is the wedding? When the time comes, I'll have to come and drink a toast."

"The wedding date hasn't been set yet. Instructor, speak, what did you want with me?"

Wang Tianfeng turned and walked toward the main hall. "Let's go inside to talk."

Li Wensheng had no desire to deal with Wang Tianfeng; the man was completely unhinged, and there was no telling what kind of trouble he intended to stir up.

Yet under the circumstances, avoiding him was impossible. Frowning, he entered the main hall alongside Chen Wenqi.