Chapter 151: Two Women

Under the dim illumination of an oil lamp, as they reached the iron grating, Shi Xiaozhen and the other four widened their eyes in absolute disbelief.

Immediately afterward, all five of them muttered inwardly, "This secret passage is completely absurd!"

"Take this!"

Handing the oil lamp to Shi Xiaozhen, Li Wensheng reached into his pocket—or rather, drew the key from his system inventory—and unlocked the thick iron chain securing the gate.

A short while later, having reached the very end of the tunnel, Li Wensheng tapped on the wooden panel.

After waiting a moment with no response, he tapped on the panel again.

Another short wait yielded no response either, so he tapped on the wood once more.

This time, a response came quickly. The wooden panel swung open, revealing Zheng Gong.

Upon seeing Li Wensheng, whose appearance was completely altered, Zheng Gong froze in a daze. He couldn't help thinking: Who is this? How did someone emerge from the secret passage? Could Wensheng be letting others use this passage?

Stepping out of the tunnel and seeing that Zheng Gong was still looking bewildered, Li Wensheng called out, "Uncle Gong."

Only then did Zheng Gong snap back to his senses. Recognizing the voice as Li Wensheng's, he looked him up and down in astonishment and asked in surprise, "Wensheng, how did you end up looking like this?"

Then, Zheng Gong hurriedly explained, "I'm sorry, I was out making a house call just now and wasn't in the office."

"I'm in disguise. Uncle Gong, please help perform surgery on my friends."

Zheng Gong swept his gaze over Shi Xiaozhen and the other four. "Alright, I'll go make arrangements right now."

Seeing that Zheng Gong turned and started walking away the moment he finished speaking, Li Wensheng quickly called out, "Uncle Gong, it's going to take a bit longer this time. There are four wounded people."

Zheng Gong turned around and his eyes went wide. "Four?!"

"Sir, we're troubling you." Shi Xiaozhen bowed slightly in gratitude.

"It's nothing. Since you were brought by Wensheng, of course I'll help." Zheng Gong turned and walked away, muttering under his breath, "Four of them? You're trying to work me to death."

Zheng Gong cleared out the clinic. Soon, the clinic was filled with muffled groans of pain as the patients bit down hard on towels, trying their best to suppress their cries.

Scholar and Li Wensheng assisted in the makeshift operating room. Their main job was to hold the patients down to prevent them from thrashing around from the pain and disrupting the procedures.

Pressing down with all his might and watching Old Niu—who had an exceptionally high pain tolerance—cry out with muffled groans while veins bulged all over his body, Scholar felt a chill run down his spine.

"Operating without anesthesia... Whew, thank goodness I wasn't injured."

Fortunately, none of the four had sustained bone fractures from their gunshot wounds, and the surgeries went smoothly. By a little past seven in the evening, all four operations were complete.

Having operated on four people in succession, Zheng Gong was practically exhausted to the point of collapse. After preparing the medications, he left first.

With Zheng Gong gone, Li Wensheng and the others could not leave just yet.

All four patients had just undergone surgery, were unable to get out of bed, and couldn't travel even if they wanted to.

Li Wensheng and Scholar cleaned up the bloody bandages and other debris in the operating room while waiting for the four to rest.

Once finished, Li Wensheng carried the surgical waste out of the room and placed it in Zheng Gong's office to take along when they left later.

Just as he set the garbage down and turned to leave, suddenly—"Knock, knock!"

Hearing the knocking sounds coming from inside the bookshelf, Li Wensheng immediately walked over to the side of the bookshelf, opened a cabinet, and twisted a small wooden carving.

With a series of squeaking sounds, the bookshelf slid aside, revealing the secret passage.

"Why are you here?"

Seeing Chen Wenqi appear at the entrance of the secret passage, Li Wensheng asked in surprise.

After stepping out, Chen Wenqi looked Li Wensheng up and down carefully. Seeing that he was uninjured, she let out a sigh of relief, and then her face tightened into a stern expression.

"You're still asking me? We agreed that by noon today you would parade Feng Jingyun around in front of the Star Newspaper office, and you were supposed to be back at the apartment before three this afternoon.

Yet it's already past seven, and you still haven't returned.

So naturally, I had to come out looking for you. I searched everywhere without finding a trace, and then I heard people talking about a gunfight between you and some others in front of the Star Newspaper office at noon. That's when I figured you must have come to the safehouse."

Seeing Chen Wenqi fussing over him like an overbearing housewife, Li Wensheng felt as sweet inside as if he had eaten honey.

"Weren't you uninjured? What are you doing here?"

"I ran into some old friends. They got injured, so I brought them here for Uncle Gong to operate on.

The surgeries are already done, and we'll be heading back soon."

"Friends? Where on earth did you get friends?

I distinctly remember your file. Aside from those training camp classmates you haven't been in contact with for years, you don't have any friends at all. You're practically a hermit."

"Cough, cough." Hearing Chen Wenqi describe him as a hermit, Li Wensheng felt rather awkward. "They're just a few of my former subordinates from the Military Statistics Bureau. They're my friends too."

Chen Wenqi's expression changed abruptly. "How did they end up here?"

At that moment, Scholar appeared at the office doorway, guided by the sound of their voices.

"Uh, Miss Chen, hello."

"Hello." Chen Wenqi offered a polite reply, then signaled Li Wensheng with a look: Watch out, it could be a trap!

"Don't worry. Those people from the Political Department were lying in wait for me at noon, and it was these guys who gave me advance warning beforehand.

The reason they got injured is also because they tried to warn me in advance and ended up in a shootout with the Political Department."

Seeing how high Chen Wenqi's guard was against Scholar and the others, Li Wensheng had no choice but to lie.

The wariness in Chen Wenqi's eyes vanished instantly. If they could give advance warning and even get into a shootout, there was no way they could be agents sent by Chongqing to infiltrate Li Wensheng's side.

"Hello. I recall there were five of you originally, right?" Chen Wenqi's greeting carried a touch of warmth now.

Scholar glanced at Li Wensheng and, wise enough not to expose the lie, went along with Chen Wenqi's words. "That's right. The other four are all wounded and lying in bed."

"In that case, when we leave shortly, neither of you will be able to manage carrying everyone. I'll stay and help out."

Help out? But as soon as Chen Wenqi entered the room, Bai Yan, who had been lying there weak and pale, seemed to suddenly find a surge of energy and stared fixedly at Chen Wenqi.

Chen Wenqi was no pushover either. Back when she was tracking Li Wensheng down, she had conducted a full investigation and knew very well that this Bai Yan harbored feelings for Li Wensheng.

Since Bai Yan dared to stare at her, she widened her eyes and glared right back.

The two locked eyes in a mutual stare-down, plunging the room into an extremely awkward atmosphere.

Scholar and the others exchanged glances and pretended not to see anything; this was a situation they were in no position to meddle with.

Seeing this, Li Wensheng frowned. After a split second of thought, he stepped forward and pulled Chen Wenqi out of the room.

Women are prone to jealousy, even when there's nothing going on.

As for Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi, neither could live without the other. If Li Wensheng were to leave Chen Wenqi, he would once again become a drifting rootless duckweed; if Chen Wenqi were to leave Li Wensheng, she would become a wandering ghost. She couldn't return to Chongqing, and back home, her break with the Nationalist Party had meant a total break with her family.

Because neither could do without the other, they were both exceptionally anxious about each other, and that touch of jealousy—or rather, the underlying fear that the other might abandon them—was magnified infinitely.

If a man who fancied Chen Wenqi were to suddenly appear by her side and maintain a decent relationship with her, Li Wensheng would feel equally anxious.

Knowing this in his heart, once Li Wensheng pulled Chen Wenqi outside, he lowered his voice and said, "Once they recover from their injuries, I'll give them some money and send them abroad."

The worry in Chen Wenqi's heart vanished instantly, though she still put up a stubborn front on the surface.

"Stay or go, what do I care?"

Seeing the faint smile at the corner of Chen Wenqi's mouth, Li Wensheng couldn't resist teasing her, "If you put it that way, I guess I'll just let them stay."

"You dare!" Chen Wenqi glared at him, her voice rising in anger.

The moment she said it, Chen Wenqi realized Li Wensheng was pulling her leg. With flushed cheeks and a mixture of shyness and annoyance, she pinched Li Wensheng's arm.

"Hehe," Li Wensheng chuckled. "Alright, let's go back inside."

Since Li Wensheng had already promised to give them money and send them abroad, Chen Wenqi no longer cared about Bai Yan. When they went back in, even though Bai Yan glared at her again, she simply chose to ignore it.

With Chen Wenqi offering no reaction, Bai Yan stared for a while longer before feeling utterly defeated, finally looking away.