Chapter 163: Wedding Photos

On September 25th, the sunlight was somewhat fierce, yet under the caress of the intermittent breeze, no heat was felt.

At a little past nine in the morning, Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi went to register their marriage.

The registration process was swift. Handing over the photographs, the staff member affixed them to the marriage certificates and filled in a few lines of text.

With the certificates secured, the two headed off to have their wedding portraits taken.

Taking wedding photographs was currently all the rage in the foreign concessions, and bridal photography studios were particularly numerous in the French Concession. As the couple strolled casually along Pétain Road, they spotted a photo studio.

Pushing the door open, a young woman with a lithe and alluring figure walked over toward them.

"Are the two of you here to take wedding portraits?"

Facing this woman, both Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi instantly heightened their vigilance. Each of them noticed that although the woman's gait—swaying her waist to accentuate her figure—mimicked that of an ordinary trendy young woman, her footsteps were exceptionally firm, clearly marking her as someone who had undergone rigorous training.

"As expected of the Far East's intelligence capital; stumble upon a random shop, and you can still bump into an operative."

Muttering this inwardly, Li Wensheng smiled and said, "Yes, we're here for wedding portraits."

"Right this way, please. I will fetch the sample albums for you to choose from."

The two followed the woman and sat down on a sofa against the wall in the spacious hall, whereupon she presented an album folder and two glasses of water.

Aside from the two of them, there were no other customers in the shop, which prompted the woman to sit down on the adjacent sofa and provide a detailed introduction to every single style of wedding portrait displayed in the album.

As for the photographs themselves, Li Wensheng was entirely indifferent, but Chen Wenqi certainly was not.

Though they were marrying merely to conceal their identities, her relationship with Li Wensheng would undoubtedly blossom into a genuine marriage later on.

When that time came, they likely wouldn't take wedding portraits again; thus, this set of photographs would ultimately serve as their real wedding pictures, and naturally, she had to select the one that satisfied her the most.

The variations among the styles essentially boiled down to the different bridal gowns, of which there were just over a dozen. Chen Wenqi made her careful selection, finishing in less than half an hour.

Just as she made her choice and the woman rose to her feet, about to say, "Please head upstairs with me to change," the wind chime hanging at the doorway chimed. Three men walked in from outside.

Upon catching sight of those three, Li Wensheng's pupils contracted slightly, and he instantly felt a surge of regret—why hadn't he simply left the moment he sensed the woman was suspicious?

Of the three men who had entered, Li Wensheng recognized two, and quite intimately at that. In particular, one of them had even shared a dormitory with him back at the military intelligence training camp.

"Manager, Photographer Guo, these two are here to take wedding portraits," the woman said with a smile upon seeing the trio.

The three men immediately turned their gazes toward Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi. Both Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi had altered their appearances significantly; Li Wensheng's look, in particular, was disguised to the extent that even Bai Yan and the others wouldn't have recognized him immediately. However, among these three men was a veteran operative with a pair of piercing, ruthless eyes—especially since this veteran had interacted quite frequently with Li Wensheng in the past.

With a single glance, he found Li Wensheng vaguely familiar, and after a couple of extra seconds of scrutiny, he recognized him.

"Well, well, Section Chief Li, Section Chief Chen, the two of you have tied the knot."

Section Chief! The expressions of the other two men shifted drastically, and the woman hurriedly stepped back two paces, drawing a pistol from her pocket.

"Put the gun away, don't make a fool of yourself. Come to think of it, Section Chief Li is your senior fellow apprentice."

Senior fellow apprentice! The slightly younger man and woman instantly guessed who it was.

With the mention of a senior apprentice, coupled with the presence of Guo Qiyun, Li Wensheng finally realized the identities of this young man and woman.

"Brother Six, you mean he is..." the man asked in shock.

"Mmm."

Zheng Yaoxian, who had exposed the identities of Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi, sat down on the sofa opposite them.

"You two, are you really planning to become a pair of doomed mandarin ducks from now on and never return to the Nationalist Party?"

Li Wensheng reached out to push up the glasses that had slid down the bridge of his nose. "Doomed mandarin ducks? That remains to be seen—who on earth could possibly doom us?"

The younger man and woman shuddered involuntarily. Although Li Wensheng was seated and his expression remained unchanged, the two of them felt an overwhelming aura of dominance emanating from his entire being.

"Wensheng, long time no see." Another man sat down beside Zheng Yaoxian and said with a smile.

"It has indeed been a long time. Jia Rong mentioned you to me just last year.

He said that when he had just graduated, he looked down on you immensely because you actually went to serve as the instructor's assistant.

Yet less than a month after stepping out into the field, he grew envious of you for not having to take risks in the rear.

Never did I expect that you would be out on a mission yourself now," Li Wensheng said with a smile.

The other man, Guo Qiyun, had been in the same batch of trainees at the Fuxingshe training camp as Li Wensheng. However, his family had deep-rooted ties with Wang Tianfeng, and at the behest of Guo's family, Wang Tianfeng had taken Guo Qiyun with him as his assistant upon graduation.

"If I hadn't gone out on a mission by now, I would have gone stir-crazy. At the training camp, every single day was nothing but training and more training," Guo Qiyun chuckled.

"When is the wedding ceremony, you two? Might I beg a cup of celebratory wine?" Zheng Yaoxian pulled out a cigarette, lit it, exhaled a plume of smoke, and said with a chuckle.

"Our wedding is still a long way off. Registering today was merely a means to conceal our identities."

Li Wensheng had no desire to exchange idle pleasantries with these people. With that said, he stood up.

"Let's get on with the wedding photographs; I have matters to attend to shortly."

The young man and woman looked toward Zheng Yaoxian.

"Why are you looking at me? The guests are here for wedding portraits, and you two are the owners of this shop, not me."

The two of them understood the implication of Zheng Yaoxian's words. The woman immediately stepped forward to guide Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi upstairs to change their attire.

Watching the three of them ascend the stairs, the young man immediately turned his head and asked, "Brother Six, what should we do?"

Zheng Yaoxian tilted his head. "Ming Tai, Wang Tianfeng told me before that you were quite clever and possessed a bit of Li Wensheng's sharpness in your mind.

Yet looking at you now, you don't have a fraction of Li Wensheng's composure.

If it were Li Wensheng in your shoes, he certainly would have taken the photos, collected the money, and two days later when they came to pick them up, handed over the pictures and acted as though he had never laid eyes on these people."

Ming Tai gave a wry smile. "Brother Six, how could I possibly measure up to even a fraction of Section Chief Li? I was merely wondering whether we ought to notify the instructor."

Zheng Yaoxian made no reply, merely smiling and shaking his head.

Seeing this, Ming Tai knew better than to press the matter and could only follow Zheng Yaoxian's earlier advice: pretend to know nothing at all.

Once Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi had changed into their outfits, the woman called Guo Qiyun upstairs to take the photographs.

When the shooting concluded and they changed back into their regular clothes, the pair came downstairs to settle the bill. Upon learning from the woman that the photos would be ready in three days, Li Wensheng didn't even bother exchanging farewells with Zheng Yaoxian and the others; instead, he simply took Chen Wenqi's hand and walked out.

Li Wensheng had no wish to exchange greetings, but Zheng Yaoxian called out to stop him anyway.
"Section Chief Li, could we have a word?"

Li Wensheng, who had reached the middle of the hall, halted his steps, turned his head, and asked, "Brother Six, is there something you need?"

Zheng Yaoxian was a heavy smoker. Having barely finished his previous cigarette two minutes ago, he now produced another.

Standing up and exhaling a cloud of smoke, Zheng Yaoxian narrowed his eyes and said, "Wang Tianfeng's whereabouts were unaccounted for for several days prior. He went to find you, didn't he?"

"That is a question you should be asking him."

Li Wensheng's words instantly caused the atmosphere among Ming Tai and the other two to grow heavy.

Zheng Yaoxian narrowed his eyes and cast a deep, searching look at Li Wensheng. "Section Chief Li, Wang Tianfeng is your instructor; you know his madness far better than I do.

If he has entrusted you with any task, I hope you will choose not to carry it out."

A slight frown furrowed Li Wensheng's brow internally. "Whether he has entrusted me with anything or not, Brother Six, you should go ask the instructor.

I have matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."

Li Wensheng turned, took Chen Wenqi's hand, and walked out. This time, Zheng Yaoxian did not call out to stop him.

After the two departed, Ming Tai immediately asked, "Brother Six, are you worried that the instructor is hiding some other plan from us?"

Zheng Yaoxian immediately turned his head and shot Ming Tai a surprised look. "Wang Tianfeng was right after all; your mind does turn quite fast."

Ming Tai paid no heed to Zheng Yaoxian's praise, pressing anxiously, "Brother Six, is that it?"

"He is your instructor; you understand him better than I do. Whether he has other plans or not, you should know far more clearly than I."

Ming Tai's heart sank. Although Zheng Yaoxian had not stated it outright, his attitude made it abundantly clear that he believed Wang Tianfeng was indeed concealing another agenda from them.