Back in his office, Qiu Jingwen took off his hard hat, hung it on the side wall, and plopped down in a chair. Just as he opened a drawer to get a pack of cigarettes, the phone on his desk rang. He closed the drawer, grabbed the receiver, and said, "Hello!"
“Hello, Sun Jiadong. No, I should call you by your code name, Rattlesnake.”
"------".
Qiu Jingwen froze, his mind went blank as if he had been hit by a heavy object, his hand holding the microphone trembled, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Sun Jiadong was the name he used before liberation, while Rattlesnake was his code name when he was a secret agent in the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics. "What did you say? I don't understand!" Qiu Jingwen decisively put down the microphone.
He opened the drawer again, took out a pack of cigarettes, and tore it open without opening it. The whole pack of cigarettes scattered on the table. Qiu Jingwen picked up a cigarette, put it in his mouth, took out a lighter, and lit it after several tries. He took a few puffs, and the cigarette butt emitted a faint light, illuminating his tanned face and the tension and fear on his face.
Having lived in a military factory for over thirty years, rising from an ordinary worker to a workshop director, and experiencing everything from falling in love and getting married to having children, Qiu Jingwen seemed to have forgotten his identity as a spy. He understood what this phone call meant: the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics had sent someone to find him and used this call to bring him back to reality.
It was already 6 p.m. when a broadcast suddenly came over the factory's loudspeaker. The announcer's voice was clear but had a local accent: "Dear employees, this is an important announcement. According to information provided by the public security department, our brother arsenal has discovered enemy agents attempting sabotage. The factory leadership and higher authorities require all employees to be vigilant, keep their eyes open, and prevent enemy agents from infiltrating the factory to ensure safe production and prevent military leaks."
In fact, the fact that enemy agents were carrying out sabotage and espionage at the sister factory had already been communicated at the mid-level cadre meeting this morning, and the local public security bureau and the provincial military industry bureau's security department had both intervened in the investigation.
After finishing his cigarette, Qiu Jingwen stubbed it out hard in the ashtray, glanced out the window, and...
The sky had darkened, followed by a deafening rumble of thunder and lightning, seemingly a warning that a storm was approaching.
When the phone rang again, Qiu Jingwen picked up the receiver without thinking and said, "Can't you fucking understand human language? I don't know what you're talking about."
A surprised voice came from the other end of the phone, "Jingwen, who are you cursing? What happened?"
Upon hearing that it was his wife Jiang Yuping, Qiu Jingwen immediately suppressed his anger and said, "Yuping, it's you. I thought—"
"Jingwen, who do you think you are? Who could make you so angry? We've been married for over twenty years, and this is the first time I've ever heard you swear like that. I really underestimated you!"
"Yu Ping, no---I just received a strange phone call, so---okay, let's not talk about that. Did you call me because you need something?"
“Look outside, thunder is rumbling and lightning is flashing. If you’re not busy, hurry home. You’re a director and you still have to work overtime every day? Does the workshop stop working without you? What time is it already? What kind of director are you? Okay, I won’t criticize you anymore. The kids and I are waiting for you to come home.”
“My wife is right to criticize me. My Yuping is the most understanding and considerate person. I’m going home now.”
Qiu Jingwen hung up the phone, his mood seemed to have improved a lot, and he calmed down from the tension. He walked out of the office, closed the door, rode his old bicycle, and headed straight for the factory gate.
On either side of the gate are red brick walls that are about three meters high. The top of the walls is covered with reflective and glaring shards of glass, and there is also a dense barbed wire fence. From a distance, the slogans supporting the Third Front construction are written in lime on the high walls: Prepare for war and famine for the people, good people and good horses go to the Third Front.
This is a third-line military industrial enterprise, officially named Hongqi Chemical Plant, or simply Hongqi Factory. Its military code is 5335. Hongqi Factory was built in the early 1960s and is located in Dayu Mountain, 30 kilometers outside Duliang County. It has nearly 3,000 employees and, in addition to its administrative offices and research institutes, has six major workshops in its production area.
The company's main product is the high explosive RDX, also known as cyclone explosive, which has an equivalent of more than ten times that of TNT. It is easily ignited and exploded when exposed to open flames, high temperatures, vibration, impact, or friction. Ninety percent of this explosive is used in military munitions to provide ammunition and equipment for the armed forces. Some precision products are also used in rocket propulsion and atomic bomb charges. Only about ten percent are civilian products used for blasting such as opening mountains and blowing up bridges.
As a military factory primarily producing explosives, the safety of its staff and employees was a primary concern from the outset. The staff living quarters and school for their children were completely separated from the production area, with a distance of four to five kilometers between them. To return to the living quarters, one had to pass through the factory gate and then climb a small hill.
Soon, Qiu Jingwen left the factory gate and rode towards the mountainside.
Just as Qiu Jingwen reached the halfway point of the mountain, a torrential downpour began. As he rode through the rain, he found his vision blocked, so he immediately gripped the double brakes and dismounted.
"Sun Jiadong!"
A voice came from behind.
Qiu Jingwen's heart tightened, and he instinctively slowed his pace, but he did not stop or look back.
Sun Jiadong was the name he used before liberation. After liberation, he had long since changed his name to Qiu Jingwen. After all, he had received special training and his mental fortitude was quite good. Qiu Jingwen pretended to be nonchalant and continued pushing his bicycle forward, as if Sun Jiadong had nothing to do with him.
Over the years, Qiu Jingwen wasn't afraid of the familiar cadres and employees in the factory. What he feared most was encountering strangers, and even more so, being followed by strangers. That would mean he might be targeted by lurking spies. And if the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics found him and woke him up, it would mean he would have to carry out orders and accept missions, or cause sabotage, or steal classified information about the military factory, or even be forced to kill, set fires, or cause explosions.
Yes, Qiu Jingwen was an enemy agent who had been hiding his identity and infiltrating the Red Flag Factory for twenty-seven years.
For the past 27 years, he has been a sleeper, living a peaceful life, and no one has yet come looking for him on behalf of organizations on the Taiwan Strait.
At this moment, Qiu Jingwen wished he could be completely forgotten by the organization, and that no one would contact him or make contact until the day he died. He had long since started a family and had a beautiful wife and five adorable children.
Over the years, through tireless efforts and hard work, he rose from an ordinary worker to a team leader, then to a section chief, and then step by step, and has now been promoted to the position of workshop director, becoming a section-level management cadre.
"Rattlesnake, you stop right there!"
The person who had been following him shouted loudly at the back of his head.
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