After the tricycle passed through an alley, the figures of an old man, a young boy, and a middle-aged woman disappeared instantly.
After passing an old street, Qiu Jingwen asked the driver to stop the car, and took the old man out. Only after paying the fare and waiting for the tricycle driver to drive away did Qiu Jingwen say to the old man, "Let's find a small restaurant to sit down and have a couple of drinks."
Within an hour of meeting the old man, he could almost tell that the old man was probably similar to himself, a rookie agent, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to easily take the gun away and kneel down begging for mercy.
"You're the factory manager, you pay the money."
"That's natural."
The two met at a nearby restaurant and chose a relatively quiet private room. Qiu Jingwen was never stingy, and he ordered several large dishes: braised pork, fish head with chopped chili peppers, and soft-shelled eel, a famous dish from the Huaihai region, along with several stir-fried vegetable dishes. In the 1970s, this was more lavish than many families' New Year's feast. The old man's mouth watered at the sight of the table full of food.
"Director Qiu, you---you ordered so many dishes."
"It's been decades since we last met, what a coincidence! Don't worry, you don't need to pay anything."
Years of experience in management positions allowed Qiu Jingwen to judge that the old man before him, judging from his clothing, weathered face, and even somewhat dull eyes, had not lived a wealthy or glamorous life over the years. If he could win such a person over and get him on his side, even if he didn't manage to turn him against his own side, extracting some information about him would be quite easy.
Several dishes and a bottle of decent Jianzhuang wine were served. As they drank, the old man began to shed tears, recounting the hardships and pressures of his life over the years. Qiu Jingwen could understand what a burden it was to carry the identity of a spy. He was still relatively well-off, after all, he was just a teenager back then. But the old man in front of him, needless to say, had done a lot of dirty work and bad things with the Kuomintang.
After downing half a bottle of wine, Qiu Jingwen laughed and said, "You still won't tell me your real name?"
The old man looked at Qiu Jingwen, raised his wine glass, and said in a reckless tone, "Fine, for the sake of your good food and wine, I'll let this old man like you go. Even if you report me to the police, I'll accept it. Besides, you're in the same boat as me. You're living such a good life and you're not afraid, so why should I be afraid of anything?"
So the old man told Qiu Jingwen his name, the town he lived in, and his family situation. Qiu Jingwen could tell that the old man was not lying.
It turns out that the old man's original name was Zhou Linhai. After liberation, he changed his name to Zhou Hailin, just changing the position of the name. Zhou Hailin had already found a wife in the countryside and had children. He had two daughters and a son. His two daughters were already married. His son used to have a wife, but she died of illness. Now he has found a widow and is demanding 3,000 yuan. It is not the woman's demand for a bride price, but because the son wants to build three more tiled houses and buy a cow.
Qiu Jingwen was naturally not interested in these things. What surprised him was that Zhou Hailin's hometown was Yushan Township, and it was a village near the street. During the off-season, he would go to the market for a while almost every day. When he heard that his home was in Yushan Township, he took the initiative to clink glasses with Zhou Hailin. After finishing his drink, he refilled Zhou Hailin's glass and asked, "So you knew the barber Liu Han before?"
"I know him, but I didn't know he was a spy like us."
"Then how do you know so much about him, such as that Liu Han was a spy who was murdered?"
"These days, when someone dies, the news spreads quickly throughout the entire village and beyond. He was a spy, and Butterfly told me in the letter."
"How much do you really know about butterflies?"
“He always gives me orders through letters, and I have never met him in person.”
"Where did you put those letters?"
“I recently hid one of the old letters; I burned it after reading it back then.”
"What task did he give you this time?"
"It means impersonating him to contact you, and then having me try to control you so that you can get the layout of your Red Flag Factory and the process of your explosives production, etc."
"You haven't even seen his face, yet you trust him based on comfort alone. Why did you agree to do things for him?"
“At my age, I don’t care about dying. But Butterfly seems to know everything about my family. My two daughters are married in a small town, and my grandchildren are all very cute. He warned me that if I don’t obey his orders, he will start by killing my grandchildren. He also said that one day I might see the children’s bodies floating in the nearby river.”
Upon hearing this, Qiu Jingwen slammed his fist on the table and said angrily, "He is utterly depraved, worse than an animal. If I were to meet him, I would beat him half to death."
Zhou Hailin quickly explained, "Director Qiu, actually, it wasn't my intention to bring up your child. Butterfly taught me to do it. He said that using your child would make it easier to control you."
"Old Zhou, how much do you know about the Hidden Group?"
"I have no idea".
"To put it another way, have you maintained contact with other members over the years?"
"No, I don't want anyone to contact me. If someone contacts me, it means I've been awakened and I'm going to do bad things. The world belongs to the Communists now, and if we do bad things, we'll only die faster."
"What did you do in Duliang back then, and what area were you in charge of?"
"Actually, I was just an ordinary field clerk in Duliang back then. To put it simply, I was an inside agent developed by the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics. After liberation, all the officials ran away, leaving us small fry behind. They said we were to lie low and wait for the restoration. Looking back now, it was just a joke."
Perhaps due to excessive drinking, Zhou Hailin was full of complaints about the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics at the time, and he vehemently criticized the corruption of that era. He also listed many affairs between officials and their wives that Qiu Jingwen was unaware of.
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