Qiu Jingwen realized he had underestimated Butterfly; the man he had thrown out was merely his agent. To wipe out Butterfly and his entire group in one fell swoop, he would have to plan carefully. With that in mind, he asked the old man, "Your name is Wei Dongping?"
"I am not."
"Is the butterfly named Wei Dongping?"
"It should be the name from before liberation, it may have been changed a long time ago, just like your name used to be Sun Jiadong."
"I'll keep this gun; I need it for self-defense."
"Actually, there were no bullets in the gun. I just took it out to scare you."
Qiu Jingwen did not respond. He thought the old man in front of him was honest enough, so he asked, "Where do you live, and what is your name now?"
"Qiu Jingwen, I'm not that stupid. If I tell you my name, you can report me to the police and they can find out about me right away, right?"
"Do you want three thousand yuan?"
Upon hearing this, the old man immediately retorted warily, "You mean you can help me solve the problem of three thousand yuan?"
“You won’t even tell me your real name, so why should I give you three thousand yuan? Besides, you know I was just a teenager back then, and I didn’t have the blood of Communists on my hands. Even if the police find out I’m a spy, do you think it’ll be a big deal for me? But you are different. If I arrest you and take you to the police now, and I surrender to them, I’ll be doing a good deed, and the police will give me a break.”
"You're too ruthless! Aren't you afraid of losing your wife and children? Aren't you afraid of going to jail?"
"Of course I'm scared. I worked hard to get to where I am today and became a factory leader. I don't want to lose everything I have, especially not to wait for you to blackmail me and expose me. It's better to turn myself in. If I bring you with me now, I'm sure I'll get a reduced sentence or even be released without charge."
Then, changing the subject, he said, "How about this? Let's find a place to sit down, I'll treat you to dinner, and then we can have a proper chat."
"Then you treat me."
"It's my treat."
The two of them talked and then left the willow tree.
Once out of the mountains, Qiu Jingwen hailed a tricycle. As he got on, he carefully observed the direction behind him and noticed a young woman and an old man following them. Besides the young and old man, a middle-aged woman also caught his attention. She was wearing sunglasses and had a triangular headscarf, a style often worn by rural women, which looked rather incongruous.
"No way, is she stalking me?"
Because he only glanced at her, Qiu Jingwen couldn't be sure if the woman following the old man and the young man was the woman who had popped into his head.
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