At this moment, his face was so gloomy that it seemed as if water could drip out of it, and his eyes flashed with blazing anger, like a volcano about to erupt. As he read deeper, his breathing became more and more rapid, and his chest rose and fell violently, as if an invisible force was brewing and expanding within him.
Finally, Tan Wei slammed the materials in his hand heavily on the table, making a dull sound.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his excitement, but his voice still trembled as he said, "Immediately notify Zhang Shaohua from the Admissions Office and Liang Qiushi from the Teaching Office, and have them come to me right away!"
Tang Yuan said, "Okay, Principal, I'll go right away."
Ministry of State Security.
Zeng Qiang sat steadily in his chair, his hands tightly gripping the telegram from the army, his eyes intently and eagerly scanning the text. When he finished reading the last line, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, revealing a barely perceptible smile.
Zeng Qiang then stood up and walked with steady, powerful steps toward the desk where the old-fashioned telephone sat. He gently placed the telegram on the table, then reached out with his right hand, expertly grasped the receiver, and quickly dialed a phone number he'd memorized. Following a few crisp dial tones, a response quickly arrived from the other end.
"Hello?" The other party's voice came clearly into Zeng Qiang's ears through the receiver.
Zeng Qiang took a deep breath and said in a low but firm voice, "It's me, Zeng Qiang."
He then succinctly conveyed some important information to the other party, his words concise yet powerful. After only a few minutes, Zeng Qiang ended the call with the other party.
He put down the phone and sat back in his chair, but his eyes were still fixed on the telegram that had just been put aside. He picked up the telegram and pondered for a while, then walked back to the phone, picked up the receiver, dialed a number, and the call was connected.
He held the receiver tightly. Suddenly, a familiar voice came over. He immediately perked up and asked quickly, "Lao Zhang, it's me! It's about that matter I told you a few days ago. I'm in urgent need of someone. You promised to second me someone. Have you sent the secondment letter yet? It's been several days, and I've been waiting! If it hasn't been sent yet, you have to hurry up. I really can't wait!"
A man's voice came from the phone: "Lao Zeng, it's been sent out a long time ago. The people you want have arrived in Kyoto last night. I want them to rest for a day. If you're in a hurry, I'll notify them to come see you immediately."
Zeng Qiang said, "Okay, I'll wait for them in the office."
He put down the phone, paced back and forth in the office, and then walked towards the window flooded with sunlight with slightly heavy steps.
After he stood still, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a box of matches from his pocket. He pulled out a match, and with a soft "sizzle", the flame leaped out and quickly lit the cigarette in his hand.
However, he did not take a deep breath as usual to enjoy the moment of relaxation brought by nicotine. Instead, he just quietly held the lit cigarette between his fingers and let the smoke rise, as if the smoke could bring him some inspiration or answers.
Time passed minute by minute, and he stood motionless in front of the window, lost in deep thought.
He didn't know how long it took until a slight burning sensation came from his index finger, and he finally came to his senses as if awakened from a dream. He looked down and saw that it was the burning cigarette butt that was almost burned out, and the dark red flame was mercilessly burning the skin of his finger.
He quickly tossed the still-smoking cigarette butt into the nearby ashtray. As the cigarette butt touched the bottom of the ashtray, there was a brief, soft "sizzle" sound, and the cigarette went out instantly.
Only a very faint wisp of smoke slowly rose from the cigarette butt. After dancing lightly in the air for a few times, it dissipated silently into the air.
Just then, there was a knock on the office door.
Zeng Cheng looked at the watch on his wrist and said, "Please come in."
As soon as he finished speaking, the door was pushed open. Two people stood at the door.
The people who came were none other than Liu Feng and Liu Pei, the two people he had been thinking about and looking forward to being seconded to the department! The two of them stood there tall and straight, like two straight green pines.
Liu Pei and Liu Feng first glanced at each other, then in unison, they saluted the man in front of them with a standard and solemn military salute, and shouted in unison: "Hello, old leader!"
Zeng Qiang, who was originally sitting on a chair, immediately stood up when he saw them. His originally serious face instantly became filled with a warm smile, as if a spring breeze had blown over it.
Then, he quickly stepped forward, stretched out his hands and tightly shook the hands that Liu Pei and Liu Feng extended, and said excitedly: "Oh my, I've finally had you two here! I've been looking forward to seeing you for a long time!"
After saying that, he pointed to the sofa next to the desk and said, "Please take a seat, both of you." Then he picked up the kettle and poured a glass of water for each of them.
He said, "I know you just came back from a mission abroad. I should have let you rest for a day, but the situation was urgent and I had to call you here."
Liu Pei said, "Leader, what mission is so urgent?"
Zeng Qiang took the telegram and documents from the table and handed them to the two of them. Liu Pei and Liu Feng took the documents and looked at them for a while.
Zeng Qiang said, "According to the news from the border, some stowaways have been caught, and some have already sneaked in."
Liu Pei asked, "Are all these people here for the treasure cave?"
Zeng Qiang said, "Not all of them. Some people come here for the treasures of traditional Chinese medicine left by our ancestors. When my daughter went to register at school, I saw a man named Liang Qiushi, the director of the school's teaching department and the son-in-law of the school's principal, Tan Wei."
When Liu Feng heard the name Tan Wei, he felt it was very familiar, but he couldn't remember it at once.
Liu Pei noticed that Liu Feng's expression had changed a little, so he asked, "Do you know this person?"
Liu Feng thought about it, shook his head, and said, "I don't know him, I just feel that the name sounds familiar."
Zeng Cheng said, "Let's ignore this person for now. Someone is already monitoring him. The most urgent matter now is that the cave was discovered by a special scout team sent by the army on a secret mission there."
"From the content of the telegrams they sent, we can infer that the information conveyed by our comrades who infiltrated the enemy's interior was similar. At that time, we just didn't know the specific location of the storage of those supplies."
"Our personnel contacted the other party through special channels. Just as our personnel were about to meet with that comrade, unfortunately, an accident occurred and contact was lost. We still don't know whether that comrade is dead or alive."
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