Chapter 38: Qi Sheng plots to replace the original with the fake. Watanabe plots to use the mantis to catch the cicada.
Nanjing Pseudo-Presidential Palace Building.
A graceful young woman in military uniform, with a briefcase tucked under her arm, hurried towards the headquarters where Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto was. As she turned the corner, an arm suddenly stretched out and dragged her behind the stairwell. The young woman was startled and, upon closer inspection, saw the handsome young man in a suit and tie. It was none other than her lover, He Qisheng, then the Premier of the Executive Yuan of the puppet Nationalist government. She couldn't help but pout, "You're so annoying! You scared me to death! Why are you here?"
He Qisheng used his body to hold the girl against the wall, hooked his finger under her chin, and said with a devilish smile: "I missed you! My little beauty... Where are you going? You're walking so fast, be careful not to sprain your ankle..."
The girl's name was Nami Heguchi, and she was Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto's confidential secretary with the rank of captain. Sweet words really worked on women, and Captain Nami, who hadn't seen her lover for a few days, was very happy and quickly replied, "Mr. Watanabe sent an urgent telegram, and I have to rush to deliver it to the Commander-in-Chief..."
"Oh? Is it General Watanabe Hiko?" He Qisheng asked casually, while dishonestly putting his hand into Nami's clothes and wandering around.
"It's not Watanabe Hiko...it's Mr. Watanabe Yu in Japan...Oh..." Nami's voice was interrupted by He Qisheng's touching all over, and she let out a cry that sounded like both pain and joy.
He Qisheng kept working, put his mouth close to her ear, breathing rapidly: "Baby... don't you miss me? We haven't seen each other for several days, I miss you so much... There's no rush to deliver a document, give me ten minutes... just ten minutes, okay..."
Nami's legs became weak due to his arousal, and she was dragged back to the empty confidential room in a daze... "Bang!" The door was closed tightly and quickly locked.
He Qisheng's assassination attempt on Luo Guoyun failed that year, but he managed to escape back to Nanjing. He was initially facing disciplinary action, but he was extremely resourceful and managed to get close to Chairman Wang's wife. His shrewdness and ability earned him the favor of Mrs. Wang, and within a few years, he rose to the position of Minister in the puppet Nationalist government.
A rising political star, the youngest minister, a highly educated scholar, and the heir to a vast estate, He Qisheng was a renowned bachelor, the object of admiration for many prominent women. Yet, he seemed uninterested in anything other than his work, maintaining a remarkably self-discipline. Chairman Wang had repeatedly commended him for his dedication to public service, declaring him a rare pillar of national responsibility, and had proposed promoting him to the position of Vice Chairman, suggesting a promising future.
Of course... he wasn't completely without hobbies, but his hobby was something he couldn't let anyone know about... which was to constantly monitor Xiao Xiangyue's every move, gathering all sorts of information about him and waiting for an opportunity to get close to him, in order to satisfy his perverted and twisted psychology.
That year, Xiao Xiangyue kept her promise and, before leaving the country, recorded a special album for him to listen to daily in prison. During his days without freedom, that music was his constant companion. Over the years, his obsession and paranoia about Xiao Xiangyue only grew. He even suspected that Young Master Xiangyue was interested in him, otherwise he wouldn't be so kind to him, recording an album specifically for him. It was only because of Luo's interference that the two of them couldn't be together.
He regretted not killing Luo Guyun but accidentally killing his beloved, a fact that had long plagued him. He knew all about Xiao Xiangyue's subsequent trip to Jincheng to recuperate, her return to Hanchang, and her subsequent visit to the United States with Madame Chiang. That year, at Madame Chiang's invitation, Xiao Xiangyue led her students to Chongqing to perform an opera based on the life of the Xiaoshan couple. He Qisheng even disguised himself to attend the performance. He hoped to seize the opportunity to approach, but Luo Guyun's protective shield was so strong that he couldn't get close.
He Qisheng was naturally the first to learn of Xiao Xiangyue's disappearance. Convinced that Watanabe Hiko was hiding her, he secretly inquired, but found nothing...until one day, a special plane from Japan arrived at Nanjing Airport. Mrs. Wang personally greeted him at the airport. The person stepping down the gangway was none other than Watanabe Hiko's uncle, Watanabe Yu! It was said that Watanabe Yu's visit to China was secret, so there were no reports before or after the event.
The special plane left Ming Palace Airport without stopping, and it was said that its destination was somewhere in central China. He was keenly aware that this was unusual...
That afternoon, when Mrs. Wang, beaming with joy, led Xiao Xiangyue into the pseudo-Presidential Palace, he hid behind a pillar and saw with his own eyes the face that had haunted him... but then she vanished without a trace! It seemed that Xiao Xiangyue had offended Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto and must have been executed. But He Qisheng wondered, if Watanabe and Yamamoto wanted to kill someone, they could have done so openly, without needing to conceal their actions or destroy the body...
The next day, he witnessed Watanabe Hiko storming into the headquarters in a rage and leaving in a state of despair. He Qisheng felt that Watanabe Yu must have secretly hidden or transported the person, somewhere even Watanabe Hiko couldn't reach... Unable to find a solution, he turned his attention to Yamamoto Taro's confidential secretary, Nami Gokuchi, hoping to get any clues from her.
He Qisheng was an expert at reading other people's minds. His generosity, showering Nami with valuable gifts and promising to resign and live with her in Japan after the war, quickly won her heart. The two frequently met and mingled in various settings, including Nami's own confidential office.
About ten days ago, while hanging out with Nami in the confidential office, He Qisheng found a torn letter marked "Top Secret." He found it somewhat odd. He said, "Shouldn't this top-secret letter be submitted directly to Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto? Why was it just dumped here?" Nami replied, "This is a secret letter from the 731st Unit in Northeast China to Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto. The Commander-in-Chief has read it and instructed me to send it back to Japan unopened to Mr. Watanabe Yu, saying that only Mr. Watanabe can make the final decision on this matter."
He Qisheng's heart sank with alarm. While Nami wasn't paying attention, he pulled out the contents... It turned out to be a stack of photos of the same person, taken from different angles! Although the person looked lifeless, barely recognizable, even if reduced to ash, He Qisheng would have recognized her! It was none other than Xiao Xiangyue, the person he had been searching for for over six months! Besides the photos, there was also a page of text, essentially requesting the Japanese Army General Headquarters in China to investigate the individual's identity and request instructions on how to deal with him. The signature was Colonel Yoshino Takashi of the 731st Unit.
He Qisheng suppressed his inner shock and feigned nonchalance, saying, "Unit 731 in the Northeast? I've never heard of the Imperial Army having that designation." Nami giggled, "Unit 731 is under the direct jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Cabinet and the Commander-in-Chief. It's no wonder you haven't heard of it!" He Qisheng casually remarked, "Oh? I didn't expect there was such a high-ranking unit in the Northeast! I'm a little curious, is it a field army or a special forces company?" Nami replied, "Everything concerning Unit 731 is top military secret. Where exactly it's stationed, what branch of the military it belongs to... no one knows except a few top leaders..." He Qisheng, fearing that further questions would alert Nami, changed the subject. He had been closely monitoring the confidential office's movements for some time. Seeing Nami hurriedly heading to the Commander-in-Chief's headquarters with a briefcase in hand, he assumed Watanabe Yu's call had arrived, so he used his charm to detain her.
After a fierce fight, Nami was exhausted and collapsed on the chair with satisfaction.
He Qisheng took advantage of the situation and opened Watanabe Yu's urgent message, which turned out to be a vulgar rant of insults: "Fool! Idiot! Good-for-nothing! All of them are good-for-nothings! Worse than an Imperial Army dog! Disobeying orders! Messing around! Sabotaging my plan, ruining my success..." He then instructed that since the man was no longer useful, he should be executed on the spot. The body should be frozen for later autopsy.
He Qisheng calmly replaced the forged telegram that read "Dispatching Mr. He Qisheng of the National Government's Administrative Department as a special envoy to go to Base 731 to bring the person back for disposal" with the real one and stuffed it into the file bag.
The next morning, a helicopter circled over the dense forests of the Xing'an Mountains and landed in a valley. The noise startled birds and scattered. He Qisheng, acting as a special envoy, entered the heart of Unit 731 with impunity.
Lieutenant General Morita, the highest commander of the base, was away on a mission recently, and Colonel Yoshino Takashi was in charge of receiving him.
Yoshino Takashi couldn't help but wonder, and as soon as he saw him, he kept asking, "Did Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto tell us who this man is? What's his name? Is he Japanese or Chinese? Why was he sent here? Why was he ordered to be taken away?" He Qisheng said arrogantly, "Mr. Colonel, don't ask questions that you shouldn't know! Just hand him over to me!"
After passing through a long and gloomy corridor and turning several corners, we arrived at a secret room.
Xiao Xiangyue lay quietly on her back on the bed. If it weren't for the tubes inserted into her body and the instruments ticking beside her, indicating that the person on the bed still had signs of life, she really wouldn't look like a living person.
He Qisheng stepped forward impatiently. This was the first time he'd been this close to Xiao Xiangyue, and his heart was pounding. Although the man's eyes were closed, his face was emaciated, skin and bones visible, his skin pale and lifeless, he recognized him instantly. This was the face that had haunted him since he was ten, a lingering nightmare.
A soldier trotted in and stood at attention. "Colonel, an urgent message from headquarters!"
Yoshino Takashi politely bowed deeply to He Qisheng. "Mr. He, I'm sorry to excuse myself." From the moment He Qisheng saw Xiao Xiangyue, his complete attention was focused on him, and he didn't hear anything anyone else said. He sat dejectedly on the edge of the bed, as if possessed, and couldn't help but reach out and touch the face that had appeared in his dreams so many times.
After a while, Yoshino Takashi returned to the secret room. He changed his previous respectful attitude and looked stern. He stared at the somewhat distraught He Qisheng and said coldly: "Mr. He, is your performance over?"
Yesterday in the confidential office, after He Qisheng had switched Watanabe Yu's secret message, he urged Nami to quickly deliver the document to Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto, lest the military intelligence be lost. He also sweetly coaxed Nami into buying her a small Western-style house so she could spend her life with him. He urged Nami to go and come back quickly, and he would wait for her until she returned so they could go and see the house together.
Nami, unsuspecting, picked up the folder and excitedly went to headquarters, presenting Watanabe's urgent message to the Commander-in-Chief. Coincidentally, Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto was in a meeting. He glanced at the message and, though he hesitated for a moment—why would he send a Chinese person to Unit 731?—he then considered that He Qisheng was a key figure in the puppet government, a figure the Japanese relied on, and wondered if Watanabe had a deeper purpose behind this arrangement. He immediately ordered his adjutant, Kawasaki, to dispatch a plane to transport He Qisheng to Unit 731, per Watanabe's instructions.
After delivering the telegram, Nami hurried back to the confidential room, intent on showing the house to her lover who was still waiting for her. He Qisheng saw that his goal had been achieved. Nami knew the content of Watanabe Yu's telegram, so he could not keep her. He handed her a cup of coffee with a lot of sleeping pills, and coaxed her: "My dear, you have worked hard, have a cup of coffee to relieve your fatigue..." After a while, Nami fell asleep on the table. He Qisheng put aside the suicide note that he had prepared long ago and imitated her handwriting, pretended to commit suicide, closed the door, and slipped out. It was already evening, and the confidential room was at the end of the corridor, and generally no one would go there. He Qisheng sneered in his heart. When someone found Nami dead in there tomorrow, she would probably be stiff.
He Qisheng had planned everything. As soon as he got home, he received a call from Adjutant Kawasaki, informing him that the commander-in-chief would be dispatching him on a secret mission and that he would need to fly overnight. He Qisheng feigned ignorance and followed Adjutant Kawasaki to the airport, where they hurriedly boarded the plane.
Kawasaki had a good relationship with Nami on weekdays. Knowing that He Qisheng and she were at the stage of discussing marriage, he thought that since He was valued by the military, his career would be very successful. He thought about getting close to Nami so that he could help her in the future. He looked for Nami in her residence but couldn't find her there. He felt a little strange. It was so late, could she still be working? He went to the confidential room again. The door seemed to be ajar and didn't seem to be locked. He knocked but no one answered. He felt something was wrong. He pushed the door open and saw Nami lying on the table with foam at the mouth, already unconscious. He rushed her to the hospital for emergency treatment, gastric lavage and enema. After a whole night of rescue, Nami finally woke up. He knew that he had fallen into He Qisheng's trap and confessed everything immediately.
Yamamoto was furious, but the mistake had already been made, so he immediately executed Nami Goguchi for leaking military secrets. He also immediately sent an urgent telegram to the 731 Base, briefly informing them of the situation and ordering the base to execute Xiao Xiangyue on the spot.
Yoshino Takashi pulled out his pistol, loaded it, pointed it at He Qisheng, and said viciously, "Humph! I almost fell for your trick! Fortunately, Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto called in time and exposed your conspiracy! Now that you're in, don't even think about getting out alive! You both must die!"
He Qisheng, who had been dazed just now, suddenly went crazy and grabbed Xiao Xiangyue, trying to drag him off the bed and carry him away. As he dragged him, he shouted, "Don't even think about hurting Xiangyue! If you want to kill him, you have to step over my dead body first!" Yoshino Takashi sneered, "Mr. He is really affectionate. If that's the case, I'll grant your wish!" He pulled the trigger, and two shots hit him in the back.
Pulled from the bed, Xiao Xiangyue fell heavily to the ground, the tubes and instruments attached to her body clattering to the floor. He Qisheng barely raised his head, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, a strange and miserable smile plastered across his face. He tried to reach out and touch the lifeless face, but ultimately couldn't reach it. His head drooped, and he lay on Xiao Xiangyue and breathed his last.
Yoshino Takashi stepped forward and kicked He Qisheng's body away. He pointed the gun at Xiao Xiangyue and was about to pull the trigger when a loud shout came from behind him: "Stop!"
A heroic general in military uniform and a skinny monk walked in quickly. They were actually Watanabe Hiko and Master Kongneng!
Kong Neng slowly said, "Yoshino, do you still recognize me?"
Yoshino Takashi was shocked: "Master... Master Kongneng! Why are you here?"
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. In the past few months, He Qisheng's every move has been under the surveillance of Watanabe Hiko.
Watanabe Hiko knew his uncle's character very well. He would not easily execute Xiao Xiangyue. He might imprison him, torture him, or secretly send him back to Japan. After returning to the base from the headquarters that day, he was unwilling to give up and kept searching for clues. The confidential room where Nami Hekou was located was naturally the target of key surveillance. He Qisheng's behavior of approaching Nami did not escape Watanabe Hiko's eyes. He had already investigated him thoroughly. He even secretly imprisoned Kobe, the Jewish doctor who treated He Qisheng, and forced him to hand over He Qisheng's medical records. He had been keeping his troops inactive because he wanted to use him to find clues so that he could follow the clues. As soon as the plane He Qisheng was riding took off last night, the military radar quickly tracked and located it. Watanabe Hiko personally drove a fighter jet to follow it and followed closely.
Master Sorono was the one who rescued Yoshino Takashi and his son from the inferno. He was one of the leaders of the Aonishi Group. Later, due to internal divisions within the Aonishi Group, most members embraced militarism, and almost all of the younger generation became pawns of the military. Disillusioned, Sorono fled to China, where he lived in seclusion.
That day at Jueyuan Temple, before Xiao Xiangyue was taken away, Master Kongneng sensed a foreboding and, as a last-ditch effort, tattooed the Qingxi Clan's totem on his arm, hoping it would save him if he fell into the hands of one of their own. The secret letter Yoshino Takashi had sent from 731 was also intercepted by Watanabe Hiko. Seeing the crescent-shaped, scimitar-like pattern on Xiao Xiangyue's arm from a photograph, he suspected it was related to the Qingxi Clan and informed Master Kongneng, who arrived in time.
Watanabe Hiko was a renowned war god in the Empire of Japan. He had been commended numerous times by the Emperor, his illustrious military achievements frequently publicized in various media outlets, and his name was a household name, idolized by nearly every Japanese soldier. Although Yoshino Takashi had never met him in person, he hung his portrait above his bed, worshipping it daily. Upon seeing him suddenly appear, he nearly stumbled on his knees and uttered incoherently, "General Watanabe... General Watanabe... Why... Why are you here?"
Watanabe Yan glanced at He Qisheng's body on the ground, his expression still expressionless and stern: "This man was determined to die for Xiangyue, which can be considered as fulfilling his wish. Do you know how to deal with it?"
Yoshino Takashi bowed deeply and said, "I have followed the instructions of Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto and executed the prisoner Xiao Xiangyue. I know nothing else!"
The Aerial Mage stepped forward, quickly sealing several of Xiao Xiangyue's acupuncture points and removing the tubes from her body. Watanabe Hiko lifted her up and carried her sideways. The two of them moved like the wind, leaving Base 731 silently.
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