Chapter 12: A Bystander in the World of Espionage during the Republic of China Era
Three years have passed in the blink of an eye. Chen Xin and Jiang Yue have not kept their promise to go back to Chen's mother every year. They have only sent a few letters back, and they don't know if Chen's mother has received them.
The Chen family business was getting worse and worse, due to both natural disasters and man-made calamities. Chen Xin was just barely keeping it afloat. Jiang Yue's situation was not good either. The economy of Shanghai as a whole was in a slump. Jiang Yue, who was already thirty years old, squinted and leaned back in her chair, listening to her apprentice recite the Tangtou Ge (a traditional Chinese medicine formula). When the apprentice made a mistake, Jiang Yue would lightly tap her palm with a ruler.
The young apprentice was found by the roadside one day when Jiang Yue opened the shop. She was an orphan who had lost her parents in the war. Jiang Yue took her in as her apprentice, thinking of passing on her medical skills. Just then, Chen Xin walked in with a worried look on her face and winked at Jiang Yue. Jiang Yue knew that someone else was injured. Jiang Yue asked the young apprentice and one of the people Chen Xin brought to watch the shop and followed Chen Xin through many twists and turns to a small alley.
Chen Xin knocked on the door in a specific way. The person inside peeked out, looked around, and opened the door to let them in quickly. Inside, there was a person covered in blood lying on the bed. Jiang Yue quickly went over to take a look, frowned, and said, "No, the injury is too serious. I can't handle it. We need to go to the hospital."
"As long as the injury doesn't worsen, it's fine. The injury is too severe to be transferred now."
Jiang Yue took out a first-aid kit from the hidden compartment and began to treat the injury. After a while, the bleeding finally stopped. After giving her some medicine, Jiang Yue took off her clothes. Chen Xin put the clothes away and disposed of them to prevent Jiang Yue from being implicated. She took out a simple stretcher, lifted her onto it, and said, "Don't come to this place again. It's not safe here anymore."
Jiang Yue nodded, and Chen Xin asked another companion to see Jiang Yue out. Jiang Yue went to a nearby hotel to pick up the packed food so that if she was discovered not at the restaurant and questioned, her itinerary would still match.
After returning, the person disguised as Jiang Yue removed the disguise, bought some medicinal herbs, and went out. Jiang Yue took out a plate of incense from the medicine cabinet and lit it, using the scent of the medicine and incense to mask the smell of blood on her body.
Jiang Yue opened the food box, finished eating with her apprentice, returned the food box to the restaurant, chatted with the restaurant owner for a while, and then nothing happened after she returned to the shop. Just as evening fell, Jiang Yue closed the shop and took her apprentice home.
After returning home, Aunt Fang started cooking dinner. After dinner, Aunt Fang took her little apprentice for a walk. Jiang Yue went to the study to review what she had done that day. There shouldn't have been any major mistakes. Another safe house had been ruined. Over the years, Jiang Yue had only a few safe houses left. These were for her own refuge, and the others had long been used up.
Chen Xin has been preparing the safe houses for the past year or two. The situation is getting more and more serious. The medicine in Jiang Yue's space is almost used up, and Chen Xin can't buy any more recently. It hasn't been replenished for a long time, so we need to use them sparingly.
Jiang Yue originally planned to go to Hong Kong to visit Chen's parents and master, and also to replenish some supplies. Unfortunately, there were too few tickets. The two years ago, the border was blocked, but this year it was opened up a bit. Chen Xin is still communicating with the ferry company and doesn't know if she can buy a ticket.
After reading for a while, Aunt Fang and her little apprentice returned. The little apprentice came to the study to find Jiang Yue and started reciting his lessons. He was just starting out and all he did was recite. After a while, it got late, so Jiang Yue arranged for her little apprentice to go to bed. Jiang Yue chatted with Aunt Fang for a while and then went to bed as well.
Tonight was destined to be anything but peaceful. In the middle of the night, Jiang Yue was sound asleep when the phone rang. Jiang Yue's heart skipped a beat. Could something have happened to Chen Xin? She answered the phone: "Xiao Yue, I've been shot! I'm in the safe house closest to your house."
Jiang Yue quickly got up and changed her clothes. She took out a set of black clothes from her space, whispered to Aunt Fang, opened the window, climbed over the wall, and went out. Over the past few years, Chen Xin had also given Jiang Yue some training, and Jiang Yue had always insisted on physical exercise, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to do this. She hid until she reached the safe house and knocked on the door according to the prescribed method.
After waiting a while, Chen Xin opened the door from the inside, and the two went into the basement of the room. Jiang Yue had even set up a makeshift operating table inside. Seeing that Chen Xin's arms were covered in blood, she quickly had Chen Xin lie down on the operating table. After seeing that both arms had been shot, she gave Chen Xin anesthesia and began to remove the bullets.
After the bullet was removed and the stitches were put back on, Jiang Yue asked Chen Xin, "How did you end up getting into a firefight?"
"Today we were escorting that injured person out of the city, but we were ambushed. We must have been betrayed."
"And what about you? Were you exposed?"
Chen Xin, her face streaked with tears, said, "No, I didn't show my face. The person who went to your shop today and I were protecting you from the shadows, but there were too many enemies, and everyone else was killed."
Jiang Yue took out a handkerchief and wiped away Chen Xin's tears. She held Chen Xin's head in her arms and listened to her suppressed sobs. Not knowing how to comfort her, she could only stay with her silently.
As dawn approached, Jiang Yue quietly returned home. Chen Xin stayed in the safe house, waiting for a suitable time to go home after daybreak. When she returned, Aunt Fang was still awake. Seeing Jiang Yue come back, she quickly told her to take a shower while she went to make dinner. During dinner, Aunt Fang asked in a low voice, "Did something happen to Xiao Xin?"
Jiang Yue nodded gently and said, "Don't worry, Aunt Fang, everything's fine now." After lunch, Jiang Yue went to work with her apprentice as usual. Around noon, Chen Xin called the shop to let them know she was safe and sound, and also said in code that the two of them should not contact each other for the time being, and that she would contact her after she was sure she was safe.
Nothing major happened for the next two weeks. On this day, near the end of the workday, Chen Xin drove over to pick up Jiang Yue. The group went to Chen's house, had a meal, and then took Jiang Yue home. Today was meant to send a signal that everything was safe.
After arriving home, Jiang Yue took a bath and chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I'm just an ordinary passerby, but I've managed to live like a supporting female character."
After taking a shower, I went to read. Reading for a while every day has become a habit. I'm currently reading the medical records that my senior brothers have written down. Recently, there have been many more treatment plans for injured patients. It seems things aren't going well for my senior brothers either.
After reviewing her senior brother's medical records, Jiang Yue looked up at the time and saw it was already 10:30 PM. She stretched a bit and then went back to her room to sleep.
The next morning, while having breakfast, Aunt Fang secretly told Jiang Yue, "Recently, there have been a lot more strangers around here, wandering around the streets every day, and there are also many unfamiliar vendors."
Jiang Yue asked Aunt Fang how she discovered it, and Aunt Fang said, "I take my child out for a walk every day, and it's always the same few people, but the vendors and children have changed."
Jiang Yue nodded to indicate that she remembered, and then reminded Aunt Fang to reduce the number of times she went out in the next few days, to buy more groceries each day, and not to take the children out recently, but to just walk around in the yard.
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