Secretly sending telegrams from inside and outside
The continuous rain lasted until the afternoon. The gloomy sky, like a melancholy expression, made people feel listless. This is what the plum rain season in the south is like: it just keeps raining and raining.
But once the rain stops, the hot and humid air becomes unbearable.
Gao Junxiao, dressed in a yellow-green military uniform, stood in front of the tent, watching the water droplets rolling off the leaves. His mood plummeted with the droplets. He closed his eyes, and the girl's voice, appearance, and smile flooded back, like the uncontrollable rain on a rainy day.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the whooshing sound of Chen Yao fanning himself. Chen Yao, wearing only a shirt with his sleeves rolled up, was reading a magazine while fanning himself with a folding fan, humming a little tune, looking quite pleased with himself.
Suddenly, Chen Yao's vision went black. He pulled it down and saw that it was his own coat. The person who threw the coat was Gao Junxiao, who had already returned to his desk and coldly glared at Chen Yao.
Chen Yao snapped his folding fan shut and pointed at Gao Junxiao, saying, "Hey, don't take your bad mood out on your brother."
“I told you to wear your uniform properly. Your military bearing is sloppy. You’re outside now, which is different from when you’re in headquarters,” Gao Junxiao said sternly.
"My coat is wet, can I air it out? Besides, it's just you and me in the command post right now, what's the big deal?" Chen Yao showed no shame, instead crossed his legs and continued fanning himself.
"You've been drying it all afternoon, it's already dry, I really can't stand it." Gao Junxiao would only say such angry words when he was in a very depressed mood.
"Hehe, Qingcheng is just trying to avoid you, that's why she made an excuse to go on a trip, right?" Chen Yao didn't mind stabbing his brother in the heart a couple of times. "You're all talk and no action, you don't even dare to give out an engagement ring, you're keeping it in your pocket waiting for the baby."
"Shut up." Gao Junxiao's face turned ashen, as if his most sensitive spot had been hit.
“Even if I don’t say anything, the situation is already set in stone. You should think about how to propose again,” Chen Yao said with a sigh after taking a sip of tea. “You had such a great opportunity, being so close to the source. You’ve ruined a winning hand.”
"How can I propose to her so she'll say yes?" Gao Junxiao's tone softened.
"Of course, you wait for her to come back, rush up and hug her tightly, then loudly tell her, 'I love you, I want to marry you.' Be sincere, confident, and decisive. Her heart will soften, and she'll agree." Chen Yao was engrossed in his performance.
Gao Junxiao shook his head helplessly. Sure enough, believing Chen Yao had made him an idiot. He tidied up a few documents, got up, and left the tent, thinking he'd wait for her to return before discussing it further.
The sky remained overcast, but the rain had washed the ground clean, revealing the original color of the stone bricks. Two cars drove past each other on the driveway, heading in different directions. Green shrubs, nestled between the office buildings, swayed in the cross breeze, looking as if they were drunk.
Section Chief Li, accompanied by his secretary, walked along the secluded corridor toward the Publicity Department's office. They encountered only a handful of people. It turned out that today's field simulation exercise was scheduled to continue until noon the following day, so all the officers and soldiers, including Commander Xiong, had gone to the training ground in the suburbs.
The office of the Publicity Department was also nearly empty. How could such a large-scale exercise be complete without the Publicity Department doing advertising? Of course, most of them were actually sent to act as spies and intelligence agents.
When the staff saw their leader arrive, they quickly stood up and saluted. Section Chief Li waved for them to sit down and strode to his desk. Before the secretary could even sit down, Section Chief Li wrote a note and told him to send a telegram immediately. The secretary respectfully took the note with both hands, his slender figure hunched over like a boiled shrimp.
Everyone seemed used to Secretary Wu's cautiousness and continued with their own work. Secretary Wu jogged to the mailroom, where two guards stood watch. After carefully checking the tall, thin man with black-rimmed glasses and his identification, they let him in.
There were still two staff members on duty in the mailroom. Secretary Wu randomly picked one of them and handed the note to the telegraph operator. The telegraph operator translated the text into an encrypted message using a codebook, and then had the other person proofread it before handing the message over to Secretary Wu.
Secretary Wu didn't dare delay and took the telegram back to the inner telecommunications room. There were only two people on duty. The telegraph operator skillfully typed the Morse code, and with the beeping of the telegraph machine, a message was quickly sent.
Not long after, Secretary Wu sent another message. He came and went dozens of times a day without getting annoyed. Just then, it was mealtime, and Secretary Wu thoughtfully brought everyone hot meals, which made the people in the mailroom feel sorry for him.
"Secretary Wu, come and have some food too. I don't know how late you'll be working overtime." The cipher clerk remained seated at his post. There was a rule that at least one person had to stay at each post, even for meals or bathroom breaks, they had to take turns.
"It's okay, you guys eat. I'm not hungry." Secretary Wu pushed up his glasses, his whole demeanor tensing up even more.
This aroused the telegraph operator Wenli's playful side. She enthusiastically picked up a large piece of meat and brought it to Secretary Wu's mouth, saying in a coquettish tone, "Eat! Eat! Look how thin you are." Secretary Wu looked at the large piece of meat, hesitated for a moment, and then ate it.
The people around him seized the opportunity to joke and tease, saying, "Secretary Wu, if you eat Wenli's flesh, then you're one of Wenli's people."
"Secretary Wu, you two are both tall and thin, you look like a perfect match."
"Secretary Wu, when are you going to propose marriage to our director?"
Secretary Wu, flustered by their words, made an excuse and slipped away, leaving behind a burst of laughter. He covered his head and ran until he reached the men's restroom. Seeing no one around, he opened the window, found a hidden thread, and ripped it off.
A moment later, a cleaner pushed a cleaning cart out of the men's restroom, mopped the outside floor, and then pushed it towards the women's restroom, setting up a sign indicating that cleaning was in progress at the entrance. Suddenly, the sound of rapidly running leather boots echoed down the corridor, the clattering sound particularly loud in the empty space.
Upon seeing the "Cleaning in Progress" sign, the woman let out a groan and tried to back out, but the churning pain in her stomach made her rush into the women's restroom without hesitation.
The cleaning lady paused when she heard someone enter. Seeing that the person behaving improperly was Wenli from the telecommunications room, she frowned slightly, then continued working. After finishing her task, she tidied up her cleaning tools, placed them on the door, and left. The tools, unfortunately, were blocking the cubicle door…
Apart from the cicadas chirping incessantly outside the window and the hum of the telegraph machine, there was no other sound in the mailroom. Everyone sat obediently at their posts, some wearing headphones recording telegrams, others translating telegrams with pens between their fingers flipping through codebooks, occasionally scribbling or drawing.
The night was peaceful as usual until Wenli came in from outside, clutching her stomach and hunched over. The guards did not stop her when they saw that she was a clerk from the mailroom. However, the telegraph operator asked with concern, "Does it still hurt? Why don't you go to the infirmary to get some medicine?"
Wenli's face was pale, and she could only shake her head weakly, indicating that she could still hold on. Seeing her like this, Sister Zhang in the telecommunications room poured her a cup of hot water and scolded, "Serves you right for being greedy! You just ate a hot meal and then drank that bowl of iced mung bean soup. How could you not get diarrhea from the combination of hot and cold? Don't you ever learn your lesson?"
Before she could finish her rant, the operator at the telephone booth called out from the doorway: "Sister Zhang, there's a call from home."
Sister Zhang could only instruct Wenli to quickly send Secretary Wu's telegram, then turn off her own phone and follow the telephone operator out of the mailroom. But as soon as Sister Zhang was out of sight, Wenli revealed a meaningful smile, straightened her back, and showed no trace of weakness.
He glanced at his watch, then casually turned on the radio that Sister Zhang had turned off. He put on his heavy headphones, flipping through channels with one hand and tuning the band with the other, his eyes following the swinging hands of the hands.
On the other side, in a phone booth by the roadside, an elderly woman with white hair said in a tearful voice, "Zhaodi, please lend your brother some more money. This is the last time, really the last time."
"Don't hang up, he didn't gamble, he lost money trying to do business with others."
“Really, really.”
"Zhao Di, how could you be so heartless?"
"He's your brother, our only son. Please lend him to us one more time."
"Zhao Di, if you don't lend me the money, I'll kill myself right here. I'll hang myself with your brother at your doorstep."
"Hey hey hey..."
Only a dial tone remained on the other end of the phone. The white-haired old woman hung up the phone shakily and asked the thugs in black outside with a forced smile, "Boss, is that enough? Can you release my son?"
With a wave of his hand, the man in black pushed out a muscular man who had been beaten beyond recognition. The white-haired old woman quickly hugged her son and wailed. The man in black did not linger for long. He looked at his watch, stubbed out the last embers of his cigarette with his foot, and disappeared into the night.
Amidst a cluster of dark green machines flashing red and green lights, Wenli closed her eyes and tapped the table with her index finger, mimicking the tapping frequency.
Suddenly she opened her eyes, and a blazing flame seemed to ignite in her pupils. Instead of looking at the telegram grid she had written earlier, she touched the telegram board directly. Beep beep beep, tap, beep beep... The red and green lights jumped even more merrily with the amplitude.
In the corridor, Sister Zhang was still cursing and swearing with her hands on her hips. The guards didn't dare to say anything because of her fierce appearance. Wenli noticed the noise outside, quickly took off her headphones, used both hands to restore the original frequency, and turned off the radio.
Just as Sister Zhang was about to come in, the telegraph operator pulled her aside and casually asked, "Is your mother here again asking for money?"
"How could I have gotten involved with such relatives? Never mind, I'm not going to talk about it, it's infuriating." Sister Zhang stormed into the telecommunications room, where she saw Wenli slumped over the table, looking half-dead. When she saw Sister Zhang, Wenli sat up slightly and pointed to her stomach.
Aunt Zhang waved her away impatiently, telling her to hurry up and go to the toilet. Wenli, as if granted a pardon, scurried to the women's restroom at the end of the corner.
Someone was shouting for help in the women's restroom, banging on the door loudly. After a few seconds, they stopped banging on the door, groaning in pain. Unfortunately, no one was around at night. The cleaning lady seemed to hear the noise, moved the mop that was blocking the door, and then took the mop and went to the men's restroom next door.
A moment later, Wenli emerged from the women's restroom, sobbing, and bumped into Secretary Wu, who was coming out of the men's restroom, knocking his glasses askew. Secretary Wu, unconcerned, straightened his glasses and, seeing Wenli's red, tear-filled eyes, silently took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.
In the corridor, Wenli pouted, snatched the handkerchief, wiped her eyes, and tossed it back to Secretary Wu. Secretary Wu, ever good-natured, smiled and put the handkerchief away. Watching Wenli awkwardly rub her eyes with the back of her hand, a hint of guilt flashed in his eyes.
The cool evening breeze seemed to carry away some of the sweltering heat, but the moon was hiding behind cotton-like clouds, and there were no stars in the sky. It seemed that it would still rain tomorrow. Secretary Wu spotted a military jeep parked in front of the office building, with the driver still inside, indicating that the superior would be coming down soon.
As he passed the car, Secretary Wu suddenly had a bad feeling. He tried to quicken his pace, but it was too late.
"Stop!" A deep male voice rang out from behind.
Secretary Wu's mind went completely blank for a moment, his eyelids twitched, and he even forgot to breathe, his lips pressed tightly together. He couldn't think of how to deal with the situation, and he felt like his heart was about to jump out of his mouth.
With a creak, a black official car came to a smooth stop in front of her. Section Chief Li's stern voice came from inside the car: "Secretary Wu, you've been nowhere to be seen all day. I had to come looking for you myself."
Section Chief Li was sitting in the car with the window rolled down. He gave Secretary Wu a wink. Secretary Wu, receiving the instruction, bowed and said, "Excuse me, Section Chief, I'll be right up."
After speaking, Secretary Wu hunched over and walked around to the other side of the car, where he sat in the passenger seat.
"Oh, Inspector Gao, what brings you back? Why did you call for Secretary Wu? Is there something you need?" Section Chief Li said as he opened the car door and walked up to Gao Junxiao.
"Oh, it's nothing. You guys are working so late?" Across from Section Chief Li and the driver, Gao Junxiao felt a strange sense of familiarity with Secretary Wu.
"Work? You've been busy all this time too, haven't you? You must be exhausted." Section Chief Li said a few more polite words as he stood in front of the car.
"You guys are the ones who are working hard. This exercise will keep you busy for half a day. Go home early." The lighting tonight was so bad that it was hard to distinguish between black and white, so Gao Junxiao couldn't see anything unusual. His lips moved, but he didn't say anything more and could only let them go.
"Then I won't keep you company any longer. I'll come to watch your exercise first thing tomorrow morning." After getting into the car, Section Chief Li didn't forget to try and get closer to them.
"Okay, be careful." Gao Junxiao smiled and waved goodbye, but his smile gradually faded as the car drove away.
It wasn't until the car had driven quite a distance from the headquarters that Secretary Wu dared to catch his breath. Section Chief Li chuckled behind him, "You're so lucky. How did you have to run into this ancestor coming back?"
"Stop laughing, my heart is still pounding." Secretary Wu took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Don't be afraid. Next time you see your superior, remember to salute first," Section Chief Li reminded him, suppressing a laugh.
"Understood, Section Chief." Secretary Wu touched his chest, staring blankly at the road ahead, thinking to himself that he hoped there wouldn't be a next time, as his heart couldn't take it.
Three days ago, Liu's Watch Shop
Li Sheng and Qingcheng sat on the sofa, flipping through all the staff files in the mailroom and telecommunications room. At this moment, Qingcheng pulled out a file from the documents and handed it to Li Sheng: "This Wenli has a similar figure to me, so she's the one."
"Yes, and there's this Zhang Zhaodi. Her younger brother is good-for-nothing and has a mountain of debt. Her mother calls the headquarters every few days asking her for money." Li Sheng also handed the documents in his hand to Qingcheng.
"Then arrange for the two of them to be on duty during your field exercise the day after tomorrow." Qingcheng pointed to their files.
“Okay, I’ll take care of the people on duty. You’ll pretend to be my secretary that day. The soldiers will set off before dawn and won’t be back until the next day. The people left behind are just ordinary clerical staff, so don’t worry about meeting anyone you know.” Li Sheng said meaningfully, “Also, you need to be aware that there are people on duty in the mailroom 24 hours a day and guards on duty. You’ll only have that one day to observe their telegraphing techniques up close.”
One day ago, Liu's Watch Shop
Li Sheng handed a small packet of powder to Qingcheng and said, "This medicine works very quickly, taking effect in about 5 minutes. The dosage has been controlled, just pour it into your food."
After Wenli finishes eating, I'll go to the window of the men's restroom and find a thin rope. I'll cut it, and this rope will connect to the windowsill of my office. I'll tie a cup to it; when the cup falls to the ground, I'll know she's finished eating.
"There's another problem. This medicine is for one person, right? I can only put it in a certain dish. How can I make sure it's Wenli who takes it? And what if the onset of the medicine is delayed? After all, there are great individual differences among people."
"Don't worry about that. Just sprinkle it into the chilled mung bean soup. I guarantee she'll eat it, and the medicine will work well," Li Sheng replied confidently.
Seeing his confident demeanor, Kiyosumi cautiously asked what was on her mind: "You haven't already tested it, have you?"
“That’s not the point. Remember, start counting from when she starts eating. Zhang Zhaodi will receive a call from home in 5 minutes. The phone booth is about a minute and a half away from the mailroom, so it takes about 3 minutes round trip. The call time is uncertain, but there’s a possibility she might hang up on the spot,” Li Sheng reminded her.
“I’m trying my best to keep it under 3 minutes. But if it’s less than 3 minutes, the CC team won’t be able to lock onto the area,” Kiyosumi pointed out the problem with a slight frown.
"I'll try to delay as much as possible. I wish us success in advance." Li Sheng stretched out his palm and gazed at Qingcheng for a long time, his deep eyes filled with hope.
"We will definitely succeed." Kiyosumi solemnly grasped Li Sheng's hand, her dark, bright eyes filled with determination.
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