Sleepless Night (Part 2)
At this moment, all three of them adopted the posture of listeners, facing them with clear sweat seeping from their palms and their hearts pounding uncontrollably.
All three of them were his superiors, even the highest decision-makers, which made Qingcheng feel as if he were not in the Xu Mansion, but in the courtroom.
She was just a grassroots party member with no official position, yet she wanted to accuse those powerful and influential officials. According to the historical precedent of people suing officials, it was like an egg hitting a rock. But she could not back down. She was the mouthpiece of the party and, more importantly, the mouthpiece of the people!
Thinking of the suffering of the people in the Soviet area, Qingcheng felt a lump in her throat. She gritted her teeth, suppressed the fear in her heart, stepped forward, and spoke up. Everyone must be wondering how a girl who works in Shanghai and has never been to the Soviet area knows that someone is planting tobacco seedlings there.
One person who must be mentioned here is Secretary Yu. He lost contact with the organization after being chased by an internal traitor. Two people were chasing him, and during the escape, Secretary Yu fought back and killed one of them.
Then things took a strange turn. After checking the deceased's information with Comrade Ai Ruirui, they found that there was no such person at home. They had treated the deceased as a spy who had been killed.
Why is there an extra person? Where did he come from? Is this person a spy? Who sent him? One question after another piled up in Qingcheng's mind, like a tangled mess.
Unfortunately, organizing the evacuation from the Kinmen Hotel was the top priority that day, so Qingcheng couldn't investigate further. After leaving the hotel, she lost contact with the organization and couldn't find anyone to verify anything.
It wasn't until she rescued Secretary Yu from prison that things started to look clearer. He had seen the deceased at an organizational meeting, but it had been a long time and his memory was a bit hazy.
Therefore, Secretary Yu went to search through the early files of the Police Commission and actually found Chen Sijin. Of course, Chen Sijin was just one of the deceased's aliases.
The deceased's real name was Tian Chao. He was from western Jiangxi. He joined the Communist Party in 1925 and was a key member of the Shanghai General Labor Union. However, he was unfortunately arrested during the April 12 White Terror.
According to the discharge list that Qingcheng bought, this person was sent to the Nanjing Reformatory for a year before announcing his withdrawal from the Party, and then disappeared without a trace.
As an early member of the organization, he was only remembered by older comrades like Secretary Yu. Almost none of the comrades sent to Shanghai after 1927 recognized him.
Wang Renyong, who had been silent all along, suddenly interrupted Qingcheng: "I have a question. My wife joined the revolution very early. In 1925, she was already the head of the women workers' committee of the Shanghai Pudong District Committee. They were all from the Shanghai trade union. She couldn't have missed meeting that Tian Chao. How can you be sure that this Tian Chao is the same Tian Chao?"
In fact, Kiyosumi had the same doubts. Rui Rui, whom she knew, could recognize any disguise. Once she had seen a person, she would never forget them.
No young person's appearance changes so drastically in three or four years that even a master of disguise wouldn't recognize them. Rui Rui wouldn't make a mistake so easily; it can only mean that Secretary Yu has misremembered.
However, after Qingcheng explained his doubts to Secretary Yu, Secretary Yu jokingly said that he was very nearsighted and could not distinguish between people and animals from 100 meters away. He was afraid of the embarrassment of mistaking people, so he usually did not look at people's faces first, but rather at their gait, body shape, habitual movements, whether they smelled of smoke, and conspicuous marks such as birthmarks, moles, and scars.
Tian Chao once had a large tumor on his neck, which was later removed by a doctor, leaving a scar the size of a silver dollar. Secretary Yu recognized the man by that scar and the deceased's habit of raising his thumb when holding a gun.
As for other changes, Secretary Yu only remembered that the deceased had a smell of stale urine, which was foul and unpleasant. The deceased had never even smoked cigarettes before, so he certainly didn't have this smell on him.
"That shouldn't be the case. Even Secretary Yu, who is very nearsighted, noticed such an obvious scar. Rui Rui must remember it," Wang Renyong muttered discontentedly.
Sitting in the main seat, Wu Hao turned his head and explained, "You might not know this because you were in the army at that time, but because of her outstanding work, Xiao Ai was transferred to Wuhan in early 1926 to participate in a party training program that lasted six months. After the training, she stayed in Wuhan to work, which may have caused her to miss that person's activities."
“Actually, there are many reasons why we might not recognize someone. The deceased might have contracted a disease like leprosy, suffered accidental facial damage, or their physique might have changed significantly. In addition, Xiao Ai works for the district committee, while the deceased works for the trade union. Their work doesn’t overlap as much as we might imagine,” Jiang Yun kindly offered a reasonable explanation.
Comrade Jiang Yun's act of disfiguring himself to deliver intelligence was still fresh in everyone's mind, so he was the most qualified to speak on the matter. Old Wang lowered his eyes and gave up, but his face still showed a lot of resentment.
Seeing that Old Wang was getting stuck on this, Qingcheng, without changing her expression, advised, "Don't dwell on it. Let me tell you, the deceased was a heavy opium addict. Do you understand now?"
"Huh?" Wang Renyong opened his mouth wide, looking incredulous, then suddenly realized and said "Oh," obediently shutting his mouth.
Let's quickly get back to the topic. Qingcheng decided to trust Secretary Yu's judgment this time. But this person has been out of the Party for a long time. How come he suddenly reappeared to help the spies carry out assassinations?
So she and Comrade Li Sheng used their own channels to search, but to no avail. Tian Chao had not joined any secret service organization or social group, nor did he dare to return to the trade union. His last record in Nanjing was the declaration of his withdrawal from the Party left in the reformatory, and the red handprint on the discharge list.
According to Comrade Li Sheng's speculation, this person was not of much use to the Nationalist government, and after leaving the reformatory, he should have returned to his hometown in western Jiangxi. Going back to his hometown to farm and continue living as an ordinary person was his best choice at that time.
The trail had ended there, and Kiyosumi thought she had gone in the wrong direction. Just as she was about to give up on the case, fate sent her a new clue: an enamel rouge box.
The box was filled with hard, dark brown lumps, like mud. Most importantly, these lumps had no fragrance; instead, they had a pungent stench, like accidentally passing by a public toilet that hadn't been cleaned for years in the middle of summer, and just one whiff would make you feel nauseous for half a day.
If the person who delivered the gift hadn't been reliable, Kiyosumi would have suspected that someone had put excrement in the rouge box and was playing a trick on her.
Fortunately, the smell was peculiar, and Qingcheng immediately associated it with the smell of stale urine on the deceased. She brought the rouge box to Secretary Yu for identification, and Secretary Yu was certain that this was the smell he had smelled that day.
"Do you know what's in the rouge box?" Qingcheng's sharp gaze swept over the three men.
The three people opposite them were stunned for a moment. When they came to their senses, they immediately huddled together and discussed in hushed tones. Finally, Jiang Yun whispered in response, "Opium?"
Uncertainty lingered in his eyes, which was understandable, as none of the comrades had ever smoked opium before, and at most had only seen a few glimpses of opium paste. The stench emanating from the box was completely different from the sweet, dusty smell of the opium den.
Kiyosumi stopped being mysterious: "It's opium, but you can't smoke it directly."
Next, Qingcheng explained to everyone that after the tobacco seedlings mature, farmers cut open the tobacco fruits with a knife, and some milky white sap will flow out of the fruits. After being collected and dried, it becomes the smelly clods of soil in the box.
One more step of steaming, boiling, and purification would turn it into the opium we know. However, it is simple to make and has a higher profit margin than opium, so it is called raw opium or, more figuratively, opium.
As for where this opium came from? Qingcheng's face darkened, and she said coldly, "It was a reward that Elder Sun, the dormitory head of safe house 622, gave to my downline. It's also one of the methods he uses to control others."
"Squeak!" Wu Hao pushed the tea table forcefully, moving the chair towards Qingcheng. His clear voice suppressed his anger: "What is the relationship between Old Sun and the deceased?"
Staring at Wu Hao, Qingcheng replied, "It's the relationship between the errand runner and the branch manager. They're not satisfied with just selling in the Soviet area; they want to expand their business to Shanghai."
As everyone knows, to do opium business in Shanghai, one must visit a high-ranking official; only with the official's permission can they sell.
Through the Green Gang's informants, Qingcheng found Old Sun's visiting card to Master Da. However, Master Da was very cautious about the opium from the Soviet area.
Old Sun's words were cryptic, leading the Master to believe that our Soviet government was two-faced and wanted to smuggle opium for military funds. So he pretended to ask Old Sun to find the person in charge of the Soviet government. If the local government could cooperate with them in the long term, it wouldn't be a bad thing.
"Absurd! Utterly absurd!" Wang Renyong slammed his fist on the bed, shouting and cursing, "Does this damned scoundrel think we're warlords? This kind of scoundrel who harms the people must be overthrown! The people must judge him!"
"It's not enough to just try the hooligans; we also need to purge the scum from the ranks and have them all criticized and struggled against by the masses." Jiang Yun's cheeks flushed red with excitement, and her lips trembled slightly.
"You may find it absurd, but for a big scoundrel like him, he has already shown his willingness to cooperate, which is a huge favor," Kiyosumi said calmly.
Compared to Lao Wang and the others' righteous indignation, Wu Hao's expression remained unchanged as he let Qingcheng continue speaking, though his eyes were filled with dark clouds, as if brewing a storm.
Of course, Lao Sun didn't dare to invite the manager. Qingcheng glanced at Wu Hao and then explained Lao Sun's subsequent actions. He couldn't make the decisions himself, so he wrote a letter to the store manager in the Soviet area to ask how he should operate the business in Shanghai.
The store manager in the Soviet area quickly replied to him, telling him to avoid the limelight for the time being and wait for someone from higher up to pull some strings for him. But Old Sun was unwilling to let his business fall apart, and he urged the store manager to pull some strings several times. The store manager just gave him bureaucratic answers.
Their communications were originally very secretive, and the wording in their letters was very sophisticated. The mistake was that Lao Sun asked Qingcheng's subordinates to help retrieve and deliver the letters, and thus these letters became evidence of Qingcheng's crimes.
This alone is not enough to expose some degenerate people. At the time, Qingcheng found it strange that since the establishment of the Soviet base area, tobacco seedlings had almost disappeared. Where did the farmers buy tobacco seedlings from?
"Could it have been given by a spy?" Jiang Yun asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“That’s right!” Kiyosumi nodded affirmatively.
This store manager, dressed in military uniform, had encountered spies before. He had been captured after the uprising failed, and for some unknown reason, he abandoned his faith and spoke frankly with the spies who were interrogating him.
For spies, someone in military uniform is more useful. The spies made him sign a statement renouncing his party membership and then let him go, waiting for the day when the undercover spies would wake him up and he would be used by the Nationalist government. The spies were right; he is now a regimental commander.
With so many such traps planted, the Nationalist government gave the defectors who infiltrated back to China a nickname: "cells." The cells were unaware of each other's secrets, but almost all of them had incriminating evidence in the hands of spies, leaving them no choice but to comply.
Simply capturing cells wasn't enough; they exploited the organization's strict censorship system to create a large number of wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice.
No matter how you got back, they beat you half to death first, then labeled you and subjected you to all sorts of verbal abuse.
Before long, the original cells will jump out and use rhetoric to shake their revolutionary will, such as: You love the organization, but does the organization love you? You make revolution every day, but you only earn a few cents. Is your old mother at home fed enough? You're so old, other people have several children, and you're still all alone. Is it worth it?
But reality taught the spies a lesson: not every comrade obediently accepted their fate, nor did every comrade crave money and beautiful women; some were stubborn and their revolutionary will remained unshaken.
At this point, a powerful control method is needed to control their minds. According to Secretary Yu's recollection, Lao Sun spent a long time working in the review team.
During the investigation, he would also feed some comrades a homemade pill; after taking one, the wound would hurt less. Therefore, Old Sun had an excellent reputation in the base area, and everyone called him a living bodhisattva who saved lives.
He was injured during a mission and managed to get his hands on one of these pills. He almost vomited when he smelled it. What kind of pill was this? It was diluted opium pills! From that day on, he deliberately approached Lao Sun and secretly investigated him.
Ha! Qingcheng sneered. Due to individual differences in constitution, some people become addicted after eating just one pill and are eventually forced to join and become new cells. Old Sun deserves a lot of credit for that.
"Ah, Qingcheng, I'm sorry for the information you gave me. I failed to capture Lao Sun and he got away." Jiang Yun lowered his head, his sigh filled with deep regret.
"It's alright, I've already executed Old Sun." Qingcheng's tone was calm, as if he were talking about something trivial.
As soon as he finished speaking, Wu Hao gasped and asked seriously, "Xiao He, if you execute him, who will testify against the traitor?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Wu Hao, we'll get the evidence first before killing him." Qingcheng recalled the process of arresting Lao Sun, and her eyes instantly turned icy cold.
When Comrade Li Sheng caught Lao Sun in a dilapidated house in Gun Di Long, he still clamored that he had not betrayed the party and that he was just pretending to cooperate with the agents in order to exchange intelligence. So what? Agents in the White Area all do the same thing, so why should he be targeted?
If you follow the rules completely, whose revolution can you expect? He sold opium to supplement the organization's funds. He voluntarily used the money he earned for operational expenses and paid party dues. He even used some of his opium to make medicine to treat the wounded. As for his addiction, you can only blame some people for their weak revolutionary will. Why couldn't they quit on their own?
Old Sun showed no remorse for the comrades he had persecuted. Li Sheng almost shot him, but since the evidence wasn't in hand yet, he couldn't kill him immediately. To deal with this extremely disgusting yet arrogant scoundrel, Qingcheng used all the same rhetoric they used on their comrades back on him.
If he dies, the head office manager will pin all the blame on him. After all, the dead can't defend themselves, and his crimes have already been discovered by the organization. His property will inevitably be confiscated, and his family will be drowned in the spittle of the surrounding neighborhoods.
To distance himself from the situation, the head office manager would probably be happy to add fuel to the fire. He could use his position to conduct morning, noon, and night interrogations, torturing the living every day, using the blood and tears of the family members to gain a reputation for fairness and impartiality.
What will you do then? Become a ghost in the night and seek revenge? Be realistic, dead is dead. He'll rise through the ranks while you're alive. He'll have the gold bars you love, the fame you envy, and the rights you're jealous of. And you'll have nothing but your mangled remains, torn apart by wild dogs in a mass grave…
After several rounds of interrogation, Lao Sun's mind broke down. For a scumbag like him, seeing others prosper was more painful than losing money himself. With the dark mentality of "I'll take a few people down with me even if I die," he ratted out a lot of people and also revealed where the ledgers of their financial transactions were buried.
The ledger and the complete interrogation recordings have been included in the exposé materials. Secretary Yu has already listened to them once, and she has also made several backup copies. If Comrade Wu Hao wants to listen, she can bring them over now.
"No rush, let them run wild for a few more days. As a Party member, breaking the law knowingly is an even greater crime." Wu Hao's lips tightened, filled with displeasure. "Xiao He, make a list of the people who spewed this out later. I need to know which ones have turned into ghosts."
"Comrade Wu Hao, the most urgent task is not to settle scores with people, but to destroy the opium fields in western Jiangxi first." Qingcheng felt heartbroken whenever he thought of Jiangxi, a land of fish and rice with beautiful mountains and clear waters, now with its hillsides covered with red devil flowers.
After obtaining the tobacco seedlings, the store manager colluded with several wealthy farmers and the county party secretary to plant hundreds of acres of tobacco seedlings in western Jiangxi. Seeing the potential for profit, some short-sighted farmers from the middle and lower classes followed suit and rushed to buy the seeds, ruining the good farmland.
Under the influence of this distorted trend, the deceased Tian Chao became a tobacco farmer. He grew his own tobacco and smoked it himself. In less than two years, the young man in his twenties suddenly developed white hair, deformed bones, and prematurely aged, looking like a man in his fifties or sixties.
However, the impact of opium was more severe than people knew. The area in western Jiangxi was almost entirely planted with tobacco seedlings, leading to an abnormal shortage of food.
However, that area was also a base area, so the local county party secretary applied to the central government for relief grain on the grounds of drought and locust plague.
With the arrival of relief grain, the central government would also send special envoys to visit and inspect the areas. These envoys would specifically lead people to visit a few families who grew grain. Under pressure, those families would usually choose to keep quiet and cooperate. Then, the envoys would hold a grand banquet in the county town, cry and complain, and send the special envoys back to report with good cigarettes and wine.
Special envoys, they seize upon trivial matters to issue orders, put on airs, spout grand pronouncements about policies and unity, and a few flattering remarks are enough to get by. Some even commit serious dereliction of duty, happily turning a blind eye for a few cigarettes and bottles of alcohol. These days, everyone has a hard time; why push people to their limits?
As for the grain, it was divided up by a few officials as soon as it arrived in the county town. Then it was resold to local rich farmers at a price lower than the market price. The rich farmers then sold it to poor farmers at a price higher than the market price. If they didn't have enough money, they would use opium to pay off their debts. If they didn't have enough opium, they would sell their children or do manual labor. As worker ants transporting opium, they became a new generation of oppressive class.
Of those who smoke opium, few are in good health. Once a farmer gets a headache or fever and can't work, he's left helpless and waiting to die! The end result is that the village is reduced to ruins and the fields are abandoned.
As Qingcheng spoke, he became increasingly agitated, his throat almost burning. The deceased, Tian Chao, had reconnected with Lao Sun during the transportation of opium. Lao Sun had been on good terms with him, which is why he gave the deceased a new job: assassinating Secretary Yu.
The reason Old Sun took the risk was that he wanted to kill Secretary Yu and then find someone to impersonate him so that the fake Secretary Yu could talk to the Master about the opium business in his place.
If successful, Lao Sun will arrange for the deceased to be transferred to Shanghai, where he will then work full-time as a liaison with the great man and become a superior person.
Just to be on the safe side, Lao Sun also secretly contacted Captain Han of CC, revealing that Secretary Yu had a list of undercover party members, and asked him to decide for himself whether or not to intercept and kill Secretary Yu.
How could the dog spies let such a good opportunity pass by? The two groups of people worked together to plan the route, each getting what they wanted. All that was left was to take Secretary Yu's life.
If Secretary Yu hadn't fought back so fiercely, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
After speaking in one breath, the cause and effect of the matter were clear, and everyone fell into absolute silence, even the scratching sound of Wu Hao writing could be heard clearly.
Dealing with the tobacco fields really can't be delayed any longer! Qingcheng choked up, raised her hand to catch her breath, and sighed in a trembling voice that she was a science major, and in terms of military affairs, politics, and work experience, she was no match for the comrades present.
People come from all over the country and have gathered together for the same dream of rejuvenation. So Qingcheng understands that there are many different voices in the Soviet area, and different voices have different interests and demands. Comrade Wu Hao must be in a difficult position in the middle, and she understands that.
But everything must be based on logic. Our dream of revival is not to replace the original oppressive class, but to liberate all our oppressed compatriots.
We should be the shield protecting the people and the sword against the enemy! We've only established our base a few years ago, and there are already scoundrels like me organizing opium trafficking. It's putting the cart before the horse!
Her clear and forceful words were resounding, but she hadn't finished speaking. The revolution was not yet successful, yet they were already adopting every bad habit of the Nationalist government. How could the comrades who sacrificed their lives rest in peace? Our swords and our shields were all soaked in the dye vat, left to rust and rot. How could this not chill the hearts of our comrades who remained steadfast in their loyalty?
We comrades working in the White Area lived on the edge every day, struggling to survive in the cracks. Yet, just one or two cells could wipe out all our work and threaten our lives. How frustrating!
Looking at the three leaders with their different expressions, a glint flashed in Qingcheng's eyes. Her tone softened as she said that she might have overstepped her bounds by saying these words. However, she believed that the best counter-espionage was to keep oneself clean and leave no room for filth to hide. Otherwise, it would be like patching holes in a fishing net or plugging holes in a bamboo basket. No matter how you patch it, it will never be completely patched, and it will always leak no matter how you plug it.
If she were in the Soviet area, no matter who tried to stop her, she would smash that dye vat! Let the sewage flow away, wear away the rust, and through countless trials, forge our new shield and our new sword in the flames. Regroup and rise again; why should we worry that the red flag cannot be planted across the globe?
"Good!" Wang Renyong raised his arm and shouted. The other two looked in the direction of the sound, and he gave an awkward chuckle and lowered his arm.
But a second later, clap clap... Jiang Yun clapped enthusiastically to cheer Qingcheng on, and Wu Hao's long-lost smile returned to his face. He raised his index finger and said solemnly, "One week. Please give me one week to handle this. Right here, I will definitely give my comrades a satisfactory answer."
Without ambition, nothing can be accomplished. Having received Wu Hao's assurance, Qingcheng left the Xu residence satisfied.
A half-moon hung in the sky, and insects chirped softly. Qingcheng parked her bicycle by the moonlight, yawned, and thought, "Talking is so tiring. I wonder if I can sleep for a few more hours when I get back."
Suddenly, a strange chill rose from her tailbone, jolting her awake from her drowsy state. She pressed herself against the wall and looked around, but everything was shrouded in a soy sauce color, and she couldn't see anything clearly.
The feeling of being spied on before leaving the house returned. Kiyosumi mustered her courage and ran back to the stairwell to make sure no one was following her.
She had just breathed a sigh of relief when she suddenly remembered the troublesome man upstairs. Her smile froze on her lips, and her earlier ambition vanished instantly. It was so late; she should be asleep, shouldn't she?
Marx bless me, Amen! Swallowing hard, Qingcheng picked up her shoes and tiptoed past the man's door. Before she could see him, she crouched down and peered through the bars. No one opened the door. Yay! He really was asleep.
In her excitement, Qingcheng opened and locked the door in one smooth motion, then jumped onto the soft, warm bed without looking back.
As the shadows of the trees on the wall swayed, the blue curtains trembled slightly.
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