At that moment, Yoshimura Yuta was sweeping the floor in front of the door. When he saw Ning Zhiheng go out, he assumed that he was going out to eat, so he quickly said, "Fujiwara-kun, if you don't want to cook for yourself, you can come to my house and eat with me. I won't charge you for the meal!"
Ning Zhiheng was taken aback, not expecting Yoshimura Yuta to be so enthusiastic. However, he was reluctant to interact with people and was afraid of revealing his true intentions in conversation, so he smiled and declined, saying, "Thank you very much, but I want to go out and see more of the world, and find a job while I'm at it!"
"Fujiwara-kun is so young, yet he already knows how to be independent. That's really impressive!" Yoshimura Yuta exclaimed with a smile, stopping his broom. "Jobs are hard to find these days, so please don't hesitate to ask if you need anything."
"Thank you!" Ning Zhiheng nodded slightly and turned to leave.
Yoshimura Yuta watched Ning Zhiheng's retreating figure, growing more and more satisfied, a smile appearing on his lips.
"You old miser, why are you suddenly treating the tenants to a meal for free? What kind of scheme are you up to?" An old woman came out of the house, carrying a basin of clothes to hang out to dry. She looked at her husband and asked him strangely.
“What do you, an old woman, know? This young man is a very nice guy. I’m thinking that if we get along well, maybe we can find a good man for our Kumiko!” Yoshimura Yuta said with a chuckle.
Hearing her husband say this, the old woman immediately became interested. Her youngest daughter, Kumiko, who was staying by her side, had also been looking for a suitable candidate. She quickly asked, "This young man is quite good-looking, but I don't know anything about him. He seems to be the right age."
Yoshimura Yuta smiled smugly and said, "I've lived most of my life, and my judgment of people is usually accurate. He's strong and tall, with a ruddy complexion, so he's clearly never gone hungry. He paid close attention to cleanliness when looking at the house, which means his previous living conditions weren't bad. When he paid the rent, his briefcase was bulging. And he speaks with a pure Kyoto accent and his surname is Fujiwara. Let me tell you, this person's family background is definitely not bad. Besides, this young man is good-looking; Kumiko will definitely like him."
Ning Zhiheng's height was indeed considered tall and imposing for that era, especially by Japanese standards.
Furthermore, the Japanese surname he chose happened to be that of an old noble family in the Kansai region. The Fujiwara family had many branches and a large population, and was very powerful and famous in the Kyoto area, with a great influence in Japanese society.
Hearing Yoshimura Yuta say this, the old woman immediately perked up and quickly said, "This is a good opportunity, we should give it a try. This isn't in Japan, maybe our Kumiko really has this good luck!"
In Japan, social classes were distinct, and it was impossible for the sons of nobles to marry commoners. However, in modern times, Japan's population increased dramatically, and various social problems arose, which led to major changes. Many ideas were incorporated into Western concepts, and this custom was not as strict as before, especially since this is not Japan, where it is relatively more relaxed.
While they were quietly making their own plans, Ning Zhiheng arrived at the most bustling area of Hongkou and found the Mengyuan Grand Theater.
The grand theater looked impressive, and there were quite a few people watching the performance inside. There were also many vendors hawking their wares at the entrance, creating a lively atmosphere. There was a signboard at the entrance of the theater, and he went closer to look at it, but he didn't find Wen Qiyu's name.
Since the theater was mainly frequented by Chinese people, and there weren't many Japanese who appreciated Chinese opera, Ning Zhiheng didn't rush in to inquire. It was more appropriate for Ji Hongyi and his group to find out the information.
So he turned and left, and began to walk along the Suzhou River. Along the way, a policeman came to check his identity. He took out his identification and covered it up with short but fluent Japanese.
He planned to evacuate via the Suzhou Creek. Once the assassination was over, in order not to give the Japanese any pretext, his personnel must not retreat to the Chinese-occupied areas. If the Japanese discovered this and used it as an excuse to provoke an incident, it would cause great trouble for the Chinese. Besides, the defenses there were too strong, making it difficult for him to pass through.
Therefore, he chose to evacuate towards the International Settlement, where the Japanese defenses were relatively weak. Only a small number of troops were stationed to guard the bridges, and many bridges over the Suzhou Creek were already restricted from passage, but five were still open.
Ning Zhiheng carefully observed the situation of the five bridges and couldn't help but shake his head. Each bridge checkpoint had at least dozens of garrison soldiers, all of whom were armed with rifles and some with light machine guns. Once these garrison soldiers discovered their presence and a firefight broke out, the action team members, armed with handguns, would be doomed to die even if they had excellent marksmanship.
Ning Zhiheng had no choice but to abandon the possibility of evacuating from the bridge. However, the Suzhou River was not very wide, averaging only about seventy meters. This distance could be crossed quickly by wooden boat, but the movement of wooden boats would be too loud and could easily alert the Japanese patrol boats.
Ning Zhiheng thought for a moment. The Suzhou River wasn't very wide, so he decided to swim across quietly. This way, he would be hard to spot in the dark and very safe. However, this would require his team members to be good swimmers. He didn't know in advance how many of his ten team members could swim, so he had to count them immediately. The number of personnel directly affected the assassination plan.
The next step was to find a secluded entry point into the water. Ning Zhiheng searched for a long time before finally finding a suitable location.
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