Chapter 391: Secret Agent Contact
391
At two o'clock in the morning, the night grew darker and darker, as thick as ink, enveloping the entire cowshed.
Tang Yue hid herself and sat on a big tree on the slope of the cowshed.
After a while, there was a faint sound of footsteps in the distance. The crunching sound of leather shoes on the snow broke the dead silence of the night. Two figures slowly emerged from the white.
They were wrapped in thick coats, their hats pulled low, almost covering most of their faces. One could only see the white breath they exhaled, which instantly condensed in the cold air. These two people were the spies sent by the Russians to contact them.
They tiptoed to Zheng Qian's house, looked around cautiously, and after confirming that there was nothing unusual, they raised their hands and gently knocked on the door, making a rhythmic "knock knock knock" sound.
Inside, Zheng Qian heard the signal and stood up to open the door. It slowly swung open, a wave of warmth washing over him. The two men who had been meeting him quickly slipped into the room, and Zheng Qian carefully closed the door behind him. The entire process was completely silent, as if nothing had happened.
"Are all the things ready?" One of the contact persons asked in a low voice in stiff Chinese, his voice hoarse as the cold wind blowing across the ice.
Zheng Qian nodded, "You are three days later than the scheduled time, what happened?" Zheng Qian couldn't help but ask.
The other contact snorted coldly, "Do you think we want this? It's because the 20th Division is conducting some military exercises, and the entire border is swarming with people. We searched for several days before finding a suitable trading point, and the news has already been sent to the Russians."
Hurry up, this shipment is very important, and the Russians are pressing for it. Hand it over quickly, we have to leave immediately."
Zheng Qian didn't say anything. He and Tan Aihua quickly put on thick clothes, took tools and led the two people out.
The cold wind scraped across the faces of several people like a knife. The night grew darker, casting an even thicker veil of darkness over this sinful transaction.
Zheng Qian, Tan Aihua, and two Russian liaison agents carefully advanced up the mountain amidst the icy snow. Each step they took on the thick snow made a dull, crunching sound, as if the earth were silently protesting their treasonous actions.
"It's such a cold day!" complained a liaison agent, his voice sounding particularly weak in the cold wind.
Zheng Qian tightened his cotton coat and whispered, "Be patient. The place where the thing is buried is a little far away, but we'll be there soon." Their figures looked extremely small in the snow, yet extremely eye-catching, as if they were stains in this white world.
"It's a bit too much stuff, can you two handle it?"
One of the agents glanced at Zheng Qian and said, "Hurry up and leave! Stop talking nonsense!"
The four of them struggled through the forest. The trees were bent by the weight of snow, and snow fell from them from time to time. Zheng Qian relied on his memory to search for the secret location of the hidden artifact in the intricate forest. "It should be around here."
He said breathlessly, his eyes full of tension and anticipation.
They began digging in the snow. It snowed almost every day in the winter here, and the buried items would be buried many times. The marks left behind couldn't be too conspicuous, and they could only give an approximate location.
The biting cold seeped through his gloves, sinking deep into his bones. "This snow is so thick, it's going to be a struggle to find it," Tan Aihua muttered, but he didn't dare stop. Every shovelful of digging sent a cloud of snowflakes flying, gleaming coldly in the dim moonlight.
Finally, Zheng Qian's shovel struck something hard. "Eureka!" he whispered excitedly. Several people hurriedly gathered around and began carefully clearing the snow around them. As the snow was shoveled away, a wooden box, tightly wrapped in oilcloth, gradually emerged.
Uncovering the oilcloth, the wooden box was engraved with ancient patterns, as if telling the vicissitudes of time. Zheng Qian opened the wooden box with trembling hands, and the cultural relics inside still exuded a charming luster against the backdrop of snow.
Under the dim moonlight, the eyes of the Tang Dynasty tri-color camel figurine seemed to sparkle with lively light, as if filled with resentment for being taken away from its homeland.
The paper of the Song Dynasty landscape scroll trembled slightly in the cold wind, and the landscape in the painting seemed to be sighing for the disaster it was about to suffer.
The warm texture of the Han Dynasty jade pendant seemed out of place in the cold snow, and the dragon and phoenix patterns seemed to be struggling, unwilling to be handed over to foreigners by these traitors.
Tang Yue was watching not far away, her eyes were cold. These things were obviously not from the same period. She wondered how many tombs they had dug to scatter these things like this.
What's even more terrifying is that these are just the tip of the iceberg of these spies. Tang Yue raised the corners of her icy lips. Are you playing thieves? Haha!
After confirming the items and the number of items, another contact agent urged Zheng Qian and Tan Aihua, "Hurry, pack up the things and get down the mountain." The meaning was clear: from this moment on, they had nothing to do with this matter.
Zheng Qian breathed a sigh of relief as he held the shovel in his hand. He picked it up and was about to turn around when Tan Aihua stopped him. Tan Aihua looked at the two liaison agents and said, "You haven't paid the last time. Shouldn't you settle the last and this time payments together now?"
The two agents looked up at the two men, one of them with a sneer in his eyes. "What's the rush? You're living in a cowshed. Even if we gave you the money, where would you spend it? We might as well save it for you first."
Zheng Qian was helpless. It seemed that they didn't want to give them the money this time. However, they had no way out.
Zheng Qian pulled Tan Aihua, but she didn't move. She looked at the two contact persons coldly and said, "They agreed in Kyoto that we would settle the bill every time and never owe money. If you don't pay, we won't accept the next shipment."
The spy who had just spoken turned cold. "What? Want to turn against us? You should first think about how many bullets your skulls can hold."
Tan Aihua still looked at the two men stubbornly, "You should know what is more important. Even if we get shot, I'm afraid your future actions will be more difficult."
This was absolutely true. The two agents exchanged a glance and reluctantly pulled out several thick stacks of money from their coats. "Alright, you've got guts."
Tan Aihua took the money with a cold face, "Also, we've been here for a year. We agreed at the time that we would go to Russia after a year. Now that time has come, could you please go back and ask them when they will fulfill their promise?"
The two agents looked at each other again, said nothing, and nodded to indicate that they understood.
Zheng Qian had been worried for a while. His wife was so brave. Now that it was over, he quickly pulled Tan Aihua away. They were a little further away. "Why are you so impulsive? It's the middle of the night, deep in the mountains. What if the two of them get us?"
Tan Aihua remained unmoved, "They don't dare."
"What?"
Tan Aihua continued to walk quickly forward, "Their recent deliveries have been much more frequent than in the first half of the year, which shows that their recent excavations have been very successful. They definitely don't want any accidents to happen at this time.
So, as long as we act tough, they won't dare to refuse to pay."
Zheng Qian hadn't expected his wife to be so capable, but then he realized what she said made sense. "Wife, will there be a result soon regarding your request to go to Russia?"
Tan Aihua looked at the endless white snow in front of her, her eyes filled with melancholy. "No! It won't happen."
Zheng Qian didn't quite understand what Tan Aihua meant.
In the mountains, two secret agents carefully took out the artifacts one by one and rewrapped them in thick cotton cloth. "How foolish! They thought they could really go to Russia. Little did they know that if they couldn't reach the border, they would..."
"Shut up!" This was the spy's cries, speaking awkwardly in Chinese. "You Chinese have an old saying: 'Walls have ears.' Some things are better left unsaid."
Tang Yue, perched in the tree above them, raised an eyebrow. Interesting. This Russian guy is even studying Chinese culture. But, has he been particularly active lately? Haha, thinking of leaving China? That depends on Tang Yue's approval.
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