The train driver in the courtyard

early morning.

Li Aiguo was concerned about today's operation and got up early in the morning.

After finishing my meal, I pushed open the door and saw Aunt Liu with He Yushui, one holding a brush and the other holding a bowl of paste, busy doing something by the pillar at the door.

The two worked very diligently, and He Yushui's pen tip was still covered in paste, but she didn't bother to wipe it off.

When Aunt Liu heard the door open, she looked up and saw Li Aiguo coming out. She greeted him with a smile.

"Aiguo, you're up! Look, this was written by rainwater. How's the handwriting?"

Only then did Li Aiguo notice the red paper strip pasted on the pillar.

The top has the following calligraphy: "Heavenly Emperor, Earthly Emperor, my family has a child who cries at night. Passing gentlemen, recite this three times, and he will sleep soundly until dawn."

Li Aiguo was both amused and exasperated. It seemed that Aunt Liu hadn't given up and had even come up with a "talisman".

This thing actually represents the most basic emotions of ordinary people, and it's not considered illegal even now. He Yushui's handwriting is quite good.

Li Aiguo examined it for a moment and then offered a few words of praise.

He Yushui was delighted to hear this: "Uncle charges two cents for writing! Auntie took out all the money, but I stopped her. I told you my handwriting is good, didn't I!"

Her little face practically screamed, "Praise me!"

Li Aiguo did as she wished.

"That's right, that's right. It would be even better if you got into high school."

When Li Aiguo brought up studying, He Yushui muttered under her breath that it was really boring, then turned and ran back into the house.

"Aiguo, you have work to do, so go ahead. I'll take care of things at home for you," Aunt Liu said with a smile as she saw Li Aiguo about to leave.

"Thanks, ma'am." Li Aiguo nodded and was about to leave.

Aunt Liu seemed to remember something, so she leaned on a pillar and moved to stop him: "Aiguo, Diquan will be back the day after tomorrow. When he comes, Aunt Liu will cook a feast. Remember to bring Xueru over."

"The day after tomorrow? I've got it." Li Aiguo understood what Aunt Liu meant. This time, Liu Diquan was bringing his girlfriend back, and he probably wanted her to help him check her out.

The two families are neighbors and have such a good relationship, so naturally they couldn't refuse.

Li Aiguo drove his large SUV toward the Changxindian Locomotive Factory.

At this moment, people were coming and going on the road, their faces showing excitement, anticipation, anxiety and other colors, but no fear.

Because they know that in the frontier, in some unknown place, there is a group that will always protect them.

Upon entering the security office, Section Chief Qin was already waiting and reported, "Team Leader Cat is keeping an eye on Zhou Risheng with his men. It's breakfast time now, so shall we go to the canteen and get Chen Xingyi a meal?"

"No need, just give him a cornbread and a bowl of cold water."

Upon hearing Li Aiguo's words, Section Chief Qin was visibly taken aback; this was his own brother-in-law.

Is Li Aiguo really not afraid of his wife?

Since Li Aiguo had made this arrangement, he had no choice but to comply and asked a security officer to go to the canteen to buy a steamed bun.

Because of its remote location, many workers at the Changxindian Locomotive Factory lived in dormitories and lacked the facilities to cook. The factory canteen provided three meals a day.

Zhou Risheng's behavior today was a bit strange. It's already working hours, but he's standing at the cafeteria entrance chatting with a few cafeteria staff.

He was a leader in the factory, and the canteen staff felt awkward about asking him to leave.

Seeing security officer Xiao Liu come in carrying an aluminum lunchbox, Zhou Risheng's eyes flashed with a strange light, and he asked with a smile.

"Xiao Liu, why did you just get here to eat? Did you oversleep again?"

"It's Section Chief Zhou, no, this was for the criminal to beat someone else." Xiao Liu was about to say it when he remembered the confidentiality regulations and changed his words.

He smiled at Section Chief Zhou, then turned and went to the canteen window to order a steamed bun.

"This time, the misuse of public funds will be attributed to our security department."

After taking the steamed buns, the security officer hurriedly left.

Seeing this, Section Chief Zhou's last concerns finally disappeared.

Last night, after a second conversation with Jiang Chunyue, Zhou Risheng told her the whole situation.

Jiang Chunyue felt that Zhou Risheng's actions were somewhat reckless.

After all, Zhou Risheng had not been trained and was prone to making mistakes during operations.

She even suspected that Zhou Risheng might be being targeted, and that Chen Xingyi was just a decoy.

On Sunday, Sheng got anxious and asked for advice.

Jiang Chunyue told him to find out whether Chen Xingyi was actually being held in custody before taking any action.

“If Chen Xingyi hadn’t been arrested, why would the security department have only given him a cornbread?” Zhou Risheng thought he was too clever for coming up with such a brilliant plan.

He greeted a few canteen staff members, then returned to the technical department and found the department head, expressing his desire to go on a business trip.

"Old Zhou, you're a key member of our technical department. What will happen to the department's work if you leave?" the department head said with some concern.

“It is precisely because I am a key member that I should go. If there are any design flaws in the locomotives of Yangcheng Railway Bureau, we must make timely modifications, otherwise it may cause significant losses.” Zhou Risheng was wholeheartedly dedicated to the factory.

"That's true." The section chief nodded and agreed to Sunday's request for a business trip.

They then issued him a letter of introduction and helped him buy a train ticket to Guangzhou.

The train departs at 2 PM, and we need to have lunch before leaving the Changxindian Locomotive Factory.

On Sunday, Sheng felt like he was living through an eternity in the office. By noon, he couldn't wait to leave.

At this moment, the technicians were all busy going to eat with their lunchboxes, but Zhou Risheng calmly went into the toilet.

He squatted down and looked around, and when he saw that no one else was there, he climbed up the wall of the squatting toilet, bent over and touched the ventilation fan.

As my fingertips touched the paper, the anxiety that had been hanging in my throat on Sunday finally subsided. Once I delivered these drawings to the little notebook, I could live a life of luxury for the rest of my days.

As for the locomotive factory, they were just unlucky.

On Sunday, Zhou Sheng stood on tiptoe, stretched out his arm, and took out a stack of toilet paper from inside. He happily stuffed it into his pocket.

"This place is really well hidden." At that moment, a voice came from behind.

Dull, clear, this bland sound carried an almost eerie tone, echoing in the toilet.

At that moment, Zhou Risheng felt as if his soul was being choked by something, a kind of oppressive feeling of being pressed underwater and unable to breathe.

He couldn't help but close his eyes.

This is a dream. As long as I open my eyes again, today's nightmare will end.

He took a few deep breaths, opened his eyes, and twisted his stiff neck to look behind him, where he saw that annoying guy standing there with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.

Fear, helplessness, despair, and collapse—a mix of emotions swirled in my mind.

“It’s over.” Zhou Risheng’s vision went black, his legs went weak, and he fell off the low wall.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Jiang Chunyue packed her belongings and sat on the sofa waiting for Sunday to come back. The monotonous ticking of the wall clock sounded particularly jarring at this moment.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, Jiang Chunyue raised her hand to check the time, and couldn't help but frown.

"Why hasn't Lao Zhou come back yet? Did something happen to him? Could he have been arrested?"

Jiang Chunyue felt increasingly uneasy as she thought about it, as if she had foreseen something bad.

She wanted to leave immediately, but she couldn't bear to part with the blueprints. However, if she continued to wait and something happened to Zhou Risheng, those people would definitely come to arrest her.

"No, I can't wait any longer. I need to find a place to hide."

Jiang Chunyue's valuables had already been packed up, including a few small yellow croakers, enough to cover her expenses for a while.

If there are any problems with the astronomical rise on Sunday, she will immediately try to get to the south.

If nothing goes wrong, we'll try to bring Zhou Risheng back.

Thinking this, Jiang Chunyue changed into a coarse cloth outfit, put on a hat, and tucked her hair into the hat, dressing up as a young man.

She picked up her bag, glanced back at the room one last time, turned around, and resolutely pushed open the door and walked out.

It was quiet outside. Jiang Chunyue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, lowered her head, and quickened her pace to run out of the courtyard.

I had only taken two steps when I was suddenly stopped.

"What are you trying to do?" Jiang Chunyue saw that the person who came was wearing a gray Zhongshan suit and immediately realized that something was wrong. She turned around and was about to run away.

But Old Cat wouldn't let her have her way. He waved his hand, and two men in gray Zhongshan suits rushed forward and pinned Jiang Chunyue to the ground.

"Huh? You didn't bring a pistol?" The man in the gray Zhongshan suit searched him and found some odds and ends, a wad of cash, and a small cloth bag carefully wrapped in oil paper.

Upon opening it, I found a small cluster of dried cherry blossom petals and a small wooden plaque engraved with the word 'Sangtian'.

At this moment, the people in the compound were also alerted.

Residents gathered around, their gazes toward the old cat somewhat hostile.

"We were sent by the factory's security department." Old Cat took out his prepared identification and waved it in front of the residents.

Upon seeing the identification, the residents immediately stepped back, watching as Jiang Chunyue was led into the jeep.

The car drove away, but the residents remained standing there.

"What did Jiang Chunyue do that warrants their arrest?"

"Didn't you see? Jiang Chunyue is dressed like this; she's definitely up to something bad."

"I've always felt that this woman is a bit strange; she has an indescribable smell about her."

When Li Aiguo escorted Zhou Risheng back to the security section, Lao Mao happened to be escorting Jiang Chunyue back.

When Zhou Risheng saw Jiang Chunyue, he was excited and wanted to shout out, but when he saw Jiang Chunyue's attire clearly, his expression changed.

Even if he were incredibly stupid, he could guess that Jiang Chunyue was planning to slip away.

"You're actually going to run away by yourself?"

Seeing Zhou Risheng's disheveled appearance, Jiang Chunyue spat and said, "You idiot, you can't even handle such a small matter, and you even caused me to get arrested. My father was wrong to marry you."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Risheng felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Li Aiguo grabbed his arm and could feel his muscles tense.

Section Chief Qin was worried that the two would collude on their statements, so he gave Li Aiguo a wink, wanting him to take them in quickly, but Li Aiguo shook his head.

These two are now fighting like dogs, which is the perfect opportunity to break down their psychological defenses.

The two had already started arguing.

"This...this is a trap set by you and your daughter? You don't love me at all?"

"Love? Hahahaha." Jiang Chunyue knew very well that she couldn't escape.

At this moment, he went all out, throwing his head back and laughing wildly a few times, saying contemptuously, "People like you are all lowly, how could I possibly love you? My favorite is Kuwata-kun, it's just a pity that I'll never have the chance to see Kuwata-kun again in this lifetime."

The thought that all her years of effort had gone to waste caused her to erupt with hatred.

"Do you know why I always close my eyes when we do 'that'?"

Even Li Aiguo, who had seen the world, was dumbfounded. Did they really need to go this far?
That guy Zhou Risheng is stupid; he actually asked why.

“Because I always imagine you as Kuwata-kun.” Even with her hands held down, Jiang Chunyue’s eyes instantly became hazy when she mentioned Kuwata-kun, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously curved into a girlish smile, but it was immediately shattered by the cold reality, turning into a deeper resentment. “As long as I open my eyes and see your face, I feel disgusted.”

What is the most unbearable thing for a man? This is it.

Zhou Risheng was now enraged. He raised his hands, struggled, and shouted, "You bitch, I'm going to kill you! Kill you!"

Li Aiguo believes that if Zhou Risheng is released now, he will definitely tear Jiang Chunyue apart.

Unfortunately, Li Aiguo still had many things to figure out, so he couldn't let Zhou Risheng do that.

"Take him away." Seeing that the time was right, Li Aiguo tightened his grip, grabbed Zhou Risheng's arm, and dragged him into the interrogation room next door.

Zhou Risheng was still struggling to fight Jiang Chunyue to the death.

He was very strong, but Li Aiguo was even stronger, and there was also a railway soldier next to him. Zhou Risheng was no match for him and was dragged in.

The door was closed, and Zhou Risheng was handcuffed to a chair. His chest heaved as he gasped for breath, muttering, "I'm going to kill her, kill her."

Li Aiguo didn't rush to interrogate him. He lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair.

He waited until Zhou Risheng calmed down before giving a hand signal to the recorder next to him.

Li Aiguo stared intently at Zhou Risheng: "Zhou Risheng, what do you want to explain now?"

Zhou Risheng's emotions, which he had finally managed to calm down, suddenly wavered, and he immediately tried to find an excuse.

Li Aiguo tossed the file folder containing the blueprints onto the table, stood up, and walked over to him.

“Sun Risheng, we have now obtained the blueprints you copied. We have caught you red-handed, and you can’t deny it. Jiang Chunyue is being interrogated next door. Do you think she will try to pin all the blame on you?”

The words Zhou Risheng couldn't say were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter them anymore.

In the past, he would have been willing to believe Jiang Chunyue, but since Jiang Chunyue was planning to run away on her own, she had clearly betrayed him.

Li Aiguo continued, "This is your last chance. You know the policy of leniency for those who confess. Whether you can save your life depends on your cooperation from now on."

Zhou Risheng's expression changed several times, and he realized that there was no other way to go now. He sighed helplessly and said...

"I never intended to become Dieter, much less steal the blueprints. I was deceived."

Li Aiguo nodded: "I believe you."

Zhou Risheng looked up at Li Aiguo with some surprise.

Li Aiguo held a cigarette between two fingers and tapped it at him: "Go on."

The most important thing in interrogation is not to disrupt the suspect's train of thought, but to keep them focused on their crimes.

It looks simple, but it's actually quite difficult to do.

At this moment, Zhou Risheng was clearly like a wild beast trapped in a cage, completely suppressed both physically and mentally.

"Jiang Chunyue is my teacher's daughter. She's a little girl, and her real name is Kayano Ai."

Upon hearing this, Section Chief Qin was so shocked that he almost stood up. He had been a guest at the Zhou family's house and met Jiang Chunyue, but he had never noticed this.

After being glanced at by Li Aiguo, Section Chief Qin realized his mistake and quickly sat back down.

Li Aiguo straightened up and asked calmly, "If we're wrong, when your teacher ran away, Jiang Chunyue should have been Kayano Ai. She wasn't qualified to leave, so you helped her conceal her identity."

Zhou Risheng nodded and said, "You guessed right. After I graduated from university, I went to work at the Dalian Institute and was assigned to be Professor Haruyama's assistant. He is Ai Kayano's father."

"Back then, Professor Haruyama was considered an upper-class figure, while I was just a poor boy. Meanwhile, Ai Kayano was in love with another researcher at the institute, Kuwata-kun, who was also a small-time researcher."

"I thought I would never have the chance to marry Ai Kayano in this lifetime."

"I never expected that the project would fail in just a few years, and everyone at the research institute would have to withdraw."

However, the situation at the time was very bad; there were limited positions, and only technical personnel could be withdrawn, and Ai Kayano was not among them.

"Professor Haruyama came up with a plan; he helped Ai Kayano disguise her identity."

At that time, the household registration system was chaotic. There happened to be a girl named Jiang Chunyue who was a teacher at a school. She looked very similar to Ai Kayano in both appearance and age. Most importantly, her whole family had died in the military police prison.

Professor Haruyama, through his connections, also got Jiang Chunyue imprisoned, and had Kayano Ai take her place.

Without even asking, we already know Zhenjiang Chunyue's fate.

Upon hearing this, Section Chief Qin gritted his teeth: "Beasts! These people are all beasts!"

When Zhou Risheng saw Section Chief Qin's fury, he turned pale with fright and hurriedly explained, "I didn't know about these things at first, and I didn't do them. Professor Chunshan did them himself."

Seeing that the interrogation had been interrupted, Li Aiguo glanced at Section Chief Qin and said, "Old Qin, you can go out now."

Section Chief Qin realized he had made a mistake, stood up and left.

Wait for the door to close.

Li Aiguo then asked, "Isn't just impersonating someone else enough? Kayano Ai grew up in the Japanese school, so it's easy for people to see through her."

Zhou Risheng agreed with Li Aiguo's idea and continued, "Professor Chunshan has come up with a way for us to get married. With me taking care of Kayano Ai, the risk of exposure can be reduced."

Li Aiguo: "You couldn't have asked for this, so you immediately agreed to Professor Chunshan's offer, right?"

Zhou Risheng nodded and said, "Actually, there's another point. Professor Chunshan was kind to me. I made a mistake at work, which caused a batch of locomotives to have design problems. If it weren't for Professor Chunshan protecting me, I would have been arrested and forced to gun the military police."

"Marrying Ai Kayano would allow you to repay a debt of gratitude and be with the woman you love. It was an easy choice for you."

“Yes.” Zhou Risheng sighed: “After liberation, things developed just as Professor Chunshan predicted. Our group was not made difficult, Kayano Ai did not have to work, and no one doubted her identity.”

As he spoke, he looked up at Li Aiguo for the first time: "If I hadn't wanted to teach you guys from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot a lesson, things wouldn't have gotten to this point."

Li Aiguo has basically figured out what happened next.

Zhou Risheng was a petty and narrow-minded person who always felt that his authority as deputy section chief was being suppressed.

At this point, Jiang Chunyue gave him an idea: he just needed to copy down the blueprints and study them thoroughly.

When mass production begins, we can use the original design to present our own design at a meeting, which will give the Qianmen Locomotive Depot a resounding slap in the face.

Zhou Risheng was blinded by jealousy and didn't notice the trap he was in, so he jumped in.

Zhou Risheng was in charge of the locomotive factory's blueprints and frequently dealt with the confidential office, so he was well aware that security there was lax.

There were two things he hadn't thought of.

One reason is that Jiang Chunyue had already contacted the other side of the notebook.

Secondly, Liang Baomi actually set up a trap on the blueprints.

After the leak was exposed, Zhou Risheng panicked.

Fearing that he would be investigated, Jiang Chunyue revealed her plan. Zhou Risheng realized he had been tricked, but there was no turning back. He could only go down this dark path.

"As for Chen Xingyi, he was just unlucky."

Upon hearing Chen Xingyi mentioned, Li Aiguo casually asked, "Why did you choose Chen Xingyi as a scapegoat?"

Zhou Risheng answered frankly: "He is too honest. Honest people are the easiest to be bullied and are also very emotional. I once imagined that after Chen Xingyi was identified as Dieter by you, he might do something irrational and be shot dead by you, then there would be no way to prove it."

Li Aiguo was both amused and exasperated.

Isn't this just bullying honest people? But Zhou Risheng's idea is not wrong.

Honest people rarely get angry, but once they do, the other party often has no chance to regret it.

Now that the case has been basically solved, Li Aiguo asked a few more questions. Seeing that there was nothing new, he asked Zhou Risheng to sign his name and put his fingerprint on the record, and then send him to the detention room.

On Sunday, Zhou Sheng was being supported by two railway soldiers and was about to leave when he stopped again.

"Advisor Li, there's something I just don't understand: why are you so sure that Chen Xingyi isn't Dieter?"

Before Li Aiguo could answer, an officer stood up and said, "Chen Xingyi is Comrade Aiguo's brother-in-law, what do you think?"

"Huh?!" Zhou Risheng was completely stunned. He had countless guesses, but he had never thought of this.

“My luck is really bad,” Zhou Risheng said with a self-deprecating laugh.

Li Aiguo stood up: "No, you're lucky enough. If you really went to the south with Kayano Ai, do you think Kayano Ai would take you to the notebook after she got the blueprints?"

"."

“You’re really just a tool. Once you’re no longer useful, death is all that’s waiting for you. Now that we’ve caught you, if you’re lucky, you might still save your life. In that respect, you should thank Chen Xingyi.”

"."

Zhou Risheng felt that Li Aiguo was talking nonsense, but he couldn't refute it.

After all, even he doesn't believe that Ai Kayano will take him away from here.

From beginning to end, Ai Kayano and her father only used him as a stepping stone.

Zhou Risheng knew that discussing these things at this point was pointless, so he just sighed and let the railway soldiers take him away.

After the interrogation here was over, Lao Mao also interrogated Jiang Chunyue.

Old Cat came to the office and handed over the transcript.

"That woman is really ruthless; she pinned all the blame on Zhou Risheng."

Li Aiguo opened the transcript, in which Kayano Aiyi pointed out that Zhou Risheng was the mastermind. It was Zhou Risheng who couldn't stand life here and thought of the Little Notebook, so she contacted Professor Haruyama at the Little Notebook Research Institute.

"The letter is key. We should investigate what it contains and how it was delivered."

Old Cat understood Li Aiguo's meaning. Now, as long as they could find those correspondences, they could determine the roles of the two men in the leak.

In addition, it can also uncover the channels through which the enemy sends messages here.

After reporting the situation to the weather station, Old Cat organized a special team to continue investigating along this lead.

Ai Kayano and Noboru Sunori were taken to the weather station to await further processing.

Li Aiguo was finally able to relax a bit, and just as he was about to go to the cafeteria for lunch, he picked up his aluminum lunchbox and remembered something.

"My second brother-in-law is still in detention."

Actually, Li Aiguo can't be blamed for his negligence. Chen Xingyi's task wasn't finished until the case was thoroughly investigated.

However, what happened next had nothing to do with Chen Xingyi. Li Aiguo personally led Section Chief Qin to pick Chen Xingyi up from the detention room.

"Brother-in-law, Advisor Li, have you caught the man?" Chen Xingyi had been there for two days, but he didn't look dejected at all.

"We've caught him! Comrade Chen Xingyi, you've done a great service this time. Our security department will report this to the factory and recommend you for commendation." Section Chief Qin strode forward and excitedly shook Chen Xingyi's hand.

It's worth noting that Changxindian Locomotive Factory almost made a serious mistake this time, and now they definitely need to make amends.

Publicizing the role of factory employees in solving cases is the most effective way.

Sometimes, the purpose of commendation is not to commend, but to cover up something.

Chen Xingyi was stunned when he heard this.

"I spent a few days in the detention room and actually made a great contribution."

He looked at Li Aiguo standing not far away and felt a little emotional. If it weren't for his brother-in-law, he would probably have been criticized even if the truth had been found out.

I never expected that I would actually make a contribution.

(End of this chapter)