Kingsman Agent in Film and Television

Wu Liwei stared blankly at Zheng Yi.

He hadn't expected that sending Cen Anyan would cause such trouble.

"Secretary Zheng, what... what should I do?"

A cold smile appeared on Zheng Yi's lips:
"Think about it yourself—"

After saying that, he turned and walked away, but after taking two steps, he stopped and turned back, staring blankly at Wu Liwei.

Wu Liwei lowered his head, not daring to meet Zheng Yi's gaze.

After a moment of silence, Zheng Yi said, "I specifically checked your information last night—"

Wu Liwei, who had been looking down, looked up at Zheng Yi, puzzled.

Zheng Yi said quietly:

"Last night, the district chief didn't sleep a wink and smoked all night."

"I think it's because of you."

"If I were you, I would never have appeared in front of District Chief in this lifetime!"

This is what Zheng Yi really wanted to say when she stopped Wu Liwei—she couldn't say it too clearly.

As Wu Liwei watched Zheng Yi's retreating figure, he didn't immediately grasp the meaning of those words, but he wholeheartedly agreed with them.

I have caused Commander Zhang so much trouble, and I am truly sorry.

After a moment of silence, Wu Liwei turned and walked to the office door. After taking several deep breaths, he called out:

"Report."

"Enter--"

Inside the office, Zhang Anping was flipping through documents as usual. He didn't look up when Wu Liwei came in, and only looked up after finishing his work more than twenty seconds later.

He didn't show much surprise on his face, but his voice wasn't as cold as Wu Liwei remembered:
"You've arrived—sit down."

Wu Liwei seemed somewhat at a loss, and instead of immediately sitting down, he stammered:
"Commander Zhang, I'm so sorry."

Zhang Anping gave Wu Liwei a deep look: "I don't like hearing those three words—'Sit down.'"

Upon hearing Zhang Anping repeat himself for the second time, Wu Liwei finally sat down, but he was restless, as if there were thorns stuck in his buttocks.

Seeing Wu Liwei fidgeting, Zhang Anping smiled:
"Do you regret it now?"

Wu Liwei shook his head: "I don't regret it—it's just that I've caused you trouble."

He truly has no regrets.

He shed blood for the Party and the country; everyone who participated in the kidnapping had risked their lives for the Party and the country.

In the end, however, a group of parasites still tried to embezzle the severance pay.

If it weren't for these parasites interfering, they wouldn't have had their severance pay cut so much.
It’s hard to calm down!

After giving Wu Liwei a long look, Zhang Anping suddenly asked, "Who is the real mastermind?"

Wu Liwei stood up, but did not dare to look up and meet Zhang Anping's gaze. Instead, he responded to Zhang Anping's question with silence.

Zhang Anping tapped his fingers lightly on the table, the sound like the clatter of horses' hooves, which resonated deeply. Wu Liwei lowered his head even further, but remained silent.

"Twenty thousand US dollars."

Zhang Anping abruptly stopped tapping the table:

“Cen Anyan, bring it to me.”

"Leave those parasites to me."

"I will guarantee your survival."

Two stacks of US dollars appeared on the desk.

The $100 note was called the "Old Man's Hundred Dollar Note" at this time—at that time, the circulating dollar denominations were mainly small, and the $100 note was extremely rare.

These were two stacks of money that could easily dazzle anyone, but they didn't make Wu Liwei lose his composure. He said softly:

"Commander Zhang, if Cen Anyan is sent over, won't you be in a difficult position?"

"That's my business—you can bring the person over, right?"

Wu Liwei looked at Zhang Anping, and seeing no hesitation in Zhang Anping's expression, finally answered, "Okay."

"I'm waiting for you."

After saying that, Zhang Anping reached out and glanced at the time, making it clear that he wanted to end the conversation.

Wu Liwei stepped forward, took the money, and then tactfully took his leave.

Zhang Anping tossed the intelligence he had been reading onto the table, his gaze becoming deep.

Zheng Yi has already subtly reminded Wu Liwei; now it remains to be seen whether Wu Liwei will realize his murderous intent.

His plan had two apparent outcomes:

1. Wu Liwei realized his murderous intent, killed Lao Cen directly, released the kidnapped Taotie, and ran away with the money.

2. Even if Wu Liwei realizes his murderous intent, he will still stubbornly send the person back—even if he is aware of his murderous intent.

These are the two possibilities that are obvious.

This is also why Zhang Anping was able to use Zheng Yi. Zheng Yi would not betray Zhang Anping or the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, but asking her to prioritize Zhang Anping's interests and implying that Wu Liwei should kill Lao Cen and run away was not a betrayal for her at all.

Therefore, it can be achieved very easily.

The real challenge is how to carry out one's true will in two seemingly possible scenarios.

Zhang Anping chose money as his weapon.

The $20,000 was the trap Zhang Anping had set.

Twenty thousand US dollars is still a considerable fortune, especially a hundred-dollar note.

The so-called transaction often involves paying a deposit of 10% to 30% upfront, with the balance due at the time of the transaction. Wu Liwei may not be aware of his murderous intent, but the true mastermind behind this kidnapping group will definitely realize his murderous intent through questioning Wu Liwei.

So, what will he choose?
Moreover, this also involves the issue of trust:

Wu Liwei is certain that the $20,000 is the total amount, but will the mastermind behind it believe him?
If he could easily believe it, he wouldn't have publicly introduced Wu Liwei.

Wu Liwei's refusal to admit even his own shortcomings demonstrates his extreme loyalty, but does the mastermind behind the scenes possess such loyalty?
If he had, he wouldn't have chosen to promote Wu Liwei.

When Wu Liwei realized he had murderous intent, the smartest thing to do would be to kill Lao Cen directly, but the mastermind behind the scenes would definitely protect him to the death because he wanted the remaining balance.

It's not just about the final payment. Since Cen Anyan is a problem for Zhang Anping, what about selling Cen Anyan to Emperor Tang? Or to Mao Renfeng?
Zhang Anping had already witnessed the greed of the mastermind behind the scenes. Now that the other party had lost a huge amount of wealth, would they easily miss the opportunity to make amends?

But Wu Liwei is a man of honor. He will either kill Lao Cen or send Lao Cen back. He will never agree to sell Cen Anyan to Zhang Anping's rival!

With the unresolved issue of the final payment looming ahead and a conflict of interest looming behind, the mastermind and Wu Liwei are bound to clash.

Given that kidnapping groups are driven by self-interest, conflict between the two groups is inevitable.

The fact that Wu Liwei was chosen by the mastermind behind the scenes must be because of his influence, which is enough to prove that Wu Liwei has considerable power in the kidnapping group. However, the mastermind behind the scenes must have a force that can rival Wu Liwei, otherwise he would not dare to make Wu Liwei the person in charge on the surface.

When two teams are evenly matched, chaos is inevitable.

Only when things are in chaos can one have an opportunity to act.

……

Wu Liwei was genuinely unaware of Zhang Anping's murderous intent. Or rather, he trusted his commander too much and never imagined that the commander who was protecting them would harbor such thoughts.

However, he did not trust the other members of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, especially the gloomy Wang Tianfeng. So when he evacuated Chongqing, he used his expertise as a secret agent and used a secret passage that had been prepared in advance. Even though no one was watching him, he still made several deceptions.

As it turned out, Wu Liwei's preparations were not unnecessary. Wang Tianfeng personally led a group to secretly monitor Wu Liwei, hoping to follow the clues to find out more—he knew that this might not work, but what if it did?

Unfortunately, in order not to alert Wu Liwei, Wang Tianfeng chose to monitor him remotely. If Wu Liwei had been careless, he might have been able to follow the trail, but Wu Liwei had prepared too many deceptions and had also activated a secret passage that he had prepared in advance, so Wang's monitoring failed.

Undeterred by defeat, Wang Tianfeng silently withdrew his troops, waiting for Wu Liwei to come to him. Given Zhang Anping's personal intervention, he didn't believe Wu Liwei would betray the vast majority of the Military Intelligence Bureau's respected Commander Zhang.

About fifteen kilometers east of Qingmu Pass, there is a village nestled in the mountains.

It is unclear whether the name originated from Qingmu Pass or whether Qingmu Pass "stole" the village's name, but the village is called Qingmu Village.

At this time, Qingmu Village was already under Fang Minghui's control—the villagers were being held captive by the kidnappers, and even the villagers moving around outside the village were actually played by the kidnappers. This village had been targeted by Fang Minghui from the beginning and was used as a second hideout. After Lao Cen sneaked into Qitang Village, Fang Minghui secretly activated this village—they had moved here overnight the night before last.

Because Qingmu Village is located east of Qingmu Pass, it is naturally proven that it is only a dozen kilometers away from Chongqing. The saying "a cunning rabbit has three burrows" and "the darkest place is under the lamp" are clearly used by Fang Minghui.

If Zhang Anping had tried to rescue Lao Cen by force yesterday, he would have found nothing at Qitang Village!

Not only would they miss their target, but they would also alert Fang Minghui, who had left an observation post—that's how dangerous it is when masters clash; victory or defeat can be decided in the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately, after learning his lesson from making a hasty plan, Zhang Anping never dared to underestimate these kidnappers again. He chose to play it safe and ultimately avoided the "landmine."

At this moment, Fang Minghui was playing with a small medicine bottle. Inside, a white pill "danced" back and forth as the bottle swayed. Looking at the familiar white pill, Fang Minghui said to Lao Cen with a sigh:
"Director Cen, I... truly admire you!"

At this moment, Lao Cen was bound hand and foot, his left cheek was swollen, and there was a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. He used to pay a lot of attention to his image, and his hairstyle was always meticulous, but now his hair was a mess.

Faced with Fang Minghui's "respect," Cen Anyan simply gave him a deep look before closing his eyes and saying nothing more.

Previously, he had been extremely cooperative, even after realizing he was going to be used as a bargaining chip by these kidnappers.

The deception was a pretext to find an opportunity to swallow the white cyanide pill hidden in the button.

Zhang Anping personally handed the button on the Tibetan medicine tablet to Lao Cen, and Fang Minghui didn't even notice it when he touched it himself.

Unfortunately, Cen Anyan's opponents were mostly elites from the former Military Intelligence Bureau. They never gave up their vigilance against Cen. When Cen thought he had seized the opportunity, he did not realize that it was a trap set by Fang Minghui.

Old Cen's cooperation alerted Fang Minghui, so he deliberately created an opportunity to relax his guard and successfully lured out the deadly cyanide pills.

Only the victors can express their admiration for the losers.

Seeing that Lao Cen remained silent, Fang Minghui didn't mind and called over Lao An:

"Take him away—keep a close eye on him, don't let him find a chance to kill himself. If we can't get away, we'll be counting on him."

Old An nodded: "Yes, don't worry."

After Lao An and his men carried Lao Cen away, the room was empty, and Fang Minghui's expression slowly became serious.

The underground Communist Party has more influence within the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics than I imagined!

He thought that by secretly contacting the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, he could capture all the underground party members who had been there the night before. As an agent who came from the Military Intelligence Bureau, he was actually very confident in the Bureau's capabilities. He did not believe that the underground party members could escape from the Military Intelligence Bureau's territory in Chongqing without any clues.

But they came up empty-handed.

This is something that cannot be successfully covered up by just one or two undercover agents.

Besides being astonished by the underground party's influence within the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, Fang Minghui was also preoccupied with another matter:

Wu Liwei's...murderous intent!
That's right, Lao An had already told him about Wu Liwei's previous plans.

Lao An, who is inclined to side with Wu Liwei, is actually Fang Minghui's man.

Although the plan was futile since no money was received, Wu Liwei's intentions filled Fang Minghui, who also came from the Military Intelligence Bureau, with murderous intent!
I am the one in charge; it is only natural that I control the fate of the pieces. If the pieces try to outmaneuver me...

Then I'll destroy him!

This is an instinct developed over many years of military intelligence work.

Just as he was pondering how to exploit Wu Liwei for personal gain, a subordinate came in to report:
"Section Chief Wu is back."

"Understood—find a few people and come with me to the village entrance to meet him."

Although Fang Minghui wanted to profit from Wu Liwei's life, he remained Wu Liwei's good brother until his true intentions were revealed.

When a good brother returns, it's only natural to welcome him back.

Upon seeing Wu Liwei in disguise at the village entrance, Fang Minghui's first words were:
"Old Wu, don't be discouraged. We were just aiming to try our luck, so it's okay if we don't get any dates."

It would be a lie for Wu Liwei to say he wasn't moved—he even felt guilty for his worst-case scenario.

Seeing Wu Liwei's expression, Fang Minghui interrupted with a smile, saying, "Alright, we're all brothers, stop pretending—we'll talk about it when we get back."

After taking Wu Liwei back to the wealthy family's house, which served as the command post, and gesturing for Wu Liwei to sit down, Fang Minghui personally poured tea for him. Before the tea was even full, Wu Liwei said:

"I've met Commander Zhang."

A sip of hot water spilled out of the teacup. Fang Minghui quickly readjusted the teapot, and, suppressing his shock, poured the tea into the cup until it was about seven-tenths full. He then slowly put the teapot down.
"Let's prepare to retreat!"

No agent from the Military Intelligence Bureau would be unafraid when faced with the name "Commander Zhang".

Fang Minghui was determined to leave quickly. Whether he had multiple burrows or was blind to what was happening under the lamp, he really didn't think he could escape Commander Zhang's watchful eye.

He dared to do it before because he was truly unwilling to be reduced to an ordinary person, and because he knew Zhang Anping's hatred for the Taotie—and indeed, as he expected, Zhang Anping did not intend to kill them.

Even though Fang Minghui now believed that Zhang Anping, having realized the serious infiltration of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, would surely uphold the spirit of the chief attendant and prioritize internal stability before external threats, and wouldn't have time to deal with them, his lackeys, he was still extremely flustered upon suddenly hearing that Wu Liwei had met Zhang Anping.

A person’s name is like a tree’s shadow!
Wu Liwei shook his head: "Withdrawal is the right thing to do, but before we do, there's something we must do—"

As he spoke, he took out two stacks of US dollars and placed them on the table.

Upon seeing that it was a 100-yuan old man's note, Fang Minghui's pupils contracted sharply.

He had only ever seen a hundred-dollar bill during the Great Purge—when a traitor tried to buy his life, several hundred-dollar bills were placed in front of him; that was the first time he had ever seen one.

Unfortunately, Fang Minghui didn't dare to take it at the time, because Zhang Anping's large cleaver was hanging over the heads of every one of their agents.

This is the second time I've seen it.

"What do you mean?"

Suppressing his greed, Fang Minghui asked as if nothing was amiss.

“It was given by Commander Zhang—he wanted us to send Cen Anyan to the Security Bureau, but… I think Cen Anyan is quite a problem for Commander Zhang, and I’ve been hesitant about whether to get rid of him—I want to return this money to Commander Zhang.”

Wu Liwei looked gloomy.

His mind was filled with thoughts of how good Zhang Anping had been to them!

Now, he's taking Zhang Anping's money and then giving Zhang Anping trouble; he really feels guilty about it.

Twenty thousand US dollars is indeed a huge fortune, but given that he could have received several thousand or even tens of thousands of US dollars, twenty thousand US dollars cannot buy Wu Liwei's conscience.

"Tell me in detail what happened?"

Fang Minghui barely suppressed the urge to beat Wu Liwei up—to return it?

Do you think you're some kind of underground party member?
"It was Secretary Zheng who reminded me..."

When Wu Liwei recounted the story, he admitted that he genuinely hadn't grasped the other layer of meaning Zheng Yi meant. It wasn't that he was stupid; it was simply that he had thought far too highly of Zhang Anping.

Fang Minghui, however, saw Zhang Anping as his rival.

After listening to Zheng Yi's words, Fang Minghui began to suspect—could it be that Commander Zhang had murderous intentions towards us?
I didn't sleep all night and smoked all night...

[Possibly! Very likely!]

Fang Minghui suppressed his trembling—it was truly terrifying that Zhang Anping had murderous intent towards him.

He said, "Old Wu, tell me again about your conversation with Commander Zhang."

Without much thought, Wu Liwei repeated the instructions in detail.

Listening to Wu Liwei's account, Fang Minghui became even more certain of his suspicions.

If Zhang Anping angrily reprimands Wu Liwei, if Zhang Anping is disappointed, or even if Zhang Anping beats Wu Liwei, it would actually prove that Zhang Anping has no intention of killing them.

But if they speak to you politely and even offer you money, that's not right!

money?
You might have the life to take it, but not the life to spend it!

Clearly, Zhang Anping underestimated Fang Minghui—he didn't think there was anything wrong with the money.

But Zhang Anping also correctly guessed that Fang Minghui was the mastermind behind everything. After realizing that Cen Anyan was Zhang Anping's trouble, Fang Minghui had an idea:
They could easily use this to make a quick buck, then sacrifice Wu Liwei and run away!

Of course, he would never try to extort money from Zhang Anping.

Having formed an idea in his mind, Fang Minghui said solemnly:
"Old Wu, Commander Zhang, they want to kill us!"

Wu Liwei stared at Fang Minghui in astonishment: "Huh?"

Fang Minghui repeated: "He wanted to kill us—yes, he really wanted to kill us!"

(Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I was planning to make up for it today, but a trip to the hospital took all day...) (End of Chapter)