My spy diary

Chapter 545 Newspaper (Seeking monthly votes)

Cui Fangping returned to his office looking dejected. He had just personally interrogated Niu Zidao and Zhou Entai, but no matter which one he tried to talk to, they both remained silent, leaving him with a dry mouth.

He took the tea from his secretary, blew on the tea leaves floating on the surface of the cup, took a sip—the water was scalding hot—and, in his haste, slurped it down.

The secretary stood respectfully opposite him, looking at him, and whispered:
"Stationmaster, they're just two dying men. Why waste your breath on them? Just hand them over to the men below."

Cui Fangping shook his head, seemingly disagreeing with his secretary's viewpoint. He took a few more sips of tea, then reluctantly put down his cup.
"You've been in the office the whole time. Have you heard anything from Director Zhang?"

"I was just about to report to you that the radio operator has been apprehended."

"So fast?" Cui Fangping looked surprised.

"Yes, I heard that Director Zhang caught him personally. Everyone's saying that when Deputy Station Chief Li was conducting the investigation, someone slipped away right under his nose, but Director Zhang not only analyzed the criminal's psychological profile, but also intercepted the person alone, and it's said that he took him down with his bare hands." As she said this, the secretary couldn't help but feel incredulous about Zhang Yi's abilities.

Cui Fangping clicked his tongue slightly: "How come it's so fast? He was urging me to return the radio detection vehicle just now, and it's only been a short time, and the person has already been caught."

"Not only that, but it is said that a spy accomplice who was lurking in the police station assassinated one of our brothers. He wanted to get close to Director Zhang and fish in troubled waters, but as soon as he got close, Director Zhang exposed his identity on the spot and captured him directly."

Cui Fangping looked stunned, smacked his lips twice, and exclaimed, "What incredible luck!"

“Yes,” the secretary echoed, observing her boss’s expression. Seeing his brow furrow and his complicated look, she sighed softly.

"I heard that Deputy Station Chief Li also had a good haul, capturing an enemy radio."

"It's just a blind cat catching a dead mouse." Cui Fangping's eyebrows twitched. He didn't expect Li Mulin to have made a discovery, but without the codebook, that thing was just scrap metal and useless.

The secretary gave a wry smile and shook his head, saying, "Station Chief, you can't say that. If we had known this would happen, we should have sent Captain Cui with his men to search for them. Now, look what happened, that guy surnamed Li got away with it." The secretary slapped his palm with the back of his hand, feeling sorry for the station chief.

"Hindsight is 20/20!" Cui Fangping sneered. He was naturally unhappy that Li Mulin had made a contribution, but this was originally an exchange of benefits, and they had already reached an agreement. What was the use of saying this now?

The secretary shook her head, hesitating to speak: "I heard..."

"Speak directly!"

The secretary refilled his teacup and said worriedly, "Deputy Station Chief Li really stole the show today. I heard that not only do the people below admire him, but even the two deputy captains treat him with utmost respect. If he manages to win them over, Captain Cui's job will probably be difficult in the future."

Cui Fangping's face darkened. Wherever there are people, there is a world of intrigue, and the action team is not a monolithic entity. Besides Niu Zidao, there are two deputy captains. After Cui Wudi became the captain, he instructed him to find a way to win over these two. If he could bring them under his command, that would be best; if not, then sideline them. But he didn't expect Li Mulin to act so quickly.

He sighed deeply, and could only console himself: "Deputy Station Chief Li is a veteran of the station, and he has the advantage of being close to the people. But temporary gains and losses don't matter. There's plenty of time in the future."

“He’s an old man, but he’s the deputy station chief. You’re the station chief, the top leader. He should know his place. The action team isn’t under his command. It was one thing for him to collude with Niu Zidao before, but now he’s trying to win over two deputy captains. Isn’t he overstepping his bounds?” the secretary said fiercely. “Station chief, time is of the essence. If this goes on, I’m afraid they’ll sideline Captain Cui, and the action team will only follow the orders of that guy surnamed Li. Then you won’t be able to command them anymore.”

Cui Fangping gritted his teeth, puffed out his cheeks, and remained silent.

Aside from personnel and financial power, the action team is the most powerful department in a Kuomintang intelligence station. They are used as henchmen and thugs. If a station chief cannot even command the action team, his position will be greatly diminished.

Cui Fangping secretly resolved that once he sent Zhang Yi, that annoying fellow, away, he would definitely teach Li Mulin a lesson, otherwise he would truly become arrogant.

Just as I was pondering this, a burst of cheers suddenly erupted outside the office.

Cui Fangping frowned, and his secretary immediately opened the door to check. In the hallway, several plainclothes officers escorted the beaming Deputy Station Chief Li towards his office. One of the officers said excitedly:

"Station manager, you have to treat us today."

"Of course, please." Li Mulin waved his hand confidently, appearing quite pleased with himself. His gaze shifted, meeting the stationmaster's secretary's eyes, and he continued:

"Not only are you invited, but Secretary Liu should also be brought along. Of course, the station chief and Director Zhang should also be invited. We haven't given Director Zhang a welcome dinner yet."

The two calls of "Stationmaster" were the same title, but they referred to different people. When these words reached Stationmaster Cui's ears, he couldn't help but snort coldly and walked out with his hands behind his back.

As everyone was chatting and laughing, Cui Fangping suddenly came out.

Everyone, including Li Mulin, stopped smiling and stood at attention: "Station Chief!"

"What are you talking about, making such a fuss?"

"Tell Director Zhang that we're having a welcome dinner."

"Oh, where is Director Zhang?"

"I'm going to rest in the conference room."

"Since Director Zhang is resting, we shouldn't disturb him. Here's what we'll do: quickly compile the information on the two Japanese spies from today and give it to Secretary Liu. We'll go invite Director Zhang together later."

"Yes," Li Mulin replied respectfully.

Cui Fangping glanced at him a few times, then walked into the office with his hands behind his back, slamming the door shut.

Li Mulin shrugged and returned to his office, unimpressed.

As soon as he got back to his office, he received an unexpected phone call from Captain Yang of the Garrison Command's Inspection Department. This old buddy of his told him something in a mysterious way.

It turned out that shortly after Zhang Yi, Li Mulin and others left in the car escorting the Japanese spies, a black sedan slowly followed. Captain Yang suspected it was an accomplice of the Japanese spies and immediately ordered his men to stop the car.

The driver hesitated for a moment, then stepped on the brake and slowly slowed down, stopping in front of the checkpoint.

At this moment, Old Yang, accompanied by several armed guards, walked towards the car, glanced at the driver who had rolled down the window, and asked, "What do you do?"

"A driver at the power plant," the driver answered honestly.

"The car also belongs to the power plant?"

"Yes."

"Not a local?"

"No."

Captain Yang nonchalantly rested his hand on his sidearm, gave one of his men a wink, and the man, understanding immediately, glanced at the car's camera and ran to make a phone call. He returned shortly afterward.
"Reporting to the captain, the power plant doesn't have this license plate number." The driver looked at him, then at Captain Yang, and said nothing.

Captain Yang's heart sank. He swiftly drew his pistol, chambered a bullet, and said warily, "Show me your identification."

The driver remained silent.

Captain Yang snorted coldly and pressed the gun against the driver's head: "Documents? If you don't show your documents, we'll have to arrest you."

"Where are your documents? Can I see them?" the driver suddenly asked during the standoff.

"What are you saying? Get down here!" The subordinate roared and rushed forward to drag the driver down.

Captain Yang was somewhat surprised. He waved to stop his subordinate and gave the driver a few cold stares:
"You better not try anything funny, or you'll regret it." With that, he pulled out a serious-looking document from his pocket, opened it, and held it up to the driver. After confirming that the driver had seen it clearly, he took the document back.

After the driver checked it, he took out his own documents from his pocket and handed them to him.

Captain Yang carefully took the driver's documents while scrutinizing his expression. Seeing that the driver looked calm, he opened the documents. He was somewhat surprised upon seeing the documents, then looked at them carefully for a while. Afterward, he changed his attitude, put away his pistol, saluted, and solemnly returned the documents to the driver with both hands.

Listening to Lao Yang's rambling on the phone, Li Mulin was completely baffled:
"Who is this person?"

"Old Li, I misunderstood. He's not a Japanese spy; he's from the headquarters' inspection office. Remember to keep it a secret. I only told you," Captain Yang said solemnly.

"Don't worry, I'm always tight-lipped. I won't say thank you, I'll treat you to dinner another day."

After hanging up the phone, Li Mulin pondered to himself, "Zhang Yigang recommended me for the position of Director of the Central China Inspection Office, and the people from the Headquarters Inspection Office arrived right away—that's fast enough." But he immediately dismissed the thought; the timing didn't match up.

So, what official business do the people from the headquarters' inspection office have in Yuzhou?
Was it Inspector Zhang Yi carrying out the mission, or was he inspecting the Yuzhou Station?

With that in mind, after compiling the information on Japanese spies as requested by Cui Fangping, he did not go directly to Cui Fangping, but instead went directly to Zhang Yi.

“Director Zhang, these are the detailed household registration information and ID cards of the two Japanese spies. Huang Zhongming’s public relationships are relatively simple, but further investigation is needed. This Zhang Xianmin only joined the police force three years ago. I have already had his wife and children taken into custody, and other details are still under investigation.” Li Mulin respectfully handed over the files.

Zhang Yi was eating the stewed noodles that the monkey had brought back. Hearing this, he put down his chopsticks and thoughtfully flipped through a few pages:

"Both documents are genuine, and they were both issued legitimately by the Household Registration Section of the Yuzhou Police Bureau. Where do you think the problem lies?"

Li Mulin gave a wry smile: "Director Zhang, this is a mess. Yuzhou can't compare to Shancheng after all. We've been doing city-wide household registration statistics and investigations for years, but we've never figured it out."

"The household registration department is not immune to blame; there might even be Japanese spies among them."

"This possibility cannot be ruled out. Besides some people taking advantage of loopholes in the household registration department to fraudulently obtain or forge ID cards, the sale of ID documents has become a business, and they are sold on the black market."

Such things are unavoidable even in later generations, let alone in this day and age. Any spy, no matter where they come from, who wants to infiltrate Yuzhou like an ordinary person, needs a false identity, including a name, identity, resume, and household registration; lacking any one of these will make them untenable. But knowing about it is one thing, actually investigating and sorting it out is another.

Seeing Zhang Yi holding his chopsticks without speaking, Li Mulin remained silent for a moment, then said seemingly casually:
"The inspection department just called and said they stopped someone from the headquarters' inspection office."

"Oh." Zhang Yi looked relaxed, gave him a meaningful look, and said casually, "The Inspection Office is for supervision and also for urging. Since the headquarters has ordered us to eradicate evil completely, we must do our best to wipe out the Japanese spy organization in Luoyang. This requires us to work together with one heart and one mind. Once we have done this, I believe that Deputy Station Chief Li will definitely be a member of the Inspection Office."

"Understood. Thank you for your encouragement, Director Zhang. However, I am a little uneasy. I should have reported this to Station Chief Cui first, but he seems to be out of town. He is also going to interrogate the Japanese spy soon, and I am worried that this will cause problems, so I have no choice but to report this to a higher-level official."

“I will talk to Station Chief Cui about this, so you don’t need to worry. Besides, the photos have already been published, and those Japanese spies who have been lying in wait are probably getting restless. We need to strike while the iron is hot and get Huang and Zhang’s confessions.” At this point, Zhang Yi paused and asked, “Get some opium.”

Li Mulin was somewhat surprised, but said nothing, nodded, and turned to leave.

Cui Fangping had not received Li Mulin's information for a long time and had asked the secretary several times, but no one answered the phone in Li Mulin's office. He was about to get angry when he saw Li Mulin walking downstairs.

He called out to the other person: "Have you compiled the information on the Japanese spies yet?"

"It's all sorted out."

"Send it over right away."

Li Mulin feigned ignorance: "But I've already handed it over to Director Zhang."

"You handed it over to Director Zhang?" Cui Fangping was somewhat surprised, then became dissatisfied: "Was this Director Zhang's order?"

"You asked me to get it sorted out immediately?" Li Mulin pretended to just realize what was happening. "I'm sorry, station chief, I must have misunderstood. I thought Director Zhang was in a hurry, so I sent it over directly."

"Do you think?"

"Sorry, site administrator, should I have someone prepare another copy?"

"There's no need for that. But wouldn't it be better to report to me in advance if you do anything in the future? Deputy Station Chief Li, don't always assume things!" Cui Fangping gave him a cold look, then turned and left.

Li Mulin stared intently at the words "Station Master's Office" on the signboard, his expression unreadable.

After a long pause, he shrugged and turned to leave.

"Is this guy a Japanese spy? What a coward!"

"Not all Japanese devils look like this, with pointed mouths and monkey cheeks, pig snouts, and weird shapes. They have sores on their heads and pus oozing from the soles of their feet. They are utterly rotten."

As night fell, during dinner time, several men were gathered around a freshly printed newspaper in Chunfeng Pavilion, engaged in lively discussion. The headline on the front page read, "Japanese Spy Confesses to Crime and Reports Accomplices," accompanied by a photo of a lewd middle-aged man grinning unceremoniously, pointing at a radio and firearms.

"Hey, there's a tip-off hotline here, but I wonder if there's a reward for reporting it?"

"Liu San, you're a complete scoundrel! You have a daily duty to resist the Japanese and defend our land, and you're still thinking about money?"

"So what?" Liu San was about to retort when someone suddenly patted his shoulder from behind. Startled, he turned around abruptly and saw a strange rickshaw driver.

"What?"

"Brother, can I borrow the newspaper to read?"

(End of this chapter)