My spy diary

Chapter 665 Stunned (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Ruihe Teahouse.

Noon, 11:59 AM.

At this time, Ruihe Teahouse still showed no signs of anything unusual.

Mao Zhongxin glanced at his watch again, came out of the private room, chose a seat by the window, placed his briefcase in a conspicuous position on the table, and then casually glanced out the window.

Pedestrians come and go on the street, cars whiz by, the sun shines brightly, and everyone is calm and unhurried.

All is ready except for the opportunity.

Mao Zhongxin couldn't help but chuckle softly, full of confidence for today's task.

At this moment, plainclothes officers from the Supervision Office were stationed inside and outside the teahouse. As long as Zhu Hua dared to come, he would not be able to escape, even if he had helpers.

Two? Or three?
The Red Party is all about efficiency with few people, so even in a conspiracy with accomplices, they won't have too many. Two fists can't fight four hands; when faced with the dark muzzle of a gun, wouldn't they just surrender?

The more he thought about it, the more smug and excited he became. This was his first time carrying out a field mission, especially in the area of ​​arresting Communist Party members, which was far more exciting and brought him a greater sense of honor than inside work.

Mao Zhongxin glanced at his watch again; it was exactly twelve o'clock.

Time is up.

He looked out the window and saw a middle-aged man wearing a top hat walking across the street.

As he drew closer, passing by the window next to Mao Zhongxin, he saw the man's face clearly: a refined middle-aged man holding a copy of the Central Daily News, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily.

"Zhu Hua's accomplice?"

Mao Zhongxin quickly looked away and gave the plainclothes officers nearby a reassuring look.

Soon, the middle-aged man went up to the second floor. He also saw Mao Zhongxin's briefcase on the table, then calmly found a seat by the window, asked the waiter for a cup of tea, and everything was so natural.

Mao Zhongxin glanced at him with a smile a few times, then calmly looked away and waited patiently.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Mao Zhongxin silently repeated the word "patience" countless times in his mind. Just when he was about to lose his composure, the phone at the teahouse counter rang.

He hesitated for a moment, then carefully walked over and answered the phone. After a brief silence, Zhu Hua's voice came from the other end:

"Secretary Mao?"

Mao Zhongxin asked anxiously, "Where are you? I've arrived at the agreed location."

At that moment, Zhu Hua, disguised, was in a public phone booth at the Jialing River dock. Looking into the distance, he saw a ferry docked, and a crew member wearing a red armband was checking tickets. His girlfriend, carrying luggage, quickly passed through the ticket check and boarded the ferry.

Seeing this, Zhu Hua was relieved. What reassured him even more was that it was indeed Mao Zhongxin on the other end of the phone.

Zhu Hua breathed a slight sigh of relief and said:
"I'm leaving."

These words struck Mao Zhongxin like a blow to the head, leaving him stunned: "Leave now? You don't want the money? I've already prepared everything!"

“If I don’t leave soon, you’ll probably burn all that money for me. But don’t worry, as a gift, I’ll tell you the name you want to know. Once you catch that person, keep the money you promised me safe. I’ll come back to collect it myself when the time is right.” He added silently to himself, “On the day of victory.”

From Zhu Hua's voice, Mao Zhongxin sensed a feeling of relief and excitement. He snorted coldly, not bothering to delve deeper into the matter, and eagerly asked:

"Tell me, what's his name?"

"There's a letter under the table where you were sitting. Go and see for yourself."

The call ended, and Mao Zhongxin subconsciously glanced at the spot he had just been sitting, a chill running down his spine. How did Zhu Hua know his location?

Accomplice?

Or was he hiding somewhere nearby, observing me?

Suddenly, he understood. He immediately ran to the window, leaned out, and saw that the street was still bustling with traffic and pedestrians hurrying by. He didn't notice anything unusual, but everyone seemed to have their own mission.

Mao Zhongxin stood frozen by the window.

"Secretary Mao?"

His strange behavior left the plainclothes officers from the inspection office bewildered. They stood up dumbfounded, looking at each other in confusion.

After a few seconds of pause, Mao Zhongxin immediately bent down and looked under the table.

Sure enough, there was a letter under the table, held together with a rubber sticker.

He glanced at it twice, noticing nothing unusual, then immediately took the letter down, carefully unfolded the paper, and stared intently at it. On the paper were only three characters written in a flamboyant, elegant style:

"Wang Xinheng".

Him? Wang Xinheng is a Communist Party mole hidden in the headquarters?
Mao Zhongxin felt like his brain was no longer working—his eyes were glazed over, and his ears were ringing.

Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, a plainclothes team leader came over and asked, "Secretary Mao, what should we do now?"

Interrupted like this, Mao Zhongxin suddenly came to his senses, but then he felt something was wrong. Since it had been verified that today's meeting was a hoax, would the Communist Party be so kind as to tell him about their undercover agents?

So what is their purpose in doing this?

They simply wanted to muddy the waters and divert suspicion elsewhere in order to protect the real undercover agent.

"What a clumsy trick! Do they think I'm a fool?" Mao Zhongxin sneered inwardly. Just as he was wondering who had placed the letter here beforehand, he suddenly noticed someone watching him. He looked up sharply and met the eyes of a middle-aged man not far away.

"Arrest him!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the middle-aged man's expression changed, and he suddenly stood up and rushed outside.

Two plainclothes officers immediately rushed up and pinned him down. The middle-aged man struggled violently and refused to submit. He threw the newspaper out the window with all his might.

Judging from his reaction, Mao Zhongxin understood everything; this person must be Zhu Hua's accomplice.

He stared at him with a smile for a moment, then waved his hand confidently:

"Search them immediately and notify our reporters to come up and take pictures."

"Yes."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a series of hurried footsteps sounded, and seven or eight plainclothes officers, looking like wolves and tigers, rushed up to the second floor.

With a few clicks, a ring of guns were cocked in unison.

Mao Zhongxin turned around abruptly and realized that all the men he had brought were being held at gunpoint, with one gun poking right into his head. He was stunned into silence.

Then, a man who looked like a reporter, panting, raised his camera and snapped a few pictures of Mao Zhongxin and the briefcase on the table. The flash made Mao Zhongxin unable to open his eyes.

"Is the picture ready?"

"Team leader, the filming is complete."

"Take them all away."

Only then did Mao Zhongxin come to his senses, staring blankly at the heavily armed strangers in front of him, and asked sharply, "Who are you people?"

The man addressed as the team leader grinned, pulled a blue booklet from his pocket, and waved it around:

“Zheng Rui, Second Group, Section One, Investigation and Statistics Bureau, Central Executive Committee Member of the State Council. We received a tip that someone here is secretly trading intelligence.”

Upon hearing this, Mao Zhongxin became somewhat agitated:
"I am Mao Zhongxin from the Military Intelligence Bureau headquarters! The intelligence is false; there are no Red Party members here, only a trap waiting for me to fall into!"

"Really? So it's Secretary Mao. I've heard so much about you!" Zheng Rui sneered. Of course he knew Mao Zhongxin. After all, he was the nephew of Mao Qiwu, the second-in-command of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and also served as a secretary at the headquarters of the Military Intelligence Bureau. He was a core member of the core.

As far as he knew, this kid was an incompetent good-for-nothing, indulging in drinking, gambling, whoring, and all sorts of evil deeds. He only managed to secure a place in the Military Intelligence Bureau because of his connection to Jiangshan and his uncle's connections. Now it seemed that perhaps he didn't know this young secretary Mao well enough?
At this moment, the middle-aged man who had been rescued rubbed his arm and shouted loudly:
"Team leader, don't believe him! I just saw it with my own eyes. After he answered a phone call, he took a letter from under the table. It must contain intelligence!"

"What about the letter?"

“It’s in his hands.” The middle-aged man said, eagerly stepping forward to pry open Mao Zhongxin’s hand and snatch the crumpled letter from him.

The letter was then handed to Zheng Rui.

Zheng Rui unfolded the letter, and upon seeing its contents, his expression instantly shifted between surprise and uncertainty. After a moment's thought, he carefully folded and put the letter away. Recalling Xu Zeng'en's words when assigning the mission—"The Red Party undercover agent must hand over intelligence to his courier"—he suddenly understood everything. He stared intently at Mao Zhongxin:

Who called you just now?

Mao Zhongxin had been flustered for a while, and when he heard this question, he panicked even more: "I don't know!" Now he realized that this was a trap set by the Communist Party. He understood, but would the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) believe him if he told them? They had already found so-called intelligence on him, and if he revealed who made the call, wouldn't he be caught red-handed?
Zheng Rui sneered: "Speak now, or in the interrogation room?"

"What do you mean? I need to see Director Mao and Mr. Dai," Mao Zhongxin murmured anxiously.

Zheng Rui smiled:

"You will see it then, but not now."

At this moment, a plainclothes officer hurriedly ran into the teahouse and whispered something in Zheng Rui's ear. Zheng Rui's expression changed:
"Take him back first, and immediately call the director for help."

In that instant, Mao Zhongxin's face turned ashen. He realized it was all over; he would never be able to return unscathed.

A short while later, the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) officers escorted Mao Zhongxin and others downstairs.

Downstairs, two groups of men were locked in a standoff with guns. When the officers from the Military Intelligence Bureau saw Mao Zhongxin being escorted out, their eyes widened in disbelief.

Zheng Rui waved his ID card in a pretentious manner:

"Stop it, everyone. Let's take Secretary Mao back to find out what happened. It's all a misunderstanding, and I'm sure we'll clear it up soon. Of course, you can also go back and report to your superiors."

He gripped the gun tightly: "Get out of the way!"

Several people from the inspection office looked at Mao Zhongxin, whose mouth had been gagged. He could only signal with his eyes to them to report immediately and call for reinforcements.

The men stood stiffly for a while before dejectedly putting away their guns.

And so, Mao Zhongxin was roughly pushed into the car by plainclothes officers.

Several cars sped away.

Zhang Yizheng was eating in the canteen with Monkey. He glanced at his watch; it was already 12:15. If everything went smoothly, Zhu Hua and his girlfriend should have already boarded the ferry to the border region.

The monkey tapped on the table and asked Li Jiafu and Liu Ziying, the assistant secretaries of Room A who were sitting nearby:

"Where is Secretary Mao? Have you seen him?"

Li Jiafu, shoveling rice into his mouth, said, "It seems he went out on something."

Liu Ziying pondered for a moment and said, "It must be because Director Mao gave him some instructions. I saw him go to Director Mao's office earlier, and then he left in a hurry."

The monkey scoffed, "Assigned? He's just an office worker; his main job is to serve the deputy director's secretary. Do you think he can perform fieldwork?"

The cafeteria door was open, and you could see several dejected plainclothes inspectors returning.

Seeing their pale faces, someone asked sympathetically:

"What happened?"

An undercover officer stammered, "Secretary Mao has been arrested."

"Who arrested him?"

"A member of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS)."

"what?"

"On what grounds are they arresting people?"

"They said that Secretary Mao was exchanging intelligence with the Red Party."

Everyone was stunned by this sudden news, and Zhang Yi also expressed his shock at just the right moment.

Just then, an office clerk rushed over: "Deputy Director Zhang, Mr. Dai wants you to go to his office immediately."

"Director? Okay, I'll be right there."

Zhang Yi immediately understood, smiled inwardly, but deliberately kept a straight face, looking preoccupied.

Li Jiafu pondered, "Deputy Director Zhang doesn't look too good."

Liu Ziying sighed, "Sigh, his secretary got into trouble, how can he be in a good mood?"

"Could Secretary Mao really be exchanging intelligence with the Red Party?"

"Who knows?"

When Zhang Yi entered Dai Chunfeng's office, he saw Dai Chunfeng with a gloomy face, slumped in the sofa, Wang Xinheng standing opposite him with a dark expression, and Mao Qiwu explaining something dejectedly. When he saw Zhang Yi come in, he immediately stopped talking.

Zhang Yi feigned surprise: "Director Mao and Section Chief Wang are here?"

Dai Chunfeng glanced at him and said in a low voice, "Have you heard about it?"

Zhang Yi answered frankly, "The news has spread." He paused, then asked with a puzzled look, "Why did the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Zhongtong) arrest Mao Zhongxin? And what did he do today?" As he spoke, his gaze swept over the group, and he asked suspiciously:
"Is there something that I'm the only one who doesn't know?"

Dai Chunfeng looked at Mao Qiwu and snorted. Mao Qiwu smiled awkwardly and explained, "I sent him." He then recounted how Mao Zhongxin received a call from Zhu Hua, deliberately omitting the fact that he was an undercover agent and only saying it was an intelligence transaction.

"Who is Zhu Hua?" Zhang Yi asked, puzzled.

"The driver from the Eighth Route Army office was targeted by our people because he was short of money. We wanted to recruit him to work for us, but he refused," Mao Qiwu explained.

"I haven't heard of it?" Zhang Yi pretended to realize something, then thought for a moment and said, "So this is a trap set by the Red Party. But why would someone from the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics be there? Is it a series of traps?"

"It should be!" Mao Qiwu gritted his teeth and said to Dai Chunfeng tremblingly, "Director, I am willing to accept the punishment."

Dai Chunfeng snorted coldly: "He's more trouble than he's worth. Don't bother explaining to me now. Everyone, just think about what nonsense he'll spout once he confesses. What will we say when that Xu guy adds fuel to the fire and slanders the old man? How will we explain ourselves when we're questioned?"

On the other side, Mao Zhongxin had already been taken into the dimly lit and bloody interrogation room of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS).

Xu Zeng walked in with a beaming smile: "How was it?"

(End of this chapter)