Reborn in 1950: Shorting the Federal Reserve at the Start

The moment the blanket was pulled back.

Lin Shuwen felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by a cold, large hand, and his blood instantly flowed backward.

There was no warm body, no expected gasp.

There were only two white pillows lying quietly on the hospital bed, with the syringe containing potassium chloride still attached to them, the needle tip trembling slightly, as if mocking his foolishness.

It's a setup!

"run!"

That was the only thought left in his mind.

As a top agent who had been undercover for many years, his reaction was astonishingly fast. Almost the instant he saw the pillow, he pushed off with his feet, and like a slippery eel, he darted backward, trying to break open the half-open door.

"Snapped!"

A crisp snap of the fingers.

The originally dimly lit ward was instantly as bright as day.

The blinding light made Lin Shuwen squint instinctively. Then, countless dark gun barrels, like thorns growing from the void, pressed firmly against his forehead, chest, and back.

"Don't move!"

"If you move again, I'll kill you!"

The roar was deafening.

Chen Weiguo stood like an iron tower, blocking the doorway. The Mauser pistol in his hand was already cocked, and his tiger-like eyes burned with fierce anger, as if he wanted to pull the trigger right now.

"It's a misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!"

Seeing that there was no hope of escape, Lin Shuwen immediately raised his hands, and the ferocious murderous aura on his face vanished instantly, replaced by an innocent and terrified expression.

He took off his mask, revealing a face that looked refined and scholarly, with gold-rimmed glasses.

"I'm the doctor here! I'm here for rounds! What are you doing? I'm a patriotic overseas Chinese! I'm a returned expert!"

As he shouted, he tried to intimidate the soldiers with his superior attitude.

In this era, the phrase "returned overseas Chinese" often signifies privilege and protection.

"I am a doctor! I studied at Cambridge University!"

Lin Shuwen suddenly burst out a string of English words, speaking very quickly and in a high-pitched voice, attempting to create a language barrier with this "foreign language" to deter these "country bumpkin" soldiers from making any rash moves.

"You have no right to treat me like this! I want to see your superior! Immediately!"

He held his head high, his face filled with righteous indignation, as if he had suffered a great injustice.

That posture, if it weren't for the deadly syringe still in his hand, could probably really intimidate people.

Chen Weiguo frowned.

He knew nothing about foreign languages ​​and only found this gibberish noisy. But he was a rough man, stubborn and inflexible: what kind of bird could be sticking a syringe into its pillow?

"Stop talking nonsense to me!"

Chen Weiguo stepped forward and kicked Lin Shuwen hard in the back of the knee, yelling, "Kneel down for me!"

"Thump!"

Lin Shuwen knelt heavily on the ground, his kneecaps hitting the hard tiles, making him grimace in pain. But he continued acting, continued to struggle.

"Barbarians! You are all barbarians!"

He was still roaring in English, his eyes full of stubbornness, "I want to see Director Shen! I'm his friend! I'm here to save him! If you dare touch me, you're undermining the united front!"

"Pfft."

An extremely untimely laugh suddenly came from the direction of the window.

That's the sound of cracking sunflower seeds.

"Click, click."

Crisp and leisurely, it carries a sense of ease, like watching a monkey show.

Lin Shuwen froze, instinctively turning his head away.

A person slowly emerged from behind the curtains.

Shen Jinghong, dressed in a loose blue and white striped hospital gown, was sitting on a large windowsill, holding a handful of melon seeds. His legs were dangling, and his signature gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, the lenses gleaming with a mocking light.

"friend?"

Shen Jinghong spat out a sunflower seed shell, clapped her hands, and looked at Lin Shuwen kneeling on the ground with amusement:

"How come I didn't know I had a friend like you at Cambridge University?"

Lin Shuwen's pupils suddenly contracted.

Shen Jinghong is not dead!

Not only did he not die, but he also showed no signs of poisoning whatsoever. His complexion was so rosy that he could go and fight a tiger!

"You...you..."

Lin Shuwen pointed at Shen Jinghong, his fingers trembling, "You weren't poisoned?!"

"Thanks to you, I'm in great health and have a great appetite."

Shen Jinghong jumped down from the windowsill, slipped on her slippers, and walked over to Lin Shuwen.

He bent down, examining the refined face as if it were a rare object.

"Lin Shuwen, right? The owner of Wenyuange?"

Shen Jinghong clicked his tongue twice and shook his head:

"You said you're a returned overseas Chinese? And a Cambridge graduate?"

"Yes! I am!"

Lin Shuwen was still stubbornly denying everything, trying to maintain his last shred of dignity with his broken English.

"Come on."

Shen Jinghong waved her hand dismissively, as if she had smelled something strange:

"You dare to use the surname Lin? You dare to speak English?"

"I was going to give you some face, but your English accent... is just too overpowering."

Shen Jinghong straightened up and, mimicking Lin Shuwen's tone from earlier, exaggeratedly said:

"I want to see... Oh my god, that's not a London accent, it's clearly a Tieling accent!"

"You smell like corn cobs; you can smell the sauerkraut jars from three blocks away. Were you studying in Cambridge? I bet you were sent to some rural village called 'Cambridge' in Heilongjiang during the Cultural Revolution?"

"And that 'superior' (officer), the pronunciation is so off it's like it's from another planet. Can't you straighten your tongue before you speak?"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Although the guards around them couldn't understand English, they couldn't help but burst into laughter when they saw Shen Jinghong's mischievous look and Lin Shuwen's face, which had turned a deep purplish-red.

Lin Shuwen's face flushed red and then turned pale, filled with shame and indignation.

What he is most proud of in his life is his status as a "returnee from overseas". In order to practice these few English sentences, he talked until his lips were sore from talking to the record player.

But in front of true experts, he turned out to be a clown.

"You...you're talking nonsense!"

Enraged, Lin Shuwen tried to stand up and fight back, but Chen Weiguo held him down firmly with one large hand, preventing him from moving.

"I am a patriotic businessman! I have a legitimate passport! You cannot slander my innocence without reason!"

"clean?"

Shen Jinghong sneered, the mockery in his eyes vanishing instantly, replaced by two drawn blades.

"You won't shed a tear until you see the coffin, huh?"

He took a step forward, his shoe tip almost touching Lin Shuwen's knee.

"Yesterday in Liulichang, that old man carrying a load of food who tried to scam me out of it, he was quite the actor, wasn't he?"

Lin Shuwen's heart skipped a beat, and his face turned deathly pale.

He recognized him?!

impossible!

Yesterday I put on makeup, a fake beard, and even smeared soot from the bottom of a pot on myself, so much so that even my own mother couldn't recognize me!

"What...what old man? I don't know what you're talking about!" Lin Shuwen shook his head frantically, his eyes darting around.

"have no idea?"

Shen Jinghong stretched out her hand, her slender, fair hand appearing exceptionally elegant under the light.

His fingers gently hooked the edge of Lin Shuwen's slicked-back hair.

"You washed off that earthy smell from yesterday, but the glue smell from that wig you wore to look refined hasn't completely dissipated yet."

"Rip—!"

A tearing sound that made your teeth ache.

With a flick of her wrist, Shen Jinghong ruthlessly ripped off the exquisite wig from Lin Shuwen's head.

It revealed a bald, shiny forehead with only a few sparse hairs.

The "returned overseas PhD" who had just looked refined and cultured instantly transformed into a ridiculous, bald, and sleazy man.

"ah--!"

Lin Shuwen let out a shriek as if his tail had been stepped on, and instinctively tried to cover his head, which was his last fig leaf.

"Stop covering it up, everyone saw it."

Shen Jinghong casually tossed the wig on the ground, wiped her hands with disgust, and looked down at the spy whose true colors had been revealed with icy eyes:

"You were the one who hit me in Liulichang yesterday, weren't you?"

"Lin Shuwen, or rather... Viper's top assassin?"

"What? Yesterday's needle didn't kill me, so you're not satisfied and are trying to finish me off with potassium chloride?"

He pointed to the syringe on the bed:

"If this thing pierces the heart, there's no chance of saving the patient. You've really gone too far."

Lin Shuwen collapsed to the ground, his eyes glazed over.

It’s over.

Their underwear was completely stripped off.

Faced with this excessively young opponent, his pride in his disguise, acting skills, and even his killing techniques all seemed like a joke.

"take away!"

Shen Jinghong didn't look at him again, turned her back to the crowd, and her voice returned to its reassuring calm:

"Chen Weiguo, take him to the interrogation room. Don't let him die too quickly."

"I also want to give him... a lively physics lesson."