Courtyard House: A Start with Black Gold Swallowing 100,000 Silver Dollars

Li Wenguo turned around and asked Yang Zhengde in a low voice:

"Has the person been decided yet?"

"It's settled. I'll be here first thing tomorrow morning."

Yang Zhengde responded, but his brows furrowed: "What do we need so many people for? The Japanese haven't even made a move yet. Ten skilled guards are more than enough—you're not running a money exchange or managing a mansion."

"Pah! It's all that shrewish woman Haitang's fault!"

"The Lixing Society has been expanding like crazy lately, and we're almost short-handed; besides, both team leaders, Gao Yang and Qiu Sheng, are tough guys, and all the new recruits flock to them; Xiao Gou and several veteran members have also been injured, and right now the entire team is just Wen San holding the fort—Hai Tang, seven or eight months pregnant, is gritting her teeth and sitting here supervising!"

"If I don't cover for her and clean up the mess, who will? Shouldn't we put in a few more reliable people to maintain appearances?"

"So she can stay peacefully in her office and give birth to our son smoothly!"

Li Wenguo spat, his anger rising.

Knowing his temper and quirks, I simply listened with my eyes down, not uttering a single word.

The two then thoroughly investigated the background of the new guard before getting up and leaving the restaurant.

These newcomers weren't directly thrown into the Lixingshe (a secret society)—how could they be trusted immediately with unfamiliar faces? They were put in the house to guard the premises for a while and get to know each other better.

The real targets for the Lixingshe Society were familiar faces like Ding Xiaoqi and Xiao Jie.

However, the Lixingshe Society has high barriers to entry and is too complex. It is already the limit to force two or three people in at once. The rest can only be dealt with by paving the way slowly and gradually.

It was nearly 8 p.m., and the sky was not yet completely dark. The streets were bustling with people, mostly young men and women walking in groups.

The streetlights were dim, but the shop signs and window lights on both sides illuminated the entire street as bright as day.

"Mr. Li, there's a checkpoint ahead. Secret agents are checking people. Should we take a detour?"

Ding Xiaoqi suddenly stopped pushing, slowed down the car, and turned his head to ask for instructions.

"No need to go around, just go straight."

"State my name—Li Wenguo, Dong Haitang's man."

Li Wenguo didn't even lift his eyelids.

These past two days he's been so busy figuring out how to get help for his wife that he thought it was Gao Yang or Qiu Sheng's men patrolling the streets.

No sooner had they been stopped than the man opposite them sneered, "We're in cahoots! We don't care who you are, Dong Haitang or Dong Shuixian, get out of the car! We suspect you're a communist sympathizer!"

altogether?!

Holy crap!

It's in the same place!

Li Wenguo suddenly opened his eyes and saw a man leaning against the roadblock, a mocking and playful expression on his lips, staring at him.

He recognized the face—the one who grabbed him by the back of the neck at the Index & Co. last time, his surname was Cao, and his name was Cao Ming.

Damn it! I forgot to check the almanac before I left the house!

Seeing seven or eight black-clad agents surrounding him, Li Wenguo had no choice but to jump out of the car, grinning, "Oh, it's a fellow officer from the same unit! Officer Cao, do you have a bad memory? I'm Dong Haitang's husband; you personally checked my identification last time!"

Ding Xiaoqi and Xiao Jie pulled the cart swiftly, leaving the guards far behind. He could only stall for time and wait for reinforcements to catch up.

"Dong Haitang? Never heard of him." Cao Ming sneered. "Now that we suspect you of being a communist sympathizer, come with us and we'll verify it first."

He certainly recognized Li Wenguo and knew that the other party was from the Second Division—he had been standing right next to Chang Binghui, the team leader, when he personally handed over the documents last time.

However, the two places have always been outwardly friendly but inwardly at odds, and when they meet, neither side wants to cause a scene.

"A misunderstanding! A huge misunderstanding!" Li Wenguo said with a forced smile, reaching into his pocket. "Commander Cao, look, this is my official identification..."

Before he finished speaking, his fingers had already quietly reached into his personal storage space and pulled out a cold, hard pistol.

He took two quick steps forward, pressing the muzzle of his gun firmly against Cao Ming's temple.

"Don't move! If anyone reaches out, I'll shoot them first!"

Ding Xiaoqi and Xiao Jie reacted extremely quickly, drawing their short guns from their waists simultaneously, the dark muzzles pointing straight at each other's chests.

The spies on the other side also drew their guns with a "whoosh," and the air instantly tensed up, like a fully drawn bowstring.

"Ha... to assassinate a Kuomintang agent in the street?" Cao Ming didn't dodge or flinch, but instead laughed, "Li Wenguo, you're cutting yourself off from the Kuomintang!"

Betraying the Party and the State—the moment those four words are uttered, it's a matter of a bullet.

"Hmph, don't try to pin this on me! Do you think I don't know what's going on in your head?"

"Aren't you also plotting to kill me?"

"You can't expect anything good to come out of a dog's mouth!"

"Same to both, let's not pretend to be superior."

Once the pretense of politeness was broken, Li Wenguo didn't even bother with formalities and launched into a string of sharp, provocative words.

"Enough talk! You're completely surrounded, there's no escape—disarm and come with us immediately!"

"Attacked Party personnel in broad daylight, with so many people witnessing it. Li Wenguo, you can't escape this charge!"

"You really dare to shoot? Your head might fall to the ground, but I'll take it with me!"

Cao Ming's face was as cold as iron, and he spoke slowly and deliberately.

After a brief pause, he lowered his voice and advised, "Be smart, drop the gun, cooperate obediently, and I can still try to get you leniency—at most a few years in jail; once my backup arrives, it won't just be a matter of going to jail."

That's right, secret agents had already run off to get reinforcements.

Although they outnumbered and outgunned, they only numbered about ten people at most.

"Mind your own business! This is blatant framing! Once we get to the department, I'll still be able to break it all down—you're the one who can't catch me, so you're in a hurry to frame me!"

Li Wenguo pressed the muzzle of his gun forward, against Cao Ming's lower back, his voice as cold as a knife scraping ice.

"Still being stubborn, I'd like to see if you're as resilient as you think..."

"Lord Li! You are mighty!"

"Master Li!! Well done!!"

"Don't move!!"

"Don't move!!"

Before Cao Ming could finish speaking, Li Wenguo's guards pounced like cheetahs, drawing their guns and surrounding him from the opposite direction.

The numbers were evenly matched, and neither side could gain the upper hand.

Li Wenguo's tense shoulders finally relaxed a little.

Cao Ming watched the group of people walk away from afar, his face so dark it could wring water out of it—

You guys are lucky!

The moment they arrive, the situation reverses. A direct confrontation? It would inevitably result in mutual destruction, with a high probability of getting shot myself—it's simply not worth it.

He could only grit his teeth and watch them walk away.

Besides, this is something the other party brought upon us; we should handle it if we can, and not force it if we can't.

It's just a pity that they didn't manage to kill Dong Haitang's husband, the third captain of the second division. They missed a crucial blow and couldn't crush the arrogance of the second division.

"Alright, keep searching!"

Cao Ming gave the order in a deep voice.

The target remains the local party organization that operates the Tibetan radio station.

Based on intelligence relayed by spies infiltrating the Red base areas, only a few superficial clues were uncovered:

The woman's name was Su Mei. She was from Hunan and was in her early twenties. She was pretty.

That's it. There's nothing more detailed. The local party is extremely secretive; they can't even extract a single photo. Otherwise, why would they need to search for a needle in a haystack like this?

Just then, a young woman with bright eyes and delicate features, wearing a lotus-colored cheongsam, walked by gracefully and was immediately stopped and questioned.

Cao Ming suddenly stepped forward from behind and blurted out, "Su Mei!"

The woman turned around at the sound, looking bewildered and confused. She clearly didn't recognize these people, let alone know why she was being called that.

Cao Ming stared intently at her micro-expressions—a slight contraction in her pupils, a slight furrow in her brow, a slight pause in her breathing—without the slightest trace of deliberate pretense. His heart skipped a beat, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

He could only wave his hand, forcing a smile: "Oh dear, your back view looks too much like an old acquaintance... I've mistaken you for someone else, please go ahead."

Without photos, this is the only clumsy way to try your luck.

Ding Xiaoqi noticeably slowed down as he pulled the cart, the wheels creaking as they rolled over the bluestone slabs, his guards following closely behind, never missing a step.

Li Wenguo, still sitting in the carriage, felt his heart burning and his palms slightly damp—luckily, he had brought enough people with him today, otherwise, if he had been dragged into the Lixingshe Society, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Of course, if he really entered that black door, he could still summon a clone in the space to quickly notify Chang Binghui to rescue people;

But if you were dragged into some dark alley where there is no sunlight, you might have to reveal your spatial trump card on the spot to get away in a hurry.

Both paths carry the risk of failure.

Li Wenguo dared not gamble.

"This feud is deadly. Cao Ming—must be eliminated. Arrange for his 'suicide'."

"Oh, right, there's also Zhou Dahai from last time. He knows my background, so he can't be allowed to live. Before Cao Ming dies, send him on his way first."

To ensure complete safety and eliminate any potential threats, the only option is to silence these people forever.

The message was immediately sent to the clone; all that was needed was to wait for a reply.

After this battle, Li Wenguo made a firm decision: from now on, when he goes out, he must have at least ten guards.

To avoid drawing attention, only two people were left in the open to follow them closely, while the rest were scattered in the shadows, with keen eyes and ears, never leaving their side.

"Mr. Li, the embassy boundary marker is just ahead."

Ding Xiaoqi, having taken a detour to this location, cleverly mentioned it.

He knew that Third Concubine Hongyu lived here, and that Master Li would most likely visit her if he passed by.

"Oh? Then let's go in and take a look."

The thought of Hongyu's alluring, foxy face and her naturally soft, sweet voice ignited a fire within Li Wenguo.

Counting the days, it's been six or seven days since I last saw her.

The last time we got close was the night before I took her back to the villa, when I stayed overnight in her room.

Police patrolled the embassy day and night, with security as tight as in the old concessions—you had to show your pass, and they would check your face and seal before letting you in.

Driving familiarly to the villa's entrance, the guard, Fish Head, immediately recognized the car and pushed open the ornately carved black iron gate.

"Master Li, you've finally arrived!"

Yu Tou, Xiao Jie, Wu Xiaogou, and Sun Gang were the second batch of trusted confidants transferred in. They had been by Li Wenguo's side the longest and were the most loyal.

"Hmm, are you comfortable staying here?"

Li Wenguo raised his hand and pressed down hard on his shoulder.

He had round eyes and thick, plump lips that formed a circle. Since he was a child, the neighbors called him "Fish Head," and after a while, the nickname became more famous than his real name.

"It's going well... but it's too peaceful, so peaceful it's a little unsettling."

Yu Tou scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly.

The embassy compound was filled with foreigners and high-ranking officials, and everyone there was very proper in their manners.

There are no women arguing heatedly over half a piece of tofu in the alley, no thugs wandering the streets with bottles of liquor, and no scoundrels sneaking over walls to steal chickens in the middle of the night.

Everything was so quiet it was like being immersed in warm water—someone else would probably be so bored they'd be itching to get out of their skin.

"Good heavens, you're sitting here drinking Western tea and basking in the warm sun, and you think you're having a good time? You're just born to worry!"

Ding Xiaoqi glanced at him sideways, her words utterly merciless.

"Hehe, let's just consider this a trial run of retirement life."

Li Wenguo smiled, waved his hand, and stepped inside.