Chapter 109: Idle Chatter, Waiting

"Hiss!"

The disinfectant poured onto the gaping wound on his right arm made Li Wensheng gasp in pain. After wiping it down, he immediately bound the wound with gauze. He then sat down and, under the cover of his pants pocket, retrieved a pack of cigarettes and a box of matches from the system storage.

After lighting a cigarette and putting it between his lips, he held the pack out toward Wang Feng. "Smoke?"

Wang Feng hesitated for a moment before taking one, picking up the matches Li Wensheng had left on the table to light it.

"Cough, cough!"

Li Wensheng, who had just lowered his head to carefully tend to the wound on his left arm, looked up at Wang Feng.

"It’s rare to find someone in the Green Gang who doesn't smoke opium—let alone someone who doesn't even smoke cigarettes."

"I used to, but after my wife passed away five years ago, I quit. Truth be told, I feel bad about it; when she was alive, she always urged me to quit, but I never listened. Once she was gone, I stopped. If my nerves weren't so frayed this time, I wouldn't be smoking now."

Seeing the sudden look of world-weariness in Wang Feng's eyes, Li Wensheng lowered his head to continue treating his wounds and changed the subject. "Didn't you leave? How did you end up at the Iwai Mansion? You seemed well-prepared for your escape; you even knew which shop's back door was left unlocked."

"Sigh, we all thought that if you posed as Ma Xiaowu to take over the Lido Ballroom, they would stop bothering me. But who would have thought? Before I even got home from the ballroom, they tracked me down and took me to the Iwai Mansion. They... well, I don't know how to put it. I was of no use to them, yet they still wanted me to act as a traitor. How could I, Wang Feng, ever become a traitor? If I did, my parents would come down from heaven immediately to drag me away. But I was afraid of dying, so I stalled, saying I needed a few days to think it over. They were probably focused entirely on you, so they just locked me in a room and left me there. I was sleeping soundly when the explosions woke me up."

Wang Feng took a slow drag of his cigarette, exhaled, and looked at Li Wensheng with admiration. "Hero..."

Li Wensheng looked up and interrupted, "Enough with the 'hero' talk. People might mistake me for some sort of bandit. My name is Li Wensheng."

"Li Wensheng, a fine name. If you don't mind, I'll call you Wensheng. Come to think of it, you’ve got real guts. You infiltrated the Iwai Mansion just to blow it up; I thought you were only going in to steal documents."

He had intended to steal documents, but to do so, he had been forced to throw grenades. Li Wensheng didn't explain this to Wang Feng; with Wang Feng's intellect, he would find it strange—if you're going to steal documents, why carry grenades? Are you there to steal or to blow the place up?

"After the explosions woke me, I immediately figured it had to be you. Even if you hadn't escaped, the people at the Iwai Mansion would surely investigate. Once they found out Ma Xiaowu was a fake, they wouldn't care if I was willing to be a traitor or not—they would just kill me. So, I snuck out of the room, ran to the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and headed for the side door. As for the escape plan, I prepared that the day before yesterday—or rather, since it's already dawn, two days ago—when I was getting ready to go to the Iwai Mansion. I told you yesterday I was worried I wouldn't make it out, so I scouted the layout and learned about the side door from a worker. Once I knew about the side door, I thought about how to escape afterward. I walked around the area, found a clerk at a tailor shop, and bribed him to leave the back door unlocked when they closed. The bicycle was something I had pre-positioned there as well. Later, when I met you and you planned to pose as Mr. Gao’s man to take over the ballroom, I only thought about packing my things and buying a boat ticket, so I didn't cancel those preparations. It's a good thing I didn't, or I wouldn't have known how to escape."

Li Wensheng put down the cotton swab, picked up the gauze, and began bandaging his right arm. "You were certainly lucky. But what do you plan to do now? Hide for a while and then go abroad?"

Wang Feng shook his head slightly and sighed. "There's no way to go abroad now. I had all my savings packed up at home, waiting for you to arrive so I could grab my luggage and head to the boat. Now, those belongings are definitely gone. Without money, I'd starve abroad. I'll hide for a while, and when the heat dies down, I'll head to the French Concession to find work and earn some money."

Li Wensheng put the leftover gauze back into the medical kit and took the cigarette out of his mouth. "Go to Mr. Gao? You shouldn't. With your brains, you must realize he won't take you back."

"Take me back? If he sees me, he'll want my head. You posed as Ma Xiaowu and caused such chaos at the Iwai Mansion that they undoubtedly sealed the Lido Ballroom. With the money pot gone, Mr. Gao must be furious enough to kill. If he sees me, he'll have me decapitated. As for what to do in the French Concession..." The worried Wang Feng paused before adding, "I'll see when I get there. At this point, I can only take it one step at a time. Once I'm in the French Concession, I won't starve to death."

"That's true!" Li Wensheng stood up and asked, "Do you have any spare clothes?"

The topic shifted so abruptly that Wang Feng was stunned for a second before answering, "No."

"Then I'll have to trouble you to go out and get a set for me."

Wang Feng looked at the shirtless Li Wensheng and joked, "You look just fine as you are. Any woman between twenty-five and fifty would surely pounce on you."

The system’s physical enhancement had turned Li Wensheng’s once ordinary physique into something resembling a slightly smaller Captain America.

After the joke, Wang Feng’s expression turned serious. "Getting clothes will have to wait. It’s only six o'clock; clothing shops usually don't open until nine."

Li Wensheng realized he was right and sat back down. The two began to chat idly.

Both knew what could be discussed and what could not. Li Wensheng didn't ask about Wang Feng's past, and Wang Feng didn't ask about Li Wensheng's history or which faction he belonged to. By nine o'clock, Wang Feng went out to get the clothes.

Before long, he returned, looking nervous, carrying a set of clothes. He tossed them on the table and ran to the door, peering through a crack to observe the outside. After a while, he turned back to the room and spoke to Li Wensheng, who was putting on the clothes.

"I just bought a set from the street; it doesn't matter if it fits, just make do. I'm not going out there again. The streets are under martial law now; I just ran into a squad of gendarmes."

Li Wensheng put on the somewhat loose clothes and said to Wang Feng, "Having clothes is enough, thanks. By the way, if you can't find a way to make money in the French Concession, you can look for me at the villa at 8 Xiangshan Road. But I must be clear: the path I offer is easy to make money on, but it is also very dangerous. Think carefully before you come looking for me."

Wang Feng’s eyes widened in shock. "Are you crazy? The streets are full of gendarmes, and the checkpoints between the concessions must be under lockdown. You’re going out now!"

Hearing this, Wang Feng immediately realized Li Wensheng was planning to leave.

"I have my own way of getting back to the French Concession safely. It's just that my route isn't suitable for you; if we went together, I might end up endangering you. Farewell!"

Watching Li Wensheng’s confident stride as he left, Wang Feng shook his head slightly, sighed to himself, and stood up to call out after him, "Before, you were so tight-lipped you wouldn't even say your name. Why can you tell me your address now?"

Li Wensheng stopped in the courtyard, turned, and smiled. "Before, I didn't know who you were, so of course I didn't dare say. If you had become a traitor and reported my address, I would have been in trouble. But now... although you keep saying you're afraid of dying, I am certain that your backbone is much stronger than mine."

Although Wang Feng kept saying he was afraid of death, he constantly spoke of his parents. This showed that his parents were the foundation of his conscience—or rather, his conviction. And conviction is what sustains a person through any hardship. Li Wensheng had always believed that most people could not withstand torture, and he was no exception, as he also lacked that kind of conviction.

The few who could endure torture were those with deep conviction in their hearts. He had seen such people before; before the war broke out, when he worked at the Military Statistics Bureau station in Shanghai, Chen Moqun had captured a man from Yanzhou. No matter how brutally Chen Moqun tortured him, the man wouldn't reveal a single word. In the end, he died on the torture rack.

Wang Feng was stunned for a moment, then pounded his chest firmly. "For the sake of your faith in me, I, Wang Feng, swear: if I ever betray you, may my parents come and take me away immediately."

Li Wensheng smiled, turned back around, and walked toward the exit. Once outside, he headed straight for the French Concession.