Chapter 115: Haven't Returned Yet

"Director, I just heard people outside discussing that the Lone Ranger has broken into the Central District of the Concession from the North District, which is in enemy-occupied territory."

In a detached courtyard, the man who had just been carrying breakfast and listening to the elderly talk in the alley spoke to a man in his forties with an elegant, scholarly air sitting by the table.

The man, Si Faren, paused for a moment and immediately looked toward Chen Wenqi, who was sitting nearby.

"Section Chief Chen, didn't you say he was injured?"

Chen Wenqi, unhurried, picked up her chopsticks, pulled a fried dough stick from the breakfast bag on the table, and said with a calm expression, "He is injured. I saw with my own eyes that he was hit by two shots from Japanese agents. As for why he is back in action so quickly, I find that perfectly normal. If he were the kind of person who hid away the moment he got hurt, he would never have been able to assassinate Emperor Hirohito."

Si Faren gave Chen Wenqi a long, deep look, then turned to the man waiting nearby. "You, go outside first."

After the man left the room, Si Faren picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a pancake from the bag, and said slowly while eating, "Section Chief Chen, the Chongqing side is very dissatisfied with you right now. Failing the mission is one thing—after all, it's normal to fail when trying to capture a man like that. But why were you missing for a week? Section Chief Chen, you had better account for where you were during that week."

Li Wensheng and Chen Wenqi had been ambushed by Kayo Kawano. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, leaving dozens of corpses behind, and it was the French Concession police who eventually collected them. For intelligence agencies, the French Concession police station was like a sieve; many organizations had planted spies there. Once the bodies were collected, all the various intelligence agencies lurking in the French Concession knew that a firefight had occurred. Gunfire was a daily occurrence in the French Concession, but a shootout involving dozens of people was rare, so everyone had investigated.

When Chen Wenqi had led her men to break into the Huaxing Trading Company to take Li Wensheng, those subordinates of hers had been seen by the Military Statistics Bureau personnel at the company. As soon as they saw the bodies at the police station, they recognized more than half of them as Chen Wenqi’s subordinates, so the Shanghai Military Statistics station immediately cabled the Chongqing headquarters.

Chongqing immediately notified the Shanghai station to find Chen Wenqi. At that time, she was hiding at Li Wensheng's home recovering from her wounds, and no matter how hard they searched, the Military Statistics Bureau could not find her. After two days of searching without a trace, the Chongqing Political Department sent more people to Shanghai, led by Si Faren.

After Chen Wenqi spent a week recovering at Li Wensheng's place, she left to head back to Chongqing. Unexpectedly, she was spotted by Military Statistics personnel before she even reached the ferry. Consequently, she was brought to Si Faren two days ago.

Faced with Si Faren's questioning, Chen Wenqi had not told the truth. She only claimed that a group of Japanese agents had suddenly appeared and attacked them. She said Li Wensheng took the opportunity to fight his way out, all her men were killed, she herself was shot and escaped, and then she found a doctor on the black market to treat her wounds before hiding in a refugee camp.

Si Faren had asked for the doctor's name, the location of the refugee camp, the street, and the room number. Chen Wenqi had made up the doctor's name on the spot, as well as the refugee camp. She was not familiar with Shanghai, and when Si Faren sent men to investigate, they immediately discovered she was lying.

Facing Si Faren's interrogation, Chen Wenqi remained indifferent. "Director Si, while you are my superior in rank, I hope you won't overstep. I assume the orders you received before coming here were to find me and assist me."

Chen Wenqi dared to lie because she knew that while superiors might tell Si Faren to capture the Lone Ranger, they would never tell him that the Lone Ranger was Li Wensheng, let alone reveal that Li Wensheng was a distant cousin of *that* person. Therefore, Si Faren had been sent only to assist her; she remained in charge of the mission.

Si Faren’s hand, holding the fried dough stick, froze. His face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.

"Director Si, I advise you not to entertain any clever little thoughts. I understand you want to earn merit, but if you try to seize control just to do so, you might end up catching a bullet," Chen Wenqi continued, unperturbed.

*Slap!*

Si Faren slammed his chopsticks onto the table, stared at Chen Wenqi, and said coldly, "Section Chief Chen, I also received orders to supervise your every move. You were missing for a week—who knows if you have defected!"

Chen Wenqi glanced at Si Faren and said expressionlessly, "Supervise me? Director Si, may I ask who gave you that order?"

Si Faren remained silent, continuing to stare at her.

"Director Si, the order to monitor me must have come from the Minister himself."

Si Faren still did not speak. Chen Wenqi took a bite of her fried dough stick, swallowed, and continued, "I am certain this order was only verbal, with no official documentation. Director Si, you should be careful. Don't lose your head just because of the Minister's curiosity."

Si Faren’s eyes flashed. He gave Chen Wenqi one last deep look and stood up to leave the room. After he left, Chen Wenqi put down her chopsticks, looked toward the door, and let out a long, languid sigh.

The appearance of the Lone Ranger in Shanghai had mobilized intelligence agencies from all nations, but after much investigation, they had only learned from the man who had collided with Li Wensheng in the alley that the Lone Ranger was injured. Yet, after searching every hospital in the French Concession, the International Settlement's Central and Western Districts, they found no trace of him. For a time, the intelligence agencies found nothing, and the public's chatter slowly faded.

A week later, walking on the street, one could only hear sporadic mentions of the Lone Ranger.

With the outside chatter gone, Li Wensheng, who had been lying at home for a week, finally went out. He drove to Zheng Gong's clinic and let him check the wound in a small back room. The wound was healing well. After having the stitches removed, Li Wensheng picked up a few boxes of medicine and left.

As his car pulled into the villa and he stepped out, You Simi, the second daughter of Auntie Fang who was sweeping the courtyard, immediately walked over. "Sir, there is a guest waiting for you inside."

Li Wensheng pondered for a moment and said, "Alright, I understand."

Entering the main hall, Li Wensheng saw Wang Feng sitting on the sofa.

"Brother Wang, you're here." Li Wensheng walked up and smiled.

Wang Feng immediately stood up, his face grim. "Wensheng, I really have no other choice. It's too hard to make a living in the French Concession; I have no choice but to come and rely on you."

"Brother Wang, don't call it 'relying on me' when you come to see me. We are helping each other out and making money together. Come, let's go upstairs to my study to talk."

Once in the second-floor study, Li Wensheng asked, "Brother Wang, have you made up your mind?"

A bitter smile appeared on Wang Feng's face. "I have. Sigh, it's impossible to starve to death in the French Concession, but it's too hard to actually make money. I came to the Concession three days ago, but no matter how I looked, it was all work that could barely put food on the table. To earn enough to get abroad, I have no choice but to come to you."

"Brother Wang, since you've decided, I'll be blunt. I have a batch of Western medicine, and I need you to help me move the goods. This batch is quite large—over a thousand boxes—but I will only give you fifty boxes at a time. Your commission is one percent, settled each time. Any issues?"

Upon hearing "over a thousand boxes," Wang Feng’s mouth hung open in shock. He quickly said, "No problem, no problem at all."

"Good. Wait here for a moment, I'll go get the goods for you."

"Right."

Leaving the study and entering the bedroom next door, Li Wensheng took a cloth from the wardrobe and retrieved the medicine from his system space. Back at the Japanese supply warehouse in Jinling, he had collected five large crates of Western medicine, each containing hundreds of boxes. The small suitcase he had taken to Old Man Ma last time had only held about sixty boxes; he still had plenty.

When he had previously told Wang Feng to come to him if he couldn't find a way to make money, he had already decided that if Wang Feng showed up, he would let him handle the sales. As for the agreement with Old Man Ma to bring him more goods, he had voided that deal when he was ambushed by the Japanese agents.

Those Japanese agents most likely learned of his whereabouts from Old Man Ma. He had killed two Japanese agents at the Qiaole Dance Hall previously. Once they investigated, they would have looked into what he was doing at the dance hall, and a simple check would have led them to Old Man Ma, thereby exposing his tracks. Therefore, he would never go to Old Man Ma's again. Even if Old Man Ma hadn't betrayed him, he wouldn't risk it again for the sake of safety.

Packing up the fifty boxes of medicine, Li Wensheng carried them back to the study and handed them to Wang Feng.

"Here are fifty boxes. Today is Wednesday, Brother Wang. Starting next Wednesday, we will meet at the Ciro's Ballroom every Wednesday at 6:00 PM. At that time, you will give me the money for this batch, and I will give you the next. Any issues?"

Wang Feng clutched the medicine tightly and said, "No issues. Don't worry, I know how to handle this. I won't come to your house unless it's an emergency."

"Good. Brother Wang, distribute the goods slowly. Try not to let people think you have a large supply. Safety first."

"Haha, don't worry about that. When it comes to being afraid of death, I don't think anyone can beat me. For the sake of my own neck, I will definitely be careful," Wang Feng said with a chuckle.

With the business concluded, Wang Feng didn't linger. After sitting for two minutes, he left with the medicine. Li Wensheng went back to bed and lay down, not leaving the house again until seven in the evening, after dinner.