Chapter 87: Strategic Supplies

“What’s the idea? Why didn’t you use the proper signal and come straight to my place?”

Inside a small house, Zheng Yaoxian complained to Lu Hanqing.

After finishing the task of assisting Li Wensheng, Old Dai had given him a few days off. And for an undercover agent, leave was the most comfortable time of all.

Ordinarily one had to remain on guard every moment, always watching in all directions, taking note of every possible chance to gather information. After finally relaxing and getting a proper sleep, he had looked out the window and seen Lu Hanqing on the street in front of his house. It had nearly frightened him out of his wits.

“Keep your voice down. I didn’t want to come either, but something happened suddenly and I had no choice.”

Zheng Yaoxian immediately grew serious. “What happened?”

“The Li Wensheng you told me about yesterday came to my pharmacy first thing this morning for treatment.”

Zheng Yaoxian’s pupils contracted slightly, then he said with certainty, “We haven’t been exposed. If we had, Li Wensheng would have come straight to arrest me.”

The tension in Lu Hanqing’s heart eased at once.

He trusted Zheng Yaoxian’s judgment. If Zheng Yaoxian said they had not been exposed, then they had not been exposed.

“What illness did he come for?” Zheng Yaoxian asked.

“His left hand was injured, a strain. It’s serious—he’ll need at least half a month of rest.”

“A strain?” Zheng Yaoxian murmured, then asked in a low voice, “Did he go alone?”

“Alone. And he walked there.”

“That’s strange. Alone, and with a strain. Is he carrying out some other mission?”

Even Zheng Yaoxian was puzzled now. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Go back. I’ll look into it.”

“Hey, since it isn’t aimed at us, don’t go digging. Mind your own safety,” Lu Hanqing said hurriedly.

“I have to look into it. He has a deep background. I want to use him as a way to get closer to the higher-ups, which will make it easier to gather intelligence.”

Zheng Yaoxian’s words immediately gave Lu Hanqing an idea.

“Is there any chance of winning him over?”

Zheng Yaoxian laughed at once. “Don’t even think about it. With his background, he can live in splendor and luxury under the Nationalists. Why would he come suffer with us?”

“Hey, you can’t put it like that. You’re living comfortably under the Nationalists too, aren’t you? And you’re still one of us.”

“Heh.” Zheng Yaoxian smiled, then said gravely, “Don’t send anyone to contact him. His instincts are extremely sharp. In all these years, I’ve never seen anyone as keen as he is.”

Back then, when they had arrested that woman who had been secretly photographing outside the Bureau of Statistics, Li Wensheng had asked whether someone staring at him for too long would make him notice. Zheng Yaoxian had answered yes.

But there had been one more sentence he had not said: absolutely not as fast as this.

From stepping off the car to reaching the Bureau of Statistics gate, there had been only a few paces, and Li Wensheng had already detected someone watching him. That level of sensitivity was terrifying.

“Don’t worry, I won’t send anyone to tail him. But I can still make contact with him through conversation. He still has to come back to my pharmacy for a follow-up. I’ll find a way to drag out the healing of his arm so he keeps coming to my place, and then I’ll send someone to approach him.”

“No. He’ll notice something unusual about the pharmacy.”

Seeing that Lu Hanqing still wanted to argue, Zheng Yaoxian said firmly, “Listen to me on this one. If we’re going to contact him, I have to understand him first and see whether he could become one of us. After that, you can send someone to make the approach.”

“Fine, fine. Then you get to know him first.”

In a small inn on Daxigou Street, Li Wensheng was putting on makeup.

After leaving the Spring-Recovery Hall, he had gone to buy a large assortment of cosmetics, and only then had he found this little inn to stay in.

The makeup skill rewarded by the system was extraordinary. Half an hour later, Li Wensheng looked as though he had become an entirely different person. Freckles, a dark mole, thick brows—it was all uncannily lifelike.

Before, his disguises had been decent, but with a second look one could still recognize him. Now, unless someone who knew him well stared hard at him, he was simply unrecognizable.

Once the makeup was done, Li Wensheng went out.

In the Mountain City, the local strongmen were like the Green Gang in Shanghai—easy enough to find with a little inquiry. Li Wensheng located one of their men and had him take him to their boss.

Their boss was a burly bald man. Not even noon yet, and he was already drinking in a private room of a small tavern.

The bald man looked Li Wensheng up and down. “What do you want with me?”

“A boat to Fuling tomorrow night.” As he spoke, Li Wensheng took twenty yuan in national currency from his pocket and laid it on the table.

The bald man glanced at the money. “Not enough.”

“What if I add this?”

Li Wensheng drew a pistol from his waist and said coldly.

In Shanghai, he had dealt with Green Gang men many times, and he knew that with this kind of person, one had to show a little threat and let them understand that he was not to be trifled with.

If they thought you were a little lamb, they would squeeze every last coin from you for an errand worth only ten dollars.

The bald man’s pupils contracted slightly. He picked up the money from the table. “Tomorrow night at midnight, Chaotian Gate Wharf. Find a man named Old Ba and say it was arranged by Bald Li.”

“Thank you.”

Li Wensheng turned and left.

After leaving the tavern, he headed straight for Caiyuanba Wharf.

His left arm still could not exert force, but he had no intention of staying in the Mountain City until the arm was fully healed. He had to leave tomorrow night, or else, with Chen Wenqi’s intelligence, she would surely realize that his inaction was due to injury and trace him through the hospital and the pharmacy.

When he reached the entrance to Caiyuanba Wharf, he noticed people keeping watch on those coming and going.

But he was not the least bit nervous. With the way he looked now, unless Chen Wenqi walked up and examined him closely, no one would recognize him.

Caiyuanba Wharf was bustling. Aside from loading and unloading goods, many vegetable farmers from Banan and Xipeng would carry their produce on shoulder poles and take small boats to the wharf to sell their vegetables.

After entering the wharf, Li Wensheng found the foreman among the local strongmen and, by offering money, asked where the Kong family’s goods were stored.

In the Mountain City, nobody dared provoke the Kong family’s name. So the people handling transport did not hide the information. Anyone with a little access at the wharf knew where their warehouse was.

And the Kong family’s warehouse at the wharf had only one guard.

That made Li Wensheng pause.

“Damn it. After being this cautious, it turns out there’s only one man?”

After muttering that in annoyance, he was ready to act at once.

With only one person, why bother with anything else? Just burn it and run.

Because the Kong family’s name was enough to make the warehouse guard think no one would dare cause trouble, he had been extremely lax at work. In broad daylight, the warehouse doors stood open, and he sat beside the entrance basking in the sun, asleep.

By the time Li Wensheng reached the warehouse door, the man was still sound asleep.

Inside the warehouse, goods were piled high like mountains, just as the Japanese army’s rear supply depots had been in Nanjing.

Once inside, Li Wensheng froze in disbelief, then strode quickly to a stack of goods.

These goods were all packed in sacks, and several of the sacks had torn holes, with the contents spilling out.

The contents were strands of stiff, tough hair several inches long, both white and black.

Li Wensheng pulled out a few strands and smelled them. After confirming that he had not seen wrongly, his expression changed drastically.

“So they really are this brazen. Smuggling strategic materials and just leaving them out in the open—this is practically as if they aren’t afraid anyone will know the Kong family is trafficking strategic supplies.”

These hairs were boar bristles. In this era, they were important strategic materials. The cleaning and maintenance of airplanes, tanks, cars, and artillery all required boar bristles.

After cursing inwardly, Li Wensheng turned to look at the warehouse entrance. No one was passing by, but quite a few people were moving goods in the distance. If they happened to look over, they could dimly make out what was happening here, and that made him feel deeply regretful.

He could not use his system space in front of others to store the goods. If anyone saw it, even if there was only a chance they might have seen it, he would not risk it.

If he could not take the boar bristles, then he could only burn them. Even if they were strategic materials, he could only set them alight. Otherwise, once the Kong family sold them off, there was a very high chance the Japanese would be the ones to buy them.

As for secretly calling the Intelligence Service or the police to report it, Li Wensheng had never even considered it. As for the Kong family’s goods, unless he notified that cheap uncle of his, who would dare seize them?

Even if he did notify that cheap uncle, at most the goods would be confiscated and the Kong family would be scolded a little.

His cheap uncle had reached his present position among the great warlords only because of the support of those few powerful families. He would never truly move against the Kong family.