Chapter 89: A Young Married Woman, Suddenly Stricken

After leaving the riverside pier, Li Wensheng quickly returned to the inn by a narrow path. In his room, he stood before the mirror, adjusting his posture and gait.

Chen Wenqi had said it could not be changed, and Li Wensheng believed her. Once a body had been trained, it would instinctively return to the stance and stride it had been taught as soon as it began to move.

Still, he believed that a slight adjustment, enough to make it less conspicuous, was possible.

For a day and a half, Li Wensheng did not step outside his door. He spent the entire time refining his walk and stance. Even his meals were ordered through the innkeeper from the tavern next door and delivered to his room.

That night, the sky was pitch-black, perfect for fleeing.

A little after ten, with the night already deep, the mountain city was quiet except for dance halls and brothels.

Disguised as a middle-aged man, Li Wensheng left the inn and followed the path to the riverside pier, arriving at the ferry landing shortly before half past eleven.

At night, the pier was still loading cargo, though only one large freighter was being loaded, and what it took aboard was sack after sack of flour.

Flour was still fairly common in the mountain city. After all, this was the wartime capital, and the price was not especially high; an ordinary family could afford it.

But in the war zones, flour was a scarce commodity. One needed not only money but connections to buy it in bulk.

This load of flour was certainly bound for the front. There was nowhere else that could turn flour into such enormous profit.

Making money from the war was explicitly forbidden by the ruling party, yet in private, many men with power and influence ignored the prohibition entirely and made fortunes from it. Some even joined forces with local officials in the war zones to do so.

As Li Wensheng approached, several men stopped him.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m looking for Old Ba.”

The burly man in front sized him up, then turned and shouted to the foreman urging the laborers to load the ship faster, “Boss, someone’s here for you.”

Old Ba looked young, barely in his thirties, but a long scar cut across his face. Combined with his thick waist and broad neck, it gave him a fierce, intimidating look.

“Who sent you?” Old Ba asked, studying Li Wensheng as he came over.

“Bald Li.”

“Go wait over there. We’ll call you when it’s time to board.”

Following the direction of Old Ba’s finger, Li Wensheng saw more than ten people standing under the eaves of a warehouse nearby.

He glanced over, nodded, and walked over.

Among the group were people traveling alone like him, couples, and even entire families.

Since he only had to wait for the boat, Li Wensheng had not intended to cause trouble. But after coming closer, he could not help studying a married woman among the crowd.

She was lovely in a way that still held the fragrance of maturity, with fair skin flushed faintly rose, and a pair of eyes and brows full of seductive charm. Coupled with her curves, she was truly intoxicatingly attractive. Several men in the group were sneaking glances at her.

But Li Wensheng was not noticing her for lustful reasons. He had realized that her stance was wrong.

Yesterday, Chen Wenqi’s words had benefited him greatly. As he began correcting his own walk and posture, he had also started paying attention to the stances and gaits of others.

Although this woman was leaning against a pillar, the steadiness of her feet showed that she was not resting her weight on it.

Normally, when people wait while leaning against a wall, pillar, or other solid object, they shift their weight onto it as well, so they can relax.

But this woman’s center of gravity remained too steady, which meant she was ready to move at any moment.

And she was alone, which made Li Wensheng even more suspicious.

Traveling on this kind of boat was not safe, especially for a woman as alluring as she was. Without a man beside her, she actually dared to take this kind of vessel?

After observing her for a moment, Li Wensheng froze slightly and murmured inwardly, “I must be losing my mind. I’m the one running for my life, so why should I care about other people?”

Just as he was withdrawing his gaze, two cars suddenly drove into the pier, instantly putting everyone there on edge.

When the cars stopped, Old Ba hurried forward.

At first, Old Ba had intended to use the reputation of the local gang to frighten away the newcomers. But after the men in the cars got out, his mind changed at once.

They were all young men in their twenties or thirties.

In the mountain city, if a group of men that age arrived by car in the middle of the night, they were either from the military intelligence bureau or the central investigation bureau.

“Everyone, everyone, we’re from the Prosperous China Chamber of Commerce. We didn’t finish moving the cargo in the daytime, so we’re working through the night. Sorry to keep you waiting, sorry to keep you waiting. Please accept this, and have some tea on us.”

Old Ba flattered them as he pulled a wad of legal tender from his pocket and handed it to the man in front.

The man took the money, then barked an order, “Search!”

Seeing the group behind him draw pistols and fan out to search, Old Ba panicked immediately, and fury rose in him too.

“Brother, you took the money and still won’t do the job. That’s not right,” he said sternly.

The man cocked his gun at once and pressed the muzzle to Old Ba’s forehead. “You think you have a place to lecture the military intelligence bureau? I think you’d like to come in with me for a little visit.”

Old Ba stared at him in silence for several seconds, then said in a low voice, “Brother, our boss from the Prosperous China Chamber of Commerce knows Deputy Director Zhou of your bureau. You’d be wise not to meddle in matters that don’t concern you, lest you bring trouble on yourself.”

The man jabbed the gun hard into Old Ba’s forehead, nearly knocking him backward off balance.

“Meddle in your business? I don’t give a damn about your business.

Listen to me: if we find the person I’m looking for here, the backer behind your chamber of commerce will immediately cut you loose.”

Old Ba was horrified. If someone could make Zhou Youting disown them, then it had to be either a Japanese spy or a man from the Yanzhou side.

“Brother, brother, search away, I—”

Old Ba hurried to sweeten his tone again, but the man ignored him completely and turned toward the dozen or so people waiting to board.

As the man approached, the crowd lowered their heads in fear.

He swept them with a glance, then stopped in front of the married woman. “You’re alone?”

She stood out too much among the group. The man could hardly have failed to notice her.

“Yes, yes. My husband died young, and I—”

“Stop.” The man cut her off immediately. “I’m not interested in your family. I only want to know why you dare to take a smuggling boat alone.”

“My mother is gravely ill. I was in a hurry to return, so I had no choice but to take this kind of boat,” the woman replied in alarm.

“That’s not a sufficient reason.”

The man turned and ordered, “Xiao Pan, handcuff her and take her back.”

The man beside him, Xiao Pan, instantly pulled out a pair of handcuffs and went toward the woman.

Bang!

The moment Xiao Pan reached her side, he collapsed with a thud, his face twisted as he clutched his groin, in so much pain he could not even cry out.

The woman who had crippled him with a savage strike between the legs was transformed. The fear she had shown a moment ago vanished without a trace, replaced by nothing but coldness.

Smack!

After kicking Xiao Pan down, she immediately drew a pistol from her bosom. But before she could fire, the man shot first.

He was an excellent marksman. One shot struck her right wrist, and the pain made her pistol fall from her hand.

Now that she was disarmed, the man immediately threw aside his own pistol and lunged at her.

With two of his subordinates rushing forward to help, they subdued the woman together. The man then pried open her mouth. Finding no poison there, he searched her collar and discovered a poison capsule.

Looking at it, the man stood and laughed. “Brothers, it was meant to be that our Third Team would earn the credit. A Japanese spy actually tried to escape through the pier assigned to us.”

He put away the poison capsule, scanned the rest of the crowd, and shouted, “Take them all back too!”

“Team Leader, one person is missing. He must have slipped away in the confusion just now. Should we go after him?” one man asked after stepping forward.

“No need. Interrogating the Japanese spy is the priority now. Take these people back and question them one by one. If they have nothing to do with the spy, let them go.”

Someone had fled, and that person might very well have been the spy’s accomplice. Yet they were not going to pursue him?

The man found it odd, but since the team leader had said not to chase him, he did not dare ask further.