Chapter 85: Visitors From Nanjing
“Secretary Pan, forgive my bluntness, but we’ve seen all kinds of people and things in intelligence work.”
Zhong Yuan said gravely: “The first thing you taught me when you brought me into this line of work was to never judge things by the eyes.”
“Because the eyes can be deceiving.”
“Now, I also hope you can act a bit more professionally and not let personal emotions cloud your thinking.”
“No matter the situation, we can’t jump to conclusions.”
“We have to prepare for the worst.”
Secretary Pan fell silent upon hearing this, and after a moment, he nodded and said: “Old Zhong, you’re right. Although, I really don’t want to believe that our comrade would do such a thing, I can’t rule out that some individual comrade couldn’t hold firm to their faith.”
“I’ll think of a method for the medicine matter. You be responsible for finding this Comrade Special Commissioner. Remember, be careful.”
“Don’t worry,” Old Zhong smiled faintly: “I know what to do.”
The next day, Shanghai, Director of the Economic Department’s Office at City Hall.
As usual, Chen Yang first looked over the reports submitted by each section early in the morning, then arranged the scheduling of materials.
Some time had passed since the material warehouse was bombed. The Special Higher Police Affairs had allocated a batch of medicine, and Suzuhara Shingo had also sent some over, so the accounts were settled.
Chen Yang had also shifted his work focus to materials collection and transportation.
It had to be said, the efficiency of a human brain with its own programming was astonishing. Others at most worked on two fronts at once, handling both sides.
But Chen Yang didn’t need that at all. He just needed to glance over various information, and in less than three minutes, he could produce results.
Using a steel pen to write summaries on the reports sent up by each section, signing his name, stamping a few seals with a snap snap snap, and the morning’s work was done.
“Knock knock knock.” Chen Yang had just been about to call Li Ningyu in when a knock came from outside first.
“Come in.”
The office door was pushed open, and Li Ningyu walked in with two unfamiliar middle-aged men.
One was fat and one was thin, and their expressions were quite interesting too.
The thin one looked to be in his early fifties, with a straight and tall figure like a pine tree, a long neck, his head habitually tilted slightly upward, and an arrogance ingrained in his bones showing on his face.
Though not young, it was clear he took great care of himself. His forehead was smooth with almost no wrinkles, his black hair combed back neatly without a strand out of place, and up close, one could smell the scent of French perfume wafting from him.
The other was even more interesting. He was a bit younger than the first, around forty-something, short and fat, his round belly stretching the obviously ill-fitting Zhongshan suit out of shape.
On his thick short neck, one could vaguely see a thick, eye-catching gold chain.
His shiny forehead gleamed with oil, and his sparse hair barely covered the sides.
A pair of small, shrewd yellowish-brown triangular eyes were darting around at the moment, seemingly sizing up everything in the office, with a calculating glint in the murky pupils.
“Officer, these two are from Nanjing. This is Director Guo Zhaohui, Mr. Guo, the Director of the Tongji Office appointed by the Nanjing New Government.”
“This one.”
Before Li Ningyu could finish, the short fat middle-aged man stepped forward eagerly and said flatteringly: “Director Chen, this humble subordinate is Director Zuo Mingquan of the First Section of the Nanjing Special Affairs Committee.”
“I’ll be working under you from now on, so please take good care of me.”
The man named Guo Zhaohui looked at Zuo Mingquan, his gaze full of disdain, as if he looked down on such a person.
Chen Yang looked at the arrogant Guo Zhaohui and smiled: “Director Guo is here to take over the previous position of Director Chu, right.”
“We received the message from Nanjing a few days ago, but haven’t seen anyone arrive. Director Guo should have let us know earlier, so I could send Deputy Director Feng to pick you up.”
Guo Zhaohui responded neither humbly nor arrogantly: “Officer Chen, you’re too polite. You’re the Director of the Economic Department, and I’m here to work under you.”
“I don’t place much value on such formalities.”
“Right, I heard the Director of the Tongji Office position has been vacant for a month, so there must be a lot of work to catch up on.”
“Officer Chen, I won’t disturb your work. I’ll go familiarize myself with my duties first.”
“I like to work. If I disturb you in any way in the future, please bear with me.”
With that, Guo Zhaohui gave a slight bow and turned to leave the office.
The corner of Chen Yang’s mouth curved up slightly. He’d seen plenty of people like Guo Zhaohui in his previous life when running a company.
They thought themselves exceptionally capable, jumping right in with all sorts of cost-cutting and efficiency improvements, or ways to boost company performance, but after a while, they wilted.
This guy probably wasn’t much better. If he didn’t hit a wall, he’d really think he was indestructible.
“Ahem,” Chen Yang shifted his gaze to Zuo Mingquan and said: “Director Zuo is from Nanjing?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Zuo Mingquan said with a fawning expression: “This humble subordinate was ordered to come to Shanghai on official business.”
“Official business?” Chen Yang asked suspiciously: “Why haven’t I received any orders?”
Zuo Mingquan glanced at Li Ningyu on the side. Chen Yang frowned and still said to Li Ningyu: “Secretary Li, you can go out first.”
Li Ningyu gave a slight bow, walked out of the office, and closed the door behind her.
Only then did Zuo Mingquan lean in and say: “Director Chen, I have two things to handle in Shanghai.”
“The Nanjing Special Affairs Committee is setting up an office in Shanghai. Mr. Kagesa knows you’re not very specialized in this, so he sent me to select suitable candidates.”
“The office address is already set, at 625 Daxi Road.”
“As for the second matter, a few days ago we caught a Communist Party member in Nanjing.”
“From him, we learned that the New Army sent a special commissioner out to procure medicine. We originally planned to cooperate with the Nanjing Special Higher Police Affairs to capture him at the train station.”
“Who knew our subordinates were so amateur, letting that Communist Party member send out an emergency evacuate message.”
“The train station was too chaotic, and we couldn’t confirm who that special commissioner was, but one thing is certain.”
“Since he didn’t get off in Nanjing, he’s come to Shanghai.”
“So, our other mission is to catch this special commissioner.”
Chen Yang frowned upon hearing this: “Director Zuo, I can’t help much with catching people.”
“This is materials transportation. If it’s about transporting things, I might have a method.”
Zuo Mingquan waved his hands repeatedly: “Director Chen, we’ll handle the catching. I heard you have a lot of methods in Shanghai.”
“This special commissioner’s purpose is to purchase medicine. He definitely won’t use legitimate channels.”
“I just want to ask Director Chen to think of a method to see if anyone has made a big procurement of medicine on the black market recently.”
