Chapter 15: Worth Betting Your Life On!
“Of course no problem, go ahead, I’ll stay home all day today, once you’ve arranged things on your side, come find me anytime.”
Seeing that Zheng Chaoyang was already tempted, Cao Weida chuckled inwardly.
Such a large batch of supplies, and with him having shown full sincerity, he didn’t believe Zheng Chaoyang wouldn’t be tempted.
He had already anticipated this result, so he wasn’t surprised.
As long as Zheng Chaoyang was tempted, he would have connected with this line of the Communist Party.
“This batch of medicine, you’re really planning to give it to me for free? Do you know how much this batch of medicine would sell for on the black market?” Before leaving, Zheng Chaoyang confirmed again.
The Communist Party’s policy has always been not to take even a needle or thread from the people, but this batch of medicine in his arms wasn’t comparable to a needle or thread—this was at least dozens of lives!
Nowadays, one dose of penicillin can sell for three to five taels of gold.
That’s right, the price of one dose!
How many doses in a box?
Twenty doses!
How many boxes here?
Twenty boxes!
A total of four hundred doses!
How much would that cost?!
Sulfonamide and Bailangduoxi are much cheaper compared to penicillin, but they are still absolutely valuable items!
Added together, it’s simply a huge sum of money!
Cao Weida waved his hand nonchalantly, “A real man, one spit is one nail, if I said I’d give it to you, then it’s yours.”
“I’m a coward, afraid of dying, I don’t dare to charge into battle, I can only do what I can.”
“Alright, go quickly, our time is very tight, no need for pleasantries here.”
Zheng Chaoyang gave him a complicated look, nodded, and left quickly.
Cao Weida took out a cigarette and lit it, looking at the departing figure, he murmured:
“The Communist Party side is settled, just the Kuomintang side left, no rush, there’s still time, take it slow, we’ll always make contact.”
He wasn’t anxious about contacting the Kuomintang.
Doing business with Ono Shiota and the others, he wasn’t just wanting to make money that simply, from the little devils’ defeat to the liberation of Beiping in those few years, it all depended on operations during this time.
On the other side, the departing Zheng Chaoyang didn’t return to the police station, nor go to the dormitory, but called a rickshaw and randomly named a place, highly alert as he observed his surroundings.
Midway he switched several rickshaws, turned left and right through several alleys, and after repeatedly confirming no one was tailing him, he cautiously left a message at the dead drop.
After that, he hurried to a safe house, anxiously waiting.
During the wait, recalling what Cao Weida said, his mind kept replaying his past actions, trying hard to think where exactly he had slipped up and exposed himself.
But no matter how he recalled, he found no flaws at all, which left him deeply troubled.
In the afternoon, a knock came: three short, three long, then two short. Hearing this unique knock, Zheng Chaoyang was overjoyed and quickly opened the door.
A figure wearing a hat flashed in, Zheng Chaoyang breathed a sigh of relief, “Shan Feng, you’ve finally come.”
“Huan Shan, so urgent to meet me, what important intelligence? Does it have to be reported in person?”
Huan Shan was Zheng Chaoyang’s code name as an undercover in the police station.
And the speaker, code name Shan Feng, was the Underground Party head in Beiping, also Zheng Chaoyang’s direct superior after liberation—Bureau Chief Luo Yong.
“Shan Feng, take a look, what are these!” Zheng Chaoyang said excitedly, Luo Yong doubtfully looked where he pointed, immediately startled, eyes flashing with disbelief: “These… are anti-inflammatory drugs?!”
“Yes, anti-inflammatory drugs!” Zheng Chaoyang nodded vigorously, thinking of the heavy price the organization paid for anti-inflammatory drugs, his eyes welled up with hot tears.
Because of no anti-inflammatory drugs, too many compatriots and brothers died from infections, too many who could have gotten out of bed whole were left disabled just due to lack of medicine.
The Communist Party was extremely short on anti-inflammatory drugs; to obtain them, countless underground party members and couriers risked their lives through various channels.
For this, many were exposed during missions and suffered cruel persecution by the enemy.
It could be said that to obtain anti-inflammatory drugs, the organization paid a heavy price.
Sometimes, just for one box of penicillin, it might cost the lives of several veteran underground party members!
“Where from?” Old Luo asked in disbelief, he counted, actually a full twenty boxes!
And they were twenty doses per box, not ten per box!
“Someone gave them.”
“Gave them?!” Old Luo had a look like you must be kidding, Zheng Chaoyang smiled bitterly helplessly,
“Indeed someone gave them, have you heard of Cao Weida, one of the Three Cowards of the Rat’s Gallbladder at the police station.”
“Heard of him, could it be…”
Zheng Chaoyang nodded, “Right, it’s him who gave them.”
“What’s the situation, tell me in detail.”
So Zheng Chaoyang told everything without hiding anything.
Luo Yong listened carefully, and after hearing it all, frowned deeply, “So you’re saying he’s already guessed your identity?”
An undercover whose identity is guessed is like putting his head in the other’s noose, whether to strangle him or not is just a matter of the other’s whim.
So, once exposed, an undercover basically has two choices: withdraw or fight desperately.
“Did you spot any tails on your way here?”
“Don’t worry, if there were, I wouldn’t have contacted you.”
“Good, take these medicines, tonight I’ll arrange your withdrawal!”
But Zheng Chaoyang said firmly: “No, I can’t leave yet.”
“You!” Old Luo was furious, lowering his voice angrily: “Do you know what the consequences are after you’re exposed!”
Zheng Chaoyang said seriously: “I know! But I still can’t leave!”
“You, do you even have organization discipline in your eyes anymore!”
“Comrade Shan Feng, Old Luo!” Zheng Chaoyang said solemnly, “My life is light, but those supplies are heavy!”
“For those supplies, this risk is worth taking! Organization discipline is important, but this batch of supplies is even more important!”
“But what if it’s a trap?”
“Then I’ll accept it!” Zheng Chaoyang’s attitude was unwavering: “Old Luo, even if there’s only a one-in-ten chance, I’m willing to bet!”
“If it’s fake, at most I lose my life, but if it’s real, you should know how much benefit it will bring to us, to the organization!”
“…” Luo Yong fell silent, Zheng Chaoyang was right, if what Cao Weida said was true, then there would definitely be more than this one transaction in the future.
If this channel could be opened, it would bring a steady stream of various scarce supplies to the organization, to the party in the future.
Is the danger great?
Definitely, it’s betting with lives!
But the returns are equally huge!
Huge enough to be worth betting lives on!
Zheng Chaoyang softened his tone a bit, “Old Luo, one person’s sacrifice is small, but we can’t watch such a good opportunity slip away!”
“Moreover, it’s actually not as dangerous as imagined, in my view, Cao Weida is actually a hot-blooded patriot with positive and proactive thinking.”
“Although I didn’t see the little devils’ corpses with my own eyes, this shouldn’t be fake.”
“Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here discussing this with you fine, but tied in the Special Higher Police’s interrogation room, chatting with those little devil special agents.”
Luo Yong believed this; in many spy dramas, once underground party members are suspected, the little devils probe in all sorts of ways, looking for evidence, but that’s all nonsense.
The reality is, once suspected, the first thing little devil special agents do is lock the person up and interrogate them first.
A method of better safe than sorry—do you really think only Kuomintang agents treat Communist Party underground members this way?
The little devils are even more proficient at it!
Countless ghosts wronged to death by the special agents’ department’s interrogation strength!
Unless the little devils want to fish for a big one!
But the little devils absolutely wouldn’t use this much anti-inflammatory medicine as bait, the cost would be too high.
Seeing the leader silent, Zheng Chaoyang continued: “Old Luo, if possible, I want to recruit Cao Weida over.”
“Whether he’s cowardly or not I don’t know now, but I know his daily character, he’s never bullied the people, even in his area, his reputation among the people is quite good.”
“If we can bring him into our ranks, it will be a great help to the organization!”
“We’ll talk about that later, have you really thought it through, not withdrawing, going to take the risk tonight?” Though the temptation of winning the bet was huge, as a comrade-in-arms who’d fought alongside Zheng Chaoyang for so many years, he was still very worried about Zheng Chaoyang’s safety.
“I’ve thought it through!” Zheng Chaoyang said solemnly, for the victory of the revolution, to sacrifice fewer comrades, to add a massive supply line to the organization, his personal safety was no longer important.
He had long been prepared to sacrifice for the organization, for the revolution at any time.
Luo Yong was silent for a long time, then said reluctantly: “…Be safe.”
On the other side, waiting for Zheng Chaoyang’s reply, Cao Weida sat in the courtyard with legs crossed chatting with Third Sister-in-law, his humorous and witty words making her laugh nonstop.
“You brat, this mouth of yours sure can amuse people, right, the matter I mentioned to you before, your Third Sister-in-law has kept it in mind, in a couple days it’ll be about time, if it works out, you can’t treat your Third Sister-in-law poorly.”
“Yo, really! Then thank you so much Third Sister-in-law!” Cao Weida beamed with joy, “If it really works out, I’d wrong anyone but not you Third Sister-in-law, you’re my matchmaker.”
As he was speaking, a knock came at the courtyard gate.
Cao Weida turned to look, Little Ear was leading a man who looked honest and simple-minded standing at the door.
“Cao Ge, not disturbing you?”
“Third Sister-in-law, we’ll chat later.” Turning to Little Ear: “No disturbance, just idling, come, let’s talk inside.”
After entering the room, they exchanged pleasantries, mainly Little Ear flattering Cao Weida, and making the man kneel and kowtow in thanks—it turned out he was the captured Sun Dahu.
Cao Weida was amused, Sun Dahu looked so honest and straightforward, didn’t expect him to play around quite a bit.
Then Little Ear stated the main purpose of today: he had another ‘friend’ taken away by the police a couple days ago, wanted to ask Cao Weida to put in a word.
Tucking the gold bars into his pocket, Cao Weida nodded with a smile: “Relax, I’ll definitely pass the word, tell your friend’s family not to worry, as long as he really didn’t participate in resistance activities, as long as he’s still in the Military Police unit now, I can get him out.”
“Even if he’s been taken elsewhere, it’s not like I can’t think of a way.”
