Chapter 196: Timing Is Everything
“Cough cough, that thing, I have a wife and kids at home to support, so I might not have much money on hand.”
As he said this, the sense of shame in his heart surged.
When he first came to the police station, his goal was to deal with Cao Weida, make him regret yesterday’s actions, then kneel before him sobbing, and proactively offer his concubine to him.
But now, that damned, lowly Chinese person Cao Weida actually had close private ties with high-level military officials, so he didn’t dare have any crooked thoughts.
Now, he had lost face in front of this Chinese person right in front of him, and in his embarrassment, he wanted to dig out a three-bedroom apartment with his toes!
Little Ear seemed not to see his shameful expression, and said with a face full of astonishment: “Qingshou Taijun, you’re not joking with me, are you? You say you have no money?! How is that possible!”
Hearing this, Kawakami Kyoju’s inner shame instantly turned to anger, and with a ‘whoosh’, he stood up, glaring fiercely: “Damned bastard, are you mocking me?!!”
Mocking you?
Are you worthy?
Little Ear sneered inwardly nonstop, but on the surface showed a face full of grievance: “Taijun, you can’t wrong me, how would I dare mock you? I’m just feeling sorry for you.”
“Sorry?” Little Ear’s words confused Kawakami Kyoju completely, his angry expression eased, and he looked at him suspiciously: “What do you mean by that, sorry for what?”
“Of course it’s sorry that you missed out on a huge sum of money!”
“Ah? I missed out on a huge sum of money? What do you mean?” Kawakami Kyoju was completely dumbfounded; how did he not know?
Seeing Little Ear shaking his head and sighing nonstop, he immediately got anxious, “Just tell me, how did I miss out on a huge sum of money?”
Only those who have experienced how tough it is to live without money know how important having money is.
Take him for example; don’t think he was swaggering in front of Chinese people, but in reality, his family status at home was precarious.
Don’t think women in the little devil’s land are all gentle and soft; that’s all nonsense!
If a man can earn money, their women are indeed understanding, putting husband first, not to mention cooking and washing clothes; drawing bathwater before bed and turning fully automatic at night are commonplace.
But once a man can’t earn money, the first thing he feels is the white eyes and disdain at the bottom of the woman’s eyes, as well as endless nagging.
And still want family status?
Better wash up and go to sleep early; anything is possible in dreams!
Now Kawakami Kyoju was in this stage; that woman at his home looked at him unfavorably left and right, and even to climb into bed, he had to get kicked a few times, let alone develop some negative-distance exercise.
What was the reason?
Wasn’t it because he had no money!!
If he had money, would that woman dare treat him like this?!
He dreamed of getting rich overnight!
He was almost going crazy thinking about it!
So, hearing that he missed out on a huge sum of money, he immediately got anxious and impatiently pressed for details.
Seeing him take the bait, a crafty glint flashed in Little Ear’s eyes, and he showed a heartbroken expression: “Qingshou Taijun, if I were Japanese like you, I would have gotten rich long ago! How could I say something like not having much money on hand?”
What does this have to do with whether I’m Japanese or not?
Kawakami Kyoju grew even more curious and said impatiently: “Stop beating around the bush, just explain clearly how to get rich!”
For something like setting a trap, naturally it couldn’t be stated too directly; if he straight up told him to go to the gambling house to gamble, most people’s first reaction would be to be on guard.
But is this something you can guard against just by being on guard?
How is that possible!
Not to mention now, even in modern society decades later, scams and cons like this are still commonplace, with countless victims.
How Little Ear set the trap for Kawakami Kyoju, Cao Weida didn’t care; once he gave the orders, he stopped bothering with it.
He had plenty of other things to handle, no time to follow these small matters; just waiting for Little Ear to report progress was enough.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, five days passed.
During these five days, Cao Weida had been busy, and things were proceeding in an orderly manner.
The little devils’ navy and army partnering in business was all settled, and at the same time, sites for supply transit stations in Changping, Shahe, and Nankou were selected, with Tada Naoyoshi’s business network merged in.
The profit split ratio was barely satisfactory for all three parties; next was transporting and distributing the supplies to get the business up and running.
Once things were properly handled, the rest didn’t need Cao Weida’s attention anymore; naturally Old Luo and the others would take care of it.
So, before dark this day, the now free him quietly arrived at a two-story house near No. 6 Yanglian Hutong, West City South Long Street.
This house was only about thirty meters from No. 6 Yanglian Hutong; after Cao Weida knocked, a man in his thirties respectfully let him in.
“Cao Ye.” This man was named Yan San, one of Little Ear’s most trusted brothers.
Ever since Little Ear joined the police station as a patrolman, the gang had been run by Yan San, reporting to Little Ear only on undecided matters.
Inside the room, not only Yan San was there, but several other brothers too, all respectfully stepping forward to shout ‘Cao Ye’.
“We’re all brothers, no need to be so formal.” Little Ear was his brother, a brother he trusted, so Cao Weida naturally gave face, smiling and patting his shoulder, handing over a cigarette tucked under his arm,
“Brothers have all worked hard, take it and share for smoking.”
“Thanks, Cao Ye!”
“Cao Ye is generous!”
Yan San and the others beamingly took it; they had seen Cao Weida more than once and knew his character, that Cao Ye was generous and loyal to his brothers.
They were quite willing to work under such a big brother.
Ever since Little Ear followed Cao Ye, their days were much better than before, and their wallets had fattened up too.
If they weren’t satisfied with such a big brother, they’d be too ungrateful.
“Haha, we’re all brothers, helping each other out.”
After dismissing the others, Cao Weida took Yan San to a room on the second floor.
In the room, two brothers were hiding by the window, secretly observing outside through the gaps in the curtained window.
Seeing Cao Weida and Yan San enter, they quickly stood up to greet.
Cao Weida waved his hand to signal no need for formality, went to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain, and secretly observed.
It had to be said, the spot Yan San chose was indeed good; hiding here, the situation at No. 6 Yanglian Hutong was clearly in view.
“Any new developments in the past two days?”
No. 6 Yanglian Hutong was Northern Hegemon Liu Xiangting’s residence; ever since seeing Liu Xiangting enter a private room with Wang Kemin at Dongshengping, Cao Weida had Little Ear arrange secret surveillance on Liu Xiangting.
He was certain these two were plotting something.
Wang Kemin couldn’t be surveilled, as he had countless professionals at hand, but surveilling Liu Xiangting was simple.
“People in the No. 6 house have been mostly quiet these days except for sending men out to buy things; I had those shoppers followed too, nothing unusual found.”
Cao Weida nodded, but wasn’t too anxious inside.
Being a hunter always required patience.
Besides, even if nothing turned up in the end, it didn’t matter; he was just taking a shot whether there were dates or not.
Best if there were, no loss if not.
Just as Cao Weida thought there’d be no gains today and prepared to leave, a subordinate suddenly ran up.
“Cao Ye, Third Master, situation!”
“Speak.”
“The brother guarding the back door reports that Liu Xiangting disguised himself and sneaked out the back door.”
“Oh?” Cao Weida couldn’t help laughing; truly, better to arrive early than right on time.
“Let’s go, take me to see.”
Night was falling, pedestrians on the streets thinning out; due to curfew, Beiping’s people hurried home before dark.
If really too late, they’d find a place to stay overnight and come out the next day.
At this time, the disguised Liu Xiangting was hurrying along but showed no sign of turning back.
Just before it got completely dark, he entered the Six Nations Hotel on Dongjiaomin Lane.
This Six Nations Hotel was like the Beiping Hotel, with everything inside: dining, lodging, dance hall, all complete.
Especially the dance hall, famously renowned, the top social venue in Republic of China Beiping, even surpassing the Beiping Hotel.
For example, the traitor Jin Bihui once met Zhang Zuolin’s adjutant at the Six Nations Hotel dance floor and got intelligence on Zhang Zuolin returning to the Northeast.
The dance hall naturally had no shortage of dance girls; though not all were stunning beauties, they were all soft and alluring.
Cao Weida thought for a moment, had Yan San watch outside, and he himself entered the Six Nations Hotel.
After entering, seeing Liu Xiangting not linger on the first floor at all but head straight to the elevator, after a quick think, he hurried to the elevator area.
The elevator was rising at this time, until it stopped at the fifth floor.
The Six Nations Hotel was originally four stories, but after expansion in 1925, it became five.
Cao Weida often went to various high-end places with Ono Shiota and others, so the Six Nations Hotel wasn’t his first time; he wasn’t very familiar but had some knowledge.
The fifth floor was the Six Nations Hotel’s dance hall.
He smiled slightly, pressed the button for another nearby elevator, and went up to the fifth floor too.
With a ‘ding’, the elevator door opened.
The dance hall was a riot of color and wine, people in the dance pool swaying freely.
However, compared to before, the crowd in the Six Nations Hotel dance hall had clearly thinned out a lot.
Cao Weida got a drink at the bar and strolled through the dance hall’s corners looking for his target.
Soon, Liu Xiangting’s back came into view.
Target found, Cao Weida wasn’t in a hurry; he sat in a corner booth near the window, eyes seemingly casually scanning around, but his peripheral vision never left Liu Xiangting’s back.
At that moment, he saw Liu Xiangting sit next to a woman dressed in men’s clothes, exuding a cold aura.
The reason Cao Weida was sure that person was a woman was that there was no Adam’s apple at her throat; though her movements were quite bold, they were feminine everywhere.
And that unusually developed chest muscle up front.
After talking in low voices for a bit, Liu Xiangting headed to the elevator, clearly going down.
Cao Weida tapped his glass, eyes turning, and made a hand signal out the window by lifting the curtain.
Yan San waiting at the door saw it, silently retreated into the darkness, until he saw a familiar person exit the Six Nations Hotel entrance, then trailed far behind without hesitation.
Just as Cao Weida put down the curtain, a figure sat next to him.
“Cao Patrol Officer, is this seat taken? Can I sit?”
Cao Weida raised an eyelid, looking at her in surprise, “Miss, do you know me?”
The one who appeared next to him was the female-disguised person who had just whispered with Liu Xiangting.
“Of course, Cao Patrol Officer, you’re a hot big shot in Beiping right now; how could I not know you.” She covered her mouth laughing, but there was no mirth in her eyes, “Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Kawashima Yoshiko, pleased to meet you.”
“So it’s the famous Miss Fangzi, pleased to meet you.” Cao Weida’s attitude was lukewarm, but inside he was extremely surprised.
He hadn’t expected the one meeting Liu Xiangting to be the Eastern female demon Kawashima Yoshiko!
Just for that reputation, he couldn’t help scrutinizing her appearance closely.
Earlier, because the lights were dim and Kawashima Yoshiko wore a round top hat, her real looks weren’t clear.
Now looking closely from nearby, Kawashima Yoshiko’s features were revealed to Cao Weida.
How to put it, quite disappointing.
Unlike the legendary descriptions of proper features, melon seed face, big eyes, and such beautiful portrayals, the real Kawashima Yoshiko had a somewhat square face, thick short eyebrows, low nose bridge, somewhat thick lips, skin not white and rough.
When she opened her mouth to speak, her uneven buck teeth were fully exposed.
Such looks weren’t hideously ugly, but rather plain.
And by age, she was over thirty approaching forty, long past a woman’s best years.
Plus dressed in men’s clothes, she looked quite awkward, no different from a plain-looking tomboy.
Only those two developed chest muscles up front reminded outsiders that she was still a woman.
‘What a disappointment; I thought she was a handsome beauty, but it’s just this?’
Seeing Cao Weida’s cold attitude, Kawashima Yoshiko didn’t mind at all, sat down with undiminished smile, and said:
“All just empty reputation, not worth mentioning.”
“Cao Patrol Officer, it’s fate to meet you here today; come, a toast to you.”
Cao Weida raised a brow, looking at her doubtfully; why did he feel Kawashima Yoshiko seemed to be trying to cozy up to him?
Shouldn’t be; this one helped the Japanese Army commit countless crimes on Chinese soil, and after the 1931 ‘September 18 Incident’ was awarded the army major rank.
Such a ‘big shot’ cozying up to a mere police station patrol officer like him?
Could it be I misread it?
