Chapter 52: Almost Feeling Sorry For This Old Bastard
Mihui Restaurant, private room.
Cao Weida clearly hadn’t expected Chief Consultant Officer Tian Yuan to come find him, and as he sat down in the private room, doubt lingered in his heart.
Especially that face of his, which resembled a pig’s head, it really made him unable to hold back a laugh, and he couldn’t help glancing at it several times with the corner of his eye.
“Cao Sang, please have some tea.”
“Thank you, Officer.” Doubt in his heart, Cao Weida politely thanked him.
“Isn’t it strange why my face is like this?”
“Cough~~ Officer, you’re joking, your subordinate wouldn’t dare.” You’re the dignified Chief Consultant of the Police Station, the biggest BOSS behind the scenes at the Police Station, your face is all swollen from being beaten, instead of hiding away to lick your wounds, you invite a little Patrol Captain like me, I’m really uneasy about this.
Cao Weida grew even more curious about why the other party had sought him out, but at least one thing he could be sure of: the other party wasn’t here to cause him trouble.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be sitting in a private room enjoying tea, but in the interrogation room enjoying chili water.
“Actually, it doesn’t matter if I tell you.”
You’d better not tell me, I’m not interested in this!
Cao Weida grumbled inwardly; they say the more you know, the sooner you die, let alone the embarrassing matter of the leader’s leader’s leader’s leader?!
He immediately changed the subject:
“Mm~~ The tea aroma hits the nose, first bitter then sweet, truly fine tea. Thank you for the reward, Officer Tian Yuan, otherwise your subordinate rarely gets to drink such good tea.”
“Oh? Is that so?” Officer Tian Yuan smiled faintly, saying meaningfully: “With Cao Sang’s wealth and connections, what kind of tea couldn’t you get?”
“Even Imperial matcha, you can obtain, let alone this mere Pu’er tea?”
At these words, Cao Weida’s heart skipped a beat.
He had only ever given ‘matcha’ to Ono Shiota, and besides him and Ono Shiota, basically no one else knew; what did Officer Tian Yuan mean by saying this?
“Officer Tian Yuan, you’re joking.”
He wanted to deny it, but was interrupted by Officer Tian Yuan waving his hand; he chuckled lightly: “Cao Sang, no need to be nervous, and don’t misunderstand, I have no other intentions, I just want to be friends with Cao Sang.”
“I’ve always heard that Cao Sang likes to make friends far and wide. I think Cao Sang wouldn’t mind having one more friend like me, right?”
“Of course, being friends with Officer Tian Yuan is my honor, I’m delighted and wouldn’t mind at all.”
Cao Weida gave a dry laugh twice: You’re a dignified little devil Colonel, and on our first meeting with no interests entangled, you say you want to be friends with me and tell me not to misunderstand?
Officer Tian Yuan continued: “I know you have some relationship with Ono Shōsa, but I must remind you: in one’s position, seek one’s politics. Sometimes, many benefits aren’t something anyone can just take; they come at a cost.”
Cao Weida’s heart sank, but he kept his composure and said: “What does Officer Tian Yuan mean by that? Your subordinate is a bit confused.”
Is he reminding me to be careful of Ono Shiota?
Why is he reminding me?
Does he have a falling out with Ono Shiota?
He didn’t know the relationship between Ono Shiota and Officer Tian Yuan; Ono Shiota had never mentioned it, and without intelligence, he really couldn’t figure out what the other party was after.
“It seems Cao Sang still doesn’t quite trust me, but that’s fine. There’s an old saying in China: time reveals a person’s heart. Get along a few more times, and you’ll know me.”
Who wants to know you? As long as you don’t cause me trouble, I’ll thank the heavens.
So, what exactly does this little devil want?
Inviting me over out of the blue for a cup of tea and to make friends on the side?
Why don’t you believe it?
He tentatively said: “Officer Tian Yuan, if there’s anything you need my help with, your subordinate will certainly spare no effort.”
“Yōshi, with Cao Sang’s understanding nature, no wonder Ono Shōsa likes being friends with you.”
Heh, I’ll take that as a compliment.
“Officer Tian Yuan overpraises me. It’s just that all the officers think highly of a small figure like me. Please go ahead, Officer Tian Yuan, your subordinate will do his utmost.”
“Cao Sang, you’ve probably made quite a bit of money recently.” Officer Tian Yuan turned his teacup, saying pointedly.
Cao Weida’s heart jolted, “What does Officer Tian Yuan mean by that?”
“Looks like I was too vague. Let me be direct,” Officer Tian Yuan narrowed his eyes and said two words that made Cao Weida’s face change abruptly: “Supplies.”
Cao Weida’s face stiffened, he forced a smile: “Officer Tian Yuan, you’re really joking. What supplies? I don’t know what you mean.”
Officer Tian Yuan’s face darkened, “Cao Sang, that’s not right of you. What, you don’t want to be friends with me, Officer Tian Yuan?”
His eyes stared fixedly at Cao Weida, sneering: “Or do you think this isn’t the place to talk, and you want to change locations?”
The so-called change of location, just thinking with one’s butt made it clear it wouldn’t be anywhere good.
Cao Weida pretended to look guilty and quickly waved his hands: “Officer Tian Yuan, no need, no need, I think here is just fine.”
Officer Tian Yuan seemed quite satisfied with his reaction, his stern face relaxed, and he smiled lightly again: “Just joking with you, Cao Sang, hope you don’t mind.”
“Rest assured, since I said I want to be friends with you, I absolutely won’t do anything to harm a friend.”
“No need to fear, I just want to do the same thing as Ono Shōsa.”
“You mean” Cao Weida’s cautious demeanor drew a chuckle from Officer Tian Yuan, “I’m coming with sincerity to be friends with Cao Sang. Let’s be frank.”
“I know all about Ono Shōsa and the others doing supplies business deals with you, so no need to cover for him.”
“Conveniently, I also have a batch of supplies I want to offload. If possible, I’d like Cao Sang to help sell them too.”
Cao Weida was silent for a moment, then nodded with a smile: “Of course, no problem. Others want to help Officer Tian Yuan but have no channels. Since Officer Tian Yuan thinks highly of me, I’ll naturally do my utmost.”
Some things can be asked, some things can’t be asked even on pain of death—this reason Cao Weida understood.
Once asked, either they lie, or they don’t answer at all, or even get annoyed with you.
He already had a rough guess in his mind: this Officer Tian Yuan, not to say at odds with Ono Shiota, but at least not of one mind.
If they were truly in cahoots, why meet him alone?
Duobian Yi and Matsui Koji were directly brought over by Ono Shiota and them.
Moreover, though this Officer Tian Yuan wore the title of Chief Consultant, his actual status should be far below Ono Shiota’s.
Otherwise, why single him out to ship goods?
He wasn’t arrogant enough to think that in Beiping with so many people eager to curry favor with the little devils, only he could help sell goods.
If he really thought that way, he wouldn’t be far from death— he’d count the money happily for someone who bought him out.
The only possibility he could think of was that the other party didn’t dare let anyone grab leverage, and by going through him—or in other words, Ono Shiota’s channels—he could maximize undetectability without building his own channel network; Ono Shiota and they had already built it up.
This little devil was a shrewd man, and also capable.
The vigilance in Cao Weida’s heart deepened; he immensely missed the novels from before transmigration, where side characters were dumber than the last—why couldn’t he encounter any?
“Yōshi, Cao Sang, we are friends now, the closest friends.” Officer Tian Yuan inhaled sharply, his face pulling taut from smiling.
“Being friends with Officer Tian Yuan is my honor.”
“Haha~~ Cao Sang is really good with words. By the way, I heard that recently Ono Shiota and Fujita borrowed a lot of money from the bank. Cao Sang, as a friend, you should know what they borrowed it for, right? Mind sharing?”
Cao Weida hesitated, Officer Tian Yuan just smiled lightly at him, making Cao Weida’s scalp tingle; finally unable to withstand the gaze, he braced himself and smiled wryly:
“Officer Tian Yuan, really sorry, I truly can’t say. If Officer Ono found out, he’d kill me. Please don’t make it hard for me.”
Though he had some guesses in his heart, he still wanted to probe a bit,
“You’re Officer Ono’s leader, why not ask him directly?”
“I’m just a small figure, can’t afford to offend either side, please don’t make it hard for your subordinate.”
It seemed like he remembered something; when mentioning Ono Shiota, Cao Weida clearly saw the other’s cheek twitch,
“Haha, I was being presumptuous. Probably Ono Shōsa ran into some difficulty and urgently needs money.”
No longer dwelling on the issue, Officer Tian Yuan pulled a list from his pocket and handed it over, smoothly changing the topic:
“This is the list of goods, take a look.”
Cao Weida took the list and glanced at it, his mouth twitching.
Good grief, you’re the dignified Chief Consultant of the Police Station—do you have to be so stingy!
His guess became even more certain, and he added one more: this old devil was not only shrewd and capable, but also a coward!
You greedy thing, greedy for such a pittance—does it match your status as Chief Consultant of the Police Station?
Putting the list away, Cao Weida said confidently: “Tonight, give me an address, I’ll send someone to pick up the goods.”
Officer Tian Yuan’s face clearly lit up with irrepressible joy, his somewhat rounded swollen face nearly creasing up, “Yōshi, pleasant cooperation!”
“Pleasant cooperation.” Cao Weida raised his cup, feeling a bit sorry for this old devil in his heart—getting so thrilled over such a little, how inexperienced.
After leaving the restaurant, Cao Weida went straight back to the Police Station and found Little Ear, handing him the list,
“There’s a batch of goods here, take care of it.”
Though Little Ear’s current identity was patrolman, the black market business hadn’t closed, nor had his identity as boss changed; it was just an extra layer of patrolman skin.
Little Ear took the list: “Hanyang Type 88 rifle 42, melon grenade 15, rice 900 catties, flour 700 catties, cotton 800 catties, pork 400 catties. That’s it?”
Little Ear was stunned, “Big Brother Cao, whose supplies are these? The quantity is way too small.”
After two transactions of over a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand each time, Little Ear’s horizons had clearly widened; this bit of supplies was really too meager compared to the previous two deals.
