Chapter 117: Problem
“Nanjing, right? It can’t be Shanghai.” Wu Sibao blurted out.
Gu Yansheng smiled, “Then when the time comes, won’t there be many departments to establish in Nanjing? Won’t there be many officials going there? Where do you think they’ll live? Won’t houses be in high demand?”
Ye Jiqing truly lived up to being a woman who loved money, lightly slapping the table with shining eyes: “I get it. When the time comes, Nanjing will also have a core area for city government officials’ residences. The houses there will definitely rise in price! Moreover, people coming from Chongqing have money, so prices will skyrocket!”
“Hey.” Gu Yansheng raised his wine glass with a laugh: “Sister-in-law, your wisdom is extraordinary.”
“Alright, a surefire profitable business. I’ve tried stock trading, but not property speculation yet.” Wu Sibao was greatly moved, “So what do we do now? Go to Nanjing to buy houses?”
“We definitely have to buy. Once others react, there’ll be nothing for us. But first, we need to investigate the market trend clearly. You’re familiar with Nanjing, right?” Gu Yansheng gave him a sideways glance and rolled her eyes: “Find some staff for me to use. Have them go to Nanjing to investigate. The people in my department don’t have as many methods as those under you. When the time comes, have them put in extra effort. Buying the wrong house and getting stuck with it would be disastrous.”
“Don’t worry, would they dare not put in effort? Besides, I’m not familiar with Nanjing, but my brother is.” Wu Sibao looked at Li Shiqun: “Bro, isn’t Nanjing your turf?”
Li Shiqun smiled and said to Gu Yansheng: “I did work in Nanjing before, so I’m familiar with it. For property in Nanjing, the most luxurious is still on Yihe Road. It used to be the residence of high officials, and now it should all be occupied by Japanese.
I estimate that the officials going to Nanjing then will still live in this area nearby, but buying houses will require quite a bit of money. Shouldn’t we wait until Wang and them have negotiated almost done, and confirm where the new government will be built before buying?”
“Too late.” Without even needing Gu Yansheng to speak, Ye Jiqing sprayed at him, “Once this information is known worldwide, the Japanese businessmen over there will have already made their moves. How could we still get to eat meat? Don’t speak on business matters. Listen to Mr. Gu.”
Li Shiqun’s mouth twitched, and he chuckled: “Alright, alright, alright. Director Gu calls the shots.”
Since Director Gu called the shots, Director Gu had to speak. Raising his wine glass, he went to the next table. A bunch of juniors were thrilled to mooch a delicious meal today.
“Everyone, you heard what I just said to your director. Going to Nanjing to buy houses—first priority is location, second is good layout. Don’t bring out any rundown houses. What we buy will eventually be sold to big officials, so keep that in mind. We want villas.
Scout the locations well, note down which houses cost what and who the owners are. Run around more. Saving money is key. Skip the expensive ones sold high. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Also, bring a radio. Communicate and contact anytime if needed. Who’s leading?” Gu Yansheng looked at Wu Sibao.
“Him, him, him—Liu San.” Wu Sibao pointed.
Gu Yansheng nodded and said to Liu San: “Roughly a few days left. I’ll first ask around more and gather some intelligence. You first have the brothers settle their families at home. The trip might be a bit long—definitely ten days to half a month.”
“Got it.”
“Come, step out.” Gu Yansheng openly called Liu San outside.
Liu San glanced at the door and said in surprise: “If I go to Nanjing, what about here?”
“No problem, you’ll be back in a few days. I’ll control the timing.” Gu Yansheng said calmly: “Whether to buy or not is in my hands. If there’s something, we can contact by telegram anytime, and I can have you return immediately.
After this contact, it’ll be much easier for me to find you later.”
Liu San nodded in realization. Indeed, this would make them familiar. “Later, you can ask me about Nanjing matters and houses.”
“Right.” Gu Yansheng took out a note and handed it over: “Got the address. Seventh floor, innermost room. There’s a gap in the window. You can check if you can slip in. Other details are on the paper. Memorize and burn it.”
“I know too.” Liu San quickly said with a smile: “Didn’t have time to notify you, thought you didn’t know yet. Wait, you said seventh floor?”
“Yeah.”
“But I remember it being the eighth floor?”
“Eighth floor? Impossible, definitely seventh.” Gu Yansheng couldn’t have remembered wrong.
Liu San frowned: “It’s the eighth floor. I couldn’t have remembered wrong. Where’d you get your intelligence?”
“I went to the site and saw the envoy, Gao Zhongwu, Director of Asian Affairs.”
“I went to the site too and saw the envoy, Gao Zhongwu, Director of Asian Affairs.”
“Broadway Mansion?”
“Lichaa Hotel?”
“Something’s off.”
The two exchanged a glance and couldn’t help but frown.
Gu Yansheng reached out to take back the note and put it in his pocket. “What capacity were you called in for? Security?”
“No.” Liu San shook his head slightly: “It was about if the Wang Government is established, incorporating the agent headquarters under the Wang Government’s power. All section chief level and above were called to ask about our stance and willingness to follow Chairman Wang.
I was puzzled too. Logically, for such a big topic, the two directors going would suffice. Why call us section chiefs? A director going would be enough. Turns out they were digging a pit for us.
They deliberately let us know the residence?”
Gu Yansheng nodded, “Very possible. Don’t act on this for now. Later when Li Shiqun asks, say I called you out to give you two missions. First, go to Nanjing and find ways to contact people from the Japanese Construction Department and Finance Department. Build relationships, even slip them some money. See if there’s any gossip about the Wang Government being established.
Second, on Shanghai matters, I had you watch Fu Xiao’an these few days, see what his subordinates and the chamber of commerce heads are doing lately—mainly business stuff. Don’t say much else, let them guess. But don’t tell your subordinates the real reason. Don’t say it was my order. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Alright, let’s go in.”
Gu Yansheng brought Liu San back inside.
Wu Sibao sneered: “What secrets can’t we hear?”
“Don’t ask. If it’s good, we’ll definitely call you.”
After the meal, Gu Yansheng headed home.
This matter was very strange now. The Japanese were deliberately testing them, and testing them separately. It was like judging if any of them had a problem.
Or rather, judging that definitely someone among them had a problem, but not knowing who, so playing this multiple-choice game to see which location would have an incident.
Hiss, this matter was getting tricky now. The name was probably real, but whether the person was real was uncertain.
No way to judge if this Gao Zhongwu who appeared today was really Gao Zhongwu.
If not, where was the real Gao Zhongwu?
The next day, Liu San came openly to see Gu Yansheng.
“You guessed right. Right after you left, they asked what you told me. I said as you instructed. They guessed you might want to kick him when he’s down. They know you and Fu Xiao’an don’t get along.”
“Kick what well, throw what stone. No ambition at all.” Gu Yansheng sneered: “With Shanghai’s economy this bad, of course now’s the time for bottom fishing assets. The Japanese won’t let the economy stay bad forever. Whatever, this isn’t important. Investigate when you have time. I think with Fu Xiao’an’s level, he won’t just stay down. There’ll definitely be money-making opportunities then. Earn some for Director Dai too.”
Liu San clasped his fists: “Impressive.”
Gu Yansheng took a sip of coffee, “I’ve checked the hotels in Hongkou. There are three. We’ve tried two. I’m guessing this person might be at the last remaining one, Kaifu Hotel.”
Liu San frowned: “Possible. This security didn’t involve agent headquarters. The Japanese probably think Shanghai Military Statistics Bureau has been too active lately, and agent headquarters has people bought off, so they wanted to test. I estimate both those places have heavy guards.
I’ll find a way to have the team leader scout Kaifu Hotel. If he’s really there, whether there are guards, mysterious figures coming and going—we should be able to see something.”
“Just scouting won’t reveal much. Doesn’t he have Green Gang people?” Gu Yansheng reminded: “Any way to get info on this hotel’s waiters? Use them or their family as entry point. News would come much faster, and we could clarify how many at the residence, what guards, etc.”
Liu San nodded: “Can do. I’ll have him try.”
Gu Yansheng thought and said: “Might not be enough. Since the Japanese suspect agent headquarters and city government aren’t clean, deepen their suspicion. When you have Chen Mo investigate, best to also design a plan for attacking those two locations.
They don’t trust us? We’ll confirm it. Do the opposite, make the Japanese paranoid.”
