Chapter 218: Individual
This thing is readily available.
Gu Yansheng recounted Wang Ni’s speech at the banquet.
He added: “This is all I know right now, but I estimate he didn’t say everything; he must be concealing something.”
Shen Linshen listened to the content and nodded in agreement. “This content seems pretty much the same as what was exposed last time. From his tone, it means he didn’t agree to cede the Northeast last time, but this time he does, and that’s it. Everything else was already negotiated before.”
Gu Yansheng nodded. “The Japanese won’t be so magnanimous. If the conditions were really this favorable, Old Jiang might even agree.
Do you know what the organization wants to use it for?”
“It should be for propaganda. I’m judging based on experience. The organization needs this material to make it public. Recently, Wang Ni’s contacts with the Japanese have increased, and the preaching has ramped up.
Wang Ni, relying on his previous positive image, comes out waving the big flag. Some people will be fooled, even some ordinary people I’ve contacted feel that what Wang Ni says is not without reason.
We must be vigilant. The organization certainly can’t sit idly by and watch him lure people. This is not conducive to the Anti-Japanese National United Front and requires exposing his hypocritical side.”
“Then just make up two more to add.” Gu Yansheng smiled. “Anyway, in the end, he’ll definitely deny everything. Make up two intimidating ones, like adding taxes on taxation, or him accepting a mission to raise military funds for the Japanese.
Ordinary people might accept the changing of banners on the city walls, but they react very sensitively to news concerning their money bags and will be extremely vigilant and resist.
Making up these two isn’t wronging him; it’s bound to happen sooner or later.”
Shen Linshen nodded, thought for a moment, and asked: “Will the information sources here expose your identity?”
Gu Yansheng shook his head. “No, this content isn’t particularly fresh; lots of people know it. If you add two more, it’ll be even harder to distinguish.”
“Then I’ll report to the organization as soon as possible. If there’s news on this, notify me again.”
“They might go to Japan soon. Even if there’s new information, we’ll have to wait until they return from Japan. I estimate the agreement then will be the most important. Once they go to Japan and meet the cabinet, if they sign the agreement, that’ll be the final version. I’ll tell you once I get it.”
Shen Linshen hummed and nodded. “I don’t know what else this traitor wants to sell to the Japanese. Alright, I’ll wait for your news.”
“One more thing, you need to report to the organization. Didn’t Boss Dai in Chongqing assign me a dedicated radio? The operator is female.”
“Mm, you’ve mentioned this.” Shen Linshen thought for a moment. “Shen Shuyun. You arranged her into the Judicial Department, right? What’s up?”
“Yes, it’s her. For some reasons, I slept with her.”
Shen Linshen widened his eyes in shock and looked at him with respect. “You slept with the intelligence agent Boss Dai assigned to you?”
“Hard to say who slept with whom. Want to hear the details?” Gu Yansheng blinked.
Personal life is also content that needs reporting. This isn’t just simply letting the organization know about your personal life; more importantly, it prevents misjudgment by the organization in future actions due to relationships. Trust is of course a key part too.
Shen Linshen smacked his lips, paused, and said: “Then I still need to hear it. Let me state upfront, it’s not that I want to hear it, but since you’ve got a woman, when I report it, the organization will definitely be interested in the causes and effects. I need something to say.”
“Sure, do you want to hear the sexual intercourse part first, or the cause?”
Shen Linshen rolled his eyes. “What are you telling me about sexual intercourse for? The reason, of course the reason.”
Gu Yansheng smiled and said seriously: “In Shanghai, my sphere of influence has already developed quite deeply. People from Hanoi, especially Traitor Zhou, want to lure me to become his handle in Shanghai in the future and promised me the position of Minister of Judicial Administration.
“Minister of Judicial Administration?” Shen Linshen couldn’t help interrupting. “Wouldn’t that mean you control the Wang Faction’s prisons from now on?”
“You could say that.”
Expanding from Shanghai to all Japanese Occupied Areas, Gu Yansheng’s development was too terrifying. This promotion step took his power from local to national.
Shen Linshen immediately thought of something. “I heard that our people have been arrested in various places. If you become minister, can those people be rescued somehow?”
Gu Yansheng chuckled lightly. “If I can’t even save our own people, then what’s the point of holding this official position?”
Shen Linshen laughed too, clasped his fists in admiration. “Minister Gu is generous. Is it very likely?”
“Ninety percent.”
“Such confidence?” Shen Linshen was always shocked by Gu Yansheng’s developments. Even the Wang Faction people thought so highly of him. He thought and raised a question: “Then will you go to Nanjing in the future?”
“Probably.” Gu Yansheng nodded.
Shen Linshen frowned slightly in thought. “Then I need to find a way to open a shop in Nanjing.”
“If you go to Nanjing, what about Shanghai? Even if I go to Nanjing, I’ll still come to Shanghai from time to time. There’s a pile of things here in Shanghai. When there’s news to pass then, do I have to go back to Nanjing to transmit it?”
Shen Linshen nodded. “This needs thorough consideration. I’ll communicate with the organization and see how to plan it. Continue with what you were saying.”
Gu Yansheng hummed. “Traitor Zhou wants to lure me. This wouldn’t be a big deal by itself, but the key is he has a daughter, a bit older than me, single.”
“He wants to match you up?” Shen Linshen guessed.
Gu Yansheng nodded slightly. “He hasn’t said it outright yet, but I see his daughter has that intention. She’s too enthusiastic toward me, the kind of demeanor where a woman actively pursues a man—you know? I’ve seen it on her face. And I’m single, so Traitor Zhou might very well be happy to see it happen.”
I absolutely can’t become his son-in-law. Once that identity sticks, it can’t be shaken off.
But I can’t offend him now either, or the suppression I’ll face later will be a lot.
Shen Linshen frowned. “This is indeed too troublesome. There’s a problem no matter how you handle it. Even if you have a woman now, as long as you’re not married, there’ll still be issues. If he insists on marrying his daughter to you, what will you do?”
“Drag it out for now. Things haven’t reached that point yet. He doesn’t have time for this at the moment; negotiations are more important to him. Right now, he won’t be too proactive—mainly a wait-and-see attitude.”
Shen Linshen nodded. “Makes sense. The timing isn’t right yet, but this problem will come up sooner or later.”
“Mm, so I’m thinking of a way too.” Gu Yansheng continued: “A couple days ago, I found this Shen Shuyun. At first, for the same reason as your relocation—she’s the radio operator Boss Dai assigned to me. If I go to Nanjing, I’ll inevitably have to take her with me.
If I don’t take her, Boss Dai will definitely assign me a new radio. The more people, the higher the risk of problems, so I must take her and keep her in my sight.
She works for me, so Boss Dai won’t assign her other tasks. If her role ends, given her role in the Judicial Department, Boss Dai won’t recall her to Chongqing; he’ll likely have her do some private work.
That risk is too great.
But the problem is she’s just an ordinary staff member in the Judicial Department with no connection to me. I have no reason to promote her to Nanjing.”
“So you made her your woman. Promoting your own woman to Nanjing looks completely normal to outsiders, and you also want to use her as a shield to block Traitor Zhou’s daughter.”
Shen Linshen got it all and sighed. “Your position is too difficult. There’s a phrase that fits you perfectly: pull one hair and the whole body moves.”
Being a traitor is really not easy, especially a big traitor like Gu Yansheng. He has to accommodate emotions from all sides and arrange personnel from all sides. Things are too entangled and complex.
Shen Linshen nodded, thought some more, and said: “I’ll find an opportunity to report this, but no telegram—too detailed, too obviously pointing to identity. Can only wait and see if there’s a chance for a face-to-face report to the organization.”
This is a bit tricky. Gu Yansheng’s identity level is high now; not many people can report to him in person, like Mr. Wu.
But Mr. Wu is a very busy man; you can’t just see him whenever you want.
Mr. Wu said they would build a liaison station in Hong Kong. Maybe he can apply for a meeting report opportunity, but if Mr. Wu has no time to go, he doesn’t need to go at all, and others can’t know about it.
Coordinating time isn’t easy.
“I’ll apply for a meeting opportunity. The rest is up to Mr. Wu to arrange. What do you think?”
“Then it’s up to you. Anyway, after I report, I have no issue with your arrangements.” Gu Yansheng smiled.
Shen Linshen is willing to be the old yellow ox. This matter can only be handled by him. He’s now Gu Yansheng’s steward. Previously he was team leader; now Gu Yansheng is team leader. Gu Yansheng reporting personal matters to him is the necessary procedure to let the organization know.
But how exactly to report, like going to Hong Kong, still requires Gu Yansheng’s approval for his actions.
Shen Linshen asked curiously: “Hey, you said earlier you don’t know who slept with whom. Do you think she deliberately wanted to sleep with you?”
“Sending a pretty woman to my side—at least Boss Dai has that intention.”
Since they were talking about it, Gu Yansheng gave the details. “This woman is very smart. She’s not unaware of her situation. Logically, as an operator, if she didn’t want to sleep with me, she didn’t have to. At least she could report to Boss Dai once, and then Boss Dai, for reasons of luring me, might order her to satisfy my demands.
But that process didn’t happen, meaning she was willing to sleep with me from the start.
And another piece of evidence is, at the time I told her we just needed to pretend to have an intimate relationship and play our roles well.
But she considered that if it was just pretending, it might be seen through by the nanny at home and those people at No. 76, so we slept together a couple days ago when viewing the house.”
Shen Linshen grinned. “Keep going. I love hearing this.”
Gu Yansheng paused, chuckled lightly. “Really want to hear? Can’t hold it in? Luo Junqiang from the city government runs a brothel in Pudong. Want me to get you some discount coupons?”
Shen Linshen chuckled. “I’m just curious. If that Boss Dai in Chongqing finds out your identity one day, what do you think his mood will be?”
Gu Yansheng smiled. “When the day comes that we meet, I’ll find a chance to ask him for you.”
