Spying

49 "Turning Point"

"Lu Peng's reputation for harsh interrogation methods is well-known. I can't guarantee A Mang won't be subjected to forced confession. But if he's coerced into admitting guilt or reveals his connection with you, there's no telling if the investigation might circle back to you. Sister Youyin, Chief Qiao has already fallen into his hands—you absolutely mustn't let your guard down!"

Seeing Shen Tong's urgent expression, and setting aside her inexplicable dislike for Lu Peng, Lan Youyin could sense genuine concern in her words. She found herself studying this young woman—whose family background and future prospects practically gleamed with golden promise—with an inappropriately timed curiosity.

So Lan Youyin asked the most clichéd yet sincerely pressing question:

"Miss Shen, why are you helping me like this?"

"Because we're friends," Shen Tong replied as naturally as the Qinhuai River's water level dropping after summer or the maple leaves on Qixia Mountain turning red in autumn. "Of course, I'm not this nice to every friend. But Sister Youyin, you're my favorite." She tilted her head with deliberately endearing charm—genuinely charming rather than irritating.

Lan Youyin felt slightly dazed, her vision narrowing as she looked at Shen Tong. How could she call them "friends"? Even more unbelievable—how could she still have "friends"?

Colleagues in the office were merely people whose opinions of her, whether good or bad, mattered little; Qiao Mingyu had once been her husband sharing the same roof, now reduced to an unspoken ex-husband, a deceased husband; Yin Wenrang and A Mang were co-conspirators in her double life, each harboring their own motives, knowing they would inevitably part ways—their lives only temporarily and unfortunately overlapping...

Thus, Lan Youyin hadn't considered the possibility of having "friends" in her life for many years, nor that anyone would regard her as one. Yet here was Shen Tong, disarmingly sincere, answering that old question with an even older response, leaving her momentarily speechless, unsure how to react.

Fortunately, they weren't actually discussing some profound, everlasting friendship.

After a brief pause, Lan Youyin steered the conversation back to Shen Tong's proposal about finding the "real Communist Party member" before Lu Peng. "Do you really think the information we have could surpass the Confidentiality Bureau's or that we could investigate faster?"

"Three cobblers equal one Zhuge Liang," Shen Tong said dismissively. "The two of us are surely better than cobblers. Plus..." She glanced out the window toward the Retreat Residence behind the auditorium, where Ren Shaobai had just appeared in their line of sight after a meeting. "What about him?"

Until this moment, Lan Youyin had clung to a sliver of hope that this mistake might fade away like the previous explosion incident. But they—she—had left far too many loose ends this time. She had to admit: the situation had spiraled out of control because of her, and it wouldn't stop here."Ren Shaobai may often put on airs, but he's sharp enough," Shen Tong continued as if she had it all figured out. "And most importantly, he and Lu Peng are fellow disciples—he understands him and knows where his blind spots lie. And Lu Peng's blind spots are precisely where the real target is hiding..."

"Miss Shen," Lan Youyin interrupted her seemingly constructive suggestion, her voice low and brooking no argument, "it would be better if you didn't get involved in this matter."

The midday sunlight streamed into the building like shifting sand, only to be sharply divided into contrasting halves by the window frames. Shen Tong, standing in the light, fell silent, looking puzzled at Lan Youyin's face half-hidden in shadow—an expression of solemnity she had never seen before.

After the official briefing concluded, Ren Shaobai followed Li Helin back to the office building. In the lobby, he noticed Wei Ningsheng peeking out from the doorway of the adjacent Fourth Bureau's Second Division office, frantically signaling to him. Ren Shaobai made an excuse to delay returning to the Second Bureau with Li Helin and instead walked down the corridor to the office he had once been most familiar with.

The moment Wei Ningsheng saw him, he blurted out, "Chief—"

Though Ren Shaobai had left the Fourth Bureau months ago, Wei Ningsheng still reverted to calling him "Chief" whenever he was anxious or excited.

Ren Shaobai patted his arm, initially intending to correct him, but noticing his nervous expression, he asked, "What's wrong? What happened—"

"My little sister's teacher's husband was taken away by the Confidentiality Bureau!"

Ren Shaobai froze. "Your sister's teacher's husband..." he repeated slowly, parsing the relationship.

"Yes!" Wei Ningsheng explained urgently. "Her homeroom teacher's husband. Late last night, a group of people suddenly barged into their home and took him away without a word. The moment I heard, I knew it was the Confidentiality Bureau's style. Since her teacher knows I work at the Ministry of Defense, she asked me to help find out more. My little sister is deaf in one ear, and this teacher has always been kind to her, so I couldn't refuse. But I don't have any connections—I could only think of you, Chief, since you're close with Director Lu of the Confidentiality Bureau. Could you ask him what's going on...?"

Ren Shaobai frowned slightly as he listened to the somewhat disjointed explanation, realizing that the Confidentiality Bureau had detained more than just A Mang.

Wei Ningsheng added, "And her husband, Mr. Yu, is just an ordinary bank clerk. There's no way he could have done anything to draw the Confidentiality Bureau's attention."

"A bank clerk?" Ren Shaobai felt his eyelid twitch. "Do you know which bank?"

"The Zhejiang Xingye Bank near Xinjiekou."

Ren Shaobai's expression turned grave. "Did he go to Black Tortoise Lake on Mid-Autumn Festival?"

Wei Ningsheng was stunned. "You mean the day of the shooting at Emerald Isle? That was the day of their elementary school's autumn outing. The homeroom teacher led the trip, and her husband went along since the bank was closed. Chief, are you saying his arrest is related to that day?" Suddenly realizing, he continued, "So the Confidentiality Bureau still hasn't caught the shooter? But didn't they already seal the city gates for inspections that same day? Why are they arresting people now? What evidence do they have?"

Ren Shaobai said nothing.What evidence does the Confidentiality Bureau need to arrest someone? Their principle has always been to rather arrest by mistake than let anyone slip through the net. Now that they have a lead, of course they would investigate everyone remotely involved, openly or covertly. He could imagine how desperate Wei Ningsheng’s younger sister’s female teacher must be at this moment. But even if he went to find Lu Peng, the outcome might not be any better than when A Mang had Shen Tong vouch for him this morning.

His gaze at Wei Ningsheng was somewhat complicated, but at the same time, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him—a way to contact Peng Yongcheng at this very moment.

Many things in the world succeed or fail because of unexpected events.

And the unexpected is something even the most seasoned intelligence operatives cannot foresee.

What Lan Youyin saw as a loss of control on her part was, in Peng Yongcheng’s eyes, an unforeseen incident in his work as the "Silkworm Keeper." When he was sent to Nanjing to rendezvous with "1207" and begin long-term operations, who could have predicted that an entirely uncontrollable Lan Youyin would appear in "1207’s" life?

Because of this unexpected turn, he had now become a prime suspect of the Confidentiality Bureau—followed, surveilled, unsure whether the next step would be arrest by plainclothes agents bursting out of the barbershop near his home, then dragged into the Bureau’s interrogation room. With the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head, he lived cautiously, halting transmissions, cutting contact with Ren Shaobai, even avoiding phone calls that might arouse suspicion. Yet he also had to subtly leave traces for the special agents to follow—until an opportunity for a turnaround arrived.

And then, it seemed that opportunity had come.

He still went to work at the bank as usual, but early in the morning, he heard that Xiao Yu, the clerk handling foreign exchange on the first floor, had been absent without notice the previous day because the Confidentiality Bureau had arrested him the night before. Only then did Peng Yongcheng realize that his colleague had also been at Black Tortoise Lake on Mid-Autumn Festival day—he had genuinely gone to see the Liang Isle Chrysanthemum Exhibition.

When the unexpected works in one’s favor, it becomes a coincidence.

In the afternoon, Xiao Yu’s wife came to the bank manager in tears, begging the bank to vouch that her husband was merely a diligent clerk and couldn’t possibly be the Communist Party member the Confidentiality Bureau was after. But how could the bank dare take such a risk? What if the Bureau wasn’t mistaken? Wouldn’t they then be accused of "harboring Communists" and suffer the consequences?

In the reception room, the young woman, a teacher at an elementary school, struggled to suppress her sobs as she pleaded intermittently with the managers her husband had always respected to intervene. Sitting beside the manager, Peng Yongcheng listened and pieced together the truth from his own perspective—it was likely that the problematic telegraphs he had sent from the bank had been discovered, and Xiao Yu had become a suspect due to overlapping conditions.

A truly unparalleled coincidence.

And so, a thought naturally crossed his mind: If the Confidentiality Bureau had arrested the wrong man, wouldn’t that mean he could slip away unscathed?After a while, the general manager showed signs of impatience and excused himself to make a phone call in his office, giving Peng Yongcheng a meaningful look to handle the situation. Peng Yongcheng nodded in acknowledgment, pondering how to placate the woman, when Xiao Yu’s wife, after the door to the reception room closed again, pulled out a national language textbook from her handbag and extracted a folded slip of paper from a hidden compartment along the spine. Peng Yongcheng reacted instantly, swiftly taking the slip and tucking it inside his jacket.

After seeing Xiao Yu’s wife off, Peng Yongcheng returned to his office, locked the door, and unfolded the slip—blank as expected. It was indeed from Ren Shaobai. Though he didn’t know how Ren had established contact with the elementary school teacher, this was undoubtedly the safest way to relay information at the moment.

A wife whose husband had been arrested would naturally seek help at his workplace, and hiding the message in a textbook she used daily ensured it would pass any inspection by special agents unnoticed.

Peng Yongcheng laid the blank paper on his desk, retrieved a bottle of solution from the bottom drawer, and carefully applied it. Gradually, words written in invisible ink began to appear.

Ren Shaobai first reported his current situation: Li Helin’s repeated attempts to probe him had been cautiously deflected, but knowing the man, the tests wouldn’t end there. Next was what he had learned about the Confidentiality Bureau: they had begun tightening the net, and A Mang had also been arrested, though he likely hadn’t implicated anyone yet. Finally, Ren wrote: Could we turn the mistake to our advantage?

Only then did Peng Yongcheng understand why Ren had chosen the salesman’s wife to deliver the message—she likely believed she was passing along a way to rescue her husband, but in reality, her husband was someone else’s escape route.

Though Ren had only written four words, they aligned perfectly with the fleeting thought Peng Yongcheng had earlier. If he used his position to plant some additional "incriminating evidence" in Xiao Yu’s workspace, then had someone else "accidentally" discover it, the Confidentiality Bureau would have solid proof of Xiao Yu’s guilt, and suspicion toward him would naturally diminish.

Just then, someone knocked on his office door. Peng Yongcheng quickly stuffed the slip into his pocket and stood to answer. Outside, the general manager peeked in and asked, "Did you send her off?"

Peng Yongcheng nodded.

The general manager exhaled in relief. "Finally got rid of her. Xiao Yu downstairs is a decent fellow, but it’s not worth pulling strings with the Confidentiality Bureau for a mere salesman. Not worth it..."

Peng Yongcheng murmured in agreement, his hand unconsciously slipping into his pocket to rub the slip Ren Shaobai had sent him.