Chapter 17: A Large Pit is Great for Burials (Part 1)

Zhang Anping did not reveal his plan to anyone.

Because he knew very well that Sister Qian would never let him take such risks—Sister Qian, much like Cen Anyan, actually wished nothing more than for him to break away from the Special Service Section. How could she possibly allow him to use himself as bait?

Yet Zhang Anping had no intention of letting Li Ya continue his deep undercover work, nor did he want the Shanghai Station to remain under its current control.

The reason was simple: following the outbreak of the full-scale War of Resistance, Shanghai, with its foreign concessions, was bound to become a vital logistics gateway for our Party.

In the early stages of the war, the future Military Statistics Bureau would maintain a "friendly" stance toward the underground Party, fighting shoulder to shoulder against the Japanese.

However, by the middle stages, they would inevitably resort to every possible scheme to sabotage our Party. Given Shanghai's significance as a supply route, the consequences would be catastrophic if the Shanghai Station harbored malicious intentions.

Therefore, the Shanghai Station had to change hands!

Only thus could our Party be guaranteed a meager channel of reinforcement throughout the eight years of total resistance.

This was why Zhang Anping was determined to act as bait himself.

Once again, he would have to humbly accept instructions while resolutely refusing to change his course...

...

When Director Dai departed, the Chinese and Japanese sides in Shanghai were locked in a war of words—the Japanese demanded that the National Government hand over the perpetrators of the arson at the East Asia Tongwen Academy, pointing their fingers overtly and covertly at the Special Service Section.

The National Government, naturally, played dumb, repeatedly stating that the matter of the culprits was under active investigation. According to intelligence reports, the arson was committed by criminals who grew infuriated and set the fire after failing to loot the academy, and the government expressed its willingness to dispatch security regiments to enhance the academy's protection.

The Japanese challenged the National Government: if it was merely common bandits who set the fire, why did the second attack involve silencing witnesses with murder?

The National Government countered that it might be another faction of bandits seeking revenge upon the first.

Exasperated, the Japanese escalated the incident, publicly proclaiming in various newspapers that the National Government lacked martial honor and had secretly sent operatives to burn down a university.

For a time, various uninformed "citizens" and newspapers heaped accusations upon the National Government. Swept along by this toxic trend, certain publications joined the chorus, relentlessly vilifying the already notorious Special Service Section.

Amidst this one-sided public opinion, however, Nanjing's *Xinmin Daily* published a suspenseful, fairy-tale-style spy novel titled *Blazing Flames* on that very day.

The story was set on a distant planet inhabited by various nations of animals.

Among them was a country called Rooster-land, which, after being enabled by a traitorous benefactor, plotted a war of annexation against its former suzerain, Dragon-Eagle.

To prepare for this war, after winning the initial rebellion against Dragon-Eagle, Rooster-land established the Rooster-land Academy within Dragon-Eagle territory, directing the Rooster's Eyes—the agency responsible for foreign relations—to secretly fund it.

Every little chick graduating from Rooster-land Academy would receive favorable treatment in future promotions if they participated in an activity called the Great Journey. Consequently, countless chicks graduated from the academy and embarked on the Great Journey.

Their tracks spread across every province of Dragon-Eagle. In the span of a mere thirty years, they penned billions of words of travel reports, detailing all information concerning the environment, culture, geography, and waterways of every region in Dragon-Eagle.

A group of young Dragon-Eagles, upon discovering the truth behind the Great Journey, resolved without hesitation to destroy these reports.

Thus, on a dark and windy night, these young Dragon-Eagles armed themselves with bricks, sneaked into Rooster-land Academy, gave the chicks inside a severe beating with their bricks, and set fire to the billions of words of travel reports...

Because the *Xinmin Daily* was currently hailed as the benchmark of anti-espionage journalism in the Republic, the novel *Blazing Flames* was warmly received by the public upon publication and was quickly reprinted by numerous other newspapers.

Following the "translation" by perceptive individuals, readers finally connected the allegory to the most hotly debated current events. Public opinion instantly reversed. Various "insiders" began surfacing in the newspapers, enthusiastically detailing the travels of their former classmates.

Naturally, in the interest of Sino-Japanese friendship, they felt obliged to praise their schoolmates—lauding where in China their classmates had traveled, and how painstakingly, meticulously, conscientiously, and in how many thousands of words they had compiled their travel reports...

With this, the chorus of condemnation against the Special Service Section completely inverted. The foreign powers standing behind the Japanese also shifted their stance. Following several rounds of negotiations, the Japanese were forced to drop their pursuit of accountability for the East Asia Tongwen Academy arson.

...

In the morning, Zeng Moyi finished reading the final chapter of *Blazing Flames* in the *Xinmin Daily*. With a complex expression, she asked Zhang Anping:

"Anping, is the story ending just like this?"

At the conclusion of the story, Rooster-land, under the intervention of other animals, abandoned its claims against Dragon-Eagle, only to turn right around and march a massive flock of chickens onto Dragon-Eagle's turf to throw its weight around.

"No, the story has only just begun. It's just that..." Zhang Anping took a sip of the soup Zeng Moyi had brewed and continued, "I axed it!"

Axed it?

Zeng Moyi immediately grasped the meaning of those words and muttered, "I think you should keep writing."

"I won't write anymore. The new story is left for future generations to write; they will write it much better than I ever could."

Zeng Moyi felt Zhang Anping was right—and more crucially, Zhang Anping was simply too busy. Over the past few days, writing this tens-of-thousands-word novel had required him to work late into the night every day, a sight that ached her heart.

Thus she said, "No more writing then! The work you're doing right now is precisely writing a new chapter for it anyway!"

Though she said this, she still felt a lingering sense of reluctance. Recalling the names Zhang Anping had chosen for the Dragon-Eagle, she asked curiously:

"Didn't you start out calling the Dragon-Eagle the Flower-Arranging Vulture? Why did you change it to Dragon-Eagle? By the way, I also saw you write about the Flower-Arranging Rabbit. I can understand Flower-Arranging, but what does the rabbit mean?"

Zhang Anping laughed and said:

"I was afraid that if I wrote 'Vulture', the Big Boss at the very top would come to check my water meter!"

"As for the rabbit—well, with the tiger in front and the dragon behind, it's a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger! Besides, if you listen to the two words 'tu-zi' (rabbit), don't they sound a bit like... *Comrade*?"

At the latter sentence, Zeng Moyi was enlightened, but the preceding explanation left her completely bewildered.

The Big Boss at the very top coming to check the water meter?

What kind of nonsense was that!

...

October 12, 25th Year of the Republic.

Sunny, auspicious for digging pits and filling pits.

Inside a rented warehouse belonging to Xu Zhongyi—the partner of Qu Yuanmu, Shanghai's largest private salt smuggler—a group of youthful young people gathered together, waiting with solemn expressions for their teacher and leader.

After Zhang Anping and Zeng Moyi entered, the youths all stood up and only took their seats at Zhang Anping's gesture.

"Let each group report on their reconnaissance over the past two days. Group B, start!"

At Zhang Anping's cue, Li Bohan stood up and said:

"Teacher, we have confirmed the situation at the docks. The ship arriving tonight is a global trade cargo vessel, and its scheduled arrival time is ten-twenty p.m."

"What about Group C?"

Yu Xiuning stood up: "Teacher, we still have no specific intelligence from the underground Party. However, based on information from the Green Gang, we discovered that someone hired a batch of coolies in advance the night before last, scheduled to unload cargo tonight. They claimed the cargo to be second-hand machinery—most of what Global Trade unloads daily over the past few months has been second-hand machinery, but this is the only group whose details match the ship's arrival time and location."

Chen Ming, who had once been criticized by name by Zhang Anping, stood up and immediately added:

"Based on my casual chats with these coolies, I found that the cargo owner who hired them to unload doesn't look like someone regularly engaged in the trade business. Furthermore, they were extremely stingy during price negotiations, haggling for a long time. I feel this fits the persona of the underground Party very well."

Chen Ming used a new term he had learned from Zhang Anping.

Hearing this, Zhang Anping nodded in approval, signaling that Chen Ming could sit down, while thinking to himself:

*Have you ever considered whether such stingy behavior resembles the methods of a certain someone from Shanxi?*

"What about Group D?"

Group D was Zuo Qiuming's intelligence team.

"Teacher, according to our investigation of these merchants, we found that several of them exhibit military bearing. They have been accompanied over the past few days by two local businessmen."

"Through Lin Nansheng, I checked the Shanghai Station's records and found that one of them indeed had past intersections with the Communists, and was even extorted for over a hundred dollars by the Shanghai Station because of it."

"They have kept a very low profile these past few days, staying in their inn and basically never going out, for fear of creating complications."

"And Group E?"

Xue Jingzong of the surveillance team stood up. Compared to the intelligence harvested by the other groups, the surveillance team had little to show. He said softly:

"Teacher, this student is incompetent and failed to trace their transfer method."

This time, Zhang Anping did not scold him. Instead, he comforted him: "If it were truly that easy to trace, the Shanghai Station wouldn't have been demoted to a mere station."

Zhang Anping paused and said:

"Judging from various intelligence analyses, what these people are trading with Global Trade should be a bullet production line."

"Discuss among yourselves what methods we should adopt to maximize our results—Li Bohan, come here."

Calling Li Bohan to his side, Zhang Anping said in a condensed voice:

"Li Bohan, you are one of the students with the highest talent for operational work among my students. Tell me, can we follow them all the way and uproot the entire underground Communist transportation line once the material transfer is complete?"

Li Bohan thought for a moment and said: "Teacher, if we have support from the headquarters, it might be possible."

"Might be possible?"

"Teacher, this is what the student thinks," Li Bohan said softly. "What's actually in your hand is truly yours; there are simply too many cases of ducks flying away from your mouth. Our Special Task Group has been in Shanghai for less than half a month. If we bite off more than we can chew, I'm afraid we won't be able to digest it."

Zhang Anping cast an approving glance at Li Bohan and praised: "You are thinking more and more comprehensively."

"However, I boasted to the Director that I would follow the vine to catch the big melon!"

"Teacher, I suggest you send a telegram to headquarters, clarifying the stakes, and let headquarters direct how to act," Li Bohan advised.

The former Li Bohan would certainly never have thought of such a brilliant maneuver, but having witnessed Zhang Anping's trick of making the Shanghai District do the heavy lifting, Li Bohan had his eyes opened and learned how to pass the buck and shift responsibility.

Zhang Anping "pondered" for a moment. As if weighing the pros and cons, he said:

"If headquarters is willing to mobilize the resources of the entire bureau, we could indeed follow the vine to catch the big melon. Otherwise... we can only strike and destroy the production line first!"

In truth, Zhang Anping had already prepared his excuse:

Without coordination from headquarters, the districts and stations would fight their own battles. In such operations of following the vine, if even a single link was disrupted, all previous efforts would be wasted.

Having experienced the credit-snatching incident involving the former Shanghai District and the current Shanghai Station, he harbored doubts about the integrity of the various districts and stations...

Of course, there was another more pleasant-sounding phrasing:

In an operation mobilizing the resources of the entire bureau to follow the vine, as long as a single mole was hidden in any district or station, the leak would cause the entire operation to collapse.

The Shanghai Station had the mole "Postman," but what about the other districts and stations?

Who could guarantee there were none?

Therefore, Zhang Anping could reasonably and justifiably abandon the operation of following the vine to catch the big melon.

In reality, Zhang Anping's brazen talk to his uncle about following the vine to catch the big melon was merely a matter of persona and posturing. It perfectly matched the attitude of an ambitious young man—and after personally experiencing the credit-snatching at the East Asia Tongwen Academy, was there anything wrong with maturing and discarding past notions?

As for asking Li Bohan for advice, it was actually meant to let the young man show off a little and make him feel valued by his leadership.

Ah, and it also served as laying down a patch—the patch could be saved and used whenever needed later.

Adopting Li Bohan's suggestion, Zhang Anping had Gu Yufei send a telegram to headquarters for instructions, while he himself drove to the dock where the handover was to take place tonight for a field inspection.

Having the rookies formulate the operational plan was simply a way to train them; when it came to the real operational plan, Zhang Anping naturally trusted only himself.

...

Zhang Anping had actually scouted the situation at the docks long ago, but he still took a stroll around. After establishing his presence, he parked his car, disguised himself, and went to find Sister Qian.

Sister Qian was quite surprised to see Zhang Anping. She hurriedly pulled him into the inner room and asked in a low voice, "Something happened?"

"Tonight, we are going to move against the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's production line. The location is Pier 7. There aren't any of our people at the dock tonight, right?"

"No."

"That's good." Zhang Anping "let out a sigh of relief" and then said, "Sister Qian, once we take the production line, can you have the insider at the Shanghai Station cooperate with me once?"

Sister Qian asked curiously, "Cooperate? How so?"

"Have them question the motives of my operation. Find a way to make them investigate me."

"Why have them investigate you? Comrade Anping, are you stirring up trouble again?" Sister Qian suddenly understood Cen Anyan's torment.

Zhang Anping chuckled awkwardly. Why was it the exact same line even after changing superiors?

"Sister Qian, it's not that I'm stirring up trouble; it's that I'm currently tasked with investigating the Shanghai Station!" Zhang Anping said helplessly, "Didn't Comrade Zeng Moyi tell you?"

"I know that."

"An investigation is bound to yield no results. Rather than that, it's better to let them take a bite out of me first. Once this bite is taken, the first reaction of the Special Service Section's leadership won't be that I have a problem, but that the Shanghai Station has a problem! Poke its backside and it bristles up, even fiercer than Old Hu!"

After hearing Zhang Anping's explanation, Sister Qian thought the method was actually quite good, but she still worried about his safety:

"If you let them investigate you, the risk to you isn't small!"

"Don't worry, Sister Qian, I can handle it!" Zhang Anping laughed, "I reckon after investigating for two days, they'll be too scared to keep looking!"

"But once they investigate, I'll leave traces, and then they won't be able to talk their way out of it!"

Few people in headquarters knew Zhang Anping's real name was Zhang Anping, and those who did would never leak it casually.

Most people only knew his alias, Zhang Shihao, a returnee from America who enjoyed the Director's deep favor. If the Shanghai Station investigated him, they would at most unearth such information, unless they verified it with those in the know. But the moment they dared to ask, those insiders would promptly report the intelligence to Director Dai.

Thinking of Zhang Anping's flawless background, Sister Qian let go of her final shred of worry and stated, "Alright! I will instruct the comrades of the municipal committee to issue the relevant orders to the Postman."

Joy bloomed in Zhang Anping's heart, though his face revealed only a hint of a smile. "Sister Qian, I must go. A bunch of rookies are still in the warehouse formulating their operation plan."

Though Zhang Anping's expression betrayed nothing unusual, Sister Qian always felt something wasn't quite right. In Cen Anyan's words:

This kid Zhang Anping pulls off a major stunt every few days; my heart can't take it!

To be fair, Cen Anyan had it rough too. How long had he been Zhang Anping's superior?

By any calculation, it hadn't even been three months.

Yet what hadn't he experienced in those three months?

On their second meeting, he hit him with a surprise that completely ruined his reputation!

After going to Nanjing, their very first meeting "arranged" him into the *Xinmin Daily* as a black-reactionary element.

He wanted to introduce Zhang Anping into the Party, only to almost trap himself inside.

Later on, he took matters into his own hands to rescue Yin Liming, and the most surreal part of all was eliminating traitors—Cen Anyan shivered just thinking about it. Having a subordinate like this meant the probability of sudden death was a bit too high!

Sister Qian was well aware of Zhang Anping's "glory record."

Yet ever since she became Zhang Anping's superior, the eerie part was that he hadn't stirred up a single bit of trouble yet!

Thus, Sister Qian cautioned, "Comrade Anping, come find me anytime something comes up. If there's a major operation, you must discuss it with me, understood?"

Was he really the kind of person who undertook major operations without reporting?

Zhang Anping mentally complained about Sister Qian's lack of trust in him, while outwardly saying with a solemn expression, "Sister Qian, unless circumstances are extraordinary, I will never act arbitrarily! You can rest assured on that point!"

Hearing Zhang Anping's sincere tone, Sister Qian's worries finally dissipated.

After giving a few more instructions, she let Zhang Anping leave.

Watching Zhang Anping's vanishing figure, Sister Qian couldn't shake the feeling that her eyelids were twitching continuously.

*(Apologies, too many miscellaneous matters, no backlog of chapters, and even after pushing with all my might today, I barely managed less than five thousand words. If my calculations are correct, I probably owe 2 chapters...)*