wind in the dark night

Chapter 289 Everything happens for a reason
Qi Yue frowned: "Asking you to be an undercover agent means taking up a gun and going to the battlefield, risking your life or death. Is it necessary to do this?"

Li Yongxin hesitated to speak.

Qi Yue said: "If you think so, why did you agree to be a spy? This kind of job requires the person to be willing, and we will not force anyone. Or did you not think it through before, and now you have thought it through and regret it?
Li Yongxin said: "I didn't regret it, I just don't trust my daughter..."

Qi Yue looked at him for a while, took a note pad on the table, tore off a page, and wrote a phone number on it: "Just don't regret it. From now on, I will be your only contact person. If there is any situation, report to me in time, call me, write me, it's all fine. Remember, no matter who answers the phone, don't reveal your identity. As for the issue of resettlement expenses...you can leave a will."

Cough!

Wang Peng outside the house coughed twice.

This is to remind Qi Yue that someone is coming.

After a while, a short, fat middle-aged man pushed the door open and walked in. He glanced at the dazed Li Yongxin and complained, "What are you thinking about? The room is as cold as an ice cellar. Why don't you light the stove... Who are you?"

The last sentence was asked to Qi Yue.

Qi Yue said: "I'm from the Transportation Bureau. My last name is Qi."

Assistant Wang said, "I was wondering why there is a transportation bureau car in the hospital. Please take a seat... Lao Li, hurry up! You are freezing!"

Li Yongxin, with a confused look on his face, came to his senses, hurried out of the house, and went to the coal shed in the yard to get hay and firewood. The heating facility of the town office was a cast iron stove with an iron furnace tube. Except for the mayor, everyone had to light the stove by themselves.

"He's a grown man, but when he encounters something, he looks like the sky is falling. He has a bitter face all day long, like who wants to see him..."

Assistant Wang muttered to himself, picked up the thermos on the table and shook it, then said to Qi Yue, "I'm sorry that I can't even have a cup of hot water. This is the condition in the countryside."

Qi Yue said: "It doesn't matter."

Assistant Wang didn't take Qi Yue seriously because he was so young, thinking he was just an errand boy. He said, "I'm in charge of the maintenance of the town's public facilities. If you have any questions, tell me."

Qi Yue said: "The road in front of Lianhua Town Primary School can be repaired in the spring. I will come to take a look and let you know."

Assistant Wang said: "That road should have been repaired long ago. Lianhua Town is low-lying. During the flood season every year, the water reaches up to the thighs. Even adults can't cross, let alone children."

As he was speaking, Li Yongxin pushed the door open, stuffed the hay and firewood in his hand into the furnace, put in a few pieces of coal, found an old newspaper, took out matches, squatted down and lit the stove.

"I'm going to take measurements on the spot to see how many truckloads of sand and gravel materials are needed... Assistant Wang, this is my first time in Lianhua Town and I'm not familiar with the place. Can you find someone to show me the way?"

Qi Yue could see that it was freezing cold outside and Assistant Wang was stamping his feet in the cold. He definitely didn't want to go. Everyone in the town government had their own duties and the only person he could give orders to was Li Yongxin.

As expected, Assistant Wang immediately said, "Old Li, you don't have anything to do, so come with me. I have something to discuss with the mayor later."

Li Yongxin agreed, put on his cotton coat, and followed Qi Yue out of the house.

The truck left the town office, turned left at the cross street, and drove for about ten minutes. It came to a three-and-a-half-room tiled house, which was the Lianhua Town Primary School. Further north was the town’s tallest building - the watchtower.

Before "Binjiang" was established, Lianhua Town was the first village to be formed in the local area. In order to resist the invasion of bandits, the local people raised funds to build a watchtower, and the militia sent people to stand guard day and night.

With the construction of the Middle East Railway, Binjiang, with more convenient water and land transportation, became increasingly prosperous. More than 33 overseas Chinese from 16 countries gathered here, and 19 countries opened consulates here, making it the most famous international commercial port center in Northeast China.

The weather was cold, there were few pedestrians on the street, the gravel road was bumpy, and the terrain became lower as one got closer to the elementary school. A sudden whirlwind blew by, and snowflakes mixed with dust filled the sky.

There is a Shunxin restaurant on the side of the road, with a line of small words on the plaque: frying, stir-frying, and deep-frying, with flavors from both the north and the south.

"Wait for me at the restaurant."

Qi Yue instructed Zhao Zhenhai and Wang Peng.

Since it is a one-way communication, of course there cannot be outsiders present when discussing things.

After the two got out of the car, Qi Yue asked Li Yongxin: "Besides the mayor, who else knew that the anti-bandit sent someone to contact you?"

"Assistant Wang."

"Who told him?"

"Mayor."

"anything else?"

"Gone."

Li Yongxin looked depressed and had his head hung low.

Qi Yue said: "Being an undercover agent is not as scary as you think. As long as you are careful, nothing will happen. Besides, this is in the town. I guess there are not many people in the work team. They dare not do anything reckless."

"hope so."

Li Yongxin looked gloomy.

Qi Yue knew that given Gao Kejian's meticulousness, he would most likely send someone to inquire about his conversation with Li Yongxin afterwards. If there was any unreasonable content in the conversation, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

Li Yongxin has the "dullness" peculiar to a scholar, and is the type of person whose emotions show on his face. However, for an undercover agent, not being good at hiding emotions would be a fatal flaw.

Generally speaking, the comprehensive qualities of undercover personnel must be examined. If their qualifications are too poor, it will definitely not work. It's like Jiang Gan stealing the book. He didn't get any intelligence, but was instead used by Zhou Yu.

Qi Yue thought to himself, Li Yongxin seems to be a man of upright character, and Gao Kejian has always been rigorous, would he use such a person as an undercover?

Also, this matter should have been top secret, but Assistant Wang knew about it and spoke it out in front of outsiders without any concealment. Even if the mayor accidentally let it slip, didn't he tell him that this matter needed to be kept secret?

Qi Yue pretended to be casual and said, "You just said that you were worried about your daughter... Even if you are gone, don't you still have your wife?" Li Yongxin was silent for a while, and finally sighed softly, "A couple who got married later in life are not of the same mind after all. My wife never treated my daughter well in front of me, and she also beat and scolded her behind my back. If I die, will my daughter have a good life in the future? After all, she is not my biological daughter, there is nothing I can do..."

"How old is your daughter?"

"12 is old."

"how old are you?"

"33 is old."

"........."

Li Yongxin smiled bitterly: "I look old. People say I look like I'm in my forties."

Qi Yue thought for a moment and said, "I probably shouldn't say this. If we ask you to be a spy, you can totally refuse and live a law-abiding life. Although the salary of 20 yuan a month is not much, it can still feed you and keep you warm. At least you don't have to worry so much... I don't feel comfortable using you as an undercover agent."

Li Yongxin hurriedly said, "Officer Qi, don't worry. Since I've agreed, I will definitely do my best. I was just in a bad mood and complained a little. Please don't mind. Really, really."

Qi Yue could see that Li Yongxin cared a lot about the money, so he pretended to be serious and said, "If you are like this, if you meet a skilled agent, they can reveal your flaws in just a few words. Tell me the truth, what is going on? If there is a problem, we can work together to find a solution. If you don't tell me..."

Li Yongxin hesitated again and again: "Originally, I wanted to move to the city, but a few days ago, the anti-bandit sent someone to tell me that if I didn't agree, even if I moved to the city, they would send people to hunt me down. Not only would they kill me, but my whole family. I thought, it's better to agree than to do that."

"and after?"

"Later... a few days later, you sent someone to talk to me about being an undercover agent. I thought it was a good opportunity. Even if I died, I could still make some extra money, so I agreed."

"Why didn't you say these words before?"

Qi Yue could easily make the judgment that the Anti-Japanese United Army would not force anyone to join the team, let alone threaten with "killing the whole family".

Li Yongxin said: "What's the point of saying it? I'm just a small clerk. Can the government send someone to protect my whole family? Well, I'll just swallow my anger. Only the people who are suffering know it."

"Is the anti-bandit guy also from the work team?"

"do not know."

"You haven't seen him?"

"No."

"Then how can you be sure that he was sent by the anti-bandit forces?"

"He has a gun, and his story is exactly right. Who else could he be? He must be fighting against bandits. Who would have nothing better to do than to make such a joke?"

"That makes sense…what does he look like?"

"He came at night and blocked me in the alley. It was dark and I couldn't see his face clearly. Officer Qi, do you think the anti-bandit group is so brutal? Will they find me unpleasant and kill me somewhere where no one is around?"

Li Yongxin is still frightened.

Qi Yue said, "Didn't I just say that there are militias and insurance teams in the town, so the work team won't dare to do anything to you. Besides, they need a cultured person like you, and they finally found one, so how could they kill you for no reason?"

"I can rest assured that."

Li Yongxin breathed a sigh of relief.

Qi Yue glanced at his watch and said, "It's almost time. You should go back first. Remember, if anyone comes to you to talk about fighting the bandits, you can't say a word. I am your only contact person."

"I remember."

"Well, let's go."

Li Yongxin got off the car and walked back.

Qi Yue waited for a while, drove the car to the entrance of Shunxin Restaurant, opened the door, got out of the car, and walked in. The restaurant was not big, with five or six tables and a separate private room.

It was still early and the restaurant was deserted, with no customers. It was a husband-and-wife shop, with the man cooking and the woman greeting customers, and there was an apprentice helping out inside and out.

"Did you order?"

Qi Yue asked Zhao Zhenhai.

Zhao Zhenhai said: "Not yet."

The proprietress came out from behind the counter and asked, "Gentlemen, would you like to order now?"

The recipes are hung on the wall.

Qi Yue looked at it and said, "One dish per person, after finishing the meal..."

Someone coughed lightly in the private room.

Qi Yue looked at Zhao Zhenhai.

Zhao Zhenhai said: "There are guests in the private room, otherwise, we will sit in the private room."

(End of this chapter)