20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 512 Everything is ready
At night, in the Old Town Apartment.

Chuang Huku sat under the desk lamp, his elbows resting on the table, a pen in his mouth, his body leaning forward, thinking hard, with a stack of blank manuscript paper in front of him.

"Ugh--"

Another sigh.

The clock on the table was ticking, reminding him like a ghost that the time was running out before the deadline.

Chuanghu was so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks, but he almost bit his pen into pieces. His mind was still empty and he couldn't write a single word. He could only sit at his desk and sigh.

After a while, the door was gently pushed open.

Jiang Lianheng, holding a glass of water in his hand, quietly moved behind Chuanghu, stretched his neck to take a look, and saw that there was no ink on the manuscript paper. He was immediately furious and knocked him on the head with his hand.

Although the blow was not heavy, Chuanghu was concentrating and was taken aback by the blow. He was really startled. He instinctively turned his head and was about to glare, but he immediately retracted his head and laughed, "Boss, why are you here?"

"What are you thinking about?" Jiang Lianheng asked sternly, "You've been sitting here for more than half an hour, why haven't you written a single word? Are you just wasting time here?"

Chuanghu scratched his head and explained quickly: "No, I also want to write quickly, but this kind of thing is not something that can be done by just sitting down in the toilet. I have to think about it and find some inspiration, right?"

"Okay, then take your time to look for it. Anyway, you have to write two more articles for me before the afternoon of the day after tomorrow."

"Boss, let's discuss this and write another one, okay?"

"No, this matter is not negotiable."

"But I've already written one. How can I write about something over and over again?"

"Why not?" Jiang Lianheng sat on the desk and sipped his saliva. "Yan Sheng has already written three articles in that room. Why can't you write?"

"How can they be the same!" Chuang Hu argued, "What he wrote is called a press release, and what I wrote is called a novel. There is no comparison at all!"

To be precise, what Chuanghu wants to write, if classified by genre, should be called a "black-room novel."

The contents of his works are half true and half false, close to the interpretation of unofficial history, and the topics are mostly the romantic histories of celebrities, public scandals and power-for-money transactions.

Essentially, these stories are based on hearsay, but are presented in the form of fiction, with the names of the characters changed to avoid risks, often bordering on libel.

Jiang Lianheng had studied traditional Chinese literature for five years under the guidance of his third uncle, so he had some basic knowledge. However, in the past ten years, no one had supervised him and he had mostly neglected his studies. He only remembered the boredom he felt when doing his homework. He knew that writing was not easy, but he didn't bother to sympathize with Chuanghu.

"I don't care what you write. Anyway, if you can't finish it before the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, don't blame me for being ruthless."

"Boss, human strength has its limits, human strength has its limits!"

"Just keep complaining!" Jiang Lianheng put down his cup and walked out the door while reminding, "Complaining also counts as time!"

Seeing that he was dressed in a suit and tie, Chuang Hu could not help but turn around and ask, "Boss, what are you doing?"

"Big world." Jiang Lianheng looked down at his watch and muttered softly, "Li Zaichun and his Korean bastards asked me to meet them tonight."

Upon hearing this, Chuang Hu was about to speak, but was immediately interrupted by Jiang Lianheng.

"Okay, okay, Huzi, I don't need you to protect me. Xifeng, come with me later. From now on, just write here and don't go anywhere else!"

As we were talking, there was a knock on the door.

Li Zhengxi happened to walk in and asked, "Brother, it's almost time, shall we go?"

Jiang Lianheng nodded, and just as he was about to leave, he suddenly turned around and reminded Chuanghu, "By the way, if you have no inspiration, go to that room and talk to Yansheng. He is a lousy fortune teller, and his mouth is full of words. Ask him to help you."

After saying that, he heard the door slam shut.

Chuanghu had no choice but to sit at his desk for a long time, but until night fell outside the window, he still couldn't put pen to paper. Finally, he got up and walked out of the room with a stack of manuscript paper, and knocked on the door of the next room with a dejected look.

"Hey, Brother Hu?" Liu Yansheng pulled open the door and stepped aside to let him go. "Do you want to talk to me about something? Come on, come on, please come in!"

Chuanghu walked into the house, smiling broadly, and said, "Hey, nothing much, I just wanted to come and learn from you and find some inspiration."

"Oh, do you want to see what I wrote?" Liu Yansheng asked with a smile.

"No, no, no, that's not necessary!" Chuang Hu explained, "It was originally something that came to me unintentionally, a flash of inspiration. If I try too hard, I'll lose my inspiration. Why don't we just chat about it?"

"That's fine, what do you want to talk about?"

"Brother, I heard from the boss that you used to eat 'golden dots' to tell fortunes?"

"Yes, didn't we do the 'Zha Fei Bureau' together in Yingkou, southern Liaoning that year? Have you forgotten?" Liu Yansheng was a little confused.

Unexpectedly, Chuanghu quickly waved his hands and said, "Well, isn't that just a trap? What I mean is... do you have a real thing with a pointy end?"

Liu Yansheng was startled for a moment, then he burst out laughing: "Brother Hu, what do you mean, do you want me to tell you a fortune?"

"Hey, brother, you see I'm not a child anymore, it's time for me to calculate my marriage, right?" Chuanghu said, "But don't worry, friends are friends, business is business, I'll pay you, but you have to calculate it for me. I know you guys in this business don't just talk nonsense, there has to be some basis for what you say, right?"

"Haha, that's right! If Brother Hu wants to have his fortune told, I'll help you. Just give me some money as a token of my appreciation. It would be too much if you really give me some!"

"That's great, that's great!"

Chuang Hu sat down with a smile on his face, and while writing down his birth date, he asked casually, "By the way, brother, if I remember correctly, you don't seem to have a family yet, right? Didn't you calculate it for yourself?"

"If a doctor doesn't treat himself, how can he calculate for himself?" Liu Yansheng shook his head and laughed, "This business is originally fishy and sharp, half true and half false. Wanting to make money is one way of saying it, and not wanting to make money is another way of saying it. If you look at yourself, it's always easy to think the best of it. So how can you calculate? Come on, Brother Hu, let's take a look at your palm first."

…………

French Concession, the Great World of Shanghai.

The lights and music in the dance hall were bright and colorful. Jiang Lianheng, Li Zaichun and others sat in the shadows in the corner, away from the dance floor, whispering. Compared with the previous meetings, there was an extra young dancer at the table tonight.

The girl was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with beautiful features, quiet and gentle, wearing a modern Western dress. Unlike other dancers, she did not flirt wildly, but sat obediently beside Jiang Lianheng. Except for lighting cigarettes and pouring wine for everyone from time to time, she just sat there, nodded slightly, and said nothing.

In the Great World, a romantic entertainment venue, there is a girl named Cui Yingying, a rising star in Shanghai's "Flower Kingdom".

As a dancer, she also has a tragic life story that is tear-jerking.

In short, her father gambles, her mother is sick, and her brother smokes, so the whole family depends on her alone.

But what is really unknown is that the girl is actually from Goryeo. Her real name is Cui Yingzhen. She is the eyes and ears of the Righteous Group stationed in Shanghai. She specializes in hanging out in various bustling social places to find out the news and movements of important figures in Japan, the Far East and other countries.

The reason why she showed up tonight was that she had something important to ask the Jiang family for help.

When the two sides met and exchanged a few words of greeting, Li Jae-soon looked around for a moment, then took out a small card as long as a cigarette box from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Lianheng with a serious expression.

"Mr. Jiang, this is a list of five people. They are going to flee from our country to the outside of the Great Wall at the end of the month. The train number, date, gender, age, real name, and alias are all listed here. I hope you can write them down and burn them. When they arrive in Fengtian, I'll have to trouble you to take care of them."

Jiang Lianheng took it, glanced at it briefly, and then immediately handed it to Xifeng for safekeeping.

"Don't worry, brother. I have my own way of delivering the message. I will tell you after they arrive in Fengtian and settle down."

"Pass on the message?" Li Zaichun was stunned and asked, "Mr. Jiang, will you stay in Shanghai for a long time? I thought you were going back soon!"

"I have to stay here to do some things. If everything goes well, I should be able to go back before the end of the month. If not, I will have to wait for a while."

"Is it because of the 'Three Tycoons' incident?"

"Well, there are reasons like that, but it's not entirely because of them. It's mainly to help a friend. If things are done, I'll have another familiar connection in Shanghai - oh, a reliable brother." Jiang Lianheng answered truthfully.

Hearing this, Li Jae-soon subconsciously touched the bandage on his finger and exchanged glances with Cui Yingzhen who was sitting opposite him.

Jiang Lianheng looked back and forth between the two of them, and soon noticed the worry in the girl's eyes, so he smiled and comforted her softly, "Don't worry, your news won't get out of my hands. I promise that your brother will be fine in Fengtian. After I get him a fake identity, I will let him come to Shanghai to find you."

This kind of guarantee cannot completely dispel the concerns of the Koreans.

The dancer Cui Yingzhen still said worriedly: "How does Mr. Jiang plan to deliver the message? A coded telegram? My brother is a wanted target of the devils in Korea. What if the news is leaked..."

"Choi Young-jeong!" Li Jae-shun interrupted sternly, "You are so rude. Since we have already handed the information to Mr. Jiang, please stop talking nonsense like this."

Jiang Lianheng waved his hand and laughed softly, "Forget it, forget it. Aren't you just worried about the news leaking out? I understand. I can tell you that I plan to use foreigners to pass the message directly to Fengtian. I guarantee there will be no mistakes. There is no point in talking too much. Let's see what happens!"

Cui Yingzhen didn't know who else to ask for help, so she quickly poured Jiang Lianheng a glass of whiskey and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, it's my fault for being too timid. If Mr. Jiang can really help my brother come to Shanghai, I will definitely repay you well, no matter what!"

"Oh, no, no, no. If you say that, it seems like I'm trying to get something from you." Jiang Lianheng immediately shook his head, but whether it was the truth or not, probably only he himself knew.

Afterwards, everyone chatted and laughed and drank a few glasses of wine.

Li Zaichun suddenly volunteered, "Mr. Jiang, although I don't know what you are going to do in Shanghai, but I have said before that no matter what it is, as long as you can use me, just ask."

Jiang Lianheng nodded and said immediately: "Don't tell me, I do need your help with something."

"Okay, who do you want to kill?"

"Kill—No, no, no, I almost got you into trouble!" Jiang Lianheng quickly changed his words, "I won't kill anyone. I just want you to help me create some momentum."

"What's the noise?"

Several Koreans looked at each other and asked in unison: "Mr. Jiang, can you be a little more specific?"

Jiang Lianheng motioned for everyone to come closer, then lowered his voice and asked, "Sanjin Company, do you know anything about it?"

"Of course I know." Li Zaichun replied immediately, "Who in the whole foreign land doesn't know about the Sanjin Company? It's the business of the 'three tycoons'. It was just established two years ago and has made a lot of money."

"Well, that's good to know. The day after tomorrow——"

In the middle of his words, Jiang Lianheng suddenly looked down at his watch. Seeing that it was already past midnight, he quickly changed the subject and said, "To put it in modern terms, tomorrow night, Sanjin Company will have a batch of local products arriving at the port. The time... is about this time."

"And then?" everyone asked, quite curious.

"Their goods will be lost!" Jiang Lianheng said shockingly, "When the time comes, a group of pirates will take away all the goods of Sanjin Company... or at least a large part of them..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Zaichun widened his eyes and asked, "Mr. Jiang, are you kidding me?"

Jiang Lianheng was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and denied, "I don't have much sense of humor. I'm usually quite serious. I'm not kidding you. Someone will definitely come to grab the goods when the time comes."

"and many more!"

Li Zaichun quickly gave a few reminders.

"Mr. Jiang, you may not know the strength of Sanjin Company yet. Let me introduce it to you first. The French Concession's police station is their people, the Chinese government offices are their people, the Chinese detectives in the British Concession are their friends, the Marine Police Battalion, the Anti-smuggling Company, the Shanghai Garrison, most of the dignitaries in the entire foreign concession have interests with Sanjin Company. What are you doing..."

Jiang Lianheng snorted coldly, but said: "Don't read it. I know the background of Sanjin Company, but I happen to know a tough guy. He doesn't care about the military, police, court, kings, princes, generals, and ministers. He just wants to destroy the prestige of the 'three tycoons'."

"Mr. Jiang, do you want us to help?" Cui Yingzhen asked tentatively, "To divert their attention?"

"That's about it. Come on, let me tell you more about it."

After saying that, Jiang Lianheng gathered Li Zaichun, Cui Yingzhen and others and bent down, saying this and that, lowering his voice. After several secret discussions, he immediately gave orders for various deployments.

While the Jiang family was secretly plotting with the Axe Gang and the Righteous Group, the sun and the moon changed, the stars moved, and in the blink of an eye, it was the day for the Sanjin Company to unload its cargo at the beach...

(End of this chapter)