Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 416 The Ultimate Secret
Yan Jiefang went down first with a high-powered flashlight, followed by the three police officers he brought with him, and finally Yan Jiekuang.

The ramp extends downward at a 45-degree angle, and the ground is paved with bluestone steps. It took nearly ten minutes of walking down to reach a platform at the bottom. The platform is not big, only about ten square meters. There are walls to the front and to the right, and there is no road. The only way is to the left. Turning left, there is another long passage, also paved with bluestone, which looks quite old.

Several people kept walking forward. The passage was about thirty meters long. At the end of the passage, there was an iron door with a padlock on it. Yan Jiefang commanded them to pry the padlock open and opened the door. Several people shone a strong flashlight inside and found that it was a closed room. The walls on both sides of the room were iron racks with various boxes on them, but they were all covered and no one knew what was inside.

There was a desk and an office chair in the middle. On the desk, the most conspicuous thing was a radio. Yan Jiefang exclaimed, "This deaf old lady hid it very well."

Yan Jiekuang walked over and saw a thick layer of dust on the table. The deaf old lady died in 1973. It has been more than 20 years since then. No one has entered this house for more than 20 years. There were two notebooks and several letters on the table. Yan Jiekuang picked up the letters, the top one, and on the cover of the letter it said "To my grandson Zhuzi".

The second letter was written to Yi Zhonghai, the third was written to the Public Security Bureau, and the last letter had a black stamp on it with two words: "Top Secret".

Yan Jiekuang handed the letters to Yan Jiefang and asked, "Do you want to give them?"

Yan Jiefang said: "No, this is a big deal, we can't do it now, let's wait until after the review."

Yan Jiefang opened the middle drawer of his desk, and inside was a Browning pistol and two boxes of bullets, with two small boxes beside them. Yan Jiefang took out one and opened it, and found a Blue Sky and White Sun Medal. Yan Jiekuang took out another box and opened it, and inside was a Baoding Medal.

Yan Jiefang said: "What great things did this old lady do? She has made great contributions. No, I have to report this to my superiors. I can't handle this matter."

Yan Jiekuang was also very shocked. After they all came out of the tunnel, Yan Jiefang said to his subordinates, "You guys stay here and no one can come in. Lao San, let the people in the front yard have a holiday. I have to seal this yard."

Yan Jiekuang rolled his eyes and said, "You said that I lost my family by reporting this matter, so I have to pay more."

"Okay, third brother, you go to the west wing for a few days first. I'll treat you to a drink later." Yan Jiefang said.

Yan Jiekuang went to the front yard and asked the waitress to go home, and told her that her salary would still be calculated. Then he called Xiaobao and told him that he didn't need to come over these days because the private restaurant was closed. While Yan Jiekuang was speaking, Yan Jiefang grabbed the phone and called his leader.

Yan Jiekuang found another piece of paper, wrote "Internal renovation, temporarily closed" on it, and then posted it outside the gate, and then went to the west wing.

Walking to the central hall in the backyard and sitting on an official hat chair, Yang Ruiping saw Yan Jiekuang coming over and asked, "What's up? Have you finished the bookshelf?"

Yan Jiekuang sighed and said, "He's still building a bookshelf. My second brother has sealed off that yard."

When Yan Bugui heard this, he immediately got angry and shouted, "Why does he do that?"

"Don't be angry, Dad. There is a reason for this. Guess what I found in the deaf old lady's house in the backyard?" Yan Jiekuang said quickly.

Yan Bugui became interested and said, "Why is the deaf old lady hiding something? No way, if she had something, she would tell Yi Zhonghai. Even if she didn't tell Yi Zhonghai, she would tell Zhuzi."

Yang Ruiping nodded, then looked at Yan Jiekuang in confusion. Yan Jiekuang said, "That's because she didn't dare to tell them. If she told them, it would harm them. I found a secret passage in that room. It's very deep and long, and there's a secret room inside."

Yan Jiekuang made himself a cup of tea and then sat down again.

Yan Bugui said anxiously: "Why don't you just say it? Why do you only say half of what you are saying?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "Let me drink some water. I'll tell you that we found a radio, a pistol and bullets, two notebooks, and several letters inside."

Yan Jiekuang took a sip of tea and continued, "Two of them were addressed to Yi Zhonghai and He Yuzhu respectively, and the rest were addressed to the public security bureau. I didn't see them either. My second brother didn't give me a chance at all. So he reported it to his superiors."

Yan Bugui and his wife were both very shocked. They knew very well what these things meant. Yang Ruiping said, "I knew the deaf old lady hid it deep, but I didn't expect it to be so deep. If it hadn't been discovered, it would have been buried in the ground forever."

Yan Bugui nodded, then asked Yan Jiekuang, "Is that all?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "No, there are shelves that reach the ceiling on both sides of this room, and they are filled with all kinds of boxes. I don't know what's inside, but based on my experience, they are all good things. There are so many of them, I guess they are basically antiques, and they are all the best of the best."

Yan Bugui could no longer sit still when he heard this, and he stood up and walked out. Yan Jiekuang stopped him and said, "Dad, you don't have to go. I guess no one will see it. Don't cause trouble for my second brother."

Yang Ruiping said: "Yes, old man, those are all public property, don't worry about it."

Yan Bugui said in annoyance: "What do you say to your second brother first? Let me have a look, and then you can report it later."

Before Yan Bugui finished his words, sirens sounded outside. Judging from the noisy sound, a lot of people seemed to have arrived.

Yan Bugui and his wife and Yan Jiekuang hurried out, they also wanted to see the excitement. The three of them went out to see that not only many police officers had come, but also a carload of armed police had come, surrounding the courtyard. Jia Zhang also came out, approached the three Yans, and asked, "Third brother, what's going on? What happened to your restaurant? It's such a big deal."

Yang Ruiping whispered in Jia Zhang's ear for a while. Jia Zhang opened her mouth wide. It took her a long time to recover from her shock and said, "This damn old lady hid it so deeply? No wonder."

Yan Bugui asked, "What's the problem?"

Jia Zhang said, "Do you know why I am afraid of her? When my old man was dying, he told me not to mess with the deaf old lady. He said that if I messed with anyone else, at most I would get into a fight, but if I messed with the deaf old lady, I would easily lose my life. This scared me."

Yan Bugui said: "It seems that your old Jia is a wise man. He knows the details of this old lady very well. He didn't tell you because he wanted to protect you."

Jia Zhang was stunned, and said to herself with some sadness: "This dead old man, I miss him a lot."

At this time, Yan Jiefang walked out of the courtyard and looked across the courtyard to the west, and waved to Yan Jiekuang, meaning to let him come over.

Yan Jiekuang walked over and whispered, "You have to make a record. This is a big deal. The comrades in the department took a look at the things on the shelf and didn't move. They also notified the experts from the Palace Museum to come over. The things in the shelf are all from the palace."

Yan Jiekuang nodded and followed his second brother to the front yard. Two police officers took him to a room and took a statement, mainly asking him how he found the secret room. Yan Jiekuang told the truth and recounted what happened. Then he signed and put his fingerprints on it before he was allowed to leave.

Yan Jiekuang returned to his parents and whispered to Yan Bugui, "It's full of things from the palace."

Yan Bugui rolled his eyes at him and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Now you can't see anything."

The comrades in the department received several old experts at the door. After the experts finished introducing themselves, the comrades in the department suddenly changed their attitude, handcuffed one of the white-haired old experts, and took him away directly. The other experts were stunned. The comrades in the department explained: "In addition to the cultural relics, we also found a list of hidden spies in the secret room. He is one of them. Okay, you can go to work."

Yan Bugui saw this scene and couldn't help but admire it. He said, "Our police are really good. See, they used a trick to lure you into a trap. It's really good."

Yan Jiekuang said, "Okay, let's stop watching and go take a rest. I guess someone will come to you this afternoon to find out more about the deaf old lady's condition."

Yan Bugui was stunned, thought for a while and said, "It's really possible." The three of them didn't look at it anymore and returned to the west wing. Jia Zhang also returned to the teahouse.

Yang Ruiping went to the kitchen to cook, while Yan Bugui and his son were chatting in the central hall of the backyard, mainly analyzing who this deaf old lady was.

Yan Jiekuang said: "I saw two medals, one is the Blue Sky and White Sun Medal, and the other is the Precious Tripod Medal. It seems that this old lady has a high position among the spies."

Yan Bugui said: "How high must she be? I haven't seen her do anything."

"If you see it, that would be terrible. I guess he is the leader of all the undercover personnel here. And when I heard my second brother say that the cultural relics in there were all from the palace, my first feeling was that she must be related to the incident of the cultural relics being moved south." Yan Jiekuang said.

Yan Bugui said, "That's not right. Wasn't she Langge's maid? How did she become the head of the secret service?"

Yan Jiekuang chuckled and said, "She is Langge's maid, but that doesn't stop her from becoming the head of the secret service. Don't forget, when I was a child, she once caused trouble for me. At that time, she said that Emperor Tongzhi's imperial guards wanted to kill her. If she were an ordinary person, would the guards kill her? It can only be a possibility. The old lady herself is extraordinary."

"Yes, yes, that's right. At that time, we were just envious of her for having met Emperor Tongzhi and forgot to ask her the reason." Yan Bugui said.

The two were chatting when Yang Ruiping's voice came from the middle courtyard, "It's time to eat!"

Yan Jiekuang asked, "Dad, would you like a drink?"

Yan Bugui smiled and said, "Seeing such a big new thing, I have to drink something."

Yan Jiekuang went to the study to get some wine, and Yan Bugui went directly to the main hall in the middle courtyard. Yang Ruiping saw Yan Bugui come in by himself and asked, "Where's the third brother?"

Yan Bugui sat down and said, "I'm going to the study to get some wine. Let's have a drink."

Yang Ruiping also sat down and said, "I'll have a drink with you two, too. It's really a big event today."

Yan Jiekuang walked in, sat down and poured wine for his parents, and the three of them started drinking.

(End of this chapter)