Chapter 4 Return to the Scene
The car drove all the way into the French Concession and arrived at the door of the police station.
There were several policemen waiting for Chu Lingyun outside the gate. The leader was a man in his thirties, wearing a black police uniform. When he saw Chu Lingyun get out of the car, he came up to him with a smile.
"But Captain Chu is here, my name is Gao Zhengliang."
The man saluted Chu Lingyun with his fists clasped, and Chu Lingyun returned the salute.
"I'm Chu Lingyun, hello, Inspector Gao."
Chu Lingyun had never seen Gao Zhengliang before, but he had heard of him. He was a Chinese detective in the French Concession. He was very powerful in the French Concession and was deeply trusted by the French.
"Captain Chu, you're too polite. We'll do the handover now."
Chu Lingyun was here to see someone off, and Gao Zhengliang didn't bother being too polite with him. After Gao Zhengliang signed, Qian Cang Xiaoye was officially handed over to their police station.
"What are you going to do with Qian Cang Xiaoye?"
Putting the documents away, Chu Lingyun asked casually. Gao Zhengliang looked around and sighed slightly: "What else can we do? It depends on what the higher-ups say. However, Mr. Henry, the owner of Beixi Foreign Trade, is very dissatisfied. If the Japanese attitude is good, we can redeem the person. If not, it will probably be in jeopardy."
"Can the Japanese still redeem people?" Chu Lingyun asked.
Gao Zhengliang nodded and said, "It's not a big case, just commercial espionage. Of course I can redeem him."
"I understand. Thank you, Inspector Gao."
Chu Lingyun watched Qian Cang and Xiaoye being taken into the police station before leaving. After the car drove out of the French Concession, Chu Lingyun immediately asked the driver to stop the car, went to a nearby restaurant, and called the team using a public phone.
"I'm Chu Lingyun. Let Loach answer the phone."
"Captain, this is Loach. What do you want me to do?" Loach's voice soon came from the other end of the phone.
"Go to the French Concession right now and find out how the police knew that Qian Cang Xiaoye was arrested. Where did they get the information?"
"Don't worry, Captain. I'll be there right now and will give you news soon."
After receiving the order, Loach agreed very readily. Chu Lingyun put down the phone and did not return to the team. Instead, he asked the driver to take him to the noodle shop where he arrested people in the morning.
He came to the position where the man in the felt hat was in the morning and looked around.
After a while, he arrived at a shoe shine stall at the intersection. The shoe shine stall was not far from the noodle shop and had a very good location, from which he could see everything in the noodle shop.
If he wanted to observe the noodle shop, this location would definitely be his first choice.
"Boss, do you want to shine my shoes?"
The owner of the shoe-shining stall was a young man. When he saw Chu Lingyun, he immediately greeted him with a smile. Chu Lingyun looked at the leather shoes on his feet, sat down, and took the initiative to lift his legs to let him shine his shoes.
When you are polishing your shoes here, you can see everything in the noodle shop just by turning your head.
"Let me ask you something. Between 8:50 and 9:10 this morning, did you see a man wearing a black hat around here?"
"Look at what you're asking. There are so many people coming and going here, and many of them are wearing hats. How can I possibly notice them all? Besides, I don't have a watch, so I don't know the time."
The stall owner quickly polished his leather shoes and answered Chu Lingyun's question with a grin.
Chu Lingyun took out a French coin from his pocket. At this time, the French coin had just been launched and was still very strong. The purchasing power of one French coin was close to that of one silver dollar.
"It was when we arrested someone at the noodle shop this morning. Think carefully and tell me the truth. This dollar is all yours."
"Thank you, boss. I'll think about it." The stall owner took the money swiftly and smiled even more broadly. "I remember this: a boss with a hat came to my shop this morning. He wasn't polishing shoes, he was repairing them. He had a scar next to his left eye. I asked him what happened, and he said he fell. But I could tell it wasn't a fall, it was a knife wound."
"How can you be sure it's a knife wound?" Chu Lingyun asked with interest.
"To be honest, Boss, my family has been practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine for generations. I can still tell what's wrong with simple skin injuries. Unfortunately, I didn't learn from my father when I was young, and my father died early, so I can only work as a shoe shiner. Otherwise, I could become a doctor and be respected by others."
The stall owner said as he was polishing shoes: "That man saw the noodle shop arresting people and left without even having his shoes repaired. Luckily he paid in advance."
After a while, Chu Lingyun had polished his leather shoes. His skills were pretty good, and the leather shoes became shiny after polishing, making Chu Lingyun look more energetic.
Chu Lingyun's heart moved slightly, and he suddenly asked, "Do you polish shoes here regularly, or do you come here occasionally?"
In view of the 'huge' shoe-shining fee offered by Chu Lingyun, the stall owner answered all questions: "I have a fixed stall, and I also have a mobile one, but this location is good, I don't have to run around to shine people's shoes."
"Are there many people shining shoes among you?" Chu Lingyun asked again.
"A lot, of course there are a lot. There are more than 300 shoe shiners in Hankou. There are so many people in Hankou, and many of them need us shoe shiners."
"Well, I'll give you a chance to make money, do you want it?"
Chu Lingyun stood up and stared straight at the stall owner. The stall owner smiled even wider and nodded immediately, saying, "Boss, you are so generous. You can give me the opportunity to make money. You are giving me face. Of course I want it."
Chu Lingyun took out a pen from his pocket and found a piece of paper. He wrote as he said, "Tell all the shoe shiners that if they see this man with the scar on his left eye again, they should call this number immediately. Anyone who can find this man will receive a reward of 20 yuan."
After saying that, Chu Lingyun took out another five dollars and handed it to the shoe shiner.
"Here's five dollars for you as your hard work fee, but you have to tell them to just call the person you found. Don't say anything else, and don't ask any questions."
"Okay, boss, don't worry. I'll definitely arrange everything for you. If there's twenty dollars to be made, these people will go crazy looking for it."
The shoe shiner wiped his hands on himself first, then happily took the five dollars handed over by Chu Lingyun.
He only earns a few dollars a day by shining shoes here, and now he makes money so easily just by passing a message to his brothers.
If he could meet the scarred man, he could earn the twenty dollars himself, which would be an extra income.
"You don't have to look for them deliberately. Just call me if you see them. Remember, this matter must be kept confidential. If anything goes wrong, you are the only one I will hold responsible."
When Chu Lingyun spoke, he deliberately showed off the Browning pistol on his waist. When the shoe shiner saw the gun, the smile on his face disappeared instantly.
"Don't worry, boss. I know what to do."
Chu Lingyun's decision to mobilize all the shoe shiners was not a sudden idea.
Chu Lingyun noticed a detail in what the shoe shiner just said. In the morning, the man in the felt hat's shoes were not completely repaired, so he left in a hurry.
In this case, he might go back to the shoe repair stall to continue repairing his shoes.
Even if he can't find it, it won't be a big loss for Chu Lingyun, just a few more dollars.
After giving instructions to the shoe shiner, Chu Lingyun got up, got back into the car and returned to the Military Intelligence Department.
As for the man in the felt hat who appeared in the morning, Chu Lingyun was not completely sure that he was an accomplice of Asano Ono and Endo Yuki. He was only sure that there was definitely something wrong with him.
Of course, it is also possible that this person is doing something wrong, so he leaves immediately when he sees someone paying attention to him. However, doing intelligence work is different from doing other things. You have to pay attention to any suspicious points, and even if there is a little doubt, you have to investigate it.
Chu Lingyun had thought that this person might be a member of the Red Party, so he did not arrange for people from the Military Intelligence Department to investigate. He thought it would be most appropriate to find external personnel. If he was really a member of the Red Party, proper arrangements could be made to avoid accidental injuries.