DDT - Chapter 94
Chapter 94: Tycoon's Daughter (2)
The Secret Party had only one secret stronghold in Huaping City. For the past two years, the city had been in a state of constant crisis. To defend Huaping City, which occupied a crucial strategic location, the New Government of the Dragon Kingdom had dispatched numerous troops. The Secret Party was finding it increasingly difficult to operate.
The Secret Party's stronghold in Huaping City was located in an ordinary restaurant.
The restaurant was called Wanxing. Wanxing Restaurant was one of the properties in Huaping City owned by the wealthy merchant Hou Wanxing. Hou Wanxing had arrived in Huaping City ten years ago. It was said that his hometown had been captured by the Japanese Army. His family had originally been old local warlords. After the Japanese Army entered the city, the old warlord had sided with them. Hou Wanxing, a passionate young man, was unwilling to bear the shame of submitting to Japanese authority. That very night, he took most of the family's bank notes and fled the Hou residence.
It wasn't until the fifth day that the Hou residence finally "discovered" that their young master had run away from home with the bulk of the family fortune. Old Master Hou was so angry his beard trembled. In front of the Japanese military commander, he thoroughly cursed his unfilial son and declared that he would personally capture the brat who had disgraced the Japanese Army's authority and hand him over for punishment.
Seeing that Old Master Hou's anger did not seem feigned, the Japanese commander's own anger subsided considerably. He dispatched a few units to accompany Old Master Hou's men in pursuit of Hou Wanxing.
Thanks to the occasional delays and distractions created by Old Master Hou's men, Hou Wanxing, who had been unfortunately struck by a stray bullet, managed to escape. Wounded in the leg, he couldn't run far before collapsing in the corner of an alley. As fate would have it, he fainted right by the door of a secret New Government stronghold and was saved by its members through a stroke of luck.
For a time after waking, Hou Wanxing was kept under house arrest. With his leg injury, he couldn't move around much. The people at the New Government stronghold had confiscated his personal bundle.
It wasn't that the New Government members were overly suspicious; after all, no one could be sure if this young man was a spy sent by their rivals or the Japanese.
Inside the bundle, the large number of bank notes and checks astonished them. Besides the money, there was a piece of green jade engraved with the character "Hou." The jade was in perfect condition, though the tassel attached to it looked quite old. Other than that, there was only a New Government identification booklet.
After careful examination, the people at the stronghold confirmed that the New Government's official seal on the booklet was not a forgery. They immediately began investigating Hou Wanxing's hometown and the Hou residence. After a brief ten-day investigation, they finally confirmed that he was the young master of the warlord Hou family who had run away. The New Government had already learned that the Hou warlords had defected to the Japanese. Unwilling to bear the shame of treason, the young master had absconded with the family's wealth that very night.
The people at the stronghold subjected Hou Wanxing to intense interrogation and determined that he was an innocent and untainted young man. Only then did they completely lower their guard.
Since Hou Wanxing had already stumbled into a New Government stronghold by chance, it was naturally impossible to just let him leave.
At the New Government's suggestion, the clever Young Master Hou quickly expressed his willingness to join them and serve for the safety and survival of the Dragon Kingdom.
At the time, the stronghold was in Yun City, which was extremely close to Hai City, where the Hou warlords were based and which had been captured by the Japanese. If Hou Wanxing were to live in Yun City, he could easily be discovered, leading to significant trouble. The New Government had no choice but to send Hou Wanxing and his bundle to Huaping City, located in their southern heartland. Back then, Huaping City was still very safe, giving off the illusion of prosperity amidst the chaos of war.
Escorted by the New Government, Hou Wanxing arrived in Huaping City. He used the bank notes to buy the largest shop in the city and converted it into a restaurant—the present-day Wanxing Restaurant.
With the New Government's support, Wanxing Restaurant flourished, quickly growing bigger and stronger. Hou Wanxing's natural business acumen was revealed. He soon reported to the New Government and, one after another, opened a chain of Wanxing Restaurants in various cities across the southern part of the Dragon Kingdom.
The New Government believed they had thoroughly investigated Hou Wanxing and saw him as nothing more than a money-making machine in the palm of their hands. Naturally, they relaxed their vigilance. Furthermore, because Hou Wanxing came from a warlord family, the New Government, after much consideration, finally decided to give him command of the Huaping City defense force, granting him considerable power in the city.
With money and power in hand, Hou Wanxing thrived in Huaping City for ten years. As time went on, the Japanese Army repeatedly invaded the Dragon Kingdom. The ruling New Government was powerless to resist—or rather, had no will to resist. The battle lines shifted further and further south until the flames of war reached the opposite side of Huaping City. The New Government's influence had essentially retreated to Huaping City. By this time, Hou Wanxing held great power; even high-ranking New Government military officers had to treat him with courtesy.
And yet, this wealthy merchant, this commander of Huaping City's defense force, who was so highly regarded by the New Government and the Dragon Kingdom—no outsider could ever have imagined that his true identity was a member of the Secret Party!
In such a chaotic era, not everyone's past could be fully and clearly investigated.
Hai City was near the sea, and in his youth, Hou Wanxing loved to go out on the water to relax.
Old Master Hou had only one son, Hou Wanxing, and had been very strict with his upbringing. From literature to martial arts, nothing was neglected. Consequently, Hou Wanxing had very little time for leisure. Only when he excelled in his studies would Old Master Hou grant him a few days off.
One afternoon over a decade ago, Hou Wanxing had a rare break. He took a boat out to sea by himself to relax and fish.
But the weather was unpredictable. In less than two hours, the heavens changed their expression. The sun was obscured by thick, dark clouds, and a fierce wind began to blow across the sea. Seeing that things were turning bad, Hou Wanxing immediately started to head back.
However, he had drifted far out to sea, and the return journey was long. Raindrops began to fall from the sky, and waves rolled in, one after another, growing larger and larger.
Eventually, the boat, which had been tossed about in the rain for a long time, was too small and light and was capsized by a massive wave. In the chaos, Hou Wanxing, already soaked to the bone, grabbed a floating plank and used a rope on it to tie himself to it. The surging seawater quickly drained his strength. He thought he would die at sea like this, his body lost forever. Before he could have any more thoughts, he passed out.
When he woke again, a gentle rocking motion told him he was in a ship's cabin.
It was a medium-sized vessel, just large enough to cross the ocean, yet not so large as to attract undue attention.
It was perfect for secretly picking up an important member of an organization.
The crewman who brought him food was a young man not much older than Hou Wanxing at the time. Through questioning, Hou Wanxing learned that two days had passed since he went out to sea. He had been drifting aimlessly on the plank for the better part of a day before he happened to encounter this ship returning from across the ocean.
The crewman said that if it weren't for the red color of the plank and his own yellow clothes being so conspicuous, he might have passed by the ship and lost his chance of being rescued.
The ship was sailing slowly; it would be about three more days before they reached shore. After confirming his current location with the crewman, Hou Wanxing was shocked to realize just how far he had drifted!
If he hadn't encountered this ship, he would have surely been buried at sea.
In the prime of his youth, Hou Wanxing was deeply grateful to his saviors, but despite questioning the crewman all afternoon, he couldn't find out which family owned the vessel.
It wasn't until that night, in the dead of night, that Hou Wanxing, unable to sleep, met the man on deck who would change his life forever.
No one knows what the young man and the boy spoke of on the deck that night, but the reverence and longing in the boy's eyes were impossible to hide.
Hou Wanxing would never forget that night, when the leader of a party shouldering the burden of restoring the Dragon Kingdom looked at him with approval and admiration in his eyes, along with the respect one gives an equal, and said, "Brother Hou, you are destined for great things."
Perhaps because of the young man's special treatment of him, the crew no longer stopped the young Hou Wanxing. For the next two days, Hou Wanxing stayed with the young man. Though it was only two short days, it felt like two years to him—not because of the length of time, but because the knowledge he gained and the understanding of the world he acquired from the young man far surpassed what he could have learned in two years at home or in school.
That feeling of spiritual awakening, of sudden clarity and profound enlightenment, never occurred again.
Before they parted, the young Hou Wanxing learned that the young man he admired so much was none other than the leader of the Dragon Kingdom's other major party, the Secret Party: Zhou Hua.
Hou Wanxing looked at the young leader, who was a head taller than him, with determination in his eyes. He wanted to join the Secret Party and follow Zhou Hua's path to revitalize the Dragon Kingdom. He thought the man would agree, but to his surprise, the young leader simply ruffled his hair gently, his gaze fixed on the starry sky above the distant sea. "You're still young," he said. "You don't understand what an important decision this will be."
Hou Wanxing didn't understand. If he wanted to follow someone, no one could stop him, not even his father.
The young man looked at his stubborn, shining eyes and sighed. "You are still too fragile right now."
It took Hou Wanxing a long time to understand the meaning of that sentence. It wasn't until later, when he was sent to Huaping City by the New Government against his will, that he gradually understood what the young man had meant.
The young Hou Wanxing wanted to argue with the man, but the dock was already in sight. They had to face their impending separation.
Those three days together were perhaps the happiest of Hou Wanxing's life.
Before disembarking, the young man led Hou Wanxing into his cabin. There was nothing special in the room: a single iron bed, a desk fixed to the corner, and a few books by the bedside. A warm light swayed gently.
The young leader picked up a piece of green jade from a velvet cloth on the desk.
The jade, half the size of a palm, glowed with a rich, verdant green. Having seen many fine jewels as a member of a warlord family, Hou Wanxing could naturally tell that this piece of jade was extraordinary.
This jade was undoubtedly priceless, rare, and precious.
On the surface of the jade was the traditional character for "Hou." The sharp strokes and fine carving revealed the carver's steady and grand character.
Hou Wanxing took the green jade with a bewildered expression, his thumb stroking the incised character. He looked up. How could he accept something so valuable for no reason?
The young man seemed to have read his thoughts. "This is a token of the Secret Party."
Surprise flashed in the boy's eyes. Hadn't he just been told he couldn't join?
A faint smile touched the young man's lips. "When you've grown up, if you still wish to join the Secret Party, this will be your token."
The young man untied the exquisite dark brown tassel from his own jade pendant and threaded it through the hole in the green jade, securing it firmly.
After giving a few more instructions, the young man patted Hou Wanxing's shoulder and left the cabin first. Outside, the crewmen—or rather, the members of the Secret Party—already in disguise, carefully protected their young leader as they disembarked one by one and disappeared into the night. Half an hour later, two other Secret Party members escorted Hou Wanxing off the ship. Hou Wanxing glanced back once before hurrying away from the port with them.
With the tassel removed and set aside, holding the jade up to the light, one could clearly see a line of meticulously carved English letters in the hole where the cord passed through: Chris Zhou.
Hou Wanxing looked at the characters he didn't recognize and resolved to add a foreign language to his already heavy load of studies. As for his disappearance for several days, because Old Master Hou had been away on business, no one had even noticed. Two days later, when Old Master Hou returned and saw his son studying diligently, he nodded in satisfaction. It seemed his son hadn't been idle in his absence.
And so, no one would have ever suspected that Hou Wanxing—the commander of the defense force of the strategic military city and frontline of the war, Huaping City, and one of the Dragon Kingdom's wealthiest merchants—was, on the surface, a puppet of the New Government, but in reality, a bona fide member of the Secret Party!
And Wanxing Restaurant, a favorite haunt of magnates, military commanders, and the wealthy elite, was the base of the Secret Party, which was being heavily suppressed by the New Government!
Hou Wanxing had proven with his actions the old saying: the most dangerous place is the safest place.
The New Government thought the Secret Party had been beaten into submission, forced to hide in sunless underground holes forever. They could never have imagined that the very person they favored was one of the Secret Party's top members!
After parting with Yi Shuhan, Chi Junluo followed the route from her memory toward the Secret Party's stronghold.
In less than half an hour, Chi Junluo entered Wanxing Restaurant through a small side door.
The side and back doors were passages reserved for the restaurant's servants and cooks. With so many people coming and going every day, no one paid any mind. After all, any figure with a bit of power liked to plant spies through the back. As long as you slipped the doorman some money, he would turn a blind eye.
Chi Junluo entered through the side, made a few turns, and disappeared into the restaurant. Yi Shuhan, who was following behind, slipped the doorman some money and darted inside. Unfortunately, just as before, she lost track of her senior sister at this point.
Yi Shuhan stomped her foot in frustration. She returned to the main hall of the restaurant, where a waiter greeted her and led her to a small private room on the third floor. He poured her a cup of fine tea, took her order for two small dishes, and then thoughtfully closed the door before heading to the kitchen to submit the order.
Yi Shuhan pushed the window open slightly and listlessly watched the people coming and going on the street below, a trace of loneliness crossing her heart.
It felt as if she had always been waiting for someone to fill the emptiness and unease in her heart.
Meanwhile, Chi Junluo followed a hidden passage behind the kitchen to the top floor of Wanxing Restaurant—the fifth floor.
The fifth floor housed the top-tier song and dance banquet hall and the most exclusive private rooms. Only the rich and powerful could book a table here. Who would have thought that the stronghold of the repeatedly suppressed Secret Party was located in this luxurious, high-end restaurant?
A waiter with a gentle smile on his face looked at Chi Junluo, who had appeared at the end of the corridor, completely unsurprised. He gave a slight bow, and without a word, turned and led her into a private room.
After Chi Junluo entered the room, the waiter gently closed the door and departed.
The waiter went to a small private room not far away. He fiddled with something on the wall, and a section of it opened. He stepped into a small, separate room, picked up a telegraph, tapped out a few signals, and connected.
"North Goose arrived today. What's the situation with Xiao Sun?"
A rough voice came from the other end of the line. "The little one is the same as before, currently spacing out in the usual spot."
"I'll find a time to talk to North Goose about it. Xiao Sun isn't a threat. For now, just keep an eye on her. Contact me again if anything happens."
Yi Shuhan, leisurely enjoying the restaurant's signature dishes on the third floor, had no idea that her clumsy tailing had long been discovered, and that her entire family history, down to her ancestors, had been thoroughly investigated.
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