Chapter Thirteen: A Coincidence in History

  The officer's name was Liang Dawei, belonging to the core organization of the Chinese National Revival Society, Lixing She Te Wu Chu. Although he was young in years, he was a veteran agent.

  After the signing of the Tanggu Agreement, the Japanese army's infiltration in North China became more and more rampant, and a large number of traitors appeared in the Pingjin area, making the situation in North China out of control. The enlightened people in the Fuxing Society felt that they had to curb this situation, so they established the Zhongyi Rescue Association in 1934. Liang Dawei and his superior Zeng Che were the persons in charge of the Rescue Association in Tianjin, and they are currently organizing a Tianjin group: "The Special Action Group for Eliminating Traitors".

  It just so happened that the 25th Division had set up a student training class, and Zeng Che had used his connections to transfer Liang Dawei into it as an instructor. Then, within the training class, he established a special training group, which was publicly claimed to be for professional training of some specially talented students, but in reality was for selecting and cultivating talent for the action team. Today on the training ground, Ouyang Yun "made a name for himself with one shot", and Liang Dawei naturally wouldn't let such a "sharpshooter" slip away, so he immediately took him to see Zeng Che.

  Historically, during the Anti-Japanese War period in the Pingjin area, there was a folk anti-Japanese organization called "Anti-Japanese Extermination Team". This "Extermination Team" specialized in killing Han traitors. The most famous one was the assassination of Wu Jukui, the president and editor-in-chief of the New People's Newspaper in Beiping in July 1940, which led to the Japanese retaliation - "August Great Arrest". And the "Anti-Japanese Extermination Team" was established by Zeng Cheng himself.

  Ouyang Yun was unaware of this, and seeing Zeng Che wearing a blue shirt and yellow pants, he couldn't help but flash back to the "Blue Shirt Society" crowd in blue shirts and pants, raising a hint of suspicion. He thought to himself, could it be that they are also from the "Blue Shirt Society"? It seems that his fake special agent identity is no longer valid. Fortunately, only Bai Liu Su knew about this matter - he thought beautifully, but didn't think that his Blue Shirt Society identity was not a secret among high-ranking officials in China and Japan.

  He was in his thirties, with a gentle and weak appearance. He asked Ou Yangyun about her situation in detail, asking more thoroughly than the police when they checked household registrations. After getting answers that he thought were satisfactory, he began to brainwash Ou Yangyun: "At this time of great turmoil, as descendants of the Yellow Emperor, it's good to want to join the army and serve the country. However, there are many ways to serve the country, and it's not necessarily required to join the army. For example, our special operations unit..."

  Ouyang Yun was still a bit confused at first, couldn't figure out what was going on, listened to him ramble on for a while before finally understanding the situation. He didn't have much impression of Fuxing Society, but had a good feeling about "Lanyi Society", because Shen Jian and others' behavior made them worthy of being called "national heroes", making him sincerely respectful. After figuring out that Zeng and Liang were Kuomintang agents, subconsciously, he couldn't help but hope that Shen Jian had nothing to do with them, seeing that Zeng didn't mention "Lanyi Society" made his heart inexplicably relieved.

  Ouyang Yun himself can't explain why he has such a strong aversion to the term "agent" - originally, it was just a noun without any positive or negative connotations, but after being linked with the Nationalist Party, this word somehow took on a derogatory tone.

  His reason for disliking "spy" is surprisingly childish when mentioned.

  Special Agent Ouyang Yun was definitely not going to fall for it, he listened to Zeng's endless chatter while thinking about how to refuse properly, a loud "report" sounded at the door, interrupting his "spy plot", also interrupting Zeng's speech performance.

  The two young men in school uniforms who were making the report were precisely the specially trained soldiers. The one on the left saw Ouyang Yun and his eyes froze, staring blankly at her.

  "Hong Le, Wen Ju, you're back. Come on in, I'd like to introduce a new comrade to you," said Liang Da Wei as he made the introductions. He noticed that Hong Le's expression was somewhat strange and glanced at Ouyang Yun, asking: "What? Do you know each other?"

  Ouyang Yun also noticed the other's abnormality and felt a bit strange, saying: "I just saw him today."

  Zao Hongle swallowed hard and walked over to Liang Dawei's side, whispering something in his ear.

  Ouyang Yun was shocked and didn't know what was going on, so as a precaution, he lightly shook his right hand, and the steel needle appeared in his hand. Zeng Che's eyes rolled around several times, and his right hand reached into his waist, grasping the gun handle - it was unclear whether it was because both of their job titles had a special character, but the two men, one a former special forces soldier and the other a current secret agent, were surprisingly similar in their caution, both sensing danger from Chao Hongle's actions at the same time.

  Liang Dawei listened to Chao Hongle's whisper, first with a surprised face, then excited, looked at Ouyang Yun and asked: "Are you sure?"

  "Yes."

  "Haha!" In the somewhat eerie atmosphere, Liang Dawei burst out laughing, leaving others bewildered. Then he walked up to Ouyang Yun, patted his shoulder forcefully and said: "I really couldn't tell, brother is actually a high-ranking official! Liang is impressed!"

  As soon as he said that, Ouyang Yun immediately guessed what was going on. The emotional rental boundary had been known to Chao Hongle, but he couldn't figure out where he had learned it from. His right hand bent two fingers lightly and put the steel needle back in the needle bag.

  Zeng Che and Pang Wenju splashed a head of fog water, the former's right hand left the gun handle, and the latter anxiously shouted: "Hong Le, what's going on?"

  Li Da Wei smiled and said: "We just need to know, Hong Le, Wen Ju, remember not to say it out loud - the thing in the Japanese concession is what Shen brothers did."

  "Ah! I thought someone else from the group had been sent, Hongle, you didn't remind me!"

  "I also thought it was done by someone sent by Director Zeng."

  It turned out that these two had also come into town to assassinate those two traitorous company presidents, but hadn't made their move yet. Their target had already been taken care of.

  So, it turned out that the creators of the "Hebei Incident" in history were these two people. Ouyang Yun understood this point and couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder at the twists and turns of fate. Since things had come to this, there was no need to hide anything anymore, but there was one thing he had to clarify, so he asked Chao Hongle: "Our actions were very secretive, how did you know?"

  The previous preparation and assassination were all done by him, and the fact proved that there was no mistake, but since Chao Hongle was able to find out, it means that there was still a problem with the details, just where did this problem lie? Ouyang Yun couldn't figure it out. Fortunately, Chao Hongle was a fellow practitioner, if it were an enemy, the consequences would be unthinkable.

  Chao Hongle said: "We live in the hotel opposite yours. Didn't you go over to check on us yesterday at noon?"

  "Alright."

  "I was coincidentally there too, and I saw you at the doors of both traitors' houses. At first, I didn't pay attention, but later I saw you again at the entrance of the Dasheng Inn, and when I saw that you were carrying a bundle of ropes, I took another look. In the middle of the night, I was woken up by a nightmare, got up to relieve myself, and coincidentally saw two masked men climbing down from the second floor of the Dasheng Inn. At that time, I thought you were thieves. Our assassination plan was set for daytime, and I didn't want to expose my identity and affect our daytime operation, so I didn't make a sound. Who knew that not long after, gunshots rang out in the concession... Brother Shen, you guys are really something, not only did you take care of both traitors, but also injured many Japanese soldiers..."

  Chao Hongle grew more and more excited as he spoke, with his spittle flying everywhere, and Pang Wanjun looked at Ouyang Yun in shock, thinking him a heavenly being.

  Ouyang Yun listened, but broke out in a cold sweat. If Chao Hongle was an enemy, then... He shook his head, not daring to think further, and secretly warned himself that next time he did something like this, he had to be even more careful and cautious. After all, there were still more important things waiting for him to do. If he got hung up on this kind of thing, it would really be a disappointment to the two old men and the 320 million.

  "You two, and is there another one who is with you, Guo Xitian?"

  "Uh-huh."

  "Hong Le, go to the training grounds and bring Guo Xiao Tian over. A person like this can't be let off."

  "Yes!" Chao Hongle was about to leave when Zeng Che called out to him: "Wait a minute, Dawei, this matter is not urgent."

  Li Da Wei looked at his superior and saw that his face was somewhat off, so he quickly let the three students go back first, then closed the door and asked: "Squad leader, is something wrong?"

  Zeng Cheng smiled bitterly: "Just now, the boss called and asked us to stop all actions. Moreover, he has already put the blame of killing two traitors on our heads, saying that he will think of a way to help us shirk responsibility."

  "What the...?! Our mission was supposed to be——"

  "Never mind, the top authorities have lost their temper, and it's not easy for the boss either. Let's be considerate, after all, it's all for the sake of the party and national interests."

  "What about the Kill Traitor Action Group?"

  "No rush, you go check on Shen Yun and Guo Xiantian's information first, I suspect..." Zeng Che said, lowering his voice significantly.

  Outside the door, not far away, Ouyang Yun, who had been tying his shoelaces for a few minutes, suddenly found that there was no sound inside. He quickly got up and left. After all, they were dealing with special agents, and Dong and Liang's thoughts were very cautious. It seemed that it would be difficult to deal with them if they were not friends or foes. In that case, he might as well take the initiative - he thought so, and returned to the training ground with a lot on his mind.

  On the training ground, Chu Tiange was surrounded by a group of schoolboys, enthusiastically doing backflips, and the schoolboys shouted loudly: "133, 134..."

  He stared with his eyes wide open and asked: "What's going on? Are you monkeying around?"

  A tall, hollow-headed Chu Tian Ge flipped over in front of him, stopped, and panted: "Big brother, you're back! Our head-flipping skills are quite impressive, aren't they?!" Apparently, he hadn't heard his previous words.

  Many of the soldiers heard it clearly and burst out laughing, with one of them explaining: "It's us who made you flip, Xiao Tian. It seems like you really have practiced before."

  Chu Tian's head lifted up, his nose wrinkled and said: "That is."

  Ouyang Yun saw his complacent look and thought to himself, "Fools have foolish luck. I'm worried to death, but he doesn't have a care in the world." He couldn't help but give him a slap on the head, saying: "Follow me."

  "What's wrong?" Chu Tian Ge saw his complexion wasn't quite right and asked.

  "What happened last night has been exposed."

  "Ah! Who?"

  Ouyang Yun took him far away from the crowd and said: "Do you know about the Revival Society's Special Operations Department?"

  "The Special Operations Division is not very familiar, but I've heard of the Revival Society. It's the Kuomintang's intelligence agency, also known as the 'Blue Shirt Society'."

  "'Lan Yi She'? So, Bai Liu Su and others are also from Fuxing She?"

  "I'm not too sure either, probably. The officials in the Revival Society like to wear blue tops and yellow pants, so it's also called the 'Blue Robe Society'."

  "No way, go find your uncle, this matter might be a bit troublesome."

  The next morning, the two men took a leave of absence and rushed to the 51st Military Division in the city.

  In the city of Tianjin, the Japanese were making a big fuss, with groups of Japanese soldiers carrying guns and riding in trucks and motorcycles, swaggering towards the Hebei Provincial Government. On both sides of the street, many Japanese and traitors were waving Japanese flags and shouting something. Ouyang Yun and Chu Tiange entered the city, having some difficulty navigating through the crowds. Chu Tiange whispered: "If only we had a submachine gun now."

  Ouyang Yun glared at him and said, "Shut your stinky mouth." He slightly tilted his head to glance back, saw a gray figure flash into the crowd, and smiled coldly. He pulled Chu Tiange and strode forward.

  "What's wrong?" Chu Tian Ge didn't understand his actions and saw him constantly looking back, she couldn't help but turn around as well.

  "Don't look back, someone is following us."

  "Hey, shall we get rid of him?"

  "Never mind, there shouldn't be any malice, but you can't go to your uncle's place." He didn't know if there was any malice or not, but he had clearly seen the person following him, and it turned out to be Chao Hongle. Remembering that Chao Hongle had also wanted to assassinate those two traitorous company presidents, he couldn't bring himself to harm him.

  Two people started to wander aimlessly in the crowd, gradually leaving the main street and walking into a somewhat secluded alley, finally shaking off Chao Hongle.

  Turning back to confirm, the tail was indeed gone. Ouyang Yun wiped his sweat and said: "Tian Ge, if one day I mysteriously die, will you hate me?"

  Chu Tian Ge was staring blankly at the building beside him, but upon hearing this, he turned his head around and said with a heroic tone: "I won't die inexplicably, if I really have to die, I'll die in a blaze of glory!"

  "I said if."

  After thinking seriously, Chu Tiange said solemnly: "Why should I hate you? Even if I die now, it's worth it. From the day I called you brother, my life has been in your hands. Brother, isn't our situation very dangerous?" He was indeed a bit silly, but not stupid, and immediately sensed something from Ouyang Yun's unusual tone.

  Ouyang Yun was deeply moved, having the feeling of fighting alongside his comrades - what are comrades? On the battlefield, they are your back, able to block bullets for you, and will live or die with you when danger comes, making you not feel lonely in the face of death threats.

  "Thank you!" he said seriously.

  Chu Tian Ge may not have understood the meaning of these two words, but he heard the weight in them, so he nodded solemnly and smiled. As he said, since he followed Ouyang Yun into Liu Chuan Martial Arts Hall, he knew his life would no longer be smooth sailing, but he wouldn't regret it. Not wanting to continue on this heavy topic, he pointed at the building in front of him with a smile, saying sarcastically: "Sino-Japanese Friendship Middle School, is there still friendship between China and Japan?"

  (Note: Historically, there was indeed a Tianjin Chinese-Japanese Middle School; "friendly" is added here as needed for this article)

  "Of course, not all Japanese are militarists," Ouyang Yun was about to say that Japan also has a Communist Party, and soon on the battlefield against Japan, they would form a strange team, not many in number, but playing a significant role - but considering that saying this now would be revealing too much, he couldn't be certain if these historical events would still occur as they did, so he swallowed his next words.

  His concern was necessary - since he brought Chu Tiangong to Beijing and made a big fuss, history had already shown a slight deviation. The predecessor of the "Anti-Japanese Killing Traitors Group" founded by Zeng Che, the "Special Action Group for Eliminating Traitors", was forced to hibernate in Tianjin, even with the danger of stillbirth. Many historical Han traitors who are now dead were still alive at this moment. If he hadn't taken action, it would be hard to say whether those two Han traitor leaders were dead or alive - it was actually quite difficult for Chao and Pang to assassinate them in broad daylight in the concession area.