Chapter 334: A Work Conversation

A residence with lighting that was “luxurious” by the standards of this era was clearly an Australian place. However, there was neither a long, white sign with black characters hanging at the gate, nor were there any sentries from the Garrison Battalion. The gate was simply tightly closed.

Zuo Yamei stepped up the stairs and pulled the cord by the gate. The small window on the door immediately opened. She passed her entry permit inside.

A few minutes later, the door opened. Zuo Yamei nimbly hopped inside.

This was formerly the courtyard of a wealthy family. The front courtyard wasn’t large. The reverse-facing building and the side rooms had all been converted into offices, with signs hanging by the doors, though they were hard to see clearly in the dim light. At this moment, although the doors to these offices were closed, light shone from the windows, indicating that people were still working inside.

The guard who had opened the door was gone. In the courtyard, a young woman was waiting for her. Although she wore the same black uniform as the police, the blue collar tabs and cap piping indicated she was a staff member of the State Security Bureau.

“For the service of the Senate!” the young woman said with a relaxed smile. “Good evening, Comrade Assistant Administrator.”

“For the service of the people! Comrade Second-Class Commander.” Zuo Yamei didn’t dare to be disrespectful. The newcomer wore the rank insignia of a State Security Second-Class Commander, two ranks higher than her “master,” Li Yongxun.

Because she was not in uniform, neither of them saluted.

“If it’s convenient for you, I’d like to take a few minutes of your time. Let’s talk inside,” the young woman said.

“Of course.” Zuo Yamei nodded. She had already received the notification for this meeting at work. A “talk” with the State Security Bureau was impossible to refuse.

One of the side rooms in the front courtyard was used as a temporary warehouse. Under the gaslight, one could see it was filled with standard packing crates painted with classification numbers. The young woman closed the door and sat on a packing crate.

“Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you.” Zuo Yamei expressed her thanks, turned slightly, and sat down with her knees together.

Zuo Yamei saw a mixture of admiration, envy, jealousy, and self-consciousness in the other’s eyes. She was already used to such reactions.

“My name is Ke Yun. I work for the State Security Bureau. This is a work-related conversation,” the young woman said, getting straight to the point. “Bureau headquarters has already filed a report about today’s meeting with the Ninth Section of General Affairs. Here is the relevant document.”

Zuo Yamei nodded and took the document. This was official boilerplate. She wasn’t entirely sure why the State Security Bureau wanted to see her, but in the National Police, they often conducted joint operations with this department. For coordination purposes, the National Police had a dedicated Ninth Section in the General Affairs Department to coordinate actions between the two sides. If the State Security Bureau wanted to talk to someone within the National Police system, they had to file a record with the Ninth Section.

“You work in the Household Registration Department.”

“Yes. I was assigned to the Household Registration Department after graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences.”

“Who do you work with?”

“I haven’t started working independently yet. My superiors have assigned me to do some auxiliary work under Probationary Commander Li Yongxun.”

“How long have you been working with her?”

“Just over a month.”

“Is she your roommate?”

“Yes, we share the same dormitory room.” Zuo Yamei realized this meeting was related to Li Yongxun, and her curiosity was piqued. Her “master,” though not much older than her, always seemed to have something on her mind.

“What’s your impression of her?”

“Nothing special.” Zuo Yamei spoke more cautiously. It was never a good thing when the State Security Bureau suddenly took an interest in someone. “She’s like any other female officer. She goes to work, gets off work, and goes back to the dormitory to sleep. On her days off, she goes shopping and such. It seems she has no relatives or friends in Lingao.”

“Has there been anything different about her recently?”

“No.” Zuo Yamei thought hard, then added, “She seems to have something on her mind.”

“Has she ever mentioned her personal affairs to you?”

“No,” Zuo Yamei shook her head. “She never talks about herself.”

“What’s her financial situation like usually?”

Zuo Yamei thought for a moment. “She’s a bit careless with money and loves to shop.”

“Is that so?” Ke Yun smiled. Zuo Yamei suddenly realized the other person already knew these things. “In your personal opinion, does her spending ever exceed her income?”

“I don’t think so.” Zuo Yamei was startled. Could Li Yongxun have financial problems? This was a major taboo for the Australians. Once someone was found to have financial issues, no matter how small, their future would be ruined, regardless of how highly they were regarded in the past.

However, this kind of thing should be handled by the Cheka. Since when did the State Security Bureau handle corruption cases?

“In recent days, has she had any actions that deviate from her daily routine?”

“I don’t think so,” Zuo Yamei said hesitantly. Then she suddenly remembered. “Actually, these past few days, she’s been going out often at night when there’s no overtime. She rarely goes out at night usually. She only goes shopping on her days off.”

“Do you know where she goes?”

“I don’t know, she never says. But she doesn’t buy anything.”

“When did this anomaly begin?” Zuo Yamei realized Ke Yun was interested in this topic.

“It was after that sweep operation.”

“You mean the recent ‘Umbrella 7’ operation?”

“Yes, that one.”

“Very good.” Ke Yun nodded. “Was she with you on the day of the operation?”

“No. She was in the group that went to Heyuan Street. I was in another group.”

“Why weren’t you in the same group? Isn’t she your master?”

“We were supposed to go together, but the operations command group made a last-minute change. I don’t know why.”

Ke Yun jotted down a few notes in her notebook and asked again, “Anywhere else? Anything else different?”

“I don’t think so,” Zuo Yamei said, drawing out her words. “It was all normal work.” She suddenly seemed to remember something. “Oh, right, today we went to the Public Security Court to handle household registration procedures. That was a bit strange.”

“How was it strange?”

“This task wasn’t originally on our work schedule.” Zuo Yamei explained that this kind of work was usually done by newcomers with less seniority who were already able to work independently, but Li Yongxun had proactively requested to take her to do it.

“She said it was to familiarize me with the related work, which I can’t say is inappropriate, but I always felt she wanted to go to the Public Security Court,” Zuo Yamei said. “Our work schedule was originally very full, so suddenly adding this task was quite strange.”

Ke Yun’s interest grew. “So, did she do anything at the Public Security Court? I mean, anything special.”

“She didn’t do anything, just normal work,” Zuo Yamei said. “Nothing special.”

“Try to recall carefully. Who did she see at the Public Security Court, what did she say, and did she do anything unrelated to her work?”

Zuo Yamei thought for a moment but still couldn’t think of anything different.

“You’ve provided very useful information,” Ke Yun said finally. “Thank you very much for your cooperation.”

“It’s nothing, it’s for work.” Zuo Yamei breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the conversation was about to end. She didn’t ask why they were asking about Li Yongxun.

Ke Yun closed her notebook. “Does she know you came here?”

“Of course not. That’s the rule.”

“Alright, meeting you here is indeed a bit inappropriate. A bit like burning a zither to cook a crane.” Ke Yun, pleased with the opportunity to show off an idiom, said with a smile, “However, there will be times in the future when we’ll need your cooperation.”

“For the service of the Senate!”

Ke Yun took a slip of paper from her bag and handed it to her. It had a mailing address on it. “Starting today, you will submit a weekly activity report on Li Yongxun to us. If there are any sudden developments, you can report immediately to the Ninth Section of General Affairs, and we will contact you right away. Understand?”

Zuo Yamei took the slip of paper and said nervously, “Yes, I understand.”

“Just mail the report to this mailbox,” Ke Yun said. “Until we notify you that the task is lifted.”

“I will report on time.”

Ke Yun had been gone from the warehouse for a while, but Zuo Yamei still hadn’t recovered from the shock. Li Yongxun had actually been listed as a “suspicious person” by the State Security Bureau! This was a huge shock to her. Since joining the National Police, she had always felt that Li Yongxun was meticulous and capable, a very good superior. Moreover, she had served the Senate for several years; her “loyalty and reliability” were taken for granted.

“Yamei! Why are you still in here? It’s about to start!” Another girl appeared at the door, wearing the same clothes as Zuo Yamei. “You’re going to be late.”

Zuo Yamei quickly stood up and followed the girl towards the main courtyard.

Passing through the hanging flower gate, they reached the main courtyard. The courtyard was large and had been completely rebuilt, becoming a blend of Chinese and Western styles.

The three main rooms had been turned into a row of two-story buildings. One could see that the walls on the first floor were still the original blue bricks. The side rooms on the left and right had also been converted into new-style houses, larger and taller than before. There were no trees or flowers in the courtyard, only some high and low racks. The ground was paved with a mixture of yellow sand and lime, laid very flat.

All the houses used a full-frame structure, with brick pillars and iron trusses forming the structure. The exterior walls were inlaid with huge glass windows. Since Lingao could not yet produce modern-standard large-sized, thickened glass, they used lattice windows made of multiple small panes of glass pieced together.

As a well-traveled graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, Zuo Yamei naturally felt no shock at this. Standing in the courtyard, she could faintly hear the sound of a qin and singing, not very clear. All the windows were hung with thick, dark curtains, but bright light poured out from the open main door.

The girl who had hurried her had already gone inside. This wasn’t Zuo Yamei’s first time here. Hearing the qin music inside gradually reaching its finale, she knew the assembly time was near. She quickly jogged a few steps, hopped up the stairs, and went inside.

The door clicked shut behind her.