Chapter 27 Gold Robbed
Realistic struggles are life-and-death struggles, cruel and merciless, so there is no such thing as romanticism. But it was the same when I signed up for the army. I didn’t understand it until I saw the real battlefield.
Yuan Ye looked at the author's name, Han Dang, and thought that this person was probably an idealist, but his articles were full of patriotism.
He kind of wanted to meet this reporter, and wondered how he would react when the protagonist of his article stood in front of him.
Yuan Ye strolled to Ruyi Tavern with the newspaper in his hand. It was almost nine o'clock. He came at this time on purpose because it was not business hours and Li Ruyi should not be busy.
He stepped into Ruyi Tavern. He didn't see Li Ruyi in the lobby on the first floor, but there was a waiter sitting behind the counter.
Seeing him come in, the waiter hurriedly stood up to greet him.
"Sir, are you here for dinner?
It’s still a little early to eat now, it’s not yet business hours.”
The guy said politely.
"I'm not here to eat, I'm here to meet someone."
Yuan Ye smiled.
I thought only a fool would come to eat at this time.
"Can I help you?"
The guy asked curiously.
"I'm looking for your boss's wife. I'm her classmate. Isn't she here?"
"Oh, then you have to wait a moment, she just went upstairs to discuss business with a customer.
Will you wait here or come back later?"
The guy inquired.
Yuan Ye saw that he seemed to want him to come back later.
"I'll wait here."
Yuan Ye thought, it would be easy to deal with her in the store, so it was not a wasted trip. Waiting here is a good opportunity to listen.
"Ok."
Seeing that he was unwilling to leave, the waiter turned around and went back to the counter to do his other business.
Yuan Ye found a secluded corner to sit down, spread out the newspaper and started reading, but his ears perked up and he began to listen attentively to the movements upstairs.
He wanted to hear what business Li Ruyi and the guest were discussing and who the guest was.
In a private room at the back of the second floor, a deep male voice said:
"Comrade Lan Zhu, there is an emergency in the organization that we need to talk to you about."
"Comrade Hikawa, what's the emergency?"
A familiar female voice asked nervously.
As soon as Yuan Ye heard it, he knew it was Li Ruyi. It turned out that her code name was Lanzhu. As he guessed, she was a member of the Red Party.
I only heard Glacier say:
"Not long ago, our army smashed the Japanese raiders' mopping-up plan in Jiangbei and won the second victory in the anti-mopping-up campaign, but the troops also suffered heavy casualties and were seriously short of medical care and medicine, especially the special medicine sulfa. If we had this medicine, we could have saved the lives of many comrades.
The organization asked us, the municipal party committee, to find a way to purchase a batch of sulfa drugs. Sulfa drugs were very scarce on the market, and we finally found ten boxes on the black market. However, the price was extremely high, at $30,000.
The municipal party committee was short of funds and could barely raise $10,000 as a deposit. The comrade in charge persuaded the other party and they agreed to give us three days to raise the funds. If we could not pay the full amount after three days, they would sell the goods to others and the $10,000 deposit would not be refunded.
We contacted Jiangbei, and Jiangbei raised gold bars worth $30,000. According to the agreement, the courier was supposed to deliver them to the contact station last night, but something went wrong. "
All that was heard was Li Ruyi's exclamation.
"problem occurs?"
When Yuan Ye heard this, his heart tightened. Could it be that the courier had absconded with the money?
It shouldn't be possible. To carry such a large amount of money, the organization will not send just anyone. They will definitely send a loyal and reliable comrade.
Most likely there was an accident on the road.
Sure enough, Glacier said:
"Last night, the comrades at the liaison station reported to me that the courier arrived at the liaison station and told him that his belongings had been stolen.
According to the traffic officer, he arrived in Shanghai by train from Nanjing the previous night. After leaving the station, a rickshaw came to him. He got on the rickshaw, and when it reached an uphill place, a man came up to push the rickshaw, and suddenly covered his nose with a handkerchief, and then he fell into a coma.
When he woke up, he found himself lying in a dark alley, and his suitcase was missing. He hurried to the liaison station to report. The comrades at the liaison station said that the courier was deeply remorseful, saying that he had lost the life-saving money for the injured soldier and was too ashamed to go back. He tried to commit suicide several times, but was stopped by the comrades at the liaison station. They also sent someone to watch him and counsel him, fearing that he would have an accident.
Yuan Ye cursed in his heart:
"This damned bewitching gang, when I find him, I will kill him."
Yuan Ye had long heard that there were a group of fascinated people hanging around at the Shanghai train station and docks, specifically targeting single passengers who they thought had valuables. These incidents were often reported in newspapers, and some victims even committed suicide. But no one cared, because these people bribed the local police, and the bribed police turned a blind eye. When someone reported the case, they just pretended to handle it as a routine matter, and in the end, nothing happened.
Glacier continued:
"Tomorrow is the time to pick up the medicine. Now the money has been taken away. How can we find the 20,000 US dollars in a short time? We have no money to pick up the goods tomorrow. Not only is the 10,000 US dollars deposit gone, but what is more serious is that Jiangbei's injured soldiers have no sulfa. I don't know how many will be sacrificed.
Comrade No. 1 was very anxious, knowing that it was too late to notify Jiangbei to raise money, so he called a meeting with me and other comrades from the Municipal Party Committee overnight and asked everyone to try their best to raise the money.
In fact, this is a desperate measure. Our comrades are all very poor, but even if it is very difficult, we cannot give up.
I came to you just to see how much money you have and give it to you.
You run the pub very well, and a considerable part of the organization's funding is provided by you. You have made a great contribution to the organization.
I also know that a few days ago you handed over the money earned from the tavern last month to the organization as funding. I guess you don’t have much money to give out here.”
Bingchuan sighed after saying this.
"I still have some money from the past few days of business, about 2,000 French francs, and I have two pieces of jewelry at home. I will go home and get them and hand them over to the organization. I'll take whatever I can."
Li Ruyi said anxiously.
"Comrade Lan Zhu, you are a good party member. The party will remember everything you have done and will return it to you when the organization has more money."
"No need, Comrade Bingchuan. From the day I joined the Party, I have given everything to the Party, including my life!"
Yuan Ye was moved by Li Ruyi's sincerity. He felt that there was no point in sitting here. Li Ruyi would not have time to talk to him when she came down. He had to leave immediately before she came down.
He needed to do something, and he had to do it right away, without losing a moment!
He immediately stood up, walked to the counter and said to the waiter:
"I have something else to do, so I won't wait any longer. I'll come see her next time when I'm free." After saying that, he walked out of Ruyi Tavern without looking back.