Chapter 16: The Miserable Ma Kui (Please add to favorites, please vote)

Returned to the station.

The Station Chief and Old Yu went to Mu Liancheng's house to extort him.

If my guess is correct.

Old Yu can make a great contribution today; Mu Liancheng gave the Station Chief a distillery in Yuezhou and also gifted several pieces of fine antiques.

Hong Zhiyou returned to his office, sat before his desk, lit a cigarette, and pondered a plan to deal with the Cao Gang.

Fourth Master Zhang is no pushover.

One wrong step could very likely lead to an abyss.

Hong Zhiyou absolutely believes that if Fourth Master Zhang decides to fight to the death, Wu Jingzhong will certainly prioritize self-preservation.

To survive, one can only rely on oneself.

Long Er, Ma Kui, Xie Ruo, Wu Jingzhong, Anderson!

The people for the plan are all here.

Now, a catalyst is still lacking.

The core is Wu Jingzhong.

As the Jinhai Station Chief, Wu Jingzhong is one of the few figures capable of coordinating the military and police departments.

As long as he makes up his mind and stabilizes both the military and police.

Hong Zhiyou will have the opportunity to root out the entire Cao Gang.

But Wu Jingzhong is steady, cunning, and afraid of death.

Trying to persuade him to take action is very troublesome.

To handle Old Wu, it's either money or threats.

Only if the Cao Gang provokes him enough, under various conditions, might Old Wu be used by me.

Old Wu is a shrewd man.

Hong Zhiyou even suspects that his talk of going to the Cao Gang to put in a word was merely empty talk to comfort me.

In the final analysis, the temptation of profit is not yet great enough.

As for the profit, Hong Zhiyou has already thought it through.

Right now, all that is missing is to stoke Old Wu's hatred for the Cao Gang.

This bomb can only be detonated by Ma Kui.

Before this, he had been very distressed.

The appearance of Xie Ruo undoubtedly gave Hong Zhiyou a glimmer of hope.

He forcefully circled Xie's name on the paper.

Then, he stood up, burned the paper, and walked toward Ma Kui's office.

……

Ma Kui was leaning back in his soft chair, feigning sleep.

Ever since Zhou Gendi arrived, he hasn't had a peaceful night's sleep.

For so many years, from Shancheng to Jinhai, he has weathered storms with his heart set only on the Party-State, and he views marital affection very lightly.

Especially after he was ordered to assassinate Lü Zongfang in Jingling and was captured by the Political Security Bureau.

He couldn't withstand the torture and gave up quite a few colleagues in the network; these people included his superiors and brothers who had lived and died with him.

Whenever Ma Kui closed his eyes at night, he saw their faces, eyes wide with resentment.

Therefore, he can only work himself to death.

Only by redoubling his service to the Party-State can his heart find some peace.

As for his wife, Zhou Gendi.

Ma Kui truly feels he has let her down.

As a man, an iron-blooded Juntong operative, he has his own dignity.

He cannot tell Zhou Gendi that when he suffered inhuman torture at the Jingling Political Security Bureau, that thing of his was already ruined by those dog traitors.

These past few days, A-Di has been crying secretly in the middle of the night.

Ma Kui can only sigh in his heart.

"Captain." An agent walked in.

"Chen Zhong, how is the surveillance on that underground printing house for the Red tickets going?" Ma Kui asked.

A while ago, many Red-leaning leaflets appeared on the streets of Jinhai.

There is no need to think; there must be Red ticket instructions behind this.

The Jinhai Station was rebuilt not long ago and is in urgent need of meritorious service before the Chairman and Boss Dai; Wu Jingzhong absolutely will not allow Red movements to appear on the streets of Jinhai.

He personally instructed Ma Kui to ferret out the Red ticket organization behind it.

"We're watching it."

"The person in charge of the printing house is a female student from Beiyang University; this person has a strong background, she is the third young lady of the Yong family," Chen Zhong replied.

"The Yong family, which Yong family?" Ma Kui asked.

"Yong Jianqiu, our Jinhai's biggest arms broker, who has deep dealings with the 94th Army, the Americans, and the dockside Cao Gang," Chen Zhong said.

He paused, then added: "Should we arrest her?"

"Don't arrest this female student yet; watch the people behind her," Ma Kui frowned and said.

Damn it, a proper young lady going to turn Red, is she crazy?

Truly fucking bored and looking for trouble.

"Get out." He waved his hand irritably.

Chen Zhong opened his mouth, hesitating.

"Anything else?" Ma Kui asked.

"Captain Ma, the brothers responsible for secretly protecting your wife discovered..." Chen Zhong stopped mid-sentence.

"Discovered what?" Ma Kui asked.

"Your wife and Secretary Hong stayed in a room at the Naval Club for over forty minutes."

"Your wife even took a bath."

"Secretary Hong danced with her, and when they got back and were getting out of the car, Secretary Hong even touched your wife's as..."

Seeing Ma Kui's face turn livid and tense, Chen Zhong didn't dare to continue.

Ma Kui stood up and beckoned him over.

Chen Zhong leaned in closer.

Ma Kui whispered coldly in his ear: "All day long you just pry into trivial matters; you are nothing but a fart."

Chen Zhong hung his head, trembling, not daring to take a full breath.

Ma Kui has a bad temper; if he catches someone, it's a beating, and his fists and kicks are heavy; more than a few in the team have had their ribs broken by him.

"I told you to protect her, not to spy on her."

"Listen well, Secretary Hong is my brother; that is Western etiquette, understand?"

"Tell them, whoever dares to wag their tongue, I'll shoot him!"

"Get out."

Ma Kui scolded in a low voice.

"Yes!"

Chen Zhong ran out, covered in cold sweat.

Because he was running too fast, he almost collided with Hong Zhiyou, who was entering the door.

"Sorry, Secretary Hong." Chen Zhong apologized and slipped away hurriedly.

"Old Ma, what's wrong? Did they annoy you again?" Hong Zhiyou asked with a smile.

"A bunch of good-for-nothing trash."

"Brother, you came at the right time; my wife mentions you every day, wanting you to take her to play cards." Ma Kui gestured for him to sit and poured him tea.

The tea was the standard issue for the station.

The Station Chief and Yu Zecheng drink the fine Longjing tea offered from Hangcheng, and Lu Qiaoshan's office even has a fashionable hand-cranked coffee grinder.

Hong Zhiyou felt a bit of sympathy for him.

Ma Kui is single-mindedly devoted to the Party-State.

Working his life away every day, yet everywhere he is squeezed out by Old Lu and other section chiefs in the station.

He doesn't get any benefits.

I reckon whatever salary he has is squeezed dry by profiteers like Xie Ruo.

No wonder he always wants me to take his wife to play cards and win money.

"Let's skip it for these few days."

"You should have heard about my business with Young Master Zhang; these young masters and socialites care most about face, and I said seven days, so it won't be a moment longer."

"I'll make a bet with you: even if I stay in the station every day, they will still find ways to get rid of me."

Hong Zhiyou sat down, held the teacup, crossed his legs, and smiled.

"Sigh, brother, those of us in this line of work are just like this."

"Our lives hang by our belts."

"For anyone else, I could help you shoot them in the back, but the Zhang family won't do."

"If Zhang Ershao dies at this time, no matter who killed him, the blame will fall on you; the six thousand brutes of the Boatmen Guild could eat you alive."

"Boss Dai personally gave instructions to take down the Boatmen Guild."

"But guess what happened? The people from the 94th Army found connections all the way to the Aide Office, and even Lady Jiang found out."

"The Generalissimo had also paid his respects to the guild back in the day, so he just found a scapegoat, and the Boatmen Guild didn't move an inch."

"Brother, you've offended the wrong person."

Ma Kui was genuinely worried for Hong Zhiyou.

"But don't be afraid. I see the Station Chief is quite fond of you; if he steps in to smooth things over and you offer an apology, it shouldn't be a big problem," Ma Kui added.

"I'll take it one step at a time."

"Captain Ma, you don't look so good. Your wife just arrived, so spend more time with her instead of working so hard."

"Didn't you say last time that you weren't sleeping well?"

"I have an acquaintance at the Army Hospital; go get checked out and have them prescribe you some sleeping pills."

Hong Zhiyou said.

Ma Kui sighed sincerely, patted Hong Zhiyou's leg, and smiled:

"Zhiyou, you're the only one in the whole station with any human warmth. I acknowledge you as my brother."

"As it happens, there is something I'd like to ask for your help with."

"What is it?" Hong Zhiyou said.

"The Red Party has recruited a group of university students at Beiyang University, and we have already located their underground printing press."

"The military mediation is happening soon, and the Station Chief has ordered a cleanup."

"Their leader is named Yong Manzhu, the third daughter of the Jinhai grand comprador Yong Jianqiu."

"Help me go and take care of her."

Ma Kui spoke very bluntly, his tone like he was giving an order.

Sigh.

Brother Ma, you really don't understand the ways of the world.

New book climbing the charts, foster fathers, please be supportive; come give me a wave of collections and recommendation votes to help lift me up, ah ah ah ah.

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(End of chapter)