Chapter 22: Liu Shuyun

After bidding farewell to Shen Mingchen, Chen Yongren went to the General Affairs Office again to collect 500 units of legal tender as expenses.

Of that, 300 units of legal tender were their two-person three-month salary and fieldwork subsidy, while the remaining 200 units of legal tender were their activity funds.

One hundred units of legal tender per person sounds plenty, but in Upon-the-Sea, an international metropolis, it could easily be spent any day.

As for when the next activity funds will be in place, we can only know when they actually arrive.

However, earlier Chen Yongren had provided clues leading to the capture of Japanese spies, earning a sizable bonus, so there was no need to worry about insufficient funds.

The train from Gold Hill to Upon-the-Sea takes about eight hours; to make the journey more comfortable, Chen Yongren generously spent over thirty units of legal tender on two sleeper berths.

Before heading to Upon-the-Sea, Chen Yongren also took care of some odds and ends, moving out of his former apartment building and into a separate courtyard.

After careful consideration over this period, Xiangzi also decided to follow Chen Yongren, gathering information for him; with the Military Intelligence Bureau as a backer, his spine could straighten even more.

After moving into his new home, Chen Yongren had Xiangzi and the others move into the apartment, and also left him 100 units of legal tender as activity funds for the coming months.

Xiangzi also expressed his profound gratitude to Chen Yongren.

The next morning, Chen Yongren and Zhang Haifeng met up and took Xiangzi's rickshaw to the train station.

Just after boarding the train, they heard a commotion inside the carriage; passengers had gathered together, not knowing what was going on, blocking Chen Yongren and Zhang Haifeng's way.

Zhang Haifeng, however, was direct, roughly shoving aside the person in front of them to clear a path for Chen Yongren.

"Who the hell is shoving around?!"

The person who had been shoved was about to lose his temper, but seeing that Zhang Haifeng was tall and sturdy, with a formidable look, they all fell silent.

The two had just moved forward when they saw a middle-aged man arguing with a young girl.

The middle-aged man wore a gray suit, had a Mediterranean hairstyle, and a clear slap mark was visible on his old face.

The girl was youthful and lovely, dressed in a black-collared skirt suit, with a ladies' leather bag slung over her arm, sporting the currently popular 'water-wave' hairstyle; at a glance she was a fashionable young woman.

But for some reason at that moment, her pretty face was flushed red.

"You damn it, after hitting someone you still want to leave—you can't go!" the middle-aged man shouted, pointing at the girl.

"You deserved to be hit—who let you… treat me like that!" she exclaimed, stamping her feet in frustration, yet too embarrassed to continue.

"What did I do to you? You can't just slander a good person!" the middle-aged man flared, shouting: "I see you deliberately wanted to hit me—no way, you have to let me strike back!"

Saying this, the middle-aged man reached out to grab the girl's wrist.

The girl instinctively stepped back, accidentally bumping into Zhang Haifeng.

She lifted her head to look at Zhang Haifeng, then at Chen Yongren.

Without hesitation, she leaned into Chen Yongren's embrace, lifted her head, and pleaded: "Please help me, this… this baldy is bullying me!"

"???"

Zhang Haifeng's head was full of question marks.

"What does she mean?"

The girl's instinctive action made Zhang Haifeng feel looked down upon.

Zhang Haifeng sized up Chen Yongren and instantly understood the reason.

If he were a woman, he would probably also choose to burrow into Chen Yongren's chest.

After watching for a while, Chen Yongren also roughly understood what was happening.

He guessed that the baldy, seeing the young, pretty girl, wanted to take advantage, never expecting her to be so fiery that she slapped him directly.

"You little bitch, who are you calling baldy? I still have hair left!" the middle-aged man said, stroking the few hairs remaining on his head.

He also pointed at Chen Yongren, cursing, and reached to grab the girl: "Don't meddle, let me hit her once, nothing will happen…"

The girl, as if regarding Chen Yongren as a lifeline, lunged into his embrace; her long eyelashes trembled slightly from fear.

Before the middle-aged man could seize the girl, Chen Yongren acted swiftly, grabbing the man's wrist.

"Ow… ow…" the middle-aged man's old face instantly turned liver-colored, his waist bending like a shrimp.

Chen Yongren tossed him aside like trash, throwing him to the ground.

"Ouch." the middle-aged man covered his buttocks and let out an "ouch".

"With just this ability, you still dare to act like a hooligan here?" Chen Yongren clapped his hands.

The crowd instantly burst into cheers; no matter the era, people love to watch a spectacle.

"What's going on, what's going on, what are you all making a fuss about here!" a man resembling a train police officer, gun in hand, pushed his way to the front.

"He's been acting like a hooligan toward me…" the girl said directly to the middle-aged man.

"No, I just accidentally bumped into him while putting down my luggage…" seeing the long gun in the train police officer's hand, the middle-aged man panicked.

"Accidentally?" the train police officer said: "I can tell you're looking at this young, lovely girl and trying to take advantage of her!"

Without further ado, the train police officer dragged the man out of the carriage.

"Thank you so much just now." the girl expressed her gratitude to Chen Yongren.

Chen Yongren nodded.

To him, this was merely a trivial matter.

Although she was very pretty, Chen Yongren had little interest in pursuing women.

Now Chen Yongren's mind was filled with one thought: hurry to Upon-the-Sea, unearth the pangolin hidden there, and thwart the Japanese spies' rainstorm operation.

Zhang Haifeng, meanwhile, examined the girl with interest, thinking about how to strike up a conversation.

But due to his lack of experience interacting with girls, he several times tried to speak, then ultimately gave up.

The hooligan having been driven off, the spectators dispersed, each returning to their seats.

"Hey, where's my seat?!"

"This is my seat, stand up!"

"Nonsense, this seat has your name written on it—clearly it's mine."

At that time, train seats had no numbered assignments; getting a good spot depended entirely on one's own ability.

Inside the car, quarreling voices rose and fell again.

"Can you sit down? If you can't sit, get off the train, don't make a fuss on the train!" the railway police officer shouted from outside into the car.

The previously noisy car instantly fell silent, and the passengers became as quiet as cicadas in winter.

"Damn, the railway police showed up pretty fast this time." Zhang Haifeng glanced over, muttered casually, and continued looking for his sleeper berth.

Seeing Chen Yongren and Zhang Haifeng heading for the sleeper berths, the girl exclaimed excitedly, "Hey, you're also staying in a sleeper? Which number are you in? I'll come find you when I have time."

Saying that, the girl took a train ticket from her bag, glanced at the carriage number, opened the door and said, "I'm staying in."

"What a coincidence?" Zhang Haifeng laughed, "We're staying right next to you!"

"You just helped me out of trouble, and now you're staying right beside me—we really have fate!" the girl said with a sweet smile, "Let's have lunch together at noon; I still haven't properly thanked you!"

"By the way, my name is Liu Shuyun!" Liu Shuyun reached out her hand to Chen Yongren.