Espionage: I became sworn brothers with Zheng Yaoxian at the beginning, and became the Seventh Broth

Chapter 501 Following the Trail

Zhao Jianzhi came quickly and left quickly.

In just over ten minutes, he finished handing over all his work and left with his team members.

With the suspects gone, the field agents left in the courtyard were freed up.

At Ye Shaohong's command, the search began immediately.

Soon after, someone found the hidden secret chamber mechanism in the courtyard and opened a sealed cellar.

Ye Shaohong personally led his men inside to investigate, and they quickly came out.

To be honest, he was quite disappointed. There were indeed some things stored in the secret room. There were several solid wooden chests inside, and inside the chests were bundles of silver dollars, as well as some gold jewelry, antiques, and calligraphy and paintings.

The overall value is quite substantial; Ye Shaohong made a simple estimate, placing it at around seven or eight thousand US dollars.

Converted to the current exchange rate, it would be worth forty or fifty thousand yuan.

But these things didn't interest Ye Shaohong at all.

Putting aside his family's wealth, just considering his current position and status, earning this much money wouldn't be difficult for him.

Arresting a few corrupt officials with no connections would yield just as much as the money here.

The real reason for Ye Shaohong's disappointment was that he found no radio, codebook, or leaked intelligence in the secret room.

This explains something. This place was probably just a hiding place for Chen Peishan.

This is not the most important hiding place.

"Check everything, record it in the accounts, and take it back to the Special Service Department."

"After this mission is over, you will be rewarded."

Ye Shaohong waved his hand listlessly, frowned, and searched the courtyard for a while, but still found no clues.

Then he found the field agent who was in charge of monitoring Chen Peishan.

Ask him where Chen Peishan bought the opium.

The result was that Ye Shaohong gave him a cold look again.

"what?"

"You don't even know where he bought his opium?"

"What are you doing? We've been tasked with monitoring Chen Peishan's movements, and you haven't even recorded where he bought his opium?"

Ye Shaohong had reason to be angry. He really looked down on the field agents of the headquarters. They were all extremely careless.

They could even overlook and forget such important intelligence.

"Section Chief, please let me explain."

“We really don’t know where he bought this opium.”

"All we remember is that when he left work in the morning, he stopped by the Honghe Restaurant on Qinghe Road. When the target came out again, he had a snack box in his hand."

"The opium paste was probably smuggled out of the Red Crane Restaurant."

"But the snack box was sealed, so we had no way to check it."

The field operative responsible for reporting the situation to Ye Shaohong had a bitter expression on his face and felt a surge of fear in his heart, but he still gritted his teeth and gave a reply.

Have no idea.

Ye Shaohong put too much pressure on him.

Just over ten minutes ago, the scene of Ye Shaohong casually drawing his gun and injuring people outside the courtyard was also too shocking.

It's understandable that they were terrified of Ye Shaohong.

"The Red Crane Restaurant on Qinghe Road?"

"I know this restaurant."

“I even had a meal there a few months ago, and I didn’t notice anything unusual.”

Ye Shaohong frowned, and after a moment's thought, he stood up.

"Walk."

"Leave two people here to guard the body and wait for the medical personnel from headquarters to arrive." "The rest of you, come with me to the Red Crane Restaurant immediately."

Just do it.

Led by Ye Shaohong, the group soon arrived at the Red Crane Restaurant on Qinghe Road.

They barged in rudely and unreasonably.

"Where's the boss? Come out here right now."

"The Special Service is handling the case."

As the field agents shouted, the guests who were eating and drinking tea inside the Red Crane Restaurant immediately became agitated.

However, their disturbance was only temporary.

Because next, they saw the pistols drawn by the Secret Service field agents.

I saw the dark, gaping muzzle of the gun.

"Don't even move."

"Behave yourselves and cooperate with our operations. Anyone who resists or tries to escape will be shot dead immediately." The Special Service's fearsome reputation was well-known in Nanjing.

Hearing their shouts, the guests who had been agitated and frightened immediately sat down obediently and remained quietly in place.

at the same time.

A middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in a long robe, also came out of the kitchen room of the restaurant.

"Sir, sir."

"Don't use the gun..."

"We don't know where we've offended you. Please, you are all magnanimous and forgive us this time."

"This is some money as a token of our respect. We hope the officers will be lenient and forgive us."

The owner of the Red Crane Restaurant was a seasoned veteran. When the officials came to his door, he didn't ask why or what the crime was; he first put on a smiling face and then took out his own money.

His words were perfectly timed, which made the expressions of the special agents in the field soften slightly.

"Do not talk nonsense."

"We're not here to cause you trouble; we need your cooperation in an investigation."

"Come with us."

One of the field agents reacted the fastest. He stepped forward, not looking at the silver dollars in the restaurant owner's hand, but instead grabbed the restaurant owner by the collar and pulled him in front of Ye Shaohong.

During this process, Ye Shaohong was also secretly observing and sizing up the restaurant owner.

"Has the owner of this restaurant changed?"

"Why haven't I seen you?"

Ye Shaohong's memory was still very strong. After a brief moment of observation, he had already confirmed one thing: the middle-aged man who suddenly appeared in front of him was not the original owner of the Red Crane Restaurant.

Judging from his accent, he seems to be from Northeast China.

This discovery further fueled Ye Shaohong's suspicions.

It's not that all Northeasterners are problematic, nor that Ye Shaohong is hostile towards them; it's just that in the Republican era, transportation was difficult, and very few Northeasterners would travel thousands of miles to Nanjing to make a living.

In previous arrests of Japanese spies, many of their disguised accents were Northeastern dialect.

This is also closely related to the fact that Northeast China was the first region to be occupied by the Japanese.

"correct."

“Sir, you are wise. I am from Harbin. I came to Nanjing more than two months ago and bought this restaurant to make a living.”

"What are your orders, sir?" The owner of the Red Crane Restaurant bowed, adopting a respectful and humble posture, and carefully answered Ye Shaohong's question.

"Don't take advice seriously."

"We came here today just to ask you about something."

“Look at the person in this photo. Did he come to your restaurant today? When did he come? Who did he meet and what did he say to them?”

"Think it over carefully and tell me the truth!"