Newborn 1927

Gao Huilan toyed with a small Browning pistol in her hand, smiling as she looked out the door. Meanwhile, Director Li was kneeling on the floor, his hands bound behind his back with a leather belt; his expression was priceless. Fatty asked with concern, "Miss, are you alright?" Gao Huilan smiled, "Do I look like I'm alright?" Fatty laughed, "I knew you were capable, Miss. You'll be fine." Gao Huilan asked, "Did you take care of the other two policemen?" Fatty waved her fist, boasting, "Chu Gu and I each knocked one out." Gao Huilan stared at Yang Jiefang and said, "So you grown men did nothing?" Yang Jiefang gave a thumbs-up, praising, "Miss is a strong leader with no weak soldiers under her command; she's a true heroine. We men are ashamed of our inferiority." Gao Huilan scoffed.

Now that the situation was under control, Yang Jiefang didn't linger and immediately went downstairs. Bao Ziqiang found a rope and tied the unconscious policeman securely, stuffing a rag into his mouth to prevent him from shouting when he woke up. Aunt Chu rushed in and immediately asked Yang Jiefang, "Where's Miss?" Yang Jiefang pointed upwards and replied, "She's fine, upstairs." Aunt Chu, still uneasy, quickly went upstairs. Chu Yi drove the carriage into the front yard and closed the gate. The policeman from before had woken up and was gagged and tied up. Chu Yi grabbed the policeman's arm, dragged him into the living room, and then kicked him to the ground.

Before long, Gao Huilan came downstairs, followed by Aunt Chu and Fatty, who were escorting Director Li. Director Li took in the scene in the living room at a glance, his expression quite dejected. Bao Ziqiang clapped his hands and laughed, "Now we're all done. Brother Yi, do you think there might be something valuable in such a big and beautiful house?" Chu Yi's eyes lit up, and he said, "Let's look!" The two quickly began searching.

Yang Jiefang glanced at Director Li, thinking to himself: This is the most valuable thing we have. The man is now tied up, but what to do with him is the problem. To paraphrase a line from a later TV drama: For someone like Director Li, execution first, then trial, and he'll never be wronged. Yang Jiefang comes from a society governed by law and isn't a bloodthirsty person; without sufficient reason, he can't get past his conscience. Yang Jiefang approached Gao Huilan and asked, "Miss, can you tell me what happened? Everything was planned perfectly, but this sudden accident startled us all."

Gao Huilan laughed, "Director Li is such a good man! When he heard I was abducted by human traffickers, he took me out of the brothel and said he would help me find my family. But I told him I had run away from an arranged marriage and didn't want to go home. So he brought me here and let me stay as long as I wanted. He was also worried I'd be lonely and scared, so he said he'd stay with me. When I said I was hungry, he immediately sent someone to buy me food; when I said I was a little sleepy, he immediately took me upstairs to rest. What a wonderful man! So considerate!" Director Li nodded, "That's right, exactly. I really don't..." "What wicked thoughts!" Before he could finish speaking, the woman next to him slapped him across the face and shouted, "Do you really think we're some naive, ignorant girl?" The chubby girl nodded and said, "That's right! You can't even fool me with that, and you think you can fool our young lady? Did it hurt when you hit me? Look at this half of your face, it's all swollen, it doesn't look good at all!" Just when Yang Jiefang thought that the chubby girl was overflowing with sympathy, the chubby girl slapped Director Li across the other side of his face, then looked at him and said, "Now it's all good, both sides are swollen, you look so cute and chubby!" Director Li was so dizzy from the slap that he couldn't speak for a moment.

Yang Jiefang almost burst out laughing. These three women looked young, especially Gao Huilan, who was beautiful and appeared harmless. In reality, they had all grown up in bandit dens and knew everything. Director Li thought he had hunted a docile sheep, but little did he know he had encountered a vicious wolf. Gao Huilan first used the excuse of being hungry to send one of the policemen away, then used the excuse of being sleepy to lure Director Li to her bedroom on the second floor. Then, taking advantage of his distraction, she delivered a fatal kick, knocking him to the ground. Actually, Gao Huilan could have escaped on her own without Yang Jiefang and the others' help.

Yang Jiefang, having roughly grasped the situation, approached Director Li with a grin and asked, "Director Li, what are you doing, playing these old foxes? In this situation, do you want to live or die?" Director Li shook his head, regaining his composure, and asked, "What if I die? What if I live?" Yang Jiefang, still smiling, said, "Director Li, dying is simple. We'll take care of all three of you, then walk away. Whether someone will seek revenge for you is hard to say. What I can guarantee is that someone will take your position as director, someone will live in your house, someone will spend all the money you've saved, and someone will sleep with your wife. Hmm, maybe if he's not happy with the sleep, he'll even beat your kids!"

Gao Huilan and the other two girls couldn't stand it anymore. They glared at Yang Jiefang, blushed, and turned away. Fatty shouted, "Look, we bought so much delicious food. He can even speak the language of foreigners..." As she spoke, she opened the cardboard box, took out the food inside, and distributed it to Gao Huilan and Aunt Chu.

Director Li stared blankly at Yang Jiefang and said, "I want to live." Yang Jiefang praised, "That's right. Only by living can you keep your position, and thus your house, your money, your wife, and your children. I just wonder how much Director Li thinks his life is worth? To put it bluntly, how much money are you willing to pay to buy your life back?" Now that things had come to this, Director Li knew that he couldn't save his life without paying a price, so he asked, "How much do you want?" Yang Jiefang smiled but did not answer. Director Li continued, "I don't have any money on me right now. You can search me yourselves if you don't believe me. All my money is in the bank. You can have as much as you want, as long as I can get it; but you have to let me go first, otherwise no one can get the money back." Yang Jiefang shook his head and said, "Don't waste your time. We won't release you until we get the money. I only have one requirement: we need enough money, and we can't take any risks. Without enough money, all three of you will die! Don't try to negotiate with me; you don't have the right to negotiate with me now! Here's a suggestion: you can write a letter to your family, like your wife, to ask for money to ransom you."

Director Li remained silent for a long while before saying, "If I give you money, do you guarantee you'll let me go?" Yang Jiefang replied, "Your life is meaningless to me; I want money. As long as you give me the money, I'll definitely let you go." Director Li was still hesitating when Yang Jiefang suddenly had an idea and said, "If we find it ourselves, that doesn't count." As he spoke, he carefully observed Director Li's reaction and, sure enough, saw a hint of panic in his eyes, and he even subconsciously glanced upstairs. Yang Jiefang was overjoyed, knowing he had guessed correctly, and immediately said, "Take your time to think it over! I'll go upstairs and take a look. Director Li wants to keep a mistress hidden away; if he doesn't hide some gold in the house, how can he hide her?" As he spoke, he walked towards the steps to the second floor. Director Li's face changed drastically, and he shouted, "Wait..." Yang Jiefang turned around and looked at Director Li. Director Li slumped to the ground and said, "There's money in the bedroom upstairs. There's a hidden compartment in the wall by the bed; you can see it by moving the bed."

Although Gao Huilan and her two companions were eating, they had been listening intently. Upon hearing Director Li's words, they immediately stood up. Gao Huilan said, "Watch closely," and then strode upstairs. Aunt Chu nodded and stayed behind with Fatty to watch over Director Li. Yang Jiefang and Gao Huilan quickly went to the second-floor bedroom, where they worked together to move a large bed. They tapped on the wall and quickly pinpointed its location. Yang Jiefang noticed a crack nearby, reached in with his dagger, and pried it open. A wooden plank fell down, revealing a small square hole containing a wooden box about the size of a dressing case. Yang Jiefang picked it up and found it incredibly light, causing him to frown. He placed the box on the ground and carefully opened it. There were no hidden mechanisms inside; it was just an ordinary box containing a stack of papers. The two examined each paper; the stack contained twenty or thirty anonymous checks issued by HSBC, each with a number on it, ranging from one thousand taels of customs silver to ten thousand taels.

Yang Jiefang and Gao Huilan were initially confused, so they went downstairs to ask Director Li. After Director Li explained, they learned that they had struck it rich. It turned out that after the Second Opium War, the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Tianjin, opening Yantai to the public and establishing the Yantai Customs. Yantai's import and export trade subsequently increased year by year, reaching a current annual volume of 20 million taels of customs silver (mainly imports). In those days, paper money wasn't used; real gold and silver were traded. To facilitate large transactions, HSBC issued bearer checks to depositors, promising immediate payment. As a result, HSBC controlled 90% of Yantai's transactions, effectively dominating the city's financial market.

Yang Jiefang calculated that the checks totaled 200,000 taels of customs silver, worth over 300,000 silver dollars. This money and the house were all acquired by Director Li over the years through various means. Just as Yang Jiefang had guessed, Director Li wanted to keep a mistress here, even keeping it a secret from his wife. Therefore, he hadn't planned for his wife to pay for her release, intending to arouse Yang Jiefang's suspicion and trick him—and he'd guessed right. Yang Jiefang was overjoyed; this trip to Yantai was originally intended to be a big financial windfall, but unexpected wealth had fallen from the sky.

Just then, Bao Ziqiang came running out, shouting as he ran, "We're rich! We're rich! Guess what we found?" Yang Jiefang and Gao Huilan asked simultaneously, "What did you find?" Bao Ziqiang laughed, "Come and see for yourself." Yang Jiefang and Gao Huilan quickly followed, while Chu Gu consciously stayed behind to watch the three policemen. The policeman who had been unconscious also woke up. Fatty, however, was more interested in the food.

Yang Jiefang and Gao Huilan followed Bao Ziqiang down to the basement, which was not dark because it had electricity. The three of them came to a room with many wooden boxes inside, and Chu Yi was opening and counting them one by one. Seeing two rifles in each long wooden crate, Yang Jiefang quickly picked one up and examined it, saying, "These are Liaoning Type 13 rifles manufactured by the Fengtian Arsenal, still brand new, using 7.92mm rifle cartridges, compatible with the Hanyang rifle. How many are there in total?" Chu Yi replied, "Ten crates, twenty rifles in total, plus twenty crates of ammunition, one thousand rounds per crate." Bao Ziqiang laughed, "How about that? Did you strike it rich?" Yang Jiefang nodded, "Indeed, a windfall. This kind of rifle is standard issue for the Fengtian Army, and Zhang Zongchang's troops are also heavily equipped with it. I never imagined that Director Li could get so many new rifles and ammunition. Suddenly, I don't think 300,000 silver dollars is so appealing anymore." Chu Yi and Bao Ziqiang asked curiously, "What 300,000 silver dollars?" Gao Huilan laughed, "He tricked Director Li out of HSBC bank checks worth over 300,000 silver dollars, the kind that can be cashed at any time." Chu Yi and Bao Ziqiang looked at each other, suddenly losing their excitement. In terms of value, twenty rifles and 20,000 rounds of ammunition are only worth a few thousand dollars, not even a fraction of the more than 300,000 dollars.

Yang Jiefang said, "Search carefully again, maybe you can find something else? I'll go talk to Director Li again." He took a rifle and came out. Gao Huilan followed him out. When the two entered the living room, Director Li was already prepared, and his expression didn't change.

Yang Jiefang squatted down in front of Director Li and asked with a smile, "Director, could you tell me where these guns came from?" Director Li didn't intend to hide anything and replied, "A batch of guns and ammunition I acquired some time ago, temporarily stored here, waiting to be sold. Since you've found them, just take them; they're not worth much." Yang Jiefang nodded and said, "Arms are a lucrative business, but not everyone can make a living from them. Some people want to buy, but can't find a source; others have the goods, but can't find buyers. Director Li, can you still get any more arms?" Director Li's eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked, "You want to buy?" Yang Jiefang replied, "In these chaotic times, if you don't have a gun, you'll be bullied; if you have a gun, you'll have supplies everywhere. Look at Old Zhang..." He couldn't read a single word; yet, with a gun in his hand, the whole of Shandong became his granary; and he had mothers-in-law everywhere. We ordinary folks have no other ambitions than to get a couple of guns to protect our granaries and our wives at home.” Director Li, who had been worried about his life, suddenly saw a glimmer of hope and quickly agreed, “Yes, yes, you're right. If you want guns, that's easy to talk to; I can get more. We're currently fighting the Northern Expeditionary Army in the south, consuming countless guns and ammunition every day. Our men can easily scrape some out with a flick of their fingers. As long as the money is right, not only rifles, but machine guns are possible, and even small cannons aren't out of the question.” This was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate his value; he might as well say a few boastful words to save his life first.