Anti-Japanese War Espionage: I Have an Omniscient Perspective

Half an hour later, Huang Dazhu and his brothers accompanied Manli to the refugee area north of Belle Street.

Meanwhile, Lin Rui, who was observing this scene, thought of something else.

Should Su Wan acknowledge her cousin Manli as her cousin?

Actually, Su Wan's identity is easy to resolve; she can just find an excuse to explain it, since working at Lianhua Film Studio is a good fit for her.

The undercover team needed a way to connect with the gang, and Su Wan and Manli's relationship provided a good cover.

In this way, both overt and covert arrangements can be made. In some cases, Su Wan only needs to contact her cousin Manli to obtain information, without having to use Huang Dazhu as a covert informant.

To achieve this effect, all you need to do is do the right thing at the right time.

He walked back to Lianhua Film Studio and went to the dance studio on the second floor.

The patriotic student art group in the dance studio had only 5 members left rehearsing, and they were not in high spirits.

Knowing the reason, Lin Rui went inside.

"Why are there so few people? Where are the others?"

Su Mingzhe, head of the student art troupe, replied, "Manager Chen, we may not be able to continue scheduling."

Lin Rui feigned surprise: "Why? I remember you guys secretly did a street performance a while ago."

"It was okay back then, but now my family doesn't agree anymore. Many of my classmates are locked up at home and forbidden from going out."

Following Su Mingzhe's words, the other students started talking all at once about what had happened in the past two days.

The consequences of the fall of Nanjing were already evident in the foreign concessions, and those who had initially held hope for the Kuomintang began to consider how they would live in the future.

As a result, changes occurred in the homes of these patriotic students, and many students were forbidden from going out to participate in anti-Japanese propaganda activities.

Lin Rui sighed, "We can't blame those parents. It is indeed very dangerous now, and they are only thinking of their children."

Su Mingzhe nodded vigorously: "Manager Chen, we know that too, but if no one speaks out for us, where is the hope? In the long run, we will perish in silence."

"Well said. That's what I think too, but I believe that different approaches are needed at different times. For example, now that the Japanese influence has begun to infiltrate the concessions, your previous methods of open propaganda are no longer effective. I think you can try a different approach."

"In what way?"

Lin Rui laughed and said, "I had no idea. I'm just a small manager."

Although he said that, he had already given Su Mingzhe some pointers, causing him to fall into deep thought.

After that, Lin Rui said no more and left the dance studio to go to the attic archives.

I climbed the sloping stairs to the attic.

Inside, Su Wan was writing.

She didn't even notice Lin Rui walk in.

"What are you doing?"

The voice behind her startled Su Wan, and she quickly turned around: "Manager, how did you get up here? You scared me!"

She picked up the paper on the table and handed it to Lin Rui: "This is a document written to deal with the new cultural supervisor. That person requires all cultural enterprises, institutions and groups in the concession to re-register with him."

"Young Master Li?" Lin Rui frowned.

"Yes, it's him. After you left yesterday, his people came over and asked us to redo it according to the new rules. But it's not a big problem, just some minor changes. I can just take the old documents and modify them. However, there is still a document registration fee of 30 yuan."

"That guy's just after the money. Everyone on Baylor Street knows he's a Japanese lackey; you can't afford to offend him."

"Yeah. I hate people like that. Do you think the station might send someone to kill him?"

Lin Rui shook his head: "Impossible. Killing this kind of character would be pointless and would only expose our own strength."

He paused for a moment, then looked hesitant.

"Su Wan, have you met your cousin?"

Su Wan shook her head: "No, I'm afraid of revealing my identity."

Lin Rui shared his thoughts: "I've been thinking about it recently. Actually, there's nothing wrong with you working at Lianhua Film Studio. As for the alias Su Nian, that's easy to explain, since a single woman living alone needs protection. My idea is, why don't you meet your cousin and let her know you work at Lianhua Film Studio? That way, you can have a legitimate reason to see her and gather some useful information for us."

Su Wan had no problem with this; she had been waiting for the team leader to make this arrangement.

Seeing this, Lin Rui continued, "I just saw Manli and the Zhongyi Gang members go to the refugee area. They'll probably be back in a while. Why don't we go over there too and distribute some winter clothes to the refugees in the name of Lianhua Film Studio so they can get through the winter?"

"Okay, but where are we going to get so much money to buy clothes?" Su Wan asked.

"There are plenty of props and costumes in the storeroom; we just need to take out a portion. Go down and call those two to the office for a meeting to discuss this."

"Yes, manager."

Su Wan got up, about to leave, but stopped, her face awkward: "Manager, you can leave now, I'm closing the door."

By the way, half of the archives room is still Su Wan's bedroom, and there are some women's things in it. Lin Rui hurriedly went out and downstairs.

A few minutes later, Zhao Erzhu, Chen Shan, and Su Wan arrived.

Lin Rui explained the situation again, and then instructed the three men to go to the storeroom to get clothes.

Afterwards, he went to the dance studio and said to the five patriotic students, "Our film studio is preparing to donate some winter clothes to the refugees. Would you like to come along and help?"

"Okay." The students immediately stopped rehearsing and followed Lin Rui downstairs.

Together they took out the props and costumes stored in the warehouse.

These clothes are all leftovers from years of filming, and they come in various sizes and styles.

I selected some clothes for autumn and winter, moved them out, and piled them up between the film studio buildings.

Afterwards, Zhao Erzhu went out to the Central Vegetable Market where he usually bought vegetables and called two people who could pull carts.

Everyone pitched in and filled the two carts with clothes. Then Zhao Erzhu stayed behind to guard the house while the others helped push the carts toward the northern section of Beile Street.

These days, Lin Rui often walks around Baylor Street, and has become quite a familiar face.

The theater owner across the street saw them and came out to say hello.

"Manager Chen, where are you going?"

Lin Rui clasped his hands in a salute: "It's already winter, and the weather is cold. I noticed that the people in the refugee camp lack winter clothing. Fortunately, the film studio has some prop costumes in stock, which we can't use now. Why don't we give them to the refugees so they can get through this cold winter?"

Mr. Wang sighed, "Yes, hundreds of thousands of refugees have survived this winter, and who knows how many will die. My theater is closed anyway, so why don't we do some good deeds together? Can you wait for me to come along? It won't take long."

Lin Rui nodded: "Of course."

Immediately, two flatbed carts stopped by the roadside.

Boss Wang instructed the theater staff: "Go to my room and take out the grain I stored up some time ago, and give it to those poor people who have nothing to eat."

"Boss, is this all the food you've stored up for defense? Are you going to send it all out?" the shop assistant asked.

"The theaters are all gone, what's the point of me storing food? I've already given it all away."

And so, the workers at the Jincheng Theater brought over a cart and loaded bags of grain onto it.

The theaters on Belle Street were interconnected; if one had an event, the others would quickly find out.

Lin Rui and Boss Wang's actions evoked sympathy from the artsy people on Beile Street; after all, everyone wants to save face.

In addition, now that Young Master Li is in charge of cultural inspections, theaters can't even open, so everyone might as well get together and join in the fun.

Soon after, the Nanjing Theater, the Lafite Theater, and the Lyceum Theater joined in, with several carts and theater staff heading in a grand procession to the refugee area on North Street.