Different from before, when facing Cheng's rejection, Ming Jing did not force it, but chose to respect his wishes.
So he took only his three younger brothers Minglou, Mingtai, and Li Qiang to the small ancestral hall to pay homage to the late Ming clan clan member.
Everyone knelt down in turn and offered incense.
Although the process is short, it is extremely solemn.
After the sacrifice, Ming Jing called Ming Lou, and Ming Lou seemed to see what his eldest sister meant, so he motioned to Ming Tai and Li Qiang to go out first.
However, just when Mingtai left the small ancestral hall and subconsciously wanted to stand at the door to listen to what the elder brother and elder sister had to say, he met Li Qiang's warning eyes.
"What are you doing? You want to eavesdrop again, right? I wonder if your little cleverness can be put to good use?"
Mingtai was about to open his mouth to argue when he saw Li Qiang first glance at Acheng who was on the phone in the living room, and then pointed to the study room upstairs.
Naturally, Mingtai understood such an obvious hint immediately, so he gave an "OK" gesture to Li Qiang, stepped lightly, and tiptoed into Minglou's study while Cheng was not paying attention.
.
Only then did Li Qiang swagger into the living room.
Ah Cheng was still on the phone, "Don't worry, Mr. Liang, even if military stamps are temporarily suspended, cigarettes and sugar are still sold exclusively by the government. Let me tell you, there is a lot of room for maneuver here, use your brain... That's right...
"
After walking quickly through the living room, Li Qiang went straight to the kitchen, but before he reached the door, he heard A Xiang's voice coming from inside.
"Hey! Aunt Gui, don't put the can here, put it in a special cabinet... Aunt Gui, why did you put it here? This is the wine brought back by Brother Acheng from abroad. It has to be put in a special cabinet.
In the cupboard... Oops, what are you doing with these red beans? I've already prepared lunch..."
After hearing this, Li Qiang nodded with satisfaction, then stepped in and deliberately said to Axiang with a straight face: "Axiang, don't be like this! Although Aunt Gui worked in the Ming family, she was already a second grader.
This happened more than ten years ago. No matter what, there has to be an adaptation process, so you have to be more patient!"
"Well, okay! I understand, Brother Aqiang."
At the same time, Aunt Gui also cast a grateful look at Li Qiang.
So Li Qiang followed Axiang to help Aunt Gui get familiar with the kitchen, while paying attention to the movements in the study.
It wasn't until Mingtai and Acheng came out of the study together that Li Qiang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then he sent Axiang to take Aunt Gui out to buy groceries, while he quietly hid in the dark and eavesdropped on the conversation between the two.
dialogue between.
"Brother Acheng, I remember that you had a girlfriend when you were in Paris. That sister was very beautiful. What was her name?" Mingtai looked at Acheng who was locking the study door and suddenly asked.
road.
"Emma."
"Ah, yes, that's sister Emma. When I first saw her, I thought you two were a perfect match."
Ah Cheng laughed, with a bit of pride on his face.
However, at this moment, Mingtai suddenly changed the subject, "But...since you have already dated such a good girlfriend, why didn't you stay in France and follow your elder brother back to China?" Mingtai asked puzzledly.
Looking at him, "Is it possible that you resolutely chose to return to China because of something more important than your lover and freedom?"
"What on earth do you want to say?" Acheng naturally heard the implication of Mingtai's words, but still asked expressionlessly.
"My eldest brother...is he pretending to be helping the new government?"
"Don't talk about politics at home," Ah Cheng warned word for word.
But Mingtai still refused to give up, "I'm just asking! Is that true?"
However, before he finished speaking, Cheng glared and said, "You're going to be beaten on New Year's Day, right?"
"What about you, Brother Acheng? Are you... a traitor?"
Acheng was slightly startled, and then said to Mingtai solemnly: "It has nothing to do with me who the eldest brother works for. I only know that I am doing things for the eldest brother. Are you satisfied?"
"Brother Acheng, there is a saying that 'when you are close to vermillion, you are red, and when you are close to ink, you are black.' You..."
"What's wrong with me?" Ah Cheng asked.
"I heard that you have been quietly investigating your life experience recently, and for this reason you have been in constant contact with the Japanese. You must not be deceived by them and fall into their trap!" Mingtai hesitated for a long time before finally
Couldn't help but say.
"Who did you listen to?" A Cheng asked with a tigerish face, and then he asked and answered, "I know even if you don't tell me, it must be Master A Qiang. No one in our family loves chewing more than him.
It’s the back of others’ tongues. But one thing I can assure you is that everything I do is done with a clear conscience.”
"Really?" Mingtai said still somewhat unconvinced, "Then do you know whether what you did is a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Actually, good and bad are different in the eyes of different people. If it is good for him, it is good, and if it is not good for him, it is bad. But what is good for you may not be good for me. In dialectics, it is...
"
"Okay, okay... I'm really convinced by you. As expected, I grew up with my eldest brother, and I'm even as academic as him!" Cheng finally exhausted Mingtai's last bit of patience, which made him very unhappy.
Said patiently.
Just as he was talking, Minglou's voice suddenly rang out, "What are you two doing standing at the door?"
As soon as these words came out, the two people immediately followed the sound and saw Minglou walking down the stairs.
"What did you say?"
Mingtai reacted immediately and spoke before Acheng: "Brother, I am discussing philosophical issues with Acheng."
"When did you start to like studying philosophy?"
Before he finished speaking, Mingtai glanced at the study door intentionally or unintentionally, "Should we go in or not? This is a philosophical question. I went to my eldest sister's room to read!"
After saying that, Mingtai happily ran past Minglou and ran upstairs "thump thump".
"Slow down, don't fall."
Minglou knew that Mingtai was going to work as a free "library reader" for Mingjing to please Mingjing.
This is a small prelude to every time Mingtai is going to "commit trouble". Although it is not yet known what trouble he is going to get into, it is obvious that this is not what Minglou is most concerned about at the moment.
He silently winked at Acheng, who immediately understood, quickly took out the key, opened the door, and followed Minglou in...
On the other side, Mingtai had just reached the second floor when he collided head-on with Li Qiang.
"How's it going? Did you succeed?" Li Qiang lowered his voice and asked.
"Of course, if I take action, I will be able to capture it! But Brother Aqiang, I just looked at it twice when I was taking pictures, why are they all military supplies purchase lists and reports? This is not top-secret information at all!"
Li Qiang didn't want to hear this but asked back, "Mingtai, although your overall grades in the military academy were very good, I'm sure your grades in strategic intelligence were not that good, right?"
Don't tell me, Li Qiang really got it right. Among the many subjects in the military academy, the subject that gave Mingtai the most headache was strategic intelligence. Therefore, after listening to Li Qiang's words, Mingtai couldn't help but smile.
Yi Hong lowered his head in shame.
And Li Qiang did not keep focusing on his shortcomings. Instead, he quickly spoke to comfort him: "Mingtai! There is no need for you to be so depressed. Everyone has things they are good at and things they are not good at. For example, I am here.
We just don’t know anything about doing business, so as long as we make the most of our strengths and face our weaknesses, we can get twice the result with half the effort, do you understand?”
"Well, I understand, thank you, Brother Aqiang!" Mingtai nodded quickly after hearing this, and then asked his own questions, "Then these purchase lists and reports..."
Li Qiang smiled and said, "Let me ask you, has Shangfeng recently issued a task of 'collecting the Japanese army's third theater force deployment plan'?"
"Yeah..." Mingtai suddenly realized what he was saying halfway through, "You mean, these lists and reports are related to that task?"
"Of course! As the saying goes, 'Food and fodder go first before troops and horses are deployed', doesn't it mean that military supplies come first now? As long as we make reasonable inferences based on the trends of military supplies, wouldn't it be a piece of cake to grasp the trends of the army?
"
…
"Has he come?" As soon as he entered the study, Minglou asked in a somewhat confused manner.
Acheng nodded, "Yes, he is very agile. It seems that he can't wait to use our channels to obtain information."
Minglou silently opened his briefcase and took out a folder from the mezzanine. After checking it carefully, he said with a smile: "It seems that his goal is very clear."
"Obviously, someone was showing him the way."
"You mean A Qiang?"
"Besides him, I can't think of anyone else." At this point, Acheng hesitated for a moment, and then continued, "In addition, he also told Mingtai that I was secretly investigating his life experience."
"This Ah Qiang has never played his cards according to common sense. Even I can't see through him sometimes." After saying that, Minglou waved his hand and simply put the matter aside for the time being, changing the topic and said, "Yes.
Well, how did you go about the things I assigned you before?"
"According to your instructions, we have tried our best to recover some official correspondence from the Japanese military from the confidential room. Although the progress is very slow, we have also recovered several relevant documents regarding the Japanese Third Theater's request for artillery support from other theaters, but
Even so, decisive and key information is still missing."
"Time is tight, the task is heavy, and the war ahead is imminent. We don't have much time left." Minglou said with a frown.
"Then... how about we change our thinking and start with that Chen Bing? Instead of passively waiting for that guy to submit a list of reports, we might as well take the initiative and buy a lot of time." Acheng suggested.
As soon as these words came out, Minglou's eyes immediately lit up, "You mean, let Uncle Li's team take action?"
"Yes, Uncle Li and the others have been monitoring that guy for a while and can take action at any time. Let's explore the guy's background first so as not to waste too much time on him."
"Well, this is one way to do it. Just do as you say! But be sure to tell them to be more careful. Wan Lilang, who is responsible for security, is not an easy man."
"Don't worry, brother! I will warn them." Having said this, Cheng paused for a moment before continuing: "In addition, according to reliable information, the eldest sister opened three safes in a Hong Kong bank a few days ago.
For two of them, someone stored valuables in the afternoon, and they were taken away the next morning. It is estimated that someone is using the identity of the eldest sister as a cover to transfer and hand over the valuables."
As he said that, Ah Cheng put a very thin card on Minglou's desk. On it were the numbers of three safes, and then said with concern: "Those safes, the deposit and withdrawal transactions are really complicated.
Too frequently, it will easily attract the attention of interested people. Brother, you still have to find an opportunity to remind her that once she is targeted by the agents of No. 76, big things will happen!"
"Well, your worries are not unreasonable. Let me handle this matter. Is there anything else?"
"Liang Zhongchun's brother-in-law, Tong Hu, has been very arrogant outside recently. He even went to the concession to act arrogantly and arrested many young students and anti-Japanese radicals. None of them were genuine. However, Liang Zhongchun took the opportunity to make a big deal.
Write articles, show off everywhere, and support the scene for him."
"Hmph, how can he support Tong Hu? He is clearly acting crazy in front of Ding Mo Village. It seems that Zheng Yaoxian's arrival has given him a strong sense of crisis, otherwise he would not be so desperate to show that his subordinates have
You are so capable." Having said this, Minglou adjusted his emotions a little, and then continued to ask, "Speaking of Zheng Yaoxian, what has he been doing recently?"
"I heard that they were rectifying local gangs, and they had some trouble with Zhang Xiaolin, the leader of the Youth Gang. Even though someone came forward to make peace, they still broke up."
Hearing this, Minglou couldn't help but snorted, "I think that when the man surnamed Zheng was the field team leader in Shanghai, he was very angry with the big guys of the Youth Gang. Now that things have changed, then
The fact that this guy is so unrelenting probably has some personal grudges. If this continues, sooner or later there will be a bad fight between them, and then we can fish in troubled waters."
"Yes, it would be better to bring down the entire No. 76, that would be even more exciting!"
Looking at Acheng, who was getting more and more excited as he talked, Minglou couldn't help but smile and said sincerely: "A-Cheng, thank you for your hard work!"
"Brother, what do you mean by this?" Acheng asked in confusion.
Minglou slowly explained: "A Cheng, it is true that you have sacrificed so much for me and this family over the years. But you have to know that some things, I mean family matters, are not mine alone.
It’s the final say. I can’t change it. But as long as you say, let Aunt Gui go, then I will definitely respect your wishes and let her leave. But..."
Speaking of this, Minglou suddenly changed the subject, "However, after so many years, she has experienced a lot of difficulties in life, and I think she has indeed changed a lot. Look...should I give her another chance?"
