mesbooks 125. New Year's Day
125. New Year's Day
"Breaking news! Breaking news! Sakura is co-hosting a New Year Lion Dance Competition with the local Chamber of Commerce, and a bonus has been awarded! The Lion Dance King will receive a prize of one hundred dollars and the opportunity to join the Chamber of Commerce and earn extra commissions! Breaking news!"
The newsboys shouted slogans and waved their newspapers as they walked through the streets and alleys.
"Mr. Zhou, congratulations on your fortune! Here's your newspaper!"
The newsboy, who had long been familiar with Zhou Hongyi and his group, respectfully handed the newspaper into the "onepiece" antique shop.
Zhou Hongyi had just received a batch of goods today, which were being displayed there. He personally took the newspaper and patted the newsboy on the head.
He unfolded the newspaper, casually glanced at a few pages, and saw a report about the New Year's Lion Dance Championship. The Sakura Chamber of Commerce covered all the initial investment costs and the winner's bonus. One hundred silver dollars might not mean much to him, but for ordinary people in Shanghai, it was a huge sum of money, enough to feed them for a year, provided the currency didn't depreciate.
Zhou Hongyi flicked the newspaper, told the police officers who came to help to set up the goods, and then took them out to a restaurant. He then made an excuse that he had other things to do and went to the Guanyin District farm implement factory that he had secretly funded.
Zhou Hongyi knew that he couldn't hide his secret investment in the factory from the Special Higher Police and Kondo, so he didn't expect to keep it a secret for long. However, he still had to put on a good show. He couldn't bring himself to say it, but he had to find an opportunity to let Kondo say it himself. That way, the latter would have the illusion that he had caught him red-handed. Meanwhile, Zhou Hongyi had to show appropriate shock and give the other party enough emotional value.
Upon entering the factory, Ah Gui quickly came out to greet Zhou Hongyi, leading him through an inconspicuous small door next to a scalding boiler. From there, they would exit to their actual training ground and weapons processing plant.
Using his expertise in explosives, Zhou Hongyi guided everyone in making their own hand grenades. Although homemade, his grenades had a higher safety factor, greater power, and were also cheaper to produce.
Ah Gui had assembled a team of more than twenty men. Although they all looked dark-skinned and covered in sweat, they were all strong and vigorous young men.
"Everyone, please stop what you're doing for a moment. This is our boss. I believe you've all heard of him. Boss Zhou is the director of the Second Branch of the Jing'an Public Security Bureau, but in reality, he is the head of the largest underground anti-Japanese national salvation organization in Shanghai. I believe you brothers have already realized that Mr. Zhou's usual behavior is all an act to deceive the Japanese. In his heart, he always cares about the motherland and our people. The school built across the street was also funded by his sister, which proves that Mr. Zhou's family are all good people."
Ah Gui gave a speech first. This group of deserters, students and refugees wanted to clap, but they were afraid that outsiders would hear them, so they ended up clapping quietly, which was quite comical.
Zhou Hongyi raised his hand and said, "Alright, everyone, no need to be so polite. Now, I believe everyone has heard that the Japanese Sakura Trading Company is going to hold a lion dance competition on New Year's Day. I and a few other bosses have discussed it and we want to use this competition to send some winter clothes to the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Force. In order to avoid suspicion, we also need to send a few people to participate in the competition. I would like to ask if anyone has experience in lion dancing?"
After Zhou Hongyi finished speaking, one of the men immediately stepped forward and said, "Boss, I can do lion dances and dragon dances. I used to make a living doing this back in my hometown."
Zhou Hongyi's eyes lit up, and he asked for more details, which the man answered one by one without hesitation. It seemed that he really knew a lot about lion dancing.
"What's this guy's name? Is he originally from Guangzhou?"
The man nodded emphatically and said, “Boss, my name is Hong Xiaoliang. My ancestral home is in Guangdong. I used to be a soldier. I survived a war, but I was blown up and ended up in a ditch. When I woke up, all my comrades had been killed... I couldn't find my organization, so I could only do manual labor in Shanghai. It wasn't until I met these brothers and Brother Gui that I was brought to this factory and found a place to stay. We know that you are a man who does great things, and we are just roughnecks, but if you need our help, just ask. Even if it's a mountain of knives or a sea of fire, we will go with you!”
Zhou Hongyi nodded in satisfaction and said, "Good, Brother Hong is right. Now that we are a group, we should be united against the enemy and obey the unified arrangements and deployments. Just like a person's fingers, when separated, they can be used for crafting, carving, or even clapping, but when put together, they can form a fist to defeat any enemy that stands in our way."
Unity is something I've always emphasized, and loyalty is something you're born with. As long as we stand united, we will surely drive the invaders out of our homeland. Now, I need a few people who can perform lion dances to come with me to register for the New Year Lion King Competition. Of course, winning the competition is just the surface; in reality, we want to use this opportunity to transport a shipment of goods.
After Zhou Hongyi finished speaking, he immediately selected four people from the group of more than twenty to undergo a short-term intensive training session with Hong Xiaoliang. He also asked Gu Tianbo for three lion dance troupes, and the four men he selected each danced with one lion. As for why there were three lions, it was because Zhou Hongyi wanted to dance with one himself.
That's right, transporting clothes was a pretense; his real purpose was to take advantage of the chaos to send weapons expert Professor Wang Zhaohui out of Shanghai.
Of course, he didn't reveal his purpose yet; at this stage, only he knew it. Zhou Hongyi planned to have Bodhi find a capable agent within the organization to assist him in completing the mission.
After arranging the lion dance strategy, Hong Xiaoliang led the others to start training. Even if it was just for show, they couldn't let down the national pride. They had to win even if it was a lion dance competition.
After Zhou Hongyi finished arranging the affairs, he notified Bodhi through their unique method of communication and expressed his request.
When Bodhi heard that Zhou Hongyi was planning to take advantage of the chaos of the New Year's Lion King Competition to smuggle weapons experts out of Shanghai, he took it very seriously and decided to report it to his superiors so that he could find a strong ally for Zhou Hongyi.
After recuperating in the police station's archives for some time, weapons expert Professor Wang's leg injury has basically recovered, and his complexion is much better than when he first arrived; he looks like a completely different person.
Zhou Hongyi told him about his plans, and Professor Wang said that he was ready to go at any time.
As the new year begins, everything is renewed. Although it was a dark time, people still had to live their lives.
Although the Japanese had explicitly banned the setting off of firecrackers in Shanghai, the people still managed to buy some through various channels and lit them up everywhere early on New Year's Day, creating a constant barrage of popping and banging sounds.
The military police conducted surprise inspections of this behavior on the streets and even arrested some people, but the New Year traditions ingrained in the Chinese people cannot be changed overnight. Besides, they couldn't arrest everyone; people were setting off firecrackers everywhere.
Ultimately, the military police could only investigate the cannon sellers, but where could they even begin to investigate? The order was essentially ignored, and as a result, the cannons were set off even more fiercely in Shanghai.