Chapter 105: Captured

It’s the year 1991, and there isn’t a pre-sale system for houses in the country yet. Houses are sold after completion, with utilities already set up for immediate occupancy. Few people bother with elaborate decorations at this time, including Jiang Liyun.

She moves into her newly purchased house, but during this process, she senses someone watching her—perhaps not her but Feng Yi. Though she doesn’t feel it on regular days, when Feng Yi visits on weekends, a sense of unease creeps in, as if they’re being followed.

Jiang Liyun, daring and proactive in both lifetimes, remains vigilant about her safety. In her past life, a momentary lapse led to a life-altering accident caused by Xie Zugen. Since then, she’s been attentive to her surroundings, prioritising her personal safety.

“Feng Yi, do you feel like someone is following us?” she asks him.

Feng Yi confirms, having sensed it himself. Always being a somewhat invisible figure at the Feng residence, he’s become sensitive to his surroundings, especially after leaving school.

Concerned, Jiang Liyun wonders if it’s related to Feng Yi’s past, perhaps retaliation from Shao Chengdong. “Have you encountered anything unusual lately? Could it be Shao Chengdong’s family seeking revenge?” she speculates.

Given Feng Yi’s recent activities, mainly studying or helping out at Charles Hamburg, he hasn’t provoked anyone aside from Shao Chengdong. Yet, someone is tailing him, and Jiang Liyun decides to investigate.

“It shouldn’t be. I heard his whole family got arrested,” Feng Yi responds, referring to the recent arrest of Shao Chengdong’s family. However, the mystery of the person tailing Feng Yi remains unsolved.

Determined to find answers, Jiang Liyun resolves to enquire among the local tough guys in Shanghai. Despite the relatively good security in Shanghai during the 1990s, she knows there are still areas with potential threats. She decides to gather information or hire protection for Feng Yi if needed.

“Feng Yi, you need to be careful,” Feng Yi warns.

Jiang Liyun considers for a moment before saying, “I’ll be careful. Tomorrow, I’ll have Zhao Damei accompany me all day.”

Zhao Damei, whom Jiang Liyun mentions, is an employee at the hamburger shop. There are two types of employees at the shop: those who handle cashier duties at the front and those who work in the kitchen.

Jiang Liyun has higher requirements for the cashiers—they must be literate, speak Mandarin, and preferably also know Shanghainese. If they don’t speak Shanghainese, they need to learn the pronunciation of words like “hamburger.”

In this era, even some born in the 1960s struggle with Mandarin, not to mention those born in the 1970s and 1980s. Illiterate and non-Mandarin-speaking individuals are abundant, especially among older Shanghai locals who only speak the local dialect.

The kitchen staff has lower requirements. Zhao Damei, for example, works in the kitchen. She stands at 177 cm tall and was skinny when Jiang Liyun hired her, but after half a year, she has become quite robust, with physical strength comparable to some men.

Speaking of Zhao Damei, there’s another incident worth mentioning. During the Chinese New Year, some employees went home for the holiday. Most returned to work afterwards, but one cashier faced severe accusations from her family.

She was exceptionally pretty and had dolled herself up with makeup when she went home, leading her family to misunderstand her job outside, thinking it was illicit given her high earnings. They even deemed her “unclean” and rushed to marry her off.

She had no one to turn to but Zhao Damei, who lived nearby and had accompanied her to work before. In the end, Zhao Damei intervened and cleared up the rumours about her.

Zhao Damei was one of the first to return to work after the holiday. The girl, after falling out with her family, resolved not to give them any more money and planned to save up to buy her own house, even if it meant buying in a cheaper area of Shanghai.

Jiang Liyun approves of this approach. If one’s family is supportive, mutual assistance is expected, but if not, one’s own well-being takes precedence.

In any case, Zhao Damei is quite capable!

Jiang Liyun herself avoids secluded areas, sticking to main streets, and with someone as tall as Zhao Damei accompanying her, she should be fine. As for Feng Yi, Jiang Liyun advises him not to walk alone on weekends and to stick with Lu Haijun and Shao Chengdong. Furthermore, she’ll find more people to investigate those following Feng Yi.

Jiang Liyun has been doing business with chicken wholesalers in Shanghai for a long time, and Sun Jinshan often frequents the area. She has some connections in Shanghai. After Feng Yi and Shao Chengdong returned to school, Jiang Liyun inquired but didn’t find any useful information. So, she decided to spend some money to have a few tough guys keep an eye on Feng Yi.

These so-called tough guys are actually unemployed teenagers, aged around seventeen or eighteen. Despite the abundance of job opportunities in Shanghai, most factories employing light industrial workers prefer female workers. These teenagers, with poor education and an unwillingness to do hard labour, end up unemployed and labelled as “thugs” by some. However, they haven’t done anything criminal. The ones Jiang Liyun hired are local residents from relatively well-off families.

“I’ll pay you ten yuan a day, and you can have a ten-yuan meal at Charles Hamburg every day. Just find out who’s following Feng Yi,” Jiang Liyun instructs.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of this!”

“We, the Five Kings of the Street, will handle it!”

“Just wait for our message!”

…

These individuals reassure Jiang Liyun, pounding their chests. Then, one of them asks, “Sis, do you have a boyfriend?”

Jiang Liyun, wanting to avoid any complications, straightforwardly says, “I got married a long time ago.”

The young man looks a bit disappointed. “Sis, why did you get married so early?”

The “Five Kings of the Street,” with not much to do on regular days, often hang around the area near H University. With Hong Kong movies like “A Better Tomorrow” already making their way to the mainland, they consider protecting Feng Yi a significant matter. Even when they come to Jiang Liyun’s hamburger shop for a meal, they take turns and provide updates on the situation.

During Feng Yi’s time at H University, they didn’t notice anything unusual. However, on a Saturday when Feng Yi worked at Charles Hamburg, they observed someone tailing him.

After learning more about Feng Yi’s background, they discovered he’s a high-achieving student at H University, highly regarded by professors. Despite being only a freshman, he’s already studying content from higher grades and is part of the computer science department, focusing on the reputed electronic computer field.

Is he a national talent?

Someone is tracking Feng Yi—could they be trying to steal national secrets?

The “Five Kings of the Street” get excited.

Zhou Sigu remains unaware that Feng Yi and Jiang Liyun have detected something amiss. He has been cautious about Feng Yi, fearing that Feng Yi might apply for Zhou’s scholarship. The scholarship application requires a lot of information, and if Zhou’s father were to look at the documents, he might notice that Feng Yi’s hometown is the same as his own.

Fortunately, Feng Yi hasn’t applied for the scholarship. However, Zhou Sigu still closely monitors his father’s activities and has people keeping an eye on Feng Yi.

Zhou Sigu is even contemplating harming Feng Yi, but being unfamiliar with Shanghai, he can’t find suitable people to help. If those around him were to take action and fail, it would spell disaster for him.

In the end, Zhou Sigu has his people watch Feng Yi and seize any suitable opportunity to deal with him.

However, Feng Yi rarely acts alone, and even when he does, it’s in busy public places. Zhou Sigu can’t find an opportunity to deal with him.

“My nephew has no backbone, actually agreeing to be a son-in-law.” Zhou Sigu looks at the information his people gathered about Feng Yi in Jiucun Town and sneers.

He thought his nephew had worked hard to achieve what he had, only to discover that he relied on others, even a woman.

Zhou Sigu is starting to look down on Feng Yi.

Even if he does, Feng Yi still needs to find a way to resolve this.

As Zhou Sigu contemplates this, Zhou Chongcheng enters, saying, “Zhou Sigu, what have you been up to?”

Zhou Sigu’s heart skips a beat, feeling flustered.

Could his father have discovered what he’s been doing?

Of course, Zhou Chongcheng hasn’t found out about Zhou Sigu’s activities, but seeing Zhou Sigu’s guilty expression, he becomes angrier: “I’ve already negotiated the general situation with them. You only need to handle some simple follow-up matters. Why can’t you even manage that?”

Zhou Chongcheng came to find Zhou Sigu because Zhou Sigu mishandled the job Zhou Chongcheng assigned to him.

They are eyeing the vast mainland market and planning to establish a factory there. With such intentions, they need to treat people on the mainland with a better attitude.

However, Zhou Sigu messed it up, not only failing to do the job properly but also showing a bad attitude.

Realising that his father hasn’t discovered his private activities, Zhou Sigu heaves a sigh of relief but is still somewhat unwilling. “Dad, those people are too troublesome, causing a bunch of issues.”

Zhou Sigu looks down on the people on the mainland, feeling that everything here is lacking.

Even though he acknowledges his father’s decision, his attitude towards those negotiating with them on the mainland has always been condescending. With his focus on keeping an eye on Feng Yi and his father, he becomes increasingly indifferent when handling work.

Zhou Chongcheng advises, “When you’re on someone else’s turf, you need to follow their requirements! It might be a bit more procedural and troublesome, but if you handle it properly, it would have been done already!”

Zhou Sigu remains dissatisfied.

Seeing Zhou Sigu’s attitude, Zhou Chongcheng becomes angrier. “Reflect on yourself properly.”

As they talked, suddenly the police burst in.

Both Zhou Chongcheng and Zhou Sigu are dumbfounded.

The police state, “We suspect that you’ve come to the mainland to steal secrets. Please come with us.”

Zhou Chongcheng hurriedly explains, “This is a misunderstanding.” Stealing secrets? He came to the mainland because of the enormous market!

Zhou Sigu adds, “What stealing secrets? What secrets do you have that we would want to steal?”

“We’ve already caught one of your subordinates. If there’s anything, you can discuss it at the police station,” the leading police officer says.

Zhou Chongcheng and Zhou Sigu exchange glances, infuriated but forced to follow the police to the station.

Zhou Chongcheng suspects he might have been set up by his colleagues. As for Zhou Sigu, he starts cursing, believing these police officers have wrongly accused innocent people.

But upon reaching the police station and seeing his captured subordinate and Feng Yi sitting on the side, Zhou Sigu is left speechless.

Zhou Chongcheng is puzzled—how could Feng Yi be here?

Zhou Chongcheng has some positive impressions of Feng Yi, but they’re limited.

He has seen the scholarship applications received by Zhou’s company but didn’t notice Feng Yi’s name, nor did he pay much attention.

He gave Feng Yi an opportunity, but if Feng Yi doesn’t seize it, it’s his own problem.

Now, after meeting Feng Yi at the police station, Zhou Chongcheng doesn’t understand what’s going on.

This incident traces back to the group of thugs that Jiang Liyun hired. They discovered someone following Feng Yi and reported it.

The person tailing Feng Yi was one of Zhou Sigu’s trusted subordinates, meaning he was not a local in Shanghai and unfamiliar with the situation. Untrained in tracking, he revealed many flaws during the surveillance.

The five thugs were different.

Despite lacking tracking skills, their familiarity with the area played a crucial role. With five people, they were able to switch positions effectively—one entering an alley, another taking over, while the initial person went around the back.

The person tracking Feng Yi was too nervous and solely focused on Feng Yi, completely oblivious to the suspicious signs around him.

When Feng Yi, accompanied by Lu Haijun, entered Charles Hamburg, the tracker found a nearby spot and bought some food.

During this time, one of the thugs stood besides him.

It was then that the thug realised that the person tracking Feng Yi was not a local!

Not being a local wasn’t the main issue; later investigations revealed that this person was from Taiwan!

This was seen as an attempt to steal their country’s secrets!

The thugs immediately reported them to the police.

Although they were often chased away by police while loitering on the streets, they still went to the police when something happened.

Well, one of them had a brother-in-law who was a police officer!

Upon hearing their report, the police took it seriously and arranged for someone to follow Feng Yi. Eventually, they caught the person tracking Feng Yi.

This person was from Taiwan and had not been on the mainland for long. Why was he tracking Feng Yi? Did he have some undisclosed secrets?

They interrogated the person, but he refused to say anything. The more he remained silent, the more suspicious the police became.

The police attached great importance to the matter and finally brought Zhou Chongcheng and Zhou Sigu to the station.

“Is this person your employee? He was tracking Feng Yi…” the police began, but Zhou Sigu interrupted, “Why are you arresting us? We’re here to invest! Aren’t you afraid that no one will invest in your country with such a poor investment environment?”

The police frowned upon hearing “your country.” Their gaze towards Zhou Sigu turned hostile.

Based on the thugs’ statements, they believed Feng Yi was a top talent. Therefore, Zhou Sigu’s decision to have someone follow Feng Yi likely had malicious intent.

“Zhou Sigu! Shut up!” Zhou Chongcheng silenced his son and then asked the police, “Sorry, my son is a bit impulsive. Can you tell me what happened?”

Although Zhou Chongcheng was also unhappy, he knew they were on someone else’s turf and had to be sensible.

“Dad, what could have happened? They must be trying to extort money from us!” Zhou Sigu interjected.

Zhou Chongcheng gave his eldest son a cold glance before turning back to the police.

Pointing at Zhou Sigu’s subordinate, the police explained, “This person was acting suspiciously, constantly following Feng Yi with the intention of harming him. Since he refused to explain his actions, we had to bring you here.”

Zhou Chongcheng had considered the possibility of extortion, but he didn’t expect that the incident leading to his arrest would be like this.

“This must be a misunderstanding. My subordinate is fine. Why would he track Feng Yi? Maybe they just happened to be walking on the same path!” Zhou Sigu argued.

“We received the report yesterday and had Feng Yi go to the market today. He walked around for hours, and this person followed him the whole time!” the police stated.

Zhou Sigu wanted to say more but met Zhou Chongcheng’s scrutinising gaze.

Having experienced many things, Zhou Chongcheng was good at reading people. He could usually see through his son’s thoughts, but he didn’t pay much attention to them.

Nobody’s perfect, and he couldn’t expect his son to be purely good. If his son were too kind, he wouldn’t dare entrust the company to him!

Now, he saw something different in his son—guilt.

He suspected that his son had instructed his subordinate to track Feng Yi, but why would his son do such a thing?

“You’d better explain why you arranged for someone to follow Feng Yi,” the police demanded.

“This is a misunderstanding. I met Feng Yi before and had a good impression of him. I even wanted to sponsor his education. That must be why my subordinate tried to fulfil my wishes and did something inappropriate,” Zhou Chongcheng explained.

This clearly implicates his son, but as a father, what can he do other than help his son clean up the mess?

“This isn’t just inappropriate; this person has been tracking me for a month, clearly with ill intentions. I suspect he wants to harm me!” Feng Yi declared.

Feng Yi could sense the malice directed at him from both the person tracking him and Zhou Sigu.

He already knew about the identity of the Zhou family. These were influential people. If he didn’t figure out why they were tracking him and let them go, only to be targeted again later, what would he do?

Regardless, he needed to understand why these people were tracking him and ensure his safety in the future.

“You’re just an ordinary college student. Why would anyone want to harm you?” Zhou Chongcheng helplessly asked.

“Who knows!” Feng Yi replied, “Maybe it’s because my project with the professor has attracted too much attention.” Although his project with the professor wasn’t particularly remarkable, he didn’t mind exaggerating.

Zhou Chongcheng fell silent.

Zhou Sigu chimed in, “What you’re researching with your professor is nothing special.”

“Have you investigated me?” Feng Yi asked.

Zhou Sigu felt like he was caught in a trap and couldn’t find the words to reply.

Zhou Sigu had entertained thoughts of harming Feng Yi, but he never imagined that before he could act, he would end up being brought into the police station.

If the police insisted on a thorough investigation, would Feng Yi’s identity be exposed? What would his father do if Feng Yi’s identity was revealed?

Zhou Sigu felt uneasy, and his gaze towards Feng Yi was filled with resentment.

By this time, the police had already checked some information about Zhou Sigu, Zhou Chongcheng, and others.

“Zhou Sigu, male, 39 years old, arrived in Shanghai on February 2, 1991.”

Zhou Chongcheng was startled to hear this.

His son didn’t arrive in Shanghai on February 2!

He came on February 6, and his son, arriving later, should have come around February 20.

But the police couldn’t have mistaken his son’s entry date.

If his son didn’t arrive on February 2, where was he in those days before?