Chapter 013

013  

As for whether the cold water had cleaned everything properly, she didn’t care—Auntie Gu was keeping an eye on it anyway.  

Declining Auntie Gu’s insistence to stay, Qingyin left the Gu household under the cover of night. But instead of returning to Courtyard No. 16, she headed to the place where she’d had the key copied last time.  

Her frequent absences from home had already caught Auntie Gu’s attention, and it wouldn’t be long before the rest of the courtyard noticed too. With her work schedule limiting her freedom, she needed to find someone to help her.  

Fortunately, the one-armed uncle was still there, bent over grinding a key.  

“Uncle, aren’t you going home yet?”  

“No one’s keeping tabs on this job. I can work as late as I want.”  

Seizing the opportunity, Qingyin asked, “Then can you set up your stall wherever you want?”  

Uncle Liu looked up. “Just say it. What do you want me to do?”  

Qingyin gave an awkward chuckle. The one-armed uncle’s sharp, hawk-like eyes made it clear there was no point beating around the bush.  

“Could you set up your stall near the back gate of District No. 2 Elementary School?”  

That school happened to be where Da Ya attended, and the old man had been there a few times before. Besides, the school wasn’t far from here—he wouldn’t have to push his cart too far. All he needed was to notify the neighborhood committee and the relevant authorities. “Sure.”  

Lowering her voice, Qingyin explained her request in a few words, careful not to exaggerate in case she scared him. But to her surprise, he didn’t even bat an eye. “That’s it?”  

Uncle Liu hadn’t expected that Qingyin, after shadowing him for days, would only ask for something like this.  

His guard lowered. It seemed he’d overthought things—her request was nothing like what he’d assumed. Compared to those possibilities, what she wanted was far too simple.  

Qingyin had no idea her recent movements had already been noticed, nor that Uncle Liu had misunderstood her intentions. Worried he might not fully grasp her meaning, she repeated her instructions in detail, only for him to wave her off impatiently. “Alright, got it. Go home and wait for news.”  

“You understand what I mean, right, Uncle?”  

“If you don’t leave, I will.”  

Qingyin nearly choked. Uncle Liu’s stubbornness was something else. Over the past few days, while keeping an eye on him, she’d also been gathering information about him.  

Auntie Gu had told her that Uncle Liu’s real name was Liu Fuxiang. Born into poverty, he used to go door-to-door in the old society collecting slop and cleaning out latrines. Later, thanks to his familiarity with the streets, he helped underground operatives deliver messages a few times. During the war against the Japanese, he contributed significantly, aiding in the cover-up of resistance heroes. After liberation, he was personally commended and received by high-ranking officials.  

His right arm had been lost in one of those operations.  

Given preferential treatment, he was offered a leadership position, but he refused—he was illiterate and had no interest in managing others. Instead, he continued roaming the streets, making a modest living by copying keys.  

Because of his unique status, even district officials addressed him respectfully as “Uncle Liu.” He abided by the law, so he could set up his key-copying stall wherever he pleased. During the worst years of the turmoil, when even the young rebels dared to challenge anyone, they never dared to touch him—all because of his background.  

Though disabled, his home proudly displayed commendation certificates, handwritten letters of praise from high-ranking leaders, and photos of him standing alongside them.  

Qingyin truly couldn’t find anyone else suitable to help her, so she had no choice but to approach him. To her surprise, he agreed without hesitation.  

In the following days, Qingyin continued her routine, going to work without fail—though, truthfully, there wasn’t much for her to do at the moment.

Lin Li didn’t think much of her. Despite Qingyin technically filling Qingyang’s position, she was assigned nursing duties—ostensibly to learn how to administer injections and prepare medications. But the clinic was too small, and with district, municipal, and even provincial hospitals nearby, barely two patients walked in each day.  

Even when they did, it was usually just for free cold medicine or deworming tablets. There was hardly any opportunity for her to learn.  

***  

That day, as usual, she had just arrived at the office when Sister Li burst in excitedly. “Hey, hey, did you hear? Something happened last night!”  

“What happened?” Sister Zhang even set aside her knitting.  

“There was an incident at the fertilizer factory last night. The police and military teamed up to raid a spy den—six people in total! Rumor has it one of them was a high-ranking leader. They confiscated nearly a hundred pounds of homemade explosives, all buried beneath several major factories in our city. One pull of the detonator, and our heavy industry would’ve been wiped out.”  

“So our steel plant was targeted too?”  

“Of course! Ours were planted right under the smelting furnaces. If those had gone off, we wouldn’t even be alive to talk about it now.” Sister Li shuddered. “The temperature under those furnaces is insanely high. It was a close call—just a little longer, and everything would’ve blown. If they’d discovered it an hour later, none of us would be left standing.”  

Those saboteurs were ruthless. The explosion itself would’ve been bad enough, but the smelting furnaces held hundreds, even thousands of tons of high-temperature molten steel. The heat would’ve been like a volcanic eruption—anyone caught in it would’ve been reduced to bones instantly. Burying the explosives there was clearly meant to create a nationwide shock, maximizing casualties, destruction, and disruption to productivity.  

Qingyin couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.  

Sister Zhang muttered a few prayers before pressing for more details, but Qingyin found it odd. A spy bust of this magnitude had only happened last night—how had word spread to the steel plant so quickly? Was Sister Li exceptionally well-informed, or had security been lax?  

“Ordinary folks wouldn’t have this kind of intel. My husband’s police station was called in to assist three days ago. Of course, they weren’t allowed into the inner perimeter, but he heard it from a buddy at the district bureau. The den was only raided last night.”  

Ah, that explained it.  

This was Qingyin’s first time hearing live gossip about spies, and she was fascinated. She pressed for more details.  

“Ah, I don’t know much else. If you’re curious, ask the security department. I heard they did a full sweep this morning after the explosives were dismantled. They’d have firsthand info.”  

The security department—Qingyin suddenly remembered running into Gu’s Mother yesterday. She mentioned that Gu An, that rascal, had grudgingly washed the dishes that night before sneaking out again. It had been half a month since he’d last come home, and no one knew what he was up to with those good-for-nothing friends of his. She’d asked Qingyin to pass along a message if she saw him at the plant during the day—tell him to come home.  

Qingyin figured this was a good chance to swing by the security department and relay the message.  

But when she, Sister Li, and Sister Zhang arrived, they were told Gu An had taken leave.  

Puzzled, Qingyin pressed further, but no one had seen him in a while. His whereabouts remained a mystery.

After all, he was just a temporary worker—paid the least and doing the hardest labor. As long as he was available when needed, that was enough. This morning, as if he knew the factory would have a major operation requiring everyone’s presence, he called in before the section chief could even look for him, saying he had urgent matters and needed two days off.

Qingyin found it strange, but everyone was too busy discussing the spy incident to ask why Gu An, an insignificant little figure, had taken leave.

These were the same colleagues who would happily chat about hotpot and braised donkey meat with him as if they were the best of buddies.

She hadn’t planned on bothering with that spirited young man, but remembering how he had washed the dishes that night and thinking of Auntie Gu’s ailing legs, she decided to check on him at home.

Still, she didn’t skip work and waited until her shift ended before leaving.

***

“What? He asked for leave? But he’s not at home! Where has that boy run off to again? With all this spy business making everyone uneasy these days, I hope he doesn’t stir up trouble…” Auntie Gu grew even more anxious upon hearing Qingyin’s words. “No, I have to go ask around.”

Seeing how much pain she was in just walking, Qingyin had no choice but to follow, supporting her as they made their way to Gangzi’s place.

Gangzi was Gu An’s closest sidekick. Since Gangzi’s parents had passed away and he had two rooms at home, Gu An usually slept there.

But Gangzi was just as clueless. “I haven’t seen Brother Anzi for days. I thought he was busy with work.”

“Work? Work my foot! All he does is fool around. If he doesn’t shape up soon, he’ll lose that security job!” Auntie Gu was so furious she couldn’t hold back.

Luckily, Gangzi was used to it. “Auntie, don’t worry. I’ll go ask Xiangzi and Liangzi. You go home and wait for news.”

“Brother Anzi’s closest buddies are just the three of us. If he’s not at my place, he must be at theirs.”

Qingyin chimed in to reassure her, and Auntie Gu reluctantly agreed. Xiangzi and Liangzi lived even farther away, up in the northern district. With her legs acting up these days, she couldn’t make it that far, and there wasn’t even a bicycle at home.

Qingyin hadn’t thought much of it at first, but by the next afternoon when Gangzi still hadn’t returned, she began to sense something was wrong.

At this critical moment, the alleys were swarming with militia patrols. Every household locked their doors as soon as it got dark, and even Lin Suifen and her daughter had stopped going out. For someone like Gu An—a street-smart troublemaker who always knew how to read the winds—to suddenly disappear was truly unusual.

She overheard the patrols saying that some accomplices of the spies were still at large, and the steel factory area was a prime target for sabotage. That was why extra manpower had been deployed within a ten-kilometer radius, with every compound even required to send people to join the militia patrols. Meetings were being held in every courtyard, and households were counting heads. Against this backdrop, his “disappearance” seemed even more suspicious.

Lost in thought, Qingyin hurried toward the outhouse.

Going to the toilet before bed was no easy feat in an era still reliant on public latrines. The night was pitch black, with no streetlights in sight. Qingyin tiptoed as she ran, determined to make it quick.

But just as she reached the outhouse door, a hand suddenly reached out from nowhere. “Comrade Qing, don’t make a sound.”

Qingyin stayed silent—then instantly lashed out with a sweeping kick aimed straight at the man’s most vulnerable spot.

He barely dodged. “It’s me—Qu Jianjun.”

Qu Jianjun—of course Qingyin remembered him. He was Uncle Liu’s son-in-law, Da Ya’s father. But she still didn’t look pleased. Anyone startled like this would be in a bad mood.  

“Please come with me to a certain place, Comrade Qing.”  

Before Qingyin could say “no,” two shadowy figures suddenly emerged from nowhere, “escorting” her onto a jeep from both sides.  

Qingyin internally cursed: Getting kidnapped while going to the bathroom—what a damn transmigration novel world!