Taking the Bait

"There was this one time when Feng the Third had the eatery pack up leftover food. The waiter noticed the pork knuckle hadn't even been touched and asked why he was packing it up without eating it," Tang Yan said. "What did Feng the Third say?" Fang Jibai asked with a smile. "Feng the Third claimed he was saving it for later that night when he got hungry," Tang Yan chuckled. "Pure nonsense, of course! The waiter said Feng the Third was swallowing spit while saying it." "So what's your verdict?" Fang Jibai asked Tang Yan. "The food Feng the Third packed up was brought right here for that Japanese man to eat," Tang Yan said. "So that's why you had me go asking around, Fourth Brother. I'm so thickheaded—I'm only just realizing you already figured this out long ago." "Not bad at all. You're plenty sharp," Fang Jibai praised him. Tang Yan's eyes lit up at the compliment. Grinning sheepishly, he scratched his head. ... "Now we can be certain Ji Mingshuo stayed hidden indoors and barely stepped outside at all, nor did he light a fire to cook. Feng the Third brought him food in the dead of night," Fang Jibai said. "Spot on." Tang Yan nodded, his eyes brightening. "Fourth Brother, when you asked the neighbors earlier if anyone kept dogs, it suddenly came back to me: Feng the Third used to deal in dogs. Dogs always obey him, and he isn't a stranger around here, so when he came at night, none of them barked." "Well done. You're drawing connections on your own now," Fang Jibai said with a smile. Inwardly, though, he gave a quiet sigh. In truth, establishing that Feng the Third had bought packed meals and delivered them here for Ji Mingshuo shouldn't have required such painstaking investigation and deduction. All it really needed was Feng the Third's confession. However, after capturing Feng the Third that night, a few lashes of the whip had been enough for him to confess that Ji Mingshuo was hiding in Anggong's house. An emergency operation to capture the spy was launched immediately. Once the Japanese spy was successfully apprehended and the radio was seized, Fang Jibai advised Chen Xiuqi to escort the prisoners to Nanjing overnight. Consequently, there had been no time to record a detailed confession regarding Feng the Third bringing packed meals. Fang Jibai looked at Tang Yan, feeling minded to test him. "Tang Yan," he said. "Do you know what I brought you here for?" "To find the codebook," Tang Yan replied. "Oh?" Fang Jibai looked at him. "You guessed it? Not bad." "I didn't guess it at first," Tang Yan rubbed his neck sheepishly and said. "I only just thought of it. Since you asked like that, Fourth Brother, you had to have a purpose in coming here. Then I remembered that we didn't find the codebook that day." "Then where do you think the codebook is hidden?" Fang Jibai asked. "In the chimney," Tang Yan blurted out. "You've glanced at it several times already, Fourth Brother." Fang Jibai chuckled. "You boy, you're quite observant." "Fourth Brother, let me climb the chimney! Let me do it," Tang Yan offered eagerly. "You're too big," Fang Jibai shook his head. "Go over to Taiding Bridge and fetch Xiao Mi for me." "Yes, sir!" ... "Isn't that policeman the one who was following Fang Jibai earlier?" Dongfang Xu asked, pointing at the officer jogging past in the distance alongside a half-grown boy. "Tang Yan, an officer from the Lücheng Police Bureau," Zhao Ding answered immediately. "And the boy?" Dongfang Xu asked. "His name is Xiao Mi. He works on the boats," Zhao Ding replied. "He listens to Fourth Fang more than anyone." "Where is Fang Jibai?" Dongfang Xu asked. Zhao Ding waved over one of his men. "Go find out where Fang Jibai is and what he's doing," Zhao Ding ordered. "No need," Dongfang Xu said, pointing at the retreating backs of Tang Yan and Xiao Mi. "If I'm not mistaken, following those two will lead us straight to Fang Jibai." With that, he took the lead. "Come on. What are you standing around for?" The group trailed behind Tang Yan and Xiao Mi at a distance. "Secretary Dongfang," Zhao Ding murmured. "Just ahead is Jiangjia Village." Pointing ahead, he added, "That's Anggong's house." "Anggong?" Dongfang Xu's expression shifted. "Now this is getting interesting." Stroking his chin, his curiosity was thoroughly piqued. He wanted to see what tricks this Fang Jibai was up to. Boss Dai had personally cabled orders directing him to find a way to make contact with Fang Jibai. Evidently, Boss Dai was interested in this Fang Jibai, and he, in turn, was very interested in Boss Dai's interest. ... "Fourth Brother." Fang Jibai crouched down slightly, and Xiao Mi cupped a hand around his mouth to whisper into his ear. "I understand," Fang Jibai nodded. Pointing toward the chimney, he said to Xiao Mi, "Something should be hidden inside that chimney—likely a book or a dictionary of some sort." "Aren't they afraid of burning a book by hiding it in a chimney?" Xiao Mi grinned. "Go on, and be careful," Fang Jibai ruffled Xiao Mi's hair with a chuckle. "Don't worry, Fourth Brother!" Xiao Mi patted his chest. He, Fan Xiao Mi, could climb trees, dive into rivers, and slip through chimneys—second to none in Lücheng Town when it came to such feats. "Fourth Brother," Tang Yan stepped over to Fang Jibai and asked in a low voice, "did you suspect it was in the chimney the moment you walked in?" "What makes you say that?" Fang Jibai glanced at him. "I've been mulling it over," Tang Yan said. "I remembered how you studied those broken pieces of bowl right after stepping inside. You always have a reason for what you do, Fourth Brother—you wouldn't stare at broken porcelain dishes without a purpose." Fang Jibai tapped off the ash from his cigarette and exhaled a plume of smoke through his nose, silently encouraging Tang Yan to continue. "It just struck me out of nowhere," Tang Yan admitted. "The things you had me look into... taken on their own, I didn't fully get them, and stringing them together made me even more confused. I just felt that someone as capable as you, Fourth Brother, probably figured out it was in the chimney right from the start." Baffled, Tang Yan asked, "If you knew all along, why didn't you just call Xiao Mi over to climb the chimney right away? Why go through all this trouble...?" "It wasn't quite that miraculous," Fang Jibai said, shaking his head. "I didn't suspect the chimney right away either. The broken bowl merely raised doubts, and thanks to the intel you gathered, deduction by deduction, I arrived at a more definite conclusion." "So my contribution wasn't small after all!" Tang Yan said happily. "Of course," Fang Jibai smiled. "Why do you think I brought you along instead of Zhang Yin to help me? Because you're sharp enough." Hearing this, Tang Yan beamed with even greater delight. "Fourth Brother, I found it!" Xiao Mi emerged, his face smeared with black soot. He excitedly raised a parcel wrapped in oiled paper. "Fourth Brother, I got it!" Right at that moment, hurried, chaotic footsteps echoed from the outer courtyard as people came sprinting toward the house. A fleeting smile touched the corner of Fang Jibai's mouth: *Finally here, are you?* An instant later, an expression that was three parts shock, four parts tension, and three parts worry washed over his face as he turned to face the doorway.