Lin Hong was indeed one of the men with the most complicated backgrounds in the squad.
Zhong Yifeng knew nothing more; the instructions from his family were simply to stay out of it and watch how things developed, and he had offered the same advice to Zhu Shiqing.
When Zhu Shiqing stepped into the dormitory building, he only then realized how deserted it felt today. As he climbed the stairs step by step, the squeak of his combat boots sounded deafening.
The men had all returned to their rooms after drills earlier, yet now everyone stayed cooped up inside, not showing their faces. The bustling past seemed like a fleeting dream, and Zhu Shiqing detected a trace of melancholy within the eerie atmosphere.
*Creak—*
Zhu Shiqing pushed the door open. Several fellows sat around the table, conversing in low voices, and almost jumped when he entered.
"Shiqing, have you heard?" The first to speak was Song Mingyang, the fortune teller.
Zhu Shiqing pulled out a chair and sat down. The door behind him was still half-open; Lai Tianyou ambled over and shoved it shut.
"Heard what?"
"The higher-ups have decided to disband the Staff Corps!" Song Mingyang said in a rushed, urgent tone.
"Where did you hear that?"
"Could it be fake? Among us brothers, how many don't have connections reaching all the way to heaven?"
"Why? Didn't the Nationalist government pour its heart and soul into building this?"
"Rumor has it someone in the camp turned out to be a Red..." Lai Tianyou muttered timidly.
Fang Wenjian had no real concept of Reds; his knowledge went no further than what had happened at noon—that a large number of students and workers had been arrested during protests in Shanghai.
"What do any of us have to do with the Red Party?"
"That's just it... We train behind closed doors all day, never even stepping foot outside. Where would we find time to dabble in politics..." Song Mingyang kept his voice extremely low, clenching his jaw so hard that the muscles bulged.
"If they disband us, then let them disband us. We've learned real skills from the instructors; where couldn't we find a post?" Fang Wenjian had his legs crossed, hands resting on his knee, listening as if he were enjoying an opera.
Seeing so many people on edge, Zhu Shiqing was certain this was no trivial matter. The Staff Corps was Ming Quan's painstaking creation; Ming Quan would never sit by and do nothing.
"Brother Shiqing, I don't want to get dragged into this." Lai Tianyou was small to begin with, and huddled up like this, he looked tiny, his voice tinged with tears. "I heard my father say before that the Nationalist government investigates Reds even more harshly than enemy spies. Plenty of people from high-ranking families still get purged..."
Zhu Shiqing sighed. The twenty-sixth year of the Republic was truly ill-fated. Why had they ever complained about the leisurely days of the past few years? They should have cherished them instead.
No sooner had Lai Tianyou finished speaking than the dormitory door was thrust open with a bang.
"Cadet Zhu Shiqing."
It was an old veteran from the duty inspector post on the ground floor.
"Here!" Zhu Shiqing sprang up from his chair and saluted.
"Officer Ming is waiting for you in the camp office."
With that, the veteran returned the salute, turned, and walked away.
Zhu Shiqing's head buzzed. He glanced back at his comrades, each looking somber. Fang Wenjian uncrossed his legs and stood up as well.
In a daze, it felt as though they were watching him walk to the execution grounds. Zhu Shiqing shook his head and cursed with a laugh, "Why are you looking at me like that? Officer Ming sent for me, not the secret agents!"
With that, he slid the still-warm chair back into place, pulled open the door, and slipped out, shutting it behind him.
Along the way, several questions kept circling in Zhu Shiqing's mind.
Most cadets in the Staff Corps came from prominent families; even if their kin weren't high officials in the central government, they were at least regional power brokers. Why did they become silent as cicadas in winter at the mere mention of the Party Affairs Investigation Division?
The Staff Corps had been created to meet the demands of the era, and Generalissimo Chiang himself had attended its inauguration. If it were truly disbanded now, wouldn't the Nationalist government be discarding its own credibility and prestige?
Considering recent events, the Nationalist government was clearly preparing for war against Japan, so why were they ruthlessly suppressing the patriotic movement in Shanghai?
Burdened with questions, he looked up to find himself already in front of Ming Quan's office at the Qingliang Mountain camp.
Standing before the door, Zhu Shiqing straightened his uniform, craned his neck to glance around, and knocked twice.
"Enter!"
Zhu Shiqing pushed the door open. A chaotic spread of documents and files caught his eye, and the neat rows of bookshelves that had once stood in the office were nowhere to be seen. Ming Quan was not at his desk, but standing by the window with a tobacco pipe between his teeth.
"Sit."
Ming Quan turned, made an inviting gesture, and joined Zhu Shiqing on a pair of armchairs at the far end of the office.
"Instructor, what did you call me here for?" Zhu Shiqing put on an innocent look and asked softly.
Ming Quan's tobacco pipe was only half finished. Behind the curling smoke, his brow was knit into a deep furrow. Hearing Zhu Shiqing's question, he managed a smile, though it looked worse than tears.
"No training this afternoon. The young masters in camp must have turned the place upside down, haven't they?"
Zhu Shiqing said solemnly, "No, sir."
"Seems these two or three months of training weren't in vain." Ming Quan still enjoyed talking in circles, his tone feigning ease, but after a moment's pause, his expression finally darkened. "What do you plan to do from now on?"
Zhu Shiqing froze in his seat. It seemed Song Mingyang's news had been accurate. Still, he asked in a low voice, "Officer Ming, is the Staff Corps really being disbanded?"
Ming Quan did not speak right away, merely nodding slightly. Only after a long pause did he say, "It's the order from above. My hands are tied."
"Because of the Reds?"
Ming Quan nodded again and replied, "The Nationalist government has always regarded the Red Party as a mortal threat. A few days ago, the Party Affairs Investigation Division arrested a group of demonstrators in Shanghai, and someone up top insisted on treating them as Reds. Among them were people connected to our Staff Corps."
"Aren't we already in a united front? Why are they still arresting Reds?"
"A united front is all well and good, but the higher-ups will never allow Reds to appear in a place like the Staff Corps. Do you understand?" Ming Quan's tone sharpened slightly.
Zhu Shiqing's mind raced, piecing the details together. Ming Quan's words were actually understandable: the special nature of the Staff Corps demanded absolute loyalty from its members. If outside elements had infiltrated such a core organization...
"Then what about the investigation into Lin Hong?" Zhu Shiqing asked again. "Lin Hong is definitely not a Red."
Ming Quan slowly rose, paced over to the window, and clasped his hands behind his back with a sigh. "That's precisely why Minister He urgently ordered me to disband the Staff Corps immediately—to prevent those bastards in the Party Affairs Investigation Division from making a mountain out of a molehill! If the label sticks, even Minister He won't be able to shrug off the blame!"
Zhu Shiqing understood. Whether there were actually Reds in the Staff Corps did not matter; what mattered was whether Chiang Kai-shek believed there were. Even if there were none, if everyone believed there were, then there were.
"I understand. What about Lin Hong?"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of Lin Hong's situation." Ming Quan turned around and studied Zhu Shiqing. "Do you know why I sent for you alone?"
"I do not know, sir," Zhu Shiqing replied somewhat woodenly.
"Minister He thinks very highly of you."
He Yingqin? Zhu Shiqing had only caught a glimpse of He Yingqin from afar on opening day, and to be honest, they had been so far apart that he hadn't even seen his face clearly.
Zhu Shiqing sprang to his feet, feeling a sudden surge of heat as cold sweat soaked his back. At a loss for what to do, he stood frozen in silence.
Seeing his awkward fluster, Ming Quan chuckled wryly and prodded, "Does the finest cadet of our Staff Corps not wish to receive praise from the higher-ups?"
"No, sir!" Zhu Shiqing called out loudly.
"The General Staff recently deliberated and decided to dispatch an attached staff officer to the 29th Army. I recommended you."
"I will obey Officer Ming's and the General Staff's decision!" Zhu blurted out without a second thought.
The 29th Army? Song Zheyuan's army stationed in Beiping-Tianjin?
The moment the words left his mouth, Zhu Shiqing's mind jolted, and he stood petrified on the spot.
He was being sent to the front line?!
Chapter 27