Chapter 20 The situation has changed
Xiang Chu smiled and said, "I want to rent a house, but I'm unfamiliar with the place and the rental market. Please help me find one. This small yellow fish will be the rent and commission."
"Is that so? You should put it away first."
Ning Caiwei understood, pushed the small yellow croaker back in front of him, thought for a moment and said,
"There's an apartment for rent at Ningde Mansion at 88 Qixia Road. You can move in with your luggage. It's 50 French francs per month. Why don't you come with me after get off work to take a look?"
Xiang Chu pushed the small yellow croaker in front of her again and said with a smile:
"Please save it for me. I can't keep the money."
"also!"
Ning Caiwei nodded shyly, but said worriedly,
"But what if I accidentally spend it?"
"Just spend it, you don't have to pay it back."
Xiang Chu smiled brightly and took a sip of coffee.
To be precise, he had already begun to think about bribing her, or even developing her, in order to lay the groundwork for obtaining intelligence from the Telecommunications Department in the future.
In order to get closer to her, Xiang Chu pretended to be mysterious and said:
"Senior Sister Ning! If there is a spy codenamed 'Hua Mei', do you think he is a man or a woman?"
"You should just call me Caiwei. I'm not older than you."
Ning Caiwei said angrily, paused, and said without thinking,
"Hua Mei must be a woman, is there any need to ask?"
"No! It's a boy."
Xiang Chu lowered his voice and said, just tell him everything that happened in the meeting room today.
Ning Caiwei said in astonishment: "Is it really a man?"
"Ok!"
Xiang Chu nodded and looked around.
He suddenly noticed a man in his 30s appearing at the bar, his eyes fixed on the stunningly beautiful Ning Caiwei. When he saw Xiang Chu looking at him, he quickly lowered his head.
Xiang Chu couldn't help but ask, "Caiwei! Is the guy at the bar the owner of this store?"
Ning Caiwei glanced at him with her beautiful eyes, and said vaguely:
"It seems so, but I haven't noticed it before."
Xiang Chu pretended to be unhappy and said:
"But why is he looking at you?"
"Don't men usually look at beautiful women this way?"
Ning Caiwei smiled and didn't care too much.
“But he didn’t give me a very good impression.”
Of course, Xiang Chu was talking to himself.
For safety reasons, he decided to give up the idea of relying on secret codes to contact "Peacock".
"Waiter!"
Xiang Chu shouted loudly.
The waitress hurried forward and bowed:
"Sir! What do you want?"
Xiang Chu took out 5 yuan of French currency and put it on the tray, and said with a smile:
"Oh! Give me a portion of preserves and a portion of 'donkey rolls'."
"Ok!"
The waitress turned and left.
Ning Caiwei smiled sweetly and said, "What are you doing? There is no 'donkey rolling' here."
Xiang Chu said mysteriously: "You know, the waitress may not know."
Ning Caiwei nodded slightly: "Yes! I have never seen this waitress before, she must be new."
"Really? I'm afraid the boss has changed, too."
Xiang Chu smiled, but he was shocked in his heart.
Sure enough, the waitress came over with only candied fruit and change.
She said sheepishly, "Sir! I'm sorry, we don't have the 'donkey rolls' you want here."
Xiang Chu took back the change and said with a smile:
"It's okay! Thank you for your hard work."
Ning Caiwei was very smart and couldn't help but laugh:
"You! You already have professional problems at such a young age."
"Our line of work is like dancing on the edge of a knife."
Xiang Chu smiled and brought the candied fruit to her.
"Beautiful women eat some sweets to make their mood more beautiful."
“Get—out!”
Ning Caiwei yelled softly.
The two of them ate and chatted, and soon the cups and plates were all gone.
Ning Caiwei raised her slender hand to look at her watch, frowned and said:
"Time flies, let's go! If we delay any longer we'll be late."
Xiang Chu smiled and said, "Director Li said that we in the archives department are not afraid of being late."
"You! You can only stay in the archives room for two or three days at most."
Ning Caiwei shook her head, stood up and reached for her coat.
Xiang Chu hurriedly stood up, took off his coat and helped her put it on.
Ning Caiwei threw her long hair up and tied it into a big knot, and Xiang Chu suddenly felt the fragrance.
The two men walked out and passed by the bar. Xiang Chu still wanted to identify it.
He took out a hundred-yuan French currency and handed it to the boss, saying with a smile:
"Boss! Buy two packs of Camel."
"Your bill is too big."
The boss was talking, holding a cigarette, finding money, and not forgetting to glance at Ning Caiwei.
Xiang Chu saw this and asked with a smile: "Boss! How long have you been running this store?"
The boss was stunned for a moment, and then he said, "About one or two years."
“Very good shop!”
Xiang Chu smiled and glanced at the business license on the wall. The store was opened three years ago.
He remained calm, putting the change into his wallet and the cigarette in his pocket.
"Things have changed!"
Xiang Chu could almost conclude that the underground party member caught by the Party Affairs Department might be the boss of this company code-named "Peacock".
"Mr. Li" gave himself this contact point only two days ago, but before he had time to make contact, "Peacock" was exposed. This shows how fierce the underground struggle in Nanjing is.
Since "Mr. Li" could use "Peacock" as his contact person, "Peacock"'s status in the party should not be low, and he may have come into contact with "Mr. Li" or senior officials of the Nanjing underground party.
Thinking of this, Xiang Chu suddenly became anxious.
"No! We need to notify Mr. Li to evacuate immediately."
In a hurry, Xiang Chu awkwardly took Ning Caiwei's hand and walked out of the cafe.
"do not!"
Ning Caiwei blushed and shook off his hand. Their relationship was not yet good enough to hold hands.
For women of that era, holding hands almost meant a lifetime commitment.
Xiang Chu reacted and quickly changed the subject:
"Oh, right! You go back first. I want to buy a toy for Baoer."
Ning Caiwei's beautiful eyes wandered over his handsome face, and she suddenly realized:
"Oh! You want to join my uncle's school."
Xiang Chu laughed heartily and said, "It's not that I want to, it's that I already have it. Rickshaw!"
The rickshaw stopped across the street and Xiang Chu walked over.
"From now on, we are on the same front."
Ning Caiwei happily took his arm, then let go as if she had been electrocuted.
Both of them had the intention, but felt that the time was not right yet.