Chapter 208 - 140: Codename: Romantic Encounter
Zhou Yan was an excellent listener. He always knew the right moment to top off their glasses, pose the next guiding question, or offer an encouraging response.
Wang recounted some memories from his youth in Suji. He spoke of leaving Sichuan with the Sichuan Army and heading straight for Shanghai, where his first battle was the Hu Song Campaign.
"It was brutal! Bodies piled up high. Our Sichuan Army’s weapons were too primitive—three or four men had to share a single rifle, and we never had enough ammunition. The little devils’ marksmanship was good, though. They were well-trained. I watched my comrades fall, one by one..." Wang’s voice caught, and he paused. "Then, a grenade exploded next to me, and I lost consciousness.
I thought I was dead, but I woke up in a field hospital. Later, I was transferred to the rear to recuperate for over half a year. Since I had nothing else to do, I started assisting the foreign doctors at the mission hospital. I managed to learn some English and became familiar with a lot of different medicines.
Once my injuries healed, a Nationalist general who was recovering in the same hospital recommended me. I was transferred to Xiangjiang and put in charge of purchasing urgently needed medicine from abroad for the front lines. Then, in 1940, I went out one day and, by a strange twist of fate, saved someone. Turned out, he was with the Communist Party.
After spending over a month with them, I was won over by their convictions and ideals. I sought out and read books written by Marx, and from that point on, I began supplying medicine to the guerilla forces, becoming an undercover agent for the Communist Party."
"That’s incredible!" Zhou Yan exclaimed, his curiosity piqued. "Grandmaster, when you were undercover, what was your code name?"
"My code name..." Wang raised his cup and took a sip, his gaze drifting into the distance. After a moment of silence, he uttered two words: "Romantic Encounter."
"’Romantic Encounter?’" Zhou Yan felt a sting in his nose.
By 1940, Qiu Qi and Duan Xingbang’s wedding had taken place a year prior.
Yet he had still woven his code name from a part of both of their names.
’How utterly romantic!’
Wang rubbed his nose and chuckled. "I just felt it was like a wondrous encounter, so I chose that as my code name."
’See? Men have these subconscious little tells when they lie.’
"There’s not much to tell about what came after," Wang said with a smile. "General Liu once said: ’So long as the enemy has not been driven from our borders, the Sichuan Army swears it will not return home!’ And our Sichuan Army lived up to that promise. Look at our lives now. Things just keep getting better. Everyone lives in peace and prosperity, and no one can push us around anymore."
"That’s right," Zhou Yan agreed, nodding as he refilled Wang’s glass.
’With a single "not much to tell," he brushed aside all of his contributions and the injustices he suffered.’
’Wang was a master of subtle omission.’
’He wouldn’t say a single word about the things I really wanted to hear.’
’That won’t do. I’ve eaten his braised beef and drunk his wine; I have to dig out some of the details I’m after.’
’For instance, why did he change his name?’
’He never married—does he still carry a torch for Qiu Qi?’
’And yesterday, when he paid Duan Yu Yan’s bill... was it because he recognized her as Qiu Qi’s granddaughter?’
Zhou Yan smiled. "My grandmother told me that one of her most vivid memories is of a young man named Wang Yu. He loved to buy her braised beef. He’d come every single week to pick some up and personally deliver it to a girl in Jiazhou City. Grandmaster, do you know this young man?"
Wang’s hand, holding the wine cup, froze. He looked up at Zhou Yan, his eyes flickering.
Zhou Yan’s smile was innocent, without a trace of malice. "My grandmother said my grandfather was one of the men who left Sichuan with him to fight the devils. During the battle in Shanghai, my grandfather carried him on his back and escaped from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. They were separated afterward and didn’t see each other again until after the founding of the People’s Republic.
My grandfather told my grandmother that Wang Yu was a good man, that he was an agent, and that Grandpa even helped him gather intelligence. Later, when Grandpa was drafted to go to Korea, it was my grandmother who submitted his files for him. She never knew what became of Wang Yu, but she’s thought about him ever since."
Wang gently set his cup down. He looked at Zhou Yan and let out a soft sigh. "I am Wang Yu."