It was early July 1933. In the afternoon, a sudden heavy rain cooled down the hot air in Shanghai, and put the old drainage system in Shanghai's Japanese Concession to a severe test.
On several main streets, pedestrians looked away from the rainwater flowing like a river on the street, and gathered under various eaves to take shelter from the rain.
At the entrance of a Japanese department store, a bald middle-aged man wearing a windbreaker was looking at his watch. Although he showed no emotion on the surface, anyone who was interested could still detect his inner anxiety.
At this moment, a car drove slowly from the far side of the street, splashing two splashes in the rushing rain.
Regardless of the pouring rain, a man in a suit stuck his head out of the rolled-down car window, letting the rain wet his hair and face. However, his sharp eyes kept scanning through the crowds of people taking shelter along the street, as if searching. Looking for someone.
The bald middle-aged man at the door of the department store saw the man in a suit clearly, with a hint of joy on his face. He stepped into the heavy rain and waved to the car.
When the man in a suit saw the middle-aged man, he quickly signaled the driver to stop, opened an umbrella and jumped out of the car.
"Otomo-kun, the heavy rain blocked the traffic and I didn't pick you up in time. Please forgive me." The man in the suit apologized and ignored that he was soaked by the rain. He used an umbrella to cover the middle-aged man's body and then supported him. Got into the car.
"It doesn't matter. The rain was too heavy and sudden. I saw that the water in some streets was more than people's thighs. Cars couldn't pass at all. Ichihara-kun, you must have taken a lot of detours." Sitting in the back seat The middle-aged man said, wiping his wet bald head with a handkerchief.
While the two were exchanging greetings, the car sped up and, ignoring the many people on the street taking shelter from the rain, rolled up two white waves and drove straight to the end of the street.
"Who are you! How rude."
"It's really uneducated, it's too much."
People along the street, whose clothes and pants were wet by the splashing water, started to yell and curse when they saw the car gradually disappearing in the rain and fog.
The car turned left and right, and after driving through several streets, it came to the gate of a U-shaped three-story foreign-style building surrounded by a wall.
Seen from a distance, this western-style building covers a large area, and there is a large open space in front of the western-style building.
After the driver honked the horn several times, a small window was opened on the closed iron door. He poked his head out for a look, then retracted.
Soon, the iron door was slowly opened. The driver nodded to the person who opened the door and drove in.
Soon, the door slowly closed again, blocking out the pouring rain.
The car stopped in the open space in front of the western-style building. A strong man, who had been waiting at the door of the western-style building for a long time, trotted over with an umbrella and shielded the middle-aged man named Otomo-kun into the western-style building.
The lobby on the first floor of this western-style building is not very spacious. It may be more appropriately called a lobby. There are only four long and short sofas placed on the right wall, with a coffee table in the middle. It seems to be used to receive ordinary guests. .
But the corridors extending from both sides of the hall are a bit far-reaching, and there seem to be many rooms.
The middle-aged man took off his half-wet windbreaker, revealing the light-colored suit underneath.
He handed the windbreaker to the strong man standing respectfully behind him, then took a towel he handed over and wiped his head and face. He casually pointed upstairs and asked, "Is everyone here?"
"Hey, we're all here. The section chief this spring ordered that Otomo-kun please go directly upstairs as soon as you arrive."
The middle-aged man nodded, handed the towel back to the strong man and said, "Thank you for your hard work." Then he walked towards the stairs facing the door.
At this time, in a well-furnished reception room on the third floor, three men were sitting around a rectangular coffee table.
In the middle is a middle-aged, fat man wearing a kimono, also with the front half of his hair falling out. He is concentrating on making tea with a purple clay teapot.
The other two men in suits on both sides were sitting upright, not speaking, and just watching the tea-making process of the man in kimono with admiring eyes.
After the middle-aged man in the kimono had brewed a pot of tea, he poured it into four exquisite white porcelain small teacups on the coffee table. He picked up a cup of tea with three fingers, admiring the crystal clear soup color in the cup, and gently He put it on the tip of his nose and smelled it, then squinted his eyes and sighed intoxicatedly: "It smells so good! China's top Maojian tea is indeed extraordinary. You can't taste such good tea in China."
Then he motioned to the other two people and said, "Miyashita-kun and Hosokawa-kun, please."
After receiving the invitation from the kimono man, the other two men in suits carefully picked up the exquisite white porcelain cups, imitated the men in suits, put them in front of their noses and smelled them, and then slowly poured them into their mouths.
“What a delicious tea!”
"Only Jin Chunjun's tea art can brew such a good tea with a different taste. Jin Chunjun is indeed a famous tea ceremony master in Tekong."
Knowing that most of the words of his two confidants were compliments, Ikaharu Seiichi, the director of the Shanghai Special Higher Education Course, Japan's highest intelligence agency in Shanghai, still smiled a little proudly and reservedly, and then poured out the fragrance in his cup. Drink the tea in one gulp.
At this moment, there was a gentle knock on the door of the reception room. Jin Chunsheng raised his head and said, "Is it Otomo-kun? Come in quickly."
The door opened, and a bald middle-aged man walked in and bowed to everyone: "Imamura-kun, Hosokawa-kun, Miyashita-kun, I'm very sorry for keeping you waiting for so long."
Jin Chunsheng waved his hand and said: "It rained heavily on the road, and you came from a long way. It's understandable that you will be late for a while. Come and sit down."
"That's right, we took advantage of the fact that Otomo-kun hadn't arrived yet, so it was rare for us to appreciate the tea art of this spring's section chief. We don't usually have such a good opportunity."
While everyone was being polite, a bald man named Otomo also sat down cross-legged opposite Jinchun Shengyi.
Jin Chunsheng looked at the crowd and said with a solemn expression: "Now that everyone is here, let's get started. Miyashita-kun, who has returned from Tianjin, will first talk about the situation in North China."
It turns out that today is a secret meeting convened by Japan's Shanghai Special High School. Sitting on the left side of this spring is a man in his thirties who is slightly taller and taller. His name is Miyashita Yuta. He is a Shanghai High School student who just returned from a business trip to Tianjin. Head of the intelligence team.
The sturdy man on Harumori's right hand is Ryosuke Hosokawa, the leader of the Shanghai Special High School Action Team.
The later bald middle-aged man was the head of the intelligence team of the Japanese Consulate in Hangzhou under the leadership of the Shanghai Special High School. He was known to the public as Otomo Ichiro.
Otomo Ichiro just took the train from Hangzhou to Shanghai to attend the meeting today, but he was delayed a lot of time by heavy rain on the way.
These people are all well-known Japanese spy leaders in the Songhu area. They are gathered together today. I wonder if there is any conspiracy against China.
