"What's wrong with going to him?" Yamada asked, somewhat puzzled. "He's reliable."
"The last transaction went smoothly, and the people he arranged didn't make any mistakes during the operation either."
"I've been in Shanghai for quite some time, and I haven't met many people who can handle things that flawlessly."
"That's not what I mean." Yoshino slowly shook his head. "I'm wondering whether this man's sudden appearance on Wusong Road might..."
Yamada froze. "You mean there's something wrong with him, Yoshino?"
Yoshino said quietly, "I'm not saying there's definitely something wrong with him. But our business is like walking on a knife's edge. Money is good, but we need to stay alive to spend it."
"A lone trader, in a situation like this in Shanghai, facing officers and soldiers of the Japanese Kempeitai-not only was he unafraid, he even took the initiative to buy three storefronts and open a trading company on the most sensitive street in Hongkou."
"What could his purpose be? Yamada, do you think that's hard to guess?"
Yamada's expression shifted slightly. "You mean Yoshino is deliberately trying to get close to us?"
"It's hard to say. But in our line of business, we have to look at least three steps ahead for every step we take."
"I don't want to assume the worst of everyone, but I know that good people in this world certainly don't live all that long."
Yamada Ryosuke's expression darkened. "Should we give up on this man now?"
But Yoshino shook his head. "Give up? It's too early to talk about that."
"If we can deal with someone like him, do you think we can be good people ourselves?"
"Yamada, good people have their uses, and bad people have their value."
"It's not his character I take issue with. I need to know his purpose."
Yamada Ryosuke frowned.
He was used to solving problems with guns and wheels, and he did not much like this sort of roundabout analysis.
But he also understood that Yoshino Tomokazu was not being overly suspicious. The longer someone worked in this business, the better they knew that things that looked too clean on the surface were often the most dangerous.
In smuggling military supplies, the greatest risk was not an internal inspection, but having no idea whether the one standing across from you was a man or a ghost.
Yet Yoshino's analysis left him feeling lost in a fog.
"Yoshino, just give me the conclusion."
"Are we going to keep dealing with this man, or give up on him? I haven't thought about all those things you mentioned."
Yoshino finally lit his cigarette and said slowly, "Go test him first."
"Test him? How?"
"I mean, don't discuss a transaction outright. Go sit in his shop for a while. See what his trading company looks like, and exactly what sort of people he deals with."
"If he passes your test, we'll take the discussion further."
"If there's the slightest thing wrong with him, I'll have Inoue Kazuhiko send people from the Investigation Section to investigate him. Then we won't need to act ourselves."
"Understood. I'll go tomorrow."
"No." Yoshino waved a hand. "Don't rush. Wait a while, until he has a steady customer base."
"What we can see now isn't necessarily real."
Yamada paused. "But those medicines we held back..."
"Shh." Yoshino gestured for silence. "Yamada, there's an old Chinese saying: haste won't get you hot tofu."
"In this business, we would rather wait than take risks," Yoshino said, stressing every word. "One loss, and we're both dead."
More than half a month passed in a flash, and the twenty-seventh year of the Republic quietly arrived.
The renovations at the Chen Trading Company were nearing completion.
The storefront had already been completely transformed. With the gold-lettered "Chen Trading Company" sign mounted, the shop looked decidedly grander than the old Japanese-style shops on either side.
Two days earlier, the indoor shelving Chen Fan had ordered from a lumber merchant in the French Concession had also arrived. Though no goods had been put on them yet, the rows of pine shelves were neat and orderly, and smelled of fresh wood.
The display window by the entrance had been partitioned with glass cabinets. Originally, Chen Fan had wanted to find two attractive models to put on a show inside when the shop first opened.
But that would have been far too eye-catching, and people in this era were still very conservative.
Chen Fan was afraid people would mistakenly think the shop would engage in some illicit business,
After all, only places like brothels put on those sorts of caged-canary displays.
So he chose two wooden mannequins instead, dressed them in suits, and placed a display stand beside them with luxury goods such as French perfume and ladies' handbags.
Although the shop renovations were almost finished, Chen Fan had more and more worries.
Two things concerned him most at the moment. The first was finding a suitable warehouse.
Though the shop occupied three storefronts, the usable space was too small, only enough for displays and small individual transactions.
For goods intended for wholesale, he would have to rent a separate warehouse near the docks or a major transport route.
That way, neither moving goods in and out nor storing them would attract attention.
In Chen Fan's view, the warehouse would ideally not be too far from the docks, making deliveries by water convenient while keeping some distance from the Kempeitai's regular patrol areas.
He knew very well that the things that truly made money were not these goods out in the open...
His other concern was that the shop needed enough reliable shop assistants and clerks.
That was even harder to resolve than the warehouse.
The trading company had to open, and if business grew, he would need to hire more people.
But he could not simply hire people off the street for these positions.
They had to be sharp, know the rules, and preferably be somewhat familiar with both the docks and the local powers in the concessions.
That would make things easier to manage in the future. After all, he was not in this for the short term.
Just as Chen Fan was fretting over these troubles, in the Tokkō conference room behind Shanghai Kempeitai Headquarters,
Fujita Susumu, the Tokkō commander in Shanghai, was also wearing a worried expression as he looked at the telegram in his hand from the Kwantung Army General Staff.
Five or six people sat in the conference room. Apart from Inoue Kazuhiko of the Investigation Section and Ono Hikaru of the General Affairs Section, the other four present were all Fujita's trusted men.
Fujita had originally been the head of the Police Affairs Department at Military Police Headquarters, with the rank of colonel.
The Shanghai Gendarmerie Headquarters had four departments in total.
They were the Police Affairs Department, the General Affairs Department (that is, the Logistics Department), the Special Service Department, and the Judicial Department.
The Police Affairs Department's duties were primarily divided into public security, counterespionage intelligence gathering, and suppressing resistance activities.
After the Shanghai Tokko Section was established, their functions overlapped, so the Police Affairs Department at Military Police Headquarters was abolished and merged into Tokkō.
The Shanghai Tokko Section thus became the Joint Tokko Section, but it continued to use the name Tokkō externally, its full name being the Special Higher Police Section.
Most of its personnel belonged to the police establishment, but Fujita and his men retained their military status.
It also gained another function: the authority to conduct internal surveillance.
This had originally been a good thing, but after reviewing three months' worth of reports, Tokyo headquarters proposed to the Ministry of Home Affairs that the Shanghai Tokko Section's original personnel be reshuffled.
The reason was simply that they feared Fujita would become too dominant.
The balance of power between organizations had to be maintained. No one person could have complete control.
So headquarters transferred out Takahashi Naoki of the Action Team and Fukugen Hirao of the Cipher Section.
They transferred in Uchida Kenjiro from Jinling, along with Fujiwara Kyoka, a telecommunications expert from the Kwantung Army Secret Communications Office...
As Fujita read the transfer report sent by the Kwantung Army, he could not help seething with anger.
Appointing a woman as chief of the Cipher Section was already unforgivable, yet she was also to take over the Cipher Section.
It was one of the most important units within Tokkō.
Yet Fujita did not have the slightest courage to refuse.
For not only did Fujiwara Kyoka hold the honorary rank of colonel conferred by the imperial family, she also served as a senior official of the Empress's Household.
What did that position mean? It meant she was a trusted confidante of the current Emperor Showa's empress.
She might even have studied alongside the empress, or been a childhood companion who played with her.
Honorary colonel and senior official of the Empress's Household-though both were nominal imperial appointments involving no real power, either made her someone an ordinary Tokkō commander could not afford to cross.
To put it bluntly, even if Fujiwara slapped Fujita twice on the spot, Fujita would have to compliment her: "Well struck, Miss Fujiwara..."