Yamashiro's Eyes

The three men outside Guiyuan who didn't smoke changed their clothes the next day.

The cigarette was still between my fingers, and not a spark had appeared all morning.

Early September, 1945. Breakfast stalls were set up against the wall, steam rising in wisps from the pots. Rickshaws rushed down the hill, the drivers bracing themselves with their feet on the stone slabs, their shoes screeching. Two cars had changed at the telephone exchange, and the sentry post in the direction of the hospital had arrived ten minutes earlier than the previous night.

The small table at the gatehouse of Guiyuan was too narrow, so when Zhizi spread out her notes, the ink bottle had to be placed on the windowsill.

"One group on the outer ring, one group following the vehicle. There's also another group between the telephone exchange and the hospital, responsible for shift changes and relaying messages." She marked each of the three locations with a pencil. "Six people in each group, eighteen in total. The vehicle, time, and questioning style match, but no one has revealed their identity."

Zhao Weiguo said, "Write something that seems suspicious."

The monk leaned against the door frame, the file he had used to smooth the burrs off the car door the night before still tucked behind his waist.

"The number of people has been counted, and they're still considered suspected?"

"Counting the number of people doesn't mean you've seen their identification. Being able to write that they're monitoring Guiyuan doesn't mean you can fill in their work unit for them."

There was a guard platoon of about twenty men at the gate of Guiyuan, who were only responsible for the gate and registering visitors. The outer perimeter of the street was still under the jurisdiction of the Chongqing military and police. The monk could not take these twenty men out to ride with him, nor could he treat any guns on the street as his own reserve force.

The delegation remained in the main building to prepare for the meeting.

Zhao Weiguo only deployed two publicly available vehicles. One was loaded with empty document boxes and medicine boxes, driven by ordinary staff; the other carried Zhao Weiguo, the monk, Zhizi, and two guards. The escort team carried its own shortwave radio, ensuring that none of the Grand Elder's documents, core documents, or delegation lists left Guiyuan.

Gardenia glanced at the route: "Where to?"

"Buying station, farmers' market, back."

"I didn't go there yesterday."

"Change half of the public route. With so many people, the car behind will either get too close or lose sight of the target."

The monk patted the empty file box: "Should I ride in the car ahead?"

"The car behind. Look at the passage."

"Who's looking at the tail?"

"Gardenia watches people, drivers watch the road, and I watch the vehicles and the exit."

The three men's roles were written on the back of the purchasing list. There were no arrest orders today, nor was there a requirement to clear out all the trail. They only needed to do three things: identify license plates, identify shift change times, and identify what each of the three groups was watching.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the two cars left Guiyuan.

The gatekeepers only registered the license plates and the number of people departing, without listing them as part of the delegation's official motorcade. The empty containers were sealed with ordinary purchase numbers; if someone only looked at the containers, their preference would be revealed in which vehicle they chose.

A spare vehicle was still kept in the compound. Not all twelve escorts came out. If anyone went out and exceeded the allotted time, Guiyuan would first close the back gate, check the documents, and look up the phone numbers; they would never send any members of the delegation to search for anyone on the street.

The first group of plainclothes officers appeared at the street corner, six people in two cars. The second group stayed near the telephone exchange and did not follow immediately. The third group was further away, only moving one car to a different spot.

Zhi Zi sat in the back seat, looking back through the reflection in the car window. She didn't turn around; the shopping list was still spread out on her lap.

"Two cars. The gray car is in front, and the black car is behind."

Zhao Weiguo checked the distance to the car ahead: "Note the gray license plate."

"The unlicensed taxi had no license plate."

"Remember the car model and the left front light. That light is more yellow than the other one."

As they passed the hospital intersection, the car in front deliberately slowed down. The gray car pulled away first, then caught up a while later. The telephone company's black car didn't move, which at least indicated that the two groups had different tasks.

Ten minutes later, the convoy turned into the street outside the vegetable market.

The road suddenly narrowed. People carrying vegetable baskets, pushing wooden carts to deliver goods, pulling rickshaws, and eating breakfast were all crammed together. Scallion leaves brushed against the car windows, and live chickens pounced wildly in their bamboo cages. The car in front had gone through a wrong intersection, and the driver got out to ask for directions. The gray car was blocked behind by vegetable baskets, and could only see through the heads of the people.

The car behind exited from the side alley and circled around to the other end of the market.

Once the two public cars are separated, the tail has to be chosen.

Someone mistook the car for another and tried to squeeze past it with a basket of eggs. The monk reached out and stopped them, only blocking the person and not touching the basket. If the car had been parked for a while, the person inside would have been clearly seen; if the car had forced its way through, the eggs would have overturned, and the whole street would have been drawn to them.

The driver could only inch forward.

The rim of the basket rattled against the car door, the eggs inside making a clattering sound. The egg-selling woman chased after him, cursing him from his ancestors to the driver's blindness. The monk, after being insulted a few times, turned terribly pale, but couldn't retaliate.

The outcry overshadowed the shortwave radio's report.

After the car passed the stall, Zhi Zi whispered, "The gray car followed the car in front. The black car didn't move."

Zhao Weiguo's car was parked behind the repair stall. The monk and two guards got out and blocked the three exits respectively. Zhi Zi announced the license plate and time, her voice only loud enough for the people inside the car to hear.

"The first group is guarding the empty boxes. The second group is still guarding the telephone exchange. There are four people at the east entrance; they're probably the third group."

The four plainclothes officers didn't get close, but their eyes were never idle. One looked at the driver's hands, one at the passenger's waist, one watched the opening and closing of the car door, and the last one kept searching for the empty document box.

Zhao Weiguo looked back.

Just one glance.

Gardenia immediately spoke up: "You've revealed it."

"where?"

"Look at their hands first."

The monk peeked out from behind the stall: "Is there something wrong with my hands?"

"When an ordinary clerk sees a stranger, he first looks at their face." Zhi Zi was still staring at her reflection in the window. "He first looks at who touches their waist, who clenches their fist, and who is hiding something in their hand. One look is enough for someone to remember."

Zhao Weiguo did not offer any explanation.

This is a habit left over from the battlefield. When someone crawls into cover, he looks for his gun first; when someone approaches a table, he still checks his hands first. This habit once saved his life, but now it might give him away.

"Change the division of labor," he said. "The drivers watch the road, the gardenias watch the people. I only watch the cars and the exits. The monks guard the passageways."

The monk asked, "Did someone really touch a gun?"

"You report it."

Aren't you going to watch?

"I can't do everything in one action."

They waited for seven minutes behind the repair stall. The stall owner was changing an axle pin on a rickshaw; each time the hammer struck, the wheel trembled. He could tell these men weren't really there to get their rickshaws fixed, so he didn't say anything, just gathered his tools closer to his feet.

The car in front had already circled back to the main street. The gray car met another sedan at the east entrance of the market. The two cars did not stop at the same time; the rear window of the gray car was only slightly ajar, and a piece of paper was passed through the crack.

Zhi Zi noted down the time, vehicle type, and handover location.

"The outer ring team and the following team can confirm it. The third team still lacks direct evidence."

"Then continue writing about suspected cases."

Do not take the same route back.

Zhao Weiguo and the monk returned to the second car. Zhi Zi and a guard walked across another intersection and were then picked up by the car. Both routes bypassed the telephone exchange so that the people guarding there wouldn't know that the observation post had been spotted.

Upon returning to Guiyuan, the first thing to do was still to check the people and documents.

The Grand Elder was in the main building, and all about twenty representatives were present. The phone was working properly, the back door remained untouched, and the fuel level in the backup vehicle was unchanged. The twenty or so guards at Guiyuan Gate only registered visitors and did not inquire about the whereabouts of the two official vehicles.

Zhao Weiguo pinned the vegetable market to a wall painting.

The first group had their license plates affixed to the outer ring of Guiyuan, and the license plates were confirmed twice.

The second group will accompany the vehicle, confirming the gray vehicle and shift change times.

The third group may be responsible for communications and shift changes, but there is insufficient evidence, so they are still considered suspected.

The eighteen people were not drawn as an arrow. Each of the three groups has a location, vehicle, and time. If it were only written "eighteen people monitoring," the next time the person guarding the phone would be mistaken for the person chasing the car, and the shuttle bus would be mistaken for reinforcements.

The monk placed his hands on the edge of the table: "They saw you too."

"I saw a clerk who could read hands."

Do you think they believe you're just a clerk?

Whether they believe it or not is beyond my control. If you can avoid giving them everything at once, then don't.

Gardenia looked up: "Don't look back on yourself again."

Zhao Weiguo nodded: "I'll watch the car, you watch the people."

In the afternoon, Chongqing sent a formal notification requesting vehicle and personnel information for the next meeting. The seal, deadline, and recipient were all complete, and the procedure was flawless.

Zhao Weiguo did not return the entire notice.

The vehicle number, driver's name, and total number of escorts should be submitted to the secretariat. The rotation positions, shortwave frequency, and two backup routes should be left blank.

Public documents are kept on a separate copy. When the visitor signs for the document, the secretary places it on the doorman's table, ensuring it remains in sight before adding the signature. The driver's name corresponds only to the two publicly used vehicles for that day; the backup driver and subsequent replacement personnel remain in the internal records.

The visitor pointed to an empty space: "Why isn't the specific location filled in?"

"The notification only needs the total number."

"Complete information is essential for making proper security arrangements."

"The block area is yours. The delegation's immediate care is the escort team," Zhao Weiguo said. "You didn't hand in your duty rosters, and you didn't hand in mine either."

The visitor flipped the paper over and looked at the seal again, without arguing. He took the public information; the receipt clearly stated: two vehicles, two drivers, a total of twelve escorts.

That night, Zhi Zi sent her first situation report from Chongqing to Yan'an.

Three groups of eighteen people, suspected to be plainclothes officers, were apprehended. The vehicles, shift changes, and some responsibilities of the outer and accompanying groups have been confirmed; the third group's details are yet to be verified. The core security structure of the delegation has not been revealed. Chongqing authorities have begun requesting vehicle and personnel information via official documents. There was no exchange of fire, and no new casualties.

Zhao Weiguo added two points at the end: Public duty information can be provided upon request; core rotation and backup routes will not be disclosed.

After putting down his pen, he saw a picture of a vegetable market on the wall.

"I've remembered what you said."

Gardenia asked, "Which line?"

"Don't look back."

Car headlights swept across the wall outside Guiyuan.

Zhao Weiguo heard the engine sound, his shoulder twitched, but his face remained turned toward the table.

That same night, another office in the city received tracking records.

Huo Chengzong checked the time first, then looked at the photos. The first group stayed outside Guiyuan for forty minutes, the second group followed the market, and the third group was responsible for shift changes. The report listed the vehicles and routes, but couldn't explain exactly what the young orderly was responsible for.

In the photos, Zhao Weiguo is mostly sitting inside his car. The only photo showing his profile is the one where he turns his head behind the repair stall.

Huo Chengzong pressed his finger against the photo.

"The vehicle's location was reported again within three minutes."

The presenter spread out the diagram. The gray car followed the empty document box, the black car remained at the telephone exchange, and the four people at the east entrance found seats inside the car. The complete division of labor among the eighteen people wasn't fully revealed, but two layers had already been figured out.

Someone at the table handed over a request to "increase manpower".

After reading it, Huo Chengzong crossed it out with a pen.

Did you draw your gun?

"No."

"Chasing the car?"

"No, not either."

"Shall we make a move?"

"No. I just deliberately took the wrong turn at the market where we were splitting up."

The reporter also mentioned that Zhao Weiguo would look at a person's hands first when judging them.

Huo Chengzong wrote four words on the paper: Military Variable.

"Should we add three more groups?" the subordinate asked.

"No more. Still eighteen. Change the car, but not the pattern."

"What's the next step?"

Huo Chengzong put the photos into a folder.

"Formal inspection. Follow procedures, don't bring guns."

The surveillance cameras outside Guiyuan Garden have not been removed.

Zhao Weiguo also continued to record the times of the three groups in the form. He did not pick up the curtain to look at the newly replaced car, but only asked the gatekeeper to record the car model and the time of stay.

"The test is over," he said. "The next step will be real."

Gardenia filled in the last moment.

Zhao Weiguo looked at that column.

"But they haven't even gotten to my level yet."

He took the market map down from the wall, folded it, and put it in the drawer. The three groups of people on the map each had their designated places, but he couldn't see the four characters Huo Chengzong had written.

Shancheng's eyes were fixed on Guiyuan, and the people in Guiyuan were also watching Shancheng's eyes. Whoever blinked first would reveal their weakness.