Chapter 29

29

Everyone looked in the direction of the noise. Through the restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling windows, they could clearly see flames suddenly shooting up diagonally across the street. A plume of smoke billowed out, instantly filling half their vision. Even at night, the commotion was massive, but with most of the blaze obstructed by buildings, it was impossible to pinpoint the source of the fire at a glance.

Zhang Yuanji sprang to his feet with an agility uncharacteristic of his usual demeanor. He nearly tripped as he stepped forward, but fortunately, Zheng Sheng was quick on his feet and caught him in time. Even so, Zhang Yuanji was so anxious that he could only point across the street, speechless.

Asai was equally frantic. Far more nimble on his feet than Zhang Yuanji, he got up, bolted out of the restaurant, and sprinted across the street.

Shen Po, worried that Asai might ruin their plans, rushed after him.

【Isn’t this going a bit too far? They said a fire, so why is it an explosion?】 he asked Wen Yan anxiously.

Wen Yan was also in the dark about the exact details, but he did not want to say too much right now lest he frighten Shen Po.

Behind Shen Po, Zhang Ming hurried out as well, though she was chasing after Asai.

Zheng Sheng supported Zhang Yuanji, bringing up the rear.

Shen Po had no intention of letting the Japanese man get ahead. He quickened his pace, overtook Asai, and ran breathless toward the scene of the incident.

The moment he arrived, he was dumbfounded.

It truly was an explosion.

Two vehicles had collided on the road behind the Commercial Press. In an attempt to swerve out of the way, one of the cars had crashed into a roadside utility pole.

The utility pole had come crashing down onto the car’s fuel tank. Electrical sparks ignited the fuel, triggering an instant explosion, and the entire vehicle was now engulfed in raging flames.

The driver had reacted quickly and managed to open the door and escape before the blast, but his leg was injured, preventing him from moving fast. He could only crawl along the ground, his pants leg catching fire as he wailed in agony.

The driver of the other vehicle was completely stunned, stepping out of the car in helpless confusion, utterly unable to process what was happening.

The fire quickly spread toward the library’s back door, where several wooden crates had been stacked earlier that day. They were immediately consumed, turning into part of the sea of flames.

Seeing this, Shen Po could no longer tell whether this was all part of the plan or a genuine accident.

The injured driver was screaming in agony; there was no way that could be faked!

Wen Yan urged him, 【Hurry and put out the fire! Save the people!】

Shen Po stomped in frustration. 【How am I supposed to save them? There’s no telephone nearby, and even if we call, the police might not get here right away!】

Even so, the southern end of this road led to the Shanghai North Station, a bustling commercial hub with heavy foot traffic that stayed lively even late at night. The noise of the explosion alerted people nearby, and even the police arrived promptly.

In a situation like this, calling the police was useless. A century later, Wen Yan’s instinct would have been to call the fire department, but there was no modern fire brigade here, only the settlement’s Fire Department and the Chinese sector’s firefighting association.

As luck would have it, this location was not in the concession, yet bordered it directly. The concession authorities could intervene if they wished, while the Chinese sector outside it had to walk on eggshells around the concession.

Fortunately, Zhang Yuanji had extensive connections. After making a few calls, both the concession’s Fire Department and the Chinese sector firefighting association dispatched crews. They quickly hooked up hoses, fought the blaze, and rushed the injured to the hospital.

The scene was an absolute uproar of chaos and debris.

But Zhang Yuanji had no mind for anything else; his eyes were fixed entirely on the damage to the library.

The fire had spread rapidly earlier, fueled by the wooden crates stacked by the back door. By the time the firefighting crew fully extinguished the blaze, revealing the charred, blackened wreckage, two hours had already passed.

The library’s back entrance was just a small wooden door leading into a storeroom, with another door inside opening further into the building. The neighborhood had generally been peaceful, and petty thieves, unaware of the value of the books inside, had never targeted the library. As a result, the back door had fallen into disrepair over the years. When the fire struck, it burned right through the door and swept inside. Meeting an abundance of fuel, mostly books and wooden crates, it tore through the room so fiercely that nearly half the storeroom was reduced to ashes, despite the firefighting crew’s timely response.

The moment the fire was out, Zhang Yuanji ignored everyone trying to hold him back and plunged in first to survey the damage.

Shen Po, Asai, and the others followed close behind.

Everywhere they looked lay scorched, blackened ruin.

Shen Po clicked his tongue inwardly. 【…Isn’t this going way too far?】

Wen Yan: 【Rare and valuable books wouldn’t be stored in a warehouse. If I remember correctly, the library has a separate rare book repository. These are likely old, common volumes stored here temporarily because the front shelves ran out of room.】

Old Du might be a man of the underworld, but he was always meticulous and wouldn’t make such a careless blunder.

Looking back now, tonight’s explosion seemed to work even better than a simple fire. Arson could easily be investigated after the fact, and a slow-spreading fire would have been easy to put out. If the damage had been minor, Zhang Yuanji would likely have insisted on staying open during repairs.

But now, an unexpected explosion had occurred, so convincing that even Wen Yan could not tell if it was staged or real, let alone anyone else.

Old books or not, and even if they weren’t as vital, the loss still broke Zhang Yuanji’s heart.

The old gentleman went inside to inspect everything thoroughly himself. He instructed them to move the unburned crates to the front and set aside the half-burned ones, planning to sort through them come daylight.

“There was a copy of 《An Investigation of the South China Sea Islands》 that was definitely in this crate. Why can’t I find it?”

Hearing the old gentleman speaking, Zheng Sheng hurried forward to help.

“Grandfather, is the book you’re talking about in Box 08?”

Zhang Yuanji said, “Yes. It couldn’t have burned, could it?”

Zheng Sheng lifted a blackened remnant of a book. The pages were so brittle that the moment he picked it up, they crumbled and drifted away in fragments.

Zhang Yuanji was so heartbroken his face looked ready to crumble along with it.

“Don’t touch it! Don’t touch it!”

Trembling, he picked up the half-burned book and examined it under the light for a long time.

“This is the one… I hadn’t even had the chance to get someone to transcribe and copy it!”

Zheng Sheng comforted him, “Fortunately, the other rare books are still safe. Still, we definitely can’t keep books in this storeroom anymore. It needs a proper overhaul, and the back door has to be replaced. If another fire breaks out, we won’t be so lucky!”

Shen Po hadn’t been able to get a word in earlier, but now that an opportunity finally presented itself, he quickly chimed in. “Exactly, Granduncle! Look at how dilapidated this storeroom is. After the fire, nobody can even step foot in here. If you ask me, we should close the library for ten days to half a month, renovate the whole place, and give all these books a thorough reorganization!”

Too much was as bad as too little; Wen Yan told him not to say any more.

If he pushed too hard, the Japanese would definitely become suspicious.

They were suspicious by nature.

For the moment, however, Asai did not think too deeply about it. He, too, crouched down in front of one of the charred crates to inspect it.

“Old Mr. Zhang, there is still a copy of 《Snow Fragrance Collection》 in here. The author seems to be Su Shi? Did Dongpo Jushi^[1] actually write this book? Could it be the only surviving copy?”

He eagerly reached out to take it, but the paper crumbled the moment his fingers touched it, leaving his hand coated in black soot.

Without looking back, Zhang Yuanji said, “That is a forgery imitated by someone during the Qing dynasty. It was copied quite vividly, so I simply didn’t throw it out.”

Asai Sui let out a regretful sigh, though it was hard to tell whether he regretted that the book was fake or that the entire warehouse had burned to such a state.

The pungent stench of burnt wood hung thick in the air. Shen Po could not help covering his nose as he stepped out to the doorway to catch his breath.

Only after much persuasion did Zheng Sheng finally manage to coax Zhang Yuanji outside.

“I truly never expected such an accident to happen!” Asai sighed with emotion.

Zhang Ming, being just a young girl, stared at the wreckage outside with an unsettled look, at a loss and wanting to go home.

Shen Po wanted to see if this “accident” had left any traces behind, so he followed Zhang Ming out and lingered near the door to look around. Anyone watching would simply assume he was interested in Zhang Ming and think nothing more of it.

【Do you think Old Du left any traces behind?】 Shen Po asked Wen Yan.

The area outside the entrance had been completely cleared. Aside from the toppled utility pole, even the two wrecked cars that had crashed into each other had already been towed away. Shen Po knew the police from the Concession and the Chinese sector usually passed the buck back and forth and were never this efficient. It had to be Old Du, afraid someone might uncover a clue, who had arranged for them to be hauled off so quickly.

Wen Yan replied, 【There isn’t much to investigate about a car crash. The only thing that might arouse suspicion is the pile of crates by the back door.】

Without those crates, the fire wouldn’t have started.

Under normal circumstances, a library would never pile so much clutter behind its back door.

If they had doubts, there was no guarantee the Japanese wouldn’t suspect something as well.

Just then, a hunchbacked little old man walked inside.

“Master, it’s all my fault. A few crates of books were delivered from the south today, said to be the 《Shen Bao^[2]》 issues you had someone collect. It was already getting late when they arrived, and my old illness happened to flare up, so I didn’t come over to check them in. I told them to leave them by the back door, planning to handle it in the morning. I figured they were just old newspapers and nobody would steal them, but who could have thought…”

He sighed and groaned, filled with endless self-reproach.

Distressed as Zhang Yuanji was, he could hardly bring himself to blame an elderly servant who was nearly his own age.

“Those newspapers were troublesome to gather, but they weren’t truly priceless. On the other hand, Old Chen, your stomach trouble has dragged on for years. You can’t keep putting it off like this. Tomorrow, I’ll arrange for a doctor to visit and examine you.”

So this was the Old Chen who had “colluded” with Zheng Sheng?

Shen Po craned his neck, trying to get a clear look at Old Chen’s features.

But Wen Yan was paying closer attention to Asai Sui.

Asai Sui appeared deeply distressed by the fact that over half the library warehouse had been destroyed, yet he did not have much of a reaction when Zheng Sheng suggested closing the library for repairs.

This indicated that Asai had likely only heard wind of the Japanese military’s intention to target the library, which was why he had rushed over to “borrow books for an exhibition.” However, he did not know precisely when the military would make their move, so he was not in an extreme hurry.

That made sense. There was no way a top-secret military operation like that would be disclosed to a peripheral figure like Asai.

This meant their next steps would likely go a bit more smoothly.

Having caught enough fresh air, Shen Po returned to the warehouse, looking around and finding fault with everything like a spoiled young master touring the countryside.

“Granduncle, this place of yours is far too cramped and stuffed with wooden crates. No wonder it caught fire so easily!”

“Granduncle, if you ask me, your library takes up so much space that you ought to just buy up the neighboring shops too and hire a few guards to watch the place at night. Old Chen is getting on in years; it’s time to let him take it easy and enjoy his retirement.”

“And another thing, there are far too many books here. Since Mr. Asai wanted to borrow some anyway, why don’t you just sort a few out and let him take them back? That way you can renovate this warehouse properly. Wouldn’t that work out perfectly?”

His words hit right at what Asai wanted, but Asai Sui could hardly afford to appear too eager. “The old gentleman treasures books as his very life, and I feel the exact same way,” he said. “However, with the warehouse damaged, Old Mr. Zhang should focus on taking inventory first. Once the repairs are done, I will come back to borrow the books. There is no need to add to the chaos during these few days.”

Zhang Yuanji nodded absently, too distracted to give the matter much thought.

Zheng Sheng shot Shen Po a meaningful glance, warning him not to add fuel to the fire.

Wen Yan also said, 【Zheng Sheng will handle persuading the old master. Let’s head back first and check in with Old Du.】

Reminded, Shen Po agreed: 【Right, I need to ask him what happened to the plan. We agreed on arson, but now it’s turned into a car crash and an explosion. Making such a massive scene might draw the Japanese’s attention.】

Wen Yan: 【Probably not. The Japanese don’t know that we’re aware of their plan. A top-secret operation like this might not even be known to more than a handful of their high-ranking officers, let alone Asai.】

Shen Po: 【The commotion tonight was just too big. It’s better to go over everything with Old Du again so nothing goes wrong on his end. Three cobblers match a Zhuge Liang^[3], and I’ve got a bad feeling creeping up on me.】

Wen Yan suddenly sighed.

Shen Po: 【What?】

Wen Yan: 【Nothing. I’m just suddenly feeling gratified that our Young Master Shen, who never so much as dipped his fingers in spring water^[4], has actually grown up.】

Shen Po grumbled back: 【Stop teasing me. If this goes south, my background won’t keep me safe either. I have no desire to lose my life so young like my eldest brother did!】

As he bickered with Wen Yan in his mind, he took his leave of Zhang Yuanji and the others and stepped out of the Oriental Library.

Because he had planned to treat people to a meal today, Shen Po had not told Xiao Wu to wait outside and had dismissed him early.

Shen Po hailed a rickshaw and instructed the driver to head toward Lin Guisheng’s residence.

This was the way he and Old Du had agreed to meet.

Although Old Du had several homes, like a cunning hare with three burrows, he was always surrounded by a large entourage, making leaks hard to prevent. Only when visiting Big Sister Lin Guisheng did Old Du go completely alone, eliminating any possibility of news getting out.

As the rickshaw turned into the street ahead, Shen Po suddenly felt that something was off.

That strange flash of intuition was hard to put into words.

He said to Wen Yan, 【Don’t you feel like something is weird?】

Wen Yan: 【What do you find weird?】

Shen Po: 【I feel like someone is watching me. It’s hard to describe. Could it be my dead older brother’s spirit manifesting?】

Wen Yan: 【…I think you might be followed.】

Shen Po: 【Who?!】

Wen Yan: 【This rickshaw puller.】

Shen Po froze for a moment, and suddenly the hair all over his body stood on end!