Ganlu A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-917458-34-4
Verlag: Unicorn
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 384 Seiten

Winner of Chinese National Literature Prize, the novel A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains is based on the Communist Party Central Committee's strategic shift in Shanghai in 1933. It tells the story of the Shanghai Special Operations Team, who bravely overcame difficulties and dangers to complete their mission of implementing the 'Thousands of Miles of Rivers and Mountains' plan. The novel accurately captures the historical atmosphere and blends a complex mix of world conditions and human emotions into the storyline. This work is a true legend with a revolutionary historical theme and provides a detailed portrayal of the characters while achieving the goal of narrative.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ganlu, Sun

Leseproben

Chapter 1

Dice

It was the fifteenth day of the last lunar month, just two weeks away from Lunar New Year’s Eve.

At approximately 9.35 am, Wei Dafu arrived at the front gate of the Zhejiang Grand Theatre. Across the street was the Fuzhou Road Wet Market.

Shanghai Municipal Council allowed parking on this section of Zhejiang Road, a typical bustling area filled not only with cars but also rickshaws, vendor and panel carts laden with vegetables. Because it was so busy, pedestrians could only access the wet market by squeezing in between parked vehicles.

Today, Wei Dafu suddenly sensed a subtle difference in the air. Both sides of the wet market entry were clear. Although rows of cars were parked on the roadside as usual, the one-wheeled and panel carts pulled by ropes on workers’ shoulders, were absent. It was as though someone hiding in a corner of the street had intervened to stop their regular routines.

He observed for a moment and noticed that when the rickshaws pulled up to the curb, as soon as the housewives disembarked, the drivers pulled away in a hurry, giving the impression that some kind of warning had somehow got them worried. Despite all the sweating and panting, they wouldn’t stay in the restricted area for any longer than was necessary. Wei thought he was perhaps being overly anxious. After all, it was common in the International Settlement for constables to suddenly run out into the streets and scatter anyone idling around. Perhaps, he mused, he was being too nervous and was imagining things.

A film poster was erected at the entrance of the theatre, announcing the debut of A Musical Teacher, starring Jin Yan and Zi Luolan. He wondered whether it would be any good because it only had three main characters, all of whom ended up dead at the end. Besides, the time was unsuitable as the first screening wouldn’t finish until 3 pm. His mind wandered as he pondered these concerns.

It was 9.40 am on the rooftop garden of the World’s Grand Hotel.

The amusement park seemed a little depressed. With the winter sun beaming down on the carousel, the wooden horses looked somehow sad and particularly so where the oil paint had peeled away. The skating rink and billiard parlour both stood empty, the bookshop was not open and there were only one or two customers sitting in the open-air tea house.

Yi Junnian walked to the corner of the garden, stood by the parapet wall and surveyed the scene below. Across the road, the lower two floors of the building hosted the wet market. The market was at its busiest, with housewives and servants alike jostling at the entrance. The building’s upper two floors had their windows closed. It was only possible to open these hung sash windows from below.

‘Who did you meet this morning?’ enquired Ling Wen from behind him. According to their previous arrangement, Yi Junnian was supposed to arrive at Ling Wen’s home that morning and then they would go to the wet market together. However, he failed to show up sending a worker from his calligraphy and painting shop to deliver a letter requesting her to meet him in the rooftop garden of the World’s Grand Hotel. As she had been to this place with Yi Junnian before, she knew exactly where to go and used the elevator to reach the uppermost floor.

‘A driver from Nanshi police station.’

‘You were in a hurry to meet him. What’s wrong?’

Yi Junnian shook his head standing with his back to her, still gazing down at the road below. After thinking for a moment, he said, ‘The Baiyun Guan Detective Squad assembled a team at midnight, saying they were going to handle affairs in the International Settlement.’

Logically, as Ling Wen’s superior, Yi Junnian shouldn’t have told her about this situation. However, considering her long tenure in the group, her competence and her constant work in internal transportation, Yi Junnian hid very little from her.

‘Should we let Old Fang know?’ Ling Wen became anxious.

‘It’s not necessarily relevant to us, and it’s too late anyway.’

Choosing not to take the entry to the wet market, Qin Chuan’an opted for a door on the north side of the building, taking the elevator directly to the third floor. As soon as the elevator doors opened, he heard a melody and determined it was Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.

He walked along a dim corridor with mosaic tiles on the floor. The precise colour was obscured by the tiles’ angular shapes and light green background. A door on one side of the corridor was open revealing a room with dusty, folding chairs stacked inside.

Continuing down the corridor, Qin Chuan’an pushed open the double doors. Inside was a spacious hall with rows of folding chairs facing an impressive orchestra. He found a chair close to a pillar and sat down. As a music fan, he used to go there regularly and watch the orchestra rehearse; he kept a record player in his clinic. If orchestras had concerts at the Town Hall or the Lyceum Theatre, he usually went there in advance to watch rehearsals because he enjoyed hearing certain passages, or even certain pieces over and over again.

He glanced at his watch every once in a while. On the seventh look he noticed it was already 9.55 am. He stood up and left the rehearsal hall. Instead of retracing his steps to the elevator, he took the stairs on the other side of the corridor to reach the meeting chamber on the mezzanine between the third and fourth floors.

At the end of the Tongchunfang Alley was a huge wall behind which stood Gezhi Public School of Shanghai Municipal Council, but its entrance was on the opposite side of the block. Tian Fei went this way to work every day.

He had spent nine years at Gezhi school; this British-style public school admitted only boys. As today was the beginning of winter break, groups of teenagers were coming out of the school gate from time to time. The day was chilly and the boys all looked very smart in their blue indanthrene cloth gowns, completed with a dome tweed, duckbill cap embroidered with the yellow school logo.

Tian Fei paced back and forth along the fence between the school and the side gate. Further down the road, pedestrians gathered at the intersection; several of them had their hands behind their backs. When he glanced from behind, he saw a sea of dome-shaped felt hats and woollen caps. They quickly disappeared into the bustling crowd crossing the street.

He worked in the library and he was the one who had discovered the hidden chamber behind the book depository; a space that had been naturally formed over time. This large space situated between the two floors was largely unknown to the outside world. The book depository was a place for preservation. The innermost chambers there, that is the ones in the row at the end of the corridor, housed books that were either severely damaged or superfluous due to an abundance of new editions. Even librarians didn’t go to those chambers, with only Tian Fei going there occasionally to retrieve a few books from the dusty shelves.

About a month ago, he relocated a stack of books that had been piled into a corner due to lack of shelf space, only to find a door with a rusted and misshapen lock. After picking the lock and succeeding in opening it, he discovered a dust-ridden, musty, yet surprisingly secret, chamber.

Tian Fei needed to unlock the door first today, and for this reason he should have arrived a few minutes earlier. He patted his pocket to check that the key was there. After discovering the chamber, he hadn’t bothered to look for the original key, deciding to replace the old lock with a new one. Finally, he checked his right pocket to confirm the dominoes were safely inside.

Yi Junnian watched Ling Wen as she walked into the elevator to take her downstairs. He decided he needed to be more cautious after realising just how keen her intuition was. Old Fang had told him that the meeting was extremely confidential and that attendees had been meticulously selected. They came from different places, and when they joined the action group they had to be completely detached from their previous employment. Yi Junnian stood for a while, noticing there was no movement around the entrance to the wet market. Then, he shifted his gaze to the opposite direction.

Wei Dafu stood on the upper street, seemingly about to open the cigarette box he was carrying in his hand. Suddenly, he paused and raised his head to look ahead, as if he had suddenly spotted something.

Yi Junnian followed Wei Dafu’s eyeline and saw Ling Wen in the middle of the road. It was obvious that Wei Dafu had recognised her. It appeared he had a sharp memory as indeed the two of them had met before. There was a time when circumstances had become so urgent that Yi Junnian had to ask Ling Wen to go to the teahouse to inform Wei Dafu there had been a change of meeting place.

Wei Dafu purchased cigarettes from...