Chapter 293 News about Phoenix
May 1962, 5, Grain Full.

“Ding-ling-ling!” “Ding-ling-ling…”

Suddenly, the phone at home rang urgently. Liu Zhiye rushed forward and quickly picked up the phone, fearing that the ringing would disturb the sleeping child.

"Hey!"

The voice on the other end of the phone said, "Is this Captain Liu? I'm from the Municipal Bureau... Please be sure to arrive before 7 o'clock this morning..."

"Yes, okay...okay...right away!" Then he hung up the phone with a serious face.

Seeing this, Gan Ning asked worriedly, "What happened to Zhiye?"

Liu Zhiye shook his head and said, "I don't know either. It's an emergency meeting. I'm going to eat first and can't wait for you."

Having said that, he hurried to the East Courtyard.

Deng Ru looked at Liu Zhiye who was eating voraciously and said, "Can you eat slower? Can your stomach handle eating like this?"

"Did you hear that? The more I talk, the faster you eat. What's going on? Are you trying to piss me off?"

Liu Zhiye ate his food and said incoherently, "Mom, don't worry about me. I have an emergency meeting and can't delay it."

Deng Ru glared at him and said, "You are always busy... You only care about working hard and don't care about your health. When you are old, you will regret it!"

Liu Jingzhai was drinking millet porridge leisurely at the side. Hearing this, he reminded him calmly: "I think you are almost done. Zhiye is also helpless. Now he shoulders a heavy responsibility and cannot relax at will."

Deng Ru was immediately furious and said, "You old thing, love is not a piece of flesh that fell from your body, you don't feel sorry for it, right?" She might have reached menopause recently, and she would explode at the slightest spark.

Liu Zhiye saw that the situation was not right. He didn't have time to stay at home to coax his mother, so he put down his bowl and chopsticks and said simply: "Mom and Dad, I'm full, please take your time eating!" Then he quickly slipped away.

When Liu Jingzhai saw his disloyal son running away, he was dumbfounded. Then he looked at his wife sitting opposite him with a bad face, and he smiled awkwardly: "Well, Xiaoru, I remembered that I have an early class today, so I have to leave early..."

Hearing this, Deng Ru's eyes flashed coldly, and she responded, "Go, don't come back if you leave!"

Liu Jingzhai was immediately stunned: "..."

………………

Early in the morning, after saying goodbye to his family, Liu Zhiye hurried to the Municipal Bureau to attend an important temporary meeting.

On the way to the Municipal Bureau, Liu Zhiye quietly closed his eyes and rested. He wondered why he was suddenly called to the meeting.

Along the way, he thought about this question silently, and various possible answers emerged in his mind.

If there is no emergency, the bureau will not call him to a meeting in a hurry. After joining the public security work, such a situation is indeed very rare, and once it occurs, it usually means that something big is about to happen.

After he got off the car, he happened to see Zheng Chaoyang, Chen Wusheng, Bai Ling, Duomen and others who had just arrived. They were standing in the yard and greeting each other.

"Hey! Why are you guys here too?" Liu Zhiye greeted them enthusiastically.

Zheng Chaoyang rolled his eyes and said jokingly, "What are you talking about? Oh! Only you are allowed to come, so the rest of us are not qualified to come?"

Liu Zhiye was inexplicably scolded by Zheng Chaoyang. He was not a pushover, so he teased Bai Ling, "Wow! Comrade Bai Ling, did Old Zheng have a grudge when he went out this morning? Why is he so angry?"

Bai Ling was used to seeing them teasing each other, so she didn't care and joined in, saying, "Who knows about him? There are a few days every month when he's not normal. I'm used to it anyway..." Her words were full of light-hearted sarcasm, as if she was telling a well-known fact.

“Puff!” Chen Wusheng at the side couldn’t hold it in any longer, “There are those few days every month, hahahaha…”

"Old Zheng, I didn't expect you to..." Liu Zhiye followed with another stab.

"Hahaha……"

Zheng Chaoyang looked at his wife and saw that she had betrayed the "revolution" and joined the other side. He was so angry that he blew his beard and glared at her, saying, "You...you are going too far..."

Seeing his frustrated look, Liu Zhiye, Chen Wusheng and Bai Ling couldn't help laughing, "Hahaha..." Their laughter was full of joy.

"Hey! What's going on? Tell me about it, it'll make me happy too!" At this time, a light-hearted teasing was heard.

After hearing the familiar voice, several people hurriedly turned around and saw that it was Director Luo who had arrived.

They quickly stood at attention and saluted, saying in unison: "Good morning, leader!"

Director Luo Yong responded with a smile: "Good morning, comrades, you are all here early, right? Let's talk while we walk."

At this moment, Deputy Director Guo of the Municipal Bureau also came out to greet Luo Yong in person. Everyone greeted him warmly, and the scene was very lively.

Deputy Director Guo shook Director Luo Yong's hand and welcomed him to preside over the work. Director Luo smiled and responded: "The situation is urgent and we have to make use of our power. We can only borrow your office temporarily."

Deputy Director Guo responded with a smile: "You are too polite, Leader. The Municipal Bureau is also under the leadership of the Ministry. What is the difference between us?"

At seven o'clock sharp, Director Luo Yong of the Public Security Bureau presided over the meeting and it officially began.

Those attending the meeting included Director Luo Yong, Deputy Director Guo of the Municipal Bureau, Comrade Qiu from the Foreign Affairs Department, Captain Yu of the Public Security Corps, Director Chen Wusheng of the Fifth Division, as well as Zheng Chaoyang, Liu Zhiye and others who attended the meeting as observers.

At the beginning, Director Luo said seriously: "Comrades, let me first tell you that the rules of this meeting are top secret."

After hearing the word "top secret", all the comrades present at the meeting suddenly became serious and the atmosphere became extremely tense.

This is the highest level of state secret. State secrets are matters related to national security and interests, determined in accordance with legal procedures, and only known to a certain range of people for a certain period of time.

The levels of state secrets are divided into three levels: top secret, confidential and secret.

Top secret state secrets are the most important state secrets, whose disclosure will cause particularly serious damage to national security and interests; confidential state secrets are important state secrets, whose disclosure will cause serious damage to national security and interests; secret state secrets are general state secrets, whose disclosure will cause damage to national security and interests.

Director Luo looked at the crowd with satisfaction. They were positive and clearly experienced. He said casually, "You are all experienced and determined comrades. There is no need to explain the confidentiality system."

"I believe everyone understands the importance of this matter. Now, let's listen to Comrade Qiu from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' account of what happened..."

Comrade Qiu from the Foreign Affairs Department nodded solemnly and said, "Hello, comrades. I will not introduce myself any further. Now let me tell you the reason for our meeting."

"The story begins one day ago..."

It turns out that this incident happened in Hong Kong, not in mainland China.

A day ago, a staff member of the Xinhua News Agency branch in Hong Kong found an envelope while processing the mailbox.

What’s strange is that there is no signature on the envelope, only a domestic address, and this address is actually the specific address of the Beijing Municipal Bureau.

The staff member immediately felt that the letter was unusual and he immediately reported it to Director Song.

Director Song opened the envelope and found only a blank piece of paper. He pondered for a moment and told someone to take it away. Surprisingly, there was a series of numbers on the blank piece of paper.

These numbers seem to hide some secrets that make people wonder.

Director Song was keenly aware of some unusual situation. He realized that someone might be secretly contacting the country, so he decisively ordered his men to report to the country through the confidential radio station.

The Hong Kong branch of Xinhua News Agency was first established before the liberation. The Hong Kong branch of Xinhua News Agency has no affiliation with Xinhua News Agency, but is two completely different institutions. The Hong Kong branch is actually an agency dispatched by the Chinese government.

How did the Hong Kong branch become the Chinese government's agency in Hong Kong? This was a special product under the historical conditions at that time.

Xinhua News Agency Hong Kong Branch was indeed a news agency at the beginning. It was established in 1947 and registered with the Hong Kong British authorities as a news agency. It officially started issuing news releases on May 5.

After the establishment of Xinhua News Agency, since the Chinese government had no official representative office in Hong Kong, whenever there was a need to contact or negotiate with the Hong Kong British authorities, the Xinhua News Agency Hong Kong Branch was authorized to handle it. Since the 60s, the Hong Kong British authorities had the Hong Kong Governor's political adviser responsible for daily contact with the Xinhua Branch.

After receiving the secret message, they immediately organized people to crack the code. After working all night, the code was finally cracked successfully and the results were sent to Director Luo.

As a responsible person on the secret front, he must ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the information.

Director Luo broke out in a cold sweat after seeing the intelligence. It simply said "Phoenix, 1068 Nathan Road, urgent!"

He was filled with excitement, as the code name Phoenix finally appeared again. Since Zheng Chaoshan disappeared for a long time without any news, Director Luo sometimes wondered if he had been exposed or met with an accident.

He then began to worry that Zheng Chaoshan was in trouble and in danger. Otherwise, he would not have risked contacting him and specifically marked it as "urgent".

After careful consideration, he quickly formulated a countermeasure. Early in the morning, he summoned Liu Zhiye and others to a meeting to discuss the countermeasure.

Zheng Chaoyang was very excited when he heard the news about his brother Zheng Chaoshan. After thinking about it, he said directly: "What are we waiting for? We should send someone to Xiangjiang immediately to contact my brother Zheng Chaoshan."

"However, we don't know his current situation, and I'm worried that he may be on the verge of danger." He continued, with worry and concern in his tone.

Director Luo nodded and agreed: "That's exactly what I'm worried about. Time is running out. The longer we delay, the more dangerous Comrade Zheng Chaoshan will be."

"So, comrades, we must immediately send people to Xiangjiang to support Comrade Zheng Chaoshan."

Deputy Director Guo frowned and said, "Why should we go so far? Can't we just ask our comrades in Xiangjiang to contact him?"

When Zheng Chaoyang heard this, he immediately objected, "Director Guo, this won't work. My brother agreed to work for us, but he didn't choose to join our organization.

He is a cautious person and it is impossible for him to trust comrades he does not know. Otherwise, there would be no need to contact us through Xinhua News Agency.

Wouldn't it be nice if he could just contact our people directly?"

Director Luo nodded in agreement and said, "That's right, but there is one thing we cannot ignore, and that is we must keep it secret. Zheng Chaoshan is our key chess piece, and we must do our utmost to protect him and not allow him to be lost."

"You should take action immediately. This is directly related to your [Migratory Bird] Task Force. Therefore, you should send someone to Xiangjiang to contact Zheng Chaoshan. This matter cannot be delayed."

"Yes!" Zheng Chaoyang and others answered in unison.

So, everyone worked together to perfect the action plan.

Because this was a secret operation, it was inconvenient for them to act in a public capacity; the plan was for Zheng Chaoyang and Liu Zhiye to go to Hong Kong to contact Zheng Chaoshan.

Zheng Chaoyang is Zheng Chaoshan's younger brother. They have a close relationship and trust each other. Zheng Chaoyang is an indispensable member of this operation.

Liu Zhiye, as the force among them, is smart and fluent in English. Working together with Zheng Chaoyang, they can better protect them.

Without further ado, after the result was agreed upon, Director Luo immediately asked someone to get two tickets for the fastest train heading south that day.

He also got two thousand Hong Kong dollars for the two of them, and specifically told them: "Spend it sparingly, this foreign exchange is not easy to come by!"

This was the first time that Liu Zhiye had gone to such a far place since his rebirth. He was unsure and didn't know how long it would take to return home.

The task at hand was not difficult to handle. He only needed to ask Deputy Director Guo to arrange it, and all problems would be solved.

However, he also needed to inform his family that he was about to go on a mission and would take some time to return home so that they would not worry too much.

After Liu Zhiye and Zheng Chaoyang parted ways, they agreed to meet at three o'clock in the afternoon, and then went home separately to prepare their belongings for the long journey.

Liu Zhiye first came to the subdistrict office and found Gan Ning who was working. When Gan Ning saw that it was him, she thought he was going to take her home to have lunch together.

She said with joy, "Why are you here so early? We still have half an hour before we get off work!"

Liu Zhiye smiled and suggested, "Let's leave early. It won't take a little while longer."

Gan Ning said proudly: "That won't do. As a leader, I have to set an example!"

Liu Zhiye gently stroked Gan Ning's little head and said softly, "Xiao Ning, I have an important mission to carry out and I need to go on a long journey."

Gan Ning shuddered when she heard that. She asked worriedly, "How long will it take?"

"when are we leaving?"

"This afternoon!" Liu Zhiye shook his head and said calmly, "Maybe three to five days, maybe one to two months. Don't worry, I'll come back immediately after the mission is over."

Gan Ning had long been accustomed to her husband's long absences from home. As a family member of a public security officer, she was no longer surprised by this.

"Let's go. We'll go back and pack your clothes..."

After the two arrived home, Deng Ru saw them coming back together and said happily: "You are back, come and take a look at your precious daughter. Oh! Her skin is exactly the same as her father's when he was a child." Her words were full of love and doting for her granddaughter.

The little girl Xiaoxian can run now. This little girl has been full of energy since she was born, just like a little foal.

Except for eating, drinking milk and sleeping, she is either making a fuss or on the way to making a fuss. She is always full of energy and seems to never get tired.

When the little girl heard her parents coming back, she jumped out of the pile of toys happily and ran over to hug Liu Zhiye: "Daddy, hug me! Hug me!"

Liu Zhiye chuckled, gave her a kiss on her pink little face, and asked, "Is Xiaoxian being well-behaved at home? Do you listen to grandma?" His words revealed his concern and love for Xiaoxian.

The little girl frowned and said, "Xiaoxian is good, but grandma is not good..."

Gan Ning on the side laughed out loud, "Puchi!" It was obvious that this little girl was under the control of her grandmother.

…………

After lunch, Liu Zhiye coaxed his baby girl to sleep. He breathed a sigh of relief and signaled to Gan Ning.

Then he reluctantly said goodbye to his family and drove straight to the Municipal Bureau to meet Zheng Chaoyang.

After he met up with Zheng Chaoyang, they packed their bags, picked up their carry-on suitcases, and boarded the No. 15/16 train, which would take them directly to Guangzhou.

They boarded the train at Beijing Dongbianmen Railway Station, traveled south along the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, and got off at Yangcheng Dashatou Railway Station. The entire journey took 59 hours.

After a short rest, they took a bus to Bao'an County, where they disguised themselves as fugitives and smuggled into Hong Kong.

During this period, due to economic difficulties, Bao'an County relaxed the exit policy in border areas, and a large number of local people crossed the border to Hong Kong to join their relatives and friends and start a new life.

Due to the large number of people coming here, the British Hong Kong government was forced to start addressing the livelihood issues of these "refugees" in mid-June this year.

Some of the people who came to Hong Kong had relatives or friends in Hong Kong, so they stayed with them. The vast majority of people stayed overnight in parks, under eaves on the streets, or under stairs. Some lived in caves on the mountains or in abandoned houses.

Later, they began to build wooden houses with wooden planks on street corners and vacant lots. Then some people built wooden houses on people’s rooftops, which led to a term commonly used in Hong Kong newspapers and magazines: “rooftop wooden houses”.

These wooden houses were built in a crude manner. When the sun was high in the sky, the inside of the house was as hot as being in a furnace. When there was a typhoon or heavy rain, even the roof was often blown away by the wind.

In order to take care of each other, relatives, acquaintances and fellow villagers later gathered on various hills and open spaces to build wooden houses together. Teochew people lived in Laohuyan Village, while people from the mainland lived in Tiu Keng Leng.

Fortunately, Zheng Chaoyang knew a little Cantonese, so the two of them got to know Chen Afa, a native of Guangzhou who had come here many years ago.

With the help of Chen Ah Fat, they temporarily found a place to stay in Tiu Keng Leng. This was also for the sake of concealment. Without a formal identity, they could not live in a better environment for the time being.

(End of this chapter)