As mentioned earlier, when Lin Jiangbei rented a house in Hangzhou, he rented a whole yard of Peach Blossom Sister-in-law, one bias and two positives, a total of three rooms, and the monthly rent was only 12 yuan, which was nothing compared to Lin Jiangbei's monthly income of more than 260 fiat currency, and there was no top fee.

However, the situation in Shanghai is different, at this time in Shanghai, as long as it involves rental housing, the top fee is a matter that all tenants cannot escape. To put it simply, as long as you rent a house in Shanghai, you have to pay a ceiling fee, and it is simply a fool's dream to rent a house without paying a ceiling fee

The so-called top fee is the cost of the top house, that is to say, the cost incurred in the process of transferring the lease right of the house, which is somewhat similar to the transfer fee that is often paid when renting shops in the society, but it is not the same.

The reason for this phenomenon is mainly that Shanghai's economy is developed, and a large number of foreign people are rushing in, resulting in a violent housing shortage in Shanghai.

This has caused the rental fee of Shanghai housing to be not only extremely expensive, but also to rent a house, but also to pay a low equivalent to thirty or forty times the monthly rental fee, high is equivalent to the monthly rental fee of hundreds of times the top fee, as for the specific amount, it depends on the quality of the house and the location.

So in Shanghai at this time, not to mention wanting to buy a house, even renting a house is also a relatively luxurious thing.

Take the great writer Mr. Lu Xun as an example, when he was in Beijing, his monthly income was only 350 oceans, but in less than a year, he spent more than 3,500 oceans to buy a courtyard house with a total of 27 rooms. After that, Lu Xun spent another 800 oceans to buy a small courtyard house with six houses.

In the previous life, Lin Jiangbei, who was suffering from high housing prices, was envious every time he heard someone mention Mr. Lu Xun's anecdote, and he longed for the golden age of intellectuals who could easily buy a mansion with less than a year's salary during the Republic of China.

But who would have thought that a great writer like Mr. Lu Xun, who could spend a lot of money in Beijing and buy two courtyard houses in a row, could not afford to buy a house after moving to Shanghai in 1927, and lived in Shanghai for ten years, and even in 1936, he still lived in a rented house?

You must know that during the nearly ten years of living in Shanghai, Mr. Lu Xun's average monthly income was as high as more than 690 yuan, which was far higher than his monthly income of 350 yuan in Beijing.

Even if it is a rental house, in Shanghai, the rent of a house with the same conditions in Shanghai often starts at more than ten times the rent in Beijing and Hangzhou. As far as the courtyard in the north of the Lin River is concerned, in Shanghai, there is no rent of 200 legal dollars per month, and it is unbearable.

The pavilion at the lowest end of Shanghai, the height is no more than two meters, and the area is at most six or seven square meters, and the monthly rent at this time is as high as twenty or thirty yuan in legal currency, which is enough to rent two or three courtyards in the north of the forest in Hangzhou.

At that time, the famous writer Ding Ling, and her boyfriend Hu Yepin moved to Shanghai to live, and the income of the two of them in Shanghai was considered to be at the upper middle level, but they could only share a six- or seven-square-meter pavilion room with another writer, Shen Congwen, who slept on the bed, and Ding Ling and Hu Yeping made bunks next to the bed.

The houses near Broadway Road in the public concession day management area are basically new-style alleys and garden houses, and the worst and worst ones are also new-style Shikumen houses. Leaving aside the rent of such a house, but in Shanghai at this time, the top fee of the house starts at least 3,000 yuan in legal currency.

If the Japanese mole in the 4th Marine Expeditionary Force Command lived here, if he were to move to live near the 4th Marine Corps Command on Haiphong Road, the loss of the roof fee alone would be a huge amount.

As mentioned earlier, the top fee is somewhat similar to the transfer fee that is often paid when renting a shop in the society today, but it is not the same. So where are the differences?

In modern society, the transfer fee is paid by the new tenant to the old tenant. At this time, in Shanghai, the top fee paid by the new tenant did not all fall into the hands of the original tenant of the house.

At that time, in Shanghai, especially in the public and French concessions, there were very few owners of houses who directly leased real estate, and they often entrusted the management of their houses to real estate agents.

Different from the current real estate intermediary agency, the real estate custodian now enters into leases, collects rent, and is involved in litigation due to real estate disputes, etc., all in the name of the landlord. At this time, the real estate management business of Shanghai on behalf of the landlord took the form of "rented account house", which was an independent exercise of authority, and the tenant and the relevant parties did not know who the owner was, which was a unique form of real estate management in old Shanghai.

The people who are responsible for the "rented houses" business are often foreign organizations and foreign law firms, who are responsible for the rental houses to exert pressure on Chinese tenants, and if the demands are not successful, they often directly use coercive means such as closing the houses and cutting off water and electricity, without having to resort to the court to request handling. Moreover, foreign organizations can also rely on consular jurisdiction for protection.

It is precisely because of this that the foreign intermediaries who are responsible for the rental business are very arrogant and have formulated a lot of overlord clauses, such as the top fee paid by the new tenant, and the old tenant can get three to four percent, which is considered the top sky. Even the Japanese mole inside the Fourth Expeditionary Force Command of the United States Marine Corps has a background of American, but at most he can only get fifty percent of the top fee from the foreign intermediary organization.

However, when he went to Haiphong Road to rent a new house, he paid no less than a single cap fee, that is to say, he would have to lose at least more than 1,500 yuan in the house cap fee alone.

In addition to the top fee of the house, when signing the lease contract, there is also a transfer fee to pay to the rented house, which is generally one-tenth of the top fee of the house, that is, if the Japanese mole wants to rent a house with basically the same conditions as his rent near Broadway, he will have to pay a transfer fee of at least 300 yuan. Combined with the loss of the previous roof fee, it is almost 2,000 yuan less.

Although it is said that the income of officers of the US Marine Corps is not low, the income of less than 2,000 yuan in legal tender is not something that anyone can easily afford to lose.

Zhang Shixue served as the secretary of the Shanghai Region, and he handled the housing rentals of many branches in the Shanghai Region, and the top fee of the most expensive house at the intersection of Xiafei Road and Wenlin Road was even as high as 5,000 legal currency, so he naturally knew the twists and turns in it.

It's just that Zhang Shixue doesn't understand, why Lin Jiangbei is so sure that the Japanese mole inside the headquarters of the Fourth Expeditionary Force of the US Marine Corps originally lived in the area of Broadway Road?

So he asked Lin Jiangbei his questions.

Listening to Zhang Shixue's question, Lin Jiangbei laughed and said, "Secretary Zhang, I also went to the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai in Huangpu Beach today to watch the scene, and then I came up with this conjecture. ”

"When I saw the building next to the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, which is No. 13-14 Huangpu Road, I remembered that when I was in the Hangzhou training class before, the instructor had talked about the situation in Shanghai and mentioned that this was the original residence of the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai. In the 21st year of the Republic of China, Japan attacked the Zhabei District of Shanghai, causing the trade exchanges between Shanghai and Western countries to fall into chaos for many years. In 1933, with the further development of the situation, for the sake of the safety of the consulate, the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai left the original territory of the American Concession for the first time in 80 years and moved to the former site of the Kalee Hotel on Jiangxi Road on the south bank of the Suzhou Creek. Then, at the beginning of this year, it moved to a development building on the southwest corner of Jiangxi Road and Fuzhou Road. ”

When Zhang Shixue heard this, he couldn't help but suddenly realize, and said to Lin Jiangbei: "Jiangbei, you mean that the Japanese mole in the headquarters of the Fourth Expeditionary Force of the United States Marine Corps may have worked in the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai?" ”

"Yes!" Lin Jiangbei nodded and said, "Because at that time, the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai not only set up a U.S. court, prison, dock, and post office in China, but also set up a parade ground for visiting Navy and Marine Corps. This parade ground is supposed to be managed by the relevant personnel of the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps. ”

"In other words, as long as you find this U.S. Navy or Marine Corps person who was in charge of the parade ground of the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai at the time, and see if he is still living near Broadway Road, you can basically identify the suspected target?" Zhang Shixue said.

"Yes!" Lin Jiangbei nodded again, "That's exactly what I came to you for." Of course, the suspect was not necessarily the person in charge of the parade ground at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai, or he was in charge of other matters at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai at the time, but was later transferred to the command of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Force, and the key point was to see if he was still living near Broadway Road. ”

"Are you asking me to go to Colonel Price of the 4th Marine Regiment of the U.S. Marine Corps to communicate with him and inform him of this discovery, so that he can identify the suspected target?" Zhang Shixue asked.

"Secretary Zhang, you can't think about Colonel Price reporting this situation for the time being." Lin Jiangbei shook his head and said, "After all, this is just our speculation. In the unlikely event that Colonel Price does not have a person among his subordinates who meets the requirements of this characteristic, or if there is a person who is verified to be not a Japanese mole, it will affect the cooperation between the US intelligence agencies and our intelligence service in the future. ”

"And what do you mean?" Zhang Shixue frowned lightly and looked at Lin Jiangbei.

"Secretary Zhang," Lin Jiangbei laughed again, "It's been almost three years since you came to Shanghai. I am certainly familiar with the situation in Shanghai. I don't believe that you haven't made a single personal acquaintance with the US side in the past three years. ”