Located in the west of Mochou Lake, Honggong Ancestral Hall No. 1, the headquarters of the secret service of the Lixing Society.

A small-looking two-story office building, nestled in a grove of greenery, has the word "Fuxing" written in cursive on a plaque above the entrance of the office building, indicating that this is the core area of the Secret Service.

In the office on the second floor, Dai Li, who had stepped into his life, sat behind his desk and carefully looked at the telegram in his hand.

Beside Dai Li, stood a young man in his early thirties, slightly thin, his face a little pale from lack of sleep, and his eyes were focused and cold.

"Lijun, you have been in Shanghai for many years and are familiar with the situation there...... You might as well tell me honestly, how much of a role can Shanghai's intelligence network play? After reading the message in his hand, Dai Li turned his head and said.

The young man is Zhao Lijun, who graduated from the political science department of the fifth phase of Huangpu, a native of Dazu, Sichuan, joined the CCP during the Great Revolution, fled back to his hometown after the failure of the Guangzhou Uprising, and organized the "Tuqiao Riot" in the Tongliang area, and went to Chengdu after the failure.

"Shanghai's intelligence network is basically sound, and as long as the director gives an order, it will be able to operate at a high speed." Zhao Lijun, who is now the head of the Intelligence Section of the Special Service Division, replied respectfully.

Dai Li was noncommittal, stood up and said quietly: "The chairman of the committee does not want to make enemies with the Japanese, Zhang Xiaolin poked out such a big basket, and our work is very passive."

"Director, Zhang Xiaolin has not sold our accounts much before, and he has cooperated with the Japanese, which has caused us a lot of trouble...... Now I don't know what kind of madness he made, and he turned his face with the Japanese, which was just right to ⊥ him sober up...... If the situation continues like this, if it can't hold on, we can even accept his power in Shanghai," Zhao Lijun cautiously said.

"Inappropriate"

Dai Li shook his head, tapped his fingertips on the table, and said, "Although the chairman of the committee has ordered that Zhang Xiaolin can be pushed out of the country when necessary, the premise is that the situation has developed to the point of no return...... Zhang Xiaolin has been operating in Shanghai for many years, and his relationship network is intertwined, coupled with the relationship between Huang Jinrong and Du Yuesheng, if it were not for the last step, the chairman of the committee would still be unwilling to bear the charge of betraying his 'friend'."

"So what are we going to do?" Zhao Lijun asked softly.

Dai Li said calmly: "Zhibin is still in Shanghai, if Zhang Xiaolin is smart, he should take the initiative to find us to dredge the joints at this time, if he doesn't even have the consciousness to shed a little blood, it is not worth our help at all...... Let's sit back and see how the situation changes, and remember to report to me any new situation. ”

After Zhao Lijun left, Dai Li sat down again, silently speculating about who was behind the scenes?

Another day passed.

At night, Shanghai Tang, with its bright street lights and neon lights on buildings of different styles, looks almost the same as the city of later generations.

The winding and longitudinal squandering roads in the concession are full of people, trams, cars, rickshaws and wheelbarrows shuttling back and forth, and well-dressed people do not care about the war that may come at any time.

Wu Ming took Sun Chengyuan and Lu Kuiyuan, and under the protection of six guards from afar, followed Nanjing Road all the way to the west, enjoying the beautiful scenery of Shanghai Beach at night.

"Big brother, Shanghai is really a good place, it's still as bright as day when it's dark...... With so many pedestrians on the street, where are they going? Do Shanghainese also have to work overtime at night? Cheng Yuan took Wu Ming's hand excitedly, pointing around, looking like a hillbilly entering the city.

"There are many professions in this world, and they are dedicated to working at night......"

Wu Ming's expression was ambiguous, and as he spoke, he pointed to the many shikumen arcades with red lanterns hanging in front of the doors in the alleys on both sides of the street, where women with heavy makeup and glamour could be seen soliciting customers everywhere.

Wu Ming couldn't help but laugh, everything in front of him made him feel a little fresh, under the unpredictable neon lights, the contrast between prosperity and backwardness, civilization and ignorance formed a huge visual impact, giving people an extraordinary shock to their hearts.

Walking along the way, admiring the buildings that can be called the "Museum of All Nations" along the way, the brightly lit shopping malls, amusement parks, tea shops, cinemas, bookstores, and cinemas on the road make people dizzy, and unconsciously, Wu Ming and others came to the front of the Paramount Song and Dance Hall located at the corner of Yuyuan Road and Fanhuangdu Road of Jing'an Temple in the west area of the public concession.

In the thirties, the Paramount Song and Dance Hall was very famous, known as the "first music house in the East", Wu Ming in the previous life was frequently seen in many films, television and literary works, and was full of curiosity about it.

Wu Ming decided to go in and see for himself.

The sign at the gate clearly marked the price, the dance hall is charged according to different time periods, the tea dance from one o'clock in the afternoon to half past four, the ticket is forty yuan on weekdays, fifty yuan on holidays, and the female dancer is twenty-five yuan per session, of which each session is ten minutes, and the male dancer is calculated according to the charter, 400 yuan per person.

The ticket price for the champagne dance from 4:40 p.m. to 8 p.m. is 100 yuan, and the male and female dancers are charged the same as the tea dance; The evening dance hall from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. has a minimum ticket of 200 yuan, and the rest of the consumption is counted separately. Unlike during the day, the evening dance hall is accompanied by a jazz band with singers singing Chinese and English songs live, accompanied by professional male and female dancers, but the price of female dancers has been raised to 35 yuan per session.

Sun Chengyuan bought nine tickets, and more than a dozen bewitching greeters standing on both sides immediately welcomed Wu Ming and others into the gate with smiles on their faces.

The dance hall has three floors, the first floor is the kitchen and storefront, the second floor is the dance floor and banquet hall, the design inside is extremely modern, there are a large number of nickel, crystal and white wood arrangement, the crystal clear marble spiral staircase leads directly to the Grand Ballroom, the largest dance floor is more than 500 square meters, the dance floor is supported by automobile steel plates, and there will be a shaking feeling when dancing.

There is a small dance floor around the big dance floor and the arcade on the duplex, which can be divided at will, which can be used for people to practice dancing and trysts, especially a transparent dance floor made of glass floors on the balcony, with foot lamps below, which makes people feel as if dancing on eggs, when the dance hall on the second floor and the two floors are all opened, it can be used for thousands of people to dance at the same time, and the room is also equipped with air conditioning and heating, and the furnishings are luxurious.

The third floor is the hotel, and the top floor is equipped with a huge cylindrical fiberglass tower, and when the dancers are ready to leave, the waiter will type the customer's car plate or other code on the tower, and the driver can see it from a distance, and drive the car to the door of the dance hall.

Wu Ming and his entourage were all dressed in black youth clothes, although they looked clean and tidy, they had nothing to do with grace and luxury, and they were incompatible with the environment and atmosphere of the dance hall. Paramount and Cirous, Xinxianlin and Metropolis are known as the four major song and dance halls in Shanghai, and the consumption level is extremely high, and the people who come and go are either powerful people in suits and leather shoes or rich businessmen who are full of jewels, and Wu Ming and others have suffered a lot of eyes along the way.

Paramount goes up from the entrance door to the staircase wall, and along the wall are hung pictures of red dancing girls for guests to choose from. Coming to the hall on the second floor, Wu Ming directly found a seat remote from the big stage in the center and sat down, and soon a dancer class came to ask if there were any familiar dancers, Wu Ming politely declined, and asked the waiter to order some drinks casually, and easily spent a few hundred yuan.

Wu Ming looked around and found that there were no singers on the stage behind the dance floor, and a band composed of Filipinos was playing hard.

Just now, Miss Yingbin introduced that these bands that come to China to pan for gold are very good at keeping up with the "trend", and what kind of music is popular in New York, Paris, and London, or they can move into the Paramount dance hall to play in a few months, so Paramount has always been at the forefront of fashion.

On the large dance floor in the middle, to the beat of the music, a pair of well-dressed men and women are dancing with each other, their bodies constantly swaying, and those dancers who are as beautiful as flowers and dancing like butterflies have become the focus of the eyes of many guests.

The lights in the ballroom are very regular.

The glass floor of the dance floor glows red when up-tempo music is played, and blue or green lights when soothing music is played. The music played, the lights flickered, and the light through the glass floor looked less dazzling and more hazy. The guests danced in the glittering world, and the dancers and spectators were so fascinated that they didn't know where they were.

Wu Ming looked around and found that this Paramount Song and Dance Hall really lived up to its reputation, the business was very hot, and the seats around the big dance floor were half a circle, plus the box and the small dance floor above, there was no problem in earning two or three hundred thousand oceans in one game.

Just when Wu Ming was enjoying the beautiful dancing of those well-dressed dancers on the dance floor, Lu Kuiyuan, who always paid attention to the surrounding situation, lightly touched Wu Ming, and at the same time pouted at the staircase.

Wu Ming turned his head to look, the corners of his mouth quickly showed a playful smile, only to see Zhang Xiaolin, Wu Jingguan and Fang Zhibin walking into the hall surrounded by more than a dozen big men, Zhang Xiaolin's expression was relaxed, and he talked happily with Wu Jingguan and Fang Zhibin beside him, and seemed to not pay too much attention to the huge loss of the Red Ribbon Pavilion and the eastern area of the public concession.

"At this point, I am still in the mood to go to Paramount for recreation, it seems that Zhang Xiaolin still has hole cards in his hand" Wu Ming's fingers tapped on the table, thoughtful.