In 1947, when Ye Xiufeng, the head of the spies, was reading the newspaper, he was attracted by the "Recruiting the Silver Old Lady". In those turbulent times, everything seemed confusing. Ye Xiufeng, as the head of the Central Unified Bureau of the Kuomintang, should have been at ease, but a seemingly innocuous small advertisement made him deeply uneasy. These six words "Recruiting the Silver Old Lady" seem to have a hidden mystery, and Ye Xiufeng's intuition tells him that this is by no means a simple advertisement. So, he embarks on a thrilling investigation to try to unravel the truth of this mystery. Everything points to a larger conspiracy, but where will the truth lead? Ye Xiufeng is in an unprecedented predicament, who should he believe? Where will this investigation take him?
1. The germ of the mystery
In the spring of 1947, Shanghai was a peaceful scene. In the streets and alleys, pedestrians come and go, and hawkers are constantly hawking. In the midst of this bustle, a small advertisement attracted the attention of Ye Xiufeng, director of the Central Bureau of Statistics.
It was a six-word advertisement: "Looking for the Silver Old Lady". It seems ordinary, but Ye Xiufeng feels that there is another article in it. His years as a spy made him extremely sensitive to all suspicious signs.
Ye Xiufeng immediately called a meeting of his subordinates to study the matter. In the conference room, everyone said a word, but no one could solve the mystery of this advertisement. Some people think that it is just a marketing ploy of a pharmaceutical company, there is no doubt about it, but Ye Xiufeng intuitively denies it, insisting that there is something else hidden in it.
In order to thoroughly investigate the truth, Ye Xiufeng first sent someone to the newspaper office to investigate, but found nothing. The newspaper workers knew nothing about the advertisement, and they couldn't even find out who published it. Ye Xiufeng had to change his approach, publish a response advertisement for "Old Lady Yin" in the same newspaper, and leave an address to lure the snake out of the hole.
However, this strategy was also futile. Although Lu Zhiying, an undercover agent stationed in the shadows of the Central Bureau of Statistics, discovered the person who came to connect, he failed to arrest him. On the contrary, Ye Xiufeng had a lot of doubts about Lu Zhiying.
Just when Ye Xiufeng was at a loss, people from the Central Bureau of Statistics suddenly arrested an underground staff member on the street who was preparing to publish a new issue of Wencui magazine. Subsequently, he discovered a secret printing house and arrested three underground Communist Party members.
Second, the earth-shattering conspiracy surfaced
In the spring of 1947, Shanghai was a peaceful scene. Although Ye Xiufeng has doubts about the advertisement of "Recruiting Old Lady Yin", the investigation of the Central Bureau of Statistics has not progressed smoothly. At this moment, an unexpected discovery made a sudden major development in the whole case.
On that day, while patrolling the streets, members of the Central Bureau of Statistics stumbled upon a suspicious person who was preparing to launch a new issue of Wencui magazine. After cross-examination, the element confessed that he was an underground party member in charge of the distribution of the "Wen Cui".
When Ye Xiufeng learned of this situation, he was overjoyed. He immediately sent people to the location identified by the group, and sure enough, he found a secret printing house. There, agents of the Central Bureau of Statistics arrested three other underground party members who were printing the "Wen Cui" - Wu Chengde, Luo Hemin, and Chen Zitao.
After the four were arrested, Ye Xiufeng personally went to interrogate. He first complimented him, hoping that the four of them would be able to explain the inside story. However, these strictly trained underground party members did not move at all and did not say a word.
Seeing that good words didn't make sense, Ye Xiufeng showed his hideous side. He ordered his men to torture the four in an attempt to pry more information out of their mouths.
Under the severe beatings of the agents of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the four of them were subjected to all kinds of cruel punishments. They were tied to a tiger chair, burned with a soldering iron, nailed into their nails... The blood flowed and it was miserable. However, even after suffering such torture, the four of them remained silent and unyielding.
In the end, Ye Xiufeng became angry and ordered the four to be secretly executed. On December 27, 1948, four heroic underground party members were buried alive and laid to rest forever under this land.
Throughout the interrogation process, Ye Xiufeng has been secretly watching Lu Zhiying's every move. As an undercover agent planted by the CCP in the Central Unification Bureau, Lu Zhiying is naturally the object that Ye Xiufeng fears the most.
In fact, some time before the arrest of the four underground party members, Lu Zhiying had already discovered the trap set by Ye Xiufeng after the advertisement of "Recruiting Old Lady Yin". In order to protect his comrades, he cleverly warned them to avoid this fate.
However, Ye Xiufeng also quickly discovered Lu Zhiying's abnormal behavior. Soon after the arrest of the four party members, Ye Xiufeng sent people to raid Lu Zhiying's home, and found a large number of suspicious clues and contact information from his notebook. Lu Zhiying's identity was completely exposed, and he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Statistics and put in prison.
3. The Bloody Truth
At the beginning of 1948, Ye Xiufeng escorted Lu Zhiying and four other underground party members to the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Unification in Nanjing. There, they were subjected to unprecedented cruelty.
Ye Xiufeng personally presided over the interrogation. He first complimented him, hoping that the four of them could explain the inside story. However, these strictly trained underground party members did not move at all, and did not utter a word.
Seeing that good words didn't make sense, Ye Xiufeng showed his hideous side. He ordered his men to torture the four in an attempt to pry more information out of their mouths.
Under the severe beatings of the agents of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the four of them suffered all kinds of cruel punishments. They were tied to a tiger chair, burned with a soldering iron, nailed into their nails... The blood flowed and it was miserable.
Wu Chengde was tied to a tiger chair with his hands twisted behind his back. The agents drove nails into his fingernails, and the pain made him sweat profusely. However, even after suffering such torture, Wu Chengde still did not say a word.
Luo Hemin was burned all over his body by the red soldering iron, his skin was open and his flesh was blurred. But he still gritted his teeth and refused to speak. The agents angrily pulled a lock of his hair, dipped it in boiling water, and pressed it against his wound, and Luo Hemin fainted in pain.
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Chen Zitao was hung from the beams of the house with his hands tied behind his back. The agents whipped him wantonly, and his skin was torn open. But Chen Zitao was still silent, only occasionally letting out a painful moan.
In the end, Ye Xiufeng became angry and ordered the four to be secretly executed. In the early morning of December 27, 1948, four heroic underground party members were buried alive and laid to rest forever under this land.
Throughout the interrogation process, Ye Xiufeng has been secretly watching Lu Zhiying. As an undercover agent planted by the CCP in the Central Unification Bureau, Lu Zhiying is naturally the object that Ye Xiufeng fears the most.
Even if he was tortured, Lu Zhiying did not say a word. On the contrary, he bought precious time for his comrades with his own flesh and blood. It was precisely because of Lu Zhiying's heroic sacrifice that the secrets of the underground party were kept and the flame of revolution could be passed on.
Fourth, the mystery is revealed
In the spring of 1948, Shanghai was a peaceful scene. Although Ye Xiufeng tried his best to deal with the advertising case of "Recruiting Old Lady Yin", he still found nothing. Just when he was anxious, an unexpected discovery finally revealed the truth of this mystery.
On that day, while patrolling the streets, members of the Central Bureau of Statistics stumbled upon a suspicious person who was preparing to launch a new issue of Wencui magazine. After cross-examination, the element confessed that he was an underground party member in charge of the distribution of the "Wen Cui". When Ye Xiufeng learned of this situation, he was overjoyed, and immediately sent people to the location designated by the element, and sure enough, he found a secret printing house.
There, officials from the Central Bureau of Statistics arrested three other underground party members who were printing the "Wen Cui." After the four were arrested, Ye Xiufeng personally went to interrogate them, trying to pry more information out of their mouths. However, these strictly trained underground party members did not move at all and did not say a word.
Seeing that good words didn't make sense, Ye Xiufeng showed his hideous side and ordered his subordinates to torture the four people. Under the severe beating of the agents of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the four of them suffered all kinds of cruel torture, and the blood flowed and was miserable. However, even after suffering such torture, the four of them remained silent and unyielding.
In the end, Ye Xiufeng became angry and ordered the four to be secretly executed. On December 27, 1948, four heroic underground party members were buried alive and laid to rest forever under this land.
Throughout the interrogation process, Ye Xiufeng has been secretly watching Lu Zhiying's every move. As an undercover agent planted by the CCP in the Central Unification Bureau, Lu Zhiying is naturally the object that Ye Xiufeng fears the most. However, even if he was tortured, Lu Zhiying did not say a word.
Just when Ye Xiufeng was completely desperate for the case of "Recruiting Old Lady Yin", an unexpected discovery finally revealed the truth of this mystery. It turned out that the advertisement was just a marketing campaign made by a pharmaceutical company to promote the new drug "silica silver".
In order to expand the popularity of "silicon silver", Hangzhou Minsheng Pharmaceutical Factory has allocated up to 50% of the production cost for publicity. Not only did they print fans, stickers and posters, but they also advertised them in newspapers. One of the advertisements is "Seeking the Silver Old Lady", which refers to an old lady holding a "silica silver" medicine.
Originally, the pharmaceutical company planned to publish this advertisement in the newspaper for several days in a row to attract people's attention, and then publish a photo of the old lady as the mystery was revealed. Who knew that as soon as this advertisement came out, it attracted Ye Xiufeng's attention, and the Central Bureau of Unification sent people to surround the pharmaceutical factory and search it back and forth.
In the end, the pharmaceutical company can only give gifts and laugh to end this farce. Unexpectedly, it was the fanfare of the Central Bureau of Statistics that made "silicon silver silver" an instant hit, and its influence even exceeded the expectations of pharmaceutical companies.