Volume One, Chapter 15: Does Xia Niannian Speak French?

After leaving the village, Xia Nannan headed straight for the back mountain. As she walked, she picked up branches and kept a careful eye out to see if anyone was following her.

Perhaps the military had issued a warning that wild boars frequently roamed these mountains, so hardly anyone dared to venture up at this time.

Along the way, she didn’t encounter a single person or even a living creature.

When she reached the smallest cave on the right side of the second mountain hollow marked on the note, she stopped abruptly and dropped all the branches on the ground, pretending to arrange and bundle them neatly.

While placing each branch into the rope, she glanced around and noticed a spot at the edge that caught her attention.

Brushing away the leaves and twigs, she uncovered a relatively clean cigarette box.

Frowning in confusion, Xia Nannan picked up the pack and muttered, “Are the educated youth not allowed to smoke here?”

But then she recalled that she had personally seen the youth leader hand cigarettes to the village chief, Yang Jianshe.

With that thought, Xia Nannan didn’t hesitate. She carefully examined the pack, then brought it to her nose to sniff. It smelled like ordinary tobacco with no strange odor. She then slowly opened the box.

Inside, the cigarettes were neatly arranged—neither more nor less than expected—and uniformly colored, revealing no obvious abnormalities.

She took each cigarette out one by one, gently squeezing them. When she pinched the one at the edge, her hand suddenly froze. The texture was off. Bringing it closer to her nose, she noticed its scent was much fainter than the others. A closer look revealed that the filter and the cigarette body had been reassembled—a subtle splice that was hard to detect without careful inspection.

With utmost caution, Xia Nannan separated the filter from the cigarette, revealing a rolled-up slip of paper inside. Upon unfolding it, she was stunned into silence.

This confirmed the espionage activity beyond doubt. Without further delay, she took out her small notebook and began copying the message.

This time, the note was simple—just a dozen or so letters, scattered and non-adjacent.

If it hadn’t been for the experience from the previous night, she wouldn’t have even begun to guess what it meant.

After quickly transcribing the message, she restored the cigarette to its original state, carefully examined it once more, then buried it in the small pit, covering it with leaves and twigs.

After tidying up and erasing any traces she had left behind, she looked around to ensure no one was nearby. Carrying the firewood on her back, she walked away as if nothing had happened, heading towards a nearby hill.

About half an hour later, the youth named Yu Mingliang hobbled wearily towards the cave.

Less than twenty minutes passed before he emerged, smoking a cigarette lazily under the sun. He stretched and shouted, “I’m alive again!”

Just one cigarette could revive someone from near death to a state of exhilaration as if energized by adrenaline. If she couldn’t figure out something from this, then all her years in the military would have been for nothing.

After Yu Mingliang left, Xia Nannan pinched her pocket, her eyes darting quickly. She turned and jogged down the mountain by a small path, carrying the firewood.

...

“Where did this come from?”

Gu Nanzhou stared at the note in his hand, instantly becoming alert.

Wang Hu shook his head, puzzled. “I don’t know; I just found it.” He had interacted with many people today and had no idea who might have slipped it into his pocket.

If there hadn’t been writing on it, he would have tossed it away as scrap.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, but it seemed unlikely. His hesitation was fully visible to Gu Nanzhou.

“Speak.”

Wang Hu frowned and hurriedly explained, “On my way back, I ran into Wang Cui’s cousin and saw her off.”

He had helped Xia Nannan load the firewood into the trunk, but there was no physical contact between them!

No matter how fast Xia Nannan’s hands were, he felt it was impossible during that brief moment.

Hearing this, Gu Nanzhou lowered his head to examine the handwriting on the note without looking up. “You go handle your business first.”

After Wang Hu left, Gu Nanzhou opened the drawer in front of him and took out an English book from the top. Inside was a note from last time when Xia Nannan had brought wild boar meat and helped several people sign their names.

Many elderly villagers in the northwest countryside were illiterate; those who could sign their own names were even rarer. Particularly, finding a girl who could write with such strong, confident strokes was nearly impossible.

The handwriting on the two notes before him was identical, forcing him to suspect Xia Nannan’s true identity.

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Nanzhou picked up the phone and made a call. Upon receiving the information, Gao Chen wasted no time and appeared at the residential compound that afternoon.

Looking around the room, which was completely different from last time, Gao Chen grinned mischievously at the man sitting on the wooden sofa, smoking.

“Are you sure you want to bring her in?”

They hadn’t even confirmed Xia Nannan’s real identity yet, and they were already planning to take her in. This was not Gu Nanzhou’s usual style.

Gu Nanzhou didn’t respond. He stubbed out his cigarette and pulled a small paper packet from his pocket, placing it on the wooden tea table.

“Take this back for a thorough examination.” Then, he took out a slip written in French and placed it beside the tobacco.

“...” Gao Chen looked at him incredulously, scrutinizing him up and down. “Did you write this?”

Gao Chen knew Gu Nanzhou spoke Russian, but when had he quietly learned English? He had no idea.

“She wrote it. Today, while Wang Hu was helping with the firewood, she slipped it into his pocket.”

Such speed and stealth, without Wang Hu noticing, could only be achieved by Xia Nannan in Gu Nanzhou’s eyes.

“She?” Gao Chen wanted to ask who “she” was, then suddenly realized and lowered his voice. “Sister-in-law knows English?”

Oh no! This was bad, very bad. The intelligence revealed that one of the female spies had studied in the United States for seven years.

If such a beautiful young woman was a spy, Gao Chen swore he would never look at another beauty again.

Before Gao Chen could say more, Gu Nanzhou’s words came like timely rain.

“This is French!”

Not only Gao Chen, but even Gu Nanzhou himself hadn’t expected Xia Nannan to know French.

“...” Gao Chen suddenly froze. Xia Nannan hadn’t even finished middle school after returning to Jing City, so how could she speak French?

Then it clicked: her foster parents lived in Modu, a neighborhood with many French residents.

That explained everything perfectly.

“Mm, French, French,” Gao Chen said quickly, pulling a sheet of paper from the inside pocket of his cotton jacket and placing it beside the other note. He then detailed the story of the female spy codenamed ‘Elizabeth.’

“Our people have tried many combinations to crack their communication method, but none worked,” Gao Chen said excitedly, patting Gu Nanzhou’s shoulder. “This time we won’t be led around by the nose.”

Hearing this, Gu Nanzhou felt a twinge of concern.

How did Xia Nannan discover the spy matter? Could it be that these items were deliberately planted by the enemy to mislead them?