It was already August 1919 when Wang Donglu appeared before Security Bureau Director Wang Bin again. Wang Bin had just returned to the bureau after finishing an official task when he was informed that Zhao Tianlin had arrived. His first thought was: *Has a spy appeared at the school?*

The Security Bureau had analyzed the security situation in the Northeast and concluded that schools were a relatively low-risk area. Foreign teachers in the Northeast were mostly concentrated in the Foreign Language Department; there were only a few dozen of them, and the teaching materials they used were accessible to hundreds of thousands of students. Even if they understood the Northeast's education system, it had little bearing on national security.

Puzzled, Wang Bin went to see Zhao Tianlin. The Director was with a student. After greetings and names were exchanged, Zhao Tianlin asked the student to wait outside for a moment.

"Do you have any impression of Wang Donglu?" Zhao Tianlin asked.

Wang Bin shook his head; he didn't recognize the student at all. Zhao Tianlin chuckled. "Three months ago, you arrested that young man—Wang Donglu. He came from Beijing..."

Wang Bin suddenly remembered. "I recognize the name now. But I only saw him once and didn't remember his face. Is he closely related to you, Director Zhao?"

"Wang Donglu had been campaigning against the Paris Peace Conference's decision to hand over Shandong's rights to Japan, and he got caught up in the fallout. Word somehow reached Beijing that he'd been arrested in the Northeast, and his qualification to study in the United States was revoked," Zhao Tianlin explained.

Wang Bin nodded, understanding the situation perfectly. Tsinghua School was a preparatory program for studying in America, and only the most exceptional students qualified for it. After Zhao finished, Wang Bin sighed, "That is a great pity."

Zhao Tianlin didn't mention his personal connection to the boy further. Instead, he asked, "Director Wang, the Security Bureau is a technical department. I would like to recommend Wang Donglu for a position there. I wonder what kind of assessment he would need to pass?"

Wang Bin was speechless for a moment. The Security Bureau focused on analysis; apart from specific operations, there was actually very little within the bureau that was truly confidential. As for their work, every country caught spies and monitored suspicious individuals. Once caught, spies were often publicized through newspapers and other media as a matter of course.

Thus, the core requirements for selecting personnel were simple: personal willingness—whether they were prepared for the grueling nature of the work—and a reliable guarantor.

If Zhao Tianlin was willing to act as a guarantor, the most difficult hurdle was already cleared. Wang Bin replied tactfully, "Our department requires people who are open and upright. If someone harbors deep-seated resentment, it certainly won't do."

Zhao Tianlin nodded. "I was worried about that as well, so I suggested other fields of study to him. However, Wang Donglu is dead set on the Security Bureau—on joining the fight against foreign spies and domestic saboteurs."

Wang Bin felt he needed to be more direct. "Director Zhao, does the boy's family have some old ties with you?"

"Wang Donglu's grandfather was my mentor. I have received a great deal of kindness from his family, and I must help him."

Since Zhao Tianlin was so frank about the relationship, Wang Bin could only arrange an interview for the young man.

It was already evening when the interviewer submitted the report. Wang Bin tucked it at the very bottom of his pile of urgent documents. After a quick dinner at seven-thirty, he went into a meeting. By nine-thirty, just as he was preparing to head home, he looked at the remaining tasks. He switched on all the lights, splashed his face with cold water, lit a cigarette, and got back to work.

At 11 PM, Wang Bin opened the interview report and let out a wide yawn. Thinking of the long walk home, he felt a sudden impulse to just sleep in the office. However, there wasn't so much as a cot available, and the Security Bureau now had a strict rule against sleeping in the office.

Yawning, he read through the report. By the time he finished, his nerves were so numbed by exhaustion that he couldn't even feel a spark of excitement. He picked up a pen, scrawled 'Recommended for probation' at the end of the document, and stood up to call it a night.

Meanwhile, Wang Donglu was lying on a cot at the school provided by Zhao Tianlin. The mosquitoes in the Northeast were no less fierce than those in Beijing, but inside the netting he’d brought from home, he found some measure of peace.

Some of his family members thought he had run off to the Northeast out of spite. He was indeed angry, but not at the people of the Northeast Security Bureau. His anger was directed at the current state of China. The country had been sending students to Europe and America for over thirty years, yet it had only become more chaotic.

Studying abroad could not solve China's problems!

A single sentence from Wang Bin, Director of the Northeast Security Bureau, had deeply moved him: "What we want to maintain is the normal operation of society."

Only when normal operations were restored could China begin its journey toward rejuvenation. Wang Donglu had never expected to find a cause worth following here in the Northeast.