During the War of Resistance Against Japan, No. 76 Jisifeier Road in Shanghai is a “devil’s den” that strikes fear into everyone who hears its name. But Lin Xiaoman, an ordinary citizen, is forced by the underground party to use a copy of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as a codebook and is thrust into the role of a spy. He has no special agent skills. He can only repair fountain pens and use an abacus, and his codename is “Abacus,” meaning “live by counting every penny.” He never expects this to launch him into an absurd life of “surviving in a den of murderers while constantly being dumbfounded.”
On his first day at work, Lin Xiaoman spills sugar on the secret documents of Wang Manchun, the cold-eyed head of the Intelligence Department, and is scared out of his wits by her icy glare. While delivering documents to Liang Zhongchun, head of the Operations Department, he catches him counting gold bars and gets dragged into keeping the opium accounts, his hands shaking like a sieve. He tries to exchange a secret signal with Chen Shen, a colleague codenamed “Sparrow,” but his nerves make him pick up the wrong fountain pen too many times, and Chen Shen takes him for an idiot. He is forced to serve as a scapegoat in the battle between Wang Manchun and Liang Zhongchun over an orchid, but accidentally gets them out of trouble with a made-up claim that “the roots are too dense and will ruin its prospects.” When translating for the Japanese Mei Agency, he renders “May your military fortunes last forever” as “May your business prosper,” making a major laugh out loud but nearly letting Wang Manchun detect his accent. Chen Shen even sends him to steal toilet paper, just because the packaging has a Japanese troop deployment map on it...
In this den of intrigue and killing, Lin Xiaoman relies on his talent for “acting like a nobody” and the occasional lucky stroke of wit to navigate between the ruthless Wang Manchun, greedy Liang Zhongchun, mysterious Ming Lou, and brutal Ye Xingcheng. Terrified at every turn, he uses his pen-repairing skills to crack combination locks and passes intelligence hidden in fried dough sticks,
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