A week passed peacefully. Qiu Shou had long since recovered from the fear of being kidnapped and was going to school normally with her sister Qiu Chan every day. After school, they mostly stayed in the residential area or at home reading, writing, and doing homework. Only Qiu Jingwen knew that a big conspiracy might be brewing behind this calm, and that one day, Butterfly and his organization might cause a big stir.
Two days earlier, Shao Jian and Qiu Jingwen had a phone call and discovered some clues while monitoring the popcorn vendor. For example, one night the vendor borrowed a shared phone booth to make a call and also handed an envelope to a middle-aged man. The destination of the letter was unknown, but the sender was also on the surveillance.
"Qiu Jingwen, do you recognize who I am?"
The voice on the phone was very gentle; it didn't sound like that of a spy chief at all.
"So it's a butterfly, is it?"
Qiu Jingwen said this very bluntly, with a clear tone of sarcasm.
The other party also spoke with a sarcastic tone about the so-called butterfly.
Sitting to the side, Jiang Yuping looked at her husband's expression, unsure of what to feel. If it weren't for his involvement in a spy case and Qiushou being kidnapped by the butterfly on the phone, she would have seriously suspected that her husband had an ambiguous or unclear relationship with the person on the phone.
"I really don't believe you are the butterfly."
"How about we meet sometime?"
"No problem, you decide the time and place."
"Aren't you afraid I'll set a trap for you to fall into?"
"Don't forget, this is a socialist country, not Duliang before liberation."
"Alright, you should receive a letter tomorrow at work. I've written down the time and place clearly. I hope you can be there on time. Otherwise, next time it won't be your son being kidnapped, but your son being killed. Not only your son, but your daughters Qiu Chan and Qiu Shui may also suffer an even more tragic end. For example, I might arrange for someone to humiliate them before killing them."
Qiu Jingwen, holding the microphone, was trembling all over. He wished he could crush the microphone, and he also wished he could drag the unseen woman out of the microphone and bring her to his eyes, push her onto the bed, and humiliate her body in front of him until he suffocated.
"Remember what you said today."
After an unknown amount of time, Qiu Jingwen spoke coldly.
The woman on the phone chuckled: "What, are you angry? Do you want to kill me?"
"Don't be a coward, and don't find a stand-in or a spokesperson. If you have the guts, come see me."
After uttering those harsh words, Qiu Jingwen hung up the phone immediately.
Since the other party said they would send him a letter tomorrow, and the letter only specifies the time and place, there's no need to waste time and energy now.
Jiang Yuping knew her husband was upset, so she reached out and hugged Qiu Jingwen's waist, saying gently, "Jingwen, don't worry about her, we'll talk about it tomorrow. Or, I'll go with you then."
"Yu Ping, no need, I can handle it by myself."
That night, neither the couple slept soundly, especially Qiu Jingwen. Until this matter was resolved and the entire hidden group in the Duliang region was apprehended, his family and life would remain unstable. Of course, he had also considered why the spy organization was so determined to capture him. Perhaps it was because he was now the production manager at the Red Flag Factory; aside from the production line technology and core secrets, he had access to the latest research findings from the institute. He had even considered that Butterfly's kidnapping of his son to force him to reveal the Black Ops production technology might just be a pretext, and that their harassment of him must have ulterior motives.
The next morning, shortly after arriving at the office, the postman handed Qiu Jingwen a brown-covered letter. He opened it and, as expected, it was a letter signed "Butterfly." The letter contained nothing else but an agreed-upon time and place, though the location was somewhat complicated—it was to be arranged in the reed marshes across the Huai River. It was also clearly stated that he was to go alone, leave a message upon arrival, and cancel the meeting immediately if he discovered any surveillance around the area.
After putting down the letter, Qiu Jingwen picked up the phone and called Shao Jian directly, telling him everything in the letter and asking for permission to go to the rendezvous alone: "Director Shao, don't worry, I'm a man, there's no danger for me. If you arrange people around, in such a large area as the reed marshes, sending out a company will definitely give them a way to escape."
"Okay, then you must be very careful. Safety is the most important thing no matter what. I have something to tell you."
"What is it?"
"I'll be going to your Hongqi factory in the next two days, and I'll tell you everything then."
During the phone call, Shao Jian agreed to let Qiu Jingwen bring a gun as a precaution, but also requested that it be used only as a last resort, not to kill him, as living him was of greater value.
In the afternoon, Qiu Jingwen carried the yellow bag with the "Serve the People" logo on his back and tucked his gun into his waistband. Since it was winter, no one would notice his gun. Following the instructions in the letter, Qiu Jingwen arrived at the designated location. Sure enough, an arrow pointed ahead, and a small, empty boat was moored in sight. Without hesitation, Qiu Jingwen jumped onto the small boat, started rowing with the two old oars, and headed into the reeds. Entering the reeds, he saw a conspicuous colorful flag stuck in the middle of the reeds. Near the flag, there were more directional markers. After many twists and turns, the small boat quickly disappeared into the reeds, as if entering another space. Qiu Jingwen could only see the reeds rustling in the wind all around, but he could not see any people or boats.
Just as he was wondering, a small boat appeared before Qiu Jingwen. A very good-looking woman stood at the bow of the boat. The woman looked to be under forty years old, and her looks were no less than Jiang Yuping's. Her height, figure and clothing were completely out of place for a farmer or worker. If she were alive today, she would definitely be a blue-collar or white-collar worker.
The winter sun, around four o'clock, shone through a patch of reeds, casting a golden-white glow that illuminated the woman's face, making her look stunningly beautiful.
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