Jiang Linchuan's fingers quickly swept across the papers in the filing cabinet, but most of them were attendance records and seedling reports from the forest farm, and he didn't see a single suspicious mark.
He frowned and pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk. Inside were several rolls of old wire and half a box of nails, but still no clues.
Just then, a steady, rapid footstep sound came from outside the door, approaching the office.
Jiang Linchuan's heart tightened. Why would someone come at this time?
The office was empty; apart from the old wooden table, there wasn't even a cabinet to hide in.
Without a second thought, he quickly retreated behind the door, his back pressed tightly against the cold wall, and held his breath.
The footsteps stopped at the door, followed by the sound of a key being inserted into the lock.
The next second, the deputy captain pushed open the door, holding a work record book in his hand, and walked straight to the filing cabinet, completely unaware that someone was hiding behind the door.
Taking advantage of the moment he turned around, Jiang Linchuan quietly pulled the doorknob, causing the door to slowly move towards him.
The wooden door was thick and heavy, just enough to completely block his body, leaving only a narrow gap.
The deputy captain pulled a form from the filing cabinet, casually clipped it into the work log, and turned to leave.
He paused at the door, as if remembering something, and looked back at the office. After confirming that nothing was amiss, he closed the door behind him and locked it again. To be on the safe side, he even circled the room twice.
Jiang Linchuan only breathed a sigh of relief after the footsteps completely disappeared.
He rubbed his stiff shoulders and walked back to his desk.
The vice-captain's sudden appearance disrupted the rhythm, but he remained calm. To prevent anyone else from coming, he sped up, even feeling the gaps in the table corners with his fingers.
My gaze finally settled on the wood grain of the office desk.
The wood grain looked somewhat unnatural, as if it had been deliberately polished.
Meanwhile, in the main room of the Zhang family home, Zhang Qianqian looked up at the doorway for the third time. "Sister Li Juan, why hasn't Brother Guowei come back yet? Does it take that long to change his clothes?"
Xu Xinghe was sitting on a chair picking vegetables when she heard this. She looked up and smiled, her tone natural, "He probably went to take a shower. He's a very clean person, even in winter, he has to wipe himself down with water every day. Besides, he still has an injury on his shoulder, and he'll have to change the dressing after showering, so it'll definitely be slower."
Xu Xinghe slowed her movements, her voice tinged with heartache, "Speaking of his injury, my heart ached when I was applying medicine to him yesterday. When his clothes were torn off, a layer of skin and flesh was ripped away, leaving a bloody mess; it looked so painful. If he continues to carry saplings every day, the wound will never heal. What if it gets infected, or leaves some kind of aftereffect, causing pain on cloudy or rainy days?"
Zhang Qianqian's face turned pale instantly, and the teacup in her hand slammed against the edge of the table with a clatter, spilling a few drops of tea.
She lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, feeling a sharp pain in her heart.
Jiang Linchuan's injuries were caused by his rejection of his father... and even though I knew the truth, I never dared to say it.
She opened her mouth several times, wanting to tell him about Zhang Qiang forcing Jiang Linchuan, but when the words reached her lips, she remembered her father's words and swallowed them back.
Xu Xinghe saw her reaction and her expectations gradually cooled down.
She was originally waiting for Zhang Qianqian to confess, but judging from her appearance, even though she felt extremely guilty, the other party had no intention of telling the truth.
Xu Xinghe put down the dishes in her hand and deliberately said, "Qianqian, is there something you want to tell me? I've noticed you've been acting strange since earlier."
Zhang Qianqian suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with panic, like a thief caught red-handed. "N-nothing! What could I possibly have to say to you?"
She hurriedly stood up and took a step back. "I...I'll go get you some pastries. My dad just bought them for me yesterday, they're so sweet!"
After saying that, she practically fled into the inner room.
As Xu Xinghe watched her figure disappear behind the door, the guilt she had felt for taking advantage of Zhang Qianqian completely vanished.
It turns out that what she had always thought was kindness and naivety was just an excuse for the other party to avoid facing the truth.
Zhang Qiang's daily teachings had subtly changed Zhang Qianqian.
She may have a conscience, but she is even more adept at seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. She is even willing to use coercive methods to fulfill her father's wishes and her own desires, and she turns a blind eye to the suffering of others.
From the inner room came the sound of Zhang Qianqian rummaging through pastries. Xu Xinghe sighed. Zhang Qianqian's avoidance was, in a way, a tacit admission of complicity.
Meanwhile, in the office, Jiang Linchuan finally noticed something was wrong.
Beneath the wood grain of the desk, there was a tiny crack. He used his fingernail to pry open the crack and gently pulled it open. A small hidden compartment popped open on the desk, revealing a palm-sized iron box with a small brass lock hanging on it.
Jiang Linchuan stared at the brass lock on the iron box. The lock looked quite old, but the lock cylinder was still tight, obviously it had been carefully maintained.
He took out a thin wire he had prepared earlier from his pocket, bent it into a small hook, and carefully inserted it into the keyhole.
He felt a slight click at his fingertips, held his breath, and slowly adjusted the angle of the wire. After a short while, the iron box finally made a soft sound, and the copper lock opened.
Jiang Linchuan lifted the lid of the box, inside were several neatly stacked yellowed strips of paper, the edges of which were worn, obviously having been read repeatedly.
He quickly picked up a piece of paper with densely written small characters in pencil on it, starting with a material allocation list for the Dongmeng Forest Farm.
However, the content was not a typical record of supplies.
Fifty pine logs from Area 3 need to be transported to the abandoned mine shaft in the back mountain by the end of this month.
Next week, guests will be visiting, so we need to prepare 200 catties of grain and 20 catties of meat. There is also a small triangle symbol drawn at the end, which seems to be some kind of code.
Jiang Linchuan's heart sank.
Abandoned mine shafts, unidentified guests, and unusual codes—these are clearly unrelated to ordinary forestry work and are very likely part of the top-secret documents they are looking for.
He didn't dare to delay and quickly memorized the contents of each slip of paper, not even missing the punctuation marks.
His memory was professionally trained, and he could memorize all the information firmly in just a few minutes.
After writing down the last note, he folded it back in its original order, put it back in the tin box, closed the lid, locked the brass lock again, put the tin box back in the hidden compartment, and gently pushed the table to restore the wood grain to its original state, so that there was no trace of it being tampered with.
He walked around the office again, carefully checking the filing cabinets, drawers, and floor to make sure there were no fingerprints or footprints before heading towards the door.
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