Jiang Linchuan took out a cotton thread that he had prepared beforehand from his pocket, tied one end to the latch inside the door, pulled the other end out through the crack in the door, and then gently closed the door.
Standing outside the door, he slowly pulled on the cotton thread, and the lock rotated slowly with the pull of the thread, clicking as it successfully locked.
After confirming that the door was locked, he slowly loosened the cotton thread, pulled it out from the crack in the door, and stuffed it into his pocket.
In this way, the office will look exactly the same as when he came in, and no one will know that someone has been here before.
Jiang Linchuan glanced around and, seeing that no one was paying attention, quickly walked towards the educated youth dormitory.
Back in his dorm, he quickly changed into a clean coarse cloth shirt, hid his dusty old clothes under his bed, washed his face briefly, and tidied his hair. He looked no different from usual.
After doing all this, he quickly walked towards the Zhang family's house.
As soon as he arrived at the Zhang family's gate, he saw Zhang Qianqian standing in the yard looking around. When she saw him, she immediately smiled and said, "Brother Guowei, you're finally back! I thought something had happened to you!"
Jiang Linchuan gave a faint "hmm," and said, "On my way back just now, I ran into Zhang Guoming who asked me something, which delayed me a bit. Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's nothing, it's nothing!" Zhang Qianqian quickly shook her head, looking at him shyly. "Sister Li Juan has been waiting for you for ages. The pastries my dad bought are still on the table. Come and try them!"
Jiang Linchuan followed her into the main room and saw Xu Xinghe sitting at the table drinking tea. The two exchanged a glance.
Xu Xinghe was overjoyed; it seemed things had made progress.
She put down her teacup, her smile radiant. "Cousin, you've finally arrived! Qianqian has been urging me to come several times. Come and try these pastries, they're quite delicious."
Jiang Linchuan walked to the table, sat down, picked up a piece of pastry, and put it in his mouth.
He was relaxed, as if nothing had happened in the office.
But this was only the first step in the mission. Although they had found some clues, they had not yet found the complete top-secret document.
They still don't know the specific information about the abandoned mine in the back mountain and the guests. Next, they need to continue to look for opportunities to complete the mission completely.
Seeing Jiang Linchuan and Xu Xinghe chatting and laughing, Zhang Qianqian felt guilty again, but she still didn't dare to tell them the truth. She could only silently hand them tea, trying to hide her unease.
Lunch ended with Zhang Qianqian's warm hospitality, and the food on the table was eaten clean.
Jiang Linchuan put down his chopsticks and bowl. "Qianqian, thank you for your hospitality. The food was delicious. However, I have some things to discuss with Zhang Guoming this afternoon, so I need to go back to the educated youth settlement first. I won't be able to keep you company."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qianqian's smile faded slightly, but she still nodded sensibly, "Okay, then Brother Guowei, you go ahead and get busy. Remember to come visit again when you have time."
Xu Xinghe also stood up, intending to see Jiang Linchuan to the door, but he stopped her with a look.
He knew Xu Xinghe wanted to take the opportunity to ask for clues, but with Zhang Qianqian around, it wasn't convenient to say much.
Xu Xinghe understood, sat down again, and said to Jiang Linchuan with a smile, "Then be careful on your journey, and remember to send a message if anything happens."
Jiang Linchuan nodded, turned around and left the Zhang family.
Watching his figure disappear through the door, Zhang Qianqian finally looked away, took Xu Xinghe's hand, and sat back down at the table. A girlish shyness instantly appeared on her face as she eagerly asked, "Sister Li Juan, you and Brother Guowei grew up together, so you must know what he likes to eat, right? And also, what color clothes does he like, and what size shoes does he wear?"
Looking at her expectant eyes, Xu Xinghe felt a little resentful about Zhang Qianqian's previous concealment, but for the sake of the mission, she patiently answered her questions one by one. "He's not picky about food, but he likes braised pork the most, but he prefers leaner cuts. He likes dark-colored clothes, both black and navy blue. As for shoes, they should be size 42. I repaired his shoes once before, so I remember the size."
Half of this information was fabricated by her based on Li Guowei's identity, and the other half was based on her own daily habits as Jiang Linchuan. It would neither make any mistakes nor expose any flaws.
Zhang Qianqian listened very attentively and even took out a small notebook from her pocket to write down everything Xu Xinghe said.
After finishing writing, she excitedly took out a bamboo basket from the inner room, lifted the cloth covering it, and inside were several skeins of cotton thread, a pair of scissors, and a pair of unfinished cloth shoe soles.
“Sister Li Juan, I want to make a pair of shoes for Brother Guowei!” Zhang Qianqian picked up the shoe sole, her face full of anticipation. “When my mother was still alive, she often made shoes and clothes for my father. I learned a little bit from her, although I’m not very good at it, but I want to give it a try.”
Xu Xinghe looked at the rough but heartfelt soles of the shoes, her heart stirred, and she asked, "When did your mother... pass away? I've never heard you mention her before."
Zhang Qianqian paused, her eyes darkened, and her voice lowered, "Many years ago, when I was only six years old, the family horse ran away. She went out to look for the horse and never came back. Everyone said she was eaten by wolves. I hope she is just asleep somewhere so that she can be reincarnated with her body intact."
As she spoke, her eyes reddened slightly, "My dad has been very worried about me ever since then, always afraid that something will happen to me."
Xu Xinghe gently patted the back of her hand and comforted her, "I'm sorry, I brought up something that made you sad."
“It’s okay, so much time has passed.” Zhang Qianqian shook her head, sniffed, and then started talking about something else. “Although my dad is very good to me, he’s just too strict sometimes. He doesn’t let me go out, he doesn’t let me talk to strangers, and he even controls how long I can go out each day. He doesn’t even let me do anything to help him.”
"Oh? What happened?" Xu Xinghe immediately asked.
Zhang Qianqian pouted, feeling wronged, and complained, "Once, I saw that his room was really messy, so I wanted to help him clean it up. But as soon as I picked up the documents on his desk, he came back and started yelling at me without even asking what happened, and then kicked me out. I just wanted to do some good work so he could have an easier time, but he was so mean to me..."
As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes again. "From then on, I never dared to touch anything in his room again, nor did I dare to do anything for him, for fear that he would get angry again."
Xu Xinghe's heart skipped a beat. Zhang Qiang was so nervous about the things in the room, even forbidding his daughter from touching them. Perhaps another part of the top-secret document was hidden in his room.
She comforted Zhang Qianqian for a few words, and then deliberately steered the conversation towards topics about Zhang Qiang's daily habits, such as when he usually went out. Zhang Qianqian didn't think much of it and answered all of them.
After dinner in the evening, Xu Xinghe stayed overnight at Zhang's house as agreed.
Zhang Qianqian led her into her room. The room was small but very tidy. There was a rag doll on the bedside table, which her mother had made for her when she was a child.
"Sister Li Juan, you can wear my pajamas!" Zhang Qianqian took out a pink floral pajama from the closet and handed it to Xu Xinghe. "I bought this last year and haven't worn it much yet. See if it fits."
After saying that, she picked up a tin of face cream with plum blossoms printed on it from the dressing table, opened the lid, and a faint fragrance wafted out. "This face cream was bought by my dad through someone in the city. It's very moisturizing. Apply some tonight and your skin will be very soft tomorrow."
Xu Xinghe took the pajamas and face cream, and thanked her with a smile, "Thank you, Qianqian, you're so kind."
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