Chapter 47 Notes Secrets Between Men
Seeing the man's face darken, Yan Xue guessed what was going on, "Something is missing?"
Qi Fang didn't say anything. He took the lock, pulled out the key, and looked at the keyhole carefully.
Yan Xue also leaned over to take a look and found several very slight scratches near the keyhole. She couldn't be sure whether they were accidentally made by the man when he used the key to unlock the door.
She looked at the man, "Is there anything important in there?"
"Let me confirm again." Qi Fang did not give a direct answer. He closed the box and turned to walk out.
Yan Xue guessed that he was going back to the old house, so she followed him. The couple didn't say anything on the way there. Once they got back, they checked the doors and windows separately.
After checking around the front, he found nothing. But when he turned to the back of the room, Qi Fang found half a shoe print on the windowsill.
"It should be size 43, Jiefang shoes." The man lowered his eyes and turned to look at the stick behind him.
This mountainous area is rich in forestry resources, and the courtyard walls of each household are made of various scraps of wooden boards, commonly known as board sticks.
The couple searched downstairs and found a few faint footprints. It was obvious that someone had sneaked in from behind while the Guo family was not paying attention.
As for the Guo family, regardless of their character, first of all, not everyone can pick the lock without leaving much trace.
Moreover, the Guo family has the key to their house. If anything happens, they will definitely be the first to be suspected. The Guo family is not stupid.
When I came out, I ran into Aunt Guo coming back from the vegetable garden. Seeing them, she said, "I just checked the temperature. It's just right."
He stuffed a few radishes into their mouths and said, "These are freshly picked from the ground. You moved late and haven't planted the vegetable garden yet. Take them home and dip them in sauce."
The two thanked each other, and no one spoke on the way back.
After putting the radish in the kitchen and washing his hands, he returned to the house and saw the box again. The man suddenly asked, "Do you remember the person who came up the mountain to look for me last time?"
Of course Yan Xue remembered. After all, with his cold and indifferent personality and lack of interest in anything, he would actually fight with others.
And ever since she knew that Qi Fang was Qi Jingshu, she had some guesses about that person's identity, but she didn't expect the man to suddenly mention it to her.
Qi Fang was a little surprised. He was reluctant to mention these things to others before, but he just said it casually just now.
But after he said that, it seemed like nothing happened. He simply looked directly at Yan Xue and said, "His name is Wu Xingde. He used to be my teacher."
It was indeed Wu Xingde. Yan Xue immediately looked at the box and asked, "Is this related to him?"
"Nine out of ten." Qi Fang wasn't surprised that she could immediately make the connection. "The last time he came up the mountain to see me, he wanted to ask me for my teacher's research results."
Although Yan Xue hadn't guessed this, she wasn't surprised. "He wants to steal your teacher's research results?"
If Wu Xingde had not plagiarized his teacher's scientific research results, he would not have been able to climb so fast, and Qi Fang would not have had to go through so much trouble to plan for so many years to pull him down.
This made Yan Xue look solemn. She glanced at the box again and asked, "You don't have any important information in here, do you?"
As always, he was calm and intelligent, and could react at the slightest prompt.
And she's completely on his side...
This made Qi Fang look at her more, and suddenly an idea came to his mind that he should have told her about this earlier.
So the answer was on the tip of my tongue, but I suddenly changed it, "She told you I was a college student, but did she tell you what I studied?"
Since his name was Yan Xue, both of them looked over. Miss Yan had lost her name in his eyes.
Although Yan Xue felt that his question was sudden, she still followed his words and used Miss Yan as an excuse, "I only mentioned a little, not much."
Qi Fang didn't want to delve into it. "I studied mechanical engineering in college under Professor Su Changqing."
So later he started from scratch and founded a group called Changqing Heavy Industry.
"He and my grandfather are old acquaintances. You could say he watched me grow up. After my grandfather passed away, I even lived in his house for a year."
His family wanted to take him back to Yanjing, but his teacher, concerned that he would soon be a sophomore in high school, was worried he wouldn't adapt and would miss out on his studies, so they consulted with his family. Throughout his college years, his teacher, always concerned about his young age and lack of family, took extra care of him.
That's why he couldn't accept it when he found out that something had happened to his teacher. What was even more unacceptable was that the one who harmed his teacher was his senior brother who he had been with day and night for several years.
Qi Fang lowered his eyes, trying to keep his tone calm, but he couldn't help but let out a hint of coldness. "Three years ago, because the teacher had studied in the Soviet Union, he was reported for having overseas connections and leaking state secrets. He committed suicide in prison. The person who wrote the letter to report him was Wu Xingde."
He raised his eyes, his peach blossom eyes full of mockery, "He told me he was trying to protect himself and had no choice, but as soon as the teacher realized something was wrong, he had already arranged a way out for us all."
"Was it your teacher who arranged for you to come to Jinchuan Forest Farm?" This was only mentioned in the book, and Yan Xue was not very clear about it.
Qi Fang said, "No, my teacher arranged for me to go to the Chengshui Machine Repair Factory. He said I was too young and wouldn't be valued even if I joined the research institute. It would be better for me to go to the grassroots level for two years to gain experience and see where the problems with our machinery lie."
I didn't expect that he had actually worked in the town's machine repair factory. Then how come he came to the forest farm to work as a logging worker?
Yan Xue was confused but didn't ask because the man's expression at the moment was not very good.
Qi Fang pursed his lips tightly, and after a while he said in a deep voice, "I believed it at the time, and it wasn't until several months after I left that I found out something had happened to the teacher. I returned to Yanjing and tried to think of a solution, but before I could find a clue, I heard..."
His voice was dry. "I heard that the teacher didn't want to reveal who his accomplices were, so he hung himself on the door handle with his belt."
The door handle is so low, how easy is it to catch someone?
But Su Changqing still hanged himself up, ending his life in such an ugly way after spending half his life contributing to scientific research.
Yan Xue couldn't help but hold the man's hand, "Teacher, he wants to save more people."
"Yes." Qi Fang's voice was so soft that it almost faded away. "He's dead, I'm fine now, we're all fine now..."
There was no sense of relief at having survived the disaster in his words, only a suffocating sadness.
Su Changqing saved others with his own death, but it also left a scar in Qi Fang's heart, making him work hard for more than 20 years to seek justice for his teacher.
Perhaps Su Changqing likes Qi Fang more, not because he is smart, not because he has been watching him grow up since he was a child, and they are both his disciple and son, but simply because he is more like him.
He taught so many students throughout his life, some of whom were ungrateful and turned against him like Wu Xingde, some drew a line in the sand to protect themselves, and some just muddled through life with no purpose. Only Qi Fang remained true to his original aspirations, and even died young despite illness, giving him justice.
Feeling the other person unconsciously tightening his grip on her hand, Yan Xue suddenly raised her hand and squeezed the man's shoulder, "Is it heavy?"
The man raised his peach blossom eyes and looked at her, obviously still in the mood just now.
Yan Xue squeezed harder and softened her voice, "Is it heavy to carry all this?"
"It's not heavy." The man lowered his eyes and took her hand. After a pause, he put it to his lips and pecked it lightly. "I should."
If even he doesn't remember the teacher's kindness, then what is left for the teacher's hard work over the years?
What he fought for betrayed him, what he worked so hard for betrayed him, and even in death he had to bear that undeserved stigma.
Sometimes Qi Fang couldn't sleep at night, wondering what the teacher had done wrong to have to go through all this?
He kissed the little hand again, "Teacher and his wife have never had children. Research is his child, and we students are his children."
"What about the teacher's research results? They're not really in the box, are they?"
Yan Xue let him kiss her, then picked up the box, but her tone was no longer as solemn as before.
The teacher is very important to Qi Fang. How could Qi Fang just put the life's work of such an important person in a box where anyone can find it?
Sure enough, the man raised his peach blossom eyes, and raised the corners of his eyes upwards, "Of course not."
Before Yan Xue could ask again, he pointed to his head and said, "The teacher didn't give me any information. It's all here."
When he said this, he raised his chin slightly, and his peach blossom eyes seemed to be filled with a brilliance that had never been there before, which was the absolute confidence in his brain.
There was even a hint of sarcasm at the corner of his lips, and he tapped the wooden box with his long fingers. "But I put a notebook in there. It's enough to take them on a detour for at least a year."
"Fake?" Yan Xue reacted immediately.
"You can't say it's all fake." He lowered his eyes and pursed his lips. "Everything he knows is true, at least 70%."
But some things cannot be different at all, because even a little difference can mean two completely different directions.
This man was quiet, but he was quite good at setting traps for others. Yan Xue looked at him and asked, "When did you prepare this?"
"After I came back from Yanjing." Qi Fang did not hide it.
That is, he started to be on guard as soon as his teacher passed away. After two and a half years, the newness of the notes would not arouse suspicion.
After all, who would have the time to put a fake notebook in there and keep it there for more than two years?
Yan Xue felt that this notebook was somewhat familiar. "Isn't that the notebook you're always flipping through the whole time the same one?"
She remembered that the man had a notebook, which was indeed always locked in a box. Sometimes when she went to bed early and he was not in a hurry to sleep, he would take it out and look through it.
Hearing this, the man just glanced at her, raising the corners of his eyes slightly, as if asking, "What are you talking about?"
That was a real trick. I guess the notes were almost curled up. He had been living in the dormitory before, so his roommates must have known about it.
If the other party didn't believe it completely and took the thing back to study it overnight, she would suspect that he was mentally ill.
This kind of planning, this kind of forbearance, this kind of patience in waiting for the hunt day after day, regardless of whether it would work or not, it is no wonder that he started from scratch after the reform and opening up, and still overtook others and pulled down Wu Xingde and his gang.
Yan Xue looked at him, and then looked at him again, "Now I believe you don't want to hide it from me forever."
If he really wanted to hide it, and wanted to keep it hidden forever, he would have left no loopholes at all, just like the notes he made this time.
Of course, it wasn't so easy to hide their affair; there were too many loopholes to patch them all up. Now that I think about it, it's amazing that they managed to hold out for nearly four months.
After hearing Yan Xue mention the old story, the man finally calmed down and changed the subject, "We really need a dog at home."
The Guo family didn't have a dog. Although there was always someone at home, they only realized that the things had been missing for so long this time that the Guo family might not even know about it, which was indeed not safe enough.
And now there are more people in the family. Apart from Qi Fang, they are either the elderly, the weak, or women and children. Some things need more attention.
"Let's go to Liu Wei's house to pick one up. I remember Black Lion already has a cub." Yan Xue said.
Besides guarding the house, the wood ear mushrooms will be ready for planting in a few days. Since she doesn't have enough time, she plans to use the original seeds directly instead of cultivating them. Who knows if the wood ear mushrooms will be coveted by others when they grow? It's better to keep a dog as a safer place.
"Then I'll go talk to Weiguo." Qi Fang never drags his feet when doing things. "When the time comes, I'll take two and put one in the backyard."
The backyard was originally used as a vegetable garden, but they converted it into a place for growing wood ear mushrooms. They have built a shed to store logs and are just waiting for the mushrooms to mature.
The man said this, obviously thinking the same thing as her. Yan Xue watched him put the box away, and suddenly remembered something, "Does anyone else have those materials besides you?"
“Those who have worked on the project know some of it, but not all. The most important thing is that my teacher and I have only recently figured it out.”
So how did Wu Xingde climb so fast in the original book? Why did it take Qi Fang more than ten years to pull him down?
Yan Xue felt that Wu Xingde didn't seem to have only stolen a little, so she frowned and asked, "What if someone asked you for it? Would you give it to them?"
"No one can do it." Qi Fang flatly denied, "Before the teacher died, he only asked his wife to bring me a message. She told me to keep the things safe and take them out when the time is right."
Su Changqing naturally couldn't be willing to let his life's work go to waste, but if he handed it over to someone else, he was afraid that it would be ruined like those things in his laboratory that were smashed and burned.
But when is the right time?
Yan Xue looked at the handsome man, whose face unconsciously took on a solemn expression. "You don't even want to go to the chainsaw operator training. Could this be related to this?"
Qi Fang didn't say anything, but he didn't report anything and just worked as an ordinary lumberjack. He really wanted to reduce his presence as much as possible and not let those people remember him.
Unexpectedly, Wu Xingde still missed him and came all the way to ask him for things, and even robbed his house when he was away.
He took Yan Xue into his arms and said, "I'm sorry for causing you trouble."
"Are you being distant with me?" Yan Xue nudged him, her eyebrows raised slightly. "My grandmother and brother took it over, and I didn't say that."
"I was wrong." Qi Fang immediately corrected himself and added, "Grandma and Jigang are not a problem."
This sentence was quite pleasant to the ear, so Yan Xue didn't say anything else. "Do you have any other photos?"
Neither Wu Xingde nor Qi Fang were the protagonists of the book, so some of the past events weren't fully explained. Yan Xue had been there for so long that she couldn't quite remember them. Since she couldn't figure it out for the time being, she stopped thinking about it. Instead, she found the man's confidence when he just said he had memorized everything particularly alluring.
Yes, how could a genius boy who was admitted to university at the age of fourteen really be uninterested in everything, cold and even lifeless?
Seeing the man go back to get the suitcase, she added, "I want the one from college."
The man didn't know which photo he had taken before, but after hearing this, he changed it and handed it to her, "This was taken when I first went to the workshop with my teacher in my sophomore year."
The boy in the photo is only fifteen or sixteen years old, but he is already very tall. He is standing next to the machine tool in a protective suit, with his lips pursed and not smiling, but his peach blossom eyes are surprisingly bright.
There was a kind of optimism, a kind of vigor in those eyes, a spirit of not fearing difficulties and overcoming obstacles, which was completely different from the pessimism of today.
Yan Xue looked at the photo, then at the man, and after a pause, she suddenly felt that Qi Fang was not as pessimistic as he was when they first got to the mountain.
Qi Fang didn't know what she was thinking, so he glanced at the photo and asked, "Who looks better now or when she was a child?"
Yan Xue was puzzled at first as to why he cared about whether she looked good or not and even compared her with her childhood. But she soon realized that he was remembering what she had said before: "You are much better looking than when you were a child."
This made her laugh in her heart, "You were much more beautiful when you were a child, especially beautiful."
The man's expression paused, and he glanced down at the photo. "Really? Maybe I didn't make anyone unhappy when I was a kid."
It comes and comes again. It seems that he can't get over this.
Yan Xue sometimes really wanted to go up and cover his mouth, shaking the photo, "Confiscate it, I need to see you more when you were a child, so that I can control myself when I want to hit you in the future."
"Then let Jigang go back and I'll let you beat him." Qi Fang looked at her and spoke very quickly.
Yan Xue didn't believe it because she had never seen him speak so eloquently before.
Given this man's vengeance, if Jigang were to go back, it's hard to say who would come to settle the score with whom.
Yan Xue ignored him, opened the drawer and put the photo into the diary where she usually used to hold change.
"You really won't let me? I have other things here." The man actually tried to bribe.
Yan Xue's eyes curved. Just as she was about to ask if there were any nude photos, to see how this man who had to wear a shirt even when sleeping would respond, someone knocked on the door. "Is Xiao Yan home?"
It’s Lang Yue’e who is here.
She could only go out to greet him, "I'm here, Sister Yue'e." When she came back, the man had already put the box away, and his expression had completely returned to its cold expression.
"Your new house is beautifully built," Lang Yue'e complimented upon entering before sitting down on the kang and explaining her purpose. "Isn't this the 20th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China? The National Day Town Forestry Bureau is having a party at the theater, and all subordinate units and forest farms are required to contribute performances."
Yan Xue felt a little overwhelmed when she heard the program.
After all, in her previous life, she first worked in the market and then became a self-employed person. She had never worked in the system or in a large company and had no experience in this area.
Fortunately, Lang Yue'e wasn't here to ask her to perform. "Our forest farm has already thought of the program. We're planning a chorus and a poetry recitation with other forest farms. I came here this time because I saw that you two have good images. I wanted to ask if you two would like to participate in the poetry recitation, especially Xiao Yan."
She reminded, "There are only a few positions available for regular employees in the family team. If we can't give them a good evaluation as model workers, we should at least give them an evaluation as a backbone of arts and culture."
Yan Xue can endure hardships, but due to her physique, she cannot compete with those tall and strong old men who have worked in the family team for several years in terms of labor alone.
Lang Yue'e meant well, so she naturally wouldn't refuse. "No problem for me."
Lang Yue'e looked at Qi Fang again, "If Xiao Qi doesn't want to go..."
She said this mainly because Qi Fang really didn't like to join in the fun, and even she had heard about it. She didn't expect Qi Fang to actually ask, "How many people can a forest farm send out?"
"Two people will be sent, one male and one female," Lang Yue'e said. "All forest farms will send two people."
"Then I'll go." Qi Fang glanced at Yan Xue, as if he wanted to say something but ultimately didn't.
"Then I'll sign you up when I get back." Seeing that everything was settled, Lang Yue'e stood up and said goodbye. "Please pay attention to the notice. Rehearsals should begin after the second round of young forest cultivation is completed."
The first round of young forest cultivation every year is from the end of May to mid-June, and the second round is from the end of June to mid-July. The second round will begin in two days.
After the young forest cultivation is completed, the forest farm will enter a period of idleness, with sporadic demolition of trees and autumn fire prevention work, until preparations for entering the mountains begin in October.
At this point, Lang Yue'e remembered something and said to Qi Fang, "The sawing training should also be in August. It will take half a month and won't delay anything."
Qi Fang nodded, "Thank you."
"Has the list been submitted?" Yan Xue also asked.
The incident of Yu Cuiyun being caught cheating caused a lot of uproar. Although it seems to have died down now, Liang Qimao came to the Yu family's house to apologize for several days in a row, swearing that he would never do it again, and took his wife and children back. Who knows if the Yu family will blame them for this incident.
After all, given that family's style of doing things, it would be impossible to thank them for letting Yu Cuiyun no longer be kept in the dark. Instead, it would be more likely that they would blame them for exposing the matter and causing their family to lose an adult.
Fortunately, the Yu family did not do anything, or perhaps they failed to do anything. Anyway, Lang Yue'e said that Qi Fang's name had been successfully reported to the town forestry bureau.
Yan Xue personally escorted the person to the gate of the courtyard, thanked him, and talked for a while in the shade under the gate before going back.
When she entered the room, she saw Yan Jigang with his head tilted up and Qi Fang bending over. They were talking about something under the eaves, but when they saw her, they both stopped talking. Yan Jigang even subconsciously covered his mouth.
I don't know how these two people, one of whom is quiet and the other has difficulty speaking, got together. Yan Xue raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are you whispering about behind my back?"
Yan Jigang narrowed his eyes and covered his mouth with his hands, obviously determined not to tell her.
After a while, as if afraid that she would be angry, he moved his hand away a little, "Sister, brother-in-law said that this... is, is a... secret between men."
Away from that environment, with his family members all in the yard, Yan Jigang really started speaking again, but his stuttering was severe, even worse than when Yan Xue left.
Yan Xue certainly wouldn't ask her brother about it. She even thought it was good for him to talk to others more. She just glanced at Qi Fang with a half-smile and asked, "Secrets between men?"
"Yeah." Qi Fang actually responded, his expression calm and without any abnormality.
But that night, Yan Xue knew what the secret was, at least half of it.
After washing up at night, the young boy moved his pillow to the other side of Yan Xue and said, "I, I'm afraid of the cold. I want to sleep at the head of the kang."
It's almost the end of June. How cold can it be? I should change the towel blanket in a couple of days.
Yan Xue glanced at the man again, "Secrets between men?"
Qi Fang didn't say anything, but calmly adjusted Yan Jigang's pillow.
So that night, Yan Xue slept in the middle, with her brother who claimed to be afraid of the cold on one side, and Qi Fang who obviously had a deal with her brother on the other side.
Almost as soon as the lights went out, someone put their arms around her waist from under the quilt.
The tighter the man's grip, the colder his expression, and he responded to Yan Jigang's words seriously.
Yan Xue couldn't pull him away or kick him, so she could only endure it.
When the others fell asleep, she was about to move when she felt the man pressing against her. "Do you really want to know?" His breath was close to her ear.
Yan Xue pushed it away and was about to speak when someone lifted her chin with fingers and then kissed her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
