Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. If it was just for looking, there was no need to be so nervous.
Ye Zhizhou felt that something was wrong. The man looked like an honest office worker, not a shifty-eyed thief.
"Come visit the Qin Mansion?"
She locked her gaze on the man with a searching look, but he kept avoiding her gaze, saying, "Wrong way, sorry."
As he spoke, he tried to leave, but Ye Zhizhou noticed that there seemed to be something wrong with his right foot, and he wasn't walking very smoothly.
"Since you're already here, won't you go in and say a few words?"
Ye Zhizhou suddenly spoke up. The man's lies were completely untenable to her. He showed no hostility towards the people inside, so he must have something to say.
They may have known each other before, or they may have asked for a favor.
The stranger pursed his dry lips and looked towards the room on the second floor, as if he had made up his mind.
"Okay, thank you for your help."
Ye Zhizhou led him into the Qin Mansion.
The reason he lingered outside for so long was that the Qin mansion had always prohibited outsiders from entering at will, unless they had permission from the people inside.
In the study on the second floor, Qin Xuan's long, slender, and fair hands were constantly typing on the keyboard, his hand speed comparable to that of an e-sports player.
He was coding, hoping to find a trace of his father.
There was a knock at the door. He rubbed his tousled brown hair, closed his laptop, and got up to open the door.
"Qin Xuan, are you busy?"
Ye Zhizhou noticed the slight fatigue on his face. After they said good morning to each other that morning, he hadn't spoken to her again.
As soon as she arrived, the nanny told her that Qin Xuan had spent the whole day in the study. She thought Qin Xuan was busy studying, but when she looked at the desk, there wasn't a single physical book except for the computer.
Qin Xuan shook his head, "No, I was just practicing coding. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"
Ye Zhizhou closed the door, her delicate eyebrows slightly raised, and told Qin Xuan in detail about meeting the strange man at the door and bringing him back.
Without thinking twice, Qin Xuan rushed out of the room and headed downstairs.
However, upon seeing the man's face, he slowed his pace. This man was neither his father nor anyone he knew.
He pushed back a chair and sat down, facing the man; the atmosphere was a bit cold.
The stranger looked up and met his gaze, his eyes lingering on his face, looking him over more than three times.
"Who are you?"
Seeing that the man remained silent, Qin Xuan directly questioned him.
The stranger hesitated again. He was about fifty years old, but his face was covered with wrinkles, and his clothes were faded and looked like they had been worn for a long time.
"Who I am is not important. I'm here to tell you that your father is still alive, but he's not in the country; he's in J country."
This news was undoubtedly a godsend for Qin Xuan, and he immediately stood up straight.
He walked around the table, approached the man from the side, and leaned closer, asking, "Are you my dad's colleague? Why doesn't he go back to China? Why does he never tell the family?"
The man raised his eyes, startled by Qin Xuan's agitated emotions, and after a long while said, "He has a mission, so he can't return to the country. He will come back after the mission is completed. I am not his colleague, I just happened to be saved by him."
Qin Xuan frowned, pondering whether the man's words were true or false. His father, Qin Shixun, was a very cautious man who would not easily reveal his whereabouts to others. Moreover, the man's eyes did not dart away when he spoke, so he did not seem to be lying.
But if it's really as he said, then who knows when Father will be able to come back?
"Qin Xuan, I didn't really want to tell you all this, but I heard that after you got injured last time, your aunt caused trouble. I thought that telling you that your father is still alive might make you feel better."
Ye Zhizhou descended the stairs with light steps. She could see the sympathy in the man's eyes as he spoke to Qin Xuan.
Clearly, he was not lying.
Are you still in contact with him?
Qin Xuan suddenly looked up, his dark eyes revealing a coldness that sent chills down one's spine.
The man's lips parted slightly. "It's been a long time. We lost contact a year ago. He said the mission required secrecy and he couldn't send me messages privately anymore, so we cut off contact."
Qin Xuan seemed to have thought of something else, "You said he saved you, when was that?"
Qin Shixun disappeared three years ago. This man said that he lost contact with Qin Shixun a year ago, so they must have known each other for a long time.
The man remained silent for a long time this time. She sighed, took a pack of cigarettes out of her bag, looked up and asked, "May I smoke?"
Qin Xuan didn't refute him. He watched as the man took out a lighter from his bag, lit a cigarette, and as the smoke curled up, he seemed less nervous.
"Since things have come to this point, I might as well tell you everything. Three years ago, I was an employee of a company that was in the foreign trade business, and they were also involved in trade between J country and our country. On the surface, they were doing legitimate business, but in reality, they were involved in all sorts of smuggling behind the scenes. Your father infiltrated the company to investigate this matter."
He paused briefly, took a sip of water, and then continued.
“At the time, I was just an ordinary employee of the company. I unknowingly helped the company transport goods, which was discovered by your father. He followed me around, trying to find an opportunity to get evidence. Unexpectedly, the company’s smuggling was discovered by J country first, and the J country company that was in contact with them ran away overnight. I became the scapegoat for that shipment and was almost shot to death.”
He raised his head and stared intently at Qin Xuan.
"Your father saved me and helped me return to China, where I lived a stable life. But he refuses to come back and plans to use his position as a company employee to go to Country J to find out about other people, especially the list of people from our country involved in this matter."
She felt a great weight lifted off her shoulders after saying all this. For three years, she had felt she owed Qin Shixun far too much. Finally, she had the chance to change.
Qin Xuan sat down. He was naturally happy to hear that his father was still alive, but he was worried because Qin Shixun was still on his mission.
Country J is unlike here; there are frequent protests and disturbances there, and its laws are not very comprehensive.
"Do you know who my father's boss is?"
He suddenly remembered what Yan Xi had said, and his eyes lit up.
Perhaps we can find a way to contact Qin Shixun through his superior.
However, after thinking about it carefully, the man still couldn't figure it out. He could only shake his head regretfully, "I don't know. He has always been a loner."
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