Chapter 14 - 2#
Jin Yan dabbed his hand with a cotton swab soaked in nitric acid solution and gave it to the lab technician to check for gunpowder residue. He didn’t speak during the few minutes of waiting, until the other party nodded at him to indicate it was fine, then he stood up and stretched his arms.
“Your Brother Jiang,” Jin Yan said casually, “has become more and more soft-hearted and gullible in recent years. He always guards against me like a thief, as if I were some ruthless person.”
His confidant knew that he said this because he suspected that Zuo Zhijie’s escape was related to Jiang Qin, but his tone didn’t sound like he was dissatisfied.
So he thought for a while, automatically ignored the word “gullible”, and only said: “Mr. Jiang is indeed soft-hearted. Last time when the brothers went out for dinner during the New Year, there were monkey brains and roasted live fish on the table. He couldn’t bear it when he heard the noise, and finally paid to buy the monkey and fish and released them.”
Jin Yan laughed and said: “Hmm, actually I also wish he would stay away from those things.”
Although this smile was brief, it looked real. His confidant had followed him for many years and knew that he couldn’t even bear to step on an ant in front of Jiang Qin, so he laughed along.
“Continue to look for Zuo Zhijie, but don’t run into Jiang Qin. Isn’t he going back to the United States? If he dares to make trouble again, we’ll send him on his way.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Where has Jiang Qin been running to recently?”
“Oh, Mr. Jiang has a very regular life. Apart from going to work and getting off work, he goes out for a walk. He also played tennis last weekend. The only thing is that he sent a package to S City after coming out of the teahouse that day.”
“Package?”
“Yes, it’s all supplements like ginseng. The recipient…”
“The recipients are his parents.” Jin Yan sneered: “After so many years, he still hasn’t forgotten his parents who value face more than their son. Knowing that he will be sad, he still sends things year after year. Just wait, when he hits a wall, he will know who is really good to him.”
The confidant knew that only Jin Yan could say this, and others couldn’t, so he just smiled apologetically and didn’t answer.
The two came out of the gun testing laboratory and got into the car. Several attendants were sent to the SUV in front. When there was no one around, Jin Yan suddenly asked: “What has Jiang Qin eaten recently?”
This question stunned the confidant, “This… there is breakfast in the hotel, and lunch is probably with colleagues.”
“What about dinner?”
“Sorry boss, I really didn’t pay attention to this. Mr. Jiang often orders takeout…”
Jin Yan was a little dissatisfied and asked: “Then how is his complexion? Did he cough when it was windy recently?”
How could a general tracker notice such details? The confidant didn’t dare to say he didn’t know, so he answered vaguely: “No, Mr. Jiang is in good spirits.”
“Does he still go out drinking with that Fang Yuan?”
“I didn’t see Mr. Jiang drinking, but yesterday he went out with that policeman named Fang Yuan to buy some things. Nothing special, a few cushions and a cabinet, and helped drive them to the policeman’s house.”
Jin Yan pondered for a while and asked with a frown: “Is that Fang Yuan really a civil policeman?”
The confidant said affirmatively: “We have checked many times with strong connections. He is indeed a civil policeman transferred from S City, and it is absolutely true that he is the son of one of Mr. Jiang’s aunts. There is no mistake.”
Jin Yan intuitively felt something was wrong, but couldn’t figure it out, so he had to nod.
Suddenly he remembered something again and ordered casually: “Take a few photos of Jiang Qin for me someday. Haven’t seen him for two weeks, I quite miss him.”
The confidant laughed, thinking what’s difficult about this, so he immediately said yes.
Fang Yuan was indeed moving.
When he first came here, he lived in the single dormitory of the police station. However, the Fang family, like the Jiang family, had a solid foundation. Soon they rented a three-bedroom apartment in a prosperous area of the city with money. Jiang Qin also helped move a lot of furniture there.
To thank him, Fang Yuan wanted to invite him out for a drink, but Jiang Qin, once bitten by a snake, was afraid of ropes for ten years, and refused to drink no matter what.
Jiang Qin was very good at home decoration—Jin Yan only knew how to destroy, and Li Meng was a little pig. A couple with a son in adolescence, if no one knew how to tidy up the house, the whole family would sleep in a pigsty.
He helped Fang Yuan buy wallpaper and murals, helped him choose sofas and coffee tables matching the overall layout, helped him buy flowers to scent the house, and finally even took care of the bedding.
In less than a week, the house was decent. Fang Yuan invited a few colleagues home for a housewarming party. He roasted two rows of fat and tender mutton in the kitchen, and empty beer cans were all over the room.
Jiang Qin had met his colleagues several times, and they were familiar with each other. There was no barrier in talking and laughing with each other. He rolled up his shirt sleeves to his elbows, leaned behind the living room bar with a beer can, watching the oven while smilingly watching them visit the room, tolerating their comments very much.
Fang Yuan unceremoniously kicked people out of the bedroom, drove them all to the living room to play cards and sing karaoke, and ran to the kitchen to get champagne to drink.
Jiang Qin gave him a skewer of roasted beef fillet: “Come and taste the saltiness.”
“Mmm, pretty good! What did you add to it?”
“Coated with a little honey.”
Jiang Qin took a sip of beer, skillfully used iron tongs to take out the baking tray, turned all the meat onto a rectangular snow-white porcelain plate, and picked two coriander leaves to put on the corner of the plate. Fang Yuan looked at him lowering his head and concentrating, and couldn’t help but be slightly stunned.
“Okay, take it to them.” Jiang Qin raised his head and asked in surprise: “Is there something on my face?”
Fang Yuan shivered: “No. I was just thinking… this smells really good. You must cook often.”
Jiang Qin laughed: “I have a son in the developmental stage who is never full. What do you think?”
Fang Yuan also laughed, took the plate out to give to the colleagues in the living room, and soon returned to the kitchen, leaning against the door with beer, staring unblinkingly at Jiang Qin cutting fruit.
“You’re not going to play cards?” Jiang Qin asked without looking up.
“It’s boring to play all the time. I was thinking, why don’t you bring Li Meng over to eat together? You haven’t seen him for a while.”
“…Jin Yan is taking care of him.”
“But he is your son after all.”
Jiang Qin gently tore open the fine veins on the orange, and after a long while whispered: “No.”
Fang Yuan was stunned: “No?”
“Jin Yan is his biological father.”
Fang Yuan instantly remembered Li Meng’s eyes that were exactly the same as Jiang Qin’s, and said in disbelief: “Impossible, he looks just like you… How could Jin Yan be his father? Can Jin Yan produce that kind of child?”
“We did a paternity test.” Jiang Qin said lightly, “Appearance may be due to acquired influence. Actually, some parts of Li Meng’s personality are exactly a replica of Jin Yan.”
He turned to wash the fruit knife. Fang Yuan stared closely at his back, suddenly feeling very absurd: “You have been with that guy Jin Yan for more than ten years, giving up your family and future, and don’t even have your own child. What are you after? He doesn’t treat you well, hanging out with those people from all walks of life in the entertainment circle all day…”
“Stop talking,” Jiang Qin interrupted him abruptly: “My mind is messy… I have to figure it out myself.”
Fang Yuan’s look at him was simply indescribable. After a long while, he barely laughed: “No wonder Uncle and Aunt used to say you were suitable for academics. If this kind of personality is put outside, simply… simply can be eaten alive! You have no defense against people at all! No wonder you can live with Jin Yan for so many years, he has always controlled you in the palm of his hand!”
Jiang Qin put the knife into the sink with a clatter: “I told you to stop talking!”
When he turned back, Fang Yuan realized that his face was very ugly, with an almost transparent pallor, his lips pursed extremely tightly and forcefully, almost without any blood color.
The kitchen was terribly silent for a moment. The noise came from the living room, as if an awkward and distinct background.
“…I’ll go be quiet for a while.” Jiang Qin hurriedly wiped his hands, bypassed Fang Yuan and walked out of the kitchen.
When passing by, Fang Yuan turned his head impulsively, seeming to want to grab his hand, but didn’t move in the end.
Actually, it was too late for him to reach out. Jiang Qin walked straight through the corridor and shut himself in the study with a bang.