freenovelworld Chapter 2067 Was I a decent undercover agent?
Chapter 2067 Was I a decent undercover agent?
"Snapped!"
The sharp crack of a teacup shattering echoed through the deathly silent room, startling everyone.
Zong Wangshan slammed his fist on the coffee table in frustration, knocking over an empty glass and easing the tension in everyone's nerves.
He Shun and his young apprentice's eyes were instantly drawn to the patriarch of the clan, who was clearly on the verge of exploding.
It's now!
Qian Houjin's heart pounded, but his instincts, honed over years of scheming, allowed him to seize the fleeting chaos in an instant!
His face immediately contorted with panic, and his body seemed to be startled, causing him to stumble forward and step right on a few shards of broken porcelain.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed dramatically, his thin body seemingly clumsily tilting towards the octagonal table, his elbow hitting the edge of the table with perfect timing.
"Splash—"
The teapot and teacups on the table shook violently, spilling warm tea and wetting the tablecloth. Several delicate pieces of mung bean cake rolled off the plate, onto the wet tabletop, and then slid down to the floor.
"Dad!" Qian Shenquan was confused and turned pale with fright.
"Third Master Qian, how could you be so careless!" Liu Wenyuan frowned and reminded him, while Yan Qinghe and Hou Wanjin also cast disapproving glances at him.
This Qian Laosan, the busier he is, the more trouble he causes! A clap of thunder can scare him into paralysis; he has absolutely no air of a ruthless leader!
Upon seeing this, He Shun and the young waiter immediately stepped forward. One of them squatted down to clean up the broken teacups, while the other hurriedly found a rag to wipe the table.
In that brief moment, when everyone's attention was drawn to the messy table and the waiter cleaning up the mess, Qian Houjin used the action of steadying himself by holding onto the table as cover, pretending to pick up pastries from the ground. At an almost imperceptible speed, his right hand fingers were rapidly slicing the bottom of a piece of mung bean cake inside his sleeve.
The fingertips felt the subtle sensation of the cake being sliced open.
He silently recited the core keywords he needed to convey, remaining calm and composed, while a fawning smile played on his lips.
The whole process took eight seconds!
After finishing carving, he flicked his fingers, pretending to have found two more mung bean cakes. He picked them up from the ground and placed them on the table next to the tea-stained pastries.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, so sorry! I'm getting old, and Brother Zong's drink almost scared me so much I wet my pants!" Qian Houjin steadied himself, his face full of lingering fear and embarrassment, bowing repeatedly, especially to Zong Wangshan, whose face was ashen. "Old Zong, that's just how I am, please forgive me! Did I burn you just now? Oh, and I've ruined these pastries too..."
His performance perfectly disguised the transmission of intelligence as an accident caused by shock and loss of composure.
In fact, in the last sentence, she subtly reminded He Shun.
Zong Wangshan was already irritable, and seeing He Shun and his two employees staying there and Qian Houjin's cowardly appearance made him even more disgusted. He snorted and turned his face away.
Yan Qinghe and the others assumed that he was frightened by Zong Wangshan and themselves and acted in a daze, and did not investigate the few pieces of pastry that had fallen to the ground right under their noses.
He Shun quickly cleaned up the broken porcelain and glanced at the table.
The young man was wiping the water stains with a rag, preparing to put a few dirty mung bean cakes directly into the fruit plate.
Just then, He Shun suddenly paused, glanced at Qian Houjin with a puzzled look, and then realized that Qian Houjin had winked at him silently. Immediately, alarm bells went off, and He Shun looked at the pastries and reached out to stop them.
“These are all dirty, with tea stains and dirt. The tablecloths are dirty too. Replace them all! We can’t let the gentlemen eat these. Take them out and get new ones!” He Shun casually picked up a piece of mung bean cake and looked at it, looking somewhat displeased.
The young waiter immediately understood and nodded, saying, "Brother He is right, I'll go get a clean plate right away!"
As he spoke, he deftly swept all the pastries into the fruit plate, tidied up the dirty tablecloth, picked up the tray, and turned to leave the room.
He Shun said with a smile, "Please have a seat, distinguished guests. Tea and refreshments will be served shortly!"
Zong Wangshan gritted his teeth in annoyance, seeing that He Shun was not planning to leave again.
Qian Houjin, on the other hand, was overjoyed; the anxiety that had been hanging in his throat finally eased.
It worked!
He Shun's two men were indeed clever; they noticed the anomaly and found the most natural reason to send out the information.
Now it all depends on whether Li Xiangnan can receive and crack the code in time!
Dr. Li, do you think I, Qian Houjin, am a qualified undercover agent?
I didn't get a single moment of leisure to enjoy!
The room fell silent again, but the atmosphere became even more tense.
Zong Wangshan was still furious, and Yan Qinghe and the others were unable to continue their discussion on coordinating the five top teams because He Shun was there. They also had no other suitable reason to expel him, so they could only make small talk.
At almost the same time, outside the back window of the west wing.
Song Ziming clung to the cold brick wall like a gecko, his ear pressed against a specially made stethoscope, completely focused.
But the results were far from ideal!
The room was noisy. With so many people talking at the same time or in turns, especially with the movement of tables and chairs, coughing, bickering, and even the crisp sound of the glass breaking earlier, the sound, amplified by the stethoscope and transmitted through the walls, was no longer as clear as before, and was intermittent. It was clear that the people inside were extremely cautious and careful.
"Zong...advance..."
"The plan... has changed..."
"Etiquette...the key...cannot be..."
"Too many people...let's make our move..."
"Cooperate...withdraw..."
With too much background noise and overlapping voices, Song Ziming could only manage to pick up fragmented words despite his best efforts, and was unable to string them together into a logical sentence.
He was sweating profusely, knowing that the value of this information was far greater than when Qian Houjin and Zong Wangshan were alone in the room.
A moment later, he handed the stethoscope to Song, the assistant, and shook his head: "It's too fragmented. You keep listening, I'll go tell Brother Nan right away!"
Three minutes later, under the porch in the front yard, Li Xiangnan listened to Song Ziming's report and frowned as he looked at the fragmented words on the paper.
This information is less than expected.
The top five might come; etiquette is key, and the backyard is the target...
These were details they already knew, but now that the people from the lower five families were bringing them up, they still had no clue.
There was no specific timeframe, no method of action, no explanation of what "etiquette" actually meant, no instructions on how to create chaos, and no guidance on how the top five members would intervene...
The most crucial piece of the puzzle is still missing.
"Brother Nan," Song Ziming looked at Li Xiangnan's expression and then at the central courtyard, somewhat worried, "You said Qian Houjin previously said he would consider cooperating with us and not get involved in this mess. Could he leak the information from the side room and use it as a pretext to defect?"
Li Xiangnan shook his head, unsure.
"Now we just need to see if Qian Houjin is greedy enough and rational enough! If I were him, I would definitely choose to stand on my side..."
Before the words were even finished, Wu Mao emerged from the central courtyard, a hint of suppressed excitement on his face, holding an oil paper package in his hand, and hurriedly ran over.
"Brother Nan, look! I just brought this out of the west wing! It's the writing Qian Houjin carved on the pastries; he sent us a message!"
Li Xiangnan's eyes sharpened, and he exchanged a glance with Song Ziming. A huge surprise ignited in his eyes, and he immediately took the oil paper package and quickly opened it under the shadow of the pillar.
Inside were three pieces of mung bean cake stained with tea. On the bottom of one of them, a dozen or so crooked characters were clearly carved with a fingernail...