Chapter 72: Stalking
“Number twenty-one braised ribs, serving the dish!”
Hearing her number called, Su Ning got up and went to the window to bring the meal back to the table, casually shoving it into her mouth while keeping an eye on the time and frequently glancing toward the restaurant entrance.
It wasn’t until the meal time was almost over that Tong Tai hurried in from outside, small running with sweat pouring down his face.
“Comrade, hello, is there still braised ribs in today’s supply?”
“It’s Director Tong, you came late today, only stir-fried cabbage hearts left!”
Hearing this, Tong Tai gave a bitter laugh and turned around, his face and eyes full of the expression of how to explain to his son.
The head chef behind him timely let out a sigh of pity for parents all over the world: the dear kids at home are getting harder and harder to raise generation after generation.
Quickly finishing the last bite of the meal, and confirming that the newcomer was Director Tong in charge of external negotiations at the Sixth Factory, Su Ning’s eyes lit up, and she quickly followed behind him out of the state-run restaurant.
Originally planning to take the opportunity to step forward and state her identity and purpose, sincerely explain her request, hoping he could give the Gu City Textile Factory a chance to purchase goods, even if the quantity was small, as long as there were goods.
Things didn’t go as planned; only after following him out did she discover that this Director Tong, Tong Tai, seemed off.
Who goes home acting so sneaky, as if afraid of being seen by acquaintances, constantly ducking into remote, empty little alleys?
Moreover, he was extremely fast and unusually alert; fortunately, with the space, she could perfectly hide her figure, but even so, several times around a corner she almost lost him completely.
The more she followed, the more she felt this matter was veering far from what she had imagined.
Until Tong Tai stopped, Su Ning held her breath and hid behind the wall not far away, not even daring to breathe: she seemed to have stumbled upon a secret by accident?
The gatekeeper old man in everyone’s mouth as the top good man, actually keeping a mistress in secret, raising a woman outside?
No!
Recalling their earlier encounter, there was no intimacy or eagerness in his expression or body language like lovers meeting.
This… what exactly was going on?
She just wanted to corner someone, work hard to complete her task, not thinking of stirring up trouble and digging into others’ secrets.
She shook her head and shrank back against the wall; before she could figure out if she should report encountering this style issue, things suddenly took a sharp turn.
“Young Comrade, what are you doing here?”
“Gah~”
The person who had already entered the courtyard gate suddenly appeared in front of her and spoke, scaring her into sucking in a cold breath.
From entering the alley until just now entering the door, he had faintly sensed a line of sight from the shadows, but no matter how he shook it off, he couldn’t lose it? With his strong counter-surveillance skills, he still hadn’t caught a single trace.
Out of caution, he quietly circled around from the back door and discovered someone really hiding here.
What surprised Tong Tai was that the other party was actually a pretty young little girl, and she looked very unfamiliar, with no impression at all.
This little girl in front of him had such strong abilities? Trailing and tracking him all the way without letting him find her?
A dangerous chill flashed in his eyes as he looked at the person who was startled but immediately regained composure; Tong Tai tugged at the corner of his mouth in a half-smile and continued probing.
“You know me? Tracking me here?”
“Hello, Director Tong, very sorry to meet you in this way.”
Sharply sensing the danger, Su Ning kept her expression normal, but her mind was already racing.
Denying it now would be more inappropriate than admitting it; directly admitting it still had a pretext and reasoning that matched, after all, her identity was fine and her purpose could be checked.
It’s just that this secret she accidentally stumbled upon…
Her heart tightened, but her expression became even more calm and composed.
“Oh? Which textile factory’s purchasing are you?”
“Yes, I’m from the Gu City Textile Factory, here for the blended fabric task; today by coincidence you were busy the whole time so I couldn’t meet you, that’s why I…”
Sure enough, hearing her words, Tong Tai’s mind turned a few times and understood; his surface expression visibly relaxed, but inwardly he didn’t let go of any vigilance.
Not tall, about five foot seven medium build, early forties with a somewhat paunchy figure, small belly slightly protruding.
His features were very ordinary, but the mole at the corner of his mouth was highly distinctive.
While responding, he had already sized her up completely; Su Ning secretly calculated in her heart if she suddenly pulled out her self-defense weapon while he was unprepared, what chance of winning she would have.
“Since it’s for the task…”
Lifting his hand to glance at the watch on his wrist, Tong Tai switched to a proper, businesslike smile, “While there’s still time, let’s go inside and talk.”
What is called being in a dilemma?
This was it right now!
“Director Tong, if it’s convenient, could we schedule a time tomorrow?”
Slightly annoyed, she lifted her eyes, Su Ning looked at him apologetically, “Just now it felt like it was you so I hurriedly followed, didn’t tell my accompanying brother, now he’s probably anxious searching everywhere for me, so what do you think?”
“Heh heh, I say young Comrade, can you accomplish tasks running around like this?”
Tong Tai laughed and shook his head, imperceptibly blocking her intended path backward, “Tomorrow’s meetings are already pre-arranged, I’m giving you this opportunity because I see your work attitude is sincere, you must seize it…”
“Bang——”
A dull pain at the back of her head; Su Ning, secretly crying out trouble, slowly fell to the ground, her vision filled with the blurry, ruthless face of a woman.
A warm wetness soaked her nape, instantly plunging her into endless darkness.
“Dilly-dallying, can’t even handle one little girl, Tong Tai I think you’re getting worse with age!”
“What do you know!”
Seeing the ground where the person fell stained with a large patch of bright red blood, Tong Tai immediately squatted down and checked her nose; sensing she still had breath, he let out a sigh of relief.
Turning his head to look at the woman holding the iron rod with a disdainful face, anger surged in his heart.
It could have been solved better and simpler, but she had to create more trouble; why did the organization assign him such a stupid woman!
“She has accompanying people…”
“I’m not deaf!”
Carelessly swinging the iron rod in her hand, Hua Qiao curled her lip; problems that could be solved with force, yet insisting on using that brain to show off cleverness.
The person already said she didn’t have time to tell, and even if that brother really came looking…
Touching the guy tucked in her waist under her clothes: just kill them!
Anyway, this contact point was about to be abandoned; the instructions received for this task were to bring people out and evacuate, one or two nameless little insects could just be crushed directly, right?
“I’ll carry the person inside, you clean up here.”
Bending down effortlessly to hoist the person over her shoulder, Hua Qiao strode back into the courtyard with light steps.
Leaving Tong Tai alone staring at the splattered bloodstains on the ground, nearly grinding his teeth to bits: a brute with developed limbs, no looks, and not a shred of brains!
Determined not to let him have a moment of peace before leaving!
Forcefully breathing in and out, out and in again; after calming down, he quickly cleaned the scene and immediately prepared to move with the person.
This contact point being exposed was inevitable sooner or later, but her meddling increased the risk of early exposure.
Cursing inwardly, Tong Tai pondered where else would be more secure and safe.
Still needed to go back and check this suddenly appearing little girl, see if she was involved in anything.
……
“Mm~”
The throbbing pain at the back of her head made the not fully awake Su Ning involuntarily let out a muffled hum.
“Yatou, you’re awake?”
In the dim room were four yellowed walls spotted with mold; nothing around except the pile of straw in the corner of the wall made into a… bed?
On it lay a person face up, unknown if dead or alive; the question came from one of the two half-leaning against the wall between them.
Recalling the scene before passing out, she slowly reached her hand to the back of her head; the large patch of stickiness told her the dizziness now was definitely from excessive blood loss.
“There’s nothing here for stopping bleeding, I could only use the folk method of scraping some cobweb dust off the wall to paste on you; don’t touch the wound first, it just stopped.”
“Thank you.”
Truly didn’t know whether accident or tomorrow would come first.
Bitterly smiling as she propped herself up from the ground to slowly sit, she checked her body all over; her clothes and the diagonally slung canvas bag were fine, just…
Touching her empty wrist, the bracelet given by Yan Family grandmother yesterday and her watch were gone.
What exactly was the unspeakable secret between Tong Tai and that woman?
Who were these three people in front of her? Why were they imprisoned here?
“Yatou, why were you thrown in?”
“I was tracking Tong Tai…”
“You’re from the J side?”
Just hearing her urgent questioning and the content that slipped out, Su Ning’s heart sank deeper and deeper.
She seemed to have accidentally stepped into a major event; tracking a factory personnel director led to uncovering a big secret!
