A Warm Tones - Chapter 1

A year ago, Qin Jiangzhi was forced by a group of men in black suits into a dark, deserted alley behind his house—one that absolutely no one ever passed through. By that point, he had already noticed that these people of unknown identity had been following him for a full month.

“Mr. Qin, I really don’t want to make things difficult for you.” The man leading them wasn’t wearing sunglasses. He had a clean, refined face with a hint of elite professionalism about him. He didn’t look like someone who would do something as shady as kidnapping and extortion at all. “My boss wants to catch up with you, Mr. Qin. I hope you can cooperate with me.”

“Your boss…” Qin Jiangzhi looked at the man in front of him. His expression remained flat, showing almost no emotion and no fear. Even his tone was calm and casual as he asked a question that seemed perfectly ordinary to him: “Has he killed anyone before?”

The man’s eyebrows rose slightly. Thanks to his excellent professional training, he still didn’t show any panic. “Please rest assured, Mr. Qin. My boss is a law-abiding citizen and a very reasonable person. He won’t make things hard for you.”

He then added a little honest remark: “Although he does have a bad temper most of the time.”

However, these “nice words” from the man left Qin Jiangzhi rather disappointed.

“Alright then.” After a short pause, Qin Jiangzhi nodded and asked, “How do you want me to cooperate?”

“We have a car waiting outside.” The man answered immediately and pointed toward a sleek, all-black Ferrari parked at the end of the narrow alley—completely out of place in the surroundings. “You just need to get in the car, Mr. Qin.”

Qin Jiangzhi nodded again. Before he could say anything else, the man added a timely threat: “If you’re unwilling, we’ll have no choice but to use some illegal methods.”

Qin Jiangzhi didn’t know who this “boss” the man mentioned was, but he didn’t ask. With a face full of indifference and zero sense of danger, he was about to get into the car with the man.

Unexpectedly, just as Qin Jiangzhi was stepping into the car, the man struck him with a hand chop to the back of his neck.

Half his body was already inside the car when the blow landed. Feeling the pain at the back of his neck, Qin Jiangzhi instinctively turned to look at the man behind him.

“Sorry.” The man still looked completely calm and sincere as he immediately apologized. “This is my first time kidnapping someone. I’m still not very skilled.”

In truth, he hadn’t used much force—it really did seem like his first time hitting someone. Qin Jiangzhi wasn’t in much pain either, so he generously forgave the man’s mistake: “It’s fine. Just be more careful next time.”

Seeing that Qin Jiangzhi sat inside the car without any resistance, a trace of guilt finally appeared on the man’s face. He followed and sat in the back seat beside him. “But Mr. Qin, could you do me a favor and pretend to be unconscious?”

“…Why?”

“Because,” after just a few minutes of conversation, the man had already dropped the formalities with Qin Jiangzhi and spoke honestly, “my boss’s exact order was for me to knock you out and bring you back.”

During the few minutes that Qin Jiangzhi was “unconscious,” the man introduced himself beside him: “Mr. Qin, my surname is Wen, given name Xu. I currently work as a secretary. If you don’t mind, you can call me Secretary Wen in the future.”

Qin Jiangzhi stayed silent, faithfully sticking to the setting of having been knocked out.

“Mr. Qin seems to not go out much. You’re always staying at home,” Wen Xu continued chatting casually. “You might find this offensive, but we waited near your house for a whole month before we finally got the chance to meet you. To be honest, we prepared so many people because we thought we’d have to use force. We didn’t expect you to be so easy to talk to.”

Wen Xu seemed very grateful for Qin Jiangzhi’s “thoughtfulness,” so he talked even more: “You probably don’t know this, Mr. Qin, but because of the one-month delay, my boss has been acting like a mad dog… Ah, sorry, I shouldn’t say that.”

“Secretary Wen,” Qin Jiangzhi finally couldn’t help interrupting, “my head hurts a bit.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Qin. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Qin Jiangzhi closed his eyes and nodded. “I want to sleep for a while. Wake me up when it’s necessary.”

Perhaps in this world, only someone like Qin Jiangzhi could sleep so fearlessly and peacefully in a kidnapper’s car. After Wen Xu shut his mouth, Qin Jiangzhi listened to the low mechanical hum inside the car. His mind gradually grew drowsy, and by the time they reached their destination, he really had lost all consciousness.

He didn’t know how long he had slept. When he woke up, Qin Jiangzhi found himself in a completely different place.

At first glance, he could tell he was in an extremely luxurious room. The magnificent crystal chandelier on the ceiling was dazzlingly bright. Qin Jiangzhi squinted against the strong light, taking a few seconds to adjust before he could clearly see the entire room.

It was an unusually opulent office. The floor-to-ceiling windows were covered by heavy curtains, so he couldn’t tell what floor they were on.

He was lying sideways on a sofa, his hands tied behind his back. The rope was soft in texture, so even though his wrists were tightly bound, there was no pain.

His legs were also tied together with soft rope, leaving him unable to move.

After clearly assessing the situation, Qin Jiangzhi didn’t struggle or shout for help. All his attention was focused on the large solid-wood executive desk in the center of the room.

A man was sitting behind it.

Unlike Secretary Wen, this man had a very tense face with no trace of a smile. His eyes were locked tightly onto Qin Jiangzhi. The aura he emitted was like a wild beast ready to pounce. Even a single emotionless glance carried a dangerous warning.

Seeing Qin Jiangzhi look at him, the man let out a low, cold laugh.

Qin Jiangzhi blinked, then shakily sat up.

The man’s voice was deep and magnetic, yet completely lacking in warmth. He spoke clearly, almost as if through gritted teeth:

“Long time no see… old classmate.”