"I'm a business spy, purely a business spy, working for employers to search for trade secrets and earning compensation in return. My work is high-risk but peaceful. Many people think that being a spy is as thrilling and interesting as depicted in movies, thus they hold unrealistic and erroneous perceptions and aspirations about this profession. I hope you're not one of them."
After John Jones said this, he stared into Yang Yi's eyes and smiled, "I'm just a business spy, so there's not much I can teach you, and I can't introduce you to the circles your father was involved in. Other than sharing the common title of 'spy', we actually don't have much in common. Knowing all this, do you still want to learn from me?"
Without any hesitation, Yang Yi replied, "Of course, I would be extremely grateful if you would let me learn from you."
John Jones sighed, then stood up, placed a business card on the table, and said in a low voice, "Call me at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Goodbye."
And with that, John Jones left.
John Jones didn't ask about Yang Yi's background, how he could prove his identity, where he had been all these years, how he found out about his parents' death, or what kind of thought process led him to decide on revenge.
Yang Yi thought there were two reasons for this: one was that, as a spy, even as a more benign business spy, John Jones understood and strictly adhered to a principle, which was not to pry into others' secrets lightly.
The other reason was that John Jones would not get involved in his personal vendettas.
Out of gratitude, John Jones would help Yang Yi enter the field and might teach him a few things, but John Jones wouldn't be dragged into Yang Yi's plans for revenge. Therefore, he simply refrained from asking Yang Yi any questions to avoid future disputes or even being silenced by Yang Yi.
Yang Yi certainly had no such intentions, but that didn't mean he wouldn't in the future, and this was what John Jones guarded against. Helping others didn't always bring good returns, and to avoid trouble later, it was beneficial to know less, so even if Yang Yi offered information first, John Jones might not be willing to know it.
Regardless, John Jones would probably help him, and to Yang Yi, that was enough.
Now, Yang Yi was pondering what kind of person his father truly was.
In Yang Yi's memory, his father was always smiling, low-key, and a very ordinary businessperson, but a very successful one. He wasn't home often, but he would always spend time with him whenever he was.
So, in his own mind, Yang Yi felt that his father was really a good dad. However, Yang Yi also understood that everyone has two faces.
His father played the roles of a good father and husband in front of his family, but what role he played in front of others was hard to say.
After finishing his coffee, Yang Yi left the café and checked into a hotel.
The next morning at six o'clock, Yang Yi got up, washed up, had breakfast, and then waited in the hotel lobby until eight o'clock, when he called John Jones on time.
"I'll be in the office at nine o'clock. Meet me at 186 Savile Street, Jones Accounting Services."
John Jones hung up the phone. Yang Yi thought about it and realized he was quite far from Savile Street. It would be tight to get there in an hour.
Yang Yi immediately rushed out of the hotel lobby and got into the taxi he had booked in advance, urgently saying, "186 Savile Street, fast!"
It took fifty-eight minutes, and Yang Yi arrived at 186 Savile Street, where there was a three-story old building. On the first floor, there was a men's clothing store, and on the third floor was the accounting services office that John Jones had mentioned.
Yang Yi sprinted upstairs and at nine o'clock sharp, he pushed open the glass door of the accounting office.
"Hello, I'm looking for Mr. John Jones."
"May I have your name, sir?"
"Yang Yi."
"Alright, Mr. Jones is in his office. Please follow me."
The accounting service office wasn't big. Yang Yi glanced around and saw six partitioned office spaces in the hall and four separate offices. There were already four people seated in the partitioned office spaces in the hall.
A woman in her twenties at the front desk led Yang Yi to an office, knocked on the door, and said in a low voice, "Mr. Jones, the guest you've been waiting for is here."
"Come in," came the response.
Yang Yi entered the office, which was small and simply decorated, but it was arranged decently—it looked like a normal accounting firm owner's office, at least.
John Jones was wearing a pair of patterned glasses. When he saw Yang Yi enter, he put the stack of papers he was holding onto the desk. Then he took off his glasses, set them aside, pointed to a chair in front of his desk, and said softly, "Please have a seat and take a look at this. If there are no issues, go ahead and sign it."
Yang Yi took the documents from John Jones and found they were the employment contract from Jones Accountancy Firm.
Yang Yi made a puzzled gesture at John Jones, who smiled and said, "Running an accountancy firm is my main business, being a Spy is my part-time job. If you want to learn something from me, you at least need to have a suitable cover identity."
After looking over the documents, Yang Yi quickly signed his name and then respectfully handed them back to John Jones.
John Jones took the documents and smiled at Yang Yi, "Your job will be that of an administrative assistant. As a newcomer, you need to start with the basics, like cleaning up or making coffee for others. Plus, you need to get familiar with the business of accountancy as soon as possible. I hope you can reach the standard of a trainee accountant within half a year."
Yang Yi was not displeased; he was merely curious. He spoke in a low voice, "Do I really have to start with these tasks?"
John nodded, "Yes."
Yang Yi scratched his head and then with a hint of resignation said, "I'll do as you ask, but I want to know what use there is in learning these things as a Spy."
"They're certainly useful. Since you're going to be a commercial Spy under my guidance, and you need to use this firm's staffer identity as your cover, it stands to reason that you need to become an accountancy professional. Also, even for a Spy, being able to accurately account for one's assets is very beneficial, don't you think?"
Yang Yi spread his hands and said, "Uh, I have no problem with that, I can learn. But I also want to learn other things that are more useful, like shooting, fighting; I've practiced fighting, but later I found that what I practiced was meaningless. Of course, there are other skills that I need to learn."
John Jones looked puzzled and replied, "I don't understand. Why do you, as a commercial Spy, need to learn these things?"
Yang Yi was even more puzzled than John Jones and said in utter confusion, "Aren't these the basic skills of being a Spy?"
"No, no, no, you clearly have misunderstood one thing—I told you I am a commercial Spy, and these skills are not necessary."
John Jones waved his hands back and forth, laughed, and said, "What's most important for a Spy? Gather and disseminate intelligence. With today's technology, intelligence dissemination is almost barrier-free. Any ordinary person can easily do it, so the main job that remains is intelligence gathering."
"I understand that, but..."
"No buts. For a commercial Spy, or even what you think of as a 'real' Spy, using violence under any circumstances means failure, outright failure! Imagine, during World War II, if an Allied Spy had to obtain high-value military intelligence in Nazi headquarters, how should they proceed? Shoot a German officer? Strangle a general with bare hands, snatch crucial intel, escape and send it back, and then go enjoy the hero's welcome?"
Yang Yi was at a loss for words, and John Jones shook his head, "That's movie stuff, it wouldn't happen in reality because exposure equals failure for a Spy, total failure. Imagine, even if you killed a thousand people to get some crucial intel, let's say the plans for the Normandy landings, do you think that kind of obtained intelligence would still be useful? If it's useless, what's the point of killing those thousand people? There's no point, what are you doing it for, just to ruin your good position in accessing important intelligence?"
Yang Yi was struck dumb by the questions, then spoke softly, "But there are many cases that prove that sometimes you must use violence to obtain certain intel."
"Yes, of course, that can happen, but the cases where violent methods are used to get information are very rare. You can't take isolated incidents that occasionally happen as proof while overlooking what most Spies actually do most of the time."
John Jones smiled and said to Yang Yi, "I'm willing to help you and will do it in the best way. Your future should not be as an operative who gets his hands dirty, nor as an agent, nor as part of an action team. You might really need to solve many problems with violence in the future, but they should not be personally handled by you."
Yang Yi spoke softly, "Do you mean my template should be that of a boss's role, or shall we say a commander's role, instead of someone who does the hands-on work?"
John nodded, his expression serious, "Exactly, that is your position, a commander, not a soldier, like your father—he doesn't need to get his hands dirty to get the information he wants, all he needs to do is give an order and everything will be taken care of by others."
Yang Yi let out a sigh, "I understand. So I don't need to learn specific skills anymore?"
John Jones laughed and said, "You do need to, just not from me. You still need to start from the bottom, get to know every part of the job. What you need to learn from me is how to be a leader. As for the other skills, you have to learn them somewhere else. Let me reiterate, I'm only a commercial Spy. So, do you still want to enter this line of work with me?"