Hearing Qiu Tu's words, Master Qin Si's plump face revealed a sincere smile. As he pulled Qiu Tu down to sit, he said, "There's nothing much. It's just that I felt an instant connection with Agent Qiu at the banquet earlier and wanted to get to know you better in private."
Upon saying this, he tentatively asked, "It's still early, would Agent Qiu be interested in taking a walk with me?"
Seeing the expression on Master Qin Si's face and considering his status, Qiu Tu certainly could guess where "taking a walk" would lead…
But given his current official duties, he smiled and politely declined the invitation, "Thank you for your kind offer, Fourth Master. However, I'm feeling slightly unwell tonight. Perhaps another time."
Master Qin Si, still smiling, replied, "I understand, I understand."
He then pointed at the girl next to him and instructed, "Xiao Ying, what are you standing there for? Go brew some tea for Agent Qiu."
Upon hearing Master Qin Si's command, the girl quickly bowed in acknowledgment.
Shortly after, a cup of fragrant tea was placed beside Qiu Tu.
Qiu Tu nodded his thanks, and while sipping tea, he recalled the situation of the Qin Family's Fifth House in his mind.
Apart from Old Wu of the Fifth House, who was born of the legitimate wife, the others from the four houses had the same mother.
The eldest house was headed by Qin Heng, the current patriarch of the Qin family, whose official position was Director of the Civil Affairs Bureau at Xinjie City City Hall. He was mainly responsible for household registration, social assistance, and welfare management.
In the whole of Xinjie City, he was a significant figure, second only to Yan Chen and the other three big bosses.
The second house was led by Qin Zhengguang, the Qin Family's second-in-command on the surface. His official position was Deputy Division Chief of the Public Security Management Division at the Xinjie City Investigation Bureau, mainly in charge of city-wide public security management and a person of actual power within the Bureau.
It was to pave the way for him that Old Master Qin kept making private connections with Yan Chen while he was alive.
The third house was Qin Shu, the third brother among the five Qin siblings. Unlike his two brothers, he did not enter politics but chose to engage in business. The Qin Family's various business affairs were managed by him, mainly in legitimate industries like ready-to-wear, jewelry, and department stores.
These three brothers of the Qin family, together with Master Qin Si, who was sitting beside Qiu Tu and in charge of the family's grey industries, formed the Xinjie Qin family, extending across both the legitimate and underworld realms.
As for the Qin Family's Fifth House, because their mother was the second wife and they were pampered by Old Master Qin due to their young age, they were somewhat unruly and had now become a well-known profligate son in Xinjie City, already excluded from the Qin family's core of power.
Therefore, even before entering the Qin Family, Qiu Tu had selected two points of breakthrough for his mission. One of them was Master Qin Si.
What he had not expected was that before he had taken the initiative to approach Master Qin Si, Master Qin Si had found him first. Moreover, having found him, all he did was engage in idle chat without saying anything of substance.
What was he trying to sell in his gourd?
Thinking this way, Qiu Tu sipped his tea quietly, patiently waiting for Master Qin Si to speak.
After all... if Master Qin Si was not in a rush, neither was he.
Perhaps not expecting Qiu Tu to be so patient, Master Qin Si drank three cups of tea and remained silent for approximately ten minutes before he finally couldn't help but speak up.
He asked cheerfully, "Does Agent Qiu have a mission here this time?"
Hearing his question, Qiu Tu, who had been counting the tea leaves in his cup, slowly came back to reality and also smiled as he replied, "What mission could I possibly have? Naturally, it's to ensure Miss Shuman's safety."
Upon hearing that, Master Qin Si, unconvinced, shook his head and raised an eyebrow, "But that's not what I've heard..."
A thought flashed through Qiu Tu's mind. "Oh?" he uttered, then looked at Master Qin Si with feigned curiosity, "What has Fourth Master heard then?"
Master Qin Si glanced outside to confirm that no one was eavesdropping. He then lowered his voice, softly saying, "I heard you have a grudge against our Qin family and have come to investigate the Qin Family."
Of course, such matters couldn't be discussed openly, so Qiu Tu couldn't help but wave his hands repeatedly, "Fourth Master, what are you joking about?"
"What am I that I could investigate the Qin Family?"
"Let's not even talk about Commissioner Qin Heng's status in Xinjie City or Director Qin Zhengguang's power, even you... could crush me to death with just a finger."
"If I offended you all, wouldn't I be afraid that one day I'd be sunk in a pond on my way back home? Hahaha."
Hearing Qiu Tu speak like this, Master Qin Si also burst into laughter. But the next second, he changed his tone and pointedly said, "So that's why you moved into the Qin family home."
In that instant, Qiu Tu's expression changed, and he almost couldn't maintain his smile.
Is this guy really so steeped in the ways of Jianghu to blatantly threaten a public officer?
But then upon second thought, Qiu Tu felt he might be wrong: after all, if Master Qin Si really wanted to harm him, his "Crisis Intuition" should have directly triggered a warning, right?
Could it be...
With that thought, a light bulb went off in Qiu Tu's head, and he guessed a possibility.
He retracted his smile, and suddenly looked at Master Qin Si, then seriously said, "Are you threatening me, Fourth Master?"
"What, I'm in the Qin family, you wouldn't dare act against me because it would be hard to explain to the Investigation Bureau. But if I go out, then I'm as good as dead, is that it?"
"Are you threatening an agent, trying to provoke the entire Xinjie City Investigation Bureau?"
Master Qin Si probably didn't expect Qiu Tu to be so bold. He was taken aback and then his face changed back to the cheerful expression he had before, saying, "Agent Qiu, you've misunderstood me. I'm just making conversation with you, why take it so seriously?"
"I haven't threatened you, and I haven't provoked the Investigation Bureau."
"But people go through birth, old age, sickness, and death. Who knows whether tomorrow or an accident will come first, right?"
Speaking thus, he narrowed his eyes, patted Qiu Tu's shoulder with an ambiguous smile, "So, Agent Qiu, you must take good rest, take good care of your health, don't catch any illnesses or suffer any accidents."
After saying that, he laughed heartily as he stood up, then left Qiu Tu's room in a carefree manner. However... as he got up, a white booklet seemed to have accidentally dropped from him...
Qiu Tu watched him leave, then slowly got up and picked up the booklet from the floor.
Opening the booklet, it contained records of the second household's Qin Zhengguang's illegal actions during his time as the Deputy Division Chief of the Public Security Administration, including accepting bribes from gang members, indulging gang members' crimes, releasing members of the anti-government armed forces without permission, and adjusting patrol routes to create opportunities for the members of the Anti-government Armed Forces to carry out operations, among other charges.
After reading the booklet, Qiu Tu smiled.
He indeed hadn't guessed wrong; Master Qin Si had come to tip him off and make overtures.
Although he appeared to be threatening him on the surface, he was actually indirectly telling him that the Qin family had become aware of his real purpose, and warned him to be careful.
As for this booklet, it was Master Qin Si's way of testing him, to see if he dared to investigate the Qin family and to what extent he wanted to probe.
The only pity was... he somewhat took me for a fool...