Chapter 28

Duan Jiye was drenched in sweat. If the chairman wasn't shirking responsibility, then Deputy Minister Lin must be lying. But Deputy Minister Lin had no reason to do so! It was more likely that the chairman didn't want to take the blame.

The key was that Duan Jiye didn't want to take any responsibility either. He could only sacrifice his friend to save himself, and directly confessed, "It was Deputy Minister Lin who said it was the chairman's idea."

"Lin Zixian?" Qiao Yun was taken aback, puzzled as to why Lin Zixian would do such a thing. She asked, "Where is Lin Zixian?"

"He should still be in the security department!" Duan Jiye said guiltily.

"Have him come to my office," Qiao Yun said, then turned and walked away, disappearing into the elevator.

Duan Jiye had no choice but to lead a group of subordinates to find Lin Zixian.

Sitting in the surveillance room, Lin Zixian saw Qiao Yun making phone calls and chatting with Duan Jiye, and knew he was in for a headache. He had thought about just leaving, but considering that he couldn't avoid the problem forever, he decided to face it head-on. After all, he had nothing to fear; at worst, he could just quit.

Sure enough, after Duan Jiye found him, he relayed the general manager's message.

After Deputy Minister Lin clarified the details, he scolded the head of the security department in front of everyone, accusing him of being unrighteous. However, he eventually went to the general manager's office.

When he arrived at the floor where the general manager's office was located, Qiao Yun's female secretary looked at him curiously but didn't stop him. Instead, she said, "Deputy Minister Lin, hello. I'm the general manager's secretary, Zhang Xiaohua. The general manager is waiting for you in her office. Please go straight to her."

Lin Zixian nodded and walked straight to Qiao Yun's office door. Suddenly, he felt a bit nervous and mocked himself for being so weak. After all, he had seen many storms; why should he be afraid of a woman?

However, he might not have realized that he usually entered Qiao Antian's office without knocking, but this time he knocked on the door for the first time.

"Come in!" Qiao Yun's cold voice came from inside.

Lin Zixian pushed the door open and entered. The floor was black, the walls were white, and the entire office was decorated in a black and white theme. White could help people focus, and black could help them stay calm, perfectly reflecting the owner's style.

The cold beauty sat behind the desk, staring at him coldly without inviting him to sit down.

Surprisingly, Lin Zixian didn't sit down uninvited as he usually did in Qiao Antian's office. Instead, he stood there, feeling uncomfortable under her gaze. He thought about what had happened in the restaurant, cleared his throat, and asked, "What does the general manager want with me?"

Qiao Yun, who was never one to beat around the bush, asked directly, "Deputy Minister Lin, why did you do that?"

"I was ordered by the chairman to protect the general manager. Zheng Longqing clearly had bad intentions. Since I knew about it, I couldn't just ignore it," Lin Zixian said, trying to justify himself.

Qiao Yun silently observed his security uniform, thinking it looked terrible. She had never seen him wear his cap properly.

She couldn't connect the lecherous and vulgar person in front of her with the one who played the flute on the beach. For some reason, she often thought about that scene on the beach, even downloading the song from the internet and listening to it before bed, dreaming of being on that beach again.

She said, "Why didn't you handle it yourself, but instead incited the security department to do it?"

Lin Zixian was speechless. He couldn't say he was jealous! After a long pause, he didn't know what to say, and Qiao Yun showed unusual patience, waiting for his answer.

After a while, Lin Zixian suddenly realized something. It was Qiao Antian who had begged him to help. Why was she treating him like a criminal? He became angry and said, "Miss Qiao, what do you mean? It was your father who begged me to protect you. I'm not a criminal on trial."

Qiao Yun paused and slowly said, "I said I don't need your protection. If you don't want to, you can leave."

She might not have realized it, but her tone towards Lin Zixian had become less aggressive, though still cold.

"Damn! Good intentions are taken for granted. I don't want to serve you anymore," Lin Zixian said, not wanting to stay a moment longer. He left after saying this.

Qiao Yun showed no reaction, sitting quietly, her chin resting on her hand, deep in thought. After a while, she raised her eyebrows and muttered, "Protecting me doesn't justify that. Could he be jealous..."

After finishing his work, Qiao Antian thought about Zheng Longqing's car being damaged by the security department and found it amusing. But the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was off. Duan Jiye was an old employee, and he knew he wasn't the type to do such a thing. Could it be related to Lin Zixian?

The more he thought about it, the more he believed it was possible. He immediately told Ning Lan, who was helping him organize files, "Ning Lan, go to the security department and find out what happened with the parking lot."

Ning Lan had been planning to ask about the security department anyway. She suspected it was related to Lin Zixian. Hearing the chairman's order, she immediately went to investigate.

When she arrived at the security department and asked about the incident, she found out it was indeed related to Lin Zixian. He had caused the trouble and had left angrily after being called to the general manager's office, changing his clothes and leaving work.

After Ning Lan reported back to the chairman, Qiao Antian realized his daughter had probably offended Lin Zixian again. He immediately called Lin Zixian, but the call was hung up after a few rings.

Qiao Antian tried calling several times, but each time the call was hung up. He then asked Ning Lan to call, but the result was the same. Eventually, the phone was turned off.

Qiao Antian then called Qiao Yun and asked what she had said to Lin Zixian to upset him. Qiao Yun coldly replied that she hadn't said much, just asking why he had done it.

That was indeed the case, but Qiao Antian didn't trust his daughter's temper and didn't believe it was that simple. He rarely scolded Qiao Yun, but this time he did. Qiao Yun didn't argue, just listened quietly, leaving Qiao Antian without a temper.

"Chairman! I know where Deputy Minister Lin lives. Should I go look for him?" Ning Lan said to Qiao Antian, who was at a loss with his daughter.

"Let's go together," Qiao Antian waved his hand, and Ning Lan immediately made arrangements.

Under the protection of bodyguards, they arrived at the hotel where Lin Zixian was staying. The manager, seeing the large group, personally greeted them and led the way after learning they were looking for someone.

However, the front desk clerk quickly said, "Manager, the guest in that room just checked out and left."

Ning Lan walked back and asked, "Are you sure?"

The clerk immediately checked the records and said, "Yes, Mr. Lin from room 2018 checked out about five minutes ago."

Ning Lan was taken aback, and Qiao Antian immediately called everyone to get in the car, thinking Lin Zixian hadn't been gone long and might still be found nearby. They searched the area but found no trace of him, as if he had vanished into thin air.

The next day, Lin Zixian was absent from work. Ning Lan and Qiao Antian took turns calling, but the phone was always off. The same happened the second and third days...

On the fourth day, Qiao Antian couldn't hold back and called Lin Bao, respectfully explaining the situation. Lin Bao said he understood and that his connection with the Qiao family was over, telling Qiao Antian not to contact him again before hanging up.

Qiao Antian could only sigh, wondering if he had missed something. With his wealth, he could have used Lin Bao's phone to find him, but his father had warned him never to try to uncover the man's background, as it could lead to fatal consequences.

Because of his father's mysterious warning, Qiao Antian had never told his daughter the truth, fearing it might cause her trouble.

The reason he had Lin Zixian protect his daughter was partly for her safety, but also to build a relationship with Lin Zixian, hoping to use his connections to benefit the company. It had a bit of a mercenary flavor.

Despite this, he didn't give up. He even used his connections to check Lin Zixian's travel records, but found nothing, only attracting the attention of certain special agencies...

In fact, Lin Zixian hadn't left Donghai. He was a man of his word and wouldn't break his promise to Qiao Antian unless Qiao Antian himself asked him to. Even if he wanted to leave, he would have said goodbye to Qiao Antian.

He was just embarrassed by Qiao Yun and found no meaning in hanging around the security department. Since Zheng Longqing didn't seem to pose a threat to the father and daughter, he decided to take some time off to handle his own affairs. It wasn't a big deal; he just needed to find a place to live instead of staying in a hotel.

However, finding a satisfactory place to live wasn't easy. He found noisy places too loud and quiet places too lonely, so he had been wandering around Donghai for a few days.

One day, he visited an apartment in a neighborhood but was still unsatisfied. He couldn't count how many times he had been misled by real estate agents.

As he left the neighborhood, he saw a middle-aged woman standing in front of a car with the hood open, looking worried. Lin Zixian stopped to ask what was wrong. It turned out the car had a minor issue, which he quickly fixed, doing a good deed.

The woman was overjoyed, thanking him repeatedly and asking why she had never seen him in the neighborhood before. Lin Zixian told her he was looking for a place to rent and had been to many places but hadn't found a satisfactory one yet.