Ex-wife becomes the world's number one hacker

Chapter 142 Late Night Conversation

Jiang Yin sat silently on the chair by the bed, her feet on the chair legs, her elbows on her knees, her eyes lowered, and her hands clasped together, unconsciously rubbing her fingertips.

Qin Heming smiled almost imperceptibly when he saw her like this.

"Is there anything you'd like to ask?" he asked gently.

Jiang Yin pursed her lips and did not respond.

Qin Heming sighed softly, his voice softening further: "Then I'll speak."

He paused, then said, "Let's... go over the accounts from the beginning."

Jiang Yin glanced at him for a moment, wondering what he wanted to settle, then quickly lowered her head again and remained silent.

Qin Heming rested his head back on the chair, his gaze falling on a certain point on the ceiling.

"There shouldn't have been any problems when we were kids, right? Back then... everything was great."

"When did the estrangement begin?... In my teens, do you know why?"

Jiang Yin remained silent.

Qin Heming waited two seconds, and seeing that she didn't seem inclined to respond, he continued:

"Because Grandma Gu contacted me."

Jiang Yin suddenly looked at him.

"She came to me and said, 'Yinyin is still young, you two shouldn't be in a relationship so early, and especially shouldn't...eat the forbidden fruit.'" He chuckled softly as he said this.

"That old lady is biased; she doesn't criticize her own granddaughter, but instead criticizes me."

"Of course, you're right. I'm the older brother, so I should be more sensible."

Jiang Yin's eyelashes trembled. So that's how it is.

After saying that, he didn't continue.

The bedside lamp cast a small patch of dim yellow light on the wall.

After a moment, he continued:

"Later, I went to study at University M in Country A and was quickly recruited. Initially, it was also in the research field, and my upline was Professor Zhan Yang from University M."

Jiang Yin looked up abruptly; she remembered the name—it was on the list of victims in the Dark Lab.

Qin Heming noticed it, but didn't look at her.

"You remember this name, don't you?"

He paused, his voice lowering:

"He later...disappeared. Everyone on the same line, except me, is gone."

He lowered his head, paused for two seconds, and then looked up at the ceiling.

"I was lucky to escape because I had only been there a short time and wasn't his student."

"But I didn't know that back then. I didn't know when someone would come knocking on my door."

"What I fear most is not that something will happen to me, but that my family will be implicated."

"Especially you, still so young and so innocent."

"You're in this industry now, you know that feeling, right?"

Jiang Yin's breath hitched for a moment.

She understands.

She later experienced that ever-present chill herself.

"That's why I don't dare contact you; I don't want anyone to know how close we are."

"As long as they don't know how important you are to me, they won't use you to blackmail me."

"It was from that time that I changed my ideals."

"I'm not going to do scientific research anymore."

"I want to protect people who do scientific research, and I want to protect you."

He paused, as if rearranging a sentence.

"I know that with your talent, you'll eventually go down this path."

"Then I'll stand in front and shield you."

Jiang Yin paused in her rubbing of her fingertips.

"After joining the secret service, one becomes very sensitive. Coupled with Professor Zhan's disappearance, my nerves have been constantly on edge," Qin Heming said after letting out a soft breath.

"It was during that time that I noticed something was wrong with Yu Maolin. His interest in 'genius' went beyond the normal range."

"Because you went to the competition, he came to ask me about you."

"I had a bad feeling about this. So instead of praising you in front of him, I actually... belittled you."

"I'm sorry, I started belittling you from that time on."

He paused, his voice becoming calmer:

"Later, I became more and more adept at intelligence work, successfully carrying out several operations in a row, and gained some fame in the circle. After the old director died in battle, I was appointed to take over as the director of the Eighth Division in a time of crisis."

That year, I was nineteen years old.

He spoke these words in a deep tone, without a trace of pride.

"Not long after I became the section chief, my grandmother told me about the 'switched babies' in your family. I was coordinating an important operation at the time, but I still took the opportunity to run back to see you."

"You saw me busy the other day... actually I was directing things remotely."

"I'm relieved to see that you're doing well."

He paused, then cleared his throat:

"After hearing that you were going to Xijing University, I felt even more at ease. Everyone in the system knows that it's a base of the Ninth Division, so you must have been recruited."

"I know you kept looking out my window when you left that day."

Qin Heming's voice suddenly became a little hoarse.

"I was hiding behind the curtains, watching you leave, turning back every few steps. At that moment..." Qin Heming choked up.

He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing a few times, before continuing:

"I wanted to rush down and stop you, and tell you that I quit, that we could be together, and that we could go anywhere."

At this point, his voice finally broke down.

Tears streamed down his face, and he abruptly raised his hand to cover his face, wiping them away violently several times.

"But that won't work. My team members are still on the front lines and could die at any moment."

After saying that, he closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time, so long that Jiang Yin thought he wouldn't say anything more.

But after calming down for a while, he still spoke.

"You left the next day. I went to your neighborhood to copy the surveillance footage, arranged for Xiaobai to come to the horse farm, and then... I went back to the battlefield. I was thinking of coming to find you after you graduated from university."

"I never expected that after you graduated, what awaited me was the 'Cruise Ship Operation,' which was also Yu Maolin's 'Eye-Locking Operation.'"

He took a deep breath, his voice lowering:

"When you came into my room, I was completely stunned. The operation failed, which meant there was a problem inside, and everyone around me could be a ghost."

"The whole ship was searching for you. The only way I could think of to save you at the time was to 'belittle' you, reduce your value, make them ignore you, and ignore you because I 'despised' you. Anyway... we were going to get married sooner or later."

"Back then, I didn't trust anyone except my dad. Including my mom, my sister, and even my grandma. I felt that everyone could be turned, so I didn't dare to say a word."

"...I was completely out of my mind."

"I've never lost so thoroughly before. Everything was going so smoothly for me, how did I end up capsizing in the gutter? And the one who got hurt... was you."

"After returning home, because I couldn't find out what the problem was, I didn't dare leave you outside, let you marry me... and I didn't dare treat you well either."

"The operation failed, and I was placed under investigation for six months before being dismissed from my post."

"I was devastated during that time. The saying 'early success is easy to fail' is so true. My world, which I had always been proud of, collapsed."

He closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and raised his head again.

"But I didn't let myself wallow in it for too long, because I didn't have time. I still had to find the person who wanted to harm you. I started my own investigation. There was resentment involved, but even more so... responsibility and love."

"Later, it was discovered that your home and company were full of their informants. The good news is that they weren't the ones who betrayed you. But because of them, I have to keep being cold to you."

"The investigation was dragging on for so long that I took a desperate gamble and planned the 'trap' operation with Xie Jinxing. I wanted to end it quickly, but I never expected... it would hurt you even more."

Another long silence followed.

He took a deep breath, his voice strained to maintain its calm:

"I was wrong."

"I thought love meant one person bearing all the darkness while leaving the other in the light."

"But I am not a god."

"I cannot be infallible, nor can I never make a mistake."

What I thought was for your own good sometimes turned out to be a knife that stabbed you.

Jiang Yin's chest heaved violently. These words pierced the core of the vague anger in her heart, and tears streamed down her face.

Qin Heming turned to look at Jiang Yin: "After experiencing so much, I finally understand—"

"Love is entrusting the risks, choices, and even death to the other person and sharing the burden together."

"I'm changing too. For example, during this warehouse standoff, when Yu Maolin drew his gun, in the past, even if the gun wasn't pointed at you, I would have pushed you away first. But this time, I didn't move. I trust you, I trust my Yinyin, that she can protect me."

"I've always thought of you as a child who needs protection. I thought that as long as you stayed there, I would come back to you after I had dealt with the bad guys."

"Actually, my Yinyin has grown up a long time ago. She's very outstanding, a... commander in the hacker circle."

Jiang Yin raised her hand to wipe away the tears on her face and asked in a hoarse voice, "How did you know?"

"Because I'm a lone wolf, Commander." Qin Heming pulled a few tissues from the bedside table and handed them to her.

"Lone Wolf? You were clearly with..." Jiang Yin frowned.

Qin Heming sighed:

"I knew you'd misunderstand. If you had waited just two more seconds that day, you would have seen Huang Wei."

"My stomach ailment flared up, so I asked him to pick me up. He's Lin Xiyue's lackey; he reports everything I do to her. How could she not come such a good opportunity to flatter me?"

"Is Huang Wei also one of Yu Maolin's men?" Jiang Yin's eyes narrowed.

"No," Qin Heming shook his head. "He's just a sycophantic flatterer, bribed by Lin Xiyue to keep an eye on my every move. So I have to be careful whenever he's around. He knows Lin Xiyue has been arrested and has already resigned. However, I've also used him to spread some false information."

Then, both of them fell silent, and only the faint hum of the bedside lamp filled the room.

"Also," Qin Heming said, remembering something, looking at Jiang Yin, "my mother... asked me to apologize to you on her behalf. It's all my fault, and she didn't know anything about it."

"Isn't your sister the one who should apologize more?" Jiang Yin said coldly.

Qin Heming's face darkened:

"She's more than just sorry. If she wakes up and hires someone to hurt people, I'll personally send her to jail."

"What? You woke up?" Jiang Yin asked, puzzled.

"She bullied her classmate and was killed in retaliation. She has been in a coma in a foreign hospital for two months and may become a vegetable."

At this moment, Qin Se stirred in her sleep.

The two of them fell silent at the same time.

Qin Heming gently patted his son with his other hand.

Qin Se fell into a deep sleep again.

Qin Heming turned his head, his gaze falling on Jiang Yin's face, his eyes revealing an undisguised softness and earnestness beneath all hardness:

"So, Yinyin... can you spare me?"

If this happened when we were kids, and one of us said something like that, it was basically the prelude to making up.