Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The last time she crossed paths with Jin Wanyi, Xu Piaohong was still trying to get between her and Huo Shaoheng. How arrogant and possessive over Huo Shaoheng had Gu Nianzhi been back then—and even though she chased away Dou Qingyan and Xu Piaohong one after another, it ended up being futile. She even broke up with Huo Shaoheng. Gu Nianzhi didn’t really care about the marriage certificate at all. To her, it was just a piece of paper that could be invalidated anytime. After being lost in her thoughts for a while, she sighed and easily forwarded the video to Yin Shixiong.
In less than a minute, Yin Shixiong replied to her text, “?” He didn’t say anything else.
Gu Nianzhi nodded with a smile as she typed two words, “Jin Wanyi.”
Yin Shixiong replied, “??”
So is he still not remembering, or is he playing dumb? Gu Nianzhi pouted as she sent, “haha” back before ignoring Yin Shixiong.
Yin Shixiong was very uncomfortable to see Gu Nianzhi’s text of “haha.” He looked at Jin Wanyi in the video on his phone, then thought about Gu Nianzhi’s attitude. He couldn’t help but think that if it had been Qiqi, would she also mince her words and keep half the truth from him? But when he recalled Ma Qiqi, he suddenly understood why Gu Nianzhi was laughing. Crap, could this girl think there was something between me and Jin Wanyi? If she told the whole thing to Ma Qiqi, how would he even begin to explain it? After some contemplation, Yin Shixiong sighed deeply and surrendered to Gu Nianzhi. He sent her another text. “Little princess, I admit it was my fault.”
Seeing his reply, Gu Nianzhi smirked and sent back, “The most important lesson is admitting and learning from a fault.” The matter was considered closed. Yin Shixiong and Jin Wanyi probably never really got anywhere. Otherwise, he wouldn’t say that. There was always an ambiguity between adult men and women. How else could their relationship develop without some initial ambiguity? Love at first sight was too rare of an occurrence, so why couldn’t people give each other a chance? It was fine as long as they didn’t cross the line.
…
Because of Gu Nianzhi’s video, Yin Shixiong also began to pay close attention to the progress with the Procuratorate. He reported to Huo Shaoheng, “Chief, the Tan’s have sent a lawyer to the Procuratorate to demand release.”
Huo Shaoheng didn’t even look up as he replied, “If the Procuratorate hasn’t even completed the process within one night’s time, then I think we need a new Prosecutor General.”
Yin Shixiong stiffened. “Oh? You knew that already?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I know?” Huo Shaoheng looked up from the computer and asked calmly, “Why are you paying attention to the Tan’s lawyer? Because it’s Jin Wanyi?”
Yin Shixiong nearly kneeled. Who said Chief and Nianzhi weren’t a couple?! Come out here! I’ll beat you up! They are both noticing the same key point! “Of course not.” Yin Shixiong scratched his head. “But why do you all assume I would pay attention to Jin Wanyi?”
“You don’t know?” Huo Shaoheng reprimanded him coldly. “If you don’t know, then it looks like the Special Operations Forces is not training personnel properly.”
Yin Shixiong finally quickly straightened his posture and called out, “Reporting to Chief, I admit fault!”
“The most important lesson is admitting and learning from a fault. You are dismissed.” Huo Shaoheng waved at him and asked him to leave.
Yin Shixiong recalled Gu Nianzhi’s text as soon as he heard the words. He nearly kneeled once again and wanted very badly to ask, “Chief, are you monitoring my phone?!” Of course, he would never ask that, even if he had all the courage in the world. Sheepishly leaving Huo Shaoheng’s office, Yin Shixiong didn’t even dare to look up.
Huo Shaoheng looked at his door as he shook his head. What did the Special Ops do? It was the intelligence work of monitoring people daily, and Yin Shixiong actually told Huo Shaoheng he couldn’t tell what the woman admiring him meant? What a joke…
…
Yin Shixiong sat back down in his office, his back already soaked with cold sweat. He could swear that he didn’t have any feelings for Jin Wanyi, but he was very certain about whether she had feelings for him. However, he hadn’t explicitly rejected her before, and that was mainly because he didn’t feel any resentment towards her. As a result, he would go out with her once every three times she asked. Watching movies, browsing bookstores, playing a game, going on a hike…
So without me noticing it, many people assumed we were a couple? Yin Shixiong felt a bit wronged by this thought. They were only hanging out as a normal man and a woman, and Jin Wanyi never said anything about liking him. What could he do? Tell her to not like him? Would Jin Wanyi not look at him like he was dumb and shoot back, “Since when did you ever hear me say I liked you?”
If it was in the past, Yin Shixiong would have argued back confidently, “So what? Why can’t I pay attention to Jin Wanyi?” But now he didn’t have that boldness anymore. Why not? There seemed to be a lingering concern in his heart. He instinctively felt that being ambiguous with another woman would be wronging another person.
Yin Shixiong’s stomach was tied up in a hundred anxious knots as he sat in the chair. He turned on the wall-mounted TV in the office and continued to watch the live broadcast of the Procuratorate’s entrance. By now, Jin Wanyi had already led her legal team inside, so they must be negotiating with the Procuratorate.
On TV, the live broadcast anchors watched all the lawyers go in, so they invited all sorts of legal experts to start discussing the case. The legal experts all focused on whether the Procuratorate had the power to circumvent the courts and directly make arrests, and if Cai Songyin had immunity as the First Lady. They began intense discussions, and because Yin Shixiong wasn’t a legal expert, he wasn’t interested. Instead, he used his phone to record part of the legal experts’ discussion and sent it to Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi just finished classes and was packing up her laptop. Seeing Yin Shixiong send her a video, Gu Nianzhi smirked. These legal experts were lying right through their teeth. It wasn’t because they were incompentent or lacked professional expertise, but because they had relationships of interest and decided to take sides. Rightfully speaking, these were experts who were all well known scholars from universities and had their houses filled with legal literature. How could they spout nonsense even a law student like her would disagree with? Putting all other reasons aside, they must’ve been paid off by the Tan’s to deliberately divert attention and clear criminal suspicion from Cai Songyin’s name.
Speaking of that, could there not be fair legal experts? They existed, of course, but weren’t invited on TV. The ones invited were clearly siding with Cai Songyin and also touted Prime Minister Tan’s family. Carefully thinking about it, there must be many people supporting Tan Dongbang if he could become the Prime Minister, so how could he be so easily toppled as soon as he got into office? There must a series of battles. Gu Nianzhi thought out the cause and effect, so she had already calmed down.
Also, why the hell were these people discussing if the First Lady had immunity? She’d only heard of diplomats in foreign countries possessing diplomatic immunity, as well as the US President being able to grant immunity when he left office. She’d never heard of any high-ranking Hua Xia bureaucrats having any immunity. Were they trying to create a precedent so it’d be easy to follow as a basis in the future? Shaking her head, Gu Nianzhi shut off her phone and went to the cafeteria for dinner. After having dinner, she went back to the dorm and felt somewhat tired, so she didn’t plan to go study. She stayed in her dorm to review her homework and assignments.
Ma Qiqi went out to study at night and didn’t come back until 10pm. She shouted as soon as she came back and saw Gu Nianzhi, “Nianzhi! Nianzhi! Are you in your room?”
Gu Nianzhi poked her head out of her room and asked quizzically, “Yes, what is it?”
“Did you watch TV? There was a discussion about Cai Songyin’s case just now. Did you know about it? The lawyers the Tan’s hired have already gotten Cai Songyin released from the Procuratorate!” Ma Qiqi brandished her fists angrily. “What do you think? How could they do that?”
“They’re still discussing it?” Gu Nianzhi was shocked. They had already discussed it all day and didn’t stop even now?
“Yeah, these people are ridiculous.” Ma Qiqi dragged Gu Nianzhi out to the living room to watch TV. “See, look at this fat legal expert. I remember him. He’s the head of the Z University Law Department. He’s always been at odds with our school and resented that their department ranked below ours. This is their chance for exposure!”
Gu Nianzhi finally took the time to carefully look at the “legal expert” helping the Tan’s wash off criminal suspicion. She was grateful to find that none of the legal experts lying on TV graduated from the B University Law Department. From the looks of it, the B University Law Department was the very elite, and that seemed to make sense. “Our school’s professors and alumni don’t want to get involved in this mess,” Gu Nianzhi said thoughtfully.
Ma Qiqi put her hands on her hips and said sternly to the TV, “No, maybe they’re quietly watching these people pretend to be experts.”
Gu Nianzhi snickered. “Well said. But I don’t want to watch them pretend to be experts anymore. How about we expose them?”
“Expose them? You want to start something again?!” Ma Qiqi got excited. “Hurry up!”
“It’s not that I want to start something again.” Gu Nianzhi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she stood stood up. “These people are taking this too far and treating the audience like idiots.” Gu Nianzhi walked into her room and tested a few apps already installed on her phone. These apps could help her make internet phone calls and also hide her true IP. In order to confuse the enemy, Gu Nianzhi planned to use the fixed IP at 32 Willow Hutong to disguise herself. If the enemy had a skilled computer expert, they would only be able to trace the fixed IP to 32 Willow Hutong, which was the Prime Minister’s official residence. Hehe, keep on tracing…
…
Coming out of her room, Gu Nianzhi passed her phone to Qiqi. “Here, Qiqi. Let’s expose these kids in the emperor’s new clothes! God will give blessings for your success!” She winked at her as she showed her a passage she typed on her laptop.
Ma Qiqi understood what she meant and was able to grasp the key point after a little thought. The TV stations typically had segments for audiences to call in during these political programs so they could discuss with the experts and hosts. Ma Qiqi took the opportunity to call in. The microphone on Gu Nianzhi’s phone had a voice changer on it. When Ma Qiqi called in, she sounded like a young man. She said to the host and legal experts in attendance, “I’m a normal viewer, and I’m very disappointed in your program and the experts. Firstly, the Procuratorate didn’t arrest anyone, they only invited Cai Songyin in to assist with investigations. I want to ask the intentions behind your program and legal experts twisting the normal operational procedure into making arrests. Also, our nation has never had the precedent of immunity. The head of the Z University Law Department is a proponent for legal justice yet blatantly said such things about the elites abusing power and bullying others. Doesn’t your conscience hurt?!”
Gu Nianzhi knew Ma Qiqi’s call would be cut off by the TV station without question, so she directly recorded a short video and uploaded it on her secondary account. She wasn’t wrong. There was a high level of attention on Cai Songyin’s case. The TV station didn’t expect that many people would hear Ma Qiqi’s call, even though it had been deleted. Also, Gu Nianzhi had uploaded the video in real time on Weibo, so it quickly went viral. As a result, the head of the Z University’s Law Department became a meme: a huge, fat face with the words, “Doesn’t your conscience hurt?” written on the top of it. On the bottom it read, “This was the time his conscience was blasted the hardest.”
