Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jin Wanyi didn’t hide her feelings at all. Even Ma Qiqi, who was quite brave, was aware that something was wrong. She turned her head and her eyebrows creased. Yin Shixiong could only sneer and nodded as he greeted Jin Wanyi. “It’s Attorney Jin. Are you here to celebrate Miss Tan’s birthday?”
Isn’t that obvious? Today is Tan Guiren’s birthday banquet.
Jin Wanyi really wanted to glare, but when she caught a glimpse of Yin Shixiong constantly looking at a bright and bubbly young girl next to him, she didn’t feel comfortable. It was if the napa cabbage that she’d had her eyes on was about to be dug up by a pig…
However, before she could say anything, Yin Shixiong had already grabbed Ma Qiqi’s hand and said, “Qiqi, this is Attorney Jin. This is the lead lawyer from the group of lawyers that Prime Minister Tan hired.” To Jin Wanyi he said, “This is Qiqi.”
By the introduction alone, one could immediately see who he was close to.
Ma Qiqi immediately became happy as she looked Jin Wanyi up and down. She smiled as she said, “Attorney Jin, you look prettier in person than you did on T.V.”
“Yes, you could learn from her. Attorney Jin is your senior.” Yin Shixiong smiled as he squeezed Ma Qiqi’s hand and said to Jin Wanyi, “Attorney Jin, we will let you get back to what you were doing. We won’t bother you anymore.” He said that as he pulled Ma Qiqi toward the buffet table.
Jin Wanyi looked on awkwardly as she watched them leave. She quickly glanced around. Thankfully, everyone’s eyes were on the pictures of lilies on the wall. No one was paying any attention to where she was.
…
As He Zhichu finished saying “flower protector,” Huo Shaoheng looked at Gu Nianzhi’s face without batting an eye. It was too bad that Gu Nianzhi’s Buddhist monk-like attributes had increased quite a bit. He already had a difficult time identifying any happiness, anger, sadness, or joy from her expressions. Maybe she just knew how to hide them better. The light in Huo Shaoheng’s eyes was deep as he wondered if he was having too much of a laisse-fair attitude toward her. Would the knot in her heart be even tighter from now on if he let her be willful like that? Would it become an excuse she used to turn him down and to exclude him?
He Zhichu had always treated the things that Huo Shaoheng said with contempt. He laughed coldly and was about to argue with her when a staff member from the Prime Minister’s Residence rushed over to him and asked, “Mr. He? Your car… it spontaneously combusted in the parking lot. There’s only a pile of ash left.”
He Zhichu turned his head toward Gu Nianzhi and said, “I need to go out and take a look. You wait here for me.”
Gu Nianzhi nodded obediently. He Zhichu looked at Huo Shaoheng again with an “unfair fight” expression. His glittering peach blossom eyes twinkled and carried a hint of a smile in them. He turned and quickly walked away.
After He Zhichu left, Gu Nianzhi also wanted to leave. Although Huo Shaoheng was not looking at her, he was able to accurately grab her arm when he stretched out his hand. He slowly asked, “Nianzhi, do you still remember what you promised me?”
Gu Nianzhi was stunned. She really wanted to brush away Huo Shaoheng’s hand that was grabbing her arm in such an unrestrained manner. She never imagined that she wouldn’t be able to free herself even after pulling away several times. She couldn’t help but lower her voice to whisper, “Let me go.”
“Forgetting everything you promised me? Your memory is getting worse. Say, how should you be punished?” Huo Shaoheng grabbed her arm more tightly and didn’t let go.
He bent his wrist a bit and leaned closer to her ear. She could feel him breathing. Her face suddenly started to burn up.
He lowered his voice even to say, “Mrs. Huo? Mrs. Huo?”
When Gu Nianzhi heard that, her snow-white face became as red as if she had applied a layer of blush.
“You said that you wouldn’t make it public! You said that if I didn’t agree that no one else would know about it! Huo Shaoheng, you are going back on your word!”
Gu Nianzhi was really worried. That one name spoken by Huo Shaoheng, “Mrs. Huo? Mrs. Huo?” made her felt shameful and bashful, but she didn’t dare yell. She lowered her voice until it was extremely quiet. The sound was a bit hoarse as it came from her throat. It unintentionally revealed a kind of natural charm that she didn’t know she had.
When she was worried she became stronger. If she wanted to struggle free with that energy, Huo Shaoheng could still control her. She was also a bit worried that she would be reckless and break her arm… Huo Shaoheng could only move his other hand around her to grasp her waist. Only by using a bit of arm strength and imprisoning practically her whole body against his chest did it make her unable to move.
In other people’s eyes, they were a beautiful couple snuggling close to each other under the wall of lilies. On a scale of attractiveness, this pair was on the higher end. Everyone’s eyes were attracted to them. They practically forgot all about who the birthday girl was, even with her picture hanging on the wall. Gradually, more and more people appeared in the hall. Their curious eyes were like searchlights. They could see the couple very clearly. Gu Nianzhi felt so embarrassed that she could not lift her head.
There was no helping it. Fortunately, she remembered that Huo Shaoheng was still a person who was opened to persuasion. She had no choice but to entreat him with soft words. “Huo Shao, don’t be like that. I still have to be an upright person… Did you forget what you promised me?”
“I didn’t forget, but you did. That’s why I could only forget it, too.” Huo Shaoheng looked down at Gu Nianzhi who had suddenly become agreeable as she leaned into his chest. He had an indifferent expression on his face. It was as if he didn’t feel like he was being a presumptuous guest trying to usurp the role of the host.
Gu Nianzhi sighed. “Let go, Huo Shao. Let’s talk about it.”
“…Yes, what did you promise me before?”
Gu Nianzhi didn’t answer.
“Can’t say it? You promised me that you would give me another chance.” Huo Shaoheng accidentally said this, although his expression was still calm and composed.
Gu Nianzhi furrowed her brows. “I gave it to you… what are you still not satisfied with?”
“Gave it? Not picking up my calls, not getting into my car, and when you see me you act like I’m not there. You call that giving me a second chance?” Huo Shaoheng loosened his grasp and took a step back. He had a grave and stern expression as he said, “You are not allow to not pick up my calls from now on.”
Gu Nianzhi was flabbergasted. But because of the big crowd in the hall, she had to take Huo Shaoheng’s public image into consideration. Therefore, she nodded her head in an agreeable manner. “I will pick up. I will pick up. Not picking up the senior officer’s call would be a death wish.”
Huo Shaoheng wanted to say a few more things, but his Bluetooth headset had started giving him information from the agent hed planted in the area. The agent was saying that He Zhichu’s car had suddenly self-destructed, but they couldn’t find any clue as to the identity of the person who had destroyed it. Furthermore, this situation was almost exactly like seven years ago when the car Gu Nianzhi was riding in had suddenly self-destructed.
Huo Shaoheng’s heart tightened. He looked at Gu Nianzhi and said, “Go home with me to the new home after the night is over.”
He said that with a solemn expression. He turned and walked away with long strides. Gu Nianzhi looked at Huo Shaoheng’s back. Her heart was roaring with rage.
That’s my home. My second-hand home! Don’t use the phrase “new home.” There are many ways to interpret those words.
But at any rate, the two left. Gu Nianzhi was finally able to breathe. She raised her head again and looked up and down at the gigantic picture of Tan Guiren. She didn’t know why, but she felt like there was something familiar in that picture of Tan Guiren. What was it? Her eyes were hesitant to move as they looked at the picture. In the end, her eyes stopped at the pink diamond crown on Tan Guiren’s head.
Yes, looking at everything in the picture again, the only thing that attracted her attention was the pink diamond crown. Pink diamonds were first-class items in the world of diamonds because natural pink diamond production was very rare. Scarcity increased their value. Naturally, in the world of diamonds, pink diamonds were the most expensive. But the strange thing was, she was not a person that even liked jewelry.
So why was it that she felt a piercing pain in her heart the moment she saw Tan Guiren’s pink diamond crown? Gu Nianzhi patted her chest. She felt her heart beating vigorously. It was beating more intensely than usual. The more she looked at the picture of Tan Guiren wearing the pink diamond crown, the more familiar it looked to her.
She took out her cellphone and aimed it at the pink diamonds in the picture. She took a high-resolution picture. Then she walked over to a sofa in a plant-filled corner of the room and sat down. She started to use the software on her phone and to cut, edit, and mix the colors. Only after the picture had been adjusted and made extremely clear did she upload it to a search engine that specialized in searching for objects in pictures. The search was quick and convenient.
She didn’t know if it was because pink diamond jewelry were so rare, but there were no results the first time Gu Nianzhi searched for the picture. That was very unusual. Gu Nianzhi felt that, with Tan Guiren’s family status, there was no way she would wear a fake pink diamond crown. That was why she assumed that the pink diamonds were real.
In the delicate pink diamond crown, the main diamond was a heart-shaped bright pink gem that was practically as big as a mah-jong tile. A diamond with such a pure color, no blemishes, thick, and full of natural pink could not have been an unknown.
But why couldn’t it be found on the internet? Gu Nianzhi immediately thought that it might be because of two reasons. One was that the pink diamond crown had always been someone’s family heirloom and had never been worn publicly before. Maybe, Tan Guiren wearing it was the first time it had been displayed publicly, just like that stolen diamond crown.The second reason was that her family had it custom made. Things that were custom-made were usually kept very private. It could also explain why it couldn’t be found on the internet when searched randomly.
If it was custom-made by someone, such a big pink diamond must have needed to be auctioned. Most jewelers would not sell such a big pink diamond alone. The moment Gu Nianzhi realized this, she changed the operations of her search. She went on Blue Planet’s top ten auction websites and searched. For safety reasons, many auction websites blocked results for outside searches that were random. If one wanted to search for something, one would need to go directly to the website and search there. Gu Nianzhi searched like that. She actually found that pink diamond crown on the website of Christie’s Auctions.
The pink diamond crown originally belonged to the czarina, the Russian Empire’s Catherine the Great. It was given to her as a betrothal gift from her mother-in-law, Elizabeth. According to legend, pink diamonds had powers over love. Lovers that owned pink diamonds would be happy and sweet together as long as they lived. Furthermore, that pink diamond crown had been auctioned for an astronomical price of 70 million dollars eighteen years ago at Christie’s Auction House. It was purchased by an anonymous buyer. 70 million dollars 18 years ago had inflated far beyond 70 million dollars in today’s money.
Gu Nianzhi looked at the date of the auction sale of the pink diamond crown on the Christie’s Auction House website. Her plump water-chestnut lips firmly pressed together. The date of the auction sale happened to be her on birthday. 18 years ago, on that day, she had just turned two.
