Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“What’s going on?”
The nurse on the ambulance quietly asked, “Doctor? Do we need to give her a complete body check?”
“Take her to the hospital first. We can decide once she wakes up.” The doctor couldn’t make up his mind either since it involved the patient’s privacy. Plus, the patient collapsing had nothing to do with the injuries on her body. It was due to a lack of oxygen.
The doctor was stone-faced as he put an oxygen mask on Gu Yanran’s face.
The ambulance siren screamed the entire way to the hospital.
Gu Yanran woke up as soon as she arrived in the emergency room but was very weak. All she did was cry. She refused to speak or allow others to touch her.
The doctor and nurse saw that her mood was unstable. Since her body had injuries, they had no choice but to allow her to be hospitalized for further observation.
Gu Yanran called her housekeeper, Mrs. James, who immediately brought over necessities.
Mrs. James upgraded Gu Yanran to a deluxe private ward and asked for the best doctor and nurse to treat her.
The doctor saw that her mood had stabilized, so he delicately asked, “Miss Gu, we are worried that the injuries on your body are related to you suddenly passing out. Do you need us to examine them for you?”
Gu Nianzhi shook her head frantically. “No! I don’t need them examined! I’m fine. I’ll be OK as long as I can stay here for a few days.”
“Well, OK. If you need it, we can…” Before the doctor finished speaking, he discovered that Gu Yanran had fainted again.
This time, she was being guarded by her housekeeper. Mrs. James could help Gu Yanran make decisions, so she signed a consent form allowing the doctor to conduct a physical examination.
The results angered the doctor and nurse. “Miss Gu had been abused by someone. Mrs. James, do you know who did this?” the doctor asked with righteous indignation. “Who would be so sick and twisted?”
Mrs. James instantly thought of Ye Xuan, who often stayed overnight at Gu Yanran’s. She also knew Ye Xuan had a peculiar relationship with Gu Yanran. Even though they seemed to have fallen out because Gu Yanran had sex with another man, who knew what the young couple was thinking about. What if they were only play fighting?
She cautiously delicately, “That is my mistress’ personal matter. I need to ask my mistress before I can answer you.”
She spoke with an English accent. It was refined yet arrogant while remaining perfectly polite.
The doctor understood English, so he didn’t say anything. However, when he came out of Gu Yanran’s private room, he called the police as per regulations.
According to Huaxia Imperial laws, doctors in hospitals had the responsibility to call the police when they discovered gunshot wounds, stab wounds, or situations of women and children being injured.
In the afternoon, the police station sent out two female police officers to the hospital to investigate Gu Yanran’s injuries.
Gu Yanran instantly became vigilant when she heard the police were there.
She bundled herself up tightly as she sat on the hospital bed and vehemently denied she was being abused or subjected to domestic violence. She only said, “It’s nothing. I was just careless. The skin on my body is too delicate. It bruises with even the slightest bump, so no one hurt me. Please don’t bother me. I’m recovering now.”
The two female police officers were well-tempered since they had seen many victims of domestic violence.
Such women were typically timid. They never said a thing, even if they suffered long-term domestic abuse from a man. They also never called the police to protect their rights.
As a result, the female police officers were patient. They stayed at the hospital to speak with Gu Yanran and took care of her in an attempt to dispel her worries and have her cooperate with their investigation.
Gu Yanran kept a tight lip and refused to say who had injured her. She kept insisting that she did it to herself.
When the two female police officers left in the evening, Mrs. James asked Gu Yanran with concern, “Miss Gu, why are you concealing this for him?”
“Him? Who are you talking about?” Gu Yanran frowned. From the corner of her eye, she saw the door was opened a crack. There seemed to be someone standing in front of the room.
“Ye Xuan, of course. Is he still fighting with you because of your incident with someone else? Actually, I’d have to say that neither of you are married, so you are both free to make your own choices. What right does he have to demand your loyalty? Does he even deserve it?” Mrs. James’s attitude became very contemptuous when she mentioned Ye Xuan.
She looked down on Ye Xuan. She thought he was like a prostitute and merely Gu Yanran’s pet boy.
Yet Gu Yanran shook her head and suddenly remarked, “Don’t say that. He… I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have wanted to break up with him…” As she spoke, she began to cry again.
That night, Gu Yanran bruised her entire body again and added new injuries on top of the previous injuries.
When the doctor came to make his rounds the next day, his face fell when he saw new injuries even before the old ones healed. “What on earth is going on?”
Gu Yanran laughed good-naturedly, yet tears still fell. “I already said it. I hurt myself accidentally. There was no one else. I don’t blame anyone.”
The doctor instantly understood what she was implying and couldn’t help but feel bad for her. “Miss Gu, is that bastard even worthy of your protection?”
She even went to the extent of harming herself to mask the old injuries!
Gu Yanran didn’t speak again. Biting her lip, she turned away and wiped the tears with the back of her hand.
When the two female police officers arrived, they learned what Gu Yanran had done from the doctor. They thought it was a shame and said, “That’s horrible. The forensic doctor won’t be able to perform finger marking analysis on the injuries because of what she did. Now, there are only her finger markings on the new injuries, so it will make it difficult for us to file charges on the actual person who hurt her.”
Forensic doctors were responsible for inspecting injuries. It required special equipment and techniques. Regular doctors could only assess the extent of an injury but could not evaluate it.
When Gu Yanran learned the forensic doctor was unable to evaluate the old injuries, she appeared greatly relieved. She said to the two female police officers, “Thank you for helping me, madams. I’ll remember your kindness in my heart.”
The two female police officers shared a glance and shook their heads in unison.
Gu Yanran had clearly been abused and suffered domestic violence, yet she did everything to protect that man.
That man was clearly a cold-blooded monster!
Gu Yanran had been in the hospital for several days, but he hadn’t even come to visit her once!
It didn’t matter if someone was rich or poor. As long as they were weak, they would get bullied.
It was this type of weak woman that allowed those bastard men to become more and more fearless.
Since they couldn’t obtain any evidence and Gu Yanran refused to make accusations, the police officers had no choice but to write their reports and have her sign it before they left.
Gu Yanran was quickly discharged from the hospital and returned to recover in her Xiangshan villa.
She refused to return to the apartment on the Third Ring Road. She ordered someone to put the unit for sale.
…
Ye Xuan had been feeling uneasy ever since he learned that Gu Xiangwen’s family lawyer lived in Little Rock, Utah. He wanted to meet him in person.
He wasn’t certain if it was Gu Xiangwen’s lawyer or if Gu Yanran was lying to him.
Ye Xuan carefully studied the Gu assets inventory Gu Yanran had thrown down in his office. He discovered that it only comprised one-third of the total assets he was aware of.
There were still two-thirds, so where did they go?
The more Ye Xuan thought about it, the more it didn’t seem right.
Since he was also busy with his own company, he couldn’t pick up and go.
As a result, he left it for a few days and took the time to properly arrange things at work. Just before he got on the plane, he called Gu Nianzhi and said, “I’m going to the United States to see someone. Wait for my news.”
If this lawyer was Gu Xiangwen’s family lawyer, then Ye Xuan was sure that he had Gu Xiangwen’s will.
As long as there was a will, Gu Nianzhi’s problem would naturally be resolved.
It would be impossible for Gu Yanran to worm out of it, even if she wanted to.
When Gu Nianzhi received Ye Xuan’s call, she happened to be writing a paper in the library.
She walked out to the hallway outside to take the call and asked with great concern, “Who are you going to see in the United States?”
“I can’t tell you for now. I’m not even sure if it’s true or not.” Ye Xuan was hesitant. He didn’t want to say too much and cause Gu Nainzhi to feel even greater distaste toward Gu Yanran.
These two were sisters after all. Although they weren’t biological sisters, they were still family.
Gu Nianzhi was annoyed by Ye Xuan’s reluctance to speak, so her tone also became icy as she said, “OK then, be safe. I’m hanging up now.”
She ended the call and continued to write her paper.
Ye Xuan put his phone away. Looking around, he noticed that the several people who had been following him for a few days seemed to have disappeared.
He snorted and walked up the VIP ramp to board the plane. He was silent the entire way. He arrived in Little Rock, Utah, all alone.
…
In the Imperial Capital Special Operations Forces base, Bai Yueran came to Huo Shaoheng’s office and placed several civilian complaints. “Huo Shao, please ask our personnel to curb themselves. This is domestic, not abroad. They can’t use the methods for dealing with foreigners on our civilians.”
Tracking, monitoring, secret recordings… These methods were completely fine if they were used abroad to serve national interests. When it was domestic… If civilians were to discover it, it would spell big trouble.
According to the legislature, the scope of operations for the Special Operations Forces was abroad. They could not take action domestically.
Huo Shaoheng had taken advantage of the opportunity he came across when went to New York last time. He encountered danger and caught the traitor. By using soft and hard methods, he forced the Senate to pass new legislation allowing the Special Operations to act with convenience domestically once they obtained approval from the Supreme Military Council and special committee within the Senate.
This “convenience” required different levels of authorization. When it was said and done, the possibility of keeping things confidential was greatly reduced.
As a result, Huo Shaoheng typically didn’t take action domestically because it was way too easy to leak intelligence.
To allow Gu Nianzhi and Gu Yanran’s estate feud to proceed smoothly, he made an exception by using Gu Xiangwen’s assets, which implicated a great number of national interests, as a reason to request a special permit from the Senate and Supreme Military Council to conduct surveillance on Gu Yanran.
Gu Yanran seemed to be a lot more formidable this time around. First, she fell out with Ye Xuan and lured him away. She also somehow discovered people were tracking her for some unknown reason. She even took the time to file a complaint about the Special Operations Forces to the Senate and implied that Huo Shaoheng was “abusing public power for personal gains” by using the power he possessed to help Gu Nianzhi in the estate feud.
Gu Yanran had submitted the complaint report Bai Yueran was holding.
Gu Yanran was burning all bridges with Gu Nianzhi anyway, so she wasn’t worried about crossing her or crossing Huo Shaoheng.
Even though she knew Gu Nianzhi had already broken up with Huo Shaoheng, she still followed that person’s suggestion and filed the complaint. It would still cause Huo Shaoheng to have more hesitance, just in case he still had feelings for Gu Nianzhi and was secretly helping her out.
Huo Shaoheng flipped open the complaint report in front of him and glanced at it. His eyes flashed briefly as he said, “This is a complaint mentioning names, but Gu Yanran isn’t a Huaxia civilian. It’s not illegal even if we monitor her, right?”
Bai Yueran smiled with a nod. “I also told the personnel from the Secret Service that, but they still insisted this was domestic. Speaking in terms of regions, we cannot overstep our authority. Even if we need to monitor Gu Yanran, the Secret service should be the one doing it.”
“I already received approval from the Senate. They can go find Speaker Long if they have issues with it.” Huo Shaoheng finished speaking and pushed the several complaint reports back to Bai Yueran. “I’ll have to trouble Director Bai for the remaining matters.”
“OK, I guess I know why our people are so domineering now. It’s because ‘what the superior loves, the inferior will love exceedingly.’” Bai Yueran took back the reports with a smile. “Since Huo Shao is so domineering, I won’t let you down. Allow me to respond to their inquiries with dominance!”
“However,” Bai Yueran suddenly changed the topic, “Huo Shao, it’s best that you withdraw personal surveillance on Gu Yanran.”
“Why is that?” Huo Shaoheng didn’t even look up since he didn’t want to continue this topic.
“I’m speaking about this topic with you, as a lawyer.” Bai Yueran’s expression suddenly grew stern. “It’s one thing if your surveillance hadn’t been discovered by her. Now that she’s already discovered it, Gu Yanran will probably use this to make a big deal out of it when she goes to court. She will claim much of the evidence was illegally obtained and cannot be used by the court. That will create an extremely negative impact on Gu Nianzhi’s estate feud.”
