Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Huo Shaoheng heard that it was Gu Nianzhi’s graduation celebration and paused. He glanced at his watch to see it was already 1 P.M.
“Where are you guys?” Huo Shaoheng began to pack up in preparation to leave.
He had intentionally blocked off the latter half of the day because he wanted to celebrate Gu Nianzhi’s completion of her graduation thesis defense.
But Gu Nianzhi hadn’t called him after she completed her thesis defense.
As Huo Shaoheng walked outside, he used his Bluetooth headset to call Gu Nianzhi’s number.
“Offerings, alter, bow and arrow of war. Whose past did they belong to? I love the image of how you only belong to me amidst the crowd…”
Gu Nianzhi’s phone began to ring.
This was Huo Shaoheng’s special ringtone.
She instinctively unlocked her phone to accept the call, then said to the people in the private room, “I’m going out to take a call.”
She rushed outside and stood in the hallway to quietly answer, “Huo Shao?”
“…Is the thesis defense over?”
“Yeah, Huo Shao. I…”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Huo Shaoheng asked unhappily. “You promised me.”
Awkwardly leaning against the wall, Gu Nianzhi looked at the bright blue passiflora decal on the opposite wall. She murmured, “…I, I asked Brother Xiong to help me call you.”
“Fine, I’ll let it go this time. Don’t do it again.” Huo Shaoheng walked out of the elevator and arrived at the underground parkade to pick up his car. “Okay, I’ll be there right away.”
Gu Nianzhi mustered her courage and said, “Huo Shao, Director Bai and her cousin are here. Professor He is here too. Today is only a graduation celebration so we won’t be talking about other things.”
Huo Shaoheng stopped in his tracks. Taking a cigarette out of his pocket, he finally said after a moment, “…Ok.ay”
Huo Shaoheng ended the call and opened the car door to climb inside. After inhaling from his cigarette, he threw the butt into a nearby garbage can before driving his car out of the parkade.
Gu Nianzhi squeezed her phone and stood alone in the hallway for a while before returning to the private room. He Zhichu offered her a glass of juice. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Gu Nianzhi put the phone back into her bag with a smile. She saw Bai Yueran walking over when she looked up.
“Nianzhi, thank you for treating us today. I still have work to do and need to leave early. Congratulations on graduating early, our genius girl.” Bai Yueran leaned over to hug her.
Gu Nianzhi hugged her back. “Thank you, Director Bai.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll bring a gift for you next time.” Bai Yueran patted her shoulder with a smile. “Let’s cooperate in the future if we get the opportunity to.”
“There is no need for Director Bai to be polite.” Gu Nianzhi quickly said, “If you need my help with anything, please don’t hesitate to let me know. There is no need to get me a gift.”
“How could that be right? We watched you grow up.” Bai Yueran gave her a cheerful wink, then waved to everyone else inside the private room. “You guys take your time, I have to go.”
Zhao Liangze followed her over. “Yueran, today is Saturday. Are you working overtime?”
Bai Yueran walked outside with him and adjusted her purse strap. She said quietly. “It’s Lunar New Year in one week and there are quite a few matters in the department to deal with. I haven’t finished assigning the schedule for shifts during the Lunar New Year. Also, the Special Operations Forces’ Legal Department had many of its personnel disciplined because of the incident in Germany, so we are understaffed. I’m currently hiring new staff.”
Zhao Liangze suddenly got an idea. He recalled what Bai Yueran had said to Gu Nianzhi and quickly asked, “You’re hiring? Can you consider Nianzhi? She graduated from a prestigious school and even graduated early. I heard from Professor He that her graduation thesis received the top grade in her class.”
Bai Yueran looked at him with a smile, her large eyes rolling for a second. “Since you and Big Xiong care about Nianzhi so much, aren’t you afraid that Huo Shao will get jealous?”
Zhao Liangze shrugged his shoulders. “Huo Shao isn’t that kind of person. Plus, he already broke up with Nianzhi. Big Xiong and I are just very worried about him as bystanders. I was thinking that if Nianzhi could come to our Special Operations Forces, maybe the two of them could turn things around.”
“They really broke up?” Bai Yueran frowned with surprise. “They haven’t reconciled after all this time?”
She thought that it was only a lover’s quarrel…
“Did you notice how for Nianzhi’s graduation celebration today, Big Xiong was the one to call Huo Shao and invite him.” Zhao Liangze shook his head, his expression very helpless. “Okay then, I was just saying that. Do you think there’s any chance?”
Actually, he had a personal reason for wanting Gu Nianzhi to join the Special Operations Forces.
Gu Nianzhi was considered his true disciple. If such a skilled computer and internet expert joined the Special Operations Forces, he could find a way to transfer her over to help him.
Although his current subordinates were all pretty good, Gu Nianzhi was different.
She was someone who could win three arguments with one statement. She was a genius with unusual ways of thinking.
Bai Yueran shook her head regretfully. She was very solemn. “I’m afraid that won’t work. You know that our Special Operations Forces are too strict with background checks. Anyone with even a slightly hazy background wouldn’t be able to join. As for Gu Nianzhi, her past is still unknown even to this day. She’s like a ticking time bomb and no one knows when it’ll explode. I can’t agree to this.”
Zhao Liangze knew it was very difficult, but that’s why he hoped to ask this of Bai Yueran as a favor.
It was only reasonable that Bai Yueran refused.
But Zhao Liangze was still a bit disappointed. Putting his hands in his trouser pockets, the expression on his handsome face turned a bit cold. He nodded to Bai Yueran. “I understand.”
Bai Yueran had never seen such a cold and aloof expression on Zhao Liangze’s face before. Although it was very mild, her heart still thumped. She realized that her refusal had hurt Zhao Liangze’s feelings.
Since the first time Zhao Liangze had laid eyes on her, his passion had never ebbed. He always looked at her with light in his eyes,
Bai Yueran averted her gaze, her heart filling with regret.
Opening the car door, she was about to sit inside when she suddenly turned around to call after Zhao Liangze. “…Little Ze?”
Zhao Liangze was just about to leave when he heard her calling him. He instinctively turned around. “Yeah? What is it?”
The weather was gloomy and snowflakes began to dance around them.
Zhao Liangze’s handsome and elegant face carried a different kind of allure under the layer of dancing snowflakes.
He had been pursuing Bai Yueran for over a year now and Bai Yueran had acted differently the entire time. She had neither accepted nor rejected him.
In Bai Yueran’s heart, she couldn’t exactly describe what kind of feeling she had for Zhao Liangze.
She didn’t dislike him. It could even be said that she liked him. However, she still thought that there was quite a bit of distance between what she felt and actual love.
But on that snowy Saturday afternoon in the parking lot, Zhao Liangze’s slightly distant expression was like an arrow piercing Bai Yueran directly in the heart.
Because of her guilt, she somehow felt a budding feeling of love for this man for the very first time.
“Little Ze,” she called after him again, letting go of the car door. Quickly taking a few steps forward, she stood before Zhao Liangze and suddenly reached out to embrace his neck.
Her slightly plump lips instantly pressed tightly against Zhao Liangze’s slightly thin, finely shaped lips.
Zhao Liangze’s mind suddenly buzzed. The love he had suppressed all this time was like a flood being held back by a dam. It fiercely poured out.
Tightly embracing Bai Yueran’s slim waist, he lowered his head to passionately kiss her back.
…
As Huo Shaoheng drove in, he saw a tall and good looking couple kissing in the snow.
The image was very beautiful, but he didn’t pay attention to them for the sake of respecting other peoples’ privacy.
But as he drove past them, he finally noticed that the man was his personal secretary and the Deputy Chief of the Special Operations Forces, Zhao Liangze.
From the woman’s side profile and clothing, he recognized that she was none other than the Director of the Legal Department that Zhao Liangze had been pursuing so long, Bai Yueran.
Was this a pair of lovers getting a happy ending? Or a case of how, when someone tries, they do not end up disappointed?
Even the air seemed heavy with the smell of love.
Could it not be snowing, but raining sweet and affectionate feelings?
Huo Shaoheng smiled faintly as he drove over and parked near them.
