The door silently closed behind her, and Gu Nianzhi quickly glanced around the office. She had never stepped foot in it before then.
The entire office was spacious, about one third the size of their whole office.
Their office filled an entire floor, which showed just how spacious Speaker Long’s office was.
The office faced south, and the southern wall was made of tempered glass shaped into an arch. It might have been bullet-proof, as well.
Even from her position at the door, Gu Nianzhi was able to take in a bird’s eye view of the empire’s breathtaking scenery and feel the sense of pride and accomplishment that came with being at the top of the food chain.
After getting used to such scenery, who wouldn’t lose their sense of self?
Hundreds and thousands of bizarre thoughts flashed through her mind.
Speaker Long sat behind a wide office desk, yet his frosty countenance softened when he saw the masked Gu Nianzhi.
“Nianzhi, come sit over here,” he said amicably.
Gu Nianzhi saw that Special Assistant Yang was also seated beside Speaker Long. He was smiling at her.
Gu Nianzhi was not used to Special Assistant Yang acting so friendly toward her and was somewhat caught off guard.
She greeted Speaker Long first. “Speaker Long, you wanted to speak with me?”
Speaker Long nodded. He let her sit down, and after some small talk, asked her whether or not the wound on her face still hurt, when it would heal, and whether or not she had gotten used to working there.
Gu Nianzhi patiently answered all his questions, yet was left feeling somewhat perplexed.
They were so busy that everyone was working themselves to death. So how was it that Speaker Long had enough spare time to talk to her about such trivial matters?
She wasn’t confused for long because Speaker Long got to the main point shortly after. He candidly asked her, “Nianzhi, yesterday Special Assistant Yang instructed you to bring an important document over to me. How come you never did so?”
Special Assistant Yang smiled. “That document in the calfskin envelope, don’t you remember me bringing it up? It’s the one that the Special Operations Forces sent over for Speaker Long to sign, have you really forgotten already?” he reminded her.
Only then did Gu Nianzhi remember.
She had declined on the spot.
She remembered how she had been wearing her black and white panda mask and had said, “Special Assistant Yang, how can I see Speaker Long looking like this? Please find someone else.”
Then she turned around and left. From beginning to end, she never even touched the calfskin envelope.
So, what on earth was Special Assistant Yang talking about?
Gu Nianzhi glanced towards Speaker Long and asked, “I do not understand why you are asking me this. Yesterday I specifically told Special Assistant Yang that I could not request your signature looking the way I do, and asked him to find someone else instead.”
Speaker Long frowned and glanced toward Special Assistant Yang. “Is that so?”
Special Assistant Yang thought for a bit. He lowered his head, then said, “It seems so. Oh, sorry. It’s my fault. Miss Gu indeed said that she didn’t want to come and told me to find someone else. Look at my forgetfulness. At the time, I was preoccupied with other things, and as soon as I got busy, I pushed that to the back of my mind. Speaker Long, you know as well, that the entire office has been pulling all-nighters for days. Sorry, my apologies. I have caused you great trouble.
The sincerity of his apology seemed enough to make one doubt that he had been attempting to cast blame on Gu Nianzhi and that it was only a misunderstanding on her part.
Now he’s acting like the good guy.
Gu Nianzhi felt extremely uncomfortable and uneasy.
Speaker Long attempted to speak, but Special Assistant Yang interrupted, saying, “However, Speaker Long, this was my fault. My irresponsibility has caused you great trouble, and I accept the consequences, but…”
He glanced at Gu Nianzhi and said, “Gu Nianzhi is supposed to be interning here, but in reality, since she has come, she spends the majority of her time on her phone without doing anything productive. Everyone is busy at the moment, so we don’t really have time to teach her anything, and other interns are extremely busy as well. Miss Gu is really the only one who complains about the work. Therefore, we find it exceedingly difficult to coordinate work schedules between Miss Gu and the other colleagues.”
As soon as Gu Nianzhi heard this, she felt her initial discomfort transform to boiling rage.
So, this was the trap that Special Assistant Yang had set up for her!
First, ask her to send the document to Speaker Long, then after she declines, purposefully delay the signing of the document.
One could imagine how important that document was, otherwise Speaker Long wouldn’t be searching for the culprit. The threat of severe consequences lurked beneath the surface of his search, but was never directly specified.
And, it was likely that the delay in the signature had unforeseen repercussions that they weren’t aware of yet.
Gu Nianzhi recalled that Special Assistant Yang had stated that the document had been delivered by the Special Operations Forces. That meant that the document had something to do with Huo Shaoheng and his cohorts.
Realizing that, Gu Nianzhi felt apprehensive.
She prayed that no severe damage had been done.
After work, she intended to go to Huo Shaoheng’s place to beg for forgiveness. She wouldn’t shirk responsibility on the matter.
Yet Special Assistant Yang stating that she complains about the work and how he found it difficult to coordinate work schedules between her and her colleagues was really out of line. On top of that, it was an absurd accusation to make against a new intern fresh out of college.
Huo Shaoheng had once told her that she could not assume that Special Assistant Yang had it out for her just because he criticized her once or twice. But now things had changed. This was much more than one or two criticisms. It was now apparent that Special Assistant Yang loathed her for some reason, and that he was going out of his way to ensure that she did not stay employed there.
Gu Nianzhi was okay with not working in that office, but she refused to sit idly by while she was being slandered in such a malicious way, nor would she allow her integrity and work ethic to be doubted. Especially by an elder like Speaker Long, who had high hopes for her. All of this made her feel wretched inside.
For someone like her to diligently work all the way to where she was today, having all of her hard work undone by some elaborate scheme was unacceptable to her.
Gu Nianzhi cleared her throat and started fighting back against Special Assistant Yang.
“Speaker Long, was this document really that important?” She first needed to gauge the severity of the situation.
When a mistake happens, there always needs to be somebody to take responsibility for it.
Gu Nianzhi didn’t mind taking responsibility, but it shouldn’t be her alone.
Speaker Long narrowed his eyes and said in a displeased tone, “An exceedingly important document indeed, yet it was delayed for more than twenty hours. Shaoheng himself was forced to find me, and it was two in the morning when it finally got signed.”
Gu Nianzhi felt her heart sink, but her mind quickly went over all the documents concerning the secretariat that she had looked over since the day she first arrived, and she proceeded to ask calmly, “Then, I want to ask, how could such a large government branch such as the secretariat not have any regulations concerning the whereabouts of crucial documents?”
As one of the most powerful government bureaucracies, how was it possible for the Senate not to have implemented any regulations or procedures concerning such issues?
As soon as Gu Nianzhi asked, Special Assistant Yang’s sense of relief instantly vanished.
Speaker Long had been too busy wallowing in guilt at the thought of potentially causing trouble for Huo Shaoheng’s operation that he hadn’t even considered what Gu Nianzhi had brought up.
Speaker Long quickly regained his sense and nodded thoughtfully. “Of course. The secretariat is not a newly established branch. How can we not have formal procedures concerning this?”
“As long as there are established procedures, then all is good.” Gu Nianzhi smiled. “Then let us continue according to established procedures. The person responsible should be the one taking the blame. We can’t let Special Assistant Yang be the scapegoat, now, can we Speaker Long?”
Special Assistant Yang’s face darkened.
In all the years that he had worked in that department, no one had dared to bring up the official procedures with him!
Most of the so-called procedures had been established by him anyway!
But if they had gone by the established procedures, then according to the regulations concerning the handling of documents, depending on the importance of the document, different people would deal with it.
In terms of the importance of the particular document that Huo Shaoheng had sent, it should have been a high-ranking senior member dealing with it.
In other words, according to the procedures that he had established, that document of utmost importance should have been personally handled by Special Assistant Yang himself!
