Upon seeing Speaker Long head towards them, Gu Nianzhi abruptly stood up, and giving up her seat, she motioned for him to sit. “Speaker Long, please sit down.”
Speaker Long took Gu Nianzhi up on her offer and sat where Gu Nianzhi had been sitting, then turned to Reinitz to say, “Major General Reinitz, does our Chinese food suit your tastes?”
Since Speaker Long had asked him the question in Chinese, Reinitz simply stared at him with a confused smile on his face and pretended not to understand what he was asking.
Gu Nianzhi secretly scolded him inwardly for being so sly and feigning ignorance but decided not to expose him and play along, so she helped translate what Speaker Long had asked him to German.
After listening to her translation, Reinitz smiled and replied in English, “It was delicious. I genuinely liked it. This lady had been entertaining me just now. I wanted to thank her so I gave her some Bavarian white sausage I specially brought from Germany, but this lady simply refuses to accept it. Are you her boss? Can you please ask her to accept it as a sign of my gratitude?”
Speaker Long understood his English, and he started grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Bavarian white sausage? Sounds great. I want to try it as well. Why not bring it for everyone to share?”
Gu Nianzhi secretly praised President Long for his quick wit.
Reinitz looked at Gu Nianzhi inquiringly, once again pretending not to understand Speaker Long’s words.
Gu Nianzhi had no choice but to continue to translate. “Speaker Long asked if you could bring it for everyone to share?”
Reinitz immediately nodded and replied in English, “Of course you can. Once I go back and get to my suitcase, I’ll bring it to you at the meeting tomorrow.”
“Hahahaha… Then I’ll have to thank you then!” Speaker Long was grinning from ear to ear now. He continued, “Major General Reinitz, is this your first time in our country?”
Reinitz’s visit was truly groundbreaking.
There were so many countries on the blue planet, yet rarely did the heads of intelligence agencies visit other countries.
Therefore, Reinitz visiting China was of paramount significance, and considering their motive for this visit, Speaker Long knew he had to be even more cautious.
Their motive for visiting China was to find out the true identity of the pink piggy.
But in Speaker Long’s point of view, the “Pink Piggy” was merely an urban legend of the Huaxia Empire, yet they wanted them to surrender this figure?
Since it was nonexistent, it was better not to think about it.
Heinitz grasped what Speaker Long was insinuating and seized this as the golden opportunity to extract some information from Speaker Long.
So, after Gu Nianzhi translated what Speaker Long had said, Reinitz said in German, “This is indeed the first time I have come to your country. Since Pink Piggy is simply too important to me, I wanted to try and see if I could convince you all to let me bring her back.”
Gu Nianzhi was speechless.
How could she translate this?!
Speaker Long waited for a while and misunderstood Gu Nianzhi’s silence, thinking that she simply didn’t know how to translate, so he said quickly, “Nianzhi, do you need me to find a simultaneous translator to help you translate?”
Gu Nianzhi was snapped back to the present situation, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Reinitz curling his lips into a devious smirk. She regained her composure and simply said calmly, “Major General Reinitz said that this was indeed the first time he has visited our country. Since the Pink Piggy is of such importance to their country, he wanted to give it a try and see if he could convince us to let him bring the Pink Piggy back.”
Reinitz raised an eyebrow.
He had clearly said that the Pink Piggy was very important to him specifically, but Gu Nianzhi had intentionally translated it as his country. This was obviously an implicit attempt to clarify the boundaries of their relationship…
The expression on Speaker Long’s face immediately grew somber. “We have already stated to your countrymen that if you think that the Pink Piggy is one of our countrymen, you must bring evidence before accusing us. As for concrete evidence, please use concrete evidence instead of simply assuming that whoever reaps the greatest benefits is the culprit. Such rationale is naive, simple-minded, unfounded, and could greatly damage diplomatic relations between allied nations. We will not accept such unreasonable accusations without evidence.”
Reinitz hadn’t expected Speaker Long to reject his request in such a harsh and aggressive manner and was somewhat caught off guard.
He glanced at Gu Nian and asked her in German, “What is your country’s speaker saying? Does this mean I get to bring the Pink Piggy home with me?”
Gu Nianzhi didn’t know what to say.
How come she had never known that Reinitz had such a shameless side too?!
Speaker Long looked at Gu Nianzhi with a sullen expression and asserted, “Translate it for him.”
Gu Nianzhi had no choice but to put on a calm expression and translate Speaker Long’s words into German.
Although Reinitz could understand what Speaker Long had said in Chinese, he didn’t want others to know, so he let Gu Nianzhi keep translating for him.
Gu Nianzhi couldn’t resist the urge to reveal how deep his understanding of Chinese was, but every time Reinitz glanced at her, she felt pressured to help him keep this secret.
She also worried that if she exposed Reinitz, perhaps Reinitz would expose her true identity as the Pink Piggy.
From the moment they met, it seemed as if Reinitz had been testing and evaluating her, yet she was still kept in the dark about what his real plans were.
Gu Nianzhi became more and more upset and irritated, and this mixture of frustration gradually began to manifest itself in her facial expressions.
However, Speaker Long couldn’t see the subtle changes in her face.
He was the only one who saw that Gu Nianzhi was growing more and more serious, as if she was in a faceoff against her worst enemy. For some reason, he felt relieved at the sight.
He knew that he had indeed planted a seed with much potential for growth.
On the other hand, Speaker Long was growing more and more pleased with Gu Nianzhi as a prospective successor, but he wasn’t willing to put too much pressure on her.
He stood up and refrained from pushing the topic any further.
He nodded to Reinitz. “Okay, We’ll talk about it tomorrow when we have formal talks. Today, since you’ve just arrived, get some good rest.”
Gu Nianzhi translated for him, and Reinitz said goodbye to Speaker Long in English.
Speaker Long waved his hand at him and said to Gu Nianzhi: “Attend to Major Reinitz and treat him well. You will also be attending the bilateral negotiations tomorrow. I hope you’ll be willing to act as my legal adviser.”
Gu Nianzhi said quickly, “Of course I’ll be there. Thank you, Speaker Long.”
This was a golden opportunity for her.
As a legal intern, being able to participate in the bilateral negotiations between countries was a tremendous opportunity, and she knew she was extremely lucky.
Speaker Long smiled and patted her on the shoulder, then returned to his seat.
Only Reinitz and Gu Nianzhi remained in the corner.
“…Your country is unwilling to surrender the Pink Piggy,” Reinz whispered into Gu Nianzhi’s ear in Chinese, which he spoke in a softer tone than he did in German.
Gu Nianzhi turned around but came eye to eye with his chiseled features and felt his masculine aura.
His soft and gentle voice was a striking contrast to his masculine and robust appearance, yet these contradictory qualities made him seem all the more mysterious and unattainable, because only strong men were willing to show their gentle side.
Of course, Gu Nianzhi also understood that everything that Reinitz had shown her was what he wanted her to see and wasn’t necessarily true.
Just like their seemingly fateful encounter in the Alps was actually an elaborate arrangement that Reinitz had carefully planned out.
His modus operandi and his vibe were extremely similar to those of Huo Shaoheng, maybe because he had investigated Gu Nianzhi and therefore knew that this was the only way Gu Nianzhi would let her guard down and be in her most vulnerable state.
