Gu Nianzhi took a step back to avoid getting wet.
Zhao Liangze wiped his face before getting out of the pool. He sat on the edge and looked at the bright blue water with a frown as he said, “…She didn’t come in; she left already.”
“She left already? Where did she go?” Gu Nianzhi looked at Zhao Liangze’s expression and delicately consoled him, saying, “Brother Ze, maybe you two are really fated to be together…”
Zhao Liangze nodded with a bitter expression. “Well, it’s fate.”
A tragic fate.
Seeing that Zhao Liangze was in a bad mood, Gu Nianzhi quickly changed the topic. “Brother Ze, are you going to go out today? Are there any fun places you want to take me to?”
Zhao Liangze perked up and told Gu Nianzhi about the tourist attractions of Cape Town.
“…The city is close to the ocean, so most of the attractions are related to the bay—for example, the well-known Cape of Good Hope, Penguin Bay, and Seal Island. Oh yes, the Stellenbosch wine estate here is also very famous, and the wines in the cellar are worth a taste. ”
Gu Nianzhi listened carefully but didn’t think these sights were anything special.
Although they had come to the place indicated on the map, Cape Town was not a small city. Finding the data that Gu Xiangwen had hidden here was really like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Gu Nianzhi looked down in defeat.
“What’s the matter? Are you upset?” Zhao Liangze cocked his head at her. “I’m not even upset. Why are you upset?”
He then continued to tease her by asking, “Because… Alex left?”
If the situation was not going well, they would not call each other by their real names.
Alex was Huo Shaoheng’s alias when he was on missions abroad.
Gu Nianzhi gave him a sullen look and said, “Please, we are here on official business here. Can you stop smiling so lewdly?”
“When did I ever smile lewdly? I was laughing heartily, alright?” Zhao Liangze sat on the edge of the pool with a smile, dipping his muscular legs in the water to kick up splashes as he kept teasing Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi chuckled, and her depressed mood quickly improved.
She stood up and waved her arms in the air, saying, “Okay, no matter what the situation is, we should go for a walk first. Maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem, and it’s better than thinking about it here.”
Zhao Liangze nodded and said, “That’s right. Let’s go and get changed.”
“I’m okay wearing this.” Gu Nianzhi looked at herself. Her maxi dress completely covered her legs, and the short-sleeved cardigan concealed half of her arms. It was very good, and it blocked the sun so well she didn’t even need to put on sunscreen.
In the end, Gu Nianzhi only put sunscreen on her exposed face, neck, lower arms, and hands. She put on big sunglasses and a glamorous wide-brimmed mesh hat, then applied Dior Addict lipstick in the shade IT Pink. The delicate red lip color immediately lit up her fair and rosy face.
Zhao Liangze changed into a tropical style short sleeve shirt and cargo shorts. He wore a pair of running shoes and sunglasses as well. His previous handsomeness disappeared, making him look like a bodyguard or a driver.
Gu Nianzhi wanted to laugh again and said, “Brother Ze, you don’t match with me when you dress like this!”
“A certain someone would be anxious if I matched with you.” Zhao Liangze winked at her. “I need to clarify my status.”
Gu Nianzhi blushed and pinched Zhao Liangze’s arm hard. “Don’t talk nonsense! It’s not what you think!”
“Okay, I won’t tease you.” Zhao Liangze chuckled loudly as he walked out with Gu Nianzhi.
He took Gu Nianzhi to the tan colored Jeep from yesterday that was as strong as a tank, then drove toward the city.
They were staying in an artificial bay that had been developed. It was completely different from the places where the natural bays were preserved for ecological purposes. They needed to drive through the urban area to reach such a scenic spot.
Gu Nianzhi sat in the front passenger seat of the Jeep and looked around the entire way. As she peered out the window, the roadside scenery changed from neat, orderly, clean, and beautiful to chaotic, dirty, and ugly.
The deeper they went into the city, the more obvious this was.
Gu Nianzhi sighed emotionally. “…Who knows what this country has gone through in the last ten years,” she said.
“Yes.” Zhao Liangze calmly pressed on the car horn and avoided an African man crossing the road. “This was once a developed country. After that famous saint came to power as president, he voluntarily disarmed the country’s nuclear weapons and forcibly asked the Caucasians to give up positions to the Africans. He won praise internationally, but transformed a first-world developed country into a messy, practically third-world developing country.”
It may take decades or even hundreds of generations of effort to build a country.
But it only takes a few years to destroy one.
“Hehe, he lived up to the whole world, but he disappointed the citizens of his own country.” Gu Nianzhi shook her head as she said, “Sure enough, being praised by the enemy is never a good thing.”
“Exactly.” Zhao Liangze laughed. “Alex used to say often that as long as we continue to be condemned by enemy counties, it meant that we were on the right path. If we are praised by enemy countries one day, then we must seriously reflect. We must have gone down the wrong path.”
Pftt–!
Gu Nianzhi laughed so hard that she began to tear up. “Okay, it’s thanks to our peers that we have a clear direction to walk in!”
The two talked and laughed, and soon they came to the city center.
There were still fairly good buildings and attractions in downtown Cape Town. Of course, it didn’t compare with the wealthy hotel district they had come from.
If someone insisted on comparing the two, then the wealthy hotel district was like the central business district in a large Huaxia city. On the other hand, the city center was like a tiny county town from 20 years ago.
“The buildings here are still very distinctive.” Zhao Liangze pointed out two rows of red buildings beside the road to Gu Nianzhi. He was about to turn on the road to the harbor when the corner of his eyes flickered. He saw a woman in a red dress again, this time she got out of a yellow taxi.
Zhao Liangze slammed on the brakes so hard that Gu Nianzhi almost fell forward.
“What happened?” she asked.
“…You’re right; I am really fated to be with her. This is the third encounter,” Zhao Liangze replied quietly as he raised his chin.
Gu Nianzhi followed Zhao Liangze’s gaze, and the woman in the red dress happened to turn around to face them.
“Is this Miss Bai?” Gu Nianzhi’s eyes widened. “Brother Ze, how can you keep running into her wherever you go?!”
“I want to know how, too.” Zhao Liangze stepped on the gas pedal to drive to the road in front of Bai Shuang. He lowered the window, and Gu Nianzhi waved to Bai Shuang, shouting, “Miss Bai!”
It was a familiar voice.
Bai Shuang looked up in surprise to see a woman wearing a mesh wide-brimmed hat that only revealed an exquisite jawline and charming, plump lips, greeting her.
Zhao Liangze also leaned over from the car window and smiled as he said to Bai Shuang, “Bai Shuang, we meet again. Since it’s fate, shall we go for a cup of coffee?”
Bai Shuang’s eyes flickered. “This is… Nianzhi? It’s just the two of you?”
“Yeah, I came to vacation here with Nianzhi. What’s wrong? You seem disappointed. Who else were you expecting to see?” Zhao Liangze raised his eyebrows as he said, “We have met three times now. Three strikes and you’re out, so this is worth celebrating. Get in the car. There is a nice cafe up ahead.”
