Tan Guiren nodded obediently and stood up. “Mommy should sleep early tonight too, so you’ll be beautiful tomorrow!”
“I know you’re a good girl.” Cai Songyin kissed Tan Guiren’s forehead and watched her leave.
When Tan Guiren’s back disappeared outside the door, Cai Songyin’s smile finally collapsed from her face. Rubbing her phone, she hesitated for a long time before unlocking it and opening her call log. She found Sun Yuerong’s number and dialed it.
When Sun Yuerong’s phone rang, she had just been putting on a face mask at her vanity. Glancing at the phone’s display, she discovered Cai Songyin was calling. After hesitating for a while, she didn’t answer. Soon afterwards, Cai Songyin’s call was directed to voicemail.
Sun Yuerong quickly finished applying the face mask and went to the study. She said to her husband, Hong Kangquan, who was still working overtime, “Old Hong, Cai Songyin just called me.”
Wearing glasses, Hong Kangquan looked up from behind the computer screen and asked expressionlessly, “It’s already so late. Why is she calling?” Phone calls in the middle of the night were typically either good news or bad news. There was never anything in between.
“I didn’t take it,” Sun Yuerong answered carefully. “It won’t cause you trouble, right?”
Hong Kangquan took off his glasses and used a cloth to wipe the lenses. He was silent for a long time.
Sun Yuerong sat down and said uneasily, “I never thought that they could get into such a mess even after being elected prime minister. I’m good friends with Songyin, so I must take her call tomorrow, even if I don’t tonight.”
Hong Kangquan put on his glasses and returned his gaze to the computer. After some time, he said, “Lots of people know that Cai Songyin is your good friend, so it is what it is. It’s no good to deliberately distance yourself from them. People will see that and think you are too shrewd.”
“Ok, then I’ll return her call tomorrow.” Sun Yuerong immediately nodded but asked again, “It won’t cause you any negative influences, right?”
“Why would your business affect me?” Hong Kangquan disagreed. “Cai Songyin isn’t a fool, so she won’t take this too far.”
“But…” Sun Yuerong hesitated and said uneasily, “Prime Minister Tan’s public image is too poor as of late. He’s not reflecting properly and even sent people to cause trouble at the Senate. He’s offending the Senate and supporting funds as well… Old Hong, is it really ok for us to keep close ties with them?”
Hong Kangquan’s heart instantly warmed when he saw his wife only thinking of his best interests. He looked up at her worried face, and his attitude eased greatly. “It’s fine. The more you continue to treat Cai Songyin the same way at a time like this, the more others will respect you. Think about it, the elites aren’t fools. Everyone has their ups and downs. While adding icing to cake is nothing special, those offering help in times of distress will be remembered. Not only will Cai Songyin be grateful for your present gesture, but others will observe it, too.”
Sun Yuerong finally felt relieved and said with a smile, “Old Hong, you’re still the one with the best judgement and gauge of the situation.”
She paused, then continued in a quiet voice, “In fact, you’re the one who is worthy of being the Chief of the Special Operations Forces. It’s only because we don’t have support that you are still only the Director of the Secret Service after all this time. That Huo Shaoheng isn’t even 30 years old yet. Why does he deserve to be the Chief of the Special Operations Forces and also the Deputy Secretary General of the Supreme Military Council?”
Hong Kangquan’s expression instantly darkened as he bellowed, “What do you know?! Ignorant woman, no one would think you’re mute even if you kept quiet! Get out!” Grabbing a thick Oxford dictionary from the desk, he threw it violently at Sun Yuerong.
The blow made Sun Yuerong cry out loud and jump up from the sofa. She exclaimed, “Old Hong! Why’d you hit me?!”
“You still won’t get out?! Do you want to taste the whip?!” As Hong Kangquan spoke, he took the belt hanging off the back of the chair and shook it at Sun Yuerong. Sun Yuerong shrieked and hurriedly ran out of the room.
Shutting the door to Hong Kangquan’s study, Sun Yuerong finally patted her chest in order to swallow the disgust. Hong Kangquan was a veteran. He hadn’t been like this when she first married him.
As the domestic status of the Special Operations Forces continued to soar, they were not only overtaking the Cabinet’s Secret Service when it came to matters abroad, but they also got involved in domestic affairs. As a result, Hong Kangquan’s temper became worse, especially when it came to the national monitoring of the upcoming general elections. General Ji and Speaker Long somehow were both elected to Huo Shaoheng’s Special Operations Forces, instead of the legitimate Secret Service! Hong Kangquan’s belly had been pent up with anger since a long time ago.
“Hmph! All he knows is how to vent it out on me! He doesn’t have any choice but to pretend when he goes outside!” Sun Yuerong pressed her lips in disdain and returned to her room.
After the study door was closed, Hong Kangquan finally threw away the belt in his hand. Glancing at the ceiling, he sighed deeply. He never thought that the Special Operations Forces, which he had low expectations for, would grow to its present scale and sphere of influence.
Ten years ago, General Ji originally intended for Hong Kangquan to lead a brand new department in the military. This was the Special Operations Forces. This department had been developed and expanded from two previous military departments. It continued with the two previous departments’ manpower and functions, but also had its own unique direction of development.
At the time, Hong Kangquan looked down on the department’s unforeseeable future. Since there was the existing and powerful Secret Service department acting abroad, he thought that the Special Operations Forces would only become cannon fodder. As a result, he used the excuse of his wife’s poor health at home in order to request General Ji allow him to resign and retire from the forces.
After he retired from the military, he rightfully entered the Secret Service as a high-ranking official and outside promotion. Seven years ago, he also rose to the position of the Director of the Secret Service.
After he left, General Ji was considered to be depleted of personnel when it came to military intelligence. That was how Huo Shaoheng was given the opportunity to emerge.
Over the past ten years, Huo Shaoheng accepted dangerous appointments and grew the Special Operations Forces into a large force. He expanded it to its current state that could not be ignored by the Hua Xia Empire and was said to be a single force equivalent to one military legion. Their reputation was famous among the upper echelon of the Hua Xia Empire.
Hong Kangquan would never admit that he regretted it so much his stomach wrenched. He had only known at the time that the Hua Xia Empire only required one special institution like that—and that would be their long standing Secret Service! Not some Special Operations Forces with little history!
After sitting dazedly in the chair for a while more, Hong Kangquan took out his personal phone and hesitated for a long time. In the end, he finally dialed a number memorized in his heart. If someone else saw this number, they would surely be shocked by how such a number could be connected to. This was because this number was formatted completely differently from standard phone numbers on the Blue Planet.
The phone rang many times, but no one picked up. Hong Kangquan wasn’t surprised but still felt slightly disappointed.
….
After Tan Guiren returned to her room, she paced around excitedly before dialing Gu Nianzhi’s phone number. She didn’t expect Gu Nianzhi to not take her call. However, Tan Guiren didn’t give up and called several more times, only to be directed to voicemail.
Tan Guiren assumed Gu Nianzhi was unable to take her call at this time, so she decided to send her a text message instead. “Miss Gu, Sun Yuerong was the one to recommend Major General Huo to me. She’s the wife of the Director of the Secret Service. I’ve already done what you asked, so will you withdraw your charges?”
Gu Nianzhi intentionally ignored Tan Guiren’s phone calls. She didn’t want the call to be bugged, but she didn’t expect Tan Guiren to send her a text instead. After casually glancing at it, Gu Nianzhi froze in shock. The wife of the Director of the Secret Service was the one who made the recommendation? Didn’t that mean the true mastermind behind this was the Director of the Secret Service?!
Because of Bai Yusheng’s history, Gu Nianzhi didn’t have very positive feelings towards the Secret Service. Bai Yusheng was once the Deputy Director of the Secret Service. There was also Deputy Director Feng of the Secret Service, and he was the one who introduced Gu Yanran to Huo Shaoheng…
It looked like her stars really didn’t align with the Secret Service’s. Gu Nianzhi considered it for a while but still decided to call Huo Shaoheng. At this time, Huo Shaoheng was still performing the monitoring duties of the interim general elections in the Senate building.
This time he didn’t use the Central Control Room in the Special Operations Forces headquarters base but set up a monitoring center in the Senate building. With Speaker Long at the helm and Yin Shixiong as the deputy, Huo Shaoheng was only a consultant in charge of monitoring from the side.
Because the timeline of the interim general election was so tight, and the monitoring needed to encompass all the constituencies across the country, the Special Operations Forces collaborated with the Secret Service. They temporarily borrowed the Secret Service personnel stationed in each province to establish connections.
Since this involved the collaboration of two departments, Yin Shixiong wasn’t able to hold down the authority on his own. Consequently, Huo Shaoheng was required to appear and control the situation until all the monitoring was completed before the voting began.
There was less than a week before the interim general elections began, so Huo Shaoheng and his men used each second fully and worked around the clock 24 hours a day.
When Gu Nianzhi called Huo Shaoheng, he had just walked out of the monitoring room.
Hearing Gu Nianzhi’s special ringtone, Huo Shaoheng was a bit surprised. It had been a long time since Gu Nianzhi had taken the initiative to call him this late at night.
