“She made a mistake. She deserves it,” Huo Shaoheng said matter of factly. “I didn’t send her to prison. She did it on her own.” Although the incident with Tan Guiren could be severe or minor, as long as it could help Gu Nianzhi feel better, Huo Shaoheng did not mind magnifying this for her.
To be honest, all Gu Nianzhi wanted was a clear attitude from Huo Shaoheng. Now that he was able to show this attitude to her, Gu Nianzhi already felt content. With a huge smile on her face, Gu Nianzhi buried herself in Huo Shaoheng’s embrace and hugged him by his neck as she kissed him on the cheeks, mumbling, “I didn’t expect you to be so cruel.”
“I shall take that as a compliment.” Huo Shaoheng breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like he had managed to cheer this young lady up. All of a sudden, he was glad that he had heeded his heart and rushed back in time. It would be unhealthy to allow misunderstandings to be present for too long between couples. If delayed, even minor issues could become severe.
After she was cheered up, Gu Nianzhi told Huo Shaoheng everything that had happened that day. She even told him how she got Tan Guiren to tell her the truth and how she recorded the kidnapping that Tan Guiren had gone through in America.
“Then I sent the file to Cai Songyin after I had encrypted it, warning her to never bring that online author to court. If she did that, I would publicize her daughter’s kidnapping, along with a full set of audio effects.”
Huo Shaoheng knew that Gu Nianzhi had done that because she did not want Cai Songyin to have any opportunities to bring that story up ever again. That innocent online author had benefited in a way as well.
Upon contemplating it, Huo Shaoheng realized that albeit cruel and violent, Gu Nianzhi’s method was extremely effective. This was because it had made up for the area that Huo Shaoheng had missed out on when he was analyzing—the motherly love Cai Songyin had for her daughter, Tan Guiren. Huo Shaoheng never realized that Cai Songyin could go to such lengths for Tan Guiren.
He patted Gu Nianzhi on the back and acknowledged that he had underestimated the love of a mother but knew that there was a reason for it. However, Gu Nianzhi didn’t remember her mother at all, so why was she so confident about Cai Songyin’s motherly love towards her daughter?
“Did it ever cross your mind that Cai Songyin might have decided to sacrifice Tan Guiren?” Huo Shaoheng reminded Gu Nianzhi gently. “That wouldn’t have been impossible. You took a big risk there.”
When one was at the highest point in politics, personal relationships were really not worthy of being mentioned. If Cai Songyin didn’t have so much motherly love for Tan Guiren, she would never have given up on this opportunity to investigate the mastermind who was pulling the prank on her. Then, Gu Nianzhi would be exposed. Although Huo Shaoheng wasn’t afraid of the consequences, he hoped that Gu Nianzhi wouldn’t have to bear any if possible.
Gu Nianzhi yawned and began to doze off. “I think that it isn’t possible… In order for Tan Guiren to grow up to become like that, she had to have extreme pampering from her parents. All I had to do was just to reverse analyze to know her parents’ motives.”
Huo Shaoheng was speechless. Perhaps this was what “reaping what you sow” meant…
With the lead that Gu Nianzhi had provided, Huo Shaoheng could continue his investigation that had previously met with a bottleneck. He took out his phone and sent two commands. Since the person who had suggested his name had been confirmed, then the next step would be to keep an eye on the suspect.
Huo Shaoheng laid down on the bed hugging Gu Nianzhi and heard her breathing become slow and deep. She had already fallen deeply asleep. However, Huo Shaoheng felt wide awake. He began contemplating. If the idea was really provided by Hong Kangquan, the director of secret services, then what would his motive be, exactly?
Huo Shaoheng could not imagine that Hong Kangquan was a traitor like Bai Yusheng.
If he really was one, then the consequences would be so dire that it was worse than when they discovered Bai Yusheng was a traitor…
Huo Shaoheng couldn’t sleep no matter how he tossed and turned. Eventually, he gave up and got out of bed. He drove to General Ji’s living quarters to look for him. He did that because although Hong Kangquan had already retired from the army, he was still a direct contact of General Ji’s. Huo Shaoheng had to clarify things with General Ji to know what General Ji thought.
When he had arrived at General Ji’s living quarters, it was already two o’clock in the morning. General Ji looked at Huo Shaoheng with furrowed brows in his study. “You had better have something urgent at this hour.”
Huo Shaoheng nodded and said calmly, “You will determine if this issue is urgent or not.”
“What’s wrong?” General Ji was influenced by Huo Shaoheng’s attitude and slowly took a seat. “Speak.”
“Do you remember the time when all the senior officers in the army came up and suggested I go to America personally to save Tan Guiren last year?”
General Ji’s expression darkened immediately. “Of course I remember. Hmph! I really want to know who the person was doing nonsense behind my back. They even dare to touch my people!”
It was due to that very mission that Huo Shaoheng had almost lost his life in New York. They were certain that someone had leaked information but could not manage to find out who had done it.
Huo Shaoheng took a seat opposite General Ji. “According to a piece of information that I have just received, the person who suggested me to the Tans and the Cais to go to New York to rescue Tan Guiren was none other than the wife of the director of secret services, Sun Yuerong. She had suggested to Cai Songyin that I go and rescue Tan Guiren personally.”
Coming up with the suggestion was not much of a problem, actually. It did not point directly to the leaking of information, if Cai Songyin and Sun Yuerong did not intentionally conceal the fact that they had done that. However, when Huo Shaoheng could not manage to find out who had done that no matter how hard he tried, then things became slightly more interesting.
It was initially a normal suggestion. With the reputation that Huo Shaoheng had in the army, being his old superior, Hong Kangquan would know better than anyone else about Huo Shaoheng’s abilities. Therefore, it was reasonable that he would recommend Huo Shaoheng. No one would think otherwise.
Even if Huo Shaoheng had met with mishaps in America, without solid evidence, people would never suspect the person who had openly recommended Huo Shaoheng for the mission. The mistake they had made was that they didn’t admit that they were the ones who had recommended Huo Shaoheng. That made them look suspicious.
That was the reason Huo Shaoheng felt unsafe after he got the information from Gu Nianzhi and headed off to look for General Ji as soon as he could. General Ji was taken aback as well. Confused, he asked, “Who was it? Who gave Cai Songyin the idea?”
“Sun Yuerong, one of Cai Songyin’s close friends, also the wife of the director of secret services, Hong Kangquan.” Huo Shaoheng repeated.
“It was her?! Why did you not manage to find out previously?” General Ji was even more perplexed. “What is there to hide?”
“What do you think?” Huo Shaoheng threw the question back to General Ji and did not continue talking. Hong Kangquan was also General Ji’s subordinate in the past. One could say that before he retired, General Ji had an equal amount of trust and held him in high regard the same as he did Huo Shaoheng now.
Towards such a person whom General Ji had favored so much in the past and had good relationships with even now, if Huo Shaoheng wanted to investigate him further, he had to know what General Ji would be thinking.
General Ji remained silent for a while as his expression darkened further. Standing up, he walked out from behind his desk with his arms folded as he paced around his study. “How did it become like that?! What on earth does he want?!”
He wants me dead of course, Huo Shaoheng thought. He did not say it out loud. It was best to remain silent. Not saying anything would mean much more than saying anything right at this point in time.
No matter what, General Ji was someone who had been through a lot. He snapped back to his senses within a short while and turned to Huo Shaoheng sternly. “Since it’s like that, then we’re left with no other options. Go and do a proposal, requesting to place Hong Kangquan under total surveillance.”
To be placed under total surveillance meant that Hong Kangquan would not even have his personal privacy. Along with his office, his home would have to be under surveillance as well. For such a type of surveillance to be carried out on someone who was of a higher position than a minister, the approval of the army, senate, and cabinet would be required.
However, the cabinet was in chaos right now. Moreover, this incident was related to Prime Minister Tan Dongbang and his wife, Cai Songyin, who were in the cabinet. General Ji had enough reasons to believe that both of them were suspects as well, and therefore, were not allowed to know about the surveillance. Consequently, General Ji and Senior Speaker Long’s approval would suffice.
“Yes, sir.” Huo Shaoheng stood up and saluted General Ji.
“We have to be quick about this! I do not wish to have another Bai Yusheng,” General Ji said coldly, his haggard face as stern as ever.
