Although the preliminary investigation had shown that Lu Dayong committed suicide by jumping off of a building, they had to probe into the underlying reason for the suicide.
“That’s right; they were fighting really loudly. He saw us coming out, and only then did he drag that person inside.”
“Yeah, just here to collect a debt. We’ve seen tons of these loan sharks collecting debts, and they’re all just like him!”
The police interviewed multiple parties, collected evidence, and then visited the one-bedroom apartment Lu Dayong had lived in to conduct their investigation.
Unfortunately, it had been completely reduced to ashes, including the computer. It had been burned so badly that only the exterior shell remained.
In the end, the police retrieved the charred hard disk, and that was the only thing they took from the scene of the fire.
Further examination of the window that Lu Dayong fell from led to the discovery of evidence indicating that he had climbed out the window, then plunged from the windowsill. There were tiny bits of shredded paper and specks of dust, which were probably remnants from the fire.
From what they had gathered from witnesses and circumstantial evidence, the police came to the preliminary conclusion that after being extorted by loan sharks there to collect a debt, Lu Dayong leaped to his death.
However, their conclusion was not beyond a reasonable doubt, since there were still some unexplained aspects.
For example, who was the arsonist?
If the arsonist was Lu Dayong himself, the fire could be interpreted as a last-ditch effort performed by the world-weary Lu Dayong to vent his anger.
If the arsonist wasn’t Lu Dayong, but the loan shark instead, then there would be reasonable doubt about his death.
The arsonist must have set off the fire to cover up the evidence of the crime.
But if the loan shark was indeed the murderer, his motive was inexplicable.
The loan shark was after the money. If Lu Dayong was dead, who would he extort the money from?
Looking at it that way, suicide seemed more likely.
Of course, these were still in the preliminary stages of the investigation.
Solving the case would require more evidence. The data recovered from Lu Dayong’s computer hard disk would be especially helpful, and would probably prove to be crucial.
Lu Dayong’s body had already been sent to the funeral home, and his family would be notified so they could come and identify his body.
The police work unraveled in an orderly fashion.
…
Special Assistant Yang had left the Parliament building and returned home for his forced vacation. Speaker Long ordered Gu Nianzhi to be brought back to his office for a conversation.
This time it was only her and Speaker Long present.
Without the hostile gaze of the antagonistic Special Assistant Yang, Gu Nianzhi felt much more at ease.
She even helped herself to a cup of tea, making one for Speaker Long as well with his very own tea set.
Speaker Long downed the tea in the tiny cup in one long chug.
“Nianzhi, I never knew you had quite the talent for tea-making.” Speaker Long handed the teacup back to her with a smile. “Can you make another cup for me to drink?” The sweet aroma, the overflowing freshness… it was a lovely tea! Nice tea!”
Gu Nianzhi smiled, saying, “These are all your tea leaves, it is as if I have borrowed flowers from your own garden to give to you. I have embarrassed myself.”
“Nianzhi, you are too modest. There are lots of things that you can do, yet we cannot.” Speaker Long took the time to sincerely apologized to Gu Nianzhi. “Our last meeting has opened me up to your ridicule. The senate secretariat was not like this before.”
“I know.” Gu Nianzhi smiled and nodded. “There are all kinds of fish in the sea, and I am prepared to deal with every type.”
“This matter isn’t your fault. We didn’t do our job properly, and you bore the brunt of the blame.” Speaker Long patted her shoulders, treating her like someone he was mentoring.
“It’s fine. I don’t usually get mistreated because I fire right back. Speaking of unfairness, the other person fared far worse than me,” she said.
Gu Nianzhi was talking about Special Assistant Yang. Seeing the dumbstruck look that had been plastered on his face made Gu Nianzhi secretly feel a sick sense of pleasure deep down.
Speaker Long smiled and nodded, saying, “Nianzhi, I like how upfront you are. Keep it up.”
“OK. I say what’s on my mind, Speaker Long. Please don’t mind if I’m too talkative.” Gu Nianzhi smiled.
Speaker Long smiled for a while, then asked Gu Nianzhi, “Nianzhi, Special Assistant Yang will not be able to return for a while. Who do you should be responsible for the duties of the parliamentary secretary’s job in the future?”
Gu Nianzhi stared at Speaker Long in shock. The black and white panda-colored mask concealed half of her face, further emphasizing her glassy eyes and how they seemed reminiscent of the bright, starry night sky.
Speaker Long narrowed his eyes and asked, “Don’t you have any thoughts? I was even considering offering you the position of Parliament Secretary, but I worried that would be too much work. You work around the clock. I’m afraid Huo Shaoheng would be resentful, haha.”
Gu Nianzhi was speechless.
She did not want people to continue associating all of her accomplishments with Huo Shaoheng, so all she did was sigh lightly and say, “Huo Shaoheng won’t think that way since we are no longer together. Although, don’t you think that entrusting the position of parliamentary secretary to a recent graduate is somewhat rash?”
“Don’t you have any confidence?” Speaker Long asked meaningfully. “When Special Assistant Yang first became my subordinate, he had also recently concluded his undergraduate studies.”
“This isn’t about confidence,” Gu Nianzhi said, shaking her head. “Doing this job requires certain qualifications and experiences, and I am aware that I am far from qualified in these aspects. And again, my passion lies in law. I am open to working here as a legal advisor, but in terms of becoming a full-time assistant, I am still unprepared.”
Listening to Gu Nianzhi turning down the offer, Speaker Long was not angry. In fact, he even started laughing heartily.
“All right, I understand. Nianzhi, you may be excused. Assigning you to the secretariat for the moment must have been troubling for you,” Speaker Long said while beaming. After he excused Gu Nianzhi, he called in another senior secretary and offered him Special Assistant Yang’s position temporarily.
The office was full of people, none of them any less qualified than Special Assistant Yang.
Gu Nianzhi’s brazen refusal to accept the position led Speaker Long to hold her in higher regard.
Competent yet self-aware. That trait is exceptionally rare.
Gu Nianzhi didn’t know that she has passed yet another one of Speaker Long’s tests. Perhaps she did know, yet she didn’t care.
After all, her goal for participating in that internship was not the pursuit of status and power, but for something else entirely.
She had already achieved her end goal, and now all she had to do was see how Cai Songyin reacted.
Over the last couple of days, Cai Songyin had been keeping a low-profile, which didn’t make sense at all.
She was thinking everything over when she suddenly thought, speak of the devil.
Of course, it was not the devil itself, but rather its think-tank, Cai Songyin’s niece, madam Cai Shengnan.
During Prime Minister Tan’s impeachment, Cai Shengnan had been loafing around the Senate for about a month, so she was familiar with the people around there.
She was not only one of the people Speaker Long publicly expressed his high regard for, but she also possessed a pass that allowed her to go in and out of the Parliament. Therefore, she had free access to that area.
Heading straight toward Gu Nianzhi, then stopping right beside her, Cai Shengnan crossed her arms, looked Gu Nianzhi up and down, and suddenly said, “Miss Gu, working while sick is actually not a good habit.”
Hearing Cai Shengnan’s voice, Gu Nianzhi was somewhat amused.
She was just thinking about how Cai Songyin had been keeping such a low-profile lately, then lo and behold, there she is.
Gu Nianzhi calmly turned off her monitor, stood up, then turned around to face Cai Shengnan and asked, “Miss Cai, what brings you here?”
“Please, call me Lawyer Cai. Don’t use ‘miss’ to mock me.” She pursed her lips and settled her gaze on Nianzhi’s masked face, which looked out of place in the office. She reached out to yank the mask off Gu Nianzhi’s face as she said, “Miss Gu, has your face really been injured?”
Her strength fit her robustness, and the forcefulness of the yank made Gu Nianzhi feel as if her ears were about to be ripped off.
The mask was yanked off, and in turn, revealed Nianzhi’s condition.
Although it did not seem as swollen as the video seemed to indicate, it still appeared extremely inflamed, and it seemed as though the swelling had not completely subsided.
“It really was bruised,” Cai Shengnan muttered to herself.
In reality, the condition of Gu Nianzhi’s face had been made worse by too much talking while wearing the mask. The talking caused the mask to rub against her face, making it even more inflamed, swollen, and painful.
Nevertheless, her facial wound was her own business. Having her mask yanked off her face and exposing her injury for the world to see was beyond humiliating and infuriating, plus it produced a painful burning sensation.
Without hesitation, the instant Cai Shengnan yanked the mask off her face, Gu Nianzhi struck her across the face with a sharp slap.
“How dare you slap me?!” Cai Shengnan grasped her face and exclaimed in astonishment.
“That’s right, I’m slapping you all right! I am acting in self-defense, Lawyer Cai. Perhaps you have some sort of misconception about the nature of self-defense?” Gu Nianzhi declared self-righteously as she shook her hands at Cai Shengnan. “You’ve got quite a sturdy face there. Hitting your face hurt my hands.”
