Therefore, besides the knowledge that the true identity of the blogger using the handle “Churchill’s Garden” was Lu Dayong, they had no other clues.
From Gu Nianzhi’s familiarity with this blogger, it seemed unlikely that the very person who’d brazenly approached the prime minister’s wife with an insignificant case could be so easily driven to his death by a mere debt collector.
This must be an insult to her intelligence.
The more Gu Nianzhi contemplated it, the more she became convinced that the cause of death wasn’t suicide, but forced suicide.
But who was the culprit?
From the circumstantial evidence gathered so far, Gu Nianzhi considered Cai Songyin the most likely suspect.
And the motive could be nothing more than her daughter, Tan Guiren. Because she loved her daughter so dearly, it was only natural that she wouldn’t want the intimate details of her daughter’s kidnapping to become known… Especially if she believed this blogger had possession of her daughter’s confession video, which would harbor far more potential damage than any revenge porn ever would.
However, even Gu Nianzhi had to admit that, no matter how shrewd she was, she never would have guessed that Cai Songyin would be willing to resort to murder to protect her daughter.
Originally, she’d thought that the confession tape would merely blackmail Cai Songyin into dropping the legal charges against the blogger. That way, Huo Shaoheng would get to preserve his reputation, and the blogger wouldn’t be forced to blackmail Cai Songyin over her request for him to write that slanderous article.
She never would have thought that instead of letting it go, Cai Songyin would promptly send out an assassin to end “Churchill’s Garden,” whose true identity was revealed by the police to be Lu Dayong, and eliminate the threat of blackmail once and for all.
If she guessed correctly, the alleged “loan shark” that the neighbors had all been gossiping about was the true culprit. When her train of thought reached that conclusion, she felt compelled by a sense of urgency that made her stop eating to dial Huo Shaoheng immediately.
She waited five minutes until Huo Shaoheng finally picked up the phone. “Nianzhi, what’s the matter?”
Huo Shaoheng was reading the inspection report in his office. That morning, he’d taken advantage of his authority to initiate raids on secret service personnel under the premise of the provisional election mandating heightened security measures.
The investigative targets of this investigation were the microchip locators of their personnel. Investigations of this sort were systematically planned and scheduled about twice every year, with additional raids depending on the circumstance.
This raid was one of those circumstantial ones.
Since it was a raid instead of a systematic investigation, there was no room nor time for shenanigans. All the microchip trackers were installed on their personnel one-sidedly. In other words, once removed, they would lose functionality. Unless there was a change in identity, it would require the installation of a new microchip tracker.
This was also why only resignation or death was enough to warrant the removal of the microchip trackers from secret service members.
However, the inspection report in front of Huo Shaoheng reported that the microchip tracker on Hong Kangquan’s personnel was not only still in its original position, but it was also in impeccable condition.
As he was scrutinizing the report, he heard Gu Nianzhi ask him, “Huo Shao, are you preoccupied at the moment?” I have some matters to discuss with you.”
“Some matters?” Huo Shaoheng shifted his gaze from the documents to the view outside the window. The sky had darkened already. When he looked down at his watch, he discovered that it was early evening—time for dinner.
He closed his laptop, locked the documents in a safe, and said to Gu Nianzhi, “I’ll return soon. Have you eaten yet?”
Gu Nianzhi felt herself loosen up a bit and said, “I’m in the middle of eating right now, but I’ll wait for you.”
“Alright.” Huo Shaoheng’s voice softened. In a husky voice, he said, “Wait for my return.” When he left the office, his footsteps seemed to convey a sense of eagerness and anticipation.
He soon returned to his official residence. Sparing no time for a change in attire, he entered the dining hall, still in his dark green military attire.
The dining hall was spacious. Seated at the mahogany dining table beneath the crystal chandelier, a dainty lady seemed to be in deep contemplation, hand on her chin as she sat there quietly. From his angle, he could get a bird’s eye view of all the delicate lines and contours of her side profile.
Sensing someone’s gaze upon her, she suddenly looked up and broke out into a dazzling smile when she caught sight of Huo Shaoheng in his military attire.
“Ah, hum.” Huo Shaoheng regained his composure and seated himself across from her.
Without further ado, the orderly brought Huo Shaoheng his dinner and deferentially placed it in front of him.
Huo Shaoheng nodded at Gu Nianzhi and commenced eating. Whenever he dined at home, mealtimes were quiet and wordless. He had always instructed Gu Nianzhi to behave similarly.
The dining hall was silent, only the clattering of utensils and plates interrupting the silence. Still, Gu Nianzhi felt less lonely.
After finishing dinner, they left the dining hall and arrived at their private rooms. This area of the house had a long hallway, with the left side containing Gu Nianzhi’s suite, and the right side containing Huo Shaoheng’s suite. Their suites were virtually right across from each other.
Huo Shaoheng asked her, “Are you returning to your suite or mine?”
Gu Nianzhi hesitated, but thinking that Huo Shaoheng’s suite probably had better security, she pointed to his suite. “Let’s go to yours to chat.”
Huo Shaoheng smiled and turned around to press his palm to the sensor on his door. The door opened. As soon as they walked in together, the door shut automatically.
Gu Nianzhi paused, and her gaze wandered around the living room of Huo Shaoheng’s suite. She hadn’t stepped foot in here since returning from Germany. Yet after all the time that had passed, the setting had not changed at all.
The same old black drapery, chalky white walls, sturdy mahogany floors… So minimalist and brightly lit. The same old sofa with clear-cut lines stood in the middle of the floor. That same old doll sat on the desk in the corner, the very same doll that had accompanied Gu Nianzhi’s childhood years.
“Why are you still standing? Come over here and sit.” Huo Shaoheng sat down on the sofa and waved her over.
Gu Nianzhi snapped out of her thoughts. Her gaze floated from the doll to the seat next to Huo Shaoheng. She was not deliberately keeping her distance.
Huo Shaoheng pursed his lips. He slung one arm around the sofa behind Gu Nianzhi and asked, “Spill it, what’s the matter?”
Gu Nianzhi took out her phone, opened the text message she had once sent to Cai Songyin, and handed it to him. “Huo Shao, do you still recall what I said to you about this incident?”
Huo Shaoheng did not pick up her phone. He merely looked down at the screen and nodded, then asked, “What’s wrong? How did Cai Songyin know that you were the sender?”
So what if she knew? Huo Shaoheng couldn’t care less.
Lately, he had been so entangled in the affairs of Tan Dongbang and Cai Songyin that he really had no spare time for other matters.
He didn’t expect Gu Nianzhi to shake her head and say in a somewhat troubled voice, “…No, she has no idea that I was the one who sent it.”
Huo Shaoheng simply looked at her and wondered why she was acting so panicky.
“…She thinks that the blogger sent it,” Gu Nianzhi murmured, opening Weibo to show the content from the blogger “Churchill’s Garden” that the police had. This was the blogger who had been found dead from suicide the previous night.
Huo Shaoheng’s expression remained unchanged. He briefly skimmed over the content on her phone to catch the main points. “So what you’re saying is, Cai Songyin hired a hitman to eliminate this blogger?”
You have got to be kidding me!
Gu Nianzhi was so impressed that she considered kneeling…
He’d reached the same conclusion that she had within a moment instead of half an hour!
Gu Nianzhi lifted her gaze to meet Huo Shaoheng’s eyes and said quietly, “…Huo Shao, I’m not only saying this as your girlfriend, but as an average citizen too. I’m happy that our country has a soldier like you…”
Powerful enough to arouse fear from enemies, intelligent enough to interpret poems by ear, professional in formal settings, yet down to earth in intimate ones. He adhered to principles without being inflexible either.
If she hadn’t been his girlfriend, Gu Nianzhi wouldn’t have been able to find a single flaw on him.
Huo Shaoheng’s hand slid down from the back of the sofa to the nape of her neck as he kissed her lips gently. “…Welcome home, my babe.” She was like a lost child who, after wandering astray for a while, had finally found her way back home.
You won’t know how much something means to you until you lose it once. Similarly, only when one is forced to find their way back home alone will one learn the route the hard way.
Even though Gu Nianzhi was only 19, the hardships she’d endured along the way outnumbered even those of 29-year-olds. Such exceptional life experiences, in addition to her sagacity, had made her mature rapidly.
On the other side, maturity also allows one to understand harsh realities, learn to make prudent life decisions, and make tough compromises.
Gu Nianzhi no longer felt insecure and helpless when confronted with future aspects of their romantic relationship. Interacting with those people again and again had gradually made her realize that if she wasn’t worthy of Huo Shaoheng, then who on earth was?!
Gu Nianzhi inched closer to kiss Huo Shaoheng. “Thank you for waiting for me to return home.”
Had it not been for Huo Shaoheng’s persistence when cracks appeared in their relationship, their relationship would not have endured. This reflected the idea that a relationship depends on mutual input. If a relationship is supported by only one side, it will not endure.
Huo Shaoheng patted her on the back. “It’s good that you’re back.” Then he proceeded to ask, “When do you plan on announcing our marital status?”
Gu Nianzhi was stunned silent.
She sat up straight, flicked away some stray strands of hair, and shifted her gaze towards the black drapery. Deliberately changing the subject, she said, “We’ll talk about our affairs some other time. Let’s just stick to talking about Cai Songyin and the blogger for the moment.”
Huo Shaoheng chuckled and decided not to press the subject. Following her deliberate change in subject, he said, “If this incident really is connected to Cai Songyin in some way, then it won’t be as simple as slander or libel anymore.”
“Right.” Gu Nianzhi always became particularly attentive when it concerned her domain. “This is murder. If it was Cai Songyin who ordered the hit, she cannot get away with it. But how are we gonna obtain the evidence?”
Huo Shaoheng took her phone and reread the news.
Gu Nianzhi cried out in anguish, “I never imagined that Cai Songyin would react in such a psychopathic way! She thinks that she can blackmail and slander people all she wants, but all I did was threaten her and her daughter a tiny bit, and she promptly eliminates the threat through murder…”
