Bavarian white sausage?
At first, hearing of these two things felt so bizarre yet familiar that Gu Nianzhi felt like she had been hallucinating.
She raised her eyes reflexively and glanced at Reinitz, yet this time her eyes met Reinitz’s, and their eyes locked together.
What came to mind was the time they had spent together in the Alps…
Reinitz still had no idea when Gu Nianzhi had realized his true identity and started to become wary of him.
Gu Nianzhi also had no idea why Reinitz had approached her, but nonetheless, in the Alps, if it hadn’t been for the scheme Reinz had set up, she never would have made it out of there alive…
Thinking of this made Gu Nianzhi feel ambivalent towards him but also left a sour taste in her mouth.
She took a deep breath and decided to say “Danke,” which was thank you in German.
She was near yet distant, courteous yet aloof.
He had even brought her a gift from all this way, which she really should have been grateful for.
But did this really mean he cared?
Gu Nianzhi felt bitter inside and realized that Reinitz was probably there at this time because he had yet another purpose.
If he really cared about her, then shouldn’t he have pretended that he didn’t know her and kept up his act all the way to the end?
What game was he playing now, bringing up Mother Hanna and Bavarian white sausage?
Gu Nianzhi wasn’t naive. Since Reinitz was the director of the German Federal Intelligence Agency, Mother Hanna had to be one of them as well and probably had been in cahoots with Reinitz the entire time.
Reinitz’s eyes glimmered with joy for a second, but he quickly calmed himself down and restored the impassive expression on his face to stare forward. There was the slightest hint of a smile on his lips.
Reinitz had confirmed his intuitions about Gu Nianzhi. This little girl was indeed as shrewd as he thought.
All it took was for him to utter one sentence for her to change her perception of him. He didn’t know if he should praise her wisdom or feel distressed by her keen instinct.
Since she was this perceptive, Reinitz didn’t feel the need to say anything anymore, since anything else would just be redundant.
After a while, the photo session was over, and the people on the stage spread out throughout the banquet hall.
The long tables in the banquet hall were covered in Chinese food, every table handled by a professional chef. This was a high-end buffet-style, but with professional chefs present instead of having the guests serve themselves.
Gu Nianzhi glanced down at her watch. It was already past eight in the evening. She hadn’t eaten since one o’clock in the afternoon, and she was absolutely ravenous by then.
Holding a white porcelain plate in her hands, she picked some food that appeared appetizing to her from the long table.
A red piece of braised pork about the size of a mahjong piece that was three-percent fat and seven-percent lean meat with the right amount of flavor and texture, not too oily or greasy, not too dry and tender yet chewy, Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help indulging in this absolutely delicious delicacy.
Gu Nianzhi finished one piece of braised pork but yearned for another one.
However, there was only a limited amount of this special kind of braised pork. Each piece was carefully placed in a delicate blue cup with a wide base and narrow opening.
Basically, they were allowed one piece per person, so one person overindulging meant another person losing the chance to indulge.
Of course, not necessarily everyone would eat one piece.
Yet the banquet had just started. ‘No one will know if I just had another piece, right?’ she thought.
Gu Nianzhi felt conflicted. Those pieces of braised pork looked so tempting, like a lover attempting to seduce her…
Reinitz didn’t eat much. He had a glass of red wine in his hand, and the bone china dish in his other hand had only a few slices of Hunan’s lean meat sausage on it. He tasted it, and it was dry, but nonetheless, the taste was very good, even rivaling their Bavarian ones. They were particularly chewy and had an endless aftertaste.
If one was accustomed to this kind of food, how could one miss Germany’s white sausages?
Maybe it was just because to her, at that time and place, the white sausage represented hope?
Reinitz shook his head and caught sight of Gu Nianzhi looking at the long table. He walked towards her slowly.
He stood beside her and asked the entertaining professional chef, “What’s in these little jars?”
Gu Nianzhi translated for the chef.
“Braised pork.” The chef didn’t speak English and had to ask Gu Nianzhi, “Can you help me translate?”
Gu Nianzhi nodded, calmly said a French noun, “Bouilli,” and then explained in English, “Pork with barbecue sauce.”
Heinitz raised an eyebrow. “Bouilli? It’s a pity, I don’t like to eat that.”
Gu Nianzhi had no words.
The professional chef eagerly asked Gu Nianzhi, “What did he say?”
Gu Nianzhi hesitated before saying, “He said he doesn’t like to eat it.”
The professional chef’s face fell, and he crossed his arms in displeasure while saying, “He hasn’t even tasted it yet, so how can he say he doesn’t like it? Look at the sugar, smell the sauce! It’s three-percent fat and seven-percent lean meat, standard Southern-style braised pork!”
Gu Nianzhi smiled and said, “I know, right?! How delicious is this! This German has no taste, so why don’t you give me another cup? I already ate one, but I want another!”
This professional chef was stunned by Gu Nianzhi’s words and felt like his bruised ego at Reinitz’s hands was healed by Gu Nianzhi’s words. He simply gave her two cups of braised pork. “You eat!” He rolled his eyes in Reinitz’s direction.
Gu Nianzhi spoke in Chinese with the professional chef, and since she assumed Reinitz would have no idea what they were saying, Gu Nianzhi made up all sorts of excuses and showered the chef with praises in order to earn herself more cups of that delicious braised pork. “Our national delicacies should go to those who truly appreciate them, people with taste. If they weren’t our guests, we wouldn’t give them a second look!”
The professional chef was flattered by Gu Nianzhi’s words and couldn’t help but give her yet another cup of braised pork.
Reinitz had been standing to the side with a smile plastered on his face, his eyes swiveling back and forth between the professional chef and Gu Nianzhi. He had an intrigued and curious expression on his face, and it seemed like he couldn’t understand what they were talking about.
However, when the professional chef placed a third cup of braised pork in front of Gu Nianzhi, Reinitz reached out to block the professional chef from giving her another portion of the delicacy. His voice was soft and gentle. “That will be enough for her. She’ll get a stomachache if she keeps on eating this.”
Heinitz spoke in Hannover German.
Gu Nianzhi remembered the night when she had first met Reinitz, when she had eaten way too many white sausages due to extreme hunger and soon after experienced a severe stomachache. Her face flushed with embarrassment at the memory.
She hurriedly bid goodbye to the professional chef, turned around, and left with a plate of braised pork in her hands, then found a place to sit down.
Reinitz followed her with a smile and sat across from her, saying, “…You should eat less oily food like this.”
He said this in perfect Chinese without an accent!
Gu Nianzhi felt like she had been struck by lightning. She looked up at Reinitz in shock, then finally asked him, “… You can understand Chinese?! When did you learn Chinese? How much did you learn?”
Just now she and that professional chef had been recklessly mocking the German delegation to China; had Reinitz heard and actually understood every single word?!
This was a diplomatic faux pas!
Gu Nianzhi wanted to dig a hole to hide in out of shame…
Reinitz smirked at the embarrassment written on her face and said nonchalantly, “Not much. Just enough to understand what you were just saying to the chef.” And then he switched back to Chinese. “You were badmouthing us.”
Gu Nianzhi was dumbstruck.
In the banquet hall, there were friendly conversations happening all around the room between members of the German delegation to China and the Huaxia Empire’s reception team.
Therefore, Reinitz and Gu Nianzhi weren’t being paid any attention.
However, as the two most attractive people in the room, they were an eye-catching sight.
Many people were actually secretly eyeing them.
A beautiful blond woman in the German delegation glanced in Reinitz’s direction but didn’t have the courage to go over.
Someone with Speaker Long also saw Gu Nianzhi sitting with Reinitz.
Some people started to condemn Gu Nianzhi in front of Speaker Long. “Speaker Long, look at that silly little girl busy drooling over a man instead of helping us entertain the German Chancellor.”
Speaker Long simply grinned and said, “She may be young, but she knows her priorities. The man over there is the director of the German Federal Intelligence Agency, right? Let her attend to him then. She knows a little German, and she’s smart, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
The most important thing was that Gu Nianzhi had grown up with Huo Shaoheng and had a much stronger sense of confidentiality than the other people in the Senate.
Speaker Long thought that since Huo Shaoheng himself wasn’t there to personally deal with his German counterpart, the director of the German Federal Intelligence Agency, Reinitz, then Gu Nianzhi, who had grown up with Huo Shaoheng, was the next best qualified.
Of course, Speaker Long still thought it necessary to personally have a chat with Reinitz.
He looked back at the German Chancellor and saw that she was having a pleasant talk with her own German diplomats, so he stood up and headed towards Gu Nianzhi.
