Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
No one knew why the video couldn’t be viewed anymore on any of the social media platforms. Luckily, she had already done a screenshot. If not, it would be really hard to explain this to anyone.
The only evidence she had now, was the screenshot of the back view of Huo Shaoheng in her phone.
“The person who secretly took the video was too mean! How could he say that I was Miss Desperate? I am going to sue him for defamation of my reputation.” Xu Piaohong’s eyes welled up with tears again. Deputy Chief of Staff Xu looked at her and raised his arm, but seeing her this way, he couldn’t bring himself to hit her.
He stomped his foot and said harshly, “Stay home and don’t go anywhere! I’ll go and find out what exactly went on!”
Deputy Chief of Staff Xu practically broke through his front door as he left for some of his colleagues’ places.
…
“Xu, this is rather complicated and it involved the Special Forces. We really cannot help much.”
“Xu, look after your daughter well. We’ve always heard that your daughter was pure and didn’t even want to look at, or even hang out with, our children, the second generations of government officials. Looking at the way things are now, it’s evident that she really didn’t associate with people like us before. She totally doesn’t know anything within the army.”
“Little Xu, go plead with General Ji. You both have been in the army for many years and he should still want to look after you for a bit. Don’t focus on your daughter for now. The law she violated was too serious; the highest committee board of the army has already been called to discuss what they can do about this incident. I heard that General Ji will have to do a review in the meeting.”
The final piece of advice was spoken by an old superior of Deputy Chief of Staff Xu’s. He really didn’t wish to see the future of a capable man ruined by his wife and child.
When Deputy Xu heard that General Ji had to do a review in the last minute emergency meeting with the highest committee board of the army, he knew that there was no longer a way to salvage the situation anymore.
He was only glad that his daughter hadn’t joined the army officially; she was only a trainee police. In the worst case scenario, she just couldn’t be a policewoman in the future. She could still get another job, or she could go overseas and further her education.
However, she couldn’t think about entering the Special Forces anymore.
In order for his daughter to enter the Speical Forces, General Ji would have had to help everything go along. However, he definitely wouldn’t agree to help after this, so Deputy Chief of Staff Xu didn’t dare harbor any hopes anymore as well.
Upon reaching home, he saw his wife sitting on the sofa, and his daughter crying onto his wife’s laps.
His anger dispersed into a long sigh.
“Piaohong, your father is home. Go and ask him what happened?” Mrs. Xu got Xu Piaohong up and pushed her towards Deputy Chief of Staff Xu.
Xu Piaohong dried her tears and stood in front of Deputy Chief of Staff Xu. Choking on her tears again, she asked, “Dad, how was it?”
“Nothing much.” Deputy Chief of Staff Xu caressed her head. “Go and do your job well, and don’t be so reckless again in the future.”After pausing for a few seconds, he continued, “We should also stop thinking of getting you transferred to the Special Forces. You won’t be able to get in anymore.”
“What?! How can it be? Why?!” Xu Piaohong looked up at her father in shock, her big round eyes full of confusion. “Dad, was I unable to meet any of the criteria? Are the entry requirements for the Special Forces really high? But I remember Uncle Ji mentioning—”
“Enough!” Deputy Chief of Staff Xu stopped Xu Piaohong sternly. He had intended to reprimand her a little, but looking at her eyes, red and puffy from crying, he stopped himself again. Changing his tone, he said helplessly, “Just be an excellent policewoman. If you don’t wish to be a policewoman anymore, Mum and Dad can send you overseas to further your studies too. After that, you can permanently reside there.”
Mrs.Xu was unhappy upon hearing that. “Xu, what on earth are you talking about? Why would she need to go overseas even if she is unable to enter the Special Forces?” She walked over and nudged him in the arm. “What would you do if she goes overseas? You won’t be able to get promoted anymore!”
She still wanted to be the wife of a General. The rank of Deputy Chief of Staff Xu was still a good distance away from that position. However, if Xu Piaohong really went overseas, Xu would lose that promotion.
This was an unspoken rule in the army.
It wasn’t like the past anymore. Having foreign connections were plus points, but now, they were considered to be hindrances.
Deputy Chief of Staff Xu wanted to laugh miserably.
How could be still hope for a promotion after something like this happened? He would consider it lucky if they didn’t demote him.
He didn’t want his family to worry about him though, so he kept mum about it, and only said, “It’s a crucial period now. We have to stay low. As for the video, forget it. It’s better to have one less problem to think about.”
“How can we do that?” Xu Piaohong cried out. “This stupid video has cost me my marriage! I won’t let the person who took this video off!”
“Piaohong! Do you not understand what I’ve just said?!” Deputy Chief of Staff Xu raised his voice at Xu Piaohong after seeing that she did not want to let the matter rest.
“Who knows what trouble you’ll be inviting if you continue to pursue this?”
Xu Piaohong finally agreed not to do anything silly after they spoke to her a long while.
After Xu Piaohong had gone to her room, Mrs. Xu remembered the Gu Nianzhi who had pretended to sprain her ankle after being hit by the shopping cart. She lowered her voice and whispered to Deputy Chief of Staff Xu, “I just remembered. There was a Miss Gu present with Huo Shaoheng. She sprained her ankle. That helped Major General Huo escape the situation.”
“What do you mean by escape the situation?” Deputy Chief of Staff Xu was as confused as could be. “Be clear.”
Mrs. Xu narrated the entire story to him.
Deputy Chief of Staff Xu crossed his arms and paced up and down the room. He m finally made a decision.
“I will make a call to Major General Huo, and ask him about Miss Gu’s injuries. We will go and pay her a visit personally if it was serious, and get her to understand our plight. If her injuries are not serious, we will send our regards. Let’s hope that it wasn’t serious. We’d have some hope left.”
Mrs. Xu nodded. “I think so too. But look at Piaohong. Should we bring her along?”
Deputy Chief of Staff Xu looked upstairs and shook his head. “Just the two of us. This child has been spoilt by us. To a certain extent, she doesn’t know her limits. This is a good time for her to learn that she cannot always be so willful.”
After discussing it for a few hours, it was decided that Deputy Chief of Staff Xu would be making the phone call personally to the Special Forces to try getting Major General Huo on the phone.
It was already Saturday evening. The clouds in the sky looked like colorful ribbons.
Deputy Chief of Staff Xu dialed the number and was put on hold before he finally managed to get through. Then he spent another several minutes, before he managed to get his call transferred to Huo Shaoheng’s office.
However, the person who picked up the call wasn’t Huo Shaoheng, but his personal secretary Zhao Liangze.
“Good evening Mr. Zhao, I am Xu Guiqi, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Operations Department. Apparently there was some misunderstanding between Major General Huo and my family. I’d like to personally apologize to him,” Deputy Chief of Staff Xu said this full of sincerity to Zhao Liangze, hoping to convey how urgently he wished to meet Huo Shaoheng and Gu Nianzhi in person. “I’ve also heard that Miss Gu had sprained her ankle today. Is it serious?”
With both his hands behind his head and legs stretched out under the office table, Zhao Liangze spoke through his bluetooth earpiece, with a tone as cold as ice. “If you’re calling in an attempt to absolve your daughter, Xu Guiqi, I’m terribly sorry but we are unable to further discuss this. Mr. Huo included.”
“Why? We are sincerely apologizing!” All of a sudden, Deputy Chief of Staff Xu felt that this group of people were being overly aggressive. It wasn’t like they did not want to apologize, why should they speak with such harshness?
“Apologizing doesn’t work for getting out of every situation, Xu Guiqi. When one breaks the law, one has to receive the punishment. Must I teach you that?” Zhao Liangze reminded himself of Gu Nianzhi, who was tied down on the hospital bed. Remembering her pain and suffering made him extremely upset. The little girl whom they watched over as she grew up had was pointlessly suffering. It felt worse seeing her the way she was now compared to when they got injured themselves.
“Secretary Zhao, how can you talk like that? How did our Piaohong violate the law?” Deputy Chief of Staff Xu would not admit that Xu Piaohong’s actions had led to the reveal of confidential information. He intended to go all out for the sake of his daughter.
“Oh, she didn’t violate the law, you say? She had the intention to attack our Nianzhi, causing her to be severely injured and now bedridden. She has to be like that for atleast half a month! How can we just let such a matter rest so easily? Of course, it’s not up to us if she had violated the law. The Military court will decide on that.” Zhao Liangze hung up upon after finishing his sentence, refusing to talk to him further.
The moment Deputy Chief of Staff Xu heard the words ‘Military Court’, his blood ran cold. “How did she get so seriously injured? I thought the shopping cart hit her lightly?” He stammered to himself.
Was Gu Nianzhi made of porcelain or something, breaking just on the slightest touch?
He thought about Gu Nianzhi’s injuries with disbelief and felt extremely frustrated. With that, he sat in his study until day break.
…
Xu Piaohong was all prepared first thing the next morning. She took a pint-sized carton of fresh milk and two small pieces of bread and dashed down the stairs. “Mum, Dad! I’m going to work!” She shouted.
Traffic police had rotational off days; it didn’t always fall on a weekend. Xu Piaohong was supposed to begin her workweek on the Sunday of that week.
She drove her car to the police station. Upon reaching her desk on level eight, her colleague stuck her head over and told her, “Xu Piaohong, the boss is expecting you in his office.”
Xu Piaohong placed her bag at her desk and went to the Chief office. “Chief Liang, you were looking for me? Is anything the matter?”
Chief Liang looked at her from his desk and said sternly: “Piaohong, someone lodged a complaint against you. You’re to be suspended for a while during the investigation. Surrender your badge, your gun, and the bullets now, and go to the Human Resource department to handover your entrance pass. Stay at home for a few days.”
“What? Who lodged a complaint against me?”Xu Piaohong cried. She felt as though the people surrounding Huo Shaoheng had teamed up to make her life difficult; they were all taking turns to torture her.
“Let them in and I’ll find out what exactly went wrong!”
“Xu Piaohong, don’t you know the consequences of the things you did?” A female colleague walked out of the pantry with a cup of coffee, looking grim. “Great, isn’t it? The identity of our founder and the head of Special Forces got sold to the world just like that. At a loss too! Xu Piaohong, are you really a human under that skin? Or are you just a dumb pig?”
“How dare you scold me like that?!” Xu Piaohong was angry, but seeing that the other party was an experienced Third class Police officer, she stopped herself from saying anything else. She wouldn’t have cared about things like these in the past though; to her, she abided by the principle of ‘I’ll mind my own business if you mind yours’. But now, things were different.
“Who has scolded you? Wow, so it’s considered to be a scolding if I decide to say something that’s true? Tsk tsk, how fragile must your heart be, little police officer.” Snorting, the female colleague turned and returned to her office.
Xu Piaohong was trembling with anger. She wanted to storm to her office and argue with the woman, but her other colleague held her back: “Don’t be angry at her. She just hates people who leaked secret information. Her brother was also from the Special Forces in the past. A few years ago, he passed away while on a mission because of leaked information as well.”
A cold shiver ran down Xu Piaohong’s spine and she felt the gravity of what her blunder must have cost Huo Shaoheng—the right to a peaceful life.
She took out her gun and bullets, placed them in a clear zip lock bag, and brought them to the armoury. Then, she went to look for Chief Liang. She wanted to know who was the one who had lodged a complaint against her. Did she get the complaint because she was too serious at work and offended someone?
If it was, she wasn’t afraid.
…
Lying on the bed, Gu Nianzhi slipped in and out of consciousness. At midnight on Saturday, she had started running a fever.
The monitors in her room had gone off and woke Huo Shaoheng, who was resting on the sofa near the hospital bed. He rushed over to Gu Nianzhi’s side and took a look; he realized that her temperature had risen. On top of that, her lips were extremely dry and peeling. Her limbs were too hot to the touch.
Chen Lie rushed over shortly after and pulled Huo Shaoheng aside. “Excuse me please. I need to conduct a check up.”
Huo Shaoheng moved over and looked fixedly at Gu Nianzhi while Chen Lie checked the monitors.
Looking more and more worried, Chen Lie finally said, “Nianzhi is running a fever. It’s not looking good.”
