Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Huo Shaoheng didn’t answer Zhao Liangze’s inquiry at all. He quietly turned on the computer on his desk and threw a memo at Zhao Liangze with the words stamped on the cover, “Not even one is to survive.”
Zhao Liangze nodded seriously and sighed in quiet relief. He balled one hand into a fist to smash into his other hand. “I don’t need to worry anymore now that I know you won’t be letting them go! Nianzhi can’t suffer for nothing. Also, when I think about how those people stabbed us in the back while we risked our lives on missions, I just want to throw up!” This incident infuriated all the field personnel at the Special Operations Forces headquarters. They didn’t fear bleeding, sacrificing themselves, or their enemies’ treachery. What pained and terrified them the most was betrayal by their own people.
Huo Shaoheng was also angry, but he couldn’t express it outwardly like Zhao Liangze did. He merely waved and allowed Zhao Liangze to take care of the provisioning before also calling Yin Shixiong inside. “General Ji asked you and Little Ze to attend the new Prime Minister’s inauguration. Do you want to go?”
Yin Shixiong stiffened. “I’ll go if Chief asks me to.” He worked under Huo Shaoheng anyway, so he would go if Huo Shaoheng asked him to. Even General Ji was not his direct superior.
Huo Shaoheng grunted. “I’ve asked Little Ze to represent us in attendance, so you don’t need to go anymore. You’ll be going out with me in two days.”
“Roger, Chief.” Yin Shixiong had no interest at all in the Prime Minister’s inauguration. Truthfully speaking, the Special Ops typically avoided high-profile public functions like that at all costs.
General Ji actually didn’t want them to go, anyway, but Tan Dongbang’s Prime Minister’s office kept calling him. Afterwards, even his wife, Cai Songyin, personally came to visit him to formally request that she be allowed to thank the Special Operations Forces for specially deploying a rescue mission for her daughter, Tan Guiren. She had especially asked the office of the Prime Minister to secure three tickets for the best seats and also emphasized that they would be seated together in the Tans’ VIP section, so it would not cause any gossip.
General Ji wasn’t comfortable with the idea, but he still had to respect the Tan’s and the Cai’s, so he didn’t refuse her outright. But when the invitations were delivered to the Special Ops, Zhao Liangze called General Ji to report that Chief and Big Xiong were feeling unwell, so he would have to attend alone.
General Ji smiled with satisfaction. “Since Shaoheng and Big Xiong are sick, and you’re the only person left in charge of the Special Ops, it won’t do to send you out to the inauguration. You’d better stay back, too. How about this. I’ll help explain this to Mrs. Tan and let them know that while we are grateful for their generosity, fate is going against our will. There’s nothing we can do, hahahaha…”
Zhao Liangze was speechless. He ended the call and after carefully thinking about it, he realized he admired and was impressed with Huo Shaoheng even more. It was convenient for them to do anything because he had won General Ji over to their side. This was the convenience of having a tiger’s skin as their banner.
…
On Saturday night, General Ji personally called Cai Songyin. “Mrs. Tan, what a shame. Both Shaoheng and Big Xiong are ill. One has a fever, and the other has an upset stomach, so they won’t be able to attend Prime Minister Tan’s inauguration tomorrow. Please apologize to Prime Minister Tan on our behalf. Also, Little Ze won’t be able to leave because both Shaoheng and Big Xiong are ill. This is a security protocol. We hope you understand.”
Cai Songyin began to frown. “General Ji, Major General Huo is ill? What kind of illness is it? Why are both of them ill at the same time? Are they alright? How about I bring a doctor to examine them? Dr. Cai from the Imperial Capital Harmony Hospital is my cousin. She is a skilled physician.”
The corners of General Ji’s lips turned down. He was feeling less and less patient with Cai Songyin’s aggressive attitude. The key principle in bureaucracy was being tacit and basically never revealing someone’s farce. Huo Shaoheng was using an obvious excuse to not attend the inauguration to express his dissatisfaction with the Tan’s, so he had no desire to ice their cake. Ever since his conversation with Huo Shaoheng that night, General Ji had accepted his perspective and also believed that there was someone deliberately damaging his relationship with Huo Shaoheng. Thus, he was even more dissatisfied with the Tan’s and didn’t want to make his prized general a part of their entourage. Most importantly, their own party represented the military, while the Tan’s were with the Cabinet. It had always been necessary to avoid conflicts of interest, so all contact had to be minimized. Huo Shaoheng was General Ji’s announced successor, so he absolutely didn’t want Huo Shaoheng to give the impression of toadying for personal gain. He was a soldier, so he relied on his own abilities and risked his life to advance his career. There was no common ground with the Tan’s, who used glib tongues and backhanded methods to win the election.
“Haha, is Mrs. Tan saying that she doesn’t trust the doctors from our Military. No. 314 General Hospital? You may not know that our top physician in the nation, Little Chen, is now a doctor on Shaoheng’s headquarters base,” General Ji shot back subtly and then hung up.
Cai Songyin hadn’t even reacted by the time she realized General Ji had already ended the call. She couldn’t help getting frustrated. “How rude. As expected, all soldiers are uncouth…” Cai Songyin muttered about General Ji under her breath, but she certainly wouldn’t really say it out loud, even if she had all the courage in the world.
She went to the study to find her husband. “Dongbang, Huo Shao and his two men aren’t coming tomorrow. What do you think is going on?” Cai Songyin sat down in a huff and picked up a teacup to sip from. “I’m doing Huo Shao a special favor, so I first had Guiren call him about the invitation, and then I sent a formal invitation for General Ji to pass along. But they said they are sick and can’t come.” Cai Songyin didn’t believe that Huo Shaoheng and his men were ill at all and thought it was just an excuse. Huo Shaoheng didn’t spend too much effort finding an excuse because he wanted to make his attitude clear, anyway. They should know he never wanted to come in the first place. And why didn’t he want to come? They should have known it themselves.
Tan Dongbang was stressing over preparations for his speech at the inauguration the next day, so he thought Cai Songyin’s complaining was a bit much. He coughed. “It’s fine. It makes sense that they don’t want to come. Think about it. They are a military institution, and General Ji will already be coming with his own men. Why do you have to insist on having Huo Shao come as well? Also, Huo Shao personally rescued our daughter. We should be very grateful to him. Why do you need to nitpick?”
Cai Songyin was feeling upset and didn’t expect Tan Dongbang to not console her and recognize the common enemy, and instead say it was her fault. She turned and replied unhappily, “What are you talking about? You think this is for my own pride? This is all for our baby girl!”
“Guiren?” Tan Donbang frowned. “What’s wrong with her? Is she sick? I haven’t seen her come out for dinner the past two days.”
“She is sick.” Cai Songyin’s eyes glittered happily upon mention of their daughter. “So I’m trying to find a cure for her.”
“What illness does she have?” Tan Dongbang became anxious. He only had one daughter, so he loved her more than anything and truly raised her like a princess. Of course, Tan Guiren was also very considerate and obedient, so she never caused her parents trouble. After her suffering in America, Tan Dongbang treasured her even more, and his loving heart had no idea how to spoil her.
“What illness? It’s an illness of the heart, an illness of longing.” Cai Songyin picked up the small fan from the coffee table and waved it. “Your daughter’s tender heart has finally moved, and because you’re not helping as her father, I have no choice but to do it myself.”
Tan Dongbang looked up and stared at Cai Songyin for a long time before replying, “You’re saying she likes Huo Shao?”
“Could it be fake? Our daughter has great taste.” Cai Songyin clapped. “I was just on the phone with Huo Shao’s father, General Huo, yesterday. General Huo is very modest and refined. He’s much more pleasant that General Ji. I never really had a good impression of military men, and you know that both our families have been scholarly elite for centuries. Now that you’re the Prime Minister, it’s only imminent that our families will rise in the ranks again, so we must be very cautious with Guiren’s marriage. But the Huo’s are different. I had someone investigate, and you know what? Although Huo Shao’s grandfather had a normal family, Huo Shao’s grandmother was actually a Xie… We didn’t know anything before. The Huo’s are certainly very low key.”
Tan Dongbang’s eyes sparkled. “Really? You mean that Xie family?!” In terms of old aristocratic blood, the Tan’s and Cai’s only deserved to clean up after the Xie’s. “I understand. You’ve worked hard these past few days.” Tan Dongbang walked over from behind the desk and sat down on the couch beside Cai Songyin to massage her shoulders. “Here, Mrs. Tan is tired. Let your husband help you relax your muscles.” The couple had grown up together, and their families were of equal status, so they naturally got married and always had a strong relationship.
Cai Songyin beamed and patted Tan Dongbang’s hand. “I’m glad you understand me. This time, I wanted to have Huo Shao and Guiren stand together and look like a family. That way, when the national television directly broadcasts them in the same frame, they will basically be a publicly recognized pair.” She was doing Huo Shaoheng such a huge favor, she never expected him to completely ignore it.
Tan Dongbang considered it for some time and said after much contemplation, “You’re coming from a good place, but someone like Huo Shaoheng probably wouldn’t want to build influence using his wife’s relationships. Also, you have to think that his grandmother is a daughter of the Xie’s, so does he even need to take advantage of our connections? We must alter our methods and not push it too hard. Otherwise, it might have an opposite effect.”
“Ok, I’ll listen to you. It’s for the sake of our daughter’s happiness, anyway.” Although it was the Prime Minister’s inauguration the next day, the couple doted on their daughter and spent most of the night discussing how they would help secure Huo Shaoheng, “the golden husband,” for Tan Guiren.
…
At 10pm on Saturday, Gu Nianzhi rode her bike and carried her backpack as she returned home from studying at the library. Under the dim yellow glow of the street lights in front of the dorm building, Gu Nianzhi saw the silver Bentley Bentayga SUV again. There was also a handsome man leaning against the SUV’s door, smoking. Sighing, she parked her bike at the racks beside the dorm and slowly walked over before standing in front of Huo Shaoheng.
Huo Shaoheng threw away his cigarette and smiled at her. “You’re back so late? Why aren’t you resting on a Saturday?” His expression had been stoic and solemn, handsome yet tinged with an indescribable authority. But the moment he saw Gu Nianzhi, a faint smile appeared like a ray of warm light that brightened the road on a cold autumn night.
