Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Oh? How could that be?!” Tan Dongbang instantly frowned. “Miss Gu, are there really no other options? My wife grew up with me and we’ve always been so happy together. I can’t let anything happen to her!”
“Prime Minister Tan, you really are loyal and loving. Mrs. Tan must’ve saved the world her last life in order to marry you.” Gu Yanran was even able to be humorous at a time like this, so Tan Dongbang admired that a lot.
“Miss Gu is too kind. I am one with my wife and if anything happens to her, I will suffer too. So I hope that Miss Gu can understand that.” Tan Dongbang lowered his voice in pleading to Gu Yanran. Of course, he had farther sights than Gu Yanran. Not only did Cai Songyin help him greatly, but the Cais also had high positions and he had been friends with her for many years — but the fact that Cai Sognyin was the First Lady and accused of the misappropriation of campaign funds meant he couldn’t let anything happen to her. This incident also had close implications for him and there was no such thing as rescuing one but not the other. If something were to happen to Cai Songyin in this case of misappropriation of campaign funds, then he also couldn’t escape from responsibility as the Prime Minister. There was no doubt that they would both share the same fate.
Gu Yanran’s heart trembled and she secretly thought that Prime Minister was quite impressive for holding steadfast and not slipping up. She originally had intentions of using the Tan’s elite positions to advance herself, but Tan Dongbang refusing to abandon his wife at a time like this completely changed her perspective of him. An unknown emotion began to fill her chest. Why were the men who were loyal to their wives and girlfriends always someone else’s? After a period of silence, Gu Yanran replied evenly, “Prime Minister Tan makes a good point. I will reconsider this. Right, I read the documents from the lawyers and also wanted to see the funding reports for your campaign team. Would that be possible?”
Tan Dongbang froze. That was confidential, so he had Cai Songyin become the financial director for his campaign team. He only trusted his wife, so even Lawyer Jin hadn’t seen the entire funding reports.
“…If you’re not even willing to show me this, then I have no way of helping. I think you can understand that. Even if I need to move funds, it will take some time to amass,” Gu Yaran said as she ended the call politely. “Please consider this carefully. If there is no other option, you can speak to me again.”
Setting down the phone, Tan Dognbang was silent for a long time. At night, he told Cai Songyin about Gu Yanran’s request and of course, he didn’t repeat what Gu Yanran said about only being able to save one of them. That kind of talk would cause Cai Songyin to dislike Gu Yanran and for some reason Tang Dongbang didn’t want these women to be at odds at all. He only hoped that they could be harmonious sisters. Cai Songyin also did not want to allow Gu Yanran to see the complete funding report. She mulled over it and eventually said, “I’ll deal with the record problem. you tell her an amount and just have her raise the money.”
“…That’ll work?”
“Of course. You think Gu Yanran is helping us to this extent just because she has too much money to burn?” Cai Songyin rolled her eyes at Tan Dongbang. “She wants to break into the upper class. At a time like this, wouldn’t it be a piece of cake for you and I to help her? So just agree to whatever she asks for, since promises aren’t worth anything anyway. As long as she deposits the money into our campaign team’s bank account, this incident will be considered over.”
Tan Dongbang thought about it carefully and also believed it was all that could be done. However he was still feeling a bit uncomfortable with how his wife was speaking so shrewdly. He still thought that Gu Yanran wasn’t so willing to help them purely because of personal interests. He still thought there was something about the way she looked at him…
“OK, I’ll go tell her and then consult Lawyer Jin to see how we should proceed,” Tan Dongbang said as he adjusted Cai Songyin’s blankets. “You sleep. I still have some business to take care of.”
Cai Sognyin sighed in relief and kissed his cheek before falling asleep. The past few days had been too tiring and she really couldn’t stand it anymore. However she wouldn’t let the person who did this to her have an easy time, as soon as she figured out who it was!
…
The next day, Jin Wanyi came to Tan Dongbang’s official residence to ask him about the case. “Mr. Prime Minister, from what angle do you want to defend Mrs. Tan?”
Tan Dongbang laid down all his problems one by one. “…First of all, do you have any way to smooth out the issue of the evening gown?”
“Evening gown? Oh, that’s rather simple. It’ll be okay as long as the evening gown is returned to the campaign team and you say that it was rented from the material purchased by the campaign team. You can claim market rent.” Jin Wanyi began to give them solutions.
“But the news published that my wife bought the evening gown with her own money. What can we do about that?” Tan Dongbang was rather greedy. He wanted Cai Songyin to walk away from the case unharmed and also not to tarnish their family’s reputation…
Jin Wanyi sighed and spread her palms helplessly, “Mr. Prime Minister, that’s not how the calculations work. Right now we need to solve the legal problems, and as for the media posts, they can be considered false touts and do not involve the law. These are just moral issues, so you must be willing to open your mind to them.” In other words, the boastful words in the posts would remain forever…
It was the first time Tan Dongbang was dissatisfied with Cai Songyin. If she hadn’t gotten greedy about creating these so-called characters, they would have never ended up in such a passive position. How could the opposition be able to topple Tan Dongbang by just getting ahold of a tiny mistake? But he didn’t consider how if it hadn’t been for Cai Songyin creating characters for their entire family, he could not have emerged victorious amongst all the other candidates and be remembered by the public. How could he have won the election as the black horse? This kind of thing was a double edged sword — he couldn’t only enjoy the one sided benefits and disregard the side effects.
Jin Wanyi saw this clearly as an outsider, but Tan Dongbang became a bit stubborn from within the situation. However he still perked up and discussed some details with Jin Qanyi before concluding the day’s meeting. In the evening, when Gu Yaran called to ask with concern, Tan Dongbang couldn’t help venting to her. “Really, even if she can get out of being charged, now her reputation would be tarnished. How can I run for re-election?”
Gu Yanran quickly replied, “What? What did the lawyer say?” Tan Dongbang told her everything Jin Wanyi said. This was exactly what Gu Yanran hoped for. “Prime Minister Tan, you must be able to let it go. I think Lawyer Jin is right. Her reputation is tarnished, but the public’s memory is short. As long as your wife’s case is settled, there will be other headline news in the next few days and everyone will forget about the posts.”
Tan Dongbang thought about how the public’s memory span was short, yet his opponents would never forget… If he were his own opponent, he would also latch onto this point and wait to unleash it in the future to damage his reputation. However, he had no choice right now, since even the professional lawyer was saying this. He could only admit to it.
“…Prime Minister Tan, don’t worry. Your positive assets are great, so even if Mrs. Tan goes into the negatives, you can still bring her back up.” Gu Yanran said with a giggle. Her voice seemed to have hooks that traveled through the phone to latch onto Tan Dongbang’s heart through the electrmagnetic waves.
“Miss Gu, you sure has a way with words.” Tan Dongbang’s mood sweetwened from her words.
“Just call me Yanran. Miss Gu sounds too distant.”
“OK, Yanran.” Tan Dongbang slowly enunciated her name. Like chewing an olive, the flavor lingered in his mouth.
…
Gu Yanran ended her call with Tan Dongbang and mulled over it in her room before finally calling Gu Nianzhi. She had been back from Germany for a week now and Gu Yanran hadn’t gotten a chance to speak with her. This time, Gu Nianzhi finally picked up. Ye Xuan had gotten Gu Nianzi’s phone number for Gu Yanran because her previously number had been cut off. “Nianzhi, you’re finally back? How are you doing?” Gu Tanran asked gently and sounded very concerned.
Gu Nianzhi was in low spirits and didn’t want to talk to Gu Yanran. But today when she was about to decline the call, she accidentally hit accept and had no choice but to pick up. “I’m fine.” Gu Nianzhi looked at her thick reference book, “You need something?”
“No. It was your birthday two days ago and I wanted to have a birthday party for you, but it also happened to be the same day as the Prime Minister’s inauguration. The Prime Minister and his wife were kind enough to invite me, so I really couldn’t reject their offer and finally went. I didn’t get a chance to spend your birthday with you, but please don’t blame Sister…”
