Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Huo Shaoheng was standing in the front of his silvery-gray military SUV and waiting for Gu Nianzhi in the spacious parking lot behind the Prime Minister’s Residence.
He leaned on the passenger’s side door as he hugged his arms around himself. His body was leaning slightly forward and his head was hanging halfway down. He had long legs. One leg was straight and the other leg was bent halfway. The backs of his feet rested on one of the tires.
Under the clear moon, standing there, he looked like a picture.
The man was perfect. How could she refrain from looking at him?
At that moment, Gu Nianzhi forgave her younger self for being extremely ignorant.
When Huo Shaoheng lifted his head and saw Gu Nianzhi coming toward him, his expression changed briefly.
Because she was not the only one coming toward him. He Zhichu was also there.
His deep eyes squinted. However, when He Zhichu and Gu Nianzhi got there and were standing in front of him, things went back to normal.
“You’re here.” Huo Shaoheng straightened his body and nonchalantly said to Gu Nianzhi, “You still need Professor He to walk with you even when it’s not that far?”
Gu Nianzhi felt a bit awkward.
He Zhichu hadn’t come to send her off…
But before she even opened her mouth, He Zhichu said, “Something happened to my car today. Huo Shao also saw it. Now, it’s getting dark and it’s not very convenient to get a car to come to the Prime Minister’s Residence. I have to trouble Huo Shao to take us back. This happened to be on the way.”
Huo Shaoheng looked at Gu Nianzhi and he could tell from her facial expression that she hadn’t told He Zhichu where she was going to go.
Gu Nianzhi suddenly had an idea and quickly said, “Yes, yes. It happened to be on the way. Huo Shao, take both of us back to school!” This way, she wouldn’t need to go to the newly-purchased second-hand home alone with Huo Shaoheng.
So awesome and so resourceful!
Gu Nianzhi wanted to pat herself on the back again.
Huo Shaoheng looked at her unenthusiastically and opened the door. “Get in the car.” Gu Nianzhi looked at He Zhichu and hesitantly asked, “How about Professor He sits in the front?”
He Zhichu shook his head. His cool and indifferent voice was especially lonely in the capital’s late autumn night scenery. “No, I’m not accustomed to sitting in the same row as strangers.”
Huo Shaoheng didn’t look at He Zhichu. He knocked on the car door and said to Gu Nianzhi with a displeased attitude, “Hurry up. Your school closes its door at 11 o’clock.”
It would be a bit more troublesome to arrive after that time. One would need to stop and show one’s ID.
Gu Nianzhi was happy and thought that she could return to school and wouldn’t need to be alone when she faced Huo Shaoheng. She immediately got into the car and sat in the front passenger seat. He Zhichu sat in the back.
The corner of Huo Shaoheng’s mouth moved so subtlety that it was unnoticeable. He went around to the driver’s seat, closed the door, fasted his seatbelt, started the car, stepped on the gas. The silvery-gray Bentley quickly left the parking lot of the Prime Minister’s Residence.
At first, no one in the car spoke.
Huo Shaoheng was a person who didn’t speak much to begin with.
He Zhichu was also not a person who spoke much.
Although Gu Nianzhi was the kind of person that spoke a lot, she was tired that day. She didn’t want to talk so she propped her head in her hand as she looked at the night scenery outside the window, lost in thought.
The streetlights near the Prime Minister’s Residence were very bright. Safety and security were very comprehensive and circumspective.
When they got off the big street, Willow Lane, and got onto the highway, Gu Nianzhi noticed two people that she was familiar with.
It was Ye Xuan and Gu Yanran.
Their car was parked by the side of the road. It looked like they were arguing.
Huo Shaoheng’s car was driving too fast. Gu Nianzhi couldn’t clearly hear what they were arguing about, even with her window down.
Their car quickly passed them and got on the highway.
“Close the car window.” Huo Shaoheng looked straight ahead and said it indifferently.
Gu Nianzhi pressed the button on the car door and the car window went up.
The clamor and the noise from the highway immediately quieted. The silence in the car was scary. The breathing of the three people could be heard clearly.
Gu Nianzhi felt uncomfortable and tried to think of something to say.
“Professor He, what happened to your car?” Gu Nianzhi turned her head and looked at He Zhichu who was sitting in the back seat.
Huo Shaoheng said, “Professor He’s car suddenly spontaneously combusted. It turned into a pile of ash.”
He tilted his head as he looked at Gu Nianzhi. “…Almost like the car you were riding in when you were 12. It was completely burned.”
Gu Nianzhi’s brows creased. “But I didn’t hear any explosion.”
If the circumstances really were exactly like what had happened to her when she was 12, there would have been the sound of an earth-shaking explosion. It seemed like there also had been a very high mushroom cloud…
Huo Shaoheng made an “uh-huh” sound. “Yes, that is the only difference. Professor He’s car did not explod, but it was still thoroughly burned like your car. That’s why it’s stranger.”
Gu Nianzhi’s car exploding had caused everything to be burned up from the high temperatures. It was still considered to have a scientific foundation.
However, He Zhichu’s car didn’t even explode, yet within seconds, it had suddenly turned into ashes when it spontaneously combusted. To a certain degree, this was more difficult. It was scarier.
The moment Huo Shaoheng got the news, he had gone to the site to investigate. Appropriately, he’d found out that the situation was more serious than what he had expected, so he immediately assembled the Special Operation Forces’ technical personnel and sealed off the site. He planned to send everything, including the soil and the ashes, to the Special Operations Forces’ lab.
Based on what they knew about spontaneous combustion phenomenon, something that could burn up that way just didn’t exist. Nothing was hot enough to burn a high-grade manufactured car material into ashes in a matter of seconds.
Furthermore, it had burned very “thoroughly”. It didn’t give off any foul smell after the plastic or chemical materials were burned. Because of that, there was no industrial pollution.
What did that mean?
That meant that the two cars had reached a super high temperature instantly. Then everything quickly burned and disintegrated and became carbon dioxide. That was why there was no pollution.
There was only one instance of a car spontaneously combusting, but Huo Shaoheng’s analysis already had advanced knowledge and theories about the environmentally-friendly aspects, chemicals, materials, high energy physics, weapons, and so on about it.
She gasped in amazement as she listened. She couldn’t help herself and asked He Zhichu, “Professor He, what was special about your car?”
He Zhichu hugged both of his arms. His head was tilted because he was also looking out the window. When he heard what Gu Nianzhi asked him, he turned his head and shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing.” He paused and listlessly said, “Even if there was something special about the car, I wouldn’t know of it. I’m only a law professor.”
Huo Shaoheng laughed queitly but he didn’t expose He Zhichu.
With He Zhichu’s abilities, he was only a “law professor”? That was belittling himself…
If Huo Shaoheng’s guess was correct, He Zhichu’s car had been modified. That was why when he knew he’d found out about the sonic boom sound and the ability to increase the speed of the car very quickly, he had resolved to cut off his arm to survive and had burned the car completely.
So what was the use of him suspecting him?
He wouldn’t give up a single shred of evidence.
But it didn’t matter. Huo Shaoheng had the most patience when he was waiting by a stump for a hare to bump into it.
The three of them didn’t speak anymore and drove back to B University in silence.
When they arrived, it was only 10:50. It wasn’t time for the gate to close yet.
Huo Shaoheng drove the car directly toward the building that He Zhichu lived in.
He furrowed his brows and said, “You should take Nianzhi back to the dormitory first.”
Huo Shaoheng didn’t even turn his head. One of his hands was on the steering wheel and he calmly said, “We have to honor the teacher and revere your teachings.”
He Zhichu calmly undid his seatbelt and pushed opened the door. He then kicked the door closed.
Huo Shaoheng opened the car window and he stretched out his hand to wave at him. He then stepped on the gas and left like a bowstring arrow.
Gu Nianzhi had just been thinking of undoing her seatbelt and getting out of the car. She hadn’t expected Huo Shaoheng to drive away so quickly.
Gu Nianzhi looked at the road in front of her and after a while she said with surprise, “…This is not the way to my dormitory.”
“Uh-huh, this is the way to our new home.”
“You promised to take me back to the dormitory!” Gu Nianzhi was angry. “How could you not keep your word?!”
“When did I promise that?” Huo Shaoheng took a glance at her. One of his arms had already moved toward her and he placed one hand over her closed fist. He held it firmly. His smile reached his eyes. “I just said I would take Professor He back first.”
That was really too crafty!
Again, Gu Nianzhi experienced how Huo Shaoheng was different now. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like she had been wronged. She turned her head and looked away and said unsatisfactorily, “…You never tricked me before!”
“You also didn’t ignore me before.” Huo Shaoheng patted her hand. His deep dark eyes rested for a very short time on her pouting water-chestnut lips. In a split second, his voice became deep. “Be good, sit. We will be there soon.”
It was true that the second-hand home that Gu Nianzhi had bought was not too far from the school.
After Huo Shaoheng left B University, he arrived at Hepingli Precinct’s building A’s underground parking lot within ten minutes.
Gu Nianzhi saw that her flashy red Ferrari was already parked in the parking lot in the only space with a compartment.
“Get out of the car.” Huo Shaoheng parked the car. He walked over to Gu Nianzhi’s side and opened the car door for her.
Gu Nianzhi sat in the car and did not move. Her expression looked cold as she said, “I want to go back to school.”
“Get out of the car.” Huo Shaoheng said those words again. It seemed like he was a bit annoyed.
Gu Nianzhi was thinking: Good that you are annoyed. It’s best if you are tired of me. In the future you will want to get further and further away from me.
She stayed in the car and did not move.
Seeing that she still wouldn’t move, Huo Shaoheng nodded. “You like to be in the car? Fine…”
He walked over to the driver’s side of the car. He opened the car door, got into the car, started the car, and backed the car out of the parking space. Then, he parked the car at a dead end that had a surveillance camera.
Huo Shaoheng then pressed a button. The color of all the windows in the car gradually became darker. It kept most of the light from the parking lot out. One could only see blurry shadows through the tinted windows.
Gu Nianzhi originally thought that Huo Shaoheng had given in and was driving because he wanted to take her back to the school.
She thought too much…
How could Huo Shaoheng give in?
Gu Nianzhi looked around her and had her guard up. “What are you going to do?”
Huo Shaoheng tightned his face and made a whoosh sound as he undid his seatbelt. He tiled his head toward her and bent down. He nimbly held her shoulder with one hand as he placed his other hand in her hair behind her head. He lowered his head without hesitation and kissed her lips.
Who knew how long it had been since he kissed her. He had just touched her soft lips and he already felt like there was something rumbling in his head. His reasoning and self-control had all completely crumbled.
At first, he only wanted to do it half-heartedly so that it would scare her a bit.
But she tasted sweeter and more refreshing than he remembered
He couldn’t separate his lips from her lips when they touched. With him using that much force it wasn’t even kissing, but sucking. He was sucking her hot lips. It was awfully painful…