Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gu Nianzhi bit her lip as she gave Huo Shaoheng a sidelong glance. It took a great deal of restraint to take her eyes off of him and continue watching Gu Yanran argue with the court official.
“Miss Gu Yanran, please sign here. Also, due to the complexity of the case and you being a foreigner, we will be recording the entire process of the delivery of the subpoena. Everything you say or do can be used as evidence in court. Please do not make this difficult for us.” As the court official spoke, a few men carrying cameras actually appeared.
Gu Yanran was stunned, and Gu Nianzhi was speechless. They both had an expression that said, “…never would’ve expected this!” Gu Yanran was flabbergasted and didn’t know how much of her screaming and rudeness from earlier had been recorded. She suddenly felt somewhat guilty and retreated a step as she said sternly, “What are you doing? You’re also recording me without permission?”
“Miss Gu Yanran, we are not recording you without permission. We explained it clearly to you just now. The recorded information will be archived by the court and not publicized, nor will it be used for any purpose of gains.” The court official spoke with great logic and reason, stunning Gu Yanran into silence. “Now, please hand over your passport.” The court official stepped forward once. “If you refuse to hand over your passport, then we will have no choice but to take a trip to the courthouse.”
Were they going to detain Gu Yanran instead? Gu Nianzhi was a bit uncertain now. Had such procedures far exceeded the scope of her estate dispute case? Although the court official kept claiming it was due to the “large monetary sum,” that reason would only fool someone who didn’t understand law, like Gu Yanran. Now they were also making recordings and wanting to take her away into detention. That kind of treatment was not proportional to an estate dispute.
After Gu Yanran ranted some more, her reason finally returned. She took out her phone and raised a brow. “Wait here. I need to call my lawyer.”
The court official was thinking just how dull she was for taking all this time to finally remember she needed to call her lawyer. Of course, they would never proactively remind the defendant if they didn’t say they wanted to speak with a lawyer.
Gu Nianzhi also sighed. “So she finally remembered to get a lawyer. Hehe, with all the money she has, shouldn’t she have drivers, chefs, security, lawyers, and accountants milling around her everyday? Why do I always see her going around alone lately?”
Huo Shaoheng took another sip of water and replied calmly, “She had an extramarital affair with Prime Minister Tan, so it would be awkward for her to take those people around with her. That’s why she hasn’t been seen with them recently.” And then she wanted to leave the Hua Xia Empire, so of course she didn’t need those people. All she needed was a pilot.
“Really? Are you sure?” Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help swallowing hard. What scandalous news! Although she had guessed Gu Yanran’s sudden arrogant attitude towards her was probably due to gaining powerful support—and that support was probably Prime Minister Tan—Gu Nianzhi didn’t have any direct evidence at all. As a lawyer, she still kept a reserved attitude. After all, the short films and videos played in the Prime Minister’s official residence had been edited, so the man in them was censored and blocked out. There was no way to tell who it was. Even if everyone guessed it was Prime Minister Tan, who would dare start that kind of rumor without any actual evidence? But Huo Shaoheng had actually pointed out that it was Prime Minister Tan without any hesitation, so Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help but think that he may have direct evidence that could be published to the masses.
“…Yeah, the short films played in the Prime Minister’s official residence as well as the viral videos on Weibo were reported to the Senate as proper evidence. The Senate gave our Special Operations Forces special instructions to help recover the complete footage in the original videos and short films.” A faint smile appeared on Huo Shaoheng’s face. “Little Ze spent a great deal of effort recovering that for them.” Actually, they also had the original footage, but that couldn’t be officially presented as evidence. As for the evidence that had gone around and been “cleansed,” that had more public persuasive power.
“The recovered video and short films clearly indicate it was Prime Minister Tan. As a result, the Senate officially initialized impeachment procedures.” Huo Shaoheng finished speaking and glanced at Gu Nianzhi. He suddenly leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Do you want to see the complete video?”
Gu Nianzhi was speechless. Although she really wanted to see it, her heart also felt a bit weird when she recalled how Huo Shaoheng must’ve watched it god knew how many times. She glanced at him and began to frown. “Huo Shao, you must’ve viewed it countless times yourself?”
Huo Shaoheng chuckled and sat back down. “It was what my work required. But watching it once was enough. There wasn’t much aesthetic to it.” Also, the Special Operations Forces had them watch this kind of thing countless times during their anti-seduction training. Everyone there was a weathered expert who could keep a completely straight face in the face of these special action films.
Hehe, and he was talking about aesthetics, too. So was he using an “artistic” appreciation psyche to watch the male and female demons wrestle? Gu Nianzhi keenly chose not to reply. She changed the topic and said, “Just because of an extramarital affair, the Senate initialized impeachment procedures? That’s definitely making a mountain out of a molehill.” Extramarital affairs meant having a messy personal life, and electing a Prime Minister was not electing a saint. Gu Nianzhi still thought this was a bit wrong.
Huo Shaoheng saw that she didn’t continue speaking about it, so he stopped teasing her. He paused and masked his expression as he continued, “It wasn’t because of an extramarital affair, but because… the videos and short films indicated that the location of the affair was in the Prime Minister’s office.”
Gu Nianzhi replied, “Just how thirsty were these people that they didn’t even try to find a private residence to do it in?” Gu Nianzhi truly couldn’t understand. “Don’t all government agency departments have surveillance? Didn’t they know that?”
“Not all of them have surveillance.” Huo Shaoheng corrected her. “Only areas with security issues are to be under surveillance, and this typically requires permission from upper management departments and the courts.”
“Oh.” Gu Nianzhi wasn’t sure about that part, but she believed Huo Shaoheng must know much more about it than she did. “So he is being impeached for malfeasance?”
“That’s about right—as well as leakage of intelligence. The Senate is currently considering if they want to add that to the charges.”
Gu Nianzhi thought about it, and her expression changed slightly. “I think they can still add one more charge—misappropriation of campaign funds and usage of illegally gifted funds to make up for the deficit. I’d also sue Prime Minister Tan and his wife, Cai Songyin, and demand they repay the several hundred millions in US dollars that Gu Yanran illegally gifted them.” This was all part of the Gu estate, and it had been wasted by Gu Yanran, the money waster.
Huo Shaoheng recalled the time when the Minister Feng of the Secret Service first mentioned the richest woman of Barbados and felt somewhat emotional. But from looking at how Gu Yanran was even before, she still maintained the same characteristics and kept going around currying favor and scraping together support. In the beginning, she had been seeking Huo Shaoheng. Of course, she didn’t succeed. And then she wanted to latch onto Gu Nianzhi since she was a couple with Huo Shaoheng and was considered part of the upper echelon. Afterwards, Gu Nianzhi fell into danger and for some reason, Gu Yanran suddenly revealed that Gu Nianzhi was actually an adopted daughter. Finally, Gu Yanran had an extramarital affair with Prime Minister Tan and thought she had gained powerful support, but she never expected the support to fall apart so quickly.
“From Gu Yanran’s actions and characteristics all these years, we can see she is a poor businesswoman and doesn’t have acumen. Even though Gu Xiangwen had all those patents and stocks, she sold anything she could as long as she could accumulate cash and didn’t care if keeping those things would have resulted in larger gains in the long run. If she had used any random patents of Gu Xiangwen’s to start businesses with, then she would’ve quickly made hundreds or thousands of times the amount of money. But she actually sold off many of them for cash. Our intelligence official has determined that Gu Yanran’s actions and characteristics do not align with her status and identity, so they recommended we begin by investigating her. We finally learned that she was actually studying at the St. John’s College in England between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. For Gu Xiangwen, the richest man in Barbados, to have his own daughter studying at a school that trains professional butlers—don’t you find that ironic?”
