“It seems like Gu Xiangwen had been a target for a long time.”
Huo Shaoheng finally understood the reason why he went into hiding after his sister, Gu Tian, had passed away. It appeared Gu Xiangwen had painstakingly covered his tracks no matter what, not allowing anyone to track him.
Perhaps he had finally realized that something was amiss…
Zhao Liangze and Yin Shixiong discussed this with Huo Shaoheng for awhile. No matter how the discussion progressed, they had too little information on hand to proceed. The only way for them to know more would be to try to get more information from Gu Yanran.
…
A few days later, the soldiers sent to investigate Gu Jing’s history in Japan returned. They had also brought back the ten strands of hair.
Chen Lie immediately started the process for a DNA comparison and sequencing report.
The results were ideal. The DNA from the ten strands of hair indicated that the hair came from Gu Yanran’s mother. The sequencing also showed that she was truly Japanese.
They had successfully found Gu Yanran’s biological parents.
What Gu Nianzhi had said in court was merely assumptions. In order to back up her words, she would require evidence.
Through this investigation, Huo Shaoheng had helped Gu Nianzhi back up all of her claims. There would be no chances for Gu Yanran to fight this case ever again.
…
The metal gate of the detention center opened with a whoosh. Gu Yanran hid in a corner when the cell was filled with a bright light.
She shrunk into the corner where her mattress was and looked blankly at the officer. The officer stood at the door and called out to her, “Number thirty-eight! Come out!”
Gu Yanran’s number in the detention center was thirty-eight.
She got off the bed slowly and dragged her feet towards the door.
When she sat down in the interrogation room, she saw two police officers take out a picture. They began to question her by asking, “Gu Yanran, is this person your mother, Gu Jing, who was also known as Shizuko Kasahara?”
Gu Yanran raised her head and had a blank expression. Her eyes were fixed on the picture for awhile.
That woman in the picture was so foreign, but so familiar at the same time…
The face and the features were familiar; they were almost identical to Gu Yanran’s; however, the eyes were totally different.
It was her mother in her memory.
If she remembered correctly, seven years ago she went to Chiba Ken in Japan to offer prayers to her mother. This was the same picture that she saw on the altar in Chiba Ken.
Up until this juncture, it was impossible to continue denying the truth.
Gu Yanran covered her face with her hands and began bawling.
…
In the evening, a set of statements from Gu Yanran was placed on Huo Shaoheng’s work desk.
Yin Shixiong and Zhao Liangze had already read the statements. They sat across Huo Shaoheng to give their points of view.
“According to Gu Yanran, after her adoptive father, Gu Xiangwen, had gone through that aerial accident, then someone contacted her and told her that it was impossible for Gu Xiangwen to continue living. That person asked if she would be keen to work together. She saw an opportunity, headed to the venue, agreed on the terms and conditions, and then set up the next step. Only after she was done with the discussion and headed home did she realize that Gu Nianzhi had thrown a tantrum and headed out to sea. After that, she couldn’t be found.”
“Then the inheritance went through some transfers. The person promised her that as long as she helped them find some of the data from Gu Xiangwen’s experiments, the transferred inheritance would belong entirely to her.”
“She would just have to wait until Gu Nianzhi was missing for seven years, and then she would be able to apply for Nianzhi’s death. After that, she would own the entire inheritance from the Gu family.”
“Whatever happened after that, we already knew.”
Whatever happened after that entailed Gu Nianzhi suing Gu Yanran before the seven years was up, requesting to split the inheritance equally.
Huo Shaoheng asked without raising his head, “Who contacted her? Did she mention that?”
“…Our old pal, Masao Hamada.”
Huo Shaoheng was slightly taken aback, then the corners of his mouth twitched. “Coincidence? He’s already dead though.”
“If we hadn’t killed him earlier on, Gu Yanran would never have shown herself so soon.” Yin Shixiong smiled and gave Huo Shaoheng a thumbs up. “We’ll all remember the teachings of Mr. Huo. We have to be first in everything. If we’re supposed to kill the person, don’t let them live.”
They would have avoided many unnecessary problems if they had done that.
Huo Shaoheng looked at him calmly and asked again, “And the data from the experiments? What data did Masao Hamada want from Gu Xiangwen?”
“I think it was related to the data to cure the Gu daughters’ inherited genetic illness.” Yin Shixiong looked at Gu Yanran’s statement. “Gu Yanran wasn’t exactly clear about this. Her words weren’t accurate, but it seems related to the genetic therapy that his research was on, and not the bone marrow transplant that we had initially thought it to be.”
Huo Shaoheng became silent.
Chen Lie and Huo Shaoheng had already known about this for quite some time. These were two separate issues altogether.
Usually genetic therapies utilized viruses to invade the patient’s DNA so it could repair impaired genes.
However, thanks to Gu Nianzhi, they tried to mimic Gu Xiangwen’s method to cure it. The method should expose the DNA so it could be infected by the virus. For example, they would use a genetic gun to inject the viruses directly into the patient to repair the patient’s impaired genes.
It had been an unlikely discovery. When Chen Lie used Gu Nianzhi’s bone marrow and injected it into a patient, he found that her bone marrow could repair the impaired genes of the patient extremely quickly.
Therapies like these were fine for the patient, but the donor would be undergoing hell. The donor would have to go through the bone marrow extraction over and over again…
To be frank, genetic therapies in real life were not that simple and straightforward. However, for Gu Nianzhi, it was that simple.
Of course, with such a genetic make-up, it would be impossible to find what Gu Nianzhi’s bone marrow offered in the world.
Huo Shaoheng’s heart skipped a beat.
He instinctively felt that the data Masao Hamada wanted was not related to the Gu family’s genetic illness. What he wanted was the data of Gu Nianzhi’s genetic make-up…
Huo Shaoheng was certain that Gu Yanran did not know about that. If she had known about that all along, she definitely would have locked Gu Nianzhi up, even if she had to force her.
Gu Nianzhi coincidentally went missing at that time and had avoided Masao Hamada.
Huo Shaoheng kept running all the points through his head and came up with countless assumptions.
However, the existence of H3ab7 popped into his head again.
Didn’t Masao Hamada invent that viral aphrodisiac?
It was able to alter a person’s genetic make-up—in a negative way.
At that time, Yamaguchi Youko used Masao Hamada’s drug to sabotage Gu Nianzhi. Did she really not know who Gu Nianzhi was?
How was Yamaguchi Youko related to Masao Hamada?
They had initially thought that Yamaguchi Youko was from the Yamaguchi-gumi; however, the people from Yamaguchi-gumi had denied any connections between Yamaguchi Youko and themselves. They had also said that they did not know who Yamaguchi Youko was.
Now that he tried to analyze it, it seemed like there were two forces trying to bring the Gu family and Gu Nianzhi down.
What dark secret did Gu Xiangwen have in hand?
What could make the Japanese so desperate to land their hands on it, so much so that they planned a grand attack over decades?
Huo Shaoheng filed away the analysis along with the other highly confidential documents.
He still had some areas that he could not understand, so he did not wish to share the analysis with anyone yet.
After turning the computer off, Huo Shaoheng instructed, “Put Gu Yanran’s statement into our archive. On top of that, send a copy of her statement to Nianzhi. She wanted to sue the ‘Angel in the World’ charity organization to pursue the illegal gifting of Gu Yanran’s inheritance form to them. She needs this evidence.”
…
In the afternoon on Friday, Gu Nianzhi finished packing her bag and left the library.
She got onto her bicycle and headed back towards her dormitory, feeling lighthearted.
Ma Qiqi had already gone home. She would be going to the Special Forces headquarters to see Chen Lie.
Just as she came out from the shower, she received a call from Xie Qingying.
“Nianzhi, are you ready? Should I come and get you now?” Xie Qingying had intended to treat Gu Nianzhi to a meal.
In order to make it easier for Gu Nianzhi, Xie Qingying had chosen a restaurant near B University.
Upon hearing the name of the restaurant from Xie Qingying, Gu Nianzhi replied readily. “Oh. It’s just beside our school. Alright. I’ll see you at the entrance of the restaurant then.”
“Okay.” Xie Qingying did not insist. “Seven o’clock then. I’ll meet you at the entrance. See you then!”
…
Since Gu Nianzhi lived near the restaurant, she left the dormitory when it was half past six.
She did not have a car, so she rode her bicycle over.
After she locked her bicycle in front of the restaurant, Gu Nianzhi raised her head and saw a tall girl with big boobs standing in front of the restaurant.
Her clothes were fashionable.
The girl on the left looked slightly like Gu Nianzhi; however, she looked more matured. That girl was Xie Qingying.
Huo Jialan sat beside her. Gu Nianzhi had not seen her in a long time.
Gu Nianzhi raised her eyebrows and felt slightly displeased.
When Xie Qingying said that she would treat Gu Nianzhi to a meal, she did not mention anything about treating Huo Jialan as well.
She walked over to Xie Qingying slowly and maintained her smile.
Xie Qingying held her hands naturally. “Nianzhi, this is Huo Jialan, Mr. Huo’s paternal cousin. I heard that you know her well?”
Huo Jialan said, “Nianzhi, I bumped into Qingying on the way. Coincidentally, we always hung out when we were in France. When I heard that she wanted to treat you to a meal, I just decided to tag along. Is that okay?” Then she added, “If you’re not okay with this, I can leave.”
Gu Nianzhi tilted her head and smiled. “You threw your face on the ground for me to step on; how can I bare to say that I’d be unhappy?”
Xie Qingying heard that and her eyebrows twitched.
Just her luck. It seemed like she got tricked by Huo Jialan.
Did this look like they knew each other well?
Yes, they knew each other very well—to the extent that they’d wage a war immediately after meeting.
Unexpectedly, Huo Jialan maintained her smile and turned to Xie Qingying. “Nianzhi and I have some misunderstandings between us. I wanted to use this opportunity today to give both of you a treat so we would all be friends henceforth. We won’t harp on whatever’s happened in the past.”
Gu Nianzhi looked at the restaurant and smiled. “Our misunderstandings cost much more than this. Huo Jialan, you want me to behave because of a meal from this restaurant? I’m not that cheap.”
Actually, Huo Jialan had not caused any physical harm to Gu Nianzhi. However, each time Gu Nianzhi remembered how she treated Song Jinning when she was ill, she could not bring herself to stop disliking her.
She did not wish to give Huo Jialan any opportunity to ask for forgiveness.
Xie Qingying felt stressed out.
The manners she was raised with taught her to not make things difficult for others in public.
She could not bring herself to verbally attack anyone in public.
Therefore, the only thing she could do was to smile and say, “I think it’s still better if I treat today. Jialan, if you would like to ask for forgiveness, find another opportunity to treat Nianzhi, alright? Today I had planned to have lunch with my cousin. Let’s not talk about this anymore. Let’s have a great meal!”
