Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gu Nianzhi was wearing a very expensive and mature red dress suit today. The front of her top was slightly revealing, and a strand of pigeon’s blood rubies and diamonds sat on her pale collar bones.
If it wasn’t for her youthful and bright look appearance, the outfit alone would have made her look several years older than she actually was.
However, being beautiful gave a person this advantage. No matter how she messed with her appearance, it would only make her look even more beautiful and impart a different flavor of beauty.
As she sat on the sofa, she looked even more harmonious because she appeared to be about the same age as the male students who were a few years older than her.
She sat with these classmates and appeared at ease. She laughed with ease and happiness.
Unlike when Huo Shaoheng was at her side… Her posture was always reverent but distant. It was also unlike when she was at He Zhichu’s side. Her expression was always respectful but distant too.
He Zhichu gave a self-deprecating smile and was in no hurry to walk over there. He would allow Gu Nianzhi to enjoy a happy time with peers her own age.
It wasn’t like he could lock her up in a cage.
Although he really wanted to do that, he merely thought about it.
He Zhichu walked to the bar by the dance floor and sat down. He pointed to the bartender, “Give me a Tequila Sunrise.”
The Tequila Sunrise was a world-famous cocktail. It contained a base of tequila and was mixed with all sorts of fresh-pressed juice, so it had the sweetness of fruit wine and also the spiciness of tequila. It was very suitable for He Zhichu’s current mood.
The bartender had dyed his hair red and his bangs gold. This color combination would be a sore sight for the eyes under natural outdoor lighting, yet he appeared strangely festive in this bar with its sparkling and colorful Christmas lights.
He glanced at He Zhichu and said with a smile, “Are you here with these students?”
The entire bar had been booked for the B University Faculty of Law grad students. He Zhichu obviously didn’t look like a student, so the bartender wanted to confirm it.
He Zhichu nodded, “I’m their professor.”
“Oh!” The bartender happily snapped his fingers to indicate that he understood. He turned around to the wine cabinet and took out a bottle of tequila imported from Mexico to begin mixing the drink.
…
At the same moment, Huo Shaoheng had just gotten out of the car in front of the military hall entrance.
Inside the car, he had changed into a military uniform that Fan Jian had brought for him. It was the formal and proper Major General’s uniform, with the golden pine leaves supporting a single golden star shimmering on his epaulets. He had a powerful aura about him.
The weaponry belt wrapped around his muscular waist further accentuated his long legs.
“Major General Huo, this way please.”
The female soldiers greeting guests at the hall entrance were part of the Military Art Ensemble. They had especially made sure to recognize all the big players attending today. It would be considered an error if they called out the wrong name or rank.
Huo Shaoheng nodded, taking out his invitation and handing it to her.
The soldier in charge of welcoming guests personally led Huo Shaoheng into the hall and helped him find his seat. He was seated in the middle of the second row of the hall.
In the first row were seated older, senior ranked generals such as General Ji. Even the lowest military ranking person there was a general.
The second row was much less rigid.
Huo Shaoheng looked up to see that his mother and father were actually sitting in that row.
Huo Guanchen sat next to Song Jinning. He turned to his side and looked down to speak to her.
Song Jinning was sitting rigidly straight in her seat and kept an aloof expression. It was unknown whether or not she was actually listening.
Huo Shaoheng looked at his seat which happened to be on the other side of Song Jinning.
He adjusted the brim of his cap and walked over.
“Shaoheng, you’re here.” Song Jinning looked up to see Huo Shaoheng walking over, so she ignored the fact that Huo Guanchen was still talking and stood up with delight.
Huo Shaoheng nodded. “You’re here too.” As he spoke, he sat down on the other side of Song Jinning.
Song Jinning had arrived rather early and had ended up being forced to talk to Huo Guanchen the entire time. She was incredibly annoyed, but she didn’t want to completely disrespect him in public.
If she did that, Huo Guanchen wouldn’t be the only one to be embarrassed. She would be too. She had no reason to get embarrassed over an irrelevant person.
Thus, she wore out her patience by sitting there and quietly thinking about her experiments. She didn’t listen to a word that Huo Guanchen was saying.
Now that Huo Shaoheng had arrived, Song Jinning finally sighed in relief. Without him, this evening would be very difficult to get through.
Huo Shaoehng sat down to look at the arrangement of seats and could vaguely sense that this should’ve been arranged in advance.
He had confirmed his attendance to the Literary and Arts Performance Show the day prior and the personnel assigning seats had arranged the three members of their family to sit together.
Huo Shaoheng’s eyes flickered briefly. He leaned in Song Jinning’s direction and listened to her speak.
The first thing Song Jining said was, “Why did you come alone? Where’s Nianzhi? You didn’t bring her?”
Huo Shaoheng was stunned silent for a second and quickly shot Song Jining a look before replying dryly, “Nianzhi’s class has an event today, so she’s going to that.”
“Oh.” Song Jinning accepted Huo Shaoheng’s explanation. She had spent her entire life in an academic and research environment, so she had a very high level of acceptance when it came to these situations. “That sounds right. Today is Christmas Eve and all the university students like to take this chance to go out and have fun. All the new post-doctorates in our institute are clamoring to celebrate Christmas Eve.”
Huo Shaoehng clasped his hands together and held them in front of his chest. He squinted his eyes and said, “Your institute is only a research organization, but if the military also wants to celebrate Christmas Eve, haha…”
Song Jinning glanced at him and frowned. “It can’t be that strict!”
“It can’t be that strict?” Huo Shaoheng’s face remained composed and calm, however, the words he spoke were a bit harsh. “…There has never been a Literary and Arts Performance Show held on Christmas Eve. What do you think? A coincidence?”
Song Jinning sighed but didn’t say anything else.
At that moment, a delighted voice asked, “Major General Huo? Is that you?”
Huo Shaoheng turned his head and briefly swept his gaze over. He discovered that it was none other than Cai Shengnan walking over to sit next to him.
Prime Minister Tan Dongbang was on Cai Shengnan’s other and was coming over to sit down as well.
Across from Cai Shengnan, Tan Dongbang waved at Huo Shaoheng and said cheerfully, “Major General Huo, what a pleasure to see you!”
Huo Shaoheng had no choice but to extend a white-gloved hand to shake. “It is a great honor for Prime Minister Tan to be attending the Military Literary and Arts Performance.”
“Major General Huo is too kind.” Prime Minister Tan’s face was rosy and glowing as he pointed to the stage and said, “Today is Little Darling’s first performance. I was worried she’d get stage fright, so I especially came here to support her.”
Huo Shaoheng retracted his hand and smiled. “Prime Minister Tan’s beloved daughter is superbly skilled and has had international experience in the United States. How could she get stage fright? Prime Minister Tan is worrying too much.” He then asked, “Where is Mrs. Tan? Why don’t I see her here?”
“That’s true, haha…” Prime Minister Tan began to laugh heartily. “My wife isn’t feeling very well, so she’s not coming. Shengnan is attending on her behalf. Besides, if we had known earlier that Major General Huo would be attending, I wouldn’t have needed to come. With you here, Little Darling would certainly not be afraid!”
What was he saying?
He made it sound like Tan Guiren had some connection with Huo Shaoheng.
Huo Shaoheng couldn’t help but frown slightly, even though he had always been a steady and calm person.
Song Jinning’s anger began to rise when she overheard this. She turned her head with a stony expression. “Is this Prime Minister Tan? Careful, you’ll get impeached again if you don’t filter what you say. I will not sit idly by if our Shaoheng’s clean and innocent reputation is ruined by one statement from you!”
Tan Dongbang’s smile instantly froze on his face. It appeared like he was being choked by the neck. His face nearly turned purple.
Although he’d won the impeachment case, he was still embarrassed regardless. Typical people would never dare to mention this incident to him, so he would have never expected to be insulted by the mere Song Jinning, Director of the Institute of High Energy Physics.
His expression quickly changed several times. Just as Prime Minister Tan was about to speak, Cai Shengnan stepped in. “Madam, may I ask who you are? Our Prime Minister speaks and acts based on evidence, so there is no reason to accuse him of defamation. Please do not threaten my client.”
Cai Shengnan was the secretary of Tan Dongbang’s private legal team, thus there was nothing amiss with her referring to Prime Minister Tan as her client.
Tan Dongbang’s mood was instantly relieved and he resumed smiling. He purposely patted Cai Shengnan’s hand graciously. “Little Cai, don’t be so scrupulous. I know that you have a strong professional ability, but Ms. Song is Major General Huo’s mother. Wouldn’t you be offending Major General Huo by saying that? Hahahahaha…”
Cai Shengnan was shocked. She never thought that this extremely beautiful woman who appeared to be only 27 or 28 years old could actually be Huo Shaoheng’s mother!
She was too… young. Was she actually his biological mother?
Cai Shengnan recalled the information that she had researched about the Huaxia Imperial elite and had unfortunately discovered that most of her information was about members of the Senate. She knew almost nothing at all about most of the military officials. That even included information about particularly important government departmental officials.
That’s why she’d humiliated herself.
She thought about it and leaned forward slightly to bypass Huo Shaoheng, reaching a hand out to Song Jinning. “You are Ms. Song? Major General Huo’s mother? I really couldn’t tell. You’re so young, yet you already have an outstanding and accomplished son like Major General Huo.”
Her elbow hung across and over Huo Shaoheng’s thigh. It was slender and natural as it carried the subtle elegance of ballet dancing.
Cai Shengnan had actually studied ballet from a young age, so her posture and aura were both much better than those of a typical girl.
But this position didn’t appear very graceful.
Song Jinning glanced at her with a frown and reached out to push her arm back. “Miss Cai wishes to speak with me? Okay then.”
She turned to Huo Shaoheng and said, “Shaoheng, let’s switch seats. You sit with your father. He speaks too loudly and is preventing me from watching the show.”
Huo Guanchen had been smiling happily at first as he watched the drama, but he hadn’t expected Song Jinning to instantly betray him so that she could help her son out of the mess. His expression darkened quickly.
Huo Shaoheng couldn’t ask for anything better. He took Song Jinning’s arm to help her stand up from the seat. “Please sit here.”
Then he said to Prime Minister Tan and Cai Shengnan apologetically, “Prime Minister Tan and Miss Cai, my mother loves music and doesn’t like people near her being noisy while she enjoys it. I hope that you can understand.”
This statement instantly made Prime Minister Tan and Cai Shengnan’s faces flush red.
Wasn’t chattering during a concert what the least educated people did?!
Huo Shaoheng hid the snark in his words and wasn’t being rude at all. However, the meaning in his words was like a whip on Prime Minister Tan and Cai Shengnan’s backs.
He’d said this primarily to put Prime Minister Tan and Cai Shengnan in their places. Secondly, he’d indicated that his family didn’t wish to speak with them, so they’d better shut up.
