Gu Nianzhi believed that she understood better than anyone else what kind of person Huo Shaoheng was. In his mind, the country and the military came first. His comrades and colleagues came second, and in the past Gu Nianzhi thought she and Huo Shaoheng’s mother could share third place. However, she wasn’t so sure anymore…
As for what she did yesterday—although she had ample reason, and it was very satisfying, she was certain that it had damaged the Hua Xia Empire’s national image. Tan Dongbang was still undoubtedly the Prime Minister of the Hua Xia Empire when his short video had been circulated online. In other words, she had smeared the leader of the nation for all to see.
Gu Nianzhi closed her eyes.
Also, Gu Nianzhi’s estate dispute had been a closed trial. Besides a small number of people, the public wasn’t aware of Gu Yanran’s Japanese ethnicity.
For the sake of ensuring that Tan Dongbang would step down, Gu Nianzhi had especially labeled the name “Kasahara Naoko” on the video. She also prepared a Qiandu encyclopedia page to enable others to easily search for it. Now that the public knew about this and was full of indignation, the higher level executives couldn’t cover it up, even if they wanted to.
So with this incident, Gu Nianzhi had insulted many of the executives friendly with the Tans and Cais. This was especially the case for the senators who voted against Tan Dongbang’s impeachment case and opposed his impeachment. They would hate her to the bone. That was the majority of the people in the senate to begin with. If they were to find out that this incident had something to do with Gu Nianzhi, then they may potentially assign the blame to Huo Shaoheng.
As Gu Nianzhi hesitated, Huo Shaoheng continued to stare at her unblinkingly. He was trying to figure out what she was thinking. “Nianzhi, what are you worrying about?” Huo Shaoheng pulled her up and sat himself down on her swivel chair. Putting her on his lap, he held Gu Nianzhi’s hand and wanted to click on the cursor, but Gu Nianzhi used all of her delicate strength to clamp down on the mouse.
Clenching her teeth, her pretty little face was rosy. Because of her nervousness, she appeared pink and translucent like a sticky rice dumpling dotted with red—sweet and delicious.
Huo Shaoheng was worried that she had inadvertently caused a huge mess, but he also knew she wasn’t someone who didn’t understand the importance of things. So what he needed to know was why she had to do that.
After waiting for a long time, Gu Nianzhi still refused to speak. She twisted her head away to look at the corner of the bedroom. There was a tall, slim-necked plum blossom vase placed on a person-height rosewood floor lamp stand. It did not hold a flower but merely stood there by itself like a still life painting.
Huo Shaoheng changed his mode of questioning. “Nianzhi, why did you Photoshop Cai Songyin in there, too?” Huo Shaoheng let go of Gu Nianzhi’s hand and didn’t try to click on the mouse again.
Gu Nianzhi sighed in relief, stretching her wrist that had turned stiff from Huo Shaoheng’s hold. Her gaze wavered as she replied, “How would I know? After all…”
“Still arguing with me?” Huo Shaoheng pinched Gu Nianzhi’s elegant and beautiful nose before spinning her around. His lips were slightly curled. “The choice of background music was pretty good.”
Gu Nianzhi was speechless. She couldn’t help but curl her lush, curvy lips and secretly want to laugh.
“What were you doing, going online here and connecting to the server of a library in a small European town?” Huo Shaoheng continued, and he could feel Gu Nianzhi’s entire body trembling.
Supporting her waist, he said, “Can you tell me now? I already erased all traces of you going online.”
Gu Nianzhi suddenly jerked her head up. Her huge, black, lacquer-like eyes were full of disbelief and shock. “What? You… you eased traces of me going online?!”
Did he even know what he was doing?!
Huo Shaoheng almost wanted to laugh at how shocked Gu Nianzhi was. However, he felt a bit of pain as well. He had truly been strict with her, but he never wanted her to have no choice but to bear the burden alone when she was in trouble. However, he knew that ever since the incident in Germany had occurred, Gu Nianzhi’s unreserved and intentional trust in him had disappeared.
If this had been in the past, Huo Shaoheng wouldn’t need to spend so much effort questioning her. Gu Nianzhi would chatter as she confessed the entire thing, then smugly demand hugs and kisses from him.
Gu Nianzhi’s heart was a complete mess. Like a castle ravaged by a tornado at the end of the world, there was debris strewn all over. She would have never thought that this time, Huo Shaoheng wouldn’t be stony faced as he lectured her before handing her over to the authorities. Instead, he was helping her clean up the mess. Didn’t he know that he would become her accomplice by doing that!?
Huo Shaoheng looked at her quietly and after a while, he replied sternly, “Nianzhi, how about I guess what happened if you’re not going to tell me?”
Gu Nianzhi was again speechless.
“Why did you choose to upload the video last night? Was it because something happened yesterday, so you needed to be the first to make a move?”
Gu Nianzhi: “!!!”
“What happened yesterday? Was it something you could no longer tolerate?”
Gu Nianzhi: “QAQ”
“Does it have something to do with me?”
Gu Nianzhi: “o(╯□╰)o”
It looked like she couldn’t hide it anymore, but she still vehemently denied it. “No! It had nothing to do with you!”
But when Huo Shaoheng saw Gu Nianzhi’s huge, black, jade-like eyes suddenly squint, he already knew he’d guessed correctly. “It really has something to do with me? Otherwise, why would you be so nervous about denying it?”
At that moment, an indescribably touching feeling and urge surfaced in Huo Shaoheng’s heart. Hot blood coursed through his veins, and his body swelled in waves. It was like the overwhelming happiness and love could no longer be contained and would seep out endlessly. However, aside from his slightly heavier breathing, he didn’t display any other behavior.
Sitting there quietly, he watched the girl in his arms. Even though she kept claiming she no longer loved him anymore, she still didn’t hesitate to stand by his side and battle for him whenever something related to him occurred. The young girl who had grown up with him had an unconditional solitary bravery about her. This enraptured him.
Gu Nianzhi looked up and murmured, “They are too despicable.”
So it really was for him… Huo Shaoheng instantly kissed her, and his hands frantically removed her clothes as he threw her onto the bed.
Gu Nianzhi was like a little white fish struggling on the bed, being flipped over and over again by him to tame. She became the food on his plate, and he enjoyed the meal to his satisfaction…
After it was over, Gu Nianzhi felt that her waist was about to snap in half.
Huo Shaoheng returned after going to the bathroom to clean up, and Gu Nianzhi was still sprawled on the pillows. She berated him helplessly. “You’re not allowed to fold me in half next time! My waist is about to snap into two pieces!”
Huo Shaoheng began to feel hot as soon as he heard this, so he inclined his head to sigh softly and replied calmly, “If you talk anymore, I won’t be able to hold myself back again.”
Gu Nianzhi didn’t know what to say for a moment. Squinting as she watched this strapping man take time putting his clothes back on, she enunciated carefully, “Major General Huo, are you blaming me?”
Huo Shaoheng glanced at her once before sitting down on the bed. “Where does it hurt? I’ll rub you.”
“No thanks.” Gu Nianzhi bundled herself in the blankets and rolled far away. “I’ll fall apart if you rub me anymore.” Gu Nianzhi actually only wanted to state the facts and had no intention of teasing him, but Huo Shaoheng felt like she was teasing him with every word she said.
This young girl’s ability was increasingly more impressive. Huo Shaoheng sat back down on the sofa by the bed and crossed his leg, sighing and suddenly remarking, “How are they despicable?”
Gu Nianzhi wanted to continue pretending to be asleep. She was rolled up in the blankets and remained motionless.
Huo Shaoheng rubbed his hands together. “Want to get folded in half again? I’ll assume you want it if you don’t say anything.”
Gu Nianzhi: “!!!” Her entire body was unbearably sore, so she turned around to look at Huo Shaoheng and said quietly, “You can’t get mad if I tell you.”
“Why do you think I’ll be angry?” At this time, Huo Shaoheng wasn’t in a rush to ask for the reason. He thought it was even more important to figure out Gu Nianzhi’s psyche.
Gu Nianzhi looked down and shrank her blanket-wrapped self back on the bed. She hesitated for a while before feebly saying, “Cai Songyin asked someone to write… write… adult fiction about you and me. I was 12 years old…”
Regardless of how knowledgeable Huo Shaoheng was, he never thought that this would be the reason. He frowned. “It was that blogger?” He remembered that after he watched the video yesterday, he also happened to investigate the original blogger. He knew that the blogger was a lowly writer who wrote new media posts, so he had already assumed at the time that this person’s Weibo account had been hacked. However, Huo Shaoheng never thought that there would be a reason why the blogger’s account was hacked. So this original blogger wasn’t innocent, either.
Gu Nianzhi grunted and nodded quickly.
“How did you know that?” Huo Shaoheng asked calmly. This was the question he was most concerned about. How did Gu Nianzhi know that Cai Songyin had hired someone to do that kind of thing?
Gu Nianzhi’s face flushed red and she mumbled, “I thought it was a bit weird how you suddenly became internet famous, so… so… so I created a search program and put it on Weibo to see if there were any… strange phenomenons.” Then she discovered the short text that had just been uploaded, and the rest was history.
Gu Nianzhi continued quietly, “But you don’t have to worry. I deleted all the text and also reformatted that person’s computer. I also completed an internet-wide search to find that there were no copies in cloud mailboxes, perhaps aside from a few sentences that may still remain in that person’s head. But I still think that Cai Songyin would make him shut up…”
Huo Shaoheng was both angry and amused when he heard this. However, this little plot was rather well thought out. He quietly listened to Gu Nianzhi finish explaining, then looked up to casually glance at her and compliment, “Well done.”
Gu Nianzhi: “!!!” Her eyes suddenly lit up, and even the bright sunlight that filtered through from the white gauze curtains couldn’t compare in brilliance. Her bright, lively eyes were like the first dash of tender green and pink in the springtime, carrying the aura of spring.
Not only did he not scold her or blame her, but he even complimented her instead…
It was very different than what she imagined. Gu Nianzhi sat up rolled in the blankets and nudged a bit closer in Huo Shaoheng’s direction. Her eyes glittered. “Really? You’re really complimenting me?”
“Yeah.” Huo Shaoheng crossed his other leg. “But there are areas for improvement. Don’t get too smug.”
“But I really damaged our nation’s image…” Gu Nianzhi wanted to make a confession, but the beautiful corners of her curvy lips had already curled up automatically. She couldn’t suppress them no matter what.
Huo Shaoheng laughed and remarked warmly, “I don’t agree with them on that point. I never believed that Tan Dongbang could represent our nation’s image.”
