Chapter 730: Loss of Dignity
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Watching Huo Shaoheng’s slender fingers fly across the screen of her cellphone, Gu Nianzhi’s anger began to build. She couldn’t even decide what went on her own phone now? She looked at Huo Shaoheng and balled her tiny hands into fists as she glared at him and said, “Huo Shaoheng, don’t take this too far!” Gu Nianzhi looked like she was ready to fight.
When Gu Nianzhi didn’t notice, a small smile appeared on Huo Shaoheng’s lips. He’d rather Gu Nianzhi yell at him, banter with him, or even roll around in a physical fight with him—that was still better than how she appeared polite on the surface but was actually drifting further and further away from him like a few days ago. Huo Shaoheng quickly installed security software and returned the phone to Gu Nianzhi. His expression was already calm by the time he looked up. “See for yourself, these programs are only for preventing Trojan horses. They aren’t spying on your phone.” Speaking of monitoring her phone, Huo Shaoheng could get into any phone he wanted. As if he needed to especially install specialized monitoring software on Gu Nianzhi’s phone? Of course not.
Gu Nianzhi picked up the phone and began to seriously check it. Her slim fingers quickly tapped on the screen, and when she was checking the list of various apps on her phone, Gu Nianzhi suddenly recalled how Huo Shaoheng told her Reinitz bought the Hermes bag for her. With a sullen face, she opened her banking app and checked transaction records from two weeks ago when she was in Germany. The results were shocking—she was unable to find any record of that purchase in her records! How could this be? Could the bank have made a mistake? They didn’t charge me? But how could that be… This wasn’t a couple hundred? This bag was 8,000 US dollars, and Hermes was no charity. How could they not charge her?
Gu Nianzhi’s face began to blanch after she had looked into it for several minutes. Her fingers held the phone weakly as she recalled all the details from when they had bought the bag at the Hermes flagship store in Germany. She suddenly recalled some details she didn’t notice at the time. Could Huo Shaoheng be right? So Reinitz actually paid for this bag?! The bag suddenly became a sore sight for Gu Nianzhi. With a stony face, she poured everything out of the bag and showed the empty bag to Huo Shaoheng. “Can you give me a plastic bag?”
Huo Shaoheng stood up. “You still have some bags at my official residence. Go pick one of those.” He didn’t ask Gu Nianzhi what happened because a young girl like her had thin skin. She had just vehemently defended her dignity and now obviously knew her “dignity was lost” and was very embarrassed. Biting her lower lip, Gu Nianzhi was very angry at herself. She actually hadn’t checked her banking history properly after coming back but had immediately begun to “divide assets” between her and Huo Shaoheng.
Huo Shaoheng walked out of the conference room, and Gu Nianzhi quickly walked up and pulled his sleeve. Huo Shaoheng stopped and turned to look at her. “What is it?”
“Sorry.” Gu Nianzhi’s face flushed as she stuttered out an apology. “…I …I really didn’t know. I clearly gave my card to the sales person!” Reinitz must’ve switched cards when the sales person took the card for payment. Although she was unhappy about Reinitz lying to her, she indeed made a mistake herself. It was likely that Reinitz had bought this bag for her.
Huo Shaoheng grunted, “Return the money to Reinitz in a few days.”
“How would I return it?” Gu Nianzhi turned around to pack her things and put the small items back into the bag. She carried it and walked beside Huo Shaoheng.
“I’ll have Little Ze send Reinitz’s bank account information to you, and you can directly deposit into it.” Huo Shaoheng smiled and appeared to be in a good mood. He walked Gu Nianzhi out of his office building, and they took their time walking back to his official residence. Late fall was the best weather out of the entire year in the Imperial Capital. It wasn’t hot or cold, and the sky was always a vivid blue with white clouds drifting languidly above maple trees as vivid red as flames. When Gu Nianzhi walked on the path, everything became her background. Her red dress was like fire, and her eyes were bright. There was a trace of anger on her face, but this anger made her even more alluring. At least, that’s what Huo Shaoheng believed. He looked straight ahead as he walked beside Gu Nianzhi, but he kept her in the corner of his eye the entire time.
They returned to his official residence, and Huo Shaoheng took Gu Nianzhi directly to her old suite. Everything was still the same as when she had moved out. The only difference was that there were a few empty shelves in the closet. Huo Shaoheng walked into the closet inside the suite and picked up a bright red Hermes Berline bag from the bag shelf. It matched perfectly with Gu Nianzhi’s dress. “Use this one.” Huo Shaoheng set the bag down in front of her. “This is a new style for the year.”
Gu Nianzhi was speechless. After some hesitation, she finally accepted it without protest and put all her personal items into the new bag from Huo Shaoheng. As she was cleaning up, someone knocked on the door.
Huo Shaoheng turned on the video phone on the door and saw it was his orderly, so he asked, “What is it?”
The orderly immediately responded, “Chief, the Office of the Prime Minister is calling. Do you want to take it?”
They hadn’t called his cell phone but the landline in his official residence, so it must be for business. Huo Shaoheng glanced at Gu Nianzhi and said to the orderly outside the door, “Connect it to this room.” There was also a landline in Gu Nianzhi’s room. The orderly agreed, and soon after, the landline in Gu Nianzhi’s suite began to ring. Huo Shaoheng picked up the call.
The crisp voice of a middle-aged woman could be heard. “Is this Major General Huo? This is Cai Songyin. I heard you were sick. Are you feeling better?”
Huo Shaoheng frowned slightly but quickly relaxed his expression. “Not yet. May I ask who you are?”
Cai Songyin didn’t expect Huo Shaoheng to pretend to not who she was and didn’t believe it at all. She laughed and continued, “I’m Tan Guiren’s mom. Thank you for rescuing our Guiren in the United States…”
Huo Shaoheng said calmly, “You have the wrong person. I never saved your daughter. If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up now. Listening to people talk gives me headaches. Sorry.” Huo Shaoheng hung up and looked up to see Gu Nianzhi’s puzzled expression.
“What is it?” Huo Shaoheng walked over to look at her. “Are you done packing now?”
“Prime Minister Tan’s wife called just now?” Gu Nianzhi asked covertly, “You obviously rescued her daughter, so why are you lying to her face?”
Huo Shaoheng picked up a long strand of loose hair from her shoulder to throw into the garbage. “I didn’t save her daughter. How can I admit I did this kind of thing when I didn’t do it?” If he really did do it, then it was even more important to not admit it. He didn’t know how many secrets were revealed just from Cai Songyin blabbing over the phone, but Huo Shaoheng remained very calm and didn’t want to spook the enemy just yet. The Tan’s and Bai’s were now under his surveillance. The more they talked and the more things they did, the better he could tighten the net to avoid letting any one of those fish escape.
Gu Nianzhi understood that all Special Operations Forces missions could only be carried out and never spoken of. Even if it was very dangerous and a great emergency, Huo Shaoheng would never reveal a single thing. Gu Nianzhi looked down and carried the small bag from Huo Shaoehng. She also put the bag Reinitz paid for inside another cloth bag.
“What else do you have planned for today? Are you going back to school to study, or do you want to go out?” Huo Shaoheng walked outside. “Wait for me for a second. I’ll go change.” He had specially worn his major general’s uniform for the special occasion.
Gu Niazhi replied, “I need to go back to campus. Qiqi invited me over for dinner tonight.”
Huo Shaoheng stopped walking and grunted. He went back to his room to change and emerged from his room soon after wearing casual clothes. “Then I’ll drive you back to school.”
Gu Niaznhi sighed in relief, she really had been afraid that Huo Shaoheng would insist on accompanying her while she studied at school. They got inside the car and drove all the way to B University. Huo Shaoheng received many calls on the way but ended them all after giving simple responses. Later on, he instructed his phone operator to not take any calls unless it was an important matter, so everything else was blocked.
Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help saying, “Huo Shaoheng, you really don’t need to drive me if you’re very busy. I can go take the subway over there.” There was a subway entrance not far ahead.
Huo Shaoheng shook his head casually. “It’s fine. I’m not busy today.”
“Why are you getting so many calls if you’re not busy? You think I’m dumb or something?” Gu Nianzhi rolled her eyes internally many times.
“They’re just urging me to attend the Prime Minister’s inauguration.” Huo Shaoheng thought about it, and now that Gu Nianzhi was his wife, there were certain things he could tell her without violating confidentiality laws.
Gu Nianzhi was floored. “The new Prime Minister’s inauguration?! You’re not attending such an important event?!”