“Oh, so a mere orphan girl requires General Ji and Speaker Long to provide the joint authorization of the Supreme Council of the Military and the Senate? Shaoheng, have you just revealed Gu Nianzhi’s importance?” Huo Guanchen shook his head as he gave a meaningful look at Huo Shaoheng’s slightly stiff composure.
Huo Shaoheng’s mind spun, but he didn’t fall into Huo Guanchen’s trap. He turned around and said casually, “Is that so strange? Everyone knows that the military is looking for her relative, and she’s the only clue we have. Her importance is obvious.”
Huo Guanchen froze, his gaze stern as he spoke to Huo Shaoheng in a low voice. “Are you certain that I need General Ji and Speaker Long’s joint approval to take her away, just because of her origins? You can try to fool me with this excuse, but in order to fool anyone else, or the Bai family for that matter, you’d better come up with a better reason.” He also stood up and hesitated for a moment before asking Huo Shaoheng gently, “You mother, is she… really ok?”
“Please don’t worry, Father. Mother is doing well here with me. She’s already asleep and you will naturally be able to see her when my holiday is over.” Huo Shaoheng nodded, his demeanor slightly more relaxed.
“That’s good then. I’ll be going now.” Huo Guanchen picked up his hat and walked out of the room. Huo Shaoheng didn’t see him off, but only folded his hands behind his back as he watched him leave. Huo Guanchen’s guards and personal secretaries were all in the car outside, he walked out alone.
After he left, Huo Shaoheng sat on the sofa and contemplated Huo Guanchen’s words. Huo Guanchen had actually revealed two future actions of the Bai family. First, that they were targeting Gu Nianzhi in order to force him to choose between her and Song Jinning: they wanted to see who Huo Shaoheng would choose. If Huo Shaoheng gave up Gu Nianzhi in order to protect Song Jining, then that meant Huo Shaoheng had plans for Song Jinning. This was most likely related to her recovery, since the Bai’s knew how Huo Shaoheng operated—he was not someone to make rash moves.
However, if Huo Shaoheng chose to give up Song Jining to protect Gu Nianzhi, then they would reevaluate Gu Nianzhi’s importance. Regardless of her importance to the Huaxia Imperial Military or to Huo Shaoheng, it would be a devastating blow to Huo Shaoheng if outsiders were to learn of this. For so many years, Huo Shaoheng had been regarded as a war machine with no weaknesses. He had not asked after his sickly mother and hadn’t returned home for six years. To an outsider, he was a completely emotionless person. He personally led teams on multiple overseas mission and had crossed fire with foreign special forces multiple times and had yet to fail. This proved that he was a decisive and ruthless person. If he chose Gu Nianzhi over Song Jinning this time, that meant that Huo Shaoheng indeed had a weakness. If outsiders realized this, it would be lethal to Huo Shaoheng and those around him.
Secondly, they had already mobilized the police headquarters. The police couldn’t go against the military, but could deal with civilians—for example, a little girl like Gu Nianzhi. Hadn’t Bai Changhui and Bai Jinyi brought one hundred tactical police officers just that afternoon? It was clear that the Bai’s had a strong influence on the police headquarters.
…
Soon after Huo Guanchen had left, Huo Shaoheng heard Zhao Liangze speaking to him through his headset. “Mr. Huo, Director Liao of the police headquarters has brought men over and also has a permit. They are at the entrance of the official residence and are asking to see you.”
Huo Shaoheng grunted, “Have him wait, I have things to do.” He sat alone on the sofa and silently pondered for a long time until the sky was light again. Finally standing up from his seat, he returned to his own bedroom. Gu Nianzhi was still in a deep sleep. Huo Shaoheng bent over to touch her forehead and discovered that her fever was gone. A trace of sweat was still on her forehead, and he didn’t know how sweaty her body was. He thought about it and called Ye Zitan over. “Dr. Ye, help wipe Nianzhi down and change. Her fever is gone, but she still can’t move yet.”
Ye Zitan nodded sympathetically and said, “I know. It’s incredibly painful to have bone marrow extracted; she must’ve suffered a lot.” She stroked Gu Nianzhi’s hair and continued, “But Nianzhi’s health is great. Any other person wouldn’t have lasted this long. She actually didn’t even make a sound throughout the entire ordeal.”
Huo Shaoheng looked away, biting his lip after hearing that, before turning to leave. He went to the bathroom to shower, then had breakfast with Chen Lie after he finished.
Chen Lie’s eyes were wide as he grabbed Huo Shaoheng’s sleeve and said, “Boss, this is incredible, this is truly incredible!”
“What is it?” Huo Shaoheng glanced at him. “We’ll talk inside.” They went into the secured Operating Room B, where Song Jinning lay quietly. Her skin was luminous and rosy and her complexion was refreshing.
“How is my mother’s condition?” Huo Shaoheng put his hands in his trouser pockets and stood in front of Song Jinning’s operating chair, watching her.
Chen Lie took out a stack of printed data and pointed in Song Jinning’s direction. “Boss, look at this. I’m too scared to put this in her medical record.”
Huo Shaoheng took the papers and glanced at the data; he didn’t quite understand what he was seeing. Chen Lie immediately grabbed it back, his face completely flushed, “Be careful with that! This is my baby! I’m telling you, if you dare burn them again, I… I… I’ll kill you!”
Huo Shaoheng gave him a scornful look. “Speak normally, what’s going on?”
“Speaking normally, can you give Gu Nianzhi to me?!”
“You have a death wish.” Huo Shaoheng yanked Chen Lie’s collar. “Did you forget your military order?”
“Fine, fine! I was just exaggerating! Don’t you understand metaphors! All soldiers are illiterate!” Chen Lie couldn’t help squealing.
“I already reminded you not to use your dramatic “shock” factor, but youve never listened.” Huo Shaoheng threw Chen Lie down to the side like he was a rag. “Hurry up and explain.”
“Let’s just say that Gu Nianzh’s gene repair abilities were very effective,” Chen Lie lowered his voice for the last sentence as he enunciated the last part carefully, “I’ve never seen such perfect gene repair data.” His expression was extremely serious.
Huo Shaoheng’s gaze was grim as he folded his hands behind his back and looked at him.
Chen Lie pursed his lips, his round eyes looking up at Huo Shaoheng through his round glasses. He patted his shoulder. “If you don’t want Gu Nianzhi to be locked up in a lab and dissected for study, then you’d better carefully guard this secret.”
“But a few people know about this already.” Huo Shaoheng crossed his arms, pacing around the room. “There’s not a wall in the world that will block out everything. Do you think we can keep this a secret?”
“It’s impossible to completely cover it up, so we should use a simpler explanation to hide the truth.” This was Chen Lie’s plan: “I’ll say that Song Jinning’s recovery was related to her bone marrow transplant. She lacked blood and was weak to begin with. As for her mental recovery, let’s not mention this reason.”
Huo Shaoheng nodded. “And what else?”
“As to why Gu Nianzhi had to donate her bone marrow, this is easy to explain. We’ll just say their bone marrow happened to match, so that’s why we used it. You know so many people donate blood marrow, but it’s very difficult to find a match that won’t be rejected. If we explain it that way, at least nobody in the medical profession will be doubtful.”
Chen Lie went on profusely and continued to outline all the aspects needed to protect Gu Nianzhi. Huo Shaoheng listened intently for a long time and then patted his shoulder. “Fine, we’ll go with what you said.” He then asked Chen Lie, “Is my mother ok now?”
“She’s fine, she just had a low fever at midnight. But that’s normal, since external genes had been fused into her and had activated her immune system, causing a fever. She was better afterwards.” Chen Lie looked at Song Jinning lying on the operating chair, his eyes full of awe. He marveled at the milestone she signified in medical history. Chen Lie was beside himself with glee.
“Then why hasn’t she woken up yet?”
“I’ve already said that she’ll be awake in a week. Her body is repairing the damaged genes right now, so it’s best to keep her in a deep sleep.” Chen Lie inhaled deeply and continued, “And this week, I’ll personally stay to watch her.”
“Didn’t you say that you’d only stay a day or two?” Huo Shaoheng turned to him.
“The data is too exciting, I don’t want to go!” Chen Lie spread his palms and wiggled his brows in amusement.
“Suit yourself.” Huo Shaoheng shifted his gaze and he walked towards the door as he spoke to Zhao Liangze through the headset. “Let Director Liao in.”
When he returned to the living room, he saw the new Deputy Director of the Police Headquarters, Liao, sitting in exhaustion. Huo Shaoheng had left him to wait outside for half the night, and the little power play had indeed impacted Deputy Director Liao’s arrogance.
Seeing Huo Shaoheng enter, Deputy Director Liao no longer hesitated and immediately stood up to salute him. “Major General Huo, please hand over Gu Nianzhi. I was tasked by my superiors.”
“Hand over? Why do I have to hand her over?” Huo Shaoheng sat on the sofa once again, taking out his pistol and gun cloth from his belt to wipe it down. “Tell me, what crime did she commit? Do you have an arrest warrant?”
Deputy Director Liao couldn’t come up with anything to say at first. He is truly hard to deal with, he thought. “Mr. Huo, this is the Special Operations Forces headquarters asking; only people with a security clearance level of five or higher are allowed to enter. Gu Nianzhi, she doesn’t even have a level 1, so how can she stay here? She’s already violated the National Security Law. If you want an arrest warrant, I can have it issued right now.”
“Oh? She requires a security clearance level of 5? Then you should arrest Bai Changhui and Bai Jinyi first. They came to my Special Operations Forces headquarters yesterday and crossed the cordon without a permit. According to you, they’ve broken the law the too. Why haven’t you gone to arrest them?” Huo Shaoheng crossed his arms and leaned forward, his piercing gaze making Deputy Director Liao’s back sweat.
He picked up a white handkerchief to wipe his forehead. “Mr. Huo, so you’d rather break the law and give up your mother to protect Gu Nianzhi?”
This line of questioning was to finally reveal Gu Nianzhi’s importance to Huo Shaoheng.