Huo Shaoheng raised the phone to his ear. He stood with his free hand in his trouser pocket as he nonchalantly said: “…You better have a very good reason for calling me.”
Zhao Liangze was silent for a full second on the other end of the line. He asked, in a trembling voice, “…S-Sir, is that you?!”
“Yeah.”
“Y-Y-You… Why are you…”
“Nianzhi wasn’t feeling well last night, so I checked on her.” Huo Shaoheng left it at that. “Is that all? If you have nothing urgent to discuss, I’m hanging up. And stop calling Nianzhi’s phone.”
Zhao Liangze was sitting in front of several monitors, watching the second floor of Huo Shaoheng’s official residence through the surveillance cameras.
He saw Huo Shaoheng come out of Gu Nianzhi’s bedroom after ending the phone call and return to his master bedroom.
So Gu Nianzhi was sick, and quite seriously, too. She had to be—why would Mr. Huo go to the trouble of staying the entire night in her room and looking after her, if she wasn’t?
Zhao Liangze could not help his brotherly concern. He had shared the same apartment with Gu Nianzhi in the United States, and had once stayed up the entire night to tend to her when she had been feeling unwell, too. He knew that Gu Nianzhi had just donated her bone marrow, which made him all the more worried about her health.
After thinking about it, Zhao Liangze called Chen Lie on his phone. “Dr. Chen, Mr. Huo said that Nianzhi wasn’t feeling well last night. Can you go check on her?”
“She wasn’t feeling well last night? I didn’t hear anything about that from the Boss. It probably isn’t serious…” Chen Lie was still half asleep. He clutched at his blanket, unwilling to get out of bed.
Zhao Liangze was worried. “But Mr. Huo spent the whole night looking after her—it’s gotta be serious! You better go check on her… I mean, she just donated her bone marrow, and was out like a light for a few days. You haven’t forgotten all that, have you?”
Chen Lie was immediately wide awake. He sat up on the bed, wrapping his blanket tight around him, and asked agitatedly: “What was that? He looked after Nianzhi the whole night? Where did that happen?”
“In Nianzhi’s bedroom, duh!”
“Ohhhhhh. Nianzhi’s bedroom, eh? Hehe…” Chen Lie laughed in a suggestive manner. “Okay, got it. I’ll go check on her in a minute.”
He ended the call and stared vacantly at his phone for a full minute. Suddenly, he burst into uncontrollable laughter, before diving back under his blankets to resume his beauty sleep.
He had been so busy he had barely slept a wink in the last five days. Nothing was going to pull him out of bed now.
As for Gu Nianzhi…
He knew her very well.
He did not for a second believed that she was sick—hell would sooner freeze over before that happened!
So the Boss had spent the night in her room. Chen Lie smirked inwardly; he would tease him about it later, but for now Chen Lie needed his beauty sleep…
…
After Huo Shaoheng hung up on Zhao Liangze, he left Gu Nianzhi’s phone on the bedside table before leaving her bedroom.
When entered his own bedroom, he checked his phone and discovered that Zhao Liangze had been telling the truth: he had made several attempts to call him, with the first attempt at five in the morning.
He unlocked his phone and called Zhao Liangze. “What is it? Make it quick, I’m going to take a shower.”
Zhao Liangze had just gotten off the phone with Chen Lie. Now that Huo Shaoheng was calling him, he suddenly remembered what he had been trying to tell him. “The police HQ have been calling us repeatedly. They said that the Bai family hired a famous lawyer for Bai Jinyi, and the lawyer wants to post bail for Bai Jinyi. The police want to know if they should release her…”
“Of course not.” Huo Shaoheng’s fingers paused briefly in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt. “The investigation hasn’t even begun. Release her on bail? Out of the question.”
“But the lawyer is apparently extremely arrogant and difficult to deal with. I hear she’s the daughter of one of the partners in JD Law Firm, the biggest law firm in the capital city. Her name is Jin Wanyi, and she’s supposedly very shrewd and capable. She went to police HQ at three in the morning—on the first day of the New Year, if you can believe it—and more or less set up camp there. She refuses to go away, not unless she can take Bai Jinyi with her.” Zhao Liangze did not know much about legal procedures. All he knew was that the police HQ had sounded harassed and perplexed during their repeated calls, and that had been enough to make Zhao Liangze worry.
Huo Shaoheng did not say anything. He unfastened the last button on his uniform, removed his clothes, and threw them onto the sofa. As he walked into the bathroom, he said nonchalantly to Zhao Liangze, “What’s the hang-up? I’m sure police HQ has their own legal team. Well, if they want a response from me, here it is: the Special Ops handed Bai Jinyi over to the police. If they release Bai Jinyi for any reason whatsoever, we’ll open a case against the police and launch an official probe for professional misconduct, corruption, and other similar violations.”
Everyone knew what the Special Operations Forces were capable of; only those itching for an early “retirement” would be brave enough to pick a quarrel with the Special Ops.
Huo Shaoheng guessed that someone in police HQ was conspiring with the Bai family to help Lawyer Jin throw a wrench in the Special Ops’ plans for Bai Jinyi. It did not make sense otherwise; the police HQ had legal advisors of their own, after all, and could have turned Lawyer Jin away at any time.
Huo Shaoheng was amused by the thought of someone in police HQ trying to get in his way. Did they honestly think they would be able to pull one over the Special Operations Forces, who were experts when it came to throwing wrenches into the best laid plans?
Zhao Liangze quickly relayed Huo Shaoheng’s message to the police HQ, word for word.
The receptionist at police HQ who had taken the call knew they would be in deep trouble if they continued to drag their feet. Huo Shaoheng’s message was immediately relayed to the bigwigs in police HQ.
The bigwigs carefully considered their options, and decided that it was better to side with Huo Shaoheng for now, even if it meant offending the Bai family.
Huo Shaoheng was still an enigma to them, after all; he had emerged from behind the scenes only recently to take center stage, and no one knew at police HQ knew what his temper was like, or how he ticked. They did not dare risk stepping on his toes.
“Lawyer Jin, I’m so sorry, but police HQ is on holiday today. According to protocol, we cannot process your request for bail on a non-working day, as we don’t have anyone around to review your documents. Please come back tomorrow.” The officer behind the reception desk had begun to fob Jin Wanyi off with a round of “pass the buck” Tai Chi.
Huo Shaoheng had guessed right: there was someone in police HQ who was working with the Bai family to help Lawyer Jin get Bai Jinyi out on bail.
But now that Huo Shaoheng had bared his fangs, they had no choice but to back off for the moment.
Jin Wanyi saw the change in the police officers’ attitudes towards her, and knew at once that someone had threatened them. She sneered contemptuously. “I’ve been waiting since three in the morning, and that’s all you can give me? If you’re just following protocol, you should have told me earlier! Were you deliberately toying with me? I’ll write a formal complaint, see if I don’t!”
The police officers laughed awkwardly. They did not want to step on her toes, but they did not want to let Bai Jinyi go, either. They merely said: “She was handed over to us by the Special Operations Forces. We have to abide by the rules, or we’ll be in big trouble with the Special Ops.”
Neither side refused to back down; the deadlock continued for some time, and only ended when one of Jin Wanyi’s companions hinted to her that she had gone far enough. Jin Wanyi reluctantly got up, and said: “Fine, I’ll come back tomorrow. Hmph, I’m dying to find out what exactly is so ‘special’ about this Special Operations Forces you keep talking about.”
She walked out of police HQ, got into her car, and called the extension line for her office. “Chief Wang, what’s going on? Isn’t the Special Ops part of the military? Why do they have the authority to interfere with police matters?”
“It’s a special case—the Bai family wouldn’t have requested for your services, otherwise.” Division Chief Wang lowered his voice and continued, “Ask your client to help you out.”
Jin Wanyi ended the call. After a moment’s deliberation, she called the Bai family.
The third eldest son of the Bai family, Bai Changhui, acted as the family’s point of contact with her. Out of the entire family, he was the one who cared most about Bai Jinyi.
Bai Changhui had been asleep when his phone began to ring. When he saw that it was from Lawyer Jin, he quickly answered the call. He asked joyfully: “What is it, Lawyer Jin? Did you get my sister out?”
Jin Wanyi cleared her throat awkwardly. “No, not yet. I heard that the Special Ops have been trying to get in my way. I negotiated with the police, but they came up with some kind of ‘process issue’ to delay me for another day.”
“The Special Ops are getting in your way?!” Bai Changhui immediately thought of Huo Shaoheng, and fear crept into his heart. He knew now that he had to get Bai Jinyi out of the police station, as soon as possible; he was afraid that Huo Shaoheng would try to send Bai Jinyi to her death as payback for what had been done to Song Jinning.
“Well, the Special Ops are involved with this, so I’m not surprised,” Bai Changhui said bluntly. He added, by way of explanation, “My sister’s case has to do with Song Jinning, and Madam Song’s son, Huo Shaoheng—also known as Major General Huo—is the leader of the Special Operations Forces. I believe he’s the one putting up obstacles in your way.”
“What? Really? Why didn’t you say so?! I wouldn’t have wasted three hours waiting at police HQ if I’d known. Still, this is the first time I’ve met someone with the audacity to abuse their power and authority right in front of me, without even bothering to hide it.” Jin Wanyi gave a wry laugh as she started the car. “Give me his address and phone number—I’m going to give him a piece of my mind!”