Although the Prime Minister’s eldest son, Dou Haoyan, had suddenly decided to host a New Year’s banquet, all the preparations had already been completed by around five in the evening. The area near Willow Hutong, where the Prime Minister’s official residence was located, began to become cordoned off. Starting from the entrance of Willow Hutong all the way to Prime Minister’s official residence at No. 32 Willow Hutong, the entire area was heavily sentried by armed police officers and Secret Service in plain clothes. The entire street was monitored by countless security cameras inside and outside, leaving no blind spots. Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng arrived at the entrance of Willow Hutong in his bulletproof car. There were many cars ahead in line for the security check. Yin Shixiong got out of the car to take a look and reported to Huo Shaoheng over the headset, “Chief, there are too many people here. I recommend that we go through the second door to the parking lot of the official residence.”
Huo Shaoheng peered through the darkly tinted windows to see an endless line of cars ahead. He raised his brow slightly and spoke to the orderly acting as his driver, Fan Jian, “Turn around and go through the second door.” The second door to the Prime Minister’s official entrance was even more strictly guarded that the VIP passageway of the airport. In the entire Huxia Empire, one could count the number of people able to access the door with two hands. In other words, there are fewer than 10 people who had such access. Huo Shaoheng happened to be one of them because he held a special permit as the head of the Special Ops.
Fan Jian nodded. “Then should we wait for Big Xiong to come back?”
Huo Shaoheng thought about it and told Yin Shixiong through the Bluetooth headset, “Go in from the front door and see what guests are here. We will go through the second door, then meet you inside Prime Minister’s official residence.”
“Yes, Chief.” Yin Shixiong also had an invitation, so he quickly agreed and watched Huo Shaoheng’s car make a U-turn in the twilight, then turn into the small hutong on the side. It appeared to be a dead end, but it actually housed a secret passage where holders of the special permit could ask for the great steel gates at the dead end to be opened. Through the gates was the second entrance leading to the internal parking lot of the Prime Minister’s official residence.
…
Jin Wanyi had been stuck in the car line for a long time. By the time she passed the arduous security check and entered the open-air parking lot of the Prime Minister’s official residence, two hours had already passed. She had arrived at three in the afternoon and had waited a whole two hours before finally arriving to the entrance of the Prime Minister’s official residence. Unexpectedly, there were many people in line—the earlier security check was for vehicles, and the next check for the guests themselves. Jin Wanyi sighed heavily and had no choice but to continue lining up. As she waited for the line to move along, she took a small mirror out from her bag to check her makeup and found that her nose had gotten oily. She quickly took out some blotting paper to press on her nose, then patted on some loose powder. Suddenly, a group people pressed forward and caused a commotion in the line. Jin Wanyi was wearing stiletto heels, so she fell backwards when the crowd moved. She was about to fall on her back, but then a pair of strong arms appeared from behind to stabilize and help her stand up. Jin Wanyi quickly turned back to thank them gratefully. She looked up to see a square and masculine face smile at her. “Be careful not to twist your ankle.” He even winked at her.
The man wore a neat black suit and a simple bow tie. His white, fine-striped shirt was well fitted and expensive looking. With his perfect posture and bulging muscles visible underneath the suit, it was obvious he worked out. He also had a handsome face.
Jin Wanyi’s face immediately flushed as she frantically put the compact and mirror back into her purse and stuttered, “T- thank you, Mister.”
“You’re welcome.” The young man laughed heartily and was especially friendly to her. “I’m very honored to be able to help a beautiful woman like yourself. May I ask if you’re here for this banquet too?”
“Y-Yes…” Jin Wanyi appeared refined and graceful, yet it was difficult to determine her bold and daring personality from her looks. She gathered her wits and quickly surveyed the man. “Are you here for this banquet as well?”
“Yes! This must be fate. May I ask what your name is?” The young man was very sociable and gentlemanly as he stood by her side to block out the surging crowd.
Jin Wanyi was very grateful and saw that he also had an invitation. It wasn’t to say that everyone invited to attend was rich and important, but at the very least, they had to be of a serious and respected profession. She was very honest with him. “My surname is Jin, and I’m a lawyer. It’s a great honor for me to be able to attend Mr. Huo’s New Year’s banquet tonight.”
The young man gave a bright smile. “Miss Jin is so beautiful, so I didn’t think you were actually a big shot lawyer too! What an honor to meet you!”
“You’re too kind. I’m not some big shot lawyer, I just arrived to the Imperial capital not long ago and hadn’t handled that many cases yet.” Jin Wanyi blushed, waving hastily, “Please don’t say that.”
“Lawyer Ji is too humble, if you are an unknown lawyer, there’s no way you can attend this banquet.” He appeared to be very knowledgeable and smiled at her meaningfully.
Jin Wanyi flushed even darker and muttered, “…It was a coincidence that I was able to attend.” She didn’t want to say anything more and looked around like she was trying to find someone.
The young man smiled even more happily, “Lawyer Jin, are you looking for someone? Why don’t you tell me? I know many people and might be able to help you?”
“Is that right?” Jin Wanyi answered absent mindedly, “I want to see… if that Major General Huo is here…”
“Major… General Huo?” His smile grew, “You wish to look for Major General Huo? The one from the Special Operations Forces?”
“Yes…” Jin Wanyi turned around to look closely at the young man again, “How do you know of him? Do you recognize him?”
“Well, who doesn’t know him? He’s the youngest General in the military. Anyone attending this banquet today either knows him or at least recognizes his name.” He put his hands in his trouser pockets and moved along the line towards the security check with her, then changed the subject, “The eldest son of the Prime Minister suddenly had the idea to throw a banquet and so many people actually came?!”
There were at least 100 people in queue for the security check alone. Not far away, an endless line of cars continued to stream in. Jin Wanyi had carefully inquired about the details from Bai Changhui before coming, “I hear the eldest son of the Prime Minister was worried that not many people would come, so he sent 100 invitations and didn’t actually expect almost everyone to show up.” Each invitation allowed two or three guests, so there were at least one hundred people. She estimated at least over two hundred people were actually here.
“Really?” The young man touched his ear to position in the hidden Bluetooth headset. He was one of Huo Shaoheng’s personal secretaries, Yin Shixiong. He had never expected to run into Jin Wanyi when he lined up. He had been assigned to investigate her background, so he recognized her right away. He knew she didn’t have the kind of background to get an invitation on her own, so he engaged her to get some insider’s information. Jin Wanyi was no match for Yin Shixiong, who had undergone special training. Although she was very careful, Yin Shixiong managed to extract quite a bit of information from her. Under his intentional approach, Jin Wanyi had subconsciously took a liking to him and chatted happily. They quickly arrived at the entrance of the security check. The pair was directed to a checkpoint at the right door of the official residence. Just then, another commotion arose from the crowd behind them and Yin Shixiong reached out to protect Jin Wanyi from the crowd. They both looked back to see a long black luxury vehicle glowing in the sunset of the distant twilight. It drove past the entrance of the vehicle checkpoint, finally stopping when it reached the front door of the official residence. The guests had to wait at the security checkpoint at the side door, so everyone was shocked. Who on earth was in that luxury car to drive directly to the main entrance of the official residence?! Jin Wanyi suddenly grew nervous and clutched Yin Shixiong’s arm, whispering, “Can you help me see if Huo Shaoheng is in that car?”
Yin Shixiong was certain that it wasn’t Huo Shaoheng in there, but he was also very interested as to who could make such a ruckus? He stood up on his toes with Jin Wanyi, craning to see. Before the car doors opened, the main entrance of the official residence suddenly opened and a line of people came out. In the front was the Prime Minister and his wife, behind them was their eldest son, the host of tonight’s banquet, Dou Haoyan. A young and delicate girl followed behind him. The family of four stood on the lowest step in front of the entrance and watched the black luxury car in excitement, waiting for the passengers to come out. It suddenly grew quiet in front of the official residence as the last rays of the day’s sun shone on the hood of the car to accentuate the small winged angel logo. A driver in a black uniform and black gloves exited the car to open the doors. The first to come out was a distinguished young lady with a tall and full figure.
“Qingyan! You’re finally back!” The Prime Minister’s wife instantly rushed forward, holding her hand in excitement.
The woman’s face was half obscured by a purple lace veil beret, she gripped the Prime Minister’s wife’s hand, “Mummy, I’m back. –Let me introduce you, this is Lawyer He Zhichu.”
The next to exit the vehicle was He Zhichu in a black tuxedo. He stood handsomely in front of the car, a pair of shimmering sultry eyes looking cooly ahead. His thin nose and tightly pressed lips making him appear aloof and elegant.