“Huo Shao…” Zhao Liangze scratched his head in confusion, so shocked by these words that he felt dizzy. “Does Nianzhi really…?”
Huo Shaoheng’s face remained impassive as he replied dryly, “There’s no such thing. Don’t listen to Wen Shouyi’s nonsense. How can you actually believe her?”
…
In the interrogation room, Wen Shouyi was scared witless by Gu Nianzhi’s one statement and almost wanted to lunge at her to block her mouth. “Gu Nianzhi, I’ve borne all the other things you’ve said, but how can you accuse me of liking Professor He?!” Wen Shouyi’s eyes glittered as she began bawling. “I’ve never had stray thoughts about Professor He! I only respect and admire him. How can you accuse me of something so shameful?”
Gu Nianzhi’s forehead wrinkles from frowning. She thought that Wen Shouyi was overreacting way too much. The woman was simply making a poor act to conceal the truth. Gu Nianzhi watched her quietly for awhile, then said, “You just swore I liked Huo Shao and I didn’t argue with you. Now, I’m just giving you a taste of your own medicine, but you can’t take it? That’s pretty hypocritical of you.”
Wen Shouyi’s heart wrenched when she realized she’d overreacted, but she couldn’t take it back now. She wiped away her tears and sneered, “I can’t allow you to slander my reputation. I’m innocent and single, and I haven’t even had my first love yet. How dare you say I have a crush!”
“Not having a ‘first love’ doesn’t mean that you can’t have a crush!” Gu Nianzhi finally rolled her eyes. “Besides, not yet having a first love at the age of 24 is nothing to boast about, if you want to be superficial. Isn’t it better to admit your crush for Professor He rather than admit that no men are interested in you?”
“I don’t care if men aren’t interested in me.” Wen SHouyi finally collected herself and spread her arms in surrender. “I’ll remind you that you can only detain us for 24 hours. Anything over 24 hours is illegal detention and I can serve papers to you.”
Gu Nianzhi stood up and slowly leaned forward on both her arms. She stared at Wen Shouyi. “24 hours is to assist in the investigation, but if the severity of the case is beyond control, then we can detain you for 48 hours or even issue an arrest warrant and press charges.”
“Press charges? For what?!” Wen Shouyi crossed her arms and looked at Gu Nianzhi, her expression smug. “So, you’re going to abuse your power?”
“Miss Wen, there will be no abuse of power. You are directly involved with Dou Qingyan. You are also her lawyer, so we still need your assistance with the investigation until we have a breakthrough in her case. So, we can detain you for 48 hours.” Gu Nianzhi knew the laws of the Huaxia Empire far better than Wen Shouyi did.
Stunned into silence, Wen Shouyi raised her brows at Gu Nianzhi but couldn’t see any weakness in the girl’s sweet and delicate face. However, Wen Shouyi’s frown grew deeper as she examined closely. Two faces with no similarities. How did she end up looking like this? Wen Shouyi shook her head and gave a heavy sigh.”If that’s the case, I have nothing to say. I’m at your mercy and will just have to see when you’ll release us.”
Gu Nianzhi also surveyed Wen Shouyi’s face carefully. The lingering familiarity she’d been feeling since earlier had only grown stronger. The interrogation room suddenly grew so silent that only the faint sound of the laptop fan could be heard.
Huo Shaoheng watched this from the room next door. He quickly ordered the personnel in the interrogation room, “That’s good. We can send Wen Shouyi back and bring Nianzhi out. Next to be interrogated is He Zhichu. I’ll do it myself.”
Zhao Liangze still appeared lost and finally asked Huo Shaoheng after a while, “Mr. Huo, aren’t we going to let Nianzhi question him first?”
Huo Shaoheng shook his head. “I’ll interrogate him first, then Nianzhi can try if she wants to.” No matter what, He Zhichu was still Gu Nianzhi’s mentor. Huo Shaoheng didn’t want their relationship to be affected by this.
After Wen Shouyi was sent away, Gu Nianzhi took the laptop and returned to the room next door. Seeing Zhao Liangze’s strange expression, Gu Nianzhi was a little embarrassed but still forced herself to maintain composure. She passed the laptop to Zhao Liangze. “Brother Ze, all the records are in there.” She then turned to look at Huo Shaoheng. “Huo Shao, when will Professor He be interrogated?”
Huo Shaoheng put both hands in his trouser pockets as he walked to the next room. “I’ll go question him. You and Little Ze stay in here.”
After watching Huo Shaoheng’s back disappear out the door, Gu Nianzhi wiped the sweat off her brow and sat down on the sofa in the room. She looked up to see Zhao Liangze stare fixedly at her with a peculiar expression. Gu Nianzhi looked down at herself with curiosity. “What? Is there something wrong with me?”
Zhao Liangze glanced at the interrogation room to check that He Zhichu hadn’t arrived yet. Huo Shaoheng had just sat down. Zhao Liangze quickly shut the doors and opened the laptop to debug all the cameras and audio recording equipment programs in the room to momentarily shut them down, then sat next Gu Nianzhi and asked quietly, “Nianzhi, tell me truthfully, do you… do you… have a crush on Mr. Huo?”
Gu Nianzhi pursed her lips as she shook her head resolutely–she would never admit to a crush! We are in love! In love! “Brother Ze, I don’t understand what you’re saying. Wen Shouyi was clearly talking nonsense earlier. How can you believe her?”
“That’s good then.” Zhao Liangze sighed in relief. He leaned back against the sofa, completely relaxed. He said quietly, “This is good. You have to know that, now that Mr. Huo is in this big mess, all eyes are on him. If he has a…scandal.. with you, his future is in jeopardy.”
Not liking the sound of this, Gu Nianzhi squinted at him with a frown. “Brother Ze, what do you mean by that? Why would being with me be a scandal? You make it sound so bad. I’m unmarried and have no boyfriend. Huo Shao is unmarried and doesn’t have a girlfriend either. Even if we have something, it couldn’t possible threaten his future.”
“Silly girl, what you do know about anything?” Zhao Liangze flicked Gu Nianzhi’s forehead. “What status does Mr. Huo have now? Don’t you know that the biggest taboo in the military is romantic scandals? Yes, you are both unmarried and single, but you’re different, you…” Zhao Liangze looked at Gu Nianzhi’s naive eyes and suddenly couldn’t say anything more. She did not know that Huo Shaoheng’s marriage partner would have to go through countless rounds of strict administrative reviews. With Gu Nianzhi’s unknown origin, she would never pass even with 100 reviews. Unless they could uncover her origin as soon as possible. However, they had investigated for six years and hadn’t gotten a clue— even Zhao Liangze, the computer expert, had finally given up. So, it was best that Gu Nianzhi didn’t get romantically involved with Mr. Huo. Zhao Liangze thought about it, then sat straight up to put on the most attractive pose as he asked her with a cheeky smile, “Nianzhi, what do you think of Brother Ze?”
“You’re great.” Gu Nianzhi smiled and propped her chin up with both hands and batted her eyes. “Brother Ze is handsome and smart, and a computer expert to boot. You are truly my mentor!”
“Mentor?! That’s it?” Zhao Liangze pouted. “Don’t you think you can like a man like Brother Ze?”
Gu Nianzhi gasped, then laughed so hard she almost fell over on the couch. “Don’t joke around, Brother Ze! I treat you and Brother Xiong like older brothers; like my own brothers. How could I have other thoughts about you guys?”
“Is that so?” Zhao Liangze scratched his head again and thought he was being ridiculous too—the type of girl he liked was the complete opposite of Gu Nianzhi. Bai Yueran’s face appeared in his mind suddenly, and left him troubled.
Shooting a glance at him, Gu Nianzhi didn’t interrupt his musings. She stood up from the couch to stand in front of the window and saw that He Zhichu had already walked inside the interrogation room. He took a seat, a stony expression on his handsome face, as he crossed his legs and looked at Huo Shaoheng coldy. His eyes were dark and inscrutable. “Mr. Huo has finally deigned to speak with me?” He Zhichu drawled. “You arranged such a terrible room for me, so I’ve been very uncomfortable. Shouldn’t you give me a better one for Nianzhi’s sake?”