Chapter 1045: It’s Too Dusty and Windy
Nianzhi had taken down Hong Kangquan without any blood on her blade?
Huo Shaoheng could only feel his heart skip a beat. The hand gripping the mouse suddenly froze as he looked up at General Ji.
Before Huo Shaoheng’s eyes, General Ji excitedly called an orderly inside and purposely commanded in a loud voice, “Hurry up and prepare a vehicle! I need to go to the Senate building right now!”
He was already so old, but he still wanted to play this game…
Huo Shaoheng said a few scornful words in his own heart, but still had no choice but to bow down under someone else’s roof.
He exited the computer program and shut down the computer. He stood up ramrod straight and replied calmly, “General Ji, I will escort you to the Senate building.”
“You?” General Ji pouted, a look of disbelief on his face, “That’s not necessary. To what do I owe the honor? How could I ask the great Major General Huo to take me to the Senate building?!”
“You are very honorable, indeed.” Huo Shaoheng’s expression didn’t change, nor did his heartbeat as he walked to the coat rack to take off General Ji’s military cap and offered it to him with both hands. “I’ll be your driver. Think about it: things are chaotic right now, and you’re the backbone of our country, as well the backbone of the military. If something were to happen to you, how could I answer to the generals of the three armed forces?”
The orderly watching from the side almost felt his eyes pop out of their sockets.
He had seen Huo Shaoheng appear aloof, cold, and murderous. He had also seen Huo Shaoheng calm and confident, yet he had never seen Huo Shaoheng flatter anyone so discreetly before!
However, General Ji’s eyes crinkled in amus.e.m.e.nt. He patted Huo Shaoheng’s shoulder. “Shaoheng, I like nothing more than seeing you have no choice but to flatter me, even if you loathe to do it!”
Huo Shaoheng was left speechless.
The orderly was sad. ‘I’m blind and deaf, so I have no idea what these two chiefs are talking about…’
Of course, General Ji wouldn’t ask Huo Shaoheng to be his driver.
After walking out of the military housing complex, Huo Shaoheng and General Ji climbed into the backseat of his private vehicle. The driver was General Ji’s orderly of many years and already held a rank of lieutenant colonel.
Once the two men were in the vehicle, their expressions became solemn.
“Shaoheng, what on earth do you think is going on with Hong Kangquan?” General Ji expressed his worries. “Old Long was also asking the same thing. Although he has a motive, there’s no evidence at all, so we can’t convict him of any charges.”
Even regarding the incident of Hong Kangquan encouraging Cai Songyin and Tan Dongbang to ask Huo Shaoheng to personally step in and go to the United States, they had no actual evidence to prove that Hong Kangquan had anything to do with Huo Shaoheng’s experience in the United States.
“Tell me, where should we go to find evidence?” General Ji mumbled to himself with great concern.
Huo Shaoheng knew that the evidence would be inside the surveillance software.
But he had been too busy the last few days, so he was still trying to unearth the hidden data. The computer inside the “confinement room” in General Ji’s home wasn’t powerful enough.
If he didn’t need to continue detaining him, he would return to the Central Control Room inside the Special Operations Forces headquarters base where it would be much faster.
Of course, he was currently most interested in how Gu Nianzhi had been able to take down Hong Kangquan “without any blood on her blade.”
So when General Ji asked the question, Huo Shaoheng merely replied with ease, “There will certainly be evidence as long as we go searching for it. Keeping him under surveillance for now and forbidding him from moving around freely was also the right decision.”
It was a rare occasion for General Ji to act so decisively, so Huo Shaoheng didn’t spare any effort praising him.
“So you’re saying that he’s the only one allowed to detain you, but we can’t detain him?” General Ji was still very displeased. “Tell me what Hong Kangquan is actually thinking? He was also a prominent military talent back when he was in the army. Shaoheng, I’ll tell you something you don’t want to hear. There wouldn’t be much for you here if he had agreed to establish the Special Operations Forces.”
Huo Shaoheng grunted, “That’s a given. Back then, I was still one of his soldiers. Of course I would have followed my leader.”
Then he would probably have only been in the same position as Zhao Liangze and Yin s.h.i.+xiong were currently, and his military rank would likely only be colonel at most. There was no way he’d have been a major general at such a young age.
But there was no such thing as “what if” in this world.
The truth was, he had single-handedly established the Special Operations Forces and fulfilled his goals. It had also guarded the interests of the nation and military.
General Ji sighed emotionally before ordering Huo Shaoheng to find evidence as soon as possible to bring Hong Kangquan to justice.
General Ji only lamented the fact that Hong Kangquan was already a veteran. Otherwise, he would be directly tried in a military court. That was the fate he actually deserved!
…
The two men arrived at the Senate building, and Speaker Long was already waiting for them outside his office.
Upon seeing General Ji and Shaoheng come in one after another, Speaker Long was astonished yet happy. He reached out to General Ji. “Old Ji, you finally came. We’ve been waiting for half a day now.”
General Ji confidently shook hands with Speaker Long and said with a smile, “Old Long, wasn’t I right? Shaoheng would certainly never do anything to harm the nation or its citizens.”
“Right, Old Ji. You certainly have a better eye than me.” Speaker Long was completely convinced this time. “However, you shouldn’t be too smug, since I’ve found an even better successor. I’ll train her carefully, and when the time comes, we will compete and see whose successor is stronger!”
General Ji seemed surprised. “…Successor? Who?”
“Gu Nianzhi!” Speaker Long happily pushed open his office doors to welcome them inside. “Here, come sit down. We’ll watch the surveillance footage together.”
After looking for a long time, he finally chose footage from the best angle and played it on a curved screen that covered half the wall.
Speaker Long had selected surveillance footage that began with his questioning of Tan Guiren.
Of course, this was also mainly because Gu Nianzhi was the one who was asking the questions.
When Huo Shaoheng saw Gu Nianzhi repeatedly “brainwash” to Tan Guiren without growing impatient, the great unease in his heart finally settled down.
Tan Guiren did know a bit about what had happened in the United States, so Huo Shaoheng hadn’t been completely worry-free.
That was probably his own loophole in case Tan Guiren revealed anything about James, since then he would really be in a lot of trouble…
He hadn’t thought that Gu Nianzhi would be able to permanently block this weakness for him.
That way, anyone who attempted to glean information from Tan Guiren in order to frame Huo Shaoheng would be humiliating themselves. They would find that they’d picked up a big boulder only to drop it on their own feet.
Huo Shaoheng watched the large curved display intently, his expression almost obsessive.
He didn’t listen to General Ji and Speaker Long’s whispering beside him, nor did he see the furtive glances they exchanged. The only thing in his ears was the fluid words of the girl who almost seemed to glow on the screen.
This was his girl, his Nianzhi.
As soon as he thought of her name, his cold and hard expression instantly became incredibly gentle.
General Ji and Speaker Long eventually stopped speaking, because the large curved screen was starting to play Gu Nianzhi’s concluding remarks on Hong Kangquan.
“Right, Major General Huo did return alive. So your first plan failed, and you created another plan. This time, you wanted Major General Huo’s reputation to be destroyed by making him suffer a fate crueler than death.” Gu Nianzhi calmly a.n.a.lyzed the situation. “…So afterward, you chose the second path and falsely accused the nation’s Major General of being captured and a traitor.”
“Well said!” General Ji began to clap. “Very well said! This Nianzhi is becoming more incredible by the day! Old Long, I regret it now. I want to fight you for this rare talent!”
“Are you serious? Fight for what? How is Shaoheng supposed to feel about what you just said?!” Speaker Long purposely brought Huo Shaoheng into the conversation. “Look at him! His eyes are turning red from hearing what you said!”
“Oh?” General Ji quickly turned around to only see Huo Shaoheng looking at him nonchalantly.
“What are the two chiefs talking about? It’s so dusty and windy here that sand got into my eyes just now.”