Chapter 431: Can’t escape
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Since Huo Shaoheng said that he would be going to ask personally, Yin s.h.i.+xiong left it at that.
Touching his nose, he said playfully, “Mr. Huo, put in more effort into this! It’s for Nianzhi anyway. She’ll understand.”
Huo Shaoheng looked at Yin s.h.i.+xiong briefly before turning his attention to his computer screen. This action indicated that the conversation was over, and that Yin s.h.i.+xiong could leave.
Walking out of Huo Shaoheng’s office, Yin s.h.i.+xiong closed the door behind him.
Huo Shaoheng’s attention returned to his work desk the moment he heard the door close. After looking at his mug for a while, he opened the drawer and took out a book.
The cover of the book had a red rabbit on it. It was t.i.tled The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
Opening the book, there was a picture amongst the pages.Huo Shaoheng took the picture and observed it carefully.
A 12-year-old girl wearing a princess dress was in the picture. She had long black hair cascading down her back, bangs, and a round, chubby face. Her eyes were not big, but they were long. The corners of her eyes turned up, making them look like crescent moons when she smiled.
He would never have believed that those small eyes iwould develop to be such huge and gorgeous eyes if he hadn’t seen them change with his own eyes.
A chubby and average looking girl had became such a beauty after hitting p.u.b.erty. Her features sharpened, making her into a rose in full bloom—from an unattractive bud, to a strikingly gorgeous flower, displaying her beauty to everyone.
It all just boiled down to one thing—if someone was to look at the picture, they would never have guessed that the girl in the picture was Gu Nianzhi.
Could this be the reason why Gu Nianzhi’s family did not look for her? Because they couldn’t recognize her?
Huo Shaoheng looked at the picture over and over again, admiring the magic of Mother Nature.
The girl in the picture was how Gu Nianzhi had looked when he first met her. A sentence “Gu Nianzhi’s 11th Birthday” was written on the back of the picture. Below the sentence, was the date of the picture.
This was the lead they had used to determine Gu Nianzhi’s name and birthday.
Looking at it again for a while longer, Huo Shaoheng finally put the picture back into the book, placed it in the drawer, locked it in, and began working.
Huo Shaoheng had news from all over the world sent to him on a daily basis. Of course, the news that reached him was already filtered; those that were deemed not important had already been taken care of by his subordinates. Those that were of five star importance were then sent through to Huo Shaoheng for him to handle personally.
Yin s.h.i.+xiong went into his office a couple of times when it was nearing dinner time, but seeing that Huo Shaoheng was so focused on handling the confidential doc.u.ments, he left him alone.
“Little Ze, I’m heading back to the mansion. Are you on standby today?” Putting on his coat, Yin s.h.i.+xiong continued and said, “It has been such a long day today; I’m heading back to have some soup.”
“The chefs in Mr. Huo’s kitchen are all qualified to work in three-star Michelin restaurants, yet you’re still unsatisfied?”
Zhao Liangze rolled his eyes at Yin s.h.i.+xiong. “All you do is eat. Look—you’ve put on so much weight.”
“Since when?” Yin s.h.i.+xiong panicked. Being told that he had put on weight was always an extremely sensitive topic for him. He wasn’t fat; it was just that he was tall and big boned, thus looking bigger than a normal sized man.
Although Zhao Liangze wasn’t very skinny as well, he had a small frame and a lithe body, leading to him looking lankier than Yin s.h.i.+xiong. Standing side by side, Yin s.h.i.+xiong always looked like a bouncer, and was always made fun of for it by Zhao Liangze.
“Forget it. I’m not eating today,” Yin s.h.i.+xiong growled. He continued grumbling as he picked up his suitcase and left the office building.
Upon returning to Huo Shaoheng’s mansion, Yin s.h.i.+xiong went into his suite for a bath and a change of clothes, before heading to the dining room. He remembered that Gu Nianzhi might be alone in her room and informed the guards, “Bring my food, along with Miss Gu’s, to her suite. I’ll have dinner with her.”
The guards nodded and picked up the dishes and soup and placed them onto the tray before sending them to the common area in Gu Nianzhi’s suite.
“Thanks for the trouble.” Yin s.h.i.+xiong nodded to the guards politely, indicating their permission to leave.
One guard smiled. “Please don’t mention it, Lieutenant Colonel Yin. It’s what I’m happy to do.”
He considerately closed the door upon exiting.
Looking at the dishes on the little coffee table, Yin s.h.i.+xiong called out to Gu Nianzhi.
“Nianzhi, dinner’s ready. Can you eat?”
Gu Nianzhi had already heard Yin s.h.i.+xiong and the guard’s voices. She did not dare utter a sound when the guard was there. Only after he had left did she get off her bed and peek out from her room.
“Brother Xiong, can you bring the dishes in to me please?”
Her mouth began drooling the moment she smell food. She was famished.
Smiling, Yin s.h.i.+xiong nodded, placed the dishes onto the tray again, and brought them into Gu Nianzhi’s bedroom.
There was a small rectangular table against her wall in her bedroom, intended to display a jade screen and a cross-st.i.tch of a kitten playing with a b.u.t.terfly. She s.h.i.+fted those onto her antique display shelf.
Yin s.h.i.+xiong placed the food onto the table; they took their seats on each side of the table and began to eat.
Gu Nianzhi first drank a bowl of soup. Then, she had two small buns, some stir fried beef with green peppers, and selections from the seafood platter before putting down her chopsticks in satisfaction, laughing.
“Ah, I could eat an entire cow! Thankfully there were the stir fried beef; if not, I wouldn’t have been able to satisfy my cravings.”
“What, that little portion? After only taking a few bites, you’re boasting in front of me?” Yin s.h.i.+xiong shook his head, and ate generously.
Gu Nianzhi was always awed by the amount of food Yin s.h.i.+xiong ate; one meal of his could easily feed Gu Nianzhi for two whole days.
Gu Nianzhi was, of course, used to the amount and the way the guys ate. She just held onto a warm cup of tea, sipped from it slowly, and let the warmth travel down her back.
Lying down in bed for too long can be tiring as well, she thought.
After he was done, Yin s.h.i.+xiong made himself a cup of tea and started chatting with Gu Nianzhi.
After chatting for a while, Yin s.h.i.+xiong naturally brought up the topic on He Zhichu to Gu Nianzhi.
“Nianzhi, your Professor He treats you really well, doesn’t he? Don’t you think that he feels a certain sense of closeness with you?” Yin s.h.i.+xiong took a sip from his tea, avoiding looking at Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi was slightly taken aback.
“Brother Xiong, do you think so?”
“Yes, it’s really interesting…” Yin s.h.i.+xiong told Gu Nianzhi the entire situation about He Zhichu.
“Look, the year you started your University, he went to be the a.s.sistant professor at Harvard. Only two years later, he got promoted to be their permanent faculty position.”
“Is that true? Professor He…graduated as a scholar of Yale Law School, but he was already the shareholder of the largest law firm in America?” Gu Nianzhi tilted her head to one side. She seemed to be telling Yin s.h.i.+xiong that his reasoning was not convincing enough.
“That’s not wrong. He does have the capability. But, if he really was so capable, why didn’t he remain as a professor in Harvard? Look here, he accepted B University’s invitation last year to be the consulting Professor for the PHD students. Right when you graduated, he suddenly decided to have a master’s apprentice.”
He looked at Gu Nianzhi fixedly.
“You think all of these are coincidences?”
Gu Nianzhi lowered her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know. I’d initially felt that they were, but now that you put it this way, I definitely feel that they aren’t coincidences.”
If this had been just a year ago, Gu Nianzhi would definitely have retorted strongly; she would have been insulted at how someone had managed to set all of this up for her.
Now, she just wished that she gotten her current opportunities based on her own merits. It was awful, doubting her ability and her apt.i.tude.
However, after what had happened recently, and how much He Zhichu knew about her ankle injury, she couldn’t lie to herself with the notion of ‘coincidences’ anymore.
All these thoughts had to be kept to herself; discussing them with Yin s.h.i.+xiong wouldn’t do much, since it was just speculation.
“Good. It’s good that you know that they are not coincidences.” Yin s.h.i.+xiong stood up and winked at her. “I’m just reminding you now: Mr. Huo will ask you the same when he has the chance.”
He left her room and took the empty dishes with him, leaving Gu Nianzhi alone in the room in a daze.
…
It was already 11 at night by the time Huo Shaoheng finished his work and left the office building.
Upon reaching his mansion, he went to Gu Nianzhi’s room, habitually, to take a look at her.
Her suite was dark, so when Huo Shaoheng entered, he walked to the bedroom directly from the common area. There was no one on the bed when he arrived at the bedroom.
Wondering where she was, he suddenly heard Gu Nianzhi’s voice coming from the other side of the bedroom.
“Huo Shao, is that you?”
Huo Shaoheng turned. His eyes were already accustomed to the darkness. He saw Gu Nianzhi stand up from beside the table.
She was not sleeping on the bed, but was sitting in the dark room, alone.