Chapter 898: Appearance Is Power
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The impeachment of Prime Minister Tan Dongbang originated from the extramarital affair video between Gu Yanran and himself. However, as a Prime Minister, being unfaithful to his wife was at worst a moral mistake. The one who should be upset was his wife. The Senate would not impeach him just because he’d had an extramarital affair.
However, when that video was a.n.a.lyzed, more details were exposed. Everyone realized that the place that the affair had occurred was none other than in the Prime Minister’s Office!
While Tan Dongbang was under interrogation regarding the extramarital affair, he had confirmed time and again that his relations.h.i.+p with Gu Yanran had not affected his work in any way, and that he had never brought Gu Yanran to his office…
As for that social media platform, due to an attack from a “hacker” that forced them to restore their backup, the deleted video had resurfaced again. People began to use technology to return it to its original state and expose every single detail in that video.
With a shock, everyone realized that the video had been taken right in the Prime Minister’s Office! Therefore, the first charge that Tan Dongbang had to face immediately was the fact that he had lied to the Senate and provided false testimony.
Subsequently, he’d attempted to divert the investigation teams’ attention and misled them. Therefore, he faced a second charge for that, also raised by the Senate.
As for the extramarital affair between Gu Yanran and Tan Dongbang, it still could not be brought to light, and therefore was not officially included as a charge against him by the panel of judges.
After investigating and gathering evidence for more than a month, it was finally time to vote on the charges of impeachment. According to the state law of the Hua Xia Empire, to impeach a Prime Minister, both the upper and lower houses of Parliament had to have two-thirds of the supporting vote before it could be carried out.
This was also the first impeachment of a Prime Minister since the Hua Xia Empire was founded. Therefore, all the citizens were paying the utmost attention to this impeachment.
All the television stations, news stations, and social media platforms were all tuned to the venue, reporting live to their viewers about the vote. The whole world’s attention was turned to the parliamentary meeting in the Hua Xia Empire.
…
Meanwhile, in the small meeting room beside the lower house of Parliament’s meeting hall, Tan Dongbang, Cai Songyin, Tan Guiren, and Cai Shengnan were doing their final preparations before the voting.
Cai Shengnan’s father made a call from America to run through everything with Tan Dongbang again, guiding him on how to talk his way out without breaking any laws. As the two of them talked, the atmosphere was extremely tense.
Cai Songyin did not disturb them. She turned to Cai Shengnan quietly and said, “Shengnan, tell little aunt the truth. It will be okay this time around.”
Cai Shengnan shook her head indifferently. “What are you worried about? My father was able to handle both sides of parliament in America. What’s different here?”
“You cannot think about it that way.” Cai Songyin was frustrated. “Things are different.”
However, seeing her innocent daughter Tan Guiren, and thinking about her future and marriage, Cai Songyin had to bear with this on her own. If Tan Dongbang was impeached, her daughter’s future would be ruined. She could have been a princess her entire life. Not a single person in the Hua Xia Empire would have been able to match her family background, so no one would be able to get a better husband than her.
For her daughter, Cai Songyin had to take this path. Moreover, looking through the country, was there anyone more suitable for her than Tan Dongbang?
No, there wasn’t.
No one would ever have as much gold. No one would ever be as perfect. She should have been contented.
Anyway, she could go out and have fun in the future without feeling guilty anymore. She did not have to care about how Tan Dongbang felt anymore…
Cai Shengnan folded her arms and paced around the small meeting room. It wasn’t that she was not nervous. After all, it was her first time doing such a thing in this country.
Although she had already done what she could, no one would know what would happen until the final results were released. She craned her neck and took a deep breath. She felt like she was convincing herself and explaining to Cai Songyin at the same time.
“…There are 660 people in the lower house of parliament. I have already managed to convince 450 people to vote for objection. On top of that, there were 20 who were uncertain. That already puts us way past two-thirds. The upper house of parliament has 100 people, and 70 of them have already agreed to vote for objection. Therefore, as long as they understand the big picture, there should be no problem.”
“No one will go against their words, will they?” Cai Songyin asked worriedly. “How did you convince them? You did not do anything against the law, did you?”
“How did I convince them? Cai Shengnan raised her head to look at Cai Songyin, her seductive eyes captivating. “I used what they care about the most – their votes. Why would I do anything against the law? Wouldn’t I be waiting to be jailed if I did anything illegal to a speaker? Do I seem that stupid?”
She had used absolutely legal methods.
Speakers cared about votes more than anything. Cai Shengnan had used a strategy that could affect their votes to convince them. She’d spoken about how Tan Dongbang could help them to garner supportive votes if he continued being the Prime Minister. If Tan Dongbang got impeached, the people who chose the speakers to represent their zones would be the first to be affected.
Moreover, Tan Dongbang had always represented the benefits of the citizens.
The media that Cai Songyin controlled had already been reporting that the entire impeachment as a case had originated from jealousy from other political teams. Even the leaked video had been made up by the opposing team. They had uploaded it using the IP address of the Prime Minister’s mansion because they’d intended to sabotage the Prime Minister and tarnish his reputation.
Under the influence of the social media team that Cai Songyin controlled, many political teams that had intended to gain an advantage due to the impeachment had no choice but to stop harboring such thoughts.
The moment they made any plans, they were bashed severely. When the focal point s.h.i.+fted, everyone’s focus changed.
Cai Songyin understood the human mind very well.
She knew that to the citizens who were looking at this entire case simply out of curiosity, the news about political fights was way more interesting than the extramarital affair of the Prime Minister. Political fights were also easier for them to believe were authentic.
Even if the Prime Minister really did have an extramarital affair, his wife didn’t mind and was trying to explain to the public that it was a misunderstanding. Who cared if he had a mistress anymore?!
To be able to stir news that effectively, would it really not affect any opposing political teams?
Under the influence of misleading information released by the anonymous technical team that Cai Songyin had engaged, all the untrue information about Tan Dongbang’s impeachment was spreading like wildfire under her control.
This would be the day that they saw the results of their hard work. Tan Dongbang had finally finished speaking to his brother-in-law over the phone. He felt way calmer than he had before.
He adjusted the bowtie of his tuxedo in the mirror.
Cai Songyin looked at his reflection over his shoulder. The handsome man in the mirror with the sleek hairstyle was her childhood love turned husband.
Of course, this man was capable. He was the best at giving speeches. The way he could stir emotions with his speeches was not something that anyone else could do. That was the exact reason he had been able to emerge as the winner under the careful planning of the Tan’s and the Cai’s, surpa.s.sing Bai Jiancheng who had initially been in the lead.
Cai Songyin patted away some nonexistent dust from his shoulders and nudged him lightly. “Go ahead.”
Tan Dongbang turned around and grabbed her hand, kissing it lightly. “Wait for me, Songyin.” Then, he turned around and walked towards the door.
However, Cai Shengnan went to Cai Songyin and Tan Guiren and said, “Little aunt, cousin, both of you should go together and stand by uncle the whole time to show your utmost determination to support him.”
“What? We have to be there as well?” Cai Songyin and Tan Guiren asked in shock.
Cai Songyin was reluctant because she still did not feel comfortable. Tan Guiren was merely too shy to be on stage.
“Yes. Uncle needs your support more than ever. Little aunt, by standing beside him, you would subconsciously be leading what the people online are gossiping about. Netizens will look at the entire incident based on your att.i.tude. As for cousin…”
Cai Shengnan paused a while on Tan Guiren’s flawless face. She had noticed that Tan Guiren was decked in the Chloe brand again. She wore a white dress from their store that suited her very well – ladylike and innocent.
It was very attractive.
Truth be told, there were already many boys online who were proclaiming that they would be supporting Tan Dongbang solely based on the fact that he had a daughter like Tan Guiren. They even started the slogan “Appearance is Power!”
Of course, some online technicians were engaged by Cai Songyin. As for how many there were, only Cai Songyin knew.
“…You have to know that the netizens are all voters. They are the main people who decide who the cabinet will be.”
After coaxing them for a while, Cai Songyin and Tan Guiren were finally convinced.
…
In the meeting hall of the lower parliamentary house, the voting had just begun.
Tan Dongbang stood on the prosecution stand across from the panel of judges. Beside him was his leading lawyer, Cai Shengnan. His team of lawyers was behind him.
Cai Shengnan had worn a tailored LV business suit for women. It looked formal but was able to accentuate her womanly features. As soon as Cai Shengnan appeared on the television screen, her name began appearing on the top search on the internet.
#Cai Shengnan, the only Asian female shareholder of the second-largest law firm in America.
#Father of Cai Shengnan, the leading lawyer of the previous president of America.
#Cai Shengnan, valedictorian of one of the top universities in America.
Topic after topic appeared in the top search. At least three of them managed to make it into the top ten searches in no time!
She really was famous now!
Many members of the media noticed this beautiful and capable female lawyer who had just returned from America. Her work number began getting so many calls that it seemed like the phone would never stop ringing. They all wanted to invite her in for interviews.
Of course, focusing all her attention on the voting at the lower parliament house, Cai Shengnan did not have time to answer the calls.
The one who was in charge of her work calls was her a.s.sistant. Her a.s.sistant presented the grand situation to her happily. “Lawyer Cai, you can begin your term of stardom henceforth. Your top search is already comparable to that of an A-cla.s.s celebrity. Those from the B and C cla.s.ses would not even be suitable to carry your shoes for you.”
Cai Shengnan smiled and seemed calm.
Wearing her Bluetooth earpiece, she whispered, “Alright, get a grip on yourself. I am not in the entertainment industry. How can you compare them to me?”
She had been waking up earlier and turning in later than any of the others, only getting four to five hours of sleep a day to get to where she was.
However, although she had responded to her a.s.sistant like that, everyone had a superficial side to them.
Cai Shengnan still found time to take a look from her personal phone to check the top ten searches on the internet.
At that moment, a new search topic was making its way up like a rocket. It climbed until it reached the top ten in no time, then continued to make its way up.
This search regarding Cai Shengnan went like this:
#Cai Shengnan, an ageless woman with looks 100, figure 150, and brains 250.
Cai Shengnan was speechless.
The corners of her lips twitched and she felt anger beginning to rise in her.
Were the internet technicians that little aunt had engaged idiots?!
How did they buy search topics?!
Were they praising her now?!
…
At this moment, in the dormitory of the grad school students of B University, Gu Nianzhi put down her phone like nothing had just happened, a little smile on her lips. Raising both her hands to support her face, she watched the television showing the grand meeting hall of the lower house of parliament.