995 Create A Big Headline
Although Huo Shaoheng was using a negotiating tone, there was no room for discussion in his words.
He had already made it clear how they should be punished: swiftly and severely.
Of course, Speaker Long was in complete agreement. “No problem! Critical times call for critical measures!”
Gu Nianzhi covered her face and listened from the side for some time. She contemplated how punis.h.i.+ng “severely and swiftly” alone wouldn’t be enough. The bigger a deal she made of this, the better. Otherwise, who knew what Mrs. Cai Songyin, media master of the Office of the Prime Minister, an expert in manipulating voter’s psychology, would come up with next?
She grumbled quietly, “…Those three people are too shameless. They always insist on creating a major headline. In my opinion, we should grant their wish and call the media over here. All the news channels should put out a wave of rolling broadcasts that allow all the citizens of the nation to know about the intentions of the Office of the Prime Minister!”
“Gu Nianzhi! You loathe it when the world isn’t in chaos!” Special a.s.sistant Yang was the first to cry out. He straightened out his expression and pretended to be a kind-hearted person who believed that getting taken advantage of means taking advantage of other people. He urged compa.s.sionately, “…We’ve already dealt with the three spokespeople from the Office of the Prime Minister, so stop making more enemies for our Senate and Speaker Long. I’m begging you, princess! I’ll wors.h.i.+p you from now on and you can be my boss, is that okay?!”
As soon as Special a.s.sistant Yang said this, the expressions on the faces of several senior secretaries nearby changed imperceptibly.
As the saying goes, “colleagues are enemies.” How could colleagues in the same office not also be enemies?
This was especially the case when there were limited promotion positions available. Who would remember “love between colleagues” or “friends.h.i.+ps” under such circ.u.mstances?
A rare gentleman was someone who doesn’t kick others while they’re down…
Huo Shaoheng looked down. How could he not detect the hidden implication in Special a.s.sistant Yang’s words?
He wasn’t a typical soldier who was completely straightforward and revealed all his thoughts and emotions.
He was a soldier on a special front. Facing life and death on this special front, he would’ve long ago been eliminated and reincarnated if he hadn’t;t known how to observe others and read between the lines…
Huo Shaoheng pursed his lips. He wanted to help defend Gu Nianzhi, but from the corner of his eyes, he spied the Gu Nianzhi’s right hand shaking slightly at him.
So Huo Shaoheng didn’t say anything else. He raised his chin slightly in Gu Nianzhi’s direction and walked over to stand beside Speaker Long.
Gu Nianzhi’s mood brightened when she saw Huo Shaoheng understanding her intention.
She completely ignored Special a.s.sistant Yang’s “pleading.” Pretending that she didn’t hear the hidden intention in Special a.s.sistant Yang’s words at all, she focussed her efforts on Speaker Long.
“Speaker Long, please listen to me. The Office of the Prime Minister dared to send someone to cause trouble during such a juncture, proving that they have absolutely no regard for the Senate, let alone any regard for Speaker Long. If you claim that making a big deal out of this will make enemies, why would our Senate be afraid of a prime minister who will imminently be removed from office?! Moreover, why didn’t the Office of the Prime Minister consider that they would be making enemies when they sent those three spokespeople over to cause trouble? You think so too, right? Why we should be afraid of being unreasonable when we are the ones who are being reasonable?”
“Gu Nianzhi, what are you saying?! Is your goal to make the Senate and the Office of the Prime Minister enemies? I’m really doubting if you are here to help, or purposefully coming here to cause trouble!” Special a.s.sistant Yang didn’t wait for Speaker Long to speak before scolding her.
In Special a.s.sistant Yang’s eyes, Gu Nianzhi’s actions seemed like those of a petty, evil person who was pitting people against each other. Her words sounded even more philosophical in his ears. Each word was like a knife being stabbed through his heart!
Even though Gu Nianzhi continued to ignore him, each word was a direct response to what he’d accused her of just now.
She showed Speaker Long her face, still swollen from the a.s.sault. “You see, they a.s.saulted your staff to this extent, but you still want to minimize the situation and be the good person who smoothes things over. That slap in the face was only the beginning. Countless difficulties and troubles will follow. If you don’t pursue this, the Office of the Prime Minister will know your bottom line. They’ll know that you don’t want to make a big deal of it, that you intend to minimize the situation. What will they do then? They’ll certainly escalate the incident! The trios of troublemakers will upgrade! They’ll continue to cause trouble until they can achieve their goal.”
“Gu Nianzhi, what on earth do you want us to do? How could personnel from the Office of the Prime Minister be as uncouth as you claim?” Special a.s.sistant Yang became even more anxious when he noticed that Speaker Long had been quiet for so long.
Special a.s.sistant Yang had always appeared to be “mild-mannered, humble, honest, and reliable” in front of Speaker Long. He’d always wanted to minimize trouble and not make a big deal of things. He would never cause trouble and make something out of nothing like Gu Nianzhi wanted to.
Special a.s.sistant Yang had always thought that Speaker Long admired his method of doing things.
It wasn’t until the appearance of the two women, Gu Nianzhi and Cai Shengnan, and hearing them receive exemplary praise from Speaker Long, that he subtly sensed that Speaker Long was not actually that satisfied with him…
Gu Nianzhi raised a brow. She finally looked at Special a.s.sistant Yang and sneered, “The personnel from the Office of the Prime Minister aren’t as uncouth as I claim? Then may I ask Special a.s.sistant Yang, wasn’t it the Prime Minister himself who personally starred in that illicit video?! That’s why those three spokespeople used vulgar language towards me and claimed that they wanted to buy me by the hour! What do they regard the Senate as? And what do they regard Speaker Long as?!”
“Buying by the hour” was a common phrase used to describe the patronizing of brothels.
According to its literal meaning, this meant that they saw the Senate as the extremely filthy brothel and Speaker Long as its pimp…
The three personnel from the Office of the Prime Minister had purposely used such vulgar language and acted so disgustingly to infuriate Gu Nianzhi.
They had said these things a.s.suming that only Gu Nianzhi could hear them. However, they’d had no idea that Gu Nianzhi had a recording pen on her to expedite her work.
Because it was her first day on the job and she was very careful and serious, she was terrified of making mistakes. With that in mind, she’d followed He Zhichu’s teachings and brought a recording pen with her. She had planned to record all her work dealings to enable herself to check her work and fix any errors when she got home.
These were also the habits of a lawyer that He Zhichu had ingrained in her. They enabled her to contact clients at any time by recording all favorable evidence.
The moment those three spokespeople from the Office of the Prime Minister stepped into the hall, Gu Nianzhi had turned on the recording pen.
She hadn’t expected it to play such a significant part in her first day.
Special a.s.sistant Yang didn’t know Gu Nianzhi was carrying a recording pen, so he kept insisting that what she said was impossible.
He shook his head with a sigh. “Gu Nianzhi, I don’t blame you for always wanting to stir up trouble. You were beaten, after all, so you want to get back at them no matter what. But you still have to remember what’s reasonable. I don’t know the three of them very well, but we are still acquaintances. They are spokespeople for the Office of the Prime Minister and have worked for many years as senior media relations managers at major media companies. How could they have used such vulgar language? Also, wouldn’t you have slapped them right in the face if they’d really said that about you?! Then it wouldn’t be them a.s.saulting you, but you a.s.saulting them!”
“That’s right!” Gu Nianzhi actually clapped her hands for Special a.s.sistant Yang. “Special a.s.sistant Yang is correct! That was their motive! They were using such vulgar words precisely to infuriate me into making a move. If I had been the one to make the move, then you’d better believe that the rolling broadcast on the news channels right now would have major headlines reading: ‘The Senate bullied others with its authority and a.s.saulted the Office of the Prime Minister!"”
Special a.s.sistant Yang choked for a second, his face turning purple. It looked like he was suffering from high blood pressure.
She’d actually used his own words to slap him in the face, even speaking in a praising tone!
This Gu Nianzhi was certainly crazy! She was just too evil!
Special a.s.sistant Yang glared at Gu Nianzhi and gritted his teeth. He tried hard to maintain his image of being, “gentle, humble, experienced, and reliable.” He reiterated, “Those are all your own speculations. Why can’t we think of other people in a positive way? Also, you claim that they said these things. Aside from you, who else heard it?”
As he spoke, Special a.s.sistant Yang turned around to look at the several senior secretaries who’d come with Gu Nianzhi. “Did you guys hear it?”
The senior secretaries all shook their heads.
They truly hadn’t heard it. They’d merely seen the person lean into Gu Nianzhi’s ear and say something. Gu Nianzhi then said that they had broken “indecency laws.” The people were so angered that one of them slapped his notebook across Gu Nianzhi’s face.
Gu Nianzhi had happened to stand up at that moment, causing the notebook to slap her hard in her face. The sound cracked loudly, then her face swelled red.
Special a.s.sistant believed that if the other party was vile enough to go to the extent of saying such things, then he would certainly have said it right in Gu Nianzhi’s ear. He would have never loudly declared it in public.
Everyone knew that this was the heavily surveilled Senate, not some wet market.
Gu Nianzhi had happened to record the incident and Special a.s.sistant Yang obviously didn’t know about it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to ask Gu Nianzhi to let things go.
“So, how could you create a rift between the Senate and the Office of the Prime Minister with your one-sided claims? Do you want all the citizens of the nation to make fun of us?” Special a.s.sistant Yang finally recovered a bit of his confidence and acted even more gentlemanly.
He hoped that Gu Nianzhi could see that her greatest deficiency was her inability to see the big picture and her inability to compromise.
To work in the Senate, she would need to help each interest group to reach consensus. To do that, the most important thing was the ability to compromise.
Otherwise, how had Speaker Long gained his respected status with all parties?
Someone like Gu Nianzhi, who couldn’t suffer even the slightest indignation, would only cause endless troubles in her future career.
Gu Nianzhi stared at Special a.s.sistant Yang and squinted her eyes. “Special a.s.sistant Yang, first you said this was a joke, then you said this was a rift. An uninformed person would think that you are a Special a.s.sistant from the Office of the Prime Minister, not a Special a.s.sistant to our Senate!”
Special a.s.sistant Yang was livid. Ignoring that Speaker Long was also present, he replied angrily, “Don’t make false accusations! I’m teaching you how to act around others. Not only do you refuse the help, but you want to trip me up instead! You only care about getting attention for yourself and don’t know how to compromise or let things go. Where is your team spirit? Where is your consideration for the big picture?!”
“You’re talking about team spirit to me? And you’re talking about consideration for the big picture to me? Okay.” Gu Nianzhi produced her recording pen. She said solemnly before playing the recording, “I remembered that a great person once said that if battles require teamwork, then they will survive as a team. If compromise requires teamwork, then the team will perish. Also, specific situations and specific a.n.a.lysis cannot be used as standards to cover all situations. Regardless if we compromise, concede, or refuse to back down, we only have the goal of achieving our purpose. That doesn’t mean we should compromise for the sake of compromise, or make meaningless concessions.”
“Ha, better said than sung!” Special a.s.sistant Yang snickered. “How is asking you to not escalate the situation making a compromise for the sake of compromise?”
“How can the other party appreciate it if we don’t escalate the situation? Special a.s.sistant Yang, it’s hard to imagine how you survived in the highest palace of politics with how naive and honest you are.”
While he was kind and compa.s.sionate to other people, he’d used all sorts of tricks against her and treated her like moldable clay…
“Gu Nianzhi, don’t make personal attacks as soon as you don’t agree with my words. However, you’re still young. I…” Just as Special a.s.sistant Yang was about to express his magnanimity, Gu Nianzhi waved her hand like she was driving off mosquitoes and flies with disdain.
She looked directly at Speaker Long and pressed the playback b.u.t.ton on the recording pen at the highest volume.
“..Miss Gu, is it? Can I buy you by the hour? I’m pretty strong…”
The man’s lewd words combined with his greasy voice made everyone want to vomit last night’s dinner.
Huo Shaoheng lowered his gaze, his expression as calm as usual. However, he had one hand in his coat pocket that squeezed his gun so tightly the veins on the back of his hand popped up.
Speaker Long bellowed angrily, “How dare he! Tan Dongbang, I won’t make your life easy, even after you step down from office!”
Special a.s.sistant Yang’s face instantly turned ashen. He didn’t look very well. He’d never imagined that Gu Nianzhi actually possessed a recording as evidence!
Gu Nianzhi was mildly embarra.s.sed and shut off the recording pen. She reiterated, “Speaker Long, please listen to me this one time and immediately ask the media to expose the poor behavior of the Office of the Prime Minister. Have them do rolling broadcasts on the TV channels and ask all parties to comment. I can guarantee that the Office of the Prime Minister will be completely swamped with dealing with inquiries from the media and all the citizens of the nation. They will not dare to use such despicable means to obstruct the interim general elections again!”
Speaker Long’s expression was dark as he nodded. “Okay, let’s do as you suggested. I’ll personally escort you into the ambulance!”
Huo Shaoheng’s mind began to work as he said, “I’ll accompany Speaker Long.” As he spoke, he immediately called over Yin s.h.i.+xiong. “Colonel Yin, you are now fully in charge here.”
“Roger that, chief!” Yin s.h.i.+xiong saluted loudly as Huo Shaoheng accompanied Speaker Long and Gu Nianzhi towards the door.
By the time they arrived at the entrance of the Senate building, the media had already a.s.sembled outside.
They actually didn’t need any special notice. Due to the interim general elections, all the various major news agencies were already stationed at the Senate building to wait and clamor for headlines.
When the police cars and ambulance arrived, they craned their necks in antic.i.p.ation.
Gu Nianzhi hung her head halfway down. Her hair covered most of her face, only revealing the side that had been beaten swollen.
Speaker Long and Huo Shaoheng flanked her on either side.
Speaker Long’s expression was full of anger. Huo Shaoheng had one arm around Gu Nianzhi to s.h.i.+eld her as they parted the crowd of media and walked forward.
“We have a major headline!”
All the media members had sniffed out the aura of a major headline.
Speaker Long, the highest-ranking leader of the Senate, and Huo Shaoheng, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the Supreme Military Council, were escorting a woman whose face was beaten swollen.
Without adding any embellishments, this headline alone would make all the citizens of the nation go crazy!
Not to mention, this woman was beautiful. Aside from her half swollen face, there wasn’t an inch of her that wasn’t pretty!
“May I ask Speaker Long what happened here?” A reporter from the National Television Channel habitually handed a microphone to Speaker Long.
He’d originally a.s.sumed that Speaker Long wouldn’t answer his question, so he didn’t think that Speaker Long would stop in his tracks. Speaker Long angrily bellowed into the microphone and camera, “Prime Minister Tan, I know that you are currently examining your handiwork in front of the TV. All you people can see that your plan succeeded! I only want to say one thing… You can come after Old Long if you have any dissatisfaction with the Senate. I’m already in my 60’s and have lived long enough! Don’t attack our staff! Just look at her, she’s not even 20 years old. Today was her first day of work and look at how your personnel a.s.saulted her! I’m telling you, this incident isn’t over!”