Chapter 1319: Loser
Luo Jialan had always been sharp-tongued and quick-witted, but she was reduced to an absolute dimwit in front of Gu Nianzhi.
What a loser!
Seeing how useless Luo Jialan was, Huo Xuenong said menacingly, “Gu Nianzhi! How dare you tell us what to do when you haven’t even married into the Huo family yet?! I can’t imagine what would happen if you have!”
He was using Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng’s marriage as bait to make her quit pursuing the matter with Luo Jialan’s trust fund.
Gu Nianzhi looked at Huo Xuenong calmly and said airily, “Mr. Huo, I thought you were going to tell me about Major General Huo.”
“Isn’t your marriage with Shaoheng important?” Huo Xuenong commanded with a sullen look on his face. “If you still want to marry into the Huo family, drop the lawsuit as soon as you can. Otherwise, hmph—!”
“Otherwise, what?” Xie Shenxing pushed open the door and walked in. He sneered, “Huo Xuenong, I didn’t know that you were so anxious about your wife’s trust fund.”
Now Xie Shenxing was here as well!
Huo Xuenong was fl.u.s.tered. He secretly cursed Gu Nianzhi for being such a cunning troublemaker, but he managed to look unperturbed. He smiled as he said sarcastically, “Shenxing is here. Have a seat. I have something to tell Nianzhi. She grew up in the military camp with Shaoheng, so she lacks proper etiquette. I’m giving her some life lessons.”
“In what way does she lack proper etiquette? I have no idea what you mean. Why don’t you explain it to me?” Xie Shenxing looked even calmer than Huo Xuenong.
“We are both sly as a fox. Why are you even putting on an act here?” Thought Xie Shenxing.
Seeing Xie Shenxing appeared amiable and that he didn’t scold him like he did at his house yesterday, Huo Xuenong let his guard down slightly and said immediately, “She filed the lawsuit against Jialan’s trust fund for ‘money laundering’. No such thing happened. Besides, if word gets out to the court, it’ll embarra.s.s Shaoheng. How can someone with Huo Shaoheng’s ident.i.ty be exposed to the public?”
Xie Shenxing nodded. “That makes sense. But here’s what I don’t understand. You said it’s Luo Jialan’s trust fund, and Nianzhi is suing Luo Jialan for laundering money. What does that have to do with Shaoheng?”
Huo Xuenong: ” … ”
He looked shocked and was rendered speechless.
Luo Jialan was extremely anxious. She quickly sent Cai Shengnan a message asking why she hadn’t come yet.
Cai Shengnan had just walked out of the elevator on the floor where the ward was located.
She looked up and suddenly saw a figure at the end of the corridor flash towards the stairwell. The figure looked like Huo Shaoheng from behind.
However, upon closer inspection, there was no one there besides the soldier standing guard at the door of the ward.
Cai Shengnan went hurriedly to the stairwell and looked around. There was indeed no one there.
She refused to give up. She walked to the door of the ward and asked the soldier standing guard, “Did you see anyone go in from here?”
She pointed in the direction of the stairwell.
The soldier was Huo Guanchen’s orderly. Upon receiving Huo Shaoheng’s instructions, he immediately replied, “No.”
Cai Shengnan thought she was seeing things and mocked herself inside for daydreaming.
After pus.h.i.+ng open the door to Huo Xuenong’s ward and entering, Cai Shengnan saw that the s.p.a.cious ward was packed to the brim.
Huo Xuenong sat on the hospital bed and glared at Gu Nianzhi.
Looking anxious, Luo Jialan crossed her arms as she stood by the window.
Gu Nianzhi stood with her back to her. The sight of her graceful back and her shapely figure were a real eyesore.
An elderly man with an overpowering presence stood beside Gu Nianzhi. Although he had his hands behind his back, he looked like he would reach out to support Gu Nianzhi at any moment.
Two tall men in black suits stood beside the old man without taking a single step away from him.
Who was this?
Over the phone, Luo Jialan hadn’t mentioned that there were other people besides Gu Nianzhi.
Cai Shengnan couldn’t help glancing at Luo Jialan.
When Luo Jialan saw Cai Shengnan enter, she let out a long sigh. She quickly said, “My lawyer is here, Gu Nianzhi. I won’t speak to you anymore. I’ll let my lawyer speak to you.”
Gu Nianzhi turned around and saw Cai Shengnan enter the ward. Amused, she nodded at her. She said in a polite manner, “h.e.l.lo, lawyer Cai.”
Seeing Gu Nianzhi being polite, Cai cursed her inside for being pretentious. But unfortunately, all men would fall for that. She nodded as she lamented, then also said politely, “h.e.l.lo, lawyer Gu. h.e.l.lo, Mr. Huo.” She then turned to look at the old man standing beside Gu Nianzhi. “… And this is?”
Of course, Gu Nianzhi wouldn’t introduce him to her.
The ward suddenly fell silent.
Luo Jialan had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, “This is Mr. Xie, the head of the Xie family, who resides in France.”
It was the head of the Xie Family!
Cai Shengnan was ecstatic. She was so lucky!
She was meeting this old man in person, who lived in seclusion and rarely saw anyone!
Back then, her father had spent a lot of effort and even invited him to join the Hundred People’s a.s.sociation, the organization that consisted of all the elite Huaxie Empire’s people on the entire Blue Planet, but he had declined.
If she could win over this old man, her father’s status in the Hundred People’s a.s.sociation would definitely rise to a higher level.
At this time, Cai Shengnan couldn’t even care less about her own client, Luo Jialan. She quickly walked to Xie Shenxing and greeted him very politely, “Mr. Xie? h.e.l.lo, I’m Cai Shengnan. My father is Cai Sumin. A few years ago, he invited you to join the Hundred People’s a.s.sociation, the organization that consisted of all the elite Huaxie Empire’s people on the entire Blue Planet. Do you remember that?”
Xie Shenxing didn’t speak. The two staff members beside him raised their hands to stop Cai Shengnan from approaching. “Lawyer Cai, please stop right there.”
Cai Shengnan awkwardly stopped walking and chuckled. However, from the corner of her eyes, she glared at Gu Nianzhi angrily.
Why did Gu Nianzhi get to be so close to the head of the Xie Family?!
Her parents were both dead, so how could her family be more prominent than Cai’s…
She lamented that the old Mr. Xie must have gone blind, but also made up her mind to show off her abilities in front of Xie Shenxing.
She turned to ask Luo Jialan, “Miss Luo, why did you call me here?”
Luo Jialan quickly said, “Gu Nianzhi just won’t believe that I’m not laundering money. Please help me persuade her.”
Cai Shengnan nodded and said to Gu Nianzhi without any emotion, “My client, Luo Jialan, told me. She wasn’t the one who wanted to transfer the money. She lent it to her friend who transferred it.”
“Friend? Who? The owner of the bank account, York? Or York’s son, Seth?” Gu Nianzhi laughed airily, then said flatly, “Luo Jialan, how come I didn’t know you were friends with York and Seth? When did you meet them? How long have you been seeing them? Any evidence that you’re friends with them?”
For a moment, Luo Jialan was stunned, then she looked at Cai Shengnan as if asking for help.
Cai Shengnan was also speechless. Gu Nianzhi actually came up with so many question just for the word “friend”. If she’s this into showing off, why didn’t she become an actress?
Cai Shengnan cursed Gu Nianzhi inside as she shook her head with a smile. “I didn’t say that her friend was York or Seth. Are you used to making such bold a.s.sumptions without any evidence, Lawyer Gu?”
Gu Nianzhi smiled and spread her hands out. “I can only speculate about their relations.h.i.+p based on the facts I already have. As for the evidence, shouldn’t you be the one providing it?”
Cai Shengnan was confident. “Her friend isn’t York or Seth, so your speculation is completely groundless.”
“Then who is her friend?” Gu Nianzhi immediately asked.
“Yamaguchi Aiko.” Cai Shengnan smiled at Gu Nianzhi. She thought to herself: Ask me. Just ask. I’m about to make a fool out of you.
She knew that Gu Nianzhi was going to ask Yamaguchi Aiko to come out and testify.
Yamaguchi Aiko was already dead. So how the h.e.l.l could she testify?!
But Gu Nianzhi’s reaction seemed to be a beat slower than usual.
She turned to look at Luo Jialan fixedly and repeated, “Yamaguchi Aiko? Her friend is Yamaguchi Aiko?!”
“That’s right. Any questions?” Cai Shengnan raised her chin proudly, but saw that Luo Jialan wasn’t happy at all. Instead, she appeared a little fl.u.s.tered.
Gu Nianzhi didn’t pursue with a question about Yamaguchi Aiko. Instead, she narrowed her eyes at Luo Jialan, then asked slowly, “Luo Jialan, you were friends with Yamaguchi Aiko? How did you two meet? Is there anyone who can prove that you’re friends? As far as I know, you didn’t have the chance to meet Yamaguchi Aiko when you were in the country.”
Before Luo Jialan had gone to France, she was still Huo Jialan. She had been living in the military compound because she had to take care of Song Jinning. The security around her had always been very tight. It was impossible for someone like Yamaguchi Aiko to get close to her without Huo Shaoheng knowing.
Therefore, Gu Nianzhi had a hunch that Luo Jialan met Yamaguchi Aiko when she had gone to France with Huo Xuenong to relax.
At that time, Luo Jialan and Song Jinning no longer had anything to do with each other. Besides, Song Jinning had already regained her sanity, so she no longer needed to be looked after.
Therefore, Luo Jialan’s security clearance was subsequently revoked.
Cai Shengnan was slightly taken aback. From what Gu Nianzhi had said, she seemed to know Yamaguchi Aiko as well?
What was going on?
Cai shengnan looked at Gu Nianzhi and Luo Jialan suspiciously.
Wanting her to speak up for her, Luo Jialan looked at Cai Shengnan anxiously.
Gu Nianzhi also looked at Cai Shengnan. “Lawyer Cai, your client isn’t speaking, so help her out. —I’m sure you know how to prove Yamaguchi Aiko’s friends.h.i.+p with Luo Jialan, right?”
Clearly there was something shady about the relations.h.i.+p between Yamaguchi Aiko and Luo Jialan, but Luo Jialan didn’t told her.
Cai Shengnan instinctively reacted and immediately said, “No, I don’t know. My client said that her money was transferred at the request of her friend Yamaguchi Aiko. I don’t know anything else since she didn’t tell me.”
Gu Nianzhi smiled. She knew that Cai Shengnan was the typical American lawyer…
At the critical moment, the most important thing would be to clear her own name and protect her own interests, not those of the client.
Gu Nianzhi’s gaze fell on Luo Jialan’s pale face, and her voice softened, “Miss Luo, can you tell me how you became friends with Yamaguchi Aiko? Don’t say you’ve been close friends with her since you were young. Don’t try to take us for b.u.mmers, cuz even they have dignity and intelligence.”
Luo Jialan was still struggling, but her lips quivered as she asked Cai Shengnan, “… Lawyer Cai, do we really have to talk about this?”
Cai Shengnan looked at Gu Nianzhi and said sullenly, “Lawyer Gu, we haven’t even gone to court yet. Why are you already interrogating my client?”
Gu Nianzhi didn’t want to wait until court to question her.
Yamaguchi Aiko, a name she hadn’t heard for a long time, had been mentioned, and she was even friends with Luo Jialan. Gu Nianzhi could barely restrain herself.
Her fingernails had almost dug a hole in her palm before she finally calmed down.
Her mind raced and she quickly found a breaking point. She pretended to be relaxed and said, “Mr. Huo ask me to withdraw the lawsuit. If Miss Luo can prove that she was helping a friend transfer money, then it’s not impossible to withdraw the lawsuit.”
When Huo heard that she was willing to withdraw the lawsuit, he immediately urged Luo Jialan, “Just say it! What are you waiting for?!”