1406 Regrets on Wrong Move and Words
The corners of Qiao Nan’s mouth twitched. At the sight of Deng Wenchang’s nostrils, she could not help asking, “Deng Wenchang, did you inject chicken blood secretly?” Otherwise, did Deng Wenchang need to display so much excitement? It was as if he had eaten a stimulant and had completely lost that sinisterly cold and restrained manner.
Deng Wenchang smiled scornfully. He turned his chin and did not care about talking to Qiao Nan anymore.
Qiao Nan only knew how to curry favor and pretend to be obedient in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The old ones in the ministry had been bewitched by l.u.s.t and had lost all their sanity. That was why they had been cajoled and distracted by Qiao Nan, treating her like a treasure.
He firmly believed that the foreign amba.s.sador couple would not be taken in by such cheap tricks of Qiao Nan. Furthermore, they would not relent just because of Qiao Nan’s pretty face. If good looks were really so important, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be renamed as the beauty pageant department then.
Deng Wenchang did not reply. His snort made Qiao Nan feel goose b.u.mps all over.
Qiao Nan sneered, not willing to bother about such a sicko like Deng Wenchang. She felt extremely disheartened.
Deng Wenchang was itching to have a go while Qiao Nan was in alert and combat-ready mode. Very soon, the amba.s.sador couple arrived in China and was received by He Yi. Naturally, the initial welcoming was done by He Yi. They spoke about national affairs concerning the two countries. Qiao Nan and Deng Wenchang only needed to listen attentively and conscientiously to the content of their conversation and remember the main points of it.
No matter how proud and aloof Deng Wenchang was when he was in the department, thinking that he was a cut above the rest, the seniors in the department were still silently approving of his behavior during such critical times. If Deng Wenchang dared to make any mistakes at such important times, the department would send someone else to replace him at any point in time.
Actually, other people did not understand this matter but some seniors in the department did.
Between these two newbies, He Yi thought more highly of Qiao Nan and wanted to delegate important tasks to her. Everyone knew this in their hearts.
However, Deng Wenchang and Qiao Nan joined the department almost at the same time. Although Deng Wenchang did not perform better than Qiao Nan, he had never made any huge mistakes. Hence, if He Yi wanted to give Qiao Nan a chance, he had to bring Deng Wenchang along. Otherwise, if words were to spread, He Yi’s method would ultimately attract criticism.
This was also the reason why He Yi had never used any means to evict Deng Wenchang from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs despite his dissatisfaction with Deng Wenchang.
To put it bluntly, Deng Wenchang felt that his opportunity was here. He did not ponder deeply that his so-called opportunity was completely due to Qiao Nan, whom he looked down on.
Given this point alone, He Yi could trust Qiao Nan but he dared not feel totally at ease with Deng Wenchang.
Who could be certain that Deng Wenchang, who did not make any major mistakes normally, would definitely maintain his sanity during critical times and not act foolishly? Until this moment that Qiao Nan and Deng Wenchang took down the notes in shorthand, the person who was arranged to possibly replace Deng Wenchang adopted a more serious att.i.tude than the two youngsters on this matter. He dared not relax at all.
The meeting and discussion between He Yi and the amba.s.sador were relatively successful. The two parties had a friendly handshake before ending the exchange this time. All of a sudden, all the cameras and videos were shooting and flas.h.i.+ng nonstop at He Yi and the amba.s.sador like guns and cannons.
It was only when the reporters had taken down all the news materials that He Yi came down and walked toward Qiao Nan. He seemed to be telling Qiao Nan firmly with his eyes: I am pa.s.sing the entire duty of the host to you from this point onward.
As for the ambitious Deng Wenchang standing beside Qiao Nan, He Yi simply ignored him. Between the amba.s.sador couple, the most important VIP was of course the husband and not the wife. Given a combination like Qiao Nan and Deng Wenchang, Deng Wenchang should be entertaining the husband while Qiao Nan the amba.s.sador’s wife.
However, He Yi purposely wanted to reverse this order.
The western countries were more open-minded and advocated gender equality more than the Asian countries. Hence, he would let Qiao Nan receive the amba.s.sador and Deng Wenchang his wife.
Didn’t they say that it would be less exhausting when members of the opposite gender worked together?
However, the extremely confident Deng Wenchang did not know He Yi’s plan at all. At the sight of the amba.s.sador couple, he straightened the collar of his suit, tidied his sleeves and b.u.t.tons, and walked forward to the couple to shake their hands, while smiling like a gentleman.
Deng Wenchang was extremely satisfied with this beginning of shaking the amba.s.sador couple’s hands before Qiao Nan could do so. Women… They should obediently follow behind men. Although this was a male foreigner, he might not be entirely biased-free toward females. Otherwise, why would western countries use male chauvinist pigs to describe machismo men?
After he occupied the controlling role, Qiao Nan could only stand beside him abidingly and help him with some mundane matters.
Qiao Nan could forget about s.n.a.t.c.hing this opportunity away in front of him!
Deng Wenchang made use of his long legs and deliberately moved a step forward to block Qiao Nan’s actions. He Yi and the team could tell his intent and they frowned immediately. Although Deng Wenchang had been quite subtle, as a foreign amba.s.sador, would he not be able to tell?
He Yi was very worried that he would see a flash of scorn in the eyes of the foreign amba.s.sador. If that was truly the case, Deng Wenchang would have embarra.s.sed himself badly in front of the foreigners.
True enough, he should have found an excuse to kick Deng Wenchang out from this event earlier and sidelined him. He wanted to give Deng Wenchang a fair chance to compete. Unexpectedly, Deng Wenchang was too incompetent. He did not grab hold of his last opportunity. Eventually, he did something so petty in front of the foreign amba.s.sador. What a scheming guy.
Deng Wenchang felt He Yi’s stare on him. However, he acted as if he completely did not realize his actions. So what if he had deliberately walked faster than Qiao Nan and blocked her? As long as he performed well thereafter and did not embarra.s.s his country, wouldn’t that do?
He could guarantee that with his presence, this event did not require Qiao Nan at all.
He was willing to let Qiao Nan sit by the side and act like an eye-candy, drink tea, and eat some melon seeds to complete the mission with him. He had allowed Qiao Nan to take so much advantage of him. He was already very good to Qiao Nan. Otherwise, if he was harsher, it was possible that he could simply stop Qiao Nan from appearing at this point in time.
After a round of self-consolation, Deng Wenchang had completely neglected Qiao Nan’s ident.i.ty as the daughter-in-law of the Zhai family.
If Deng Wenchang really dared to plot against Qiao Nan at such a time and the Zhai family sought revenge on Deng Wenchang, the Deng family would be forced to keep their grievances to themselves. They would not be able to seek justice. Who told Deng Wenchang to be so daring to provoke the Zhai family? He deserved such retribution. If the Deng family dared to shout out their grievances, they would definitely attract a round of beating. They would feel so regretful of making the wrong move and saying the wrong words.