Mei Xiawen had been concentrating on driving, but his heart couldn’t help trembling when he heard Gu Nianzhi lazily answer her phone with a simple “hello.” He could listen to her voice tirelessly.
Huo Shaoheng’s gaze was lowered to the cigarette in his fingers. His voice was deeper than usual and held a indescribable magnetism that could steal hearts. He slowly called out her name, “Nianzhi.”
Gu Nianzhi straightened immediately, delighted.
“Uncle Huo??”
“Mhmm.” Huo Shaoheng answered dryly.
“Uncle Huo, you’re not busy now?”
“I just finished.”
“When will you be back?” Gu Nianzhi asked softly, her question balancing within the tender notes of her voice.
It was only with Huo Shaoheng that she could totally let her guard down. If she were to choose only one person in the world in whom to totally trust and rely on, it could only be Huo Shaoheng. Mei Xiawen couldn’t help turning to glance at her. He never knew her voice could be so sweet, and he was felt warm all over.
Gu Nianzhi was completely focused on Huo Shaoheng. The night was no longer lonesome and she no longer felt the forlorn sensation that had been weighing on her mind earlier. Of course, Gu Nianzhi knew this feeling really had nothing to do with Huo Shaoheng himself: it was because she secretly found emotional sustenance with him. Just like people who devoted themselves to their religion and demonstrated unwavering faith, so did Gu Nianzhi when it came to her uncle. Huo Shaoheng was her religion.
Huo Shaoheng was unsure about what to say next. He was not an eloquent man and had no patience when it came to conversation. He was better suited, he felt, as a man of action. Within the space of silence, the quiet murmur of Gu Nianzhi’s breathing traveled through his headset and he fancied that he could almost make out the sounds of her heartbeat.
Gu Nianzhi was nervous too. Huo Shaoheng wasn’t say anything and she was too scared to even breathe loudly. She was holding her breath and her heart rate was going up. If Chen Lie had been there to observe her vital signs, he would have said that her body was activating a self-defense mechanism in response to a hypoxic state, or some other convoluted medical explanation.
Mei Xiawen continued driving and thought Gu Nianzhi had finished the call when she didn’t speak for some time. He asked casually, “Was that your guardian?”
Huo Shaoheng heard Mei Xiawen’s voice through the line and opened the study door and walked downstairs. He asked easily, “Where are you? Who are you speaking to?”
Gu Nianzhi gently breathed out and her rigid body relaxed. She leaned back in the seat to watch the street lights flash by outside the car window and laughed quietly. “That was my classmate, my university Class Rep. I’m in his car because he’s taking me back to campus.”
With the ice broken, it was much easier to keep the conversation flowing.
Huo Shaoheng grunted and continued to speak.
“What did you do this week?”
Gu Nianzhi didn’t want to end the call so soon, so she fervently told him about what had happened at school, at the dorm, and even with the interview. She told him absolutely everything in detail.
She had always been articulate, otherwise she wouldn’t have wanted to study law. As always, Huo Shaoheng grunted intermittently to let her know he was listening. Gu Nianzhi spoke to him the whole way and when she looked up, they had already arrived to the dorm.
Time to hang up already. Gu Nianzhi felt her loneliness begin to creep up again.
Huo Shaoheng hadn’t hung up yet and Gu Nianzhi didn’t even bother to say so much as a goodnight to Mei Xiawen before she turned to enter the dorms. She was going up the stairs when Huo Shaoheng asked over the phone, “Nianzhi, Chen Lie told me about you wanting to look for a boyfriend.”
Gu Nianzhi’s cheeks flushed hotly. She was about to clarify that she didn’t want to find one, but someone was pursuing her. Huo Shaoheng continued before she could start, “I have no issue with it.”
Gu Nianzhi’s eyes dimmed and she was silent for a long time. She managed a hollo “Ok” and then ended the call. Stopping to look up, she found herself standing before the door to her dorm room.
Huo Shaoheng had been on the phone with her the whole way here. She had barely spoken to Mei Xiawen in the car and had basically treated him like a driver. It was rude of her and she had to thank him properly tomorrow. She made a mental note to do so before she worried or upset him.
Gu Nianzhi pushed open the door but it didn’t open because it was locked—her roommates were still out. She took out her key to open the door. Turning on the lights, she saw the empty room with two bunk beds, four desks and four dressers. Gu Nianzhi smiled. The phone call she had been pining for days finally came and to her, but it was like another shoe had finally hit the ground. From now on, she would learn to live alone. Gu Ninazhi set down her backpack and suitcase to begin tidying her things. She had already showered before heading out, so she went to the bathroom to wash her face and put on a face mask before opening her laptop to continue her thesis.
…
The Special Operations personnel who was secretly protecting Gu Nianzhi had followed Mei Xiawen’s car the whole way and also maintained contact with the base’s communication system. Before going to bed, Zhao Liangze opened his computer to check on the tracker and found that Huo Shaoheng had been on the phone with Gu Nianzhi the entire time. He clicked the mouse and a topographic map of C City appeared on the monitor instantly. Gu Nianzhi’s small red dot continued to move and quickly arrived to the entrance of C University. This meant that Gu Nianzhi had been calling Huo Shaoheng for the duration of her trip.
“What’s going on?” Zhao Liangze tapped the mouse and muttered to himself, “Why would that be? Has something happened to Nianzhi?”
No one knew better than Zhao Liangze how busy Huo Shaoheng was as a high ranking officer. However, Huo Shaoheng, who dealt with a thousand things a day, had taken precious time on a Sunday evening to call Gu Nianzhi and speak with her for nearly half an hour. Zhao Liangze couldn’t help calling Yin Shiziong’s extension and grilling him. “Big Xiong, is something going on with Nianzhi?”
Yin Shixiong had been asleep and was groggy when Zhao Liangze woke him. His eyes remained shut. “Nope. Nothing’s going on with Nianzhi lately.”
If there was something going on, how does he not know about it? He takes care of everything that has to do with Gu Nianzhi. Yin Shixiong remembered this in his awakened state.
Zhao Liangze scratched his head and watched the little red dot on the monitor arrive at the entrance of C University. Huo Shaoheng’s phone line indicated he was still “in a call.”
“Why was he on the phone with her the entire time? It’s late already; Nianzhi should be on her way back to campus.” Zhao Liangze rubbed his chin and mulled it over. Yin Shixiong ad taken care of Gu Nianzhi for many years already, so he knew, better than Zhao Liangze did, exactly how important she was to Huo Shaoheng.
Yin Shixiong yawned and impatiently said, “You still don’t get it? Nianzhi was going to campus late at night and he was worried, so he stayed on the line with her the whole way. If something happened, he could immediately mobilize help and wouldn’t have to wait for someone else to report back.”
Zhao Liangze wasn’t buying it. Something didn’t quite add up. A thought flashed in his mind but he suppressed it.
“That’s good then, I was worried there was something going on. Go back to sleep, I’ll call it a night too.” The base had personnel on duty anyway. He could sleep for 24 hours if he so wanted.
Late at night, the C City Special Operations Forces base was serene. Huo Shaoheng stood beneath the night sky and raised his head to look at the myriad of stars, no longer worried. He put his hands in his trouser pockets and leisurely walked back to his quarters.