Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Zhang Baochen had received a guarantee from Grandfather Huo, but was still anxious about Huo Shaoheng. Although Huo Shaoheng was much younger than he was, Zhang Baochen was completely terrified of him. For the past few years, Huo Shaoheng had climbed the ranks in the military and his temper had grown to be concealed, but just as great. He was no longer the twelve year-old boy who displayed all his rage and grief on his face. “Shao… Shaoheng, I’ll go get the power of attorney authorization then.” He said humbly as he rubbed his hands nervously together.

Huo Shaoheng nodded slightly before saying to Zhang Baochen, “You can give it a try. But, I don’t think your mom will simply agree to giving you the power of attorney of all her assets.”

“Shaoheng, you are totally right!” Zhang Baochen slapped his thigh and nodded furiously. “I can only give it a try, but can’t guarantee anything.”

“Try your best. I’ll have a lawyer help you draft the power of attorney authorization.” Huo Shaoheng said as he dialed Gu Nianzhi on the phone. “Nianzhi, I need your help with something. Check your inbox: I’ve already sent something over.”

Zhang Baochen was surprised. “Gu Nianzhi? She knows how to make drafts for power of attorney?”

“The power of attorney authorization needs to be drafted by a lawyer and Nianzhi has a template there. We’ll bring it to you tomorrow. You just have to meet her in front of the military police building.” Huo Shaoheng quickly typed on the keyboard and sent Zhang Feng’s asset survey form to Gu Nianzhi.

Gu Nianzhi had just finished showering and had been slumped on the bed playing games on her iPad. When her phone rang, she’d kept her eyes on the game and unlocked the phone with one hand. Gu Nianzhi shut down the game as soon as Huo Shaoheng’s voice sounded and she flopped happily on the bed, “Huo Shao, what can I help with?”

Huo Shaoheng hadn’t said much before hanging up.

Gu Nianzhi frowned. He’d sounded quite busy. Biting her lip, Gu Nianzhi sat up lazily and opened the inbox on her phone to see the materials Huo Shaoheng had sent over, along with a brief email. It turned out that it to do with the power of attorney on Zhang Feng’s assets. Gu Nianzhi also received an inventory of all her assets. Climbing out of bed, Gu Nianzhi took her laptop and sat in front of her desk. She found the template for the power of attorney authorization and wrote a new and detailed one based on Zhang Feng’s inventory of assets. She sat in awe as she typed—Zhang Feng had really known how to make a good fortune; the wealth she had accumulated over the last decade or so greatly exceeded the total profits of most publicly listed companies.

…

After Zhang Baochen had left, Grandfather Huo frowned at Huo Shaoheng. The older man’s gaze was piercing, able to penetrate anything—Grandfather Huo wanted nothing more but to be able to break through Huo Shaoheng’s calm exterior and read what was really on his grandson’s mind. Unfortunately, he had no clue.

Grandfather Huo knew better than anyone else did, what type of work Huo Shaoheng was responsible for in the military. If his mind could be read so easily, he would have been unfit for the role and would have perished long ago. Grandfather Huo averted his gaze and paused for a long time before saying, “I won’t marry Zhang Feng anymore. You can stop all this now.”

Huo Shaoheng was as impassive as ever. He took out a pack of cigarettes from his trouser pocket and lit one up. He asked vaguely, “What do you mean, Grandfather? I don’t understand.”

“I said I won’t marry her. Are you satisfied?!” Grandfather Huo stood up suddenly. “I never thought you would be so cold-blooded—to not only your enemies and outsiders, but your own family too! How can you disown your entire family?”

Huo Shaoheng held a cigarette with one hand and rested the other on the sofa. He was as still as a statue. Flicking ash from the cigarette, he looked up to meet Grandfather Huo’s eyes. “Grandfather, please don’t accuse me of that. I’m as warm as the spring weather to my friends and family. You can go ask them yourself and see if anyone had issues with me.”

“You? Warm?!” Grandfather Huo was enraged by Huo Shaoheng’s nonchalant attitude. “As if you need me to spell it out. You never gave Zhang Feng the time of day; nor did you ever treat Baochen like an elder. You treat Wenna and Wenjie horribly! What’s wrong with them anyway? Why do you have to treat them like that? If I hadn’t said I would marry Zhang Feng, would their family have had this misfortune befall them?!”

Huo Shaoheng’s finger trembled and a smoldering bit of ash landed on the back of his hand. The pain seared, but he took no notice as he snuffed the cigarette in the ashtray. Rising up from the sofa, he stared at Grandfather Huo, eye to eye. “Grandfather, you just made two fatal mistakes with what you’ve just said. First of all, the Zhang’s are not my family. You can’t accuse me using this point. Secondly, what happened to Zhang Feng has nothing to do with whether you’re marrying her or not.”

“Is there really nothing to do with it? I don’t believe it” Grandfather Huo clenched his fists and spat out at Huo Shaoheng, “You think I can’t see through your tricks just because I’m old?”

“Of course that has nothing to do with it.” Huo Shaoheng spread his palms and enunciated carefully. “Regardless of whether you marry her or not, Zhang Feng would’ve gotten in trouble. She will definitely go to jail.”

“You—?!” Grandfather Huo was completely enraged and raised his hand to give Huo Shaoheng a slap to the face. Huo Shaoheng folded his hands behind his back and straightened his back before Grandfather Huo without displaying an ounce of hesitation. However, Grandfather Huo couldn’t bring himself to hit Huo Shaoheng when he stared back at the eyes that were nearly identical to Xie Ziyan’s. “Shaoheng, why do you hate Zhang Feng so much?” Lowering his hand slowly, Grandfather Huo rubbed the back of his hand and sat back down. “She’s never done anything bad to you in all these years and had always praised you in front of me. She never said anything negative.”

Huo Shaoheng quickly raised his hands to prevent Grandfather Huo from saying anymore. “Hold on, Grandfather. I have no interest about anything between you and Head Nurse Zhang. I don’t want to listen about your day to day interactions.”

“But you must give me a reason, at least! You’ve been too cruel this time, and Zhang Feng will probably never recover for the rest of her life!” Grandfather Huo recalled Zhang Feng’s distressed and helpless face and felt pity for her. She had been by his side all these years and had taken care of him. He had also protected her as well.

“She’s been arrogant for most of her life, so that’s enough now.” Huo Shaoheng was unmoved. “Now she’ll rehabilitate herself in prison and work hard. I’ll let Zhang Baochen pick up her corpse the day she dies. I can only help her to this extent.”

“You want her to spend the rest of her life in jail?!” Grandfather Huo was both stunned and angry. “Is it necessary for you to be so cruel?!”

“It’s not that I want her to spend the rest of her life in prison. She did this to herself.” Huo Shaoheng walked closer to Grandfather Huo. “Did I tell her to collude with Zhao Da and embezzle money from an armament transactions? Did I make her set up a fake company in Italy for money laundering? You know better than I do, what her situation at home is like. But, in a mere ten years, she was able to amass a billion RMB. If such a parasite isn’t eradicated, she’ll just continue to smear your good name.”

Grandfather Huo softened when he heard that Huo Shaoheng had been looking out for his reputation. Afterall, this was his favorite and most accomplished grandchild. Although Grandfather Huo was unhappy with him, he would not go to the extent of damaging their relationship over Zhang Feng. “She overdid it this time. I already went to see her and told her she must repay the debt.” Grandfather Huo paused to glance at Huo Shaoheng before probing him, “If the money from auctioning all her assets won’t be enough to cover the debt, can you help her with repaying it?”

Huo Shaoheng froze. At that moment, Huo Shaoheng could only be grateful that his grandmother had already passed away so she didn’t have to witness such a humiliating and heartbreaking situation. Grandmother had probably harbored the same amount of hate as she had love when she passed away. As for Huo Shaoheng, he had experienced numerous life and death struggles in his years of completing military missions. His ability to take on stress and pressure had been elevated, so he was still able to remain calm in face of his grandfather’s unreasonable request. Huo Shaoheng could hear himself humor Grandfather Huo. “We can talk after all the assets have been auctioned off. I’m just responsible for recovering the lost funds for the military. Anything else is outside of my power and I also have no interest in it.” He strode out of the Huo manor. He had the strong urge to see Gu Nianzhi.

Taking a shortcut to her suite, he opened the door with his own key. The living room was dark and the bedroom door was ajar, letting out a few slivers of light from the crack. Huo Shaoheng walked over to push it open gently.

Gu Nianzhi’s back was to the door as she sat at her desk and typed away on her laptop. Huo Shaoheng drank in the sight of her familiar and tiny frame. Her neck was lowered and hair arranged in a bun at the back of her head to reveal the creamy length of her neck. Huo Shaoheng felt blood surge up his body as he walked briskly to her. Before Gu Nianzhi could turn around, Huo Shaoheng had already embraced her from behind and enveloped her neck with passionate kisses. “Nianzhi,” he said gruffly, “don’t leave me, don’t ever leave me…”