Chapter 34 — The Argument
“Suppress the trending topic.”
Hua Mian’s face was cold. “No.”
Nangong Zheng’s subordinate glanced at her, then pretended not to see anything. “Yes, sir.”
“This is evidence. You should be arresting them right now, not suppressing some trending search.”
Nangong Zheng shot her a look full of pressure. “No.”
“How can you be this kind of person?”
Nangong Zheng forced his tone to soften.
“You’ve seen it too—the second trending topic is the Federation’s visit to the Empire. At a sensitive time like this, we cannot allow such a vile incident to continue fermenting publicly.”
Hua Mian now understood clearly. Nangong Zheng and the others really were official people—possibly very high-ranking ones. They could casually say they’d suppress the number-one trending topic without fearing public outrage.
“You also know it’s a vile incident, yet you still want to silence the public?” Hua Mian looked utterly disappointed.
“I already told you—I will handle it. But it cannot be done openly.”
Nangong Zheng even felt Hua Mian was being unreasonable. These matters weren’t things a female should be worrying about.
The fact he had explained so much already—letting her understand the situation—was him taking good care of her. Yet she was still so ungrateful.
“But it already went public!” Hua Mian was angry too.
She really couldn’t understand the Empire’s logic. Things had blown up already—shouldn’t they be dealing with it? Instead of solving the problem, they wanted to suppress the trending topic? Wasn’t that completely backwards?
“Send her back to her room!” Nangong Zheng’s voice turned sharp.
“I’m not going! Since it’s exposed, why not solve it? Just arrest them already! That video is the evidence! If you keep stalling, you’re giving them time to destroy it!”
“Even if not—those people in the video… they won’t survive! You’re hurting people, Nangong Zheng!”
Hua Mian tried to pull away from the subordinate gripping her arm, but she couldn’t break free. Her voice grew shrill.
The piercing sound made Nangong Zheng’s eardrums ache, and his head throbbed.
“What did Father say?”
“His Majesty ordered you to handle the matter quickly and with dignity. Under no circumstances can the Empire be disgraced.”
Nangong Zheng felt as if a heavy stone was pressing on his chest.
His relationship with his father was like an emperor and a crown prince in a feudal era.
As emperor, the father didn’t want his son to be too outstanding.
But as a father, he didn’t want his son to be useless either.
The contradiction made their relationship precarious yet mutually dependent. That was why Nangong Zheng was sent out to handle the Ilika branch scandal of the Gem Auction House.
But even he hadn’t expected the Auction House to be bold enough to establish a gene-modification lab—and for such a scandal to explode exactly when the Federation was visiting.
He could already imagine how disappointed his father would be.
Hua Mian was locked in the room, trying hard to calm herself.
She couldn’t sit and wait for death anymore. She was stupid—how could she have pinned her hopes on someone whose face she didn’t even know?
She walked to the window and looked down. Below was a lake, its surface dark, likely very deep.
She was actually pretty good at swimming.
Hua Mian tied her clothes and bedsheet together to make a long rope. Thankfully, the place was only three stories high, and below was water. Jumping wouldn’t be too dangerous.
Knock, knock, knock.
Hua Mian quickly hid the rope inside the wardrobe, then answered in a choked voice, “Who is it?”
“Me.” After a moment of silence, a deep voice answered from outside.
Hua Mian sneered inwardly. At this hour, he had probably already handled the trending topic.
“What do you want?”
Hearing the choked voice inside, Nangong Zheng sighed helplessly. A feeling of pity rose uncontrollably in his heart.
“Open the door first.”
“No.”
Nangong Zheng froze. He really hadn’t expected that response.
He was briefly speechless.
“Don’t reject me yet. I have something to tell you.”
After he said that, even he paused in surprise.
A soft expression appeared in his eyes—the words had come out instinctively. They were exactly what his father always said to his mother when he angered her and went knocking on her door.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
The amusement in Nangong Zheng’s eyes grew. He felt strangely intrigued.
“Will you open the door?”
“No.”
“Hmm… how about I buy you a personal light-brain?”
“Then bring the gift here! It has to be unopened! Brand-new!” Hua Mian emphasized the “unopened.”
After she finished lengthening her rope, a knock came again.
“I brought the light-brain you wanted. Will you open the door now?” Nangong Zheng’s low voice was exceptionally clear in the night.
Hua Mian rubbed her eyes, checked in the mirror to make sure the corners were red enough, and then opened the door.
Seeing Hua Mian’s reddened eyes, Nangong Zheng lowered his head slightly. “How long did you cry?”
“None of your business!”
“Okay, okay. I won’t ask.”
“The thing?”
He placed the boxed light-brain into her hand. “Don’t be mad anymore, alright?”
Hua Mian’s lips curved faintly. “No.”
And with that, she shut the door right in his face. If he hadn’t stepped back quickly, the doorboard would’ve smashed his nose.
“Tsk…”
“Don’t bother me anymore! I’m tired—I’m going to sleep!”
“Alright. Rest well.” Knowing her anger had subsided, Nangong Zheng let out a silent laugh.
When he turned around, he saw six subordinates peeking around the corner, staring at him with gossipy expressions.
He raised an eyebrow. “What? Nothing better to do?”
“No, sir, nothing!”
The six shook their heads and scattered immediately.
Nangong Zheng walked away with light steps.
Meanwhile, Hua Mian examined the packaging carefully. After confirming the light-brain had never been activated, she tapped the box thoughtfully with her finger.
Night was deepening. It was time to go.
She quietly lowered the rope outside the window and wrapped thick cloth around her palms.
She bit her braided hair, secured the light-brain in her bag, ensured the rope was tied tightly, and slid down.
The rope burned her palms, pain stabbing sharply, but she bit down on her hair to keep from making a sound.
Soon, she touched the water’s surface. She released her hair, took a deep breath, and slipped into the lake.
The water was icy cold. She wore only thin clothing to avoid drag, and she trembled violently in the frigid lake.
But she grit her teeth and swam toward the shore she had planned.
After more than ten minutes, she felt her strength giving out, but she knew she couldn’t stop. She forced herself onward. Her heart pounded fast, and a metallic taste rose in her mouth.
She bit the tip of her tongue to ignore the discomfort.
Though she’d chosen the shortest path to shore, reality differed from theory—the distance that looked short to the eye felt hopelessly long when actually swimming.
Fortunately, before collapsing, she finally reached the opposite bank safely.
Once ashore, she quickly changed into dry clothes from her waterproof bag, wrapped her long hair in a towel, and hurried away from the area.
