After ending the call, Yin Shixiong saw Ma Qiqi staring at him with glowing eyes. He was very perplexed, “What is it? Is something wrong?”
It was like there was something odd or unlucky on him.
Ma Qiqi clasped her hands together and little stars seemed to sparkle in her huge eyes, “Big Xiong, you were so manly and handsome just now!”
Yin Shixiong used to be very dejected because his girlfriend was obsessed with beautiful faces, but he felt very wonderful when the object of her aesthetic attraction was none other than himself.
Yin Shixiong’s brain began to heat up as he dragged Ma Qiqi to him and lowered his head to give her a kiss.
Through the branches, the soft moonlight shone on the shadows of the lovers in embrace. The image was so beautiful, it was like a painting.
…
Gu Nianzhi hung up the phone and felt a bit cold, so she found a sapphire blue Juicy Couture hoodie to put on.
She came out of her bedroom and immediately smelled the delicious aroma of food.
After starving all day, Gu Nianzhi followed the scent to her kitchen.
The butter was melted and mixed with the fresh smell of steak. The sizzling sound of the pan was enough to make her salivate.
Gu Nianzhi quietly swallowed.
Reinitz’s ears were very keen. He was able to detect such a quiet sound, so he turned to glance at her.
His heart couldn’t help but skip a beat when he saw Gu Nianzhi in her casual loungewear.
At that moment, he imagined coming home after work every night to see Gu Nianzhi jumping into his arms. They would kiss and make dinner together…
After dinner, they would take walks on the Alps trails. A myriad of wildflowers grew densely along the path, so he could easily pick a bunch and bring them home to fill their vase…
“Reinitz, isn’t your steak going to burn?” Gu Nianzhi came beside Reinitz with her tiny nose scrunched up.
Reinitz snapped out of his thoughts and gave her a soft smile, “It’s ok, I will eat it if it’s burnt. I’ll cook yours perfectly.”
“Well, I guess this one isn’t really burnt either…” Gu Nianzhi poked her head closer, “It’s medium… How do you typically like to have your steak?”
“I used to eat it rare, and later on I preferred medium-rare.” Reinitz smiled as he plated the Kobe steak, “But Kobe steak can be eaten rare.”
Gu Nianzhi shook her head, “I don’t eat rare steaks, make it well done for me.”
Huaxia people could be considered the best cooks.
Foreigners could only think of eating rare meat if they sought tenderness…
The rarer the meat, the more tender it was. According to their methods, cooked meat couldn’t be tender.
But Huaxia cuisine contained countless ways of cooking the meat yet keeping it tender enough to be juicy.
Of course, Gu Nianzhi didn’t intend on making Reinitz feel dejected. Reinitz was a pretty good cook to begin with, and he was even considered a five-star chef by the German standards.
“I have Weisswurst sausages and German smoked pork hocks in the steamer. We can slice them up for dinner once they are cooked.” Reinitz pointed to the large steamer beside him that yet to heat up, “Since you don’t like sashimi, we can leave the salmon for now. I will use the pan gravy to cook the fresh bamboo shoots.”
Gu Nianzhi finally gave Reinitz a thumbs up, “Reinitz, you’re so amazing! Do German soldiers need to learn how to cook too?”
Reinitz pursed his lips, the smile disappearing from his face.
Turning, he looked at the induction frying pan in silence before finally replying, “…When I was young, I would starve if I couldn’t cook. That’s why I learned how to cook.”
Gu Nianzhi, “…”
Did she accidentally provoke his sore point?
But she still couldn’t fully trust Reinitz yet. She looked at him with suspicion, “Oh really? Didn’t Mother Hana raise you?”
“I wasn’t the only one raised by Mother Hana.” Reinitz didn’t bother turning, his tone remaining flat, “Didn’t you ask me about this before? Aren’t you fully aware of where I grew up?”
Gu Nianzhi’s heart dropped.
So Reinitz’s past was exactly as she imagined?
The Germans had adopted orphans with strong qualities and taught them various skills—only to make them serve their country?
Reinitz hadn’t directly answered her conjecture the other night, so this was the first time she thought her theory was correct.
She didn’t think that a man descended from the royal German Hohenzollern family would have that kind of childhood.
It seems that boys had to be raised strictly. Instead of giving them a life of luxury or poverty, they needed to experience hardship.
Those who could overcome hardships are the ones who could prevail.
“See, aren’t you doing fine now?” Gu Nianzhi patted Reinitz’s shoulder and quickly changed the topic to something she was more interested in, “You are the director of the German Federal Intelligence Service, but you also seem to have lots of intelligence about the United States and Japan as well… Are all of you allies?”
Reinitz composed himself before glancing at Gu Nianzhi.
In the face of her glossy eyes that were reminiscent of lacquer, he found himself unable to express denial.
Averting her eyes, he pursed his lips and his solemnly handsome face was extremely stern-looking.
When he used such an expression, all the people around him, from his superiors to his subordinates, would typically shy away. No one dared to provoke him.
Evidently, Gu Nianzhi wasn’t scared of him at all.
Twisting her body, she stubbornly stared back at him, “Why aren’t you answering? Did I guess right again?”
Reinitz, “…”
After a period of silence, he finally answered, “…Hong Kangquan actually contacted the Americans before reaching out to the Japanese. You don’t need me to tell you which agency this was.”
Gu Nainzhi nodded quickly, “Of course, of course. Everyone on Blue Planet would know.”
Although Reinitz really wanted to appear indifferent and angry, it was very difficult to put on a plain poker face when he was with Gu Nianzhi.
His lips barely curled as he continued to say, “Our service is collaborating with the Americans.” Then he snorted derisively, “Actually, I shouldn’t even say that. We are not actually collaborating with the Americans. I should say that they are a sovereign state while we are a dependent country. A country who had to surrender their defense rights is not worthy of being in sovereign cooperation.”
Gu Nianzhi didn’t know how to continue the conversation.
The Germans had lost the war and had been subsequently disarmed. The entire European continent was now under the protection of the US-led NATO military alliance.
There was no question that Germany didn’t need to keep many troops.
Also, their existing military had largely been infiltrated by the United States.
Gu Nianzhi didn’t expect the German Federal Intelligence Service to also be a branch of the American CIA.
“The Americans shared intelligence with you?” Gu Nianzhi pondered this, “But why do they need to share it with you? Logically speaking, shouldn’t they contact Japan directly? There are also American troops stationed in Japan, so they should be under the protection of the United States. Don’t they hold a similar rank as Germany?”
Japan and Germany had both lost the war. However, Germany had seriously reflected on its war crimes, while Japan had never reflected. The Japanese school textbooks had always avoided the topic of the monstrous crimes committed against other Asian citizens.
Reinitz was stunned speechless by Gu Nianzhi’s questions. He should’ve long realized that Gu Nianzhi was extremely intelligent, so she was also very keen as well.
She had such a keen sense of danger and good versus bad that it was almost frightening.
Reinitz had only mentioned briefly that Hong Kangquan was making contact with both the United States and Japan, yet she was able to use this fact to immediately question the role the German Federal Intelligence Service played in this incident.
It was a loophole to begin with.
Reinitz was feeling some regret. He decided not to speak to Gu Nianzhi until he figured out his bearings.
This girl also had an amazing ability of speaking to herself.
Luckily her voice was very pleasant. Otherwise, it would be a great nuisance to his ears.
But Gu Nianzhi only accepted Reinitz’s invitation to cook dinner at her house because she wanted to glean information about Hong Kangquan. How could she let Reintiz easily slip away?
Crossing her arms, she leaned against the large, double-door stainless steel fridge and smiled as she continued to ask, “…Don’t tell me you were an agent of the Americans in this incident?”
Since it was nearly impossible for CIA agents to operate in the Huaxia Empire, Reinitz and his personnel could easily use their official visit to the Huaxia Empire as an excuse to get involved.
“Is this what happened? Hong Kangquan contacted the Americans first because he wanted to use the evidence he possessed to win over the Americans and get them to get him out of the Huaxia Empire. But the Americans were not very interested in his evidence since he wasn’t as valuable as Bai Yusheng and wasn’t worth the risk.”
“But the Americans didn’t want to lose an opportunity to hurt our nation, so they decided to go along with the plan by telling you to help contact the Japanese spies in the Huaxia Empire. You would give them the clues and see if they were interested or not.”
“But in the end, the Japanese not only came looking for Hong Kangquan, but also deployed all the elite Japanese Marine Corps frogmen troops to escort him. That’s because the Japanese were very interested in what Hong Kangquan possessed, right?”
Reinitz jerked his head around and looked at Gu Nianzhi with disbelief.
He couldn’t believe that she was able to deduce the entire situation from the few words he said!