Sighing briefly, he replied quietly, “You don’t need to thank me. These are all things I should do for you.”
Compared to the things you’ve done for me, it’s only right that I do everything else for you, He Zhichu silently thought to himself.
Gu Nianzhi looked up, her brilliant dark eyes casting He Zhichu an embarrassed look. “Professor He, please don’t say that. We are not related at all, but you’ve done so much for me, and I really don’t know how to repay you. How can these be things that you should do for me?”
He Zhichu had risked his life to rescue Gu Nianzhi several times when she was in grave danger.
He Zhichu’s hand stopped before he removed it from Gu Nianzhi’s head. His lips curled as he looked down and said, “…Then you’ll have to work hard in the future. That will be considered the repayment.”
He knew that Gu Nianzhi had lost all memories of her childhood.
He Zhichu thought to himself that it didn’t matter if she had forgotten it. He could remember for her…
Gu Nianzhi giggled and said, “I will certainly work hard and be successful since you were such a great mentor. I won’t damage your reputation!”
He Zhichu nodded. “Go get changed. What time are we leaving?”
Gu Nianzhi glanced at her watch and said, “It’s still early right now. We plan to visit the clinics around ten.”
She also needed to discuss with Huo Shaoheng what kind of married couple they would be disguising themselves as.
Gu Nianzhi didn’t speak any Japanese, so that was another unsolved issue.
He Zhichu comforted her once again, saying, “You don’t need to be too nervous. Just pretend you’re going out for fun. Don’t take it so seriously. It has nothing to do with either of us, regardless of the results.”
He noticed that Gu Nianzhi was very invested in the Gu family affairs, so he felt slightly uneasy. However, the Gu family was Gu Nianzhi’s support, after all. She couldn’t be someone without any roots.
The Gu family were the best natural roots for her.
They walked upstairs together.
Huo Shaoheng sat in the dining room. With his dark eyes, he watched the backs of the two people depart before he slowly stood up and also followed them outside the dining room.
He Zhichu and Gu Nianzhi just got to the second-floor stairs when He Zhichu’s phone rang.
He didn’t want to take the call, but he heard the ringtone and took a look at the phone. He decided to take the call. “Nianzhi, go discuss this with Alex. I need to take a call.”
He Zhichu took his phone and headed towards his room.
He shut the door securely as soon as he walked inside and locked the door to ask, “What is it? Why are you calling this number all of a sudden?”
The caller sounded a bit scared as they said, “Mr. He, someone claims to be your relative and came from the countryside to see you. She even… she even said some crazy things.”
He Zhichu’s brows furrowed slightly, his voice colder than ice as he asked, “What did she say? What relative? What’s her name?”
The caller seemed to be calling from a very noisy place.
He silenced the phone and went to a quieter spot to continue saying, “Mr. He, she says that she is your great aunt.”
“Great aunt? Is there such a relative in the He family? Why don’t I know about it?” He Zhichu asked unhappily. “Did you confirm her identity? Don’t just accept any random person as a relative.”
The He family only rose to power in South America about seven or eight years ago.
He Zhichu was very certain that he knew all the relatives of the He family.
But when the He family became rich, it was understandable that many random people would attempt to come and try to get a piece of the fortune.
This woman was quite bold if she was pretending to be his great aunt.
“…I already asked, and the general situation matched up. She even said that you were sick as a child and recuperated in her home. When you turned 16, your father moved you from the countryside to get treatment and never went back again.” The man continued to recount the supposed great aunt’s words, “She even said… Even said… There are not many children in the He family, so she was very happy to know that you are still alive. She only wanted to see you and know what you look like as an adult. She doesn’t want anything else.”
He Zhichu’s head began to hurt, so he rubbed his forehead as he said, “Send me a photo of her.”
“…Is this alright?” The person seemed to be very hesitant. “Your great aunt is also Chinese, so she says she wants to retire in the Huaxia Empire.”
He Zhichu, “…”
“Then you can give her some money to help her retire in comfort.” He Zhichu was in no mood to entertain some relative that was many generations removed from him.
He knew very well that his grandfather and grandmother had no siblings, so where would any great uncles or great aunts have come from?
Of course, it was possible that he had great uncles or great aunts from distant branches of the family.
The He family used to be a big clan, but their ancestors suffered a hereditary disease. This was passed along the generations, so the entire family almost perished.
He Zhichu sighed with a conflicted expression.
He would leave everything in the He family to Nianzhi’s child. He would never allow anyone from the He family to get a piece of the cake.
He Zhichu was the one to bring the fortune in, so he also had the right to take it all away and leave it for anyone he wished.
The man asked He Zhichu to wait briefly while he spoke with the great aunt.
“Hello. Mr. He just returned the call and asked to show you this.” The man was He Zhichu’s very capable assistant in South America, so he helped take care of the South American business. He Zhichu trusted him a lot.
This man was very capable and especially loyal.
He opened a recent photo of He Zhichu from his phone’s photo album and showed it to the great aunt.
The great aunt looked to be in her 60’s or 70’s, so there were enough wrinkles on her face to squish mosquitoes. It was obvious that she hadn’t had a great quality of life.
Her shirt was very clean, but it looked like it had been washed many times, and the colors were faded.
She was a thin and short woman, but her eyes were still very bright. She must be a fairly clever person.
She didn’t display any symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease despite her old age and looked very alert.
The great aunt accepted the phone from the man and smiled as she took a look. Suddenly, she froze.
The tears flowed uncontrollably as she covered her mouth, crying and laughing at the same time. “This is our Zhichu! This is really our Zhichu! So, our Zhichu grew up to look like this! He didn’t die! He’s still alive! I need to repay my wish! I need to go…”
She continued to mutter, then threw away the man’s phone. Without asking for anything, she turned around and ran outside one of He Zhichu’s mansions in South America.
The man was flabbergasted. He quickly asked a few men to follow her, then called He Zhichu and sent the secretly recorded footage to him. He said in confusion, “Mr. He, take a look. Does she have mental issues? She said she wants to see you, then started to cry and laugh when she saw your photo. She didn’t even take any money.”
He Zhichu received the video and only took a quick look before closing his eyes and sighing deeply.
Right. He had survived and was still alive.
How lucky…
After a period of silence, He Zhichu called the man again. “This is my great aunt. Have someone take care of her. Find a house for her to live in and provide daily necessities. I don’t need to teach you what to do, right?”
“I understand, I understand.” The man nodded quickly.
Since He Zhichu had accepted this woman as his relative and great aunt, he would naturally take good care of her.
After taking care of this sudden incident, He Zhichu got up and went to the closet to find a grey suit to put on. He prepared to visit the clinics with Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng.
…
After Gu Nianzhi returned to her room, she didn’t change right away and instead waited for Huo Shaoheng to come to discuss the plan with her.
Huo Shaoheng opened the door to see Gu Nianzhi sitting on the couch and playing on her phone.
He knocked on the door. “Why didn’t you get changed?” he asked.
Gu Nianzhi looked up and replied calmly, “You didn’t tell me what to wear yet, so how am I supposed to get changed?”
“What are you trying to say?” Huo Shaoheng sat down next to her, a trace of a smile appearing on his lips. “We are pretending to be a married couple trying to get a consultation about pregnancy…”
“You said we would be disguised as people from Japan. But I don’t speak Japanese.” Gu Nianzhi pointed out the flaw in Huo Shaoheng’s words.
“Right. You don’t need to speak and can pretend to be mute. I can speak for us.” Huo Shaoheng patted her head and said, “Go change into a simple dress suit now, and I’ll have someone put on makeup for you.”
Gu Nianzhi finally became interested. “I still need to put on makeup?!” she asked.
“Of course. Did you think you’re going to walk into the clinic with your own face?” Huo Shaoheng was amused as he said, “There are surveillance cameras.”
“Hmph. I will be sure to hack into their surveillance and erase our footage.” Gu Nianzhi made a cutting gesture with her hands.
“Fine, fine. You’re the hacker, and everything you say goes,” Huo Shaoheng teased her with a half-smile. “Go get changed. I will have someone come over to put on your disguise.”
Gu Nianzhi was very pleased and excitedly went to her bedroom to look through her luggage for a pure white dress suit. It was a very conservative style paired with a tapered waist jacket, so she looked like a housewife from the wealthy areas of Tokyo.
The person Huo Shaoheng asked to put on Gu Nianzhi’s makeup was an expert within the Special Operations Forces.
He brought a small vanity case and was able to complete Gu Nianzhi’s disguise in a short period of time.
“Look at the mirror. Are you happy with it?” The man laughed and clapped his hands.
As soon as Gu Nianzhi opened her eyes, she saw a paper-white face in the mirror. There was only a small dab of lip balm on the center of her lips.
Her eyebrows were drawn very thin, further accentuating her huge eyes.
Gu Nianzhi was unhappy and pouted as she said, “…This looks so ugly.”
“It’ll be done if you put on sunglasses. Miss Gu’s eyes are too big; it’s not easy to put on makeup.” The man laughed as he took out a pair of sunglasses for Gu Nianzhi to put on. She immediately looked much better.
Huo Shaoheng also put on sunglasses and wore a very well-fitted suit. His face was disguised with a fake hooked nose and was clean-shaven. He didn’t look like himself, even upon close scrutiny.
After all, Huo Shaoheng’s real face was too handsome. He was too good looking, so typical people would have a hard time mixing him up with someone else.
Even if the body shape were similar, they would immediately refute the possibility upon looking at the face.
“Let’s go. We will go for fertility treatment at the clinics.” Huo Shaoheng smiled as he extended his arm to Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi looped her hand around his arm and replied demurely in Japanese, “Hai!”