1402 Yet Another Business Expansion

  “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for complaining about Xiao Bao? When the three of you were younger, you liked to pout and give kisses to other people.” The triplets would give kisses to the elders at home. No one shunned their kisses that smelled of milk. Everyone loved it.San Bao flung her head. Her hair volume had increased. The little plaits on her head had turned longer and they bounced as she flung her head. “I don’t remember anything that you said. I am older now, and I am the big sister. I won’t do something so childish.” San Bao was close to saying that her mother lied to her as her closing statement.

  “Alright. You are the big sister. Let’s go. Xiao Bao is waiting for you. Since you gave Xiao Bao his pet name, you must treat him nicer than everyone else. Xiao Bao likes you very much. Let’s not make him wait for too long, shall we?” Her daughter still looked very adorable despite being stubborn. True enough, everything about her children was perfect.

  San Bao felt much better now that she was able to preserve her dignity. She puffed her chest and nodded. “Xiao Bao is small, but he has a big tummy. He must be hungry now. Mama, let’s hurry. We must not let him go hungry. If he is hungry, he will cry like a small baby. Xiao Bao is already more than one year old. When will he grow up?”

  San Bao had a worried look on her face. Qiao Nan found her expression to be very adorable. “Now that Xiao Bao is still very young, San Bao, you must take extra care of him because you are the big sister. You are right. Xiao Bao is hungry. We must not let babies go hungry.”

  The little girl was still a toddler, yet she sighed in exasperation that Xiao Bao was a baby and wondered when he would grow up. What a funny girl.

  San Bao held her mother’s hands and walked with a bounce to look for Xiao Bao. She had no idea that her mother had unspoken criticism of her.

  They reached the living room and noticed that Xiao Bao was looking at them with apprehensive eyes. San Bao ran up to him and took his hands. “Xiao Bao, are you hungry? I will bring you to have food.”

  \r \r \r

  Xiao Bao’s eyes lit up. He patted his tummy. He was indeed hungry and he wanted food.

  San Bao smiled smugly at Qiao Nan. She had done a good job as the elder sister. She knew what Xiao Bao was thinking about, and Xiao Bao loved her very much. Since he was so well-behaved, she would allow him to plant a kiss on her cheeks next time.

  The four children sat side by side. It was a funny sight and it also went to show that the Zhai family was very large. Apart from the Zhai family, no other family would have four children at home.

  The triplets were already three years old. Among the triplets, Da Bao insisted on eating by himself, while Er Bao and San Bao grew to dislike it when the adults fed them under his influence. Since the adults could not dissuade them, the adults could only prepare small spoons for the triplets. Qiao Nan remembered that decades later, people would use small and clean training chopsticks specially designed to train children to use chopsticks. Therefore, Qiao Nan made a sketch of the chopsticks and asked Tian Dong for help.

  Tian Dong knew more business contacts and had more knowledge in that area.

  It should not be difficult to produce such small utensils.

  Tian Dong was a father. In the past, he would be nonchalant when he saw related stuff. But things were different now. Whenever he saw baby products, he would not care if he had similar products at home and would buy a bunch of them for his son’s future use.

  Therefore, Tian Dong found the training chopsticks to be a good idea. Besides, he believed that if he mass-produced the training chopsticks, there would be a demand in the market. The economy was booming and the standard of living had been increasing. Everyone had an increasing income but they did not have many children at home. Therefore, no matter how expensive it was, the parents would be willing to provide the best for their child.

  In that case, there would be a huge demand for baby and mother products.

  Tian Dong was a businessman and he could tell that this was a great business opportunity. An idea came to his mind and Tian Dong started up a mother and infant products company. He intended to venture into this industry. Once he was successful, if he needed any products for his child in the future, there was no need to purchase it from elsewhere. He could then get it from his company.

  Furthermore, since this was his own business, he could ensure that the products manufactured were of the highest quality. He did not want to have the good intentions but ended up bringing harm to his child.

  Zhai Hua had to return to the army. Unlike Qiao Nan, she could not provide breast milk for her child for as long as she could. Xiao Bao was still young. Since he could not have breast milk, he could only have baby formula.

  There was once when the Tian family had run out of baby formula and the baby formula from overseas had yet to arrive. Xiao Bao was hungry but he had no baby formula to drink. Tian Dong thought of buying the baby formula in the country before the stock from overseas arrived in another half a month. When Qiao Nan learned about this, she immediately made a phone call to Tian Dong to stop him.

  After Qiao Nan had been through rebirth, she remembered that there was once when a certain brand of baby formula contained melamine and it ended up to be a big scandal. Many children from multiple families were victims of the toxic baby formula.

  Since Qiao Nan knew about this problem, she could never allow her children as well as Zhai Hua’s child to drink toxic baby formula. She sent all the remaining baby formula that had yet to expire to the Tian family. She also gave Tian Dong a gentle reminder about the problem with the baby formula.

  Apart from Tian Dong, Qiao Nan also let Shi Peng in on this. After all, Shi Peng would be able to do more in his capacity as a government official.

  If possible, Qiao Nan hoped that she could reduce the number of children who suffered from the baby formula scandal, reducing the number of victims as much as possible.

  If she was not a mother, she would be indifferent about it. Besides, since 2010, people would have the mindset that other countries would have a stricter set of rules and regulations to ensure the quality of the products. Qiao Nan had the same thinking as well. Therefore, it was just a second instinct for her to get people to buy baby formula from overseas for the triplets. She was only reminded of the baby formula scandal recently.

  Luckily, the shortage of baby formula in the Tian family jolted Qiao Nan’s memory and she remembered the scandal about the baby formula.

  The children were the flowers of the nation, the future of the country.

  Especially now that every family only had one child, if something happened to their only child, it would be devastating to the two families. Once Tian Dong and Shi Peng learned about it, they began working on it and checked whether the situation was really as what Qiao Nan had said.

  In the end, Shi Peng discovered that Qiao Nan was right. He was so furious that his eyes turned red. Shi Qing and Zhu Baoguo had graduated, and they had been together for some time. As a father, he knew what was going on.

  Shi Peng had discussed with Zhu Chengqi and agreed roughly on a time for their children to hold the wedding and collect the marriage certificate if possible. After the marriage, they would be waiting to get their grandchild.

  Shi Qing and Zhu Baoguo were preoccupied with their work in the army. It would be a problem as to who would take care of the child in the future. Elder Zhu from the Zhu family was not in good health. He would not last for more than two years. Zhu Chengqi was busy with work as well, so it was not feasible for the Zhu family to take care of the child.

  1403 Done a Good Deed

  As for the Shi family, Shi Peng did not expect that his parents would help take care of the baby. He would be glad if they could watch their behavior and did not create trouble for him. As for him, although he was just as busy, his wife had all the time in the world.

  If he really had a grandchild, Feng Cheng would be occupied and she could play with her maternal grandchild.

  Since he had already thought of who would take care of the child after the child was born, undoubtedly, he would have thought of the issue of feeding the baby as well. As the mother, Shi Qing had no time to take care of the baby. All the more she would have no time to breastfeed the baby. Like Tian Yu, Shi Qing’s child would have to drink baby formula.

  However, Shi Peng was conservative and old-fashioned in some aspects.

  There were many brands of baby formula in his country and several of them were quite famous and were widely received by the consumers. Since his country had their own baby formulas, why would he have blind worship of foreign goods and ideas and buy the baby formulas from overseas? Why would he let foreigners stand to gain?

  The Shi family would never do that!

  He did not care how the Zhai family and the Tian family raise their children. It was none of his business. Shi Peng had a different opinion from them, but he would not be obnoxious to persuade the Zhai family and the Tian family to support local products.

  However, he would make the decision as to what brand of baby formula his grandchild should have in the future.

  Shi Peng was patriotic and insisted on supporting local products. However, he did not expect that he had yet to have a grandchild when a certain local brand of baby formula ended up giving him a tight slap to his face.

  \r \r \r

  With Tian Dong’s help, they conducted random checks on baby formulas from all over the country. In the end, the results were as Qiao Nan had said. There was a big problem with the baby formula!

  Shi Peng was all ready to buy local brand baby formula for his grandchild. When he learned of the results, he was so furious that he felt like killing someone. The country’s economy was doing well, and everyone was earning more than before. Even if the products were of high quality, the bosses of the factories would have made a lot of profits from the mass production of the products.

  One did not expect that men would be so greedy. Men had insatiable desires indeed. Their carnal cravings were never satisfied and were the main obstruction on the path to enlightenment. They wanted to earn lots of money against their conscience. They should be shot to death for being so unscrupulous!

  Thankfully, they discovered the problem with the baby formula before it got worse. Otherwise, Shi Peng could not imagine the countless number of children that would have suffered from the toxic baby formula.

  Qiao Nan breathed a sigh of relief when she knew that the toxic baby formula had been discovered before the problem had turned worse.

  Luckily, the impact was not as serious. The news of the toxic baby formula caused an uproar in society but the government kept everything under control and it did not cause further alarm in the society.

  Qiao Nan did not feel that it was because of her that the problem was resolved. She only hoped that all the babies in China could grow up to be healthy and strong.

  After the incident with the toxic baby formula, Tian Dong realized the importance of the baby and mother products industry. It was not because of money that spurred him to venture into this industry again. He only wished that his child would not come into contact with all these toxic products that failed to meet the standard.

  It was a coincidence that Qiao Nan had been through rebirth. Therefore, she was well aware of the events and happenings in the next decade.

  Since Qiao Nan was considered as a minor shareholder of the Tian Corporation, Tian Dong decided to cooperate with Qiao Nan to work on the mother and baby products industry. The training chopsticks became one of the products that were being mass manufactured.

  Since her family was into the production of the baby and mother products, Qiao Nan could take whatever that she needed for the four children at home. They would no longer lack any daily household items in the future.

  The triplets had gotten used to using the training chopsticks to have meals. Although they still needed more practice, they had already got the hang of it. Xiao Bao watched as his elder brothers and sister used the training chopsticks to eat, while he was being fed by the adults. Xiao Bao was full of admiration for his elder brothers and sisters.

  Qiao Nan could tell that Xiao Bao could not wait to use the training chopsticks. Although she did not teach him how to use it, she prepared a pair of training chopsticks for him.

  Xiao Bao was very sensible. When he was having meals, he would grab the training chopsticks with one hand and poke at the rice and vegetables in his bowl with the training chopsticks. He would not wave the chopsticks in the air or poke himself accidentally. He would open his mouth for his food, like a young bird waiting for food, emptying all the contents on the spoon.

  “Nan Nan, shall I feed him?” The auntie noticed that Qiao Nan had yet to have her meal and was feeding Xiao Bao. Qiao Nan had just returned from work and she must be tired. The triplets had finally grown older and they could learn to do things by themselves. Qiao Nan could finally lighten her load. Now that Xiao Bao was here, it seemed as if Qiao Nan returned to the days where the triplets were still one year old.

  It was rare that Xiao Bao, who was well-behaved, made known his feelings. He grabbed his small bowl tightly, shaking his head at the helper. “No, no, auntie, feed me, auntie, feed me.” He did not want other people to feed him.

  Qiao Nan smiled as she rejected the auntie’s kind gestures. “It’s alright. Xiao Bao is very well-behaved. There is no need for me to coax him. He will take the food that I give him obediently. He will finish them in no time. I can do it. Auntie, you can help me keep a watch on the triplets.”

  The auntie did not insist any further. She looked at the triplets proudly. “The triplets are so well-behaved. They are young but they are very sensible. One would feel hungry when one looks at them when they are eating. Madam Zhai could not help but have more food when she looks at the way they are eating. The chief also said that madam seemed to have put on weight recently. I have seen quite a lot of children around the triplets’ age in the quad, but the parents have to chase after them to feed them.”

  On the other hand, the triplets were already learning to have the meals by themselves, and they would finish the food happily. They would empty the bowl of rice, not leaving a single grain of rice behind.

  The auntie did not need to do much. She only needed to keep a watch on the triplets while they had their meals. If they wanted to have certain food but it was out of their reach, the auntie would use the serving chopsticks to get it for them.

  Qiao Nan smiled at the way the auntie praised the triplets. “If they did not have a good appetite, they would not be chubby.” Compared to children from other families who were slim, her children were considered to be on the chubby side.

  “It’s good for the children to be slightly chubby. Moreover, those are not fat. Those are muscles. They are similar to their dad.” Miao Jing put in good words for her grandchildren. The three children seemed to know the difference between fats and muscles.

  They knew that muscles were good, while fats were not.

  Therefore, they would raise their arms, saying that they did not have fats. Instead, they had firm and strong muscles.

  Qiao Nan glanced at the three little toddlers. How was it possible that toddlers would have muscles? They were soft and tender. They were only slightly stronger than when they were young. However, they were so chubby that one could not feel their bones!

  1404 Keeping a Watch on the Zhai Family

  It must be because the children kept pestering her mother-in-law that she said those words to coax them.

  After the meals, Qiao Nan held Xiao Bao in her arms as she made a phone call to the Tian family. Xiao Bao had a limited vocabulary. He would also jump from one topic to another. He had yet to finish the current sentence and he would go on to talk about other topics.

  Although most of his sentences did not make sense, Mother Tian would turn soft-hearted when she chatted with him.

  Mother Tian would be overjoyed whenever she chatted with her grandson. She would take a long time to end the call as she could not bear to part with her grandson. “Xiao Bao, I will recover very soon. By then, I will get your father to fetch you. Xiao Bao, I miss you terribly.” Mother Tian was almost in tears at her grandson’s baby voice.

  It had been many days since she saw her grandson, and she could not hold her grandson who smelled nice and soft. Now that her grandson was not at home, Mother Tian felt scary staring at the house that she lived in. She was so lonely that she felt desolate. It was worse than her cold virus.

  “Emm, grandma. Be good. Take medicine. Take injections. Get well soon. Go back a few days later. Accompany grandma.” Xiao Bao had a sweet tongue. Although he was sitting comfortably in his auntie’s embrace, he still remembered to coax his grandma. He talked to his grandma on the phone with his auntie’s help. While chatting on the phone, he would play with his auntie using his two hands. He was awfully busy.

  Xiao Bao seemed to know that his grandma had not recovered yet and he would not go back home to accompany his grandma anytime soon. He could continue to stay with his auntie and play with his elder brothers and sister. Xiao Bao felt that he was blessed to lead such a life.

  Mother Tian had no idea what was on Xiao Bao’s mind and turned softhearted at his baby voice. He even reminded her to be good and to take medicine and injections, hoping that she would recover as soon as possible. Mother Tian was so touched by his words of concern. “Alright, I will listen to Xiao Bao. Xiao Bao, I miss you terribly. I will recover as soon as possible so that I can play with you.”

  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

  \r \r \r

  Mother Tian missed her grandson very much.

  After saying what he wanted, Xiao Bao kissed the phone and ended the call without the slightest hesitation. He turned to snuggle into Qiao Nan’s embrace. “Auntie, wash cleanly and sleep with brothers and sister!” Xiao Bao felt that he was blessed to have his beloved auntie, his closest brothers, and sister with him.

  Qiao Nan carried Xiao Bao with her. “Alright, let’s go upstairs to wash cleanly and go to sleep.” Actually, not only was Xiao Bao tired, but the triplets were sleepy as well. If not for the fact that Xiao Bao was sleepy, Mother Tian would have wanted to chat with him throughout the night.

  Anyway, the Zhai family and the Tian family could afford the telephone bills. It was more important to have a good time chatting on the phone.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” Perhaps the four children were exhausted from playing all day long, Qiao Nan had yet to finish one bedtime story but all of them, snuggled in bed, were fast asleep. Right then, someone knocked on the door. Qiao Nan opened the door to see her mother-in-law, Miao Jing. “Mom, did the Qiao family call you to ask anything of you?”

  Qiao Zijin was getting married. The first and foremost problem would be the dowry.

  In the previous life, even after the marriage, Qiao Zijin insisted on asking for more. In this life, since Qiao Nan was married well and Qiao Zijin had Qian Nan’s wedding as a reference, Qiao Zijin would become greedier and make more requests of her.

  Qiao Zijin knew that Qiao Dongliang and Ding Jiayi did not have much money. No matter how hard she tried, she would not be able to get much money from them.

  Therefore, Qiao Zijin turned to target Qiao Nan. Furthermore, Qiao Nan had been her target right from the start.

  Qiao Zijin would not compromise easily in order to marry well.

  Seeing that her mother-in-law was at the door, the first problem that Qiao Nan thought of was naturally Qiao Zijin. In fact, Qiao Nan would naturally associate all problems with Qiao Zijin. Qiao Zijin had to blame herself for being untrustworthy.

  “No. This has nothing to do with the Qiao family. It is just that there seemed to be strangers who loitered around the entrance of the quad. They seemed to be up to no good. You have to work in the daytime. You must be careful when you go out. Remember. You must never go out or return home alone. If the chauffeur is busy, your dad and I have decided that we could hire another chauffeur.”

  It was alright to spend money to hire another chauffeur. After all, they could always earn the money that was spent. Nothing was more important than their safety. If anything happened, one could never turn back time.

  It had only been a few years since Zhai Sheng married Qiao Nan. Zhai Yaohui and Miao Jing did not wish for their son to become a widower or for the three smart grandchildren to be without their mother. That would be a pitiful sight.

  “Are you saying that strangers loiter around but nobody did anything?” It was ridiculous that this could happen at the entrance of the quad in the military zone. This was the capital. How could the evil-doers be so brazen and bold?

  “These people are quite a distance away from the entrance of the quad in the military zone, and they didn’t do anything that would put the quad in the military zone in danger. You must know that one has to commit crimes to be considered going against the law. No one would say anything if one did not do anything illegal.” If one did not do anything that would endanger other people but only loiter around at the entrance, the most that one could do was to give them a verbal warning.

  However, they had already used that method but it was useless.

  Qiao Nan nodded. “Alright, I will take note of this. Mom, don’t worry. They are only loitering around the entrance, but we should still pay more attention. When you bring the children out to take a walk under the sun, you should bring more people with you. If not, you can ask Dongzi for help.” The Zhai family did not have enough adults around, but it should not be the case for the Tian family.

  It had been so many days. Since Mother Tian already missed her grandson terribly, Tian Dong must have missed his son as well.

  She did not believe that he did not miss him!

  If the father did not come to check on his son, Xiao Bao might become part of the Zhai family.

  “Okay, I will talk to Dongzi tomorrow.” Miao Jing valued the safety of the children. She valued her three grandchildren as well as her maternal grandson. The four of them were very precious to her.

  As soon as Qiao Nan went to work the next day, Miao Jing gave a call to Tian Dong, asking him for advice. “How can there be such a thing?” The quad in the military zone is an important place. Security should not be a problem since many important chiefs resided in that place.

  If anything happened to the quad in the military zone, it would be a big issue for China. Notwithstanding suspicious characters, a mosquito could not even be allowed entry. Security should be very tight.

  1405 Who Is the Loser?

  “Mom, prevention is better than cure. After I knock off from work today I will send someone over there. Mom, what do you think?”

  He believed that the security at the quad in the military zone was very tight. But now that this had happened, Tian Dong could not afford a single error as this concerned his son’s safety. Although this might turn out to be a fruitless attempt, he would never save on the money or effort.

  “Okay, it’s better to get this done as soon as possible. You should make the arrangements right away.” There might be suspicious characters at the quad in the military zone, but it was still safer than other places. The Zhai family’s residence did not have any people who were nursing illnesses like the Tian Family.

  Tian Dong could not take his son back home as his mother was sick. It would only cause further distress at home.

  Tian Dong preferred actions to words. Since this concerned his son, he did not dare to procrastinate.

  Those suspicious characters loitered outside the quad for several days until the day Qiao Nan and Deng Wenchang were expected to receive the ambassador couple.

  Everyone in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was busy with arranging the schedule and tasks for today.

  Qiao Nan took a thick stack of materials with her. She flipped through them quickly, getting the materials ready for He Yi. After completing her task, Qiao Nan handed the materials to He Yi. He flipped several pages to ascertain that everything was alright before he gestured for Qiao Nan to leave the office.

  Qiao Nan swiped her hands after completing her task.

  \r \r \r

  She realized that her duties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were similar to what she used to do when she was in school. There did not seem to have any difference. She would need to do a lot of writings every day to the extent that her hands were sore. At times, when it was really hectic at the ministry, she would be several times busier than when she was at school.

  Now that Qiao Nan had finally finished with all the writing, she pinched her sore hands, wanting to take a breather.

  However, Deng Wenchang cast his sinister and unreasonable glance at Qiao Nan once again. It was as if he was trying to see through her.

  Qiao Nan turned her head to one side, avoiding Deng Wenchang’s gaze as usual.

  There was no other office or working space in the ministry. If Qiao Nan wanted to sit elsewhere, she would have to change her seat with one of the seniors.

  However, what made Qiao Nan frustrated was that Deng Wenchang had failed terribly as a person. There were many people in the ministry, but nobody was willing to change seats with her to sit opposite to Deng Wenchang. After knowing that everyone rejected her request to change seats, Qiao Nan felt like asking Deng Wenchang if he had such a bad personality that everyone shunned him.

  Since no one was willing to change seats with her, the unwilling Qiao Nan had no other choice but to continue to sit at her original seat. She had to wait until one of the seniors in the department left the ministry for any other reasons, leaving the office empty, in order to move elsewhere.

  Seeing that Qiao Nan did not say anything to his odd behavior, Deng Wenchang continued with his old ways. Qiao Nan almost could not take it anymore and felt like digging his eyes out.

  “Are you putting on airs now that you are the daughter-in-law of the Zhai family? Are you looking down on your colleague? The young mistress of the Zhai family, if you want to put on airs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not the place for you. You should go back to where you come from.” Qiao Nan was the young mistress of the Zhai family. She should enjoy life with the Zhai family. Why did she come to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to snatch the job from him?

  Now that Qiao Nan was married to Zhai Sheng, she was assured that she would not go hungry for the rest of her life. She no longer lacked anything, so why did she insist on joining the ministry?

  One should not be too greedy. Otherwise, one would suffer retribution.

  “I suggest you save this for yourself. Aren’t you here to be the ‘young master’? If you don’t have the correct working attitude, I suggest that you give up the position to other talented people.” Qiao Nan had been tolerating Deng Wenchang, yet he reached out for a yard after taking an inch.

  “Deng Wenchang, as a man, why do you behave like a woman and have so many complaints? Don’t you find it a bother? Don’t you feel ashamed? Don’t forget that today is an important day. Do you intend to let the ambassador couple know that you don’t get along well with me and for them to laugh at us, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and even China?”

  “Young man, will you please be serious and use your brains at work?”

  Deng Wenchang turned green in anger. He felt like slapping Qiao Nan who had a bold and fearless expression on her face. “Qiao Nan, don’t be too smug. We shall see who will have the last laugh.”

  Qiao Nan did not do anything for the past five days. Therefore, he was certain that the additional information that he had researched on was far more detailed than the information that Qiao Nan had. He could not tell what game Qiao Nan was up to. Could it be that Qiao Nan had admitted defeat even before the war had started?

  Although Deng Wenchang always felt that he was more competent than Qiao Nan, he wanted to win fair and square so that everyone at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would know that he was the rising star in the ministry. He wanted everyone to realize that it was a waste to put their hopes on Qiao Nan or treat her nicely.

  However, if Qiao Nan refused to accept the challenge, no matter how well Deng Wenchang performed, one could not tell that Deng Wenchang was capable as there was no comparison. He would not feel as happy at defeating Qiao Nan in this manner. Perhaps after seeing Deng Wenchang’s splendid performance, Qiao Nan would come up with excuses for herself a few days later, saying that she was uncomfortable and thus made a blunder and did not perform as good as Deng Wenchang.

  He should be proud that he defeated Qiao Nan with his outstanding performance. But if Qiao Nan came up with this excuse, it would seem as if it was by sheer luck that he defeated Qiao Nan.

  Deng Wenchang refused to suffer such grievances.

  It was none of his business that Qiao Nan did not do any research and was being overly confident. As the saying went, the moon waxes only to wane, water brims only to overflow. He would not stop Qiao Nan from doing herself in. His only wish was that Qiao Nan would suffer a crushing defeat and that she would not come up with some lame excuses to hide the fact that she was useless and continued to put on airs in front of him who was a gifted student. He found her to be irritating and annoying.

  Deng Wenchang was emboldened and dared to provoke Qiao Nan.

  The ambassador couple would be reaching the capital very soon. Even if Qiao Nan received important information now, she would not be able to memorize them within such a short period of time and use them in the exchange later.

  The people that Peng Yu sent to keep a watch on the Zhai family ended up not being able to gather any useful information. Deng Wenchang felt as if he was being tricked. All he could do was to wait for the exchange today to make sure that Qiao Nan suffered a crushing defeat.

  1406 Regrets on Wrong Move and Words

  The corners of Qiao Nan’s mouth twitched. At the sight of Deng Wenchang’s nostrils, she could not help asking, “Deng Wenchang, did you inject chicken blood secretly?” Otherwise, did Deng Wenchang need to display so much excitement? It was as if he had eaten a stimulant and had completely lost that sinisterly cold and restrained manner.

  Deng Wenchang smiled scornfully. He turned his chin and did not care about talking to Qiao Nan anymore.

  Qiao Nan only knew how to curry favor and pretend to be obedient in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The old ones in the ministry had been bewitched by lust and had lost all their sanity. That was why they had been cajoled and distracted by Qiao Nan, treating her like a treasure.

  He firmly believed that the foreign ambassador couple would not be taken in by such cheap tricks of Qiao Nan. Furthermore, they would not relent just because of Qiao Nan’s pretty face. If good looks were really so important, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be renamed as the beauty pageant department then.

  Deng Wenchang did not reply. His snort made Qiao Nan feel goose bumps all over.

  Qiao Nan sneered, not willing to bother about such a sicko like Deng Wenchang. She felt extremely disheartened.

  Deng Wenchang was itching to have a go while Qiao Nan was in alert and combat-ready mode. Very soon, the ambassador couple arrived in China and was received by He Yi. Naturally, the initial welcoming was done by He Yi. They spoke about national affairs concerning the two countries. Qiao Nan and Deng Wenchang only needed to listen attentively and conscientiously to the content of their conversation and remember the main points of it.

  No matter how proud and aloof Deng Wenchang was when he was in the department, thinking that he was a cut above the rest, the seniors in the department were still silently approving of his behavior during such critical times. If Deng Wenchang dared to make any mistakes at such important times, the department would send someone else to replace him at any point in time.

  Actually, other people did not understand this matter but some seniors in the department did.

  \r \r \r

  Between these two newbies, He Yi thought more highly of Qiao Nan and wanted to delegate important tasks to her. Everyone knew this in their hearts.

  However, Deng Wenchang and Qiao Nan joined the department almost at the same time. Although Deng Wenchang did not perform better than Qiao Nan, he had never made any huge mistakes. Hence, if He Yi wanted to give Qiao Nan a chance, he had to bring Deng Wenchang along. Otherwise, if words were to spread, He Yi’s method would ultimately attract criticism.

  This was also the reason why He Yi had never used any means to evict Deng Wenchang from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs despite his dissatisfaction with Deng Wenchang.

  To put it bluntly, Deng Wenchang felt that his opportunity was here. He did not ponder deeply that his so-called opportunity was completely due to Qiao Nan, whom he looked down on.

  Given this point alone, He Yi could trust Qiao Nan but he dared not feel totally at ease with Deng Wenchang.

  Who could be certain that Deng Wenchang, who did not make any major mistakes normally, would definitely maintain his sanity during critical times and not act foolishly? Until this moment that Qiao Nan and Deng Wenchang took down the notes in shorthand, the person who was arranged to possibly replace Deng Wenchang adopted a more serious attitude than the two youngsters on this matter. He dared not relax at all.

  The meeting and discussion between He Yi and the ambassador were relatively successful. The two parties had a friendly handshake before ending the exchange this time. All of a sudden, all the cameras and videos were shooting and flashing nonstop at He Yi and the ambassador like guns and cannons.

  It was only when the reporters had taken down all the news materials that He Yi came down and walked toward Qiao Nan. He seemed to be telling Qiao Nan firmly with his eyes: I am passing the entire duty of the host to you from this point onward.

  As for the ambitious Deng Wenchang standing beside Qiao Nan, He Yi simply ignored him. Between the ambassador couple, the most important VIP was of course the husband and not the wife. Given a combination like Qiao Nan and Deng Wenchang, Deng Wenchang should be entertaining the husband while Qiao Nan the ambassador’s wife.

  However, He Yi purposely wanted to reverse this order.

  The western countries were more open-minded and advocated gender equality more than the Asian countries. Hence, he would let Qiao Nan receive the ambassador and Deng Wenchang his wife.

  Didn’t they say that it would be less exhausting when members of the opposite gender worked together?

  However, the extremely confident Deng Wenchang did not know He Yi’s plan at all. At the sight of the ambassador couple, he straightened the collar of his suit, tidied his sleeves and buttons, and walked forward to the couple to shake their hands, while smiling like a gentleman.

  Deng Wenchang was extremely satisfied with this beginning of shaking the ambassador couple’s hands before Qiao Nan could do so. Women…… They should obediently follow behind men. Although this was a male foreigner, he might not be entirely biased-free toward females. Otherwise, why would western countries use male chauvinist pigs to describe machismo men?

  After he occupied the controlling role, Qiao Nan could only stand beside him abidingly and help him with some mundane matters.

  Qiao Nan could forget about snatching this opportunity away in front of him!

  Deng Wenchang made use of his long legs and deliberately moved a step forward to block Qiao Nan’s actions. He Yi and the team could tell his intent and they frowned immediately. Although Deng Wenchang had been quite subtle, as a foreign ambassador, would he not be able to tell?

  He Yi was very worried that he would see a flash of scorn in the eyes of the foreign ambassador. If that was truly the case, Deng Wenchang would have embarrassed himself badly in front of the foreigners.

  True enough, he should have found an excuse to kick Deng Wenchang out from this event earlier and sidelined him. He wanted to give Deng Wenchang a fair chance to compete. Unexpectedly, Deng Wenchang was too incompetent. He did not grab hold of his last opportunity. Eventually, he did something so petty in front of the foreign ambassador. What a scheming guy.

  Deng Wenchang felt He Yi’s stare on him. However, he acted as if he completely did not realize his actions. So what if he had deliberately walked faster than Qiao Nan and blocked her? As long as he performed well thereafter and did not embarrass his country, wouldn’t that do?

  He could guarantee that with his presence, this event did not require Qiao Nan at all.

  He was willing to let Qiao Nan sit by the side and act like an eye-candy, drink tea, and eat some melon seeds to complete the mission with him. He had allowed Qiao Nan to take so much advantage of him. He was already very good to Qiao Nan. Otherwise, if he was harsher, it was possible that he could simply stop Qiao Nan from appearing at this point in time.

  After a round of self-consolation, Deng Wenchang had completely neglected Qiao Nan’s identity as the daughter-in-law of the Zhai family.

  If Deng Wenchang really dared to plot against Qiao Nan at such a time and the Zhai family sought revenge on Deng Wenchang, the Deng family would be forced to keep their grievances to themselves. They would not be able to seek justice. Who told Deng Wenchang to be so daring to provoke the Zhai family? He deserved such retribution. If the Deng family dared to shout out their grievances, they would definitely attract a round of beating. They would feel so regretful of making the wrong move and saying the wrong words.