Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  In the end, even if He Yi was not willing to accept Deng Wenchang as his disciple, as long as Deng Wenchang could get this stack of documents from He Yi, his earlier efforts would not be in vain then.

  Although not acknowledging He Yi as his master was regrettable, the documents could make up for a large part of his loss that resulted from the failure of not completing this mission.

  Unfortunately, after working so hard for two to three years, Deng Wenchang did not become He Yi’s disciple. In addition, their relationship was not as close as before. In the end, he did not get a master, and even the stack of useful documents mentioned by his father had been placed in front of Qiao Nan. Without lifting a finger, Qiao Nan was enjoying the fruits of other people’s labor. What a great life, really.

  It seemed that Qiao Nan was basically heaven’s daughter. Otherwise, why did she and not other people get all the good stuff?

  At the thought that He Yi personally came over to send the documents to Qiao Nan, Deng Wenchang did not know how to vent out that deeply accumulated resentment in his heart. “Comrade Qiao Nan, it seems that your seat in the office will be changed in a few days’ time? That’s right. How can an ordinary old chair in the office be as comfortable as the ‘dragon chair’ in the minister’s office?”

  At the rate that He Yi was nurturing Qiao Nan, besides moving her cubicle, Qiao Nan would have a private space dedicated to her in less than three to five years’ time. Most agonizingly, He Yi would definitely find excuses to beautify Qiao Nan’s resume. He would give any progression opportunities available in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Qiao Nan without any reservation.

  \r \r \r

  On what grounds!

  He had not done less work than Qiao Nan, and the quality of his work was not worse than Qiao Nan’s. Both he and Qiao Nan were newbies. He had been performing quite well and never gotten the department into trouble. Before Qiao Nan joined the department, which of the miscellaneous tasks were not handed to him, and when did he ever fail to complete the task?

  Since his performance was not poorer than Qiao Nan’s, on what basis did He Yi let out news of his intention to nurture Qiao Nan as his successor to take over everything in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when Qiao Nan had only joined them for less than six months?

  He had been in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs longer than Qiao Nan. Furthermore, he was a man. It was more at ease for him to carry out the work. Wasn’t the gender ratio of the diplomats in the department enough to prove this point?

  Since that was the case, why did Qiao Nan have to join in the fun for no reason? Wasn’t He Yi afraid of giving Qiao Nan too high hopes and make her misunderstand him? Qiao Nan would feel even more disappointed in the end.

  Until today, Deng Wenchang had not given up on the top role at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He wholeheartedly hoped that He Yi would be fairer to him and that he would not disregard the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or sacrifice the interest of the country for that of his own family to fulfill the selfish and deep desire in his heart.

  During these few months, Qiao Nan had to face Deng Wenchang’s ridiculous animosity and hostile line of sight from time to time. As time passed by, Qiao Nan was already used to them, especially such sarcastic and ‘flattering’ words form Deng Wenchang. Qiao Nan could already completely play dumb. “Is that so? Deng Wenchang, your news is so accurate. You already know something that even me, the party concerned, don’t know. However, I’m not sure if this is true or false. Since you have already said such positive things, I will wish you a happy marriage and an everlasting union.”

  It was impolite not to reciprocate.

  Deng Wenchang gave her such an auspicious greeting. Qiao Nan would not be a wet blanket too. She politely gave her words of blessing to Deng Wenchang, hoping that he could quickly settle his marriage and not remain single.

  Qiao Nan could not help suspecting that Deng Wenchang had been targeting her all because he did not have a girlfriend. If Deng Wenchang was dating, he would have to go on dates with his girlfriend, no?

  After dating, they would discuss their future life plans and such. The discussion of such topics should be quite time-consuming, right? Most importantly, if a man with a girlfriend were to keep staring at another woman, an ordinary woman would not be able to accept it regardless of the reason. She would feel very uneasy at heart.

  If it was a real woman, there was a ninety-percent chance that she would argue with her boyfriend.

  Undoubtedly, if Deng Wenchang had a girlfriend, this woman could help divert ninety-five percent of his attention. In addition, despite being a man, he was so narrow-minded, pettier than a woman, and hot-tempered. Qiao Nan suspected that Deng Wenchang had become like that due to suffering from hormonal imbalance arising from long-term singlehood.

  Just having a girlfriend would be able to cause so many changes in Deng Wenchang and improve her life tremendously. Of course, Qiao Nan wished very much that Deng Wenchang could get married earlier. After getting married and having children, would the mother-and-child pair not grab all of Deng Wenchang’s attention? When that time came, she could be considered truly free then!

  “What nonsense are you talking about? I don’t even have a girlfriend. Where did the happy marriage and everlasting union come from? Qiao Nan, did you do it on purpose?” Deng Wenchang’s face reddened. He was fuming and glaring so much that his eyes were protruding. “Shouldn’t you be saying these to the people who are getting married?”

  “.……” Qiao Nan felt awkward for a moment. Alright, when Qiao Zijin was getting married, she seemed to have said that on the day of her marriage. Most likely, she had been too used it and did not manage to tweak her brains to change it. She had set someone on fire. “Don’t have a girlfriend? You can go and find one. You’re not married now. After having a girlfriend, you can get married then. I am just bringing forward the words that I said earlier. I don’t think there is a major problem with that. Don’t tell me that you don’t intend to get married in your entire life? Or you’re not prepared to hear such words of blessing?”

  As for the slip of tongue, Qiao Nan refused to admit it. That was because she was worried that once she did so, given Deng Wenchang’s character, he would definitely hold onto it endlessly and annoy people to death.

  Deng Wenchang was enraged. “You have a reason for everything. Don’t divert the topic. Clearly, we were not discussing this earlier. Whether I marry or not, what has it got to do with you? Do you need to care so much?” Deng Wenchang was flustered and exasperated. Qiao Nan was too shrewd in her words. She actually made things difficult for him with such a sly question within minutes.

  If he had not been clear-minded, he would have been led astray by Qiao Nan and forgotten his initial question.

  “I’m not your mother. Of course, I don’t need to bother about your marriage. Don’t worry. Whatever you like to do, that’s up to you. We’re colleagues. What does our lousy opinion matter? Most importantly, you have to like it.”

  Qiao Nan smiled and led Deng Wenchang by the nose. Who told Deng Wenchang to bring up such a sensitive topic? He Yi was still at his prime age—alright, maybe not prime age, but the last few years of it.