Chapter 1383: Ambush

The submarine had been at the bottom of the sea for five or six years…

This sentence was like a heavy hammer, weighing down on the bottom of Huo Shaoheng’s heart.

His eyes were cold, and his gaze was as deep as the sea. He looked silently at the large window of the conference room.

For the sake of confidentiality, the window of this conference room was also made of one-way gla.s.s.

They could see the outside from the inside, but no one could look inside from the outside.

No one spoke, patiently waiting for Huo Shaoheng to give his orders.

After a long time has pa.s.sed, when everyone almost thought that Huo Shaoheng would never give his opinion, Huo Shaoheng spoke.

“… I’ll apply to the military and request them to dispatch a research s.h.i.+p to the Cape of Good Hope to … bring back the submarine.”

The mini-submarine had sunk to such a deep seabed. Other than a large salvage tug, there was nothing else that could tow it up.

The Cape of Good Hope Sea area was not in the Huaxia territory, but the place where the submarine had sunk was not any country’s territorial sea either. It was in international waters.

However, it was too eye-catching to sail the salvage tug just like that to the international waters to retrieve something.

Huo Shaoheng did not want to attract the attention of other countries, especially the United States, which was on the other side of the ocean.

Therefore, sending a large research s.h.i.+p was the most appropriate method.

After all, the Huaxia Empire had always had a tradition where “protecting the country was the business of the Ministry of Agriculture, expanding territory was the business of the Fishery Bureau.”

…

After the meeting, Huo Shaoheng immediately brought Yin s.h.i.+xiong to General Ji to report on the situation.

General Ji’s face also darkened when he heard that the submarine had could have been at the bottom of the sea for five or six years.

“Are you sure this submarine is related to Gu Xiangwen?” General Ji walked back and forth in his office with his hands behind his back, his brows furrowed tightly.

Huo Shaoheng thought about it, and felt that he understood General Ji’s concerns, so he immediately said, “If the submarine turns out to be unrelated to Gu Xiangwen, I’ll pay for all the expenses myself.”

They could think of it as him renting equipment and manpower from the government.

The cost of dispatching this “research s.h.i.+p” was at least hundreds of millions of dollars.

If it had nothing to do with Gu Xiangwen, their losses would be huge.

General Ji’s hesitation was understandable.

General Ji turned around and glared at him. “Do you think I’m such a stingy person? It’s not as if the military can’t afford this small amount of money! I’m just worried that if it really has nothing to do with Gu Xiangwen, some people will gossip about this and cause you trouble in the future.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Huo Shaoheng was not worried about this at all.

It would be a lie to say that he had no ambition and did not care about being promoted.

However, Huo Shaoheng was not the type to restrain himself just because he was afraid of others gossiping about him.

General Ji discussed the details with Huo Shaoheng, then waved the pen and signed the agreement for him.

Huo Shaoheng took the agreement and went to the Inst.i.tute of High Energy Physics to look for Song Jinning.

…

“Director Song is in the lab. Please wait a moment.”

Song Jinning’s lab staff welcomed Huo Shaoheng into Song Jinning’s office.

They knew that Huo Shaoheng was Song Jinning’s son, so they didn’t have any concerns.

Huo Shaoheng waited in Song Jinning’s office for half an hour before Song Jinning came out.

“Hmm? What brings you here today?” Song Jinning smiled happily as she washed her hands and took off her lab coat.

Huo Shaoheng naturally took it for her and hung it on the coat rack as he said, “Miss Song, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

Seeing how serious Huo Shaoheng was, Song Jinning hastily closed the office door.

The two of them sat down at the desk.

Huo Shaoheng briefly explained Zhao Liangze’s discovery.

Before he could continue, Song Jinning had already stood up excitedly and said, “Do you really have the whereabouts of Gu Xiangwen?! Oh, that’s great! I admire him to the core! You want to send a research s.h.i.+p to salvage it? I’ll volunteer myself! Let me go with the research s.h.i.+p, I’ll help with calibrating the equipment!”

Huo Shaoheng had come to find Song Jinning precisely because he wanted her to go personally.

However, the reason why he wanted Song Jinning to go personally was not for her to calibrate the equipment but for other reasons.

“Ms. Song, if that submarine really has something to do with Gu Xiangwen, I’m worried that there might be something else inside, so… I need you there as a safeguard. Of all the scientists in our country, you’re the only one I trust when it came to encountering possible advanced technology…”

Huo Shaoheng spoke in a very reserved manner.

Song Jinning didn’t quite understand at first and smiled and said, “You can’t put it that way. The scientists who have the most research experience in submarines are all in your military…”

Huo Shaoheng looked at her with a faint smile, and Song Jinning suddenly understood.

“… Are you worried that those people will be tempted by Gu Xiangwen’s technology?”

“We have to guard against that possibility.”

After all, Ye Zitan was a prime example.

Song Jinning nodded and said thoughtfully, “You can rest a.s.sured in this regard. I will never take other people’s research results for myself.”

“I know, that’s why I want you to go,” Huo Shaoheng showed the agreement form signed by General Ji to Song Jinning. “I will give you a special letter of appointment so that you can go with them as a representative of the military.”

Huo Shaoheng acted quickly.

He reported to the military at noon, watched the big shots sign and stamp the papers, and then personally mobilized the research s.h.i.+p.

With his presence, the procedure that would have taken more than ten days to complete was completed in two or three days.

…

The street lights were turned on, and Huo Shaoheng, who had been busy all day, finally returned to his official residence.

After entering his place, he took off his military cap and hung it on the coat rack at the entrance.

He looked down and saw Gu Nianzhi in her home clothes holding out a pair of slippers in front of him.

Gu Nianzhi was half-kneeling on the ground. She looked up at him with a smile and said, “Young Master Huo, I bought you a pair of slippers. Do you want to change into them?”

Huo Shaoheng had never had the habit of wearing slippers in his official residence.

However, when he saw Gu Nianzhi’s charming smile and beautiful eyes, he did not say anything and quietly put on the blue slippers that Gu Nianzhi had bought for him.

Gu Nianzhi pointed at the pink slippers on her feet and said, “They’re a couple! We’re wearing matching slippers.”

Huo Shaoheng then realized that Gu Nianzhi’s slippers each had a pink bunny drawn on them. On his slippers, there were blue bunnies…

Huo Shaoheng, “…”

“Don’t they look good?” Gu Nianzhi wasn’t sure what Huo Shaoheng was thinking. “You don’t think they’re too childish, do you? I spent a long time trying to pick out a pair of more mature couple slippers.”

Huo Shaoheng, “…”

Since when were these types of cute rabbits even remotely a.s.sociated with maturity?

Huo Shaoheng looked down at the cute little blue rabbit on his feet, rubbed his temples, and asked Gu Nianzhi, “Did you go out shopping today?”

Gu Nianzhi nodded. “I woke up in the afternoon and you weren’t back yet. It wasn’t fun for me to be here alone, so I drove around.”

“… You went out alone?” Huo Shaoheng’s expression turned serious. “How many times have I told you to bring Xiao Ye with you when you go out?”

“… I forgot.” Gu Nianzhi smiled embarra.s.sedly. She hugged and shook Huo Shaoheng’s arm. “Young Master Huo Young Master Huo, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

Gu Nianzhi acted coquettishly as she observed Huo Shaoheng’s expression.

He was still unsmiling, and there seemed to be an unspeakable tiredness between his brows.

Gu Nianzhi was puzzled. “Are you tired from work today? Do you want to take a break? I’ll give you a ma.s.sage…”

Huo Shaoheng smiled and bent down to scoop Gu Nianzhi up. He carried her in his arms and said, “Do you want to see if your man is tired?”

Gu Nianzhi was shocked and quickly hugged his neck. “You can’t ambush me!”

Huo Shaoheng kissed her on the cheek and carried her upstairs.

Yin s.h.i.+xiong, who had followed them in, tsked and said loudly, “We haven’t even had dinner yet. Stop acting so lovingly! Fortunately I’m not single anymore!”