NOVEL NEXT c26 - An Unexpected Phone Call
The sudden news of going out of town for training immediately halted the trainees as they were writing their self-criticisms.
They quickly packed their bags.
Military vehicles would arrive in 10 minutes to take them away directly.
Shen Han felt a bit anxious.
She was somewhat worried about Gu Junwan’s state of mind.
Although she had seemed back to normal when they ate breakfast together this morning, the vulnerability the Omega had shown while lying in her bedroom last night was like a thorn, constantly pricking the softest part of Shen Han’s heart.
The training order couldn’t be disobeyed, but she felt she should at least let Gu Junwan know about it.
It wouldn’t be good if she went to the apartment tonight looking for her, only to find no one there.
Gu Junwan’s phone had special restrictions, so it wasn’t possible to contact her whenever one wished.
Therefore, Shen Han called the secretarial office directly.
The person who answered the phone was Assistant Dong.
Upon hearing that the caller wanted to speak with Xu Zhao, she immediately began inquiring about the caller’s identity in a businesslike manner.
Shen Han knew that if she made up an identity, it would be quickly discovered as false after a brief verification.
After a moment’s thought, she decided to tell the truth.
“I’m a member of the Empress’s trainee guard team. My name is Shen Han, code number gl00687. Could you please pass on a message urgently? I need to speak with her about an urgent matter.”
As Shen Han had expected, Assistant Dong had already verified her identity on a nearby computer without even hanging up the phone.
“Please hold for a moment.”
Assistant Dong covered the mouthpiece with her hand and called out to a desk by the window, “Sister Zhao, there’s someone named Shen Han on the phone saying she has an urgent matter to discuss with you. She’s-”
Before she could finish reporting the caller’s identity, Xu Zhao had already quickly left her workstation.
She gestured for Assistant Dong to step aside for a moment.
Then she picked up the phone and asked calmly but with a hint of urgency, “What’s the matter?”
In her mind, for the other party to call her directly, it must truly be an important issue.
“I just received notice of an emergency training session. We’re about to depart, and I wanted to trouble you to let her know.”
Upon hearing that Shen Han had called about this, Xu Zhao’s taut nerves relaxed.
She thought to herself: Your training was arranged by the Empress herself.
“Alright, I understand.”
Xu Zhao was about to hang up when another voice came through the receiver: “Special Assistant Xu, I’ll be gone for a month this time.”
If Xu Zhao couldn’t discern the hidden meaning in those words, she would have wasted all her years in this special position.
“Don’t make a habit of this,” Xu Zhao said sternly, then quickly pressed a few buttons to transfer the call to the Empress’s office.
“What is it?” When Gu Junwan’s cool, melodious voice came through the receiver, Xu Zhao immediately disconnected her own line.
She left the private space entirely to the Alpha and Omega on either end of the phone.
Hearing Gu Junwan’s voice, Shen Han’s ears inexplicably began to heat up.
She struggled to steady her voice and spoke softly, “Junwan, it’s me.”
This time, it was the Empress’s Omega’s ear tips that turned red.
That “Junwan” seemed to carry the familiar scent of snow cedars, traveling along the electric current and landing on the Empress Omega’s cheek.
It caused a subtle tremor in her porcelain-white skin, as if the Alpha on the other end of the phone had gently caressed her.
After that initial address, neither of them spoke again.
The air was so quiet that they could almost hear the intertwining of each other’s breaths.
At this moment, the faint sounds of Shen Han’s teammates urging her could be heard.
She hurriedly spoke up, “I’m about to leave for a training session. I’ll be back in a month. I just wanted to let you know.”
The corners of Gu Junwan’s lips curled up slightly: “Mm, I’ll be waiting for your return.”
These five short words made Shen Han happy for several days.
The psychological comfort this unexpected phone call from the Alpha brought to the Empress Omega was immeasurable.
The other was like a blazing sun, illuminating the deepest, unreached parts of Gu Junwan’s heart with clear skies for miles.
In the secretarial office, Little Dong, who had been holding back for hours, finally sneaked up to Xu Zhao near the end of the workday to gossip a bit.
“Sister Zhao, is that Alpha who called you earlier your friend?”
“When I was verifying her identity, I accidentally saw that she’s even an S-class Alpha!”
Xu Zhao raised her hand and lightly smacked the gossipy little assistant’s head, saying irritably, “What are you prying into? And don’t go around talking about this.”
Little Dong rubbed her head pitifully.
She obediently said “Oh” and quickly fled the office with her bag.
At 10 PM.
Ning Xi, fully armed and sitting in the military vehicle, nudged the person next to her with her elbow and asked in a low voice, “Boss, when you left the bar in such a hurry last night, you didn’t run into any trouble, did you?”
Before Shen Han could reply, Ma Haoyu, sitting on her other side, spoke up in a hushed tone.
“Yeah, Chief! We went to your apartment in the middle of the night to look for you, but the security system wouldn’t let us in at all. Using your name and door number didn’t work either.”
“You didn’t answer your phone either. We were worried sick. Later, Ning Xi came up with an idea. We looked at the roof of your apartment building from the floating car and only relaxed when we saw your car.”
Shen Han couldn’t mention Gu Junwan to them, so she could only offer a simple explanation.
“I ran into some urgent business last night, but the problem was resolved later. Thank you for coming to look for me.”
Ning Xi was clearly unsatisfied with this evasive answer.
Her eyes rolled slightly, and she suddenly asked, “It wasn’t that mysterious girlfriend who sent you the Flying Dragon McLaren, was it?”
Hearing this, Shen Han’s face immediately showed a “How did you know?” expression.
But she said, “Oh, what mysterious girlfriend? What are you talking about?”
Ma Haoyu chuckled softly beside them.
He thought to himself: No need to hide it anymore! Leaving in such a hurry last night, you must have gone back to see the Empress!
As the three of them were whispering and putting their heads together, the small partition window behind the military vehicle’s co-pilot cabin suddenly opened.
Instructor Liu’s voice immediately came through: “What are you three making a fuss about? Wasn’t the trouble you caused last night enough?
When we get to the assembly point, you three go for a cross-country run first, then return to the camp to rest!”
……
Time flew by, and half a month had passed.
Gu Junwan’s crackdown on the Guo family conglomerate had started off smoothly.
But before long, resistance gradually increased.
Faced with numerous irrefutable pieces of evidence, the Guo family conglomerate directly adopted a strategy of sacrificing pawns to protect the king.
They pushed out some important family members to take the blame.
It looked like they had suffered a terrible defeat, but in reality, their foundation hadn’t been greatly shaken.
If Gu Junwan couldn’t find more compelling evidence of wrongdoing, in a few years, whatever blood the Guo family conglomerate had lost now, they would be able to recover it all.
They might even manage to gorge themselves even more in the process.
And these “energy supplements” would naturally be obtained by extracting deeper levels of the people’s blood and sweat.
The mere thought of such a situation occurring made the entire Ninth Supervision Team break out in frustrated blisters.
After much deliberation, Gu Junwan instructed Xu Zhao to arrange a secret phone call between herself and the Patriarch of the He family, He Zheng.
As the head of one of the three major conglomerates in the Fourth District, He Zheng had access to certain resources that even the Empress might not be able to quickly obtain by mobilizing federal forces.
In this world, competitors often understand each other best.
The three major conglomerates appeared to mind their own business on the surface, but behind the scenes, they were all eager to take a bite out of each other.
However, this time, when the Guo family was in turmoil, the other two families didn’t take the opportunity to suppress them.
Firstly, they were afraid of being bitten back by the Guo family.
Secondly, they weren’t sure of the Empress’s intentions and were concerned about the domino effect.
After the video call connected, an elderly man with graying hair but a spirited demeanor sat at a tea table and greeted Gu Junwan first.
“Your Majesty, it’s been a long time. I’m flattered that you still remember this old bag of bones.”
Gu Junwan knew that beating around the bush with such a conglomerate helmsman would be futile.
So she directly stated her purpose.
“Old He, I believe you’re more aware of the current situation with the Guo family than I am. I need your help.”
“I will only move against the Guo family, you can rest assured on that point.”
He Zheng was methodically brewing kung fu tea.
Hearing the Empress’s direct words, his expression didn’t change in the slightest.
“If Your Majesty is here about this matter, then you’ve come to the wrong person. This old man has long since begun to enjoy his twilight years, and I’ve already handed over the position of family head to my son.”
“There’s no need for such modesty, Old He. Everyone knows that the final say in the vast He family conglomerate has always been yours alone. Moreover, what I’m about to discuss with you is something your son might not be able to decide on.”
“Oh? This old man is quite curious now. Please, Your Majesty, do tell.”
“Federal Life Science Research Project No. 001, I can grant the He family partial access, allowing you to participate.”
Upon hearing this, the over-seventy-year-old man who still held tight control over his family’s important powers could no longer maintain his previous composure.
He suddenly looked up, staring at the overly young ruler on the projection screen.
He spoke slowly and deliberately: “Your Majesty, I hope you’re not joking with me.”
Gu Junwan’s expression remained unchanged, her golden pupils meeting He Zheng’s gaze without hesitation: “Of course not. So, Old He, can I assume you’ve accepted this cooperation?”
He Zheng remained silent for a full 10 minutes.
Then he finally picked up the long-cold tea in his hand and raised it in a distant toast to the screen projection before him.
“I’m grateful that Your Majesty didn’t pursue the matter of He Meng’s transgressions at the residence earlier. This old man will personally come to pay his respects tomorrow with gifts, to express my gratitude.”
Hearing He Zheng’s response, Gu Junwan knew the cooperation was essentially agreed upon.
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before ending the call.
He Zheng immediately convened a family high-level meeting.
He began arranging for the screening of the crucial materials the Empress needed.
As Gu Junwan had guessed, the evidence the He family had collected on the dirty dealings of the Guo family over the years filled two entire safes with paper documents alone.
They only needed to hand over a small portion to the Empress’s side to thoroughly nail down the Guo family.
Of course, doing so would also greatly affect some of the He conglomerate’s business operations.
But compared to what the Empress had promised, the losses caused by this reshuffling were insignificant.
For helmsmen like He Zheng who were obsessed with power, pursuing a broader scope of life seemed to be an eternal proposition they could never avoid.
And the Federal Life Science Research Project No. 001 that Gu Junwan had just mentioned contained exactly what He Zheng had been racking his brains to obtain.