LIGHTNOVELWORLD c88 - Meeting the Parents
The northern meeting was scheduled for December.
Gu Junwan and her delegation were staying at the White Egret Hotel beside Central Avenue in the capital.
On the 88th floor, in the presidential suite.
Standing before the panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, one could see the entire outline of the Peace Palace.
An hour and a half before the formal meeting between the two current heads of state,
In the suite’s living room, a team of trusted confidants was having a pre-departure discussion.
Xu Zhao, as the Empress’s Special Assistant, was naturally present.
At this moment, she was reporting the final confirmed list of attendees, as well as the positions and seating arrangements of key surveillance targets.
Shen Han and Jiang Xinyue sat upright on chairs to the left and right, carefully noting down the information Xu Zhao was reporting.
Two middle-aged men sat half-perched on the edge of the guest sofa, leaning slightly forward, their expressions serious.
They were capable officials personally cultivated by Gu Junwan, with unquestionable competence and loyalty.
Shen Han had seen these two during the previous disaster area trip.
Although their administrative ranks didn’t seem prominent, they were key personnel who truly wielded real power.
However, looking at how these two were sitting now, Shen Han couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows slightly.
She thought to herself: These two ‘King Yamas’ with their iron fists are actually so cautious in front of Miss Gu, only daring to sit on half their seats.
If Xu Zhao had heard this inner monologue, she would have snorted and rolled her eyes at her.
Then throw in a line: You think everyone’s as bold as you!
The group discussed some details about their upcoming visit to the Peace Palace.
Then, everyone’s gaze converged on the Empress.
Gu Junwan spoke softly: “The talks are just a process, not the goal. Everyone must pay attention to priorities.”
Saying this, she turned her head to look at Jiang Xinyue: “The upcoming meeting will be hard on you.”
Meeting the Empress’s golden eyes that symbolized authority, Jiang Xinyue felt somewhat nervous inside.
But her face showed no panic as she lowered her gaze and replied: “Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty. I will definitely fulfill my duties well!”
There were still 15 minutes before departure time.
After discussing official matters, the two middle-aged men left the room first.
The two guard team members present should have left immediately as well, but Shen Han secretly signaled to Xu Zhao with her eyes where no one else could see.
Xu Zhao originally wanted to pretend she hadn’t noticed.
But on second thought, she felt that her Empress might also need that Alpha to soothe her emotions at this time.
After all, with the decisive battle approaching, who could truly treat it lightly?
“Jiang Xinyue, please come with me. There are some matters I need to instruct you about privately.”
Hearing Xu Zhao’s voice, Jiang Xinyue didn’t dare delay at all and immediately followed her to another room used for office work.
After the two left, Shen Han finally walked to the main sofa area and sat down next to Gu Junwan.
She stroked the other’s slender back, speaking softly: “Don’t worry, all storms will pass.”
Gu Junwan rested her head lightly on her Alpha’s shoulder, somewhat greedily absorbing the faint pine scent from the other’s body.
Perhaps it was the Alpha’s pheromone scent that had a calming effect, or perhaps it was having her loved one constantly by her side.
Gu Junwan genuinely felt the pressure in her heart lighten considerably.
At 9:30 in the morning,
Gu Junwan’s group entered the Peace Palace.
Since the Northern Commander had seized power through a military coup, the meeting between the two heads of state had great peculiarities, and the process naturally differed from summits between heads of state.
There was no honor guard performance, nor a military review ceremony.
After a simple reception, both parties directly entered the conference room.
There weren’t many participants, totaling just over thirty people altogether.
Shen Han and Jiang Xinyue were both wearing formal black suits, with the most advanced communication devices hidden in the buttons at their shirt collars.
Small bone conduction earpieces were attached in their ear canals, allowing for instant communication.
The focus of this meeting wasn’t actually on Gu Junwan’s side.
After all, the attendees from the Northern District weren’t pushovers either. They wouldn’t allow any agenda items that violated their own interests to appear in the discussion.
Gu Junwan’s move was to confirm whether there would be any Awakened individuals present at the meeting.
If there were, they would undoubtedly lock onto that person for focused investigation.
Being Awakened didn’t equate to being an opposing force.
But investigating in this direction was a very crucial step.
Firstly, the number of Awakened was extremely rare, and some abilities had great concealment potential.
If Awakened individuals didn’t want to expose themselves, basically no one around them would notice for their entire lives.
Another point was that the Empress’s team already knew that the hidden strong enemy had an Awakened skilled in mental control.
If they could catch that person, it would surely achieve a phased progress for this special operation.
To create opportunities for Jiang Xinyue, Gu Junwan deliberately threw out two highly controversial topics, causing the atmosphere in the entire conference room to become tense several times.
However, disappointingly, Jiang Xinyue didn’t discover the presence of other Awakened individuals in the venue.
To be precise, she didn’t hear anyone’s inner voice besides Shen Han’s.
Of course, this secret was something she would absolutely never reveal.
Through diligent training, Jiang Xinyue had now increased her ability usage duration to 8 minutes.
She had already used 6 minutes earlier.
Now, coinciding with the meeting break, she also retracted her sensing.
There were two tea break areas in the corridor outside the conference room, specially set up for the southern and northern attendees.
After 45 minutes of tense talks, the various officials also needed some necessary buffer.
Soon, quite a few people gathered in the corridor.
Military and political officials, secretaries, subordinates, and logistics service personnel were interspersed among them, with deliberately lowered discussions audible everywhere.
Seeing Jiang Xinyue’s face turning pale, Shen Han quickly brought her to the tea break area as well.
“Here, drink some hot water. It doesn’t matter if there were no gains today. We’ll keep looking slowly. You can’t expect to win the lottery every time you buy a ticket.”
Jiang Xinyue reached out to take the cup handed to her but didn’t drink.
She felt somewhat anxious inside, feeling for the first time that her awakened ability was a bit useless, unable to help the Empress much.
When she first joined this team, she only wanted to earn more money.
But as time passed, her thoughts had changed greatly.
She saw Gu Junwan working tirelessly for the Federation.
Some of her bold reforms allowed the weak to live with dignity and change their fate through their own efforts.
Jiang Xinyue, growing up on this land, was also a beneficiary.
Then she began to wonder if she could also contribute to the Empress’s journey.
Seeing more and more people gathering in the corridor, Shen Han had a flash of inspiration and said to Jiang Xinyue: “Can you still use your ability today? Do you want to try here?”
“There are many people here, and secretaries and confidants are very special existences. We can widen our search circle appropriately.”
Hearing her captain’s words, Jiang Xinyue felt they made perfect sense, so she activated her ability again.
A minute and a half passed in the blink of an eye, with no results.
Beads of sweat had already appeared on Jiang Xinyue’s forehead, and just as she was about to completely end today’s ability eavesdropping, a male voice suddenly floated into her mind.
“No wonder the teacher regards Gu Junwan as an important opponent. Gu Yuwei is far inferior to her sister.”
This inner voice didn’t reveal the Awakened person’s identity.
But the information it contained greatly shocked Jiang Xinyue.
She suddenly stood up from her chair, looking around, her breathing becoming rapid.
“I-I found him!”
Jiang Xinyue said this in a low voice, then quickly walked towards the nearest tea break area.
Countdown: 15 seconds.
That Awakened person didn’t continue thinking, and Jiang Xinyue’s lips began to turn white, with a buzzing sound echoing in her mind.
Shen Han stood beside her, reaching out to make a gesture of support.
She didn’t dare speak to disturb the other, nor did she persuade her to retract her ability.
The unusual behavior on their side was quickly noticed by those around them.
People looked at the thin woman who seemed about to collapse, stepping back to make way.
Countdown: 5 seconds.
Jiang Xinyue’s vision went black, and she fell straight backward.
Shen Han quickly caught her and swiftly carried her to the nearby seating area.
While pinching her philtrum, she called out to those around: “Can someone please call the medical staff!”
The people around didn’t gather like busybodies to join the commotion, but rather stayed far from the incident site.
“That’s one of the Northern District people, fainted or dead? So weak.”
Just before completely losing consciousness, Jiang Xinyue faintly heard the Awakened person in the crowd say this in their heart.
But now she was powerless to search for the source of the voice.
Medical staff arrived quickly and took Jiang Xinyue to the treatment room.
Shen Han called two of their own staff members, asking them to accompany her and notify her immediately if Jiang Xinyue woke up.
After giving instructions, she immediately returned to the venue, found a corner where the cameras couldn’t capture, and sent a message to Gu Junwan.
[Jiang Xinyue sensed the presence of another Awakened in the corridor, but may not have locked onto the target. She’s fainted and been taken to the medical room now.]
Gu Junwan saw the text message but didn’t reply.
She secretly gave quick instructions to Xu Zhao, asking her to quietly record all the people in the corridor and find ways to investigate later.
The morning meeting ended before 12 o’clock arrived.
Jiang Xinyue had already woken up. Although she hadn’t caught that Awakened person, she had made some gains.
In fact, the information she confirmed was more than what she actually reported.
The person was male, probably under 40 years old.
……
Having just finished lunch, Gu Yuwei began to feel anxious.
Because Gu Junwan would be going to the recuperation villa to meet with their two mothers later.
This was their mother’s wish, which she dared not disobey.
Dawdling until 2 PM, she finally arranged to send the other party and her group to the villa where their mother was staying.
Gu Junwan didn’t bring many people with her. Besides Xu Zhao and Shen Han, there were eight guard team members including Ning Xi.
And this group of people were all aware of the romantic relationship between the two.
So, on the journey to the villa area, the atmosphere was filled with a kind of hidden restlessness!
Shen Han didn’t know there would be a sudden meeting-the-parents segment and was extremely nervous.
When she got into the transport vehicle, her palms were constantly sweating.
Gu Junwan sensed her Alpha’s tension and hurriedly typed a message on her phone to comfort her.
[This is a request my mother made at the last minute, mainly to convey some information to me. Don’t worry, they’ll like you.]
Shen Han replied instantly: [Should I change my clothes then? I didn’t bring any gifts either, what should I do? Coming unprepared for the first meeting, won’t the mothers think I’m very inconsiderate?]
Looking at the message the other sent, the unease and anxiety seemed about to burst through the screen.
She smiled, curling her lips, and continued to comfort the nervous Alpha on the other end of the phone.
The two were riding in a vehicle arranged by Gu Yuwei, and the driver wasn’t one of the ‘insiders’.
Therefore, they could only communicate via text messages.
In the other two accompanying vehicles, the guard team members were extremely excited.
They even created a small group chat.
The group name was: Delete As We Chat.
To avoid leaking key information, they only referred to their captain and the Empress as A and O.
[About to meet the mother-in-law! Wonder how A feels right now? Must be super thrilling, right?]
[If it were me, I’d be nervous as hell. That’s O’s mother! Although she’s been out of the game for a long time, there are still legends about her in the community!]
[Feeling sorry for A for a second, the greater the blessing, the greater the pressure.]
[Agreed with above!]
[Agreed with above +1!]