Hello, Mr. Major General

It was Sunday after Valentine’s Day. Because many had partied hard the night before, most were still sleeping even by noon the next day. The Imperial Capital Hilton Hotel was located east of the North Third Ring Road and also known as the oldest international hotel in the city. In modern times it was no longer the most expensive or luxurious, but it’s acclaimed history far exceeds the pricier and more fancy hotels. Discreet and particular business people, as well as foreigners traveling to conduct business all chose to stay at the Hilton Hotel.

At noon, in a luxury business suite at the end of the hallway on the 28th floor of the Hilton Hotel, Gu Yanran was cloaked in a white silk robe. She lounged on a burgundy velvet chaise with her body against a large pillow. Holding two photos in her hand, she blankly watched the street view outside the French windows. A long moment later, an intelligent looking man in his fifties spoke from behind her, “Miss Gu, did you really meet a young girl with the same name as the young Miss Gu?”

“Mr. Qu, I did meet her and she really had the same name as my younger sister. Her age was also similar but her face was completely different from my sister’s six years ago.” Gu Yanran replied as she passed the photos to Qu Shouli who was standing behind her, “Look, this was my sister six years ago, and also the Miss Gu I met yesterday.”

Qu Shouli reached out both hands to accept the photos. After studying them carefully, he shook his head, “I think it’s just a coincidence. Some people are alike but these two are completely different.”

Gu Yanran arched her legs on the chaise to put her head between her knees sullenly, “It’s my fault, I neglected my sister six years ago because of what happened with my parents…”

“Miss Gu, that’s not your fault. It was an urgent situation, you parents needed you badly and no one can blame you.” Qu Shouli consoled her politely, “However…” He paused then continued, “Six years ago young Miss Gu went out to sea on a boat and never returned, are you going to investigate this girl too?”

“I know,” Gu Yanran nodded, “I asked someone to pass the message that I wanted to meet her as soon as I saw her, even though she doesn’t look at my sister. But who would’ve guessed that this girl has a bad temper–she rejected me right away.”

“She refused to meet you?” Qu Shouli shook his head with a frown, “Then what should we do? Do you want me to go try?”

Gu Yanran looked up, “It’d be the best if you could help.” She smiled wryly, “I’ve treated her well enough on account of her sharing my sister’s name.”

“Miss Gu has done more than enough these past years.” Qu Shouli sighed with great sincerity, “You’ve worked with the Interpol for six years to investigate the Caribbean pirates and have funded numerous missions and spent a copious amount of money. We’ve already urged you to give up, she was probably killed if the pirates got her but never demanded ransom…”

Gu Yanran shut her eyes, “I can’t be at peace with myself. I see my sister calling out to me as soon as I close my eyes, she’s always hiding in the corner and crying. I let my parents down, I didn’t watch her well…”

Qu Shouli also sighed then bowed to Gu Yanran when she stopped bringing it up, “Then I’ll be going now. Please call me if you need anything.”

Raising her chin slightly, Gu Yanran kept her eyes closed and flipped over to lay on her side on the chaise. With an arm draped across her forehead to cover her eyes, her face was the portrait of immense anguish.

Soon after Qu Shouli left, someone knocked on Gu Yanran’s door and the housekeeper spoke over the intercom in the room, “Miss Gu, housekeeping.”

Gu Yanran didn’t reply and laid there motionlessly. A cleaner dressed in the Hilton Hotel’s housekeeper’s uniform stood at the door. She was in her forties and appeared to be a slightly overweight middle aged woman. With a humble smile on her face, she opened the door with her card key. As soon as she stepped in, she saw Gu Yanran on lounging on the chaise in front of the French window. The younger woman had a perfect figure and her lying position only accentuated her sensual curves alluringly. The housekeeper greeted her, “Miss Gu, housekeeping.”

Gu Yanran agreed and got up from the chaise to return to the bedroom. The housekeeper put on plastic gloves and began to clean the suite carefully. Taking special care, she picked up every single hair left on the chaise and put it into the a small plastic bag. When she moved on to clean the bathroom and bedroom, she also took the cups Gu Yanran had used and put them in other plastic bags…

…

At noon the next day, Gu Nianzhi left the apartment and went back to campus. She looked at the GPS to see it was quicklest by subway that would directly take her from the neighborhood to the east entrance of B University. She bought a subway ticket and got off at the east entrance of B University half an hour later. When she returned to the dorm, Ma Qiqi lunged over witha giggle, “Where’s your Ferrari? I was hoping to get a ride in your fancy car!”

Gu Nianzhi set down her backpack with a smile and replied, “The fancy car is at home, how can I drive it at school? There’s nowhere to park.”

“Oh, that’s true.” Ma Qiqi scratched her head, “Fine then, but you have to take me in it one time in the future. That way I can show off about getting a ride in a Ferrari!”

“Ok, ok, that’s no problem. I’ll take you for a spin next week if we have time.” Gu Nianzhi promised generously.

“That’s a promise!” Ma Qiqi instantly stuck out her hand to high-five Gu Nianzhi to seal the promise. The girls chatted and giggled as they cleaned the dorm room before sitting down for food. Gu Nianzhi brought back some snacks after going out. Ma Qiqi also ordered lots of snacks online, so she took them out to share.

Gu Nianzhi looked at the table covered with food and the chewing Ma Qiqi with a shake of her head, “Qiq are you eating your feelings?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with that? –Here, try this spicy duck’s neck, it’s my favourite!” Ma Qiqi used serving chopsticks to pick up a piece to put in Gu Nianzhi’s small bowl, “Food brings happiness, so what else do you want me to do? Cry for you?”

“Why would you cry for someone who’s not worth the tears?” Gu Nianzhi raised her vrow and used her plastic gloved hand to eat the duck neck, “Here, I’ll eat with you. Let’s eat our feelings and show off our new fat figures!”

“Hmph! Who would want to show off their fat figures!” Ma Qiqi was amused by Gu Nianzhi but understood what she implied. Eating lots of food could alleviate misery, but the consequences were too severe. Just looking at the scale would be devastating. Why would she get fat because her loser ex? That was the dumbest decision in the world. Ma Qiqi finished the last bite of spicy duck neck with a clap of her hands, “Ok, I’ll stop eating now. This ends today. Nianzhi, come tell me about your Valentine’s Day.”

Ma Qiqi washed her hands and sat cross-legged on the sofa with the small pillow in her arms. She winked at Gu Nianzhi, “Tell me, I’m all ears!”

“Valentine’s Day? It was alright, there’s nothing much to talk about…” Gu Nianzhi tried to gloss it over with a giggle before changing the topic calmly, “Right, what’s up with you sending me that screenshot of a post? I didn’t see the post itself.”

“You’re talking about that post?” Ma Qiqi got so excited she momentarily stopped forcing Gu Nianzhi to tell her about Valentine’s Day. Setting down the small pillow, she ran back to her room to take out her laptop and set it on the dining table to open the post she saved for her to see, “It was this one, Mia Yunxiao posted anonymously but got rooted out afterwards. Then she had no choice but to ask the moderator to delete the post, it was so embarrassing. Itt must’ve been removed by the time you looked for it.”

Gu Nianzhi took the mouse to scroll down and quickly peruse the popular post that had quickly garnered several hundred replies. At first most replies were indignant accusations of Gu Nianzhi having no self-respect and bringing shame to the female students of B University. But after several pages, posters started defending Gu Nianzhi.

“No Boiling Water Today”: “The OP has envy in her eyes, she’d better go see a doctor soon or else it might turn into eye cancer. To all the friends reading this post, jealousy is contagious!”

“Big Eyed Beauty”: The OP’s backhanded insults are really annoying, why can’t she say it straight? And also posting slander online too? That girl was gifted a Ferrari, but the OP wished she could pour sulfuric acid on her eh?”

“Too Much Homework To Finish”: “To the last poster, the OP already had her brain burnt by sulfuric acid, that’s why she would post such a jealous thing!”

Afterwards Ma Qiqi posted as “I Love Meng Qiqi”, “OP, jealousy is an illness that needs to be cured. If you don’t remove this post today I guarantee you will be sued. We’re all law students here, why backstab each other?” As soon as Ma Qiqi posted this, all the posters supporting the OP and accusing Gu Nianzhi immediately disappeared. Then the older students from Computing Science looked into tracking the IP… It was an exciting drama!

Gu Nianzhi only read the portion Ma Qiqi took a screenshot of, so she didn’t think all that fighting actually happened. She read it all with a smile, “I really don’t know what’s wrong with Miao Yunxiao’s head that she always wants to do something to me. When did I ever wrong her? She’s been spying on me like a creep ever since I moved in.” Sneaking into her room, going through her things and even forcing her to move out–all the incidents only proved that people shouldn’t act little princesses.

“You’re overthinking it.” Ma Qiqi shook her head, “I never waste time thinking about what others think, I only care about what they do. Miao Yunxiao has done so many things to you, so would you forgive her just because she has a good reason for it? Does that mean if I stab you once and tell you I had no choice, you’d let me keep stabbing you?”

Gu Nianzhi giggled at her analogy, “Qiqi you’re too straightforward, even if you gave Miao Yunxiao all the courage in the world she’d never dare to stab me in the front. She can only backstab.”

“She totally embarrassed herself in front of everyone this time and is even ashamed herself. She went home this weekend and still didn’t come back yet.” Ma Qiqi waved her hand, “Ok, let’s stop talking about her. Tell me about your Valentine’s Day?”

Gu Nianzhi didn’t expect Ma Qiqi to ignore her distraction and return to the same topic. She sighed deeply, “I’m going to shower…” She dashed to her room and locked to the door. Ignoring Ma Qiqi slapping at the door, she went to shower with a giggle.

…

That evening, laboratory building in the Special Operations Forces headquarters base was fully lit. Huo Shaoheng stood in the hallway of the 5th floor with both hands in his trouser pockets as he blankly gazed at the night sky outside the window. Yin Shixiong and Zhao Liangze flanked either side behind him with nervous expressions. Soon after, the lab door behind them opened and Chen Lie walked out in a white lab coat. His forehead was covered in sweat as he said to Huo Shaoheng with great relief, “Boss, I just finished DNA analysis on the hair samples you ordered to be obtained.”

“What was the result?” Huo Shaoheng turned around to ask calmly, the fierce turmoil completely hidden in his dark eyes and cloaked under his nonchalant expression.

Chen Lie removed his round glasses for a wipe and shook his head, “Gu Yanran and Gu Nianzhi are not biologically related. –I’m afraid it’s only a coincidence.”