Chapter 1405 Who Is the Loser?

“Mom, prevention is better than cure. After I knock off from work today I will send someone over there. Mom, what do you think?”

He believed that the security at the quad in the military zone was very tight. But now that this had happened, Tian Dong could not afford a single error as this concerned his son’s safety. Although this might turn out to be a fruitless attempt, he would never save on the money or effort.

“Okay, it’s better to get this done as soon as possible. You should make the arrangements right away.” There might be suspicious characters at the quad in the military zone, but it was still safer than other places. The Zhai family’s residence did not have any people who were nursing illnesses like the Tian Family.

Tian Dong could not take his son back home as his mother was sick. It would only cause further distress at home.

Tian Dong preferred actions to words. Since this concerned his son, he did not dare to procrastinate.

Those suspicious characters loitered outside the quad for several days until the day Qiao Nan and Deng Wenchang were expected to receive the ambassador couple.

Everyone in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was busy with arranging the schedule and tasks for today.

Qiao Nan took a thick stack of materials with her. She flipped through them quickly, getting the materials ready for He Yi. After completing her task, Qiao Nan handed the materials to He Yi. He flipped several pages to ascertain that everything was alright before he gestured for Qiao Nan to leave the office.

Qiao Nan swiped her hands after completing her task.

She realized that her duties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were similar to what she used to do when she was in school. There did not seem to have any difference. She would need to do a lot of writings every day to the extent that her hands were sore. At times, when it was really hectic at the ministry, she would be several times busier than when she was at school.

Now that Qiao Nan had finally finished with all the writing, she pinched her sore hands, wanting to take a breather.

However, Deng Wenchang cast his sinister and unreasonable glance at Qiao Nan once again. It was as if he was trying to see through her.

Qiao Nan turned her head to one side, avoiding Deng Wenchang’s gaze as usual.

There was no other office or working space in the ministry. If Qiao Nan wanted to sit elsewhere, she would have to change her seat with one of the seniors.

However, what made Qiao Nan frustrated was that Deng Wenchang had failed terribly as a person. There were many people in the ministry, but nobody was willing to change seats with her to sit opposite to Deng Wenchang. After knowing that everyone rejected her request to change seats, Qiao Nan felt like asking Deng Wenchang if he had such a bad personality that everyone shunned him.

Since no one was willing to change seats with her, the unwilling Qiao Nan had no other choice but to continue to sit at her original seat. She had to wait until one of the seniors in the department left the ministry for any other reasons, leaving the office empty, in order to move elsewhere.

Seeing that Qiao Nan did not say anything to his odd behavior, Deng Wenchang continued with his old ways. Qiao Nan almost could not take it anymore and felt like digging his eyes out.

“Are you putting on airs now that you are the daughter-in-law of the Zhai family? Are you looking down on your colleague? The young mistress of the Zhai family, if you want to put on airs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not the place for you. You should go back to where you come from.” Qiao Nan was the young mistress of the Zhai family. She should enjoy life with the Zhai family. Why did she come to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to snatch the job from him?

Now that Qiao Nan was married to Zhai Sheng, she was assured that she would not go hungry for the rest of her life. She no longer lacked anything, so why did she insist on joining the ministry?

One should not be too greedy. Otherwise, one would suffer retribution.

“I suggest you save this for yourself. Aren’t you here to be the ‘young master’? If you don’t have the correct working attitude, I suggest that you give up the position to other talented people.” Qiao Nan had been tolerating Deng Wenchang, yet he reached out for a yard after taking an inch.

“Deng Wenchang, as a man, why do you behave like a woman and have so many complaints? Don’t you find it a bother? Don’t you feel ashamed? Don’t forget that today is an important day. Do you intend to let the ambassador couple know that you don’t get along well with me and for them to laugh at us, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and even China?”

“Young man, will you please be serious and use your brains at work?”

Deng Wenchang turned green in anger. He felt like slapping Qiao Nan who had a bold and fearless expression on her face. “Qiao Nan, don’t be too smug. We shall see who will have the last laugh.”

Qiao Nan did not do anything for the past five days. Therefore, he was certain that the additional information that he had researched on was far more detailed than the information that Qiao Nan had. He could not tell what game Qiao Nan was up to. Could it be that Qiao Nan had admitted defeat even before the war had started?

Although Deng Wenchang always felt that he was more competent than Qiao Nan, he wanted to win fair and square so that everyone at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would know that he was the rising star in the ministry. He wanted everyone to realize that it was a waste to put their hopes on Qiao Nan or treat her nicely.

However, if Qiao Nan refused to accept the challenge, no matter how well Deng Wenchang performed, one could not tell that Deng Wenchang was capable as there was no comparison. He would not feel as happy at defeating Qiao Nan in this manner. Perhaps after seeing Deng Wenchang’s splendid performance, Qiao Nan would come up with excuses for herself a few days later, saying that she was uncomfortable and thus made a blunder and did not perform as good as Deng Wenchang.

He should be proud that he defeated Qiao Nan with his outstanding performance. But if Qiao Nan came up with this excuse, it would seem as if it was by sheer luck that he defeated Qiao Nan.

Deng Wenchang refused to suffer such grievances.

It was none of his business that Qiao Nan did not do any research and was being overly confident. As the saying went, the moon waxes only to wane, water brims only to overflow. He would not stop Qiao Nan from doing herself in. His only wish was that Qiao Nan would suffer a crushing defeat and that she would not come up with some lame excuses to hide the fact that she was useless and continued to put on airs in front of him who was a gifted student. He found her to be irritating and annoying.

Deng Wenchang was emboldened and dared to provoke Qiao Nan.

The ambassador couple would be reaching the capital very soon. Even if Qiao Nan received important information now, she would not be able to memorize them within such a short period of time and use them in the exchange later.

The people that Peng Yu sent to keep a watch on the Zhai family ended up not being able to gather any useful information. Deng Wenchang felt as if he was being tricked. All he could do was to wait for the exchange today to make sure that Qiao Nan suffered a crushing defeat.