Pregnant and Pampered: The Heiress in a Military Compound

"Alright." After confirming there was nothing else, Xie Changning hung up.

She slept in her office.

Her office had a sofa long enough for one person—it was actually a wooden bench, but Xie Changning had found it too hard and had two older women make a cotton cushion for it, turning it into a makeshift wooden sofa. She took a spare blanket out of the cabinet and covered herself with it.

Xie Changning lay down on the sofa and fell straight asleep.

While Xie Changning slept soundly, a few people back in Chuncheng got no sleep at all.

Director Zhao, dark circles under his eyes, couldn’t help but complain, "Sigh, if I wasn’t used to this intensity, I’d probably be like Changning—getting old and needing less sleep."

A short nap is enough to feel a bit more refreshed.

Xie Changyi nodded. "I still have some work to finish up. What about you two?"

"We’ll join you."

-

When Xie Changning arrived at Director Zhao’s office in Chuncheng at noon the next day, she saw the three of them sleeping, sprawled out in different spots around the room.

Director Zhao was slumped over his desk, while Xie Changyi and Yu Chunhe were asleep in their chairs, heads tilted back.

At the sound of the door opening, all three opened their eyes in unison. They looked toward the entrance and saw a vibrant Xie Changning, full of energy.

An unmistakable look of jealousy appeared on their faces.

’It must be nice to be young!’

’Just a little sleep and they’re back to being a hundred percent!’

"You three... didn’t any of you go home to sleep last night?" Xie Changning was shocked. ’So this is what it takes to be a leader,’ she thought. ’They’re on a completely different level from me mentally!’

’Look at them... compared to these leaders, I’m such a slacker!’

For a second, Xie Changning felt a pang of shame.

"Who do you think has been handling the arrangements for your competition in Europe?" As her older sister, Xie Changyi couldn’t help the irritation in her voice. "Those people are impossible! Insisting on calling in the middle of the night!"

Xie Changning was speechless. ’Yesterday, she was making fun of me for being cranky after a bad night’s sleep. Look who’s cranky today.’

Xie Changyi rubbed her face, forcing herself to wake up.

"Since you’re here, let’s just have the meeting." After pulling an all-nighter, she could go straight home to sleep afterward. She thought, ’I really should learn from my little sister.’

’Pulling all-nighters for work really isn’t smart.’

Xie Changning nodded and took out the proposal she had written in the car for the three of them to see.

"The handwriting... is a bit sloppy," Director Zhao said, looking from the proposal to Xie Changning.

"I wrote it in the car."

"..."

If this had been anyone else, Director Zhao would have ripped them a new one. ’Such an important proposal, and you wrote it in the car?’

But the person before him was Xie Changning.

The darling of the entire Chuncheng leadership. He had plenty of patience for "star pupils."

After patiently reading through the proposal, the three of them looked up at Xie Changning in unison. "You really wrote this in such a short time, just in the car?"

"It wasn’t that short, was it? I had three or four hours."

Xie Changning casually flexed.

Xie Changyi looked at her sister, then tapped a section of the proposal and raised an eyebrow. "This ’pager’ you mention—it’s a great idea, but none of us have ever seen one. Do you think a newly formed team can actually make it?"

"That’s why I wrote that I need you to finalize the candidates within three days. That way, they’ll have time to integrate with our team."

Yu Chunhe frowned at Xie Changning’s words.

She furrowed her brow slightly. "There’s a lot of talent in the country, but we’d need to contact factories one by one..."

"Time is of the essence. We only have three months."

Xie Changning had already suspected this. The United States had likely delayed the notification on purpose, giving them only three months’ notice. Normally, the list of candidates would be drafted and invitations sent out six months in advance.

They were deliberately trying to put China at a disadvantage, trying to prevent anyone from China from shining too brightly.

But they also had to maintain their pretense of fairness.

’They really want to have their cake and eat it too.’

But Xie Changning had no intention of letting them get their way.

"As far as I know, pagers already exist in other countries. They guard their patents jealously. Would they even allow you to produce one?"

"They won’t. But I can make an upgraded version based on their design."

As long as they could produce a basic model in-country, it wasn’t out of the question to create an upgraded version for the competition abroad.

Xie Changyi understood.

It was true. That was the path China was currently on.

First replicate, then innovate.

Xie Changyi nodded, showing she understood. "We’ll finalize the personnel with the higher-ups..." She then began to explain the importance of the competition in Europe to Xie Changning.

This was a chance for China to finally stand on the world stage and compete with its own technology.

For the people of the nation, it would be incredibly inspiring news.

Of course, they weren’t going to put any pressure on her. Whether she placed or not, simply securing a spot in the competition was already a monumental achievement.

In truth, the leaders had another theory, but they didn’t share it with Xie Changning.

They suspected that a traitor within the country had tipped off the foreign powers. Those powers were now testing Xie Changning’s abilities, and then—

—if they failed to poach her, they would resort to the old trick of trying to trap her and prevent her from returning home.

Xie Changning had naturally considered the same possibilities as the leaders. She figured that once the ten-person team was abroad, she would need to map out a concrete plan for their return.

Otherwise... that bunch of foreigners were nothing but uncivilized brutes.

’Getting them to honor an agreement would be next to impossible.’

’They would stop at nothing.’

Each of them was lost in their own thoughts. Since there was nothing more to discuss, Xie Changyi and the others took Xie Changning out for a meal.

After the meal, Xie Changyi said, "I’m going home to sleep. Are you coming?"

"I’ll go too."

Xie Changning was exhausted as well, so she didn’t object.

The two returned to Xie Changyi’s home and went to their respective rooms to sleep.

What they didn’t know was that while they slept, the provincial leaders were in a heated discussion over the matter of Xie Changning’s trip to Europe for the competition.

Moreover, various provinces and cities were all vying for the available spots on the international team.

The provincial leaders’ phones had never rung so incessantly.

Even the central leadership had heard about it and had their secretaries call to ask for details.

After the provincial leaders explained the situation to the central leadership, they were instructed not to rush to finalize the roster. Instead, they were to first ask Xie Changning what kind of personnel she required.

In reality, the provincial leaders understood the situation perfectly.

Lin Province alone would need to occupy three to four of the slots.

There weren’t many slots left to offer to other provinces...

After a lengthy discussion, they finally called Director Zhao and received Xie Changning’s proposal. It stated everything with perfect clarity: she needed two people from her own factory, and the requirements for the remaining team members were spelled out in detail.

The deadline was also made perfectly clear.

Instantly, the entire leadership of Lin Province sprang into action.