On the evening of September 22, accompanied by Zhang Ziqiang, Zhou Wen, and others, Li Yi headed to the State Guest House, located not far from his home.
Yesterday afternoon, Li Yi had unexpectedly received a call from a staff member at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informing him that the Iron Lady, the Prime Minister of the British Empire, was arriving today to begin an official state visit to our country.
The authorities would be hosting a banquet for the Iron Lady and her entourage at the State Guest House at 7:30 p.m. that evening, and they insisted that he must attend this welcome banquet.
Although Li Yi had absolutely no interest in such a banquet, he wanted to hear what these foreigners actually wanted from him, so he agreed on the spot.
When Li Yi and his entourage passed through the security checkpoints and arrived outside the banquet hall, they saw a beautiful woman and several staff members in matching uniforms walking toward them from a distance.
As they drew closer, Li Yi realized he actually recognized the woman leading the group—it was none other than Liang Bing, whom he had met once before.
Two months earlier, Li Yi and Jiang Xue had attended her engagement party together.
Just as Li Yi was hesitating whether to greet Liang Bing, she spoke to him first: “You must be Comrade Li Yi. I’m Liang Bing—we’ve met before!”
“Hello, Ms. Liang. I never expected to run into you here!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“I’m surprised too. What brings you to the State Guest House?” Liang Bing asked curiously.
She hadn’t expected to see Li Yi here either.
After all, this was the State Guesthouse—a place where national leaders entertain foreign guests—and ordinary people simply couldn’t get in.
Li Yi smiled and said, “I was invited to attend an event. By the way, Ms. Liang, do you know where Building 18 is?”
“Building 18… Are you here to attend the welcome dinner for the British delegation?” Liang Bing asked, somewhat surprised.
“Yes. You know about this too, Ms. Liang… You aren’t here for the banquet as well, are you?”
Liang Bing nodded with a smile and replied, “That’s right. We’re all professors at Beijing University, and we’ve been assigned here today to serve as interpreters.”
Hearing this, Li Yi was instantly relieved.
After all, this was the early days of reform and opening-up, and there was a severe shortage of talent across the country, especially high-quality translators.
With manpower in short supply, the higher-ups would indeed draft reliable foreign language teachers from universities to serve as interpreters—and it was clear that Liang Bing and her colleagues were exactly that.
“Hahaha, what a coincidence! I was just worried about not knowing where to go!” Li Yi said with a laugh.
“Let’s get going then. We need to be there twenty minutes early—we can’t be late!” Liang Bing said.
“Okay…”
After that, the group walked and chatted as they made their way toward Building 18.
Liang Bing was clearly very familiar with the layout of the State Guest House, and in no time she had led Li Yi and the others to their destination.
Outside the banquet hall in Building 18, Li Yi and the others were once again checked by the staff.
After passing the security check without incident, the group finally entered the banquet hall.
As soon as they stepped into the banquet hall, Liang Bing greeted Li Yi, saying she needed to check in with the reception coordinator, and then left with her colleagues.
Watching Liang Bing’s retreating figure, and thinking of the fate that awaited the young couple, Li Yi couldn’t help but sigh.
Originally, Li Yi hadn’t planned to get involved in this matter. After all, the death of Liang Bing’s husband was the direct trigger for the “Eight-Three Crackdown.” What if his intervention altered the course of history?
Therefore, Li Yi’s previous stance on the matter had been to stay out of it as much as possible, and he didn’t want Jiang Longcheng or Ye Jianhua to get involved either.
However, after his conversation with Liang Bing just now, Li Yi found her to be lively, cheerful, and straightforward—completely devoid of the arrogance and haughtiness often associated with scions of prominent families.
Plus, back in school, she had always looked out for his wife, which caused Li Yi’s original “mind your own business” attitude to shift slightly.
Li Yi decided to go back and give her a heads-up, hoping to help her fiancé avoid that deadly peril.
Just as Li Yi was deep in thought, a tall female staff member approached him and said, “Hello, sir. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Hello, I’m Li Yi from the National Development and Reform Commission. I’ve been invited to this dinner. I was wondering where my seat is,” Li Yi said.
“So you’re Comrade Li Yi! Our director instructed us to bring you to him if you arrived!”
“Great, please lead the way!”
“Yes, sir!”
Led by the staff member, Li Yi then made his way to the front of the banquet hall.
Soon, they arrived in front of a middle-aged man in his forties.
At that moment, the man was assigning tasks to a group of men and women. Li Yi spotted Liang Bing and her colleagues in the crowd.
Once the man had finished assigning tasks, the woman who had been guiding them immediately walked over and said, “Director, Comrade Li Yi is here!”
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man’s eyes lit up. He strode over to Li Yi and said, “Hello, Comrade Li Yi. I’m Shen Fangzheng, the organizer of this welcome banquet. It’s a pleasure to meet you!”
“Hello, Director Shen. I’m Li Yi!”
Li Yi then added, “I heard from this comrade that you wanted to speak with me?”
“It’s like this: Director Pang from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs just came by to inform me that the British representative has suddenly requested to speak with you before the banquet…”
Noticing Li Yi’s sudden frown, Shen Fangzheng immediately added, “Since this is just an informal meeting, you’re perfectly free to decline. If it’s inconvenient for you, I’ll—”
Shen Fangzheng’s wife also came from a prominent family, so she had some understanding of Li Yi’s status; he certainly didn’t want to risk upsetting him over this matter.
“It’s fine. I’m not busy. Director Shen, go ahead and make the arrangements,” Li Yi said casually.
Although Li Yi was somewhat annoyed by the British side’s tendency to break the rules—after all, the meeting was scheduled for tomorrow, so on what grounds did they change the time on their own, and why should he accommodate them?
But he reasoned that getting this over with sooner was better; moving it up a day didn’t matter. If he could resolve the matter today, it would save him a trip tomorrow.
Seeing that Li Yi had agreed, Shen Fangzheng immediately led him to a lounge at the back, asked him to wait a moment, and then promptly contacted the British delegation himself.
About ten minutes later, the door to the lounge swung open again, and Shen Fangzheng strode in.
Standing before Li Yi, Shen Fangzheng said, “Comrade Li Yi, the British representatives will be here shortly. Let me take you to the conference room!”
“Alright. Could you tell me who I’ll be meeting?” Li Yi asked as he stood up.
“It’s Bill, the British Empire’s Deputy Foreign Minister, along with one of their generals!”
Hearing this, Li Yi’s brow furrowed once more.
He knew full well that this Under-Secretary of State was equivalent to a Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in his own country, so it made perfect sense for him to come and meet with him.
But why bring a general along? What on earth are these foreigners up to?
With that thought, Li Yi began to feel a hint of curiosity about the upcoming meeting…
……….