Song Lili told a lie.
She had grown up with Wen Nian for thirty-three years, yet she seemed to understand him less and less.
Even sleeping beside him, she had no idea what was going on in his mind...
She couldn’t understand the Wen Nian of thirteen years later, and she couldn’t understand the current Wen Nian either.
As Wen Nian listened to Song Lili’s words, his face remained expressionless. After a two-second pause, he asked,
"Why do you say I’m not fit to be President?"
"Capturing terrorists without regard for the lives of hostages, someone who would give such an order isn’t fit to be President,"
Song Lili looked away, speaking indifferently.
She didn’t want to complain, but a hint of resentment and blame still tinged her words.
At this moment, Tang Xiaocao had lost all interest in flipping through picture books. With her eyes black and white, distinct, she looked from Song Lili to Wen Nian, but stayed quiet and well-behaved, not saying a word.
Of course, Wen Nian hadn’t ignored Tang Xiaocao. He glanced at him twice but didn’t mind him staying and listening to his conversation with Song Lili.
Wen Nian didn’t really have anything good to explain in the face of Song Lili’s questioning.
Even though he had only put some pressure on Xilin Military Region to bring the situation to a swift resolution, to avoid escalating the incident’s impact, and to make sure Duan Shen was apprehended,
At what point did the order become to capture Duan Shen within twelve hours, regardless of the safety of the hostages?
He hadn’t investigated, but he roughly had an idea.
"Terrorists invaded the Xilin Military Academy campus and took a female student hostage. They planned to use this hostage to force the government to release previously captured accomplices. Moreover, they hid in the shadows, planning to continue their terrorist activities... If you were President, what would you do?"
Wen Nian leaned back, his amber pupils shining like a crystal ball that flashed light, and if you stared, you could get lost in it.
"If I were President, I would have the military make every effort to rescue the hostages. As long as the hostage is alive, the goal should be to save them,"
Song Lili looked at Wen Nian and spoke slowly, word by word.
"Do you know how many casualties there were in the Xilin terrorist attack half a month ago?"
Wen Nian asked again.
"... The scale of deaths and injuries was huge. I don’t remember the exact numbers."
"Time is life. Every extra minute Duan Shen is out there, ten or more innocent lives could be lost."
"So the life of the hostage doesn’t count, does it? One life can’t weigh against ten or more, right? Your Excellency."
"I am the President, and my job is to ensure the safety of the citizens’ lives and property, to minimize the losses. In my eyes, indeed, one life can’t weigh against ten or so."
"Even if that one person is me?!"
She had promised herself not to feel pain, but as Wen Nian spoke to her calmly like a cold-blooded stranger, the sense of suffocation tightening and constricting her heart was impossible to ignore.
"If you had listened to me and didn’t apply to the military academy, you wouldn’t have encountered such a terrible incident."
"I know... If Xilin hadn’t handled the terrorist incident in time, if Duan Shen and the others continued to roam free for a few more days, it would have an unimaginable negative impact on you, a President who had not been in office for long. Various political parties within the country are watching you closely, and foreign leaders are also waiting to see you make a fool of yourself..."
"I can understand why you would give such an order, President Wen Nian."
At last, Wen Nian’s expression changed; he furrowed his brow... puzzled about how Song Lili could say such things.