The President’s motorcade consists of 27 vehicles.
Among them, besides the vans carrying heavy weapons for fire support, most of the vehicles are filled with Special Agents ready for combat, including anti-snipers, especially those in the close-protection vehicle immediately following the President’s car, where everyone is within arm’s reach of an M4 rifle, prepared to lay down suppressing fire for the nation’s top leader.
Thus, it was truly luck that she made it through the motorcade unscathed that year.
At that time, she was only concerned about Han Jifeng’s safety, without thinking about how foolish her actions were, but in the end, it accidentally turned out just right.
"Handover takes time, the earliest would be the end of April," Song Baiyan said, his gaze focused on her face: "Are you already worrying about what comes next while you’re still here?"
Tang Li hummed softly: "I need to plan how to carry on our affair secretly."
Hearing her words with a mix of sincerity and jest, Song Baiyan, with a smile in his voice, asked: "Is having an affair all you think about when you’re with me?"
"Only as a precaution; even presidential family members can’t enter Tan Palace freely, so if I want to see you, it’s obviously easier for me to come to you."
At this point, Tang Li straightened up, her hands unconsciously resting on her legs: "I’m currently a celebrity, and once my popularity grows, paparazzi will surely follow me. If they discover my meetings with you, who knows how they would write about it—this kind of national news is something they would hope to sensationalize to boost their profile.
As a national leader, your reputation is more important than mine.
Even though I don’t quite understand politics, I am well aware that a scandal seemingly trivial to celebrities, in your case, could turn into a disgrace; poorly handled, it might lead to impeachment by the House of Representatives or Senate."
Song Baiyan had been impeached in his previous life.
This lifetime, she didn’t want to be a factor that could harm Song Baiyan’s political career.
She hoped that in this life, he could smoothly serve as President.
"To avoid unnecessary trouble, it’s best if I discreetly come to you, especially in this early stage of your tenure, with many eyes on you, caution is paramount."
Song Baiyan agreed readily: "According to what you’ve said, it’s best we do not meet for the time being."
"..." Tang Li felt as if she fell into the pit she dug for herself.
But it seemed that way indeed.
As long as they don’t meet, there would be no leverages for others.
With that in mind, despite her disappointment, she chose to prioritized the larger good: "Let’s not meet for now, we’ll see how things go after the situation cools down, and I’ll be busy filming soon anyway, we can still contact each other by phone."
Song Baiyan asked, "Can you really manage without meeting?"
Tang Li’s cheeks grew warm.
"As a newly appointed official, you’ll be busy initially, you might not even have time to make phone calls. Won’t you be upset if we don’t meet?"
"...I am not that unreasonable," Tang Li avoided Song Baiyan’s eyes, simply saying, "Actually, not meeting for a month or two is bearable, I understand your current workload."
She sneakily shifted the concept, changing "a few months" to "one or two months," which Song Baiyan noticed. He didn’t know whether to praise her quick-wittedness or composure, chuckling as he said with a sigh, "No matter how many months, when it’s time to meet, no matter how busy, we should make time."
Hearing this, Tang Li’s lips curled into a smile.
She turned to look at Song Baiyan and saw him gazing at her fondly.
Then, Song Baiyan asked her to go to the kitchen and fetch a bottle of milk.