Chapter 19#
Chapter 19 In the Room
The wind in the capital has been a bit wrong recently.
In a certain circle in the capital, whether high or low status, well-informed or ill-informed, everyone has truly realized this during the period of mid-October.
In the bidding hall of the Bidding Bureau Administration of the South Ring City, several corporate representatives sat sparsely. The person in charge of the bidding activity released construction projects one by one, and the representative of Huihuang Industrial, who had failed three bids in a row, looked like he was about to cry.
“What’s going on?” A friendly corporate representative whispered below, “I remember Huihuang put a lot of effort into these bids. Didn’t they let out word early that they had cleared all the obstacles?”
“You haven’t heard? Several young masters in the capital are wrestling.” The representative who was asked looked at the bid that was not the one he wanted to bid for, and was happy to pass the time.
“I really haven’t heard of this! Brother, tell me about it?” The person asking was obviously surprised, “Isn’t Huihuang’s background very hard? They have been very arrogant in recent years.”
“Hey, what’s there to say? Those playboys are first-class in messing things up if they can’t get things done,” The representative who spoke obviously felt empathy, and then laughed, “Huihuang’s background is hard, but I heard that it was Eldest Young Master Gu who made the move. Huihuang is really unlucky this time.”
“Eldest Young Master Gu? —That Eldest Young Master Gu?” The person asking stuttered.
“Who else could it be? The eldest son of Organization Minister Gu! Young Master Shen hasn’t made a move easily since he went out a few years ago. Qiu—” He lightly skipped the surname of the current leader, “has always ignored this. But Eldest Young Master Gu just came back from abroad. I heard he wants to enter. Now he is probably showing his wrist to people.”
Starting a fire before entering. The person asking looked at the pale-faced Huihuang representative with sweat on his forehead and sighed: “It’s really not easy. This is a disaster falling from the sky while sitting at home.”
“When gods fight, mortals suffer…”
Such conversations were not uncommon in this month.
Even beside He Hailou, there was a middle-aged fat man who kept wiping cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
The scorching sun in the sky ignited the last spark in the ashes of summer. A silver sedan parked quietly on the shoulder diagonally opposite an old earth-yellow residential area.
The narrow alleys that only allowed two people to walk side by side extended in all directions like a spider web. From time to time, one or two children chasing and playing would jump out. Various domestic garbage packed in red and white plastic bags or directly exposed was piled up at the exit of the residential area. From time to time, a stray cat or dog passed by and went in to search for food.
A circle of people gathered dozens of steps to the right of the garbage dump, noisily seeming to say something. Two young men in suits and ties in the middle of the crowd, who looked like company employees, were also talking, but judging from their expressions, they seemed to be apologizing and explaining something.
“Young Master He, look at this, this really won’t work…” The middle-aged fat man said humbly, “We have prepared for so long, and have negotiated the demolition compensation with the residents and even prepaid a part of it. How can the higher-ups say no approval just like that.”
He Hailou took out a cigarette from his pocket. Just as he held it in his hand, the fat man quickly took out a lighter, brought the fire to He Hailou to light the cigarette for him, and said almost humbly: “Young Master He, please.”
He Hailou took a puff and flicked his fingers. Fine soot fell on the handmade carpet in the car, and a little spark flickered in the beige fluff: “Who told you not to pass your own work and let Gu Chenzhou catch the handle? To tell you the truth,” he smiled faintly, “If you had done every link in place properly, Gu Chenzhou wouldn’t be able to get any advantage even if I sat here. But what about you? Falsifying accounts to falsely report earnings, bribing officials to get bids, deducting employee wages under various names, and several projects failing to meet testing standards—forget about these, you violated so many laws and grabbed so much extra profit, yet you couldn’t even do the fake accounts neatly, and were found out in half a day. What use are you? —If Gu Chenzhou doesn’t target you, who else would he target?”
This boss, like the subordinate of Huihuang in the Bidding Bureau, looked like he was about to cry: “Young Master He, it’s not that I’m shirking, the key is who doesn’t do this now?”
Hearing the other party say this, He Hailou was amused: “Then blame your bad luck for being targeted by Gu Chenzhou.”
The middle-aged fat man was really going to cry this time: “Young Master He, Young Master He, please mediate, mediate. If this project fails, I will lose the company and carry tens of millions of debts. If Young Master Gu is dissatisfied with anything, please say it. I will change, change immediately, change right away and never commit it again!”
He Hailou thought to himself that he was dissatisfied with me, what does it have to do with you? With Gu Chenzhou’s identity, could he specifically target a small vendor?
—But this fat man is indeed unlucky. Gu Chenzhou reached out and caught several, and let go of others who didn’t commit many crimes lightly. Only he was like a sieve, and also the unluckiest…
Thinking of this, He Hailou paused, and his eyes deepened a bit.
Usually he didn’t pay special attention, but among the companies he dealt with, there were not many who broke the law like this fat man, but not few either. On the contrary, Gu Chenzhou usually played more than anyone else, but after checking these days, none of them were connected to him. The only maternal family, the Shen family, he couldn’t move for the time being. And those in the system, the few who were close to him, couldn’t be pried for a while…
Really unexpectedly cautious.
He Hailou smiled slightly, and even felt a bit of pleasure in his heart.
“Alright, I know your business.” Having seen enough of the show, He Hailou withdrew his gaze looking outside, gave the fat man a sentence, and said to the driver, “Let’s go.”
“Young Master He, Young Master He, everything depends on you, please.” Even if he was worried, the middle-aged fat man could only beg like this at this moment.
“Please, Mr. Chen.” The driver got down from the seat, walked to the side where the middle-aged fat man sat, opened the door and said.
“Sorry to trouble you, brother. I’ll do it myself, I’ll do it myself.” At this moment, even a driver of He Hailou, the corporate boss with assets of over 100 million couldn’t put on airs. He got out of the car with his back hunched, and waited for the luxury car in front to drive away before getting into his own business car with a sad face.
The time was 17:32 in the afternoon.
Leaving that old residential area, passing through most of the capital to a commercial residential area in the West Ring, He Hailou got out of the car and let the driver move freely. He walked into Building No. 3 in the residential area, took the elevator to the twenty-second floor. Just as he took a step out of the elevator directly embedded in the living room, his arms were held by two men who looked like veterans waiting outside the elevator.
“Young Master He, sorry.” The slightly shorter man on the left said, grabbing He Hailou’s arm and trying to walk forward. But to his surprise, this pull didn’t move He Hailou. The man held by him and his companion seemed to have nails growing on his feet, firmly nailed to the ground.
He was secretly surprised, winked at his companion, and was about to exert force with his arm when he saw He Hailou smile suddenly and take a step forward actively with a playful look: “Let’s go.”
This was a medium-sized apartment with a construction area of fully 150 square meters, designed with three bedrooms and two living rooms.
The three turned past the cleverly designed entrance that blocked most of the view, and saw at a glance the red big bed of fully five meters placed in the very center of the house—this house opened up all the rooms during decoration, and the subsequent layout abandoned facilities such as sofas, coffee tables, kitchens, living rooms, etc. because of its special purpose. Only heavy carpets were laid in the large space. The bathroom was unobstructed due to the inlaid transparent glass. The wardrobe in the corner was open, filled with various sexy lingerie. Adult products of the same category as these things were thrown randomly on the floor or bed. Some large items such as handcuffs and whips were hung on the pink wall carelessly, ensuring that everyone who turned past the entrance could discover and notice them immediately.
The three walked into the big room. Compared to He Hailou’s composed demeanor, the expressions of the other two veterans were slightly unnatural, but only unnatural. The two hands placed on He Hailou’s arms were still as steady and powerful as at the beginning.
He Hailou’s gaze swept across the familiar room and fixed on the only person in the room.
Gu Chenzhou.
These three words rolled around on the tip of his tongue and dissipated in his mouth.
There was a deeper smile on his face, and there was also some surprise and wonder in the smile: Gu Chenzhou’s appearance here was not enough to be surprising. What really made him feel interesting or strange was that the man standing in the room full of erotic atmosphere actually stood with the noble aura of a grand auditorium.
In the room, the man in the suit didn’t stand very regularly, but leaned against a black lacquered piano—this might be the only thing in this room that had nothing to do with eroticism—holding a slender silver whip in his hand. This whip, originally used for training, actually had the serious feeling of a baton in his hand.
“Young Master He, long time no see.” Gu Chenzhou smiled faintly, put down the thing, walked forward and extended his hand to the other party, while signaling the two veterans holding He Hailou to let go.
He Hailou also extended his hand, smiling on his face. Like Gu Chenzhou, he was not affected by the special atmosphere around him: “Easy to say, Young Master Gu is a distinguished guest I can’t invite even if I want to. If I knew Young Master Gu would come, I would have prepared fully to entertain Young Master Gu well.”
As the voice fell, the two let go of their hands at the same time. He Hailou’s little finger twitched, and half of his arm was numb. This made his gaze looking at Gu Chenzhou brighter and more presumptuous.
“You go out first.” Gu Chenzhou said to the two veterans, then turned and took a bottle of wine from the wine cabinet, moving skillfully as if he was a frequent visitor or even the owner of this house.
Even with He Hailou’s unconstrained imagination, when this thought flashed through his mind, his expression was strange for a moment.
Gu Chenzhou poured two glasses of red wine, handed one to He Hailou, held one in his hand, and walked to the piano he leaned against before.
“I was a little surprised when I came in. Young Master He likes piano?” Gu Chenzhou exchanged pleasantries with He Hailou like an old friend. His left hand fingers hung down, placed on the keys, and pressed gently. A few melodious notes jumped out from his fingertips, “The tone is very good, made by a famous master?”
He Hailou held the wine glass and shook it gently. The faint crimson stained his pale fingertips. He paced to the piano, reached out and pressed, and the heavy syllables interrupted the melodious notes: “Young Master Gu is joking, I just think—” He tilted his wrist and watched the red liquid stain the black and white keys, “Making love on this is very interesting. Every man and woman’s body can play a different movement.”
“Young Master He really knows how to play.” Gu Chenzhou said, raised his glass to the other party, and took a sip.
This attitude of seemingly discussing high art made He Hailou suddenly feel bored. He put the wine glass back on the bar: “Young Master Gu came here specially not to discuss these with me, right?”
“Straightforward.” Gu Chenzhou applauded gently, “Is Young Master He interested in cooperating once?”
“Cooperate?” After confirming that he heard the word correctly, He Hailou smiled interestingly, “I really didn’t expect Young Master Gu to throw this olive branch to me—what, Young Master Gu is not angry anymore?”
“Angry about which time?” Gu Chenzhou smiled good-temperedly, “Is it the time you hit me at the racing track two months ago, or the time you let out word to block my people recently? Or—”
His expression was casual:
“Is it three years ago, that rumor about me and Zhou Xing that was rampant in the whole circle?”