Chapter 22#
Chapter 22 Sprouting
“I have also heard about Young Master Gu’s temper.”
Zhou Xing didn’t need to consider how to answer. He Hailou, sitting on the sofa, gently shook the wine glass in his hand while offering a ladder.
“It’s really good, isn’t it?” Zhou Xing instinctively added a sentence, and then figured it out: If He Hailou wants to talk about this, let’s talk about it. Does he really know something unspeakable? —That would be thinking too highly of himself.
But talking is one thing, how to say it is another difficulty. Zhou Xing pondered for a moment, feeling that He Hailou couldn’t expect to dig up any secret news from him, so he simply said something ordinary:
“I was a student at the same university as Young Master Gu. I enrolled a year earlier than him,” he dared not say he was the other party’s senior, “He was at school at that time…” He paused and recalled a little—this was not too difficult, “Very famous.”
He Hailou leaned against the sofa, his attention seemingly completely attracted by the wine glass in his hand. The dark liquid was contained in the transparent goblet, occasionally flashing a trace of secretive light under the dim light.
Zhou Xing was not affected by the other party’s uninterested expression. He continued: “Our school’s clubs are very famous throughout the capital. Young Master Gu was a celebrity in most of the clubs at that time. He didn’t join any club—this was entirely voluntary—but he frequently participated in club activities and did very well, various sports, or various arts… By the way,” he smiled, “Young Master Gu can play the violin, and plays very well. It is said that he started learning from a young age, but not many people know about this, and Young Master Gu has never performed in front of people.”
“But Chairman Zhou knows very clearly.” He Hailou said.
The meaning in these words… Before Zhou Xing could figure out anything, He Hailou raised his head and drank the wine in the glass. His voice, slightly lower than usual, seemed a bit ambiguous and a bit dissatisfied under the atmosphere around him:
“Chairman Zhou and Young Master Gu have a very good relationship—”
If he could be stumped by such a question, Zhou Xing wouldn’t have built a foundation from scratch in two or three years.
He smiled calmly: “Young Master He is joking with me! What kind of person am I? Can I have a good relationship with Young Master Gu? To be honest, only someone like Young Master He is Young Master Gu’s friend.”
He Hailou raised his eyebrows and had to admit that talking to a smart person like Zhou Xing really didn’t take much effort, nor was it annoying—but similarly, there was really not much desire to continue. He said casually: “Really? I heard that three years ago…” He started this topic slightly.
Zhou Xing also cooperated by showing a slight difficulty: “This…”
“Can’t say?” He Hailou smiled gently.
“It’s just not easy to say,” Zhou Xing quickly recovered his smile, “Actually everyone knows this kind of thing. If Young Master He asks Young Master Gu, Young Master Gu will definitely say it too.”
If I ask him, he will say it? He Hailou really didn’t know that he and Gu Chenzhou were such good brothers. He shook the amber liquid refilled in the wine glass noncommittally, thinking that this sentence would be more appropriate for Wei Xiangjin—that is a pair of good brothers known to everyone in the circle.
“Young Master He knows Minister Gu’s wife, right? This new wife—shouldn’t say that—since the department level, the wife beside Minister Gu has been this one.” Zhou Xing smiled, “Mrs. Gu has a brother who has been an official in other provinces. Three years ago, he rarely came to the capital to report on his work, met his sister, and then said he wanted to celebrate the sixty-sixth birthday of the old man living in the capital, that is, Mrs. Gu’s father. The first guest invited was Minister Gu. Actually, this is nothing, just a coincidence…”
A smile appeared on He Hailou’s lips. He was not unfamiliar with what the other party said. He had known—investigated—it long ago.
Coincidence. This Old Master Zheng’s sixty-sixth birthday happened to clash with Gu Chenzhou’s grandfather, Old Master Shen’s seventy-third birthday banquet.
And coincidentally, the two families booked two hotels on the same street.
As a result, on that day, Minister Gu took his wife and younger son to congratulate Old Master Zheng, and Gu Chenzhou kowtowed three times to the birthday star according to ancient etiquette at Old Master Shen’s banquet, instantly eclipsing all the gifts at the banquet—at Old Master Shen’s age, what could move him more than filial piety? With Gu Chenzhou’s status, what could express his feelings better than personally showing filial piety?
After the birthday banquet, the entire high-level circle in the capital heard about it, and several old friends who had been associated with Old Master Shen for decades expressed envy in their words. Even he, who was not in the capital at that time, heard about it…
But obviously, as soon as this happened, the atmosphere in Minister Gu’s family became much more tense. He also decided to take the opportunity to try his hand with Gu Chenzhou at that time, and was later disappointed that the other party’s reputation didn’t match the reality. Now it seems… His gaze swept across Zhou Xing’s face, and he remembered what Gu Chenzhou said to him a few hours ago.
“I leave when I want to leave; I come back when I want to come back.”
Really proud and confident.
But indeed, he can hold it up.
“Young Master He?” In Zhou Xing’s slightly doubtful tone, He Hailou found himself distracted.
He put down the glass casually, and the glass collided, making a crisp sound.
Unknown if this slightly louder collision sound inadvertently broke something, in less than a minute, Zhou Xing sitting on the sofa keenly felt something was wrong: this bar was still this bar, the harsh music, dim light, choking smoke smell and overlapping shadows in the dark had not changed. The only thing that changed was this corner that was relatively quiet tens of seconds ago—someone crossed the colorful dance floor and approached here with a clear purpose!
“Buddy, how about some good stuff?” Three punks wearing skull T-shirts and ragged jeans walked to this table and said to Zhou Xing.
Zhou Xing’s expression turned cold: “No need, I don’t need these.”
The cockscomb head leading the group sneered twice and said eccentrically: “Don’t refuse so quickly, sir. You really make us—too sad!”
“Young Master He…” Zhou Xing turned to look at He Hailou. What made his heart sink was that He Hailou was turning the glass, looking as casual as before.
“Why not try? Maybe the taste is really good?” He Hailou had a smile on the corner of his lips, looking no different from before. But Zhou Xing felt a piece of ice in his chest, cold and hot:
“Young Master He, if I did something that didn’t suit your wishes just now… we can play something else.”
“Oh?” He Hailou raised his eyes lazily, “Play what?”
“Any—” He suddenly changed his words halfway, “Other things you want to play.”
“Like fucking you?” He Hailou tilted his head. Honestly speaking, his face looked good doing any action. But now in this place, whether it was the three punks or Zhou Xing, probably didn’t think so.
Zhou Xing laughed dryly twice, seeming to want to say something. But He Hailou’s voice rang out first. He raised his head, looking a bit surprised: “Do you think you look like a fairy?”
How to answer this? Before Zhou Xing could figure it out, He Hailou had lowered his eyes and said slowly: “Climbed into Gu Chenzhou’s bed, then climbed into Sun Peiming’s bed, and now want to climb into mine? …See if Gu Chenzhou is willing to give you a second look? I also think it’s dirty—”
According to He Hailou’s usual absurd life, this was simply a joke.
But this joke was not funny at all at this moment.
As He Hailou’s voice fell, the three punks looked at each other, showing fierce light in their eyes, and raised their legs to walk towards Zhou Xing.
“Wait!”
A hurried and short sentence was spoken. Zhou Xing’s face was as cold as if covered with a layer of ice. But in just a few breaths, this layer of ice melted as if touching the morning sun. He said to the few punks: “Give me the stuff.” Then he said to He Hailou in a brisk tone, “What kind of person is Young Master He? —Since Young Master He wants to play, I have to accompany him.”
The leading cockscomb head didn’t look in He Hailou’s direction from beginning to end. He glared at his target threateningly before taking out a small bag from his pocket and handing it to the other party.
Just some ecstasy.
Zhou Xing breathed a sigh of relief in his heart while taking it. Things had reached this point, he was also straightforward. He opened the plastic seal strip, poured out a few pills, and swallowed them with the remaining half of the wine in the glass.
“Chairman Zhou is straightforward.” He Hailou smiled and clapped his hands gently.
Zhou Xing also showed a smile, but this time the smile was not very good-looking. Looking at He Hailou now, he understood how to write the word viper better than ever.
“Chairman Zhou play slowly,” He Hailou stood up, “Put the rest on my tab.”
Zhou Xing had to twitch the corners of his mouth again, stood up, and said some polite words that he didn’t even know what they were… Until He Hailou’s figure disappeared into the shadowy crowd in the bar, he sat down abruptly, couldn’t even care to go to the bathroom, buckled his throat with his fingers forcefully, and vomited heavily on the floor, vomiting everything in his stomach along with gastric acid.
Everything that happened on this day was just a small interlude in the symphony of time, a branch, but not enough to affect anything.
For Gu Chenzhou, from the day he returned from abroad, every step of his was calculated properly. Although not precise enough to be measured with a ruler, it was not far off.
And for He Hailou, his dissolute life was no different from the previous three years. It was just that recently, his boring life had some adjustments, such as paying more attention to another person with a status similar to his—
This is not difficult at all.
If not for deliberate observation, He Hailou wouldn’t know that he could have so many intersections with the other party—they had equal status and the same circle. As long as he wanted, he could go to any gathering the other party would go to except family gatherings… like now.
The banquet hall imitated the Western style. The walls were full of reliefs and complex patterns. The long table was decorated with white cloth, on which various delicious foods were placed. Men and women in suits and dresses came and went around. Amidst the fragrance of clothes and shadows of hair, a professional band was improvising in the corner.
He Hailou took his female companion and found Gu Chenzhou on the rest chair near the red velvet curtain in the hall.
He didn’t bring anyone, sitting in the corner very low-key, holding a cup of something that was probably a drink in his hand, and one hand placed on the table occasionally tapped the beat with the music.
His mood was probably not bad. Separated by most of the banquet hall, He Hailou guessed somewhat boredly, and naturally thought of the conversation with Zhou Xing a few days ago.
Can play the violin, but almost never shows it in front of outsiders, has a cold relationship with his family, but is very good to his maternal grandfather’s family… Indeed very good. It was because the host of this banquet was an old friend of the Shen family, otherwise for this kind of commercial gathering, even if the level was raised a few more levels, how could they invite Young Master Gu of the capital?
“Young Master He.” The girl holding his arm suddenly called him in a low voice.
He Hailou came back to his senses, looked along the gaze of the girl beside him, and surprisingly found that Gu Chenzhou was walking towards him.
“Didn’t expect to meet Young Master He here.” Gu Chenzhou smiled and shook hands with He Hailou, then looked at the girl in a light pink cute little dress beside He Hailou, “Everyone beside Young Master He is so beautiful.”
“I just have this hobby.” He Hailou chuckled. The habit developed over this period of time made him naturally evaluate the meaning represented by Gu Chenzhou’s subtle movements like just now, combined with the information he learned and investigated before:
Very active when contacting, the smile on his face was reserved yet sincere, but the palm was slightly concave, and the five fingers retracted as soon as they touched the back of his hand. Combined with his attitude towards Zhou Xing… it seems that he held this hand of mine reluctantly.
“…Old Master Fang and my grandfather have been good friends for decades. This time I came with my cousin to have a look.”
When He Hailou finished analyzing some of Gu Chenzhou’s unspoken attitudes in his heart, Gu Chenzhou had simply explained why he appeared here, and at the same time said to He Hailou: “Young Master He is—”
He Hailou turned to look at the female companion beside him, then shrugged at Gu Chenzhou: “For the beauty.”
The female companion following He Hailou lowered her head blushing.
Gu Chenzhou showed a kind smile—but He Hailou thought the other party didn’t care what answer he would get—chatted with He Hailou for a few more sentences, and suddenly changed the topic:
“I heard Young Master He likes extreme sports?”
“Correct. Young Master Gu asks this, do you have any good place to offer?” He Hailou laughed.
“There is indeed a good place, and the companion has also been decided,” Gu Chenzhou smiled slightly and threw an invitation to He Hailou, “Four days and three nights of wilderness travel, is Young Master He interested in playing with me?”