Chapter 30#

Chapter 30 The Jar in the Mudslide

“To be honest, I’m also a bit surprised,” Gu Chenzhou said slowly, “I didn’t expect Young Master He to drive and chase after me so quickly after knowing I was coming to Qingxiang County.” He paused, “Young Master He actually doesn’t need to be so anxious. My phone is always connected, and I won’t leave here so quickly… or avoid meeting Young Master He.”

He Hailou seemed to choke.

“In addition, I did hear something special this afternoon,” Gu Chenzhou said, “Does Young Master He want to invite me to sit in front?”

He Hailou looked at Gu Chenzhou silently for a while, then turned and walked forward.

Gu Chenzhou followed He Hailou with a flashlight, and suddenly felt that the road was much easier to walk—living in a city of reinforced concrete for a long time, even if Gu Chenzhou had a hobby of outdoor sports, it would definitely not be a hobby of struggling with sticky loess on a rainy day.

The house built outside the village was indeed not far from the village. With He Hailou leading the way in front, Gu Chenzhou spent only ten minutes following the person in front to the cottage.

This was a… house that looked unstable at first glance.

Brown bricks were exposed to the air, and the gaps between the bricks were filled with gray cement. In the single room of about a dozen square meters, the windows, wooden doors and roof were all made of wood. Besides tiles, a thick layer of straw was laid on the roof. Therefore, when looking down from the mountain, this house looked particularly like a thatched cottage from decades ago or only found in tourist areas.

He Hailou had no intention of opening the lock on the wooden door to let Gu Chenzhou in: “Young Master Gu can now say why you came here, right?”

“The Party Secretary of Qingxiang County is surnamed Gu.” Gu Chenzhou answered He Hailou’s question directly without beating around the bush.

He Hailou laughed: “So Young Master Gu is here to visit relatives?”

Of course not! Gu Chenzhou answered in his heart.

Shi Shan’s matter sounded an alarm for him. Two days ago, he sorted out the dream document he recorded two years ago again. This time he no longer cared about the relationship between those major events, but focused on sorting out some details in the dream record document: for example, in the dream, he left the Gu family, and the Wei family never appeared. He didn’t care about this before, thinking he didn’t dream of it or something else, but now combined with Shi Shan’s matter, it immediately made sense.

For another example, the Gu family’s matter: his previous focus was on the Gu family’s two political stance errors, but Gu Xinjun has now sat in the position of the Minister of the Organization Department of the Central Committee—why did he have to take sides? For families with many children like the Gu family and the Wei family, even if there is no chance to go further for a while, it doesn’t matter. They can retire safely and steadily, leaving some connections and friendships for the children behind to strive for…

So, the question arises: Why did Gu Xinjun have to take sides? Was he confident in his choice, or was there a reason why he had to take sides?

Assuming that Gu Xinjun had a compelling reason to take sides—political matters are just those few. Gu Xinjun himself has no moral defects and is very cautious, so the possibility of being caught by enemies is very low. Then the great possibility of his decision to take sides is because of the shaking of his political status…

Where does the source of this shaking come from?

Gu Chenzhou found from tens of thousands of words of fragmented records the personnel matters he recorded casually at that time, which he didn’t understand what they had to do with the decline of the Gu and Wei families, but indeed had some connection with the Gu and Wei families. One of them was Gu Yikang, who served as the Party Secretary in Qingxiang County. He just didn’t expect that as soon as he arrived in Qingxiang County, besides discovering the safety problems of Qingquan Village, he actually discovered some things related to He Hailou.

“Here for inspection.” Gu Chenzhou continued He Hailou’s words. The rain in the sky was getting heavier and heavier, and the mountain wind was blowing impatiently. Although Gu Chenzhou held an umbrella, his clothes below the waist were all soaked.

“Does Young Master Gu think I will believe it?” He Hailou asked.

Gu Chenzhou kicked the question back to the other party: “Otherwise, Young Master He tell me, what am I here for?”

He Hailou fell silent.

He didn’t believe things were really so coincidental. Gu Chenzhou chose a place casually and chose his birthplace. But if Gu Chenzhou found something and ran over specially… Not to mention that this matter had long been wiped out by He Nanshan, just why would Gu Chenzhou spend so much effort investigating him? Just because he spread rumors about Gu Chenzhou and Zhou Xing three years ago?

Even if there was not much contact, He Hailou knew clearly that the person who would seek revenge for the smallest grievance almost like a psychopath was himself, not Gu Chenzhou—the other party was a very typical quasi-political figure who believed in benefit exchange. If it was just to satisfy his curiosity, let alone ten points, Gu Chenzhou might not even be willing to spend five points of effort.

—But Gu Chenzhou just appeared here.

…Really a coincidence?

Rumbling thunder exploded, and the mountain rain suddenly became heavier. Gu Chenzhou thought of something, his face changed slightly, and he shone the flashlight towards the hillside, saying to He Hailou at the same time: “Young Master He, it’s about time. Where do you plan to stay tonight?”

“The house is right here, where else would I stay?” Perhaps because Gu Chenzhou just threw the question back to He Hailou, He Hailou’s tone was not particularly good at this moment.

“If it rains for a while longer, there might be a landslide here.” Gu Chenzhou looked serious, shining the flashlight on the hillside where stones had begun to roll down, “We have to get out first. The mountain road outside is so small, a little sliding soil and stones will block it.”

He Hailou glanced in the direction of Gu Chenzhou’s flashlight beam, his expression suddenly changed, and he walked towards the cottage without saying a word, kicked open the wooden door, and ducked in.

“Young Master He?” Gu Chenzhou was stunned. The flashlight left the mountain wall and shone towards the cottage.

But at this moment, the ground under Gu Chenzhou’s feet shook! He was shocked all over, looked fiercely at the hillside in front, and saw a large amount of soil mixed with mountain rocks rolling down from the hillside like a gray-black tide!

He Hailou just walked out of the house holding a jar.

Gu Chenzhou felt his throat blocked by a lump. He threw away the umbrella in his hand, strode forward and reached out to He Hailou, shouting: “Quick—quick, landslide!”

He Hailou subconsciously handed his hand over, and the gray earth and rocks crushed the cottage!

Tiles and straw were instantly submerged by the mud without any resistance. A huge impact came from behind. He Hailou just staggered a few steps towards Gu Chenzhou, and a large amount of muddy water covered their calves.

“Go quickly!” Gu Chenzhou calmed down from the momentary panic, pulled He Hailou hard, and turned forward. But He Hailou broke free from Gu Chenzhou’s hand and bent down to look for the jar that had just fallen into the muddy water.

Gu Chenzhou cursed, so nervous that he didn’t even know what he was cursing, but bent down with He Hailou to look for the jar—he just saw He Hailou holding it, recognized its shape and size, and remembered the approximate direction it fell.

“Boom!”

Another sound like muffled thunder. Gu Chenzhou, who bent down, just looked up and saw another wave of mountain rocks and soil rushing down from the hillside. The speed was so fast that people had no time to react. One moment he was watching the mountain rocks slide down, and the next moment he was submerged by muddy water.

At this moment, all sobriety turned into huge panic.

Ears were blocked, eyes were dark, and the air relied on for survival in the chest was drained in an instant and immediately filled with mud. Even the limbs and chest seemed to be firmly locked by heavy iron shackles.

Despair rushed into the heart like a torrent in an instant.

Such darkness and despair were similar yet opposite to those in the dream. Only the weight confining the whole body was exactly the same inside and outside the dream.

Gu Chenzhou tried his best to remain calm, struggled upward as much as possible and tried to stand up from the ground. Arm-thick tree trunks, stones, animal corpses or something else. Gu Chenzhou’s hand struggling in the mud was suddenly hooked by something. He struggled fiercely, and that thing also struggled hard in the opposite direction—but made the two firmly clasped.

Is it a human hand?

This thought flashed through Gu Chenzhou’s mind, followed by motivation—not because of who the owner of the hand was, nor because of the relationship between the other party and him, simply because realizing that he was not alone doubled his courage—the next moment, he struggled out of the mud. Besides opening his mouth to gasp for air like a drowning fish, he didn’t forget to pull the hand he grabbed hard backwards.

He Hailou broke free from the mud with this force. He opened his mouth and gasped heavily like Gu Chenzhou, interspersed with some retching sounds, no different from anyone buried in mud—at this time, whether it was Gu Chenzhou or He Hailou, no matter how high their social status and how rich their social resources were, nature treated all lives equally.

The rain in the sky stopped at some point.

The hillside shrouded in darkness seemed to be dormant again.

Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou held each other’s hands firmly, walking deeply and shallowly towards the place where the mud was low and shallow. The crescent moon on the top of the mountain bypassed the clouds and hung on the treetops. Under the valley, the two walked all the way until the mud submerging their thighs receded to their knees, and then to their calves.

Gu Chenzhou tripped and fell to the ground. He Hailou, who was holding his hand, was also pulled down. The jar in his hand hit Gu Chenzhou’s thigh, the lid sealing the jar was knocked off, and many things rolled out from inside.

All the strength of the whole body was used up in the struggle just now. Gu Chenzhou barely raised his arm, pushed the switch of the flashlight he had been holding in his hand, and shone it in the direction of the jar: “What fell?”

Accompanied by his voice, the filament in the bulb of the flashlight flickered, and a small orange-red oval aperture illuminated the front.

Several long gray-white sticks floated in the muddy water, and a round…

Gu Chenzhou found his voice, a bit hoarse and dry: “What is this?”

He Hailou sat on the side front of Gu Chenzhou. He glanced at Gu Chenzhou, picked up the skull from the muddy water, wiped it and threw it into the jar, saying lazily: “My mom’s bones, what else can it be?”