Chapter 33#

Chapter 33 The Taste That Was Completely Defeated

The small incident in Qingxiang County did not have much impact in the capital.

After returning to the capital, Gu Chenzhou didn’t even say much about what happened in Qingquan Village. He simply repeated the process of solving the economic case of the Qingxiang County Party Secretary to Gu Xinjun and his grandfathers, and then put this matter behind him.

Every day after that, like before, he would turn on the computer and read the dream document he had memorized by heart again, trying to find some things he had ignored before. But this vague dream seemed to have told him everything it knew long ago. Even if he recalled and read it a hundred times, he couldn’t find anything new.

Even the most likely Qingxiang County had no connection with the Gu family’s affairs…

Gu Chenzhou accepted this not-so-wonderful result, temporarily restrained the anger and urgency after learning about Shi Shan from Sun Peiming, and began to frequent Zhengde Garden and the Shen family’s old house to cultivate his character, either accompanying Old Master Gu to water flowers and fish, or accompanying Old Master Shen to write calligraphy and read company management reports.

Time passed quickly. On the top floor of the Shen family mansion, in Old Master Shen’s dedicated study, Gu Chenzhou held his wrist high and focused on writing the last stroke with a brush.

Old Master Shen, standing beside him with his hands behind his back, looked at this calligraphy, his eyes lit up slightly, and nodded in approval: “Good.”

Getting a “good” from Old Master Shen, who had been immersed in calligraphy for decades, made Gu Chenzhou feel much better even if he didn’t have a special love for this art. He stepped back to admire the four big characters spread on the rice paper, put down the brush, took the wet towel held by James next to him and wiped his hands: “It can’t be compared with Grandpa’s calligraphy.”

“Can’t compare like this. How long have you been practicing?” Old Master Shen said, waving his hand to signal Gu Chenzhou to step aside, put on reading glasses and walked to the desk to observe carefully, “Indeed not bad.”

The four big characters on the rice paper were ‘Cheng Xin Ming Yi’ (Clear Heart and Clear Meaning), written in wild cursive script. Old Master Shen carefully picked up the rice paper, looked at it against the light for a while, and suddenly asked Gu Chenzhou: “This calligraphy is indeed good, much better than what you wrote before going to Qingxiang County. Tell me yourself, where is it good?”

“Grandpa is testing me? —Can retract and release.” Gu Chenzhou laughed.

Old Master Shen nodded: “It seems you know clearly in your heart: Cursive script is a combination of strange and upright. Between the strokes like dragons and snakes, there are its own neat and regular places. Your previous calligraphy had wildness and wantonness, but lacked inner meaning. The momentum of the brush was scattered but not condensed. The character shape had strange changes but no structure, and could not even be called a character.”

This evaluation was of course a bit harsh, but it was also out of deep love and strict responsibility. Gu Chenzhou agreed seriously.

“Remember to practice more after getting started.” Old Master Shen said again, his eyes still lingering on the rice paper in his hand, looking like he couldn’t put it down.

Gu Chenzhou nodded in agreement.

While the grandfather and grandson were talking, a servant in uniform came to the door. James, who stood straight with his hands naturally hanging and clasped in front of his abdomen, saw this, frowned with his gray eyebrows, and walked towards the door.

“What’s the matter?”

“A friend of the young master is looking for him downstairs.” The servant whispered. This young master of course referred to Gu Chenzhou. Out of Old Master Shen’s preference and the power of the Gu family itself, most of the time Gu Chenzhou came here, besides being called ‘Young Master Chenzhou’, he was sometimes directly called ‘Young Master’, without even adding a courtesy name in front.

Looking for someone and came to the Shen family? James asked: “We never receive these people. Who let him in?”

“It was the Third Young Master who brought him in directly.” The servant’s voice was so small that it was like whispering, “Said his surname is He, very handsome, looks like the young master of the He family.”

From the He family? James pondered for a moment, waved his hand to let the servant go down, and turned back to the study himself. Old Master Shen was still focused on evaluating Gu Chenzhou’s calligraphy, and Gu Chenzhou stood quietly aside without looking at James more.

After a long while, Old Master Shen carefully put down the rice paper: “What’s the matter?”

“Someone came downstairs looking for Young Master Chenzhou, brought in by the Third Young Master, saying his surname is He.” James repeated all the information he got in concise language without any processing.

After listening to James’s words, Gu Chenzhou smiled at Old Master Shen: “Grandpa, I made an appointment with He Hailou before. I said to wait outside, but I didn’t expect the other party to come so urgently.”

Old Master Shen took off his reading glasses and said lightly: “Since you have an appointment, go ahead.”

“I’ll come to accompany you again tomorrow.” Gu Chenzhou smiled.

“What’s there to accompany for an old man,” Old Master Shen disapproved, “Spend more time on yourself. Just bring a good girl you have chosen to see me sometime.”

Seeing the old and living to be old, the elders only have this wish for the next generations.

Gu Chenzhou agreed without pressure, talked with Old Master Shen for a while, and then turned downstairs.

James asked after Gu Chenzhou left: “Sir, do you want me to go down and entertain?”

“Entertain what?” Old Master Shen said, “Except for the Wei family kid brought by Chenzhou personally over the years, who else has he brought to the door? It’s to save face for Xuancheng.” Xuancheng is the name of the third young master of the third generation of the Shen family. Old Master Shen shook his head and took out the mounting tools from the drawer, “Bringing outsiders directly into the house to block people… What is he rushing for? If you bend down yourself, don’t blame others for stepping on you! Let him be.”

After saying this, Old Master Shen pointed to the rice paper Gu Chenzhou wrote and discarded before: “Dispose of these.”

“Yes, sir.” James nodded, thinking that the order of the important person list in his mind could be moved again.

Actually speaking, the Shen family style is relatively upright. Although the children also trip each other up, they are all promising. It’s much better than those in other business families who argue red-faced and hire murderers—but other business families don’t have an Organization Minister as a son-in-law and a young master of the capital as a grandson.

It’s just that the contrast is too obvious. James thought to himself, especially after Young Master Chenzhou returned from abroad. Maybe those children from high-level political families, even if they are originally high-profile, should not be underestimated.

He Hailou and Shen Xuancheng were sitting on the sofa in the circular living room on the first floor talking.

Black tea and snacks had been placed on the brightly colored coffee table in Western European court style. After preparing the things, the villa servants quietly retreated to the corner, leaving the living room space to the host and guests.

Compared to He Hailou’s leisure and naturalness when coming to the Shen residence for the first time, Shen Xuancheng as the host seemed a bit absent-minded. Not only did he hold a cup of tea in his hand and forget to put it down, but he also couldn’t help turning his head to look at the elevator or stairs while talking, as if waiting for someone.

When walking out of the elevator, Gu Chenzhou happened to meet the eyes of Shen Xuancheng who turned his head upon hearing the elevator sound.

Shen Xuancheng straightened his shoulders abruptly, wanting to stand up from the soft sofa, but just after lifting his waist and abdomen, he realized and felt that he should sit back on the sofa. For a moment, his posture was a bit awkward.

On the contrary, He Hailou sitting opposite saw Gu Chenzhou come out, smiled, stood up naturally and walked forward to shake hands with Gu Chenzhou: “Young Master Gu is really hard to invite, so I came to the door myself—Young Master Gu won’t mind, right?”

“What kind of person is Young Master He? Can’t wait even if I want to.” Gu Chenzhou smiled faintly, and glanced in Shen Xuancheng’s direction.

Shen Xuancheng’s heart tightened, and he quickly stood up to greet: “Cousin,” he felt he should explain, “I saw Young Master He waiting outside, and you two have a good relationship, so…”

Gu Chenzhou nodded readily: “Sorry to trouble Third Cousin.”

Shen Xuancheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Gu Chenzhou said to He Hailou: “Young Master He came today for?”

“Invite Young Master Gu to race horses. Young Master Gu won’t refuse to give face, right?” He Hailou laughed.

“That horse farm in the suburbs?” Gu Chenzhou asked.

“Correct.”

“Okay, let’s go now.”

The emphasis was obviously on the word ’now’. He Hailou thought to himself. Since he abducted the person he wanted to find, he ignored the Shen family and left with Gu Chenzhou.

The grassland horse farm in the suburbs is the largest horse farm in the capital, famous for good horses and complete supporting service facilities.

Gu Chenzhou didn’t have many real hobbies, but he would play a little bit of everything, and the number of times he came here was not small.

He Hailou had invited some other people in the circle before inviting Gu Chenzhou. After Gu Chenzhou accepted the invitation, he invited another part of people. When the two arrived at the horse farm, some young masters who arrived first had already put on protective gear and rode on horses, trotting around the field.

As soon as Gu and He arrived, these people scattered around or gathered in twos and threes naturally surrounded them.

He Hailou rode a horse and ran a lap on the track first. It could be seen that the speed was very fast. Several professional jockeys also stood by the field watching. Gu Chenzhou was not very proficient in this and didn’t have much interest. He gently clamped the horse’s belly and walked around. After adapting to the bumps on the horse’s back, he let the white horse under him trot and jump obstacles.

A gust of wind suddenly rushed from the side. Gu Chenzhou didn’t turn his head, manipulated the white horse to accelerate a few steps diagonally forward and turned the horse’s head, meeting He Hailou who was galloping over.

He Hailou smiled wantonly, looking at Gu Chenzhou with focused and bright eyes: “Young Master Gu plays everything well.”

“Young Master He should say that I only know a little bit of everything.” Gu Chenzhou answered. He looked at He Hailou and suddenly smiled, “Does Young Master He want to run a lap together?”

This was exactly what He Hailou wanted to propose just now. He was a bit surprised at first, then thought it was natural: In several interactions, although Gu Chenzhou didn’t show much desire to win—but if he really had no desire to win, he should have gone directly to the army or administrative system like Wei Xiangjin. How could he go out for three years and come back, still maintaining his status unchanged?

He Hailou agreed immediately: “Of course, it’s rare for Young Master Gu to have this interest.”

“Do the two young masters want some stakes?” A hanger-on nearby laughed.

“What stakes?” Gu Chenzhou smiled slightly and took over the conversation.

Active competition and agreeing to stakes… Is he in a better mood today? He Hailou couldn’t help it this time and looked sideways at Gu Chenzhou.

This abstract thing couldn’t be verified in the end. On the horse farm, Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou had each chosen a track and were ready at the starting point.

At the same time, in a VIP stand on the second floor of the horse farm stand, a man in his twenties held a wine glass and looked down at the two racehorses rushing out from the starting point one after another.

He shook the wine in the glass and complained to another person in the room: “First Wei Xiangjin and then He Hailou, Gu Chenzhou really doesn’t lack people around him.”

The other person in the room raised his head. His hair was fine and his face was slightly chubby. It was Wen Longchun of the Wen family: “Gu and Wei are real brothers, Gu and He—” He smiled without speaking.

The relationship between the Chen family and the Wen family was similar to that between the Wei family and the Gu family, but the former had a stronger meaning of alliance compared to the latter. Young Master Chen standing by the window thought for a while, shrugged and said with a bit of schadenfreude: “Anyway, I can’t stand He Hailou. Whoever he sets his eyes on will have no peace.”

Wen Longchun smiled, walked to the window and looked down. The two people on the field had crossed the finish line. The white horse ridden by Gu Chenzhou was a distance behind the black horse ridden by He Hailou.

“The change of term is coming soon.” He said suddenly.

Young Master Chen refreshed his spirit: “Any news? My old man’s mouth is as tight as a clam shell. Since childhood, I haven’t heard any inside information from his mouth.”

“Won’t you know by looking at the transfer situation then?” Wen Longchun said.

“Everyone will know by then.” Young Master Chen curled his lips dissatisfiedly.

“Look, that one.” Wen Longchun didn’t keep him in suspense too much. Hearing Young Master Chen say this, he pointed his chin down, “Maybe will go a step further.”

“Gu?” Young Master Chen asked.

“He.” Wen Longchun answered lightly.

In the horse farm, Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou, who had finished a run, both got off their horses and returned the horses to the horse farm staff.

The two main characters were ready to rest, and the other third generations who came to race horses didn’t stay in the field anymore. They got off their horses one after another, and a group of people walked bustlingly towards the lounge in the horse farm.

Arriving at the lounge, everyone sat on the sofa. The staff brought the tea tray as required. Just as they were about to squat down to make tea, those hangers-on who started the fuss about stakes at the beginning enlivened the atmosphere again: “Young Master Gu lost today and must be punished! How about Young Master Gu makes this first tea?”

Gu Chenzhou didn’t mind, let the waiter preparing to make tea go down: “I’ll do it.”

Saying this, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, scooped tea leaves with a teaspoon and put them into the purple clay pot. Rinsing, brewing, distributing, a series of movements flowed like clouds and water. After distribution, the tea in several cups was even, not a bit more or less.

Gu Chenzhou put down the fairness cup and distributed them one by one according to the seats.

He Hailou was sitting with the female student he brought.

From being invited by Gu Chenzhou to hike before, to chasing Gu Chenzhou to Qingxiang County later, running back and forth in several places, He Hailou hadn’t eaten meat for half a month.

Returning from Qingxiang County this time, he adjusted his life back to the original drunken stupor and day-night reversal before coming to find Gu Chenzhou, and also specially brought a female student he newly fancied after returning, who looked pure, full of bookishness, and had a good brain.

Thinking of the strong sense of blandness produced by the contrast between Gu Chenzhou and the girl he was about to screw in that room last time, this time he didn’t rush to eat the person directly with direct and rude methods, but seriously played a love cultivation game for a short time, thinking that with a high-quality embryo and a high-quality learning environment, even if she couldn’t catch up with Gu Chenzhou’s taste—catching up was indeed a bit difficult—don’t be too bad, at least don’t be completely defeated as soon as they meet, otherwise wouldn’t I appear too low-grade and not picky?

—To be honest, this was really one of his main purposes for asking Gu Chenzhou out today.

But…

“Young Master He?” Gu Chenzhou handed the teacup matching the purple clay pot to He Hailou.

He Hailou twitched the corners of his mouth and took the cup from the other party’s hand.

Cool fingers, hot teacup.

He Hailou didn’t let go for a moment, and unconsciously rubbed Gu Chenzhou’s index finger pressed on the cup wall, while glancing at the female student sitting next to him.

…Why do I feel that I was defeated even more severely this time?

Is my selection method wrong?

Gu Chenzhou distributed the remaining cups one by one, and then for the second pot of tea, everyone consciously and tacitly let the waiter on the side do it.

A room full of third generations, the topic went round and round, always inseparable from politics-related matters.

Recently, there happened to be changes in positions in various places. Some people who had relatives as officials in other places spoke one after another. Some were transferred to the capital, and some were transferred from the capital to other places. Several people sitting on the left chatted and suddenly talked about the secretary and mayor of Jiangzhi City.

“There was a big fuss over there before, just the mayor and the municipal party secretary fighting. Several projects started and stopped, stopped and started. The mayor has only a few years left and wants stability. The municipal party secretary can’t wait and insists on forging ahead. After several times, the municipal party secretary actually lost to the mayor who was about to retire. Everyone really watched a big joke. Thanks to the background of this municipal party committee…” Speaking of this, the person who was smiling before suddenly fell silent, not knowing what he thought of.

No one around took up his conversation, and the topic quickly turned elsewhere.

The chat in the lounge lasted for a long time. Gu Chenzhou came out halfway to go to the bathroom. While washing his hands in front of the sink, the spring door of the bathroom shook for a while. He Hailou came in from outside, walked to the sink next to Gu Chenzhou, turned on the tap to wet his hands, and began to induce Gu Chenzhou to speak.

Gu Chenzhou responded simply twice, pondering the other party’s purpose in his heart, when he heard the other party say: “That secretary in Jiangzhi is going to enter the capital.”

This secretary’s surname is Zheng, and he has a sister named Zheng Yuelin. He is one of the brothers-in-law of the Minister of the Organization Department of the Central Committee.

He Hailou smiled slightly and said to Gu Chenzhou: “If Young Master Gu has any ideas but it’s inconvenient—” He looked at Gu Chenzhou’s expression, and the words finally spoken were much more straightforward than originally prepared, “As long as Young Master Gu gives a hint, I will make him never return to the capital to be an official in his life.”

Is this the main show today? Gu Chenzhou thought silently.

…Being with this one, really have to be ready to fight all the time.