Chapter 41#
Chapter 41: The Old and the New
At eight o’clock the next morning, Gu Chenzhou, who had been tossing and turning all night, waking and sleeping fitfully, rubbed his throbbing head and climbed out of bed.
The morning light shone through the wooden window into the room, spreading a layer of brilliant gold on the floor. Gu Chenzhou took a few steps downstairs and felt an itch on his body. Looking down, he realized that the bloody scratches from scrubbing himself in the shower yesterday had formed thin brown scabs. At first glance… Gu Chenzhou’s face darkened as he waved away the figure that suddenly flashed into his mind.
He walked to the kitchen, really in no mood to make breakfast. He casually found something to eat, checked his phone for messages and calls, and then logged onto QQ, surprisingly finding Wei Xiangjin online.
“You’re there?” He sent a message to the other party.
“Outside.” Wei Xiangjin’s reply was quick, seemingly having nothing to do at hand.
Gu Chenzhou didn’t know what else to say, but Wei Xiangjin sent another message: “You’re up so early?”
“Checking my phone to see if there’s anything…” Just as Gu Chenzhou typed this sentence, Wei Xiangjin’s message came again, “I heard you made a move on those people yesterday, what happened?”
Gu Chenzhou, who was drinking milk, felt his stomach churn. He pressed the phone keyboard hard: “Nothing, just a precaution…”
“It was He Hailou’s place, right? You told me about that location.” Wei Xiangjin’s typing speed was much faster than Gu Chenzhou’s, “Why did you get entangled with He Hailou for no reason? Did he make a big scene chasing someone yesterday, putting on some water musical on the Taihai River?”
“Holy shit!” Gu Chenzhou’s hand shook, and he couldn’t help sending these two words.
There was a pause for several seconds on the other end, and a small question mark silently appeared.
“I really should have listened to you,” Gu Chenzhou typed word by word, “He Hailou is a psycho! He won!”
The messages in the chat box stopped for a while, then Gu Chenzhou’s phone vibrated; Wei Xiangjin was calling.
Gu Chenzhou looked at his phone for a good while before restraining himself from hanging up: “Hello?”
“What happened?” Wei Xiangjin’s voice came from the other end of the phone, yawning at the end, seemingly not having slept enough.
“Did you go on a mission last night?” Gu Chenzhou asked.
“Yeah, stayed up all night,” Wei Xiangjin said sleepily, “Just taking a car back to the team.”
“Sleep a bit in the car,” Gu Chenzhou suggested.
“Don’t change the subject,” having grown up wearing the same pair of pants, Wei Xiangjin knew his brother very well, “What did He Hailou do to you to make you so angry?”
Gu Chenzhou didn’t speak.
Wei Xiangjin guessed randomly out of boredom: “He Hailou made such a big scene last night, who was he chasing? You went to his house with him last night…” He thought for a moment, “He didn’t go after someone you had your eye on, did he?”
Sure enough, no one can understand a psycho’s world! Gu Chenzhou found himself actually relieved. He said, “It’s nothing…” He thought very quickly and found no good reason to brush off Wei Xiangjin for the time being. Choosing the lesser of two evils, he went along with Wei Xiangjin’s words, “He knew I had my eye on someone, and ended up making such a big scene to get them.”
“So you’re going to settle the score with He Hailou, and even specially brought people to prepare for a gang fight?” Wei Xiangjin found it incredible. He teased, “Oh, a fit of rage for a beauty, Young Master Gu.”
Gu Chenzhou really didn’t want to discuss this topic. He changed the subject: “Just playing around. Let’s not talk about this, how are things over there?”
“How else can it be? Of course, it’s fine.” Wei Xiangjin said, “It’s just sometimes—” he chuckled, “Do you know what mission I carried out last night? The whole army escorted a young master into Beijing. What do our usual airs count for? Weak! People play the bully and still want to show off with the army carrying submachine guns on their waistbands.”
“How did this fall to you?” Gu Chenzhou wasn’t too unaccustomed to this kind of pomp; he had seen it since he was a child. He asked this because he didn’t understand why it fell to Wei Xiangjin.
“I asked to go myself,” Wei Xiangjin said, returning to the main topic—which was also his fundamental purpose for calling Gu Chenzhou—his voice lowered a bit, and there was no longer that sleepy feeling in his words, “Be careful in the capital. It’s someone named Wang. His uncle was transferred to Beijing, and I heard the higher-ups intend to let him join the Standing Committee.”
Gu Chenzhou said: “I know.”
He wasn’t wrong, he really knew—as early as that nightmare two years ago.
Wang Boyuan, member of the Chunqing Municipal Committee, Standing Committee member, Secretary, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee, the new Crown Prince favored by the authorities, the object of the Gu family’s first wrong alignment.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
Hanging up the call with Wei Xiangjin, Gu Chenzhou closed his eyes somewhat wearily, such a feeling rising spontaneously in his heart.
The result that dream gave him was too shocking, but the process was too vague.
He hadn’t found anything yet, but the most important choice in the dream had quietly arrived.
This time, the Gu family chose the new Crown Prince, but the one who reached the top in the end was the old Crown Prince, Yu Shuifeng.
In the dream, why did the Gu family choose Wang Boyuan? Was it because of the car accident that killed Wei Xiangjin and framed him, or because the Gu family itself favored Wang Boyuan, or perhaps the current Crown Prince Party didn’t want to accept the Gu family?
And besides this time, the second wrong alignment…
Gu Chenzhou thought of a point and was suddenly stunned.
Since having the dream, he had always thought that the Gu family had stood on the wrong side twice in a row and was then stripped of everything. But after coming back and truly coming into contact with these things, he realized he had thought too simply. The first time was indeed a wrong alignment, but the second time, the Crown Prince Party had already reached the top, yet the Gu family’s Standing Committee position was promoted by the old administration, belonging to the faction of the old administration and the failed new Crown Prince Party.
Could it be that this second wrong alignment wasn’t the Gu family standing wrong, but being an eyesore to the authorities and “being” stood wrong…
Nine Standing Committee members, nine Standing Committee members, one-ninth of the voting rights, high position and heavy weight, yet not one of their own, who could be at ease?
If I were in that position, Gu Chenzhou asked himself, would I be at ease?
—Of course not.
If it were me, as long as it was possible, I would also clear out the previous forces and put in my own people. There is no right or wrong, this is politics.
So there is only one choice, and this time it cannot be wrong.
Otherwise, if not this reason, there will always be another reason; if not this day, there will always be another day.
They will always find a way to bring you down to make room.
“Wang Boyuan,” in the small courtyard at the foot of Tianxiang Mountain, Gu Chenzhou sat at the dining table, tapping his knuckles lightly on the table, softly and repeatedly chanting, his expression focused as if to carve these two names firmly into his heart, “Yu Shuifeng.”
“Wang Boyuan, Yu Shuifeng; Wang Boyuan, Yu Shuifeng…”
Wang Boyuan’s actions after entering Beijing were much more high-profile than Gu Chenzhou had imagined.
But this wasn’t too hard to understand. As the new Crown Prince favored by the current authorities, with the old Crown Prince having been set for almost ten years, he always had to do something to prove his existence.
And in Gu Chenzhou’s circle of the third generation, such proof was completed by Wang Boyuan’s nephew, the twenty-six-year-old Wang Rongze.
The choice of restaurant was still National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance, which people in the circle often went to.
When Gu Chenzhou arrived at National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance, he was welcomed by the hostess to the highest-spec small building at the very back.
In the tree-shaded path, he raised his eyebrows slightly in the dim light: the highest-spec detached building in National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance was usually used for ministerial-level banquets, but now it was open to a third generation… It was evident how fiercely the “rumor” that Wang Boyuan was going to replace Yu Shuifeng was spreading.
Walking into the detached building named “Listening to the Wind and Lotus at Night,” the invited young masters were already mostly seated in the hall. Gu Chenzhou swept his eyes across and found the only unfamiliar face among a row of familiar ones.
This was a tall, thin man in his twenties, wearing a Tang suit, with an exaggeratedly green jade Guanyin hanging around his neck. He was turning his head to talk to someone. From Gu Chenzhou’s position, he could just see the shadows under the other’s eyes—Gu Chenzhou thought about the information he had found—mostly the result of playing with women too much.
“Young Master Gu is here.”
“Young Master Gu has arrived.”
As soon as Gu Chenzhou entered the small building, uneven greetings rang out, and a few people stood up from their chairs to welcome Gu Chenzhou.
Gu Chenzhou nodded with a smile, walking quickly towards Wang Rongze while looking openly at the other party, catching a fleeting flash of displeasure in his eyes.
Too petty. Gu Chenzhou thought quietly. He also knew this third generation. Wang Boyuan had no son, only a daughter. This only nephew was said to be very favored. When Wang Boyuan was the Secretary of the Chunqing Municipal Committee, he was the number one Crown Prince, sometimes even overshadowing Wang Boyuan’s own daughter.
“Young Master Wang.” Gu Chenzhou smiled and shook hands with Wang Rongze.
“Young Master Gu.” Wang Rongze only lightly touched Gu Chenzhou’s hand before withdrawing his own, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I should be the one saying that,” Gu Chenzhou smiled, “Young Master Wang is ahead of us.” He was referring to the fact that Wang Rongze had already entered the system.
Wang Rongze waved his hand: “It’s all family requirements, I have to enter, just muddling along. Sit, Young Master Gu, sit quickly. Now that everyone is here, we can start the banquet.”
This was implicitly pointing out that Gu Chenzhou was putting on airs. Everyone present was shrewd, who couldn’t hear it?
Gu Chenzhou smiled faintly: “That’s true, serve the dishes.” He directly took the initiative, checkmating the other party.
Wang Rongze’s face darkened, and he sat back in his chair without speaking.
Gu Chenzhou sat down, wiped his hands simply with the towel on the table, and threw it back on the plate.
The Gu family was still neutral until now, favoring neither the old Crown Prince nor the new one. Wang Boyuan failed in the dream, but in politics, who dares to say the outcome is certain until the end? If Wang Boyuan fails this time too, then Wang Rongze will be nothing but a pile of mud on the ground, not worth a glance; but if Wang Boyuan doesn’t fail, Wang Rongze will be the hot Crown Prince then, and there’s no need for him to offend him too much… At this time, he didn’t need to show closeness to anyone, just wait for his father to make a political decision—it should be time now.
What will be the result this time?
While Gu Chenzhou was eating with Wang Rongze at National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance, in Zhengde Garden, Old Master Gu and Gu Xinjun were also chatting in the study.
They were talking exactly about the new and old Crown Princes. Gu Xinjun briefly explained that person’s meaning and waited for Old Master Gu’s reaction.
Old Master Gu was trimming a potted banyan tree and asked slowly: “What are your own thoughts?”
Gu Xinjun pondered for a long while: “With that person’s support, Wang Boyuan still has a fighting chance.”
This meant he was inclined towards Wang Boyuan.
“You plan to agree?” Old Master Gu asked.
Gu Xinjun shook his head, rubbing the teacup and saying: “I’ve worked with Wang Boyuan, and I appreciate his personality and views. But the current situation…” He took a sip of tea, his thoughts circling around the position of the nine Standing Committee members, and still said, “I’ll step back.”
Old Master Gu nodded slowly: “That’s good too.” Holding the shears, he trimmed the branches and leaves of the banyan tree in front of him piece by piece, “If you retreat to the local level for a few years, when you come back, you can still make a run for the nine Standing Committee members. Yu Shuifeng has been… for more than ten years…” He didn’t continue for some reason, “Whether Wang Boyuan can stand firm is still uncertain. Leaning on him is unnecessary. If you want to enter, I’m still alive, and your resume is sufficient. The Gu family itself has a fighting chance.”
“Don’t get involved in the affairs of the new and old Crown Princes!” Old Master Gu’s voice slowly became stern. With a click, he decisively cut off a withered branch, “The Gu family hasn’t reached the point where we have to rely on taking sides to gamble for a future!”