Chapter 42#

Chapter 42: Give and Take

7:30 PM.

In the “Listening to the Wind and Lotus at Night” building of National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance, since the dishes were served, Gu Chenzhou only ate a few bites casually to pad his stomach, then slowly drank a cup of tea, occasionally chatting casually with the people around him, while paying some attention to Wang Rongze. More than an hour passed quickly.

Wang Rongze, who had been talking to others, suddenly turned around, raised his glass to Gu Chenzhou, and said, “Young Master Gu, let me toast you.”

Gu Chenzhou was slightly suspicious in his heart, but his face remained unmoved. He raised his glass and smiled, “Young Master Wang is too polite. Today you are the host and I am the guest; I should be the one toasting you.”

“Young Master Gu is not giving me face by saying this,” Wang Rongze pretended to be angry. “When I was in Chunqing, I always heard Young Master Gu’s name. Everyone said Young Master Gu is capable and skilled, the top one in the circle. I was a bit unconvinced at that time, thinking it was mostly because Young Master Yu and Young Master Shen were not around. I didn’t expect that after coming to the capital and seeing for myself, I realized they weren’t exaggerating.”

The Young Master Yu and Young Master Shen he mentioned were the sons of Yu Shuifeng and Shen Youchang. Yu Shuifeng and Shen Youchang were a Vice President and a Premier. Their sons were also characters whose words carried weight in the circle back then, but this didn’t have much to do with Gu Chenzhou—when Gu Chenzhou was fifteen, these two young masters had already entered the system and faded out of the circle. Even if they came back occasionally, they only attended very private gatherings and didn’t show their faces in the circle to act as big brothers. In this respect, the self-restraint of these two was much higher than the one in front of him.

Gu Chenzhou smiled and said, “It’s nothing worth mentioning, everyone is just giving me face.”

“Young Master Gu is being modest by saying this,” Wang Rongze laughed. “This meal today doesn’t count. Another day I’ll be the host and invite Young Master Gu and everyone to have a good time. Young Master Gu must give me face then.”

Gu Chenzhou thought to himself that this young master really didn’t waste a moment wanting to consolidate his position in the circle. He rubbed his thumb against the rim of the glass, weighing the pros and cons of agreeing or not. If he agreed, this invitation would make him take the lead in calling everyone over, wouldn’t that make him a follower passing messages? He would be a head lower before anything even started; if he didn’t agree, his name, Gu Chenzhou, would probably be marked in this young master’s heart…

He didn’t care about advancing or retreating. Usually sitting as the so-called top one was partly to show his family’s strength, and partly—is there a man who doesn’t love power and influence? What do these third generations mix in the circle for? It’s for this dignity. This dignity is invisible and intangible, but once possessed, it can make many things easier.

It’s just that now is not like usual, everything must be done with extra caution. What is his own family planning? If they still plan to rely on Wang Boyuan, he might as well take a step back; but if they don’t plan to rely on Wang Boyuan, there is no need for him to give this face… Gu Chenzhou’s thoughts turned several times, but his face didn’t change color. He just smiled and said, “Look at what Young Master Wang is saying. Young Master Wang has just entered the capital. No matter what, we should first take Young Master Wang to visit a few scenic spots and see the fun things in the capital—then talk about other things, right?”

Hearing this, Wang Rongze’s brows relaxed, thinking that this Gu Chenzhou is indeed an old hand in the circle. He just tested Gu Chenzhou with words. Whether Gu Chenzhou agreed or not, he would follow his words to feel his inclination. But Gu Chenzhou just wouldn’t say yes or no, and even pulled out “landlord’s friendship” to play Tai Chi. This meant he wanted to wait and see.

Getting this answer, Wang Rongze wasn’t satisfied, but he wasn’t dissatisfied either—he still had this bit of shrewdness and tolerance—he was about to raise his glass and drink it with a smile, but before he could down the drink, a man’s laughing voice came from outside: “It’s so lively here, I wonder if there’s a chair for me?”

The moment the voice came, the smile on Gu Chenzhou’s face suddenly cracked.

But fortunately, everyone else in the room looked towards the door, and Wang Rongze, the only one face-to-face with Gu Chenzhou, choked on his wine because he was caught off guard. He was bending over and coughing hard, and didn’t have time to notice Gu Chenzhou’s abnormality.

However, the person who walked in from the door, apart from glancing casually at Wang Rongze at the very beginning, kept his gaze on Gu Chenzhou. Therefore, he saw Gu Chenzhou’s expression change in that instant very clearly. The smile on his lips immediately became strange, and involuntarily widened to both sides—but almost immediately, he hissed softly because he pulled on the bruises that hadn’t completely faded.

At this time, Wang Rongze finally suppressed his coughing. He looked angrily at the place where the voice came from, and almost laughed at the first glance: “This—” He looked carefully at the other person’s face: actually it wasn’t that funny, just a particularly handsome face with various faint but very dense bruises remaining, as eye-catching as black spots on a piece of white silk. It was evident that when this person was beaten, the beating party must have applied force evenly and taken care of this handsome face from all directions and angles.

As a man, Wang Rongze felt no jealousy at all towards that face now. He thought to himself, who is this? He’s doing a bit too miserably.

Thinking of this, he realized that no one had answered him just now. He was a bit surprised, looked around, and asked again: “This is?”

“Let me introduce.” Gu Chenzhou had calmed down. Introductions in the circle also had their own rules. He Hailou’s status was there, and he was sitting here, so to introduce him to Wang Rongze, it should be done by him, whose status was similar to He Hailou’s, rather than others with lower status—this convention applied to anyone in the circle who hadn’t openly fallen out.

“Young Master Wang,” Gu Chenzhou stood up with his usual faint smile on his face, “This is Premier He’s nephew, Young Master He. Young Master He, this is Secretary Wang’s nephew, Young Master Wang.”

It’s Premier He Nanshan. The smile that Wang Rongze had been suppressing on his face suddenly appeared plainly. With a slightly reserved smile, he first looked at He Hailou for a few seconds before slowly extending his hand: “So it’s Young Master He—” The “Young Master” was dragged out particularly long.

He Hailou smiled lightly, acting even more exaggeratedly than Wang Rongze. He only extended a fingertip to touch Wang Rongze’s palm and immediately withdrew his hand, then said: “So Young Master Wang is Secretary Wang’s nephew. When I heard the news, I thought it was the Mayor’s son.”

Wang Rongze’s face turned black immediately.

Gu Chenzhou, listening from the side, really wanted to laugh. These two people making a fuss about status were really like a turtle talking about a tortoise; they were all the same.

After shaking hands with Wang Rongze, He Hailou glanced around and smiled: “Everyone is here—you don’t mind me coming over temporarily, do you?” He asked, but before his voice fell, he had already turned his head and ordered the waiter nearby to add a chair, pointing right next to Gu Chenzhou.

Seeing He Hailou like this, Wang Rongze’s face had become very ugly.

Gu Chenzhou didn’t show anything, just nodded faintly to He Hailou. The person originally sitting next to Gu Chenzhou quickly moved to make room for the new chair.

Wang Rongze watched He Hailou sit down and immediately said with a fake smile: “Young Master He came at an unfortunate time. We’re already halfway through the meal. This is unfair to Young Master He.”

Gu Chenzhou, sitting next to Wang Rongze, was speechless for a moment. He was just about to smooth things over—although he didn’t have much feeling for Wang Rongze either, compared to He Hailou, this somewhat petty young master was simply as cute as an angel. It shows that people are compared out.

But He Hailou had already glanced at Wang Rongze with a half-smile: “Not unfair.” He turned to the waiter and said, “Serve another table, put it on my tab.”

As soon as these words came out, Wang Rongze almost slammed the table and stood up! It was the person sitting on his right who quickly pulled his sleeve secretly to pull him down, laughing: “Young Master He is too anxious. Young Master Wang just felt it was unfair to Young Master He and was about to order a new table!” As he spoke, he also turned to the waiter and said, “Quickly serve a new table. Young Master He is a rare guest, one we usually can’t even invite.”

The waiters at National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance were well-trained. Seeing the guests reach an agreement, they cleared the table without looking sideways, turning a blind eye to the undercurrents right under their noses.

Having been snubbed three times in the first two sentences, Wang Rongze sneered and said to He Hailou: “The decorations on Young Master He’s face are very unique. I wonder where you got them?”

He thought that by asking this, even if He Hailou’s face didn’t change color, he certainly wouldn’t be able to stay relaxed. Unexpectedly, He Hailou actually laughed: “Young Master Wang also thinks this is unique? Great minds think alike! I went to a wildlife reserve and practiced with a wild horse there. Unfortunately, before I could touch it much, I was dragged by it for a long distance. Sigh, my skills are inferior.” On his face, the left side clearly showed regret, and the right side clearly showed reminiscence. It was so real that Wang Rongze was stunned, thinking that the other party might be telling the truth—in fact, wasn’t He Hailou telling the truth? That horse was sitting right next to him now.

Gu Chenzhou raised his glass and took a sip of wine. He felt that he really couldn’t be with He Hailou recently—fuck, I really want to smash a wine bottle and flip the table on the other’s head—it’s too dangerous!

But if he let He Hailou speak unscrupulously, Gu Chenzhou wouldn’t be Gu Chenzhou. He also had a faint smile on his face: “Young Master He is really humorous.”

He just said this one sentence, and everyone who was originally following He Hailou’s train of thought looked carefully at He Hailou’s face again—isn’t it humorous? What kind of horse drags a person and leaves such even bruises? It was obviously beaten by someone!

Thinking about this, and then thinking about He Hailou’s previous covering words, everyone’s expressions became ambiguous. Especially Wang Rongze, who almost laughed out loud.

Since Gu Chenzhou had spoken, He Hailou didn’t mind. He raised his glass to the person next to him, didn’t ask the other to do anything, drank it all in one gulp, and then said: “Whatever Young Master Gu says it is—that’s what it is.”

Since they were in the circle, they were naturally used to seeing the meaning behind a sentence or an expression.

From Gu Chenzhou’s sentence just now, Wang Rongze had already judged that the other party was not very friendly to He Hailou—then towards the forces behind He Hailou, He Nanshan and Yu Shuifeng whom He Nanshan relied on, was he also not very friendly? —Could this also be extended to some of the Gu family’s attitudes?

It’s just that He Hailou’s subsequent answer made Wang Rongze a bit confused: With He Hailou’s attitude, is the Yu Chairman faction trying their best to win over the Gu family, or do the Gu family and them already have some unspoken tacit understanding?

While Wang Rongze was thinking, Gu Chenzhou was also thinking.

People in the circle are certainly infinitely glorious, but as long as they are human, there must be helplessness along with glory.

Wang Rongze represents Wang Boyuan, and He Nanshan is close to Yu Shuifeng.

As long as the Gu family hasn’t made a clear statement, he can’t show too clear an attitude, even towards He Hailou…

Perhaps the Yu faction is also a choice, but he has to make He Hailou stop targeting him first.

Gu Chenzhou smiled and clinked glasses with He Hailou.

He had to make He Hailou truly know what pain is.