Chapter 45 - 2#
“Premier He.” Gu Xinjun first greeted He Nanshan. Gu Chenzhou followed, “Uncle He, hello.”
He Nanshan nodded slightly and stood up with his cane: “You two young people talk. Minister Gu, let’s go for a walk first.”
“Premier, you first.” Gu Xinjun said politely, and without paying any attention to Gu Chenzhou, he left the ward with He Nanshan.
Gu Chenzhou sat down in He Nanshan’s previous position: “How do you feel?”
“A little dizzy, but otherwise fine.” He Hailou replied, “You’re looking for me for something?”
“How did you happen to be there?” Gu Chenzhou asked directly.
He Hailou raised an eyebrow: “I guessed it was this question—do you really want to hear the truth?”
If it were someone else asking, Gu Chenzhou would of course answer ‘yes’. But He Hailou… he really thought about it seriously. Before he could answer, He Hailou happily announced the answer: “I was following you in my car.”
These words… Gu Chenzhou thought it was better not to delve into it.
He changed the question: “Do you have any thoughts? About what happened tonight.”
“Those people were looking for you, not me. What thoughts could I have?” He Hailou retorted.
Gu Chenzhou smiled: “That’s true, they were looking for me. Alright,” he stood up, “if you’re fine, get some rest early. I’ll come see you again tomorrow.”
“Which faction do you think did it?” He Hailou’s expression was casual, but he suddenly said this.
Gu Chenzhou stopped in his tracks: “What do you think?”
“One of two,” He Hailou curled his lips, “one of them must be it.”
“Your words…” Gu Chenzhou said, “don’t really sound like they’re from the Yu faction.”
“If I said it was the Wang faction, would you believe it was the Wang faction?” He Hailou retorted.
Gu Chenzhou, who was about to leave, was not in a hurry anymore. He sat back in his chair, leaned against the back, and thought for a while: “Theoretically, the Wang faction has no reason to do this…”
He Hailou smiled and didn’t answer, just looked at Gu Chenzhou sitting next to him, thinking that the most obvious advantage of being with Gu Chenzhou is probably that he separates public and private affairs and never holds a grudge. He has a grudge… He Hailou unconsciously reached out and touched his cheekbone, which still faintly ached.
—It was really settled on the spot.
But this also has a downside. What’s the difference between my existence and others? He Hailou was a little troubled again. He pinched his chin and thought to himself: What kind of situation must happen to make Gu Chenzhou never forget…
Not to mention He Hailou over here trying to figure out how to lower his standards to make Gu Chenzhou never forget him, just to say that Gu Chenzhou stayed in He Hailou’s ward for more than two hours before going home from the hospital. And after sleeping at home for a night, he just got out of bed with a sore body and got this news:
“Dad, you said Wang Rongze said that in National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance?”
“That’s right,” Gu Xinjun nodded slightly, “and it was in front of the waiter at National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance.”
“That’s too much of a coincidence.” Gu Chenzhou said.
Gu Xinjun was noncommittal: “Do you think he was framed?”
Gu Chenzhou pondered for a moment, then shook his head: “It’s hard to say.” He felt that both Wang Rongze and He Hailou were suspects—or rather, it wasn’t the two of them, but the forces behind them.
Gu Xinjun looked at his son, but his thoughts turned to the conversation he had with his father in Zhengde Garden a few hours ago:
“If he was framed, then Secretary Wang’s nephew is not of much use.”
“This is forcing our Gu family to take a stand.”
“The plan to retreat remains unchanged. You have to take a stand early, but this matter can’t be left like this. First Xiangjin and then Xiaozhou, it’s too arrogant!”
“Dad,” Gu Xinjun was thinking about things when he heard Gu Chenzhou speak. He looked up and saw his son holding his phone and saying, “Xiangjin is calling.”
“Go ahead.” He waved his hand and let him leave.
Gu Chenzhou nodded and walked outside with his phone.
The daytime in winter is shorter. At eight o’clock in the morning, the sun was just right.
Gu Chenzhou stretched his back, seeming to hear the comfortable breathing of the bones in his body. He answered the phone and said, “Did you hear about what happened last night?”
“My dad was so angry he smashed his favorite official kiln porcelain, that broken bowl with the fish painting.” Wei Xiangjin said on the other end of the phone, “When I answered the phone, I didn’t dare to make a sound when I heard that sound. His voice was trembling from beginning to end. At first, it was because of anger, and later it was probably because of heartache.”
Gu Chenzhou laughed instantly: “The broken bowl with the fish painting… the Song Dynasty official kiln white-glazed carp playing with lotus leaf bowl? That’s worth more than a hundred thousand, right?”
“Who knows? This is really something only an expert would understand. My mom always says with sorrow that the bowl is ugly to look at and dirty to put food in.” Wei Xiangjin complained and then brought the topic back, “I heard my dad talk about what happened last night. What happened? You went to a dinner party and got attacked?”
Gu Chenzhou briefly explained the situation.
“Fuck!” Wei Xiangjin said on the other end of the phone, “I really want to carry a gun and shoot them one by one. Are you okay?”
“If I were, could I still be talking to you on the phone?” Gu Chenzhou laughed, “I just got two bruises, I don’t even need to stay in the hospital.”
Hearing that he didn’t even need to stay in the hospital, Wei Xiangjin was immediately relieved: “Then it’s really nothing at all. I’ve applied for an outside mission these two days, and I’ll go back to see you then!”
“Okay, I’ll wait for you to come back… But is it really okay for you to skip out of the team once every three months like this?” Gu Chenzhou asked.
Wei Xiangjin said: “…Ever since you came back, I’ve been having problems.” He suddenly remembered something, “Was He Hailou with you yesterday? It’s almost nine o’clock, are you going to the hospital later?”
“I will.” Gu Chenzhou said. His schedule was very regular, and he was used to making plans in advance. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I’ll say hello to him myself when I get back.” Wei Xiangjin said, “Alright, you go about your business.”
Gu Chenzhou agreed and hung up the phone. It was indeed about time. He still had to go to the hospital to see He Hailou. He didn’t know what the other party would say later, hopefully it wouldn’t be too strange…
He Hailou’s request was indeed not too strange—he was just preparing to be discharged from the hospital and invited Gu Chenzhou to his home.
A room full of props, a large red bed, a transparent bathroom.
The moment He Hailou’s words fell, Gu Chenzhou’s mind drew the most intuitive three-dimensional image. He really felt that every time he was with He Hailou, his age began to drop sharply—he wanted to fight again…
“Not that set.” He Hailou was very calm, “That set is for playing with people. How can you live there normally? You’ll have a nervous breakdown.”
“…Let’s go.” Gu Chenzhou skipped this topic and got in the car with He Hailou to go to the house he usually lived in.
It was a thirty-story commercial building in the city center, also with an elevator that opened directly into the apartment. As soon as He Hailou opened the door, a black shadow squeaked and pounced towards He Hailou, but was stopped halfway by the chain around its neck and couldn’t move forward.
Gu Chenzhou looked closely: “You still have this monkey?”
“It’s very—” He Hailou thought for a moment, “full of life.”
This was said a bit strangely. Gu Chenzhou looked at the monkey again and suddenly realized why He Hailou said that: after not seeing it for a month or two, besides being hairless, the monkey was almost as thin as a dried monkey—even the bones in its chest could be seen!
“How often do you feed it?” Gu Chenzhou asked casually, while bending down to pick up the monkey on the ground.
But the monkey angrily showed its sharp claws and wanted to scratch Gu Chenzhou.
Gu Chenzhou directly switched hands, grabbed the monkey’s neck and put it back on the ground.
“I come back on average once every three days.” He Hailou had already walked into the kitchen. He said to Gu Chenzhou, “Did you eat this morning?”
“I did.” Gu Chenzhou replied, and walked in at the same time, “What are you trying to make?”
He Hailou stood in front of the open refrigerator and pointed inside.
Gu Chenzhou went forward to look: in the three-compartment refrigerator, the fruit and frozen food sections were empty. And in the fresh food section, from top to bottom, were: wine, wine, wine, wine, and wine.
Gu Chenzhou: “You drink until you’re full?”