Chapter 52 - 2#
The phone was hung up. The beeping sound came from the receiver for a while. Director Chen took down the phone and said to Gu Chenzhou with a heavy expression:
“Young Master Gu, it’s all my fault for not taking precautions!” The first sentence did not shirk or defend, but directly took the responsibility.
Gu Chenzhou, who had just heard Director Chen’s cry, had a calm expression. He smiled and said, “Director Chen is also too careful. The police haven’t even received the person, what responsibility are we talking about? This is obviously a problem within the army.”
Director Chen said again: “If we had gone to the army to pick up the person ourselves, maybe nothing would have happened.”
Nothing would have happened? That’s really not necessarily true! Both of them thought so in their hearts, but neither of them said it out loud. Director Chen glanced at Zhao Xianyang on the big screen and said, “Young Master Gu, do you want to meet Zhao Xianyang? Maybe the other party has some other evidence.”
Gu Chenzhou stood up, shook his head and said, “No, I’m not a policeman, nor am I from the Commission for Discipline Inspection, nor am I a judge. What identity do I have to meet Zhao Xianyang? Director Chen has already made it very clear this time. I think Minister Gu is also very satisfied.”
This sentence has a lot of meaning. Director Chen did not let the doubts in his heart surface. He just enthusiastically saw Gu Chenzhou out until the gate of the police station. After Gu Chenzhou repeatedly postponed, he stopped and said, “Young Master Gu, then I will act according to the evidence.” He was making a final confirmation.
Gu Chenzhou smiled: “It should be so. Thank you for your hard work, Director Chen.” He added casually, “This case needs to be handled quickly, but don’t be sloppy.”
Director Chen waved his hand repeatedly: “It’s not hard, it’s not hard, it’s the duty of the people’s police! —”
Saying this, he watched Gu Chenzhou turn around and get into the car. After the car drove out of the police station, he turned around and went back to his office. Not long after he sat down, the internal phone rang. He picked it up and said hello. It was someone from below asking for instructions about Zhao Xianyang, asking whether to take him back to the temporary detention room or find someone to interrogate him.
Director Chen said: “Take him back!”
After hanging up the phone, he sat in his chair, holding a cup of tea and pondering the meaning of Gu Chenzhou’s attitude just now.
The central meaning of the other party’s visit today is to treat Zhao Xianyang’s case as an iron case!
He first confirmed this line of thought and then thought further.
Not seeing Zhao Xianyang at the beginning and finally instructing that the case should be handled quickly can all explain this point. But what is the meaning of the subsequent sentence ‘don’t be sloppy’? This sentence sounds like we should not let go of the clues here with Zhao Xianyang…
Director Chen took a sip of strong tea.
To say that on the one hand, using Zhao Xianyang to beat the mountain and frighten the tiger, and on the other hand, secretly continuing to investigate, this is also plausible… But in this case, the order of the last sentence should be reversed, and it should be said as “don’t be sloppy with the case, but it also needs to be handled quickly.”
Was it an oversight?
Director Chen shook his head again. This young master has become a master in the circle of the third generation in the capital. Even if Minister Gu doesn’t come himself, he can send his secretary. The only reason he can rest assured to hand over such an important matter to this young master is that he is confident that the other party can handle it well.
The last sentence will not be wrong: the key point is that this case must be made into an iron case, and then we can continue to investigate along that little bit of evidence.
In this case…
Director Chen recalled the conversation with Gu Chenzhou from beginning to end today, and was suddenly shocked: when he heard that Wang Chang jumped out of the car and fell to his death, Gu Chenzhou had no reaction at all! What does this mean? It means that the Gu family had long known and expected this matter, and it is even very likely that the Gu family was behind it!
Thinking of this, he hissed and took a cold breath.
Zhao Xianyang may have really been framed. The Gu family is confident, knows but pretends not to know, not only wants to deal with Zhao Xianyang, but also wants to make it an iron case. The purpose is to make it impossible for the people behind the scenes to bring this matter up again and stir up trouble!
Just as Director Chen was thinking about Gu Chenzhou’s meaning, Gu Chenzhou, who had returned to Zhengde Garden, was also talking with Old Master Gu.
Compared with Director Chen’s analysis and speculation limited to Zhao Xianyang, the old and the young in Zhengde Garden spoke much more clearly.
“Making Zhao Xianyang’s case an iron case, this attack is over on the surface.” Old Master Gu said slowly, turning two smooth jade balls in one hand.
“But it can’t be completely over,” Gu Chenzhou said, sitting in a chair, “Making it an iron case is to prevent the He family from using this matter to stir up trouble again. Continuing to investigate is to confuse the He family. When Dad reaches an agreement with the authorities, it will be fine to retreat.”
Old Master Gu grunted, turned the stone balls a few more times, and suddenly said, “If you haven’t found anything, then forget it. Since we know that the He family is behind this, retreating like this—can you really swallow this anger?”
Can Gu Chenzhou swallow this anger? Of course Gu Chenzhou can’t swallow this anger!
Since he met He Hailou, setting aside the suspicion that arose before they even met, in their subsequent interactions, He Hailou’s usual foul mouth was one thing, but then he drugged him and wanted to have sex with him, and even self-directed and acted out a “hero saving the beauty” scene, and set up a trap to keep the Gu family in this quagmire of the change of term. For what? To bring down the Gu family and then get him, and then do whatever he wants?
If Gu Chenzhou could tolerate such a thing, he might as well find a famous ancient temple and become a Buddhist monk—it’s obviously a trend of cutting flesh to feed eagles and sacrificing oneself to feed wolves!
But sometimes, the more angry you are, the calmer you have to be. The more you can’t bear it, the more you have to endure it.
Gu Chenzhou said, “Grandpa, if you ask me if I’m angry, of course I’m angry. If you ask me if I can swallow this anger, of course I can’t. But if you ask me if I can endure it, of course I can.”
“What is the He family’s purpose? From the attack designed by He Hailou to the loophole here with Zhao Xianyang, it is obvious that the other party just wants us to stay in this vortex, and then kick the Gu family down when they fight down the Wang faction—you are here, my father goes out for five years, and when he comes back, his age is just right, and he has a great hope of becoming a member of the Standing Committee. When that person from the Yu faction is in power, he will definitely want to take the Gu family under his wing. At that time, if He Nanshan wants to reach the top and become the Premier, the quota for the Standing Committee is a must. And of these nine quotas, if it’s given to you, I won’t have it… He may not necessarily lose the competition, but instead of having an internal struggle at that time, isn’t it more convenient and faster to bring us down directly now?” Gu Chenzhou analyzed, “At this time, he is a key force in the Yu faction. Framing Zhao Xianyang and implicating the Wang faction, even if Zhao Xianyang is also valued by that person from the Yu faction, that person will not say anything now, but will support the other party from behind. But when that person successfully reaches the top, He Nanshan may not have the final say as he does now.”
“You are very optimistic about the Yu faction?” Old Master Gu listened quietly until the end and suddenly asked.
Gu Chenzhou was stunned for a moment, realizing that the tendency in his words was a bit obvious. He pondered for a while, nodded and said, “I’m more optimistic about the Yu faction.”
“The reason?”
“That person from the Wang faction came too late.” Gu Chenzhou organized his thoughts and said slowly, “He only appeared when it was time for the election; although that person from the Yu faction has not spoken much in the past ten years, he has been the crown prince for ten years after all, and his connections in all aspects cannot be underestimated. And—it seems that no one has caught any handle on this crown prince.” He shook his head at this point, “But in the struggle for the change of term, no one knows what the result will be. The Gu family does not need to get involved. He Hailou and He Nanshan can be dealt with slowly after this matter is over.”
The logic is simple: if they get involved in the struggle for the change of term now, the subsequent events will be a major trend. Whether it’s Gu or He, they will have to rely on the victory or defeat of Yu Shuifeng and Wang Boyuan behind them to determine their own victory or defeat. To put it bluntly, if they take sides, the Gu family’s victory or defeat is destined to be under the wheels of the major trend. If they are lucky, they will sit on the chariot and be glorious for a while. If they are unlucky, they will be crushed to pieces under the wheels.
And if they wait until the end of the change of term, the struggle between Gu and He will be a confrontation between the two families. At that time, although the victory or defeat is still uncertain, it will depend more on the means and power of the two families themselves. The role of external forces will not be so obvious after all.
Old Master Gu nodded slowly: “Since you have thought it through, you should talk to your father tonight… This time, the He family’s boy has been too reckless.”
Gu Chenzhou thought of the series of things He Hailou had done again, thinking to himself that he was more than just reckless? He was simply a psychopath, and a cultured psychopath at that.
On the other side, Old Master Gu spoke again: “The He family’s flaw appeared in Wang Chang. Wang Chang is from Qingxiang County. Although his file has been erased, if you investigate with all your might, you can still find some clues.”
“As long as the background of this key figure is found out, all problems will be solved.” Gu Chenzhou continued.
Old Master Gu turned the two jade balls in his hand and asked after a moment, “Why did you suspect the He family in the first place? —Just because He Hailou appeared at the scene?”
“Because He Hailou didn’t make a move at all.” Gu Chenzhou suddenly laughed, “What kind of person is He Hailou? His head was smashed open, and he actually had no reaction at all? Even if this matter was aimed at the Gu family, and he knew the mastermind behind it, and he came specially and was accidentally injured—such a reaction is too soft and too abnormal!”
Old Master Gu was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, “A hundred secrets, one oversight.” If this happened to someone else, he would inevitably laugh, but happening in his own family, Old Master Gu’s heart was cold.
“Alright, let’s stop this matter here. Our family needs to speed up.”
Gu Chenzhou nodded: “Then Grandpa, I’ll go back first.”
Old Master Gu grunted and said again, “Xiaozhou, in this last period of time, you should go out less when you have nothing to do. Also, take guards with you when you go out and pay more attention to safety. You and Zhengjia are the most important foundation of the Gu family.”
“I know, Grandpa.” Gu Chenzhou said, went downstairs and accompanied his grandmother who was cooking in the kitchen. After helping for a while, he walked out of the villa to get his car. As he started the car, the phone that was thrown on the dashboard vibrated. Gu Chenzhou picked it up and saw that it was He Hailou’s.
He stopped the car he was starting, answered the phone and said, “Young Master He.”
The other party said something on the phone.
He smiled slightly and agreed, leaning back in his seat. His body and voice were very relaxed, but inadvertently, his black eyes were reflected in the rearview mirror, and the emotions in his eyes had condensed into ice.
He Hailou, if you want to play, I’ll play with you to the end.
This time, let’s see who will win the game that has already begun!