Chapter 65 - 1#

Chapter 65: Falling Apart

Following that, from Beijing to the border, there was a tremor of moderate magnitude.

Wei Xiangjin’s matter was not over. Gu Chenzhou gave this statement, which, although clearing himself, was equivalent to personally putting Wei Xiangjin on the fire to roast.

The Wei family naturally could not let their only heir be destroyed here. Wei Chengbo coordinated with various parties on the one hand and pressured the system reviewing Wei Xiangjin on the other. At the same time, he also used his power to track down the drug lord informant who was on the run at the border. For a time, the waters of the entire border were muddied.

At this time, the Wei family’s intervention in the administrative police system from the military system, and Wei Xiangjin’s parachuting in to gild his resume were exposed. Apart from the Wei family being overwhelmed, Wei Xiangjin, who was still detained, also suffered a lot.

Interrogation, interrogation, interrogation. Review, review, review.

For more than ten days in a row, Wei Xiangjin saw lights when he opened his eyes and still saw lights when he closed them. Several interrogators opposite him had changed, but he still stayed in the same room, sat in the same position, and was tortured again with questions that had been asked countless times.

Adjutant Zhang had not come in since a week ago. Wei Xiangjin knew what had happened—before leaving, Adjutant Zhang had told him about the situation outside. Coupled with the increasingly open review methods of the other party, Wei Xiangjin didn’t need to spend too much energy to guess that the situation outside was only going in a bad direction, not a good one.

“How did you receive this mission?”

“Assigned by superiors.”

“The administrative system and the military system are different. Which superior mixed the two together?”

“It was a cooperation between the armed police and the civil police, temporarily transferred.” Wei Xiangjin closed his eyes and read out the answers one by one. Then someone came over and roughly opened his eyes. He stared at the light shining directly into his eyes, thinking to himself that without torture tools, just strong light shining directly without giving water or rest was enough to break an iron man.

At least he still had the tiger skin of a commander’s son. Wei Xiangjin thought with bitter joy, these people dare not completely kill him…

The familiar scolding and cursing of more than ten days rang in his ears again.

Wei Xiangjin squinted his eyes and lazily let it go in one ear and out the other. At this time, he used more happy memories to divert his attention, such as when he went to see Peking Opera with his mother when he was a child, when he played with his friends in the compound when he was a child, his first time drinking, first time smoking, the celebration of becoming an adult at eighteen and a major at twenty-one—

Then he thought of Gu Chenzhou again.

Gu Chenzhou watched the Peking Opera with him when they were young. When playing with childhood friends, anyone could be absent but Gu Chenzhou must be there. The first time he drank was with Gu Chenzhou. The first time they smoked, they took a puff each and both choked. The celebration of becoming a major at twenty-one was the last time he and Gu Chenzhou had a big fun in the circle with an excuse before the other party went abroad. Finally, the two of them sat by the Taihai River, looking at the sparkling river water, shoulder to shoulder, exchanging words one by one.

At this time, some childhood memories that were thought to be forgotten emerged one by one.

Wei Xiangjin remembered what Gu Chenzhou looked like when he was a child: his body was actually not fat, but his cheeks were particularly round and chubby, and the flesh on his cheeks drooped a little. When he ran, they would bounce gently, which was very cute. His eyes were big and his hair was soft. Because he didn’t like getting haircuts, he often let it grow very long without cutting it. Until the hair on his bangs poked into his eyes and he rubbed his eyes red with his hands, he would follow his mother or run to the barber alone to trim his hair…

By the way, there was also the matter of Tangyuan (glutinous rice balls).

Wei Xiangjin thought he had no memory at all—but if he really had no memory, how could he be keen on watching Gu Chenzhou eat Tangyuan since childhood?

He remembered that time… Gu Chenzhou was really small and soft, not only his cheeks were chubby, but his palms were also chubby, and he loved to keep them clenched. The whole person looked like a large Tangyuan…

At that time, Gu Chenzhou’s mother, Shen Rou, had not completely collapsed physically. Although she was sick for half a year in a year, at least she didn’t lie in bed for the other half year and could take care of her newborn darling. She was a very beautiful woman, spoke softly, and knew a lot, such as piano, literature, making small snacks and sweets… Wei Xiangjin really only had a little memory of Shen Rou. He thought for a while and didn’t think of anything else, so he quickly turned his attention back to Gu Chenzhou.

Was Gu Chenzhou like a big Tangyuan or a big dumpling at that time? Anyway, after seeing him once and knowing that this was his younger brother, he took it to heart. It happened to be the New Year at that time. He went to the Gu family next door with his mother. Gu Chenzhou’s mother gave him a bowl of Tangyuan with a smile. He was thinking about his big Tangyuan brother and wanted to take it upstairs to eat, but was not allowed… So he sat on the chair, dawdling left and right, until finally all the adults’ attention was elsewhere.

He quietly carried the Tangyuan upstairs and saw Gu Chenzhou lying on the bed.

At that time, Gu Chenzhou could already speak, but not fluently. Seeing him, he kept calling “Wei, Wei”, which sounded like “Hey, Hey”.

But he still felt very happy. This feeling was probably like a child meeting his own kind. Then he scooped a particularly large Tangyuan for the other party to eat, letting the other party share good things with him…

At that time, Gu Chenzhou was sitting on the mat and opened his mouth happily to swallow the Tangyuan he gave.

He kept smiling at Gu Chenzhou, and Gu Chenzhou also grinned at him foolishly with the thing in his mouth.

Then the other party swallowed, but the Tangyuan didn’t go down; swallowed again, the Tangyuan still didn’t go down; swallowed again, the Tangyuan got stuck in his throat…

Thinking of this, Wei Xiangjin remembered that at that time, the other party’s tender white face turned red because he was anxious to swallow the Tangyuan. Later, when the Tangyuan got stuck in his throat, the other party’s face really turned red, and then the whole face wrinkled up and was not cute anymore. He was smiling at first, but suddenly felt something was wrong while smiling, and instantly became anxious, and then shouted loudly for help—but somehow, in the end, everyone said he was crying loudly in front of Gu Chenzhou’s bed…

What happened later? Later, when he returned home, he was beaten by Wei Chengbo with a dark face.

And then? Then he went to the Gu family again. Gu Chenzhou was still playing on the bed, and was equally happy to call “Wei, Wei!” when he saw him.

And then it is now.

Have they… all grown up?

March 27, 2013.

Twenty-one days since Wei Xiangjin and Gu Chenzhou were taken away.

The twentieth day since Gu Chenzhou returned to Beijing.

In these twenty days, the position of the Mayor of Beijing, who fell due to dereliction of duty, was vacant. Lin Lide and Li Rui, who had the most hope of going up, fought inextricably. Because of Wei Xiangjin’s matter, the Wei family was stared at by the administrative faction, wishing they could break a day into two to solve the problem.

Gu Chenzhou had not appeared in the circle, and some rumors began to spread in the circle; but no matter what, it was much better than Wei Xiangjin, who had been reviewed by the military for twenty days, with dry lips, sunken cheeks, and lost several pounds…

8:28 PM.

For the first time since the incident, Wei Chengbo stepped into the Gu family’s house.

Gu Xinjun hurriedly greeted Wei Chengbo to sit down, serving tea and cigarettes, and even picking nice words to say to the other party.

Wei Chengbo looked indifferent and spoke very bluntly: “Old Gu, I came here for one thing: I want to take down He Nanshan now. Give me a definite word, will you do it or not?”

Gu Xinjun stopped his movements. He was silent for a long time: “If we want to do it now, what do we use to do it?”

Wei Chengbo sneered: “Then tell me, when will we do it?”

“We still have to wait for time and opportunity.” Gu Xinjun shook his head, “It’s hard for you to take down a person like He Nanshan all at once.”

“Time and opportunity,” Wei Chengbo repeated, “My son is about to be convicted, and you are still talking to me about time and opportunity?”

Gu Xinjun comforted Wei Chengbo and said: “We will definitely find a way to smooth this matter over later, but now even if you confront He Nanshan directly, it will be of no avail.”

Wei Chengbo took several deep breaths. When he came, he was so angry that his liver hurt. Now after saying two sentences, he was so angry that his liver exploded: “Gu Xinjun, your son pitted my son to this extent, and you are still talking official jargon to me here?”

Gu Xinjun’s face also looked bad: “Old Wei, this matter—this matter is Chenzhou who let Xiangjin down. Later when Xiangjin comes out, I will escort him over to apologize to you.”

“No need, I can’t afford it.” Wei Chengbo sneered. At this point, both of them had a tendency to tear their faces apart, and his voice gradually became louder, “Gu Xinjun, I ask you one last time, will you deal with He Nanshan? Right now!”

“It’s definitely impossible at this time!” Gu Xinjun also got angry, “Wei Chengbo, clear your head. Don’t make such a big mistake just because you have been attacked continuously recently! At this time, apart from fighting He Nanshan to death based on accumulation, what fault have we caught him? He is backed by the Yu faction and is happy for us to fight him to death!”

Wei Chengbo’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He was really furious, couldn’t say a word, flung his hand and turned away!

Gu Xinjun’s expression didn’t look much better either. He sat on the sofa, his hand holding the teacup trembling… After a moment, he slammed the teacup in his hand with a snap, splashing tea all over the floor, and then called his driver to take a car to Wang Boyuan’s place.

To be honest, there are few secrets in the lives of these high officials exposed to the public.

The matter of Wei Chengbo leaving Gu Xinjun’s house angrily was known to everyone who should know within ten or twenty minutes.

Wang Boyuan saw Gu Xinjun exactly one hour later. He knew about the falling out between Gu Xinjun and Wei Chengbo half an hour ago and had analyzed it thoroughly, but he didn’t expect that Gu Xinjun would come to him immediately.

“Minister Gu is here.” Although he was a little puzzled in his heart, Wang Boyuan didn’t show it on his face. He just smiled and let Gu Xinjun sit down, and asked the nanny in the kitchen to come out and make tea, “Have some tea, it’s still that Tieguanyin! When we worked together in Suilin before, there were troubles every day. Either you came to my office with tea, or I went to your office with tea, sitting for a whole afternoon.”

On the surface, this was talking about the past, but in reality, what could two officials talk about when sitting together? It was nothing but politics. Saying this sentence gave Gu Xinjun a step to communicate about Wei Chengbo’s matter.

Gu Xinjun waved his hand as expected and went straight to the point: “Secretary Wang, I came here to trouble you with something.”

As the next successor favored by the current administration, Wang Boyuan naturally had his own demeanor. He smiled slightly and said: “What is it about?”

“It’s some small differences between me and Wei Chengbo.” Gu Xinjun said. Seeing Wang Boyuan pondering, he added, “Logically speaking, the matter between me and Deputy Commander Wei shouldn’t come to Secretary Wang, but these things are not entirely private matters, and also involve some political inclinations.”

Wang Boyuan picked up the teacup and took a sip, thinking that ‘small difference’ was a very precise description—it implied that their fundamental goals were the same, and also stated clearly that there were some disharmonies in execution between the two: “What does Minister Gu mean?”

“Deputy Commander Wei is probably a bit impatient recently,” Gu Xinjun also spoke bluntly, “Our primary goal now is still to accumulate and accumulate, so that we can accumulate strength and succeed in one blow!”