Chapter 65 - 2#
This remark hit exactly on the policy Wang Boyuan was currently implementing.
Wang Boyuan’s expression relaxed a little: “About accumulating strength…”
“Now is a good opportunity.” Gu Xinjun said, which could be considered an implicit statement, “I think the position we are striving for is very important.”
That position, of course, referred to the position of the Mayor of Beijing.
Wang Boyuan’s expression remained unchanged. After exchanging a few more words with Gu Xinjun, Gu Xinjun stood up to leave. He tried to keep him for a while, but didn’t succeed, so he saw him out. When he sat back on the sofa, he slowly pondered over what had just happened.
“Dad!” A female voice came from the room. Wang Boyuan looked up and saw his daughter standing prettily at the door of the room smiling at him.
He smiled and shook his head, beckoning to his daughter: “Sihan, come here. Were you eavesdropping again?”
Wang Sihan glared and pretended to be angry: “It was obviously you guys talking too loudly!”
Wang Boyuan had a daughter in his old age, and he had a very good relationship with his wife. He loved this only daughter very much and said with a chuckle: “Okay, okay, we were talking too loudly. Tell me what you heard just now.”
Wang Sihan, wearing home pajamas, sat on the sofa and held her father’s arm. After pondering for a moment, she said: “I guess—Minister Gu came here with two meanings. The first meaning is to show his disagreement with Commander Wei. He is probably afraid of being coerced by Commander Wei to deal with Premier He together; the second meaning is that he will stand on Dad’s side and do his best to help Dad. Of course, both meanings have a premise, that is, he and Premier He are political enemies. If he wants to stand on our side, we must deal with Premier He.”
“Do you feel that what you said is contradictory?” Wang Boyuan said.
Wang Sihan thought for a while and smiled: “I don’t think so. It’s a matter of time. The ‘small difference’ Minister Gu just mentioned and the later sentence ‘succeed in one blow’ both clearly pointed out that their general direction is the same, both want to deal with Premier He, but in terms of specific implementation methods, there is a great discord between these two.”
Wang Boyuan nodded slightly.
Wang Sihan raised the hand that was around Wang Boyuan’s arm, pinched her slightly fleshy chin, and said: “Judging from the urgency of Minister Gu running over in the middle of the night without waiting for tomorrow, will Commander Wei come over tomorrow to ask Dad to make a statement? After all, Commander Wei stood over because of that matter with the He family. If Dad doesn’t agree to Commander Wei, then Commander Wei will likely not stand on our side? But if Dad agrees to Commander Wei, then Minister Gu has clearly expressed the difference in understanding of this matter between him and Commander Wei—”
Wang Boyuan smiled without saying a word.
Wang Sihan frowned, feeling as if she couldn’t grasp the main point: “Dad, next… will you choose either Minister Gu or Commander Wei?”
Wang Boyuan chuckled, pointing out: “Yes, I will either choose Gu Xinjun or Wei Chengbo.”
“Then which one will you choose?”
Wang Boyuan patted his daughter’s shoulder: “Sihan, the military and political systems are different. The Wei family has considerable power in the military, but it’s not enough in politics. At this critical period, apart from choosing Gu Xinjun, who sits in the position of Minister of Organization and is influential in politics himself, who else can I choose?”
“Then what about Commander Wei?” Wang Sihan asked again, “Will he leave our faction and stand in a neutral position again?”
His daughter did not intend to follow the political path. Although she had been influenced since childhood, she still couldn’t grasp the knack of some key issues.
Wang Boyuan also respected his daughter’s ideas and did not often talk to her about politics and his work. Only when she showed interest and asked—like now—did he give a general pointer: “The Wei family is not in a good situation in the administration now, involving some troublesome matters. Many people want to take this opportunity to rush up and bite a piece of meat off the Wei family. If this situation continues for a long time, even if Wei Chengbo is an elephant, he can’t hold on. Now he wants to put all his eggs in one basket, but the Wei family relied on the Gu family to intervene in the administration. Gu Xinjun has clearly stated that he does not support Wei Chengbo’s idea. Even if Wei Chengbo wants to put all his eggs in one basket, there is no way. Plus his child is still locked up waiting to be bailed out… He can only cut his losses and withdraw to the military.”
Hearing this, Wang Sihan felt sympathetic, and her face also showed a little emotion.
Wang Boyuan could only shake his head helplessly at this. Just as some people are born to play politics, there are others who are naturally unsuitable for rolling in politics.
“Sigh,” Wang Sihan said worriedly, “Politics is too cruel. In fact, parachuting in to gild one’s resume is normal. This time, it was obviously a trap before, and afterwards everyone beat the dog in the water. Commander Wei is unlucky…”
Wang Boyuan just listened with a slight smile.
As for Wang Sihan, halfway through her speech, she saw her father’s smiling face and suddenly felt that his smile was particularly meaningful.
April 3, 2013.
Another day passed.
Wei Xiangjin stayed in this small room that seemed to be forever lit by strong lights, waiting for today’s new round of interrogation.
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
One hour.
He closed his eyes and thought that the interrogators were getting less and less punctual. Maybe in two days he would be forgotten here?
The door suddenly opened.
Wei Xiangjin didn’t turn his head. It wasn’t until the person who walked in stood beside him and called him Young Master Wei that he suddenly woke up, turned his head to look, and after looking for a while, recognized that the other party was Adjutant Zhang beside Wei Chengbo.
“Young Master Wei, you can go out now. Can you still stand up?” Seeing the gradual return of spirit in Wei Xiangjin’s eyes, Adjutant Zhang quickly helped him up while unscrewing the cap of the mineral water bottle he brought in and handing it to Wei Xiangjin’s lips.
Wei Xiangjin’s lips, cracked with dense scars, contracted reflexively as soon as they touched the clear water! He suddenly raised his hand to snatch the mineral water from the other party’s hand, and gulped it down against his mouth. Halfway through, he choked on the water, coughed out tears, but still desperately poured water down his throat!
“Young Master Wei, Young Master Wei, slow down, slow down!” Adjutant Zhang beside him said repeatedly, terrified that Wei Xiangjin would really choke himself to the point of not being able to breathe.
But apart from choking once in the middle, nothing else happened to Wei Xiangjin. A whole bottle was drunk in an instant. He grasped the empty plastic bottle in his hand, shaking his hand and squeezing it hard for a while before slowly flattening the plastic bottle.
“Young Master Wei?” Adjutant Zhang was still carefully observing Wei Xiangjin’s expression.
“It’s okay…” Wei Xiangjin said in a dry and hoarse voice. His identity was there, and those interrogators dared not go too far after all. They just used some very conventional methods. Later, because the situation outside changed, someone secretly instructed under the power struggle, and the interrogators let go a little, making Wei Xiangjin suffer a solid hardship. “I’m fine, can I go?”
“You can go, the Commander is waiting for you outside.” Adjutant Zhang said, wanting to reach out to support Wei Xiangjin, but Wei Xiangjin pushed him away, stood up by himself, swayed a few steps, and then walked steadily.
There was silence all the way. When they were about to leave the building, Adjutant Zhang reminded Wei Xiangjin: “This time, besides the Commander, someone else came.” He didn’t say the name because he felt that Wei Xiangjin would definitely understand this sentence but might not want to hear that name.
Wei Xiangjin indeed understood. He walked faster and took bigger steps until he walked out, turned the corner, walked out of the building, and saw the two people standing outside!
One was his father, and the other was Gu Chenzhou.
Wei Xiangjin stood in place for a while. He didn’t walk towards Wei Chengbo immediately, but turned his steps and walked to Gu Chenzhou who was standing diagonally opposite him.
Gu Chenzhou was also looking at Wei Xiangjin.
Less than a month.
The person standing in front of him had sunken cheeks, stubble, bloodshot eyes—and his whole body emitted a sour smell.
He had never seen Wei Xiangjin like this.
In his memory, Wei Xiangjin had been naturally spirited from childhood to adulthood.
Wei Xiangjin took a deep breath. He spoke first. He said slowly: “…Xiao Zhou.”
Gu Chenzhou looked at Wei Xiangjin.
“Give me a reason?” Wei Xiangjin also looked at the other party. He saw the guilt hidden under the other party’s calm expression, saw the other party lower his eyes unwilling to look at him… He knew too well what such an expression appearing on the other party’s face meant. He didn’t want to see the other party like this. He said in an almost commanding tone, “Give me a reason!”
“Xiangjin, I’m sorry.” Gu Chenzhou could only say this.
Wei Xiangjin took another deep breath. He felt he should speak properly, but the next moment, he raised his leg and kicked Gu Chenzhou’s stomach hard, saying furiously: “Fuck! Gu Chenzhou, you fucking won’t even give me a reason?”
This kick was heavy and powerful. Gu Chenzhou was kicked back a few steps and fell to the ground. He then stood up and looked at Wei Xiangjin from a few steps away.
Wei Xiangjin’s lips moved, disappointed and sad, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say.
At this time, Wei Chengbo beside him said with a sullen face: “Enough, Xiangjin, come back, let’s go.”
Wei Xiangjin took a last look at Gu Chenzhou, said nothing, turned and left with Wei Chengbo.
Gu Chenzhou waited until Wei Xiangjin and Wei Chengbo got into the car and the car drove out of sight before slowly reaching out, patting the dust on his pants, walking to his own car, getting in, and then starting the car to leave.
Beside a fork in the road not too far but not too close to this place, He Hailou sitting in the car put away the binoculars in his hand. He saw a very satisfactory scene and felt that his decision to follow Gu Chenzhou here specially was really wise.
He was just thinking, at the moment when Gu Chenzhou turned to get into the car, did Gu Chenzhou himself discover that on his calm face hiding guilt, there was also some scarce, but definitely existing and deep-rooted indifference?
Gu Chenzhou, do you know that deep down, you are as indifferent and hypocritical as I am?
He Hailou rested his hands on the steering wheel, and suddenly chuckled while resting.
This is really the most exquisite and unique toy given to him by God.