Chapter 66#
He Hailou smiled and said, “I’d like to invite Young Master Gu out. Is Young Master Gu free?” He deliberately spoke in a casual yet meaningful tone, certain that Gu Chenzhou would not be able to swallow his pride after hearing his words.
Sure enough, the voice on the other end of the phone said, “Why not? How about 8 PM on April 10th?”
He Hailou said, “Of course, everything is up to Young Master Gu. What about the location?”
“Jinsha Club,” Gu Chenzhou said.
He Hailou agreed, intending to hook Gu Chenzhou into saying a few more words, but unfortunately, the other party hung up directly.
Forget it, he thought to himself. April 10th is only two or three days away. He would see the other party again soon…
Thinking of this, he rubbed the phone with his thumb and lightly licked the corner of his lips.
At 15:00 on April 10, 2013, the Dechang County Primary People’s Court opened a session to try the case of the drug lord’s informant.
The drug lord’s informant confessed in court that he had a secret agreement with the director of the Dechang County Police Bureau and was “let off the hook” by the other party.
The court judge immediately announced the suspension of the trial and the postponement of the verdict.
At 15:35 on April 10, 2013, the Dechang County Commission for Discipline Inspection broke into the police bureau director’s office and took him away under the gaze of everyone.
At 17:47 on April 10, 2013, the Commission for Discipline Inspection divided the obtained confession into two parts, submitting one to the procuratorate and transferring the other to the Beijing Police Bureau.
At 20:15 on April 10, 2013, in the Jinsha Club, Gu Chenzhou appeared in the circle for the first time since returning from Dechang County.
This time, He Hailou had invited almost everyone who usually followed him and Gu Chenzhou. He sat smilingly beside Gu Chenzhou, talking about the drug lord case one moment and Dechang County the next, obviously running to Gu Chenzhou to make his presence felt.
The people in the private room were playing cards. Gu Chenzhou lowered his eyes to look at his watch.
He Hailou wondered what was wrong with the other party today; he was simply too silent compared to usual—could it be just because of a drug lord case?
A melancholy feeling, like a large lobster falling asleep before it could even wave its claws, enveloped He Hailou’s heart. He Hailou inadvertently reached out, wanting to touch Gu Chenzhou’s shoulder—before he could touch it, Gu Chenzhou turned his head casually and glanced at He Hailou’s hand.
It didn’t have the sharpness of a knife like outside the court before.
A bit strange. The other party didn’t seem like someone who could be crushed just by entering a detention center.
He Hailou was thinking to himself when, with a movement of his finger, the door of the private room was pushed open forcefully!
“Fuck, who the hell doesn’t have eyes?” A third-generation heir sitting by the door cursed before even turning his head.
He Hailou turned his head to look, the nerve at the corner of his eye twitched, and his eyes narrowed.
“Police handling a case.” Director Chen, standing outside in police uniform with a serious expression, came up to He Hailou, showed the arrest warrant, and said, “Young Master He, please come with us!”
The third-generation heirs, who were originally bustling and didn’t take the police seriously at all, went completely quiet. Everyone in the room’s eyeballs were about to fall out: they had just stood on He Hailou’s side and had an ambiguous attitude towards Gu Chenzhou, but not even half an hour later, holy shit, a director came out daring to arrest He Hailou!
Those with more agile minds immediately figured it out: what director would dare to arrest Premier He’s nephew? There must be someone backing him, and backing him very firmly, for this small director to dare to be so unscrupulous! As for who was backing him, didn’t they see Gu Chenzhou sitting there grandly? He Hailou called everyone here to see Gu Chenzhou make a fool of himself, but in the end, they didn’t see Gu Chenzhou make a fool of himself. Instead, He Hailou himself had people rush into the private room and arrest him in front of everyone, losing face completely!
Thinking of this, most people broke out in a sweat on their backs, recalling one after another if they had done anything inappropriate just now: it turned out these two big shots hadn’t finished wrestling at all, and they had been too impatient.
He Hailou slowly sat up straight, glanced at Director Chen in front of him, and then looked at Gu Chenzhou.
The relationship between Director Chen and the Gu and Wei families wasn’t known to everyone, but those who should know pretty much knew.
Since this director came, and Gu Chenzhou was sitting by the side overseeing things, He Hailou knew that he probably had to go tonight whether he wanted to or not. However—
“Even if Director Chen wants me to go for tea, you should give a reason, right?”
“Young Master He, you are involved in a drug lord case. Based on the testimony of the director of the Dechang County Police Bureau, we are taking you back now to ask some questions.” Director Chen explained politely.
The people around thought to themselves that this slap was really loud. He Hailou was just showing off in front of Gu Chenzhou about the other party getting into a lawsuit, and in the blink of an eye, he fell into a pit himself, and it was the same one!
He Hailou slowly let out a breath.
He had been paying attention to the matters in Dechang County since he had intervened. Naturally, he knew about the informant in the drug lord case being arrested and brought to justice. But the one who arrested this informant was neither the Gu family’s force nor the Wei family’s force, so he didn’t reach out again. He didn’t expect to stumble right after…
He glanced at Gu Chenzhou, and Gu Chenzhou happened to be looking at him too.
Then, he saw Gu Chenzhou slightly raise the corner of his lips.
This was probably a rather cold smile, without much triumph, but instead adding some casualness of having wisdom in hand.
The big lobster suddenly grew into a giant lobster again!
He Hailou smiled along. Compared to Gu Chenzhou, his smile was much more cheerful.
Director Chen saw that it was about time and spoke again—Gu Chenzhou was right next to him, so he didn’t dare to appear too cowardly—the meaning and tone of his words were much tougher: “Young Master He, come back with us. Please don’t make it difficult for us.”
“Sure,” He Hailou stood up lazily, glanced at the people around him, and said to Gu Chenzhou, “How about Young Master Gu walks with me for a bit? —Just until we walk out of this club.”
Gu Chenzhou hadn’t spoken much tonight, appearing very silent. But at this moment, his silence turned into unfathomable depth. The other third-generation heirs didn’t dare to sit on their chairs anymore and stood up one after another, secretly thinking that when gods fight, mortals should retreat. They should be more well-behaved in the future to avoid being affected when the city gate catches fire!
Gu Chenzhou smiled faintly: “Since Young Master He has said so, why not?”
As He Hailou walked out, he chuckled lightly in Gu Chenzhou’s ear: “Young Master Gu has been calculating for a long time, right!”
Gu Chenzhou turned his face slightly and also said softly: “First step, revealing the Dechang County information to me with a mix of truth and falsehood, then the motorcycle driver I met just after getting off the car, and then the hostile gazes at the welcome banquet—plus the Qingxiang County matter before, I wouldn’t have much expectation for Dechang County. My thoughts would naturally lean towards someone below not wanting Wei Xiangjin to be parachuted in to get gilded… He Hailou, you calculated my suspicious nature quite accurately.”
“It seems I still couldn’t out-calculate Young Master Gu.” He Hailou implied something, saying that Gu Chenzhou’s suspicious nature was even more serious than he thought.
Gu Chenzhou smiled: “He Hailou,” he said softly in the other’s ear, “how well do you think you know me? Do you think I don’t know what you’re thinking when you see me? Why do you think I didn’t show any reaction? —Do you think you could really do anything?”
The power of this sentence was much stronger than being rushed in and taken away by the police earlier. He Hailou’s face sank instantly: What was the difference between this and nakedly saying he couldn’t get it up?
He wanted to speak, but Gu Chenzhou patted his shoulder lightly first.
This time He Hailou wasn’t excited at all: Since Gu Chenzhou knew his thoughts, what was the reason for not shying away from contact with him? —Wasn’t it just that he didn’t take him seriously at all!
“Things have just begun,” Gu Chenzhou leaned close to He Hailou’s ear, his breath lightly spraying on his face, “Young Master He, please watch slowly.”
Saying that, he nodded to Director Chen, turned around, and left.
Leaving only He Hailou standing there. First, his liver hurt from anger, then he felt anger and lust intertwining like twin vines growing in his chest. Later, he suddenly started laughing, smiling very happily and cheerfully, causing the police standing on both sides watching him to look sideways frequently.
Just as Gu Chenzhou said, this matter had just begun.
He Hailou wanted to frame him and Wei Xiangjin, thereby dividing the Gu and Wei families. He beat him at his own game and got He Hailou into the bureau for tea—but that was just done in passing.
Returning to Tianxiang Villa, Gu Chenzhou turned on the TV to review the news and switched directly to the part about Suilin to watch:
“…As of April this year, a total of three large-scale riots have occurred in Suilin. Statistics show 158 injured and losses amounting to 1.23 billion RMB. Premier Shen Youchang emphasized again at the meeting this morning that regarding ethnic minority issues and border issues, patience and more patience, care and more care are needed. Party members should earnestly do their jobs well, guard against arrogance and rashness, stay close to the masses, and understand their needs…”
Gu Chenzhou crossed his fingers.
The drug lord case was just an insignificant trigger for Uncle Wei to take action against the border forces—it didn’t matter who caught the informant. As long as he went to court, that informant would give testimony of “police and bandits being one family,” and then implicate He Hailou through the director he identified—the real key was here. He Nanshan, you are responsible for the border issues. This time, a conflict has arisen with the higher-ups regarding policy. It won’t be so easy to clear yourself, right…
The abuse of power implicated through He Hailou.
The policy deviation implicated through the border issues.
Is it enough?
Gu Chenzhou lowered his eyes and smiled.
Just a beginning.
He Nanshan knew the news of He Hailou’s accident ten minutes later.
Of course, around the same time, he also learned about a series of things He Hailou had done behind his back recently.
Staying alone in the room, He Nanshan didn’t rush to bail He Hailou out. Instead, he closed his eyes slightly, leaned back in his chair, and thought about the events of this period, combining them with what happened with He Hailou.
The drug lord case, the split between the Gu and Wei families, the Wei family withdrawing from the Wang faction and transferring out of the capital, the informant’s testimony in court, He Hailou being taken to the police station, and also the border matters…
The Gu family’s hands couldn’t reach the border yet. Whether it was the informant or the border issues, they were all Wei Chengbo’s handiwork.
At the same time, Wei Chengbo couldn’t extend his hand into the administrative system. These two things being exposed at once was Gu Xinjun’s credit.
What split? It was all fake. He just didn’t expect the Gu and Wei families to have so little confidence in the Wang faction. Just after standing over, the two families joined hands to set up a trap for Wei Chengbo to jump out first.
And then, He Nanshan smiled faintly, it should be taking advantage of this incident to pull him, a political enemy, down from his horse together! Otherwise, how could these two families feel at ease going to other places to hide from the muddy waters?
Today’s events are just the beginning.