Chapter 69#

Chapter 69: Gu Scum

At this time, both the Gu and Wei families needed to keep a low profile. Gu Chenzhou ultimately didn’t stay at Wei Xiangjin’s house for long. Before 4 AM, he left the other’s house and returned to the hotel he had booked, taking advantage of the time when there were few people at night.

It was just past 4 AM. Gu Chenzhou entered the room, pushed open the bathroom door directly, took a good shower, and was just about to go to bed when he received a phone call.

…What time is it now?

Gu Chenzhou pressed his throbbing forehead, suppressed the displeasure in his heart, glanced at the number, and answered the phone: “What is it?”

“Young Master Gu,” the person on the other end of the phone was obviously hesitant, “I’m sorry to disturb you so late. I see you haven’t rested yet…”

“See that I haven’t rested yet?” Gu Chenzhou said, “I remember I asked you to investigate He Hailou’s whereabouts.”

“Yes, Young Master Gu,” the voice on the other end said, “He Hailou has been following you all day today…”

Gu Chenzhou: “…”

The person on the other end obviously found this incomprehensible as well: “We have been following He Hailou. We originally thought he had other business here or was looking for someone else. It wasn’t until just now that we realized He Hailou has been following Young Master Gu, so we disturbed Young Master Gu at this time…” Finally, he didn’t forget to justify his act of calling in the middle of the night.

Gu Chenzhou said: “Where is he now?”

“Right downstairs at Young Master Gu’s hotel,” the person on the other end said quickly.

Wearing a bathrobe, Gu Chenzhou walked to the window and looked down. He saw He Hailou leaning against a car standing by the roadside.

The other party had been staring at his window. Gu Chenzhou’s gaze looking down met his gaze looking up. He Hailou took the opportunity to give Gu Chenzhou a smirk.

Gu Chenzhou spoke calmly: “I know.” After a series of confrontations, he felt that nothing He Hailou did would be surprising. Compared to the “hero saving the beauty” scene he directed and acted in before, what was this personal stalking and tailing now?

“Then?” The person on the other end waited for Gu Chenzhou’s instructions.

Gu Chenzhou didn’t deliberately avoid He Hailou downstairs. He stood by the window and talked to the person on the phone: “He is standing downstairs at my hotel on purpose—did he discover you?”

The person on the other end paused: “Young Master Gu, I guess the other party has already discovered us. He Hailou seems to have received training in this area.”

“Then you guys retreat first,” Gu Chenzhou said concisely, then hung up the phone directly, picked up the room phone, and dialed the service desk number.

“Hello, this is the hotel front desk. How may I help you?”

“Look outside the hotel main entrance,” Gu Chenzhou said lightly, “Do you just let any random person stand there and spy on customers’ rooms?”

The front desk was obviously tested by strange requests from hotel customers. Plus, He Hailou’s behavior standing outside was indeed not quite right. He said methodically: “Thank you for your suggestion! We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to you. We will send someone to deal with it now and resolve this matter within fifteen minutes. Is there anything else?”

“No.” Gu Chenzhou hung up the phone after speaking. He didn’t go to bed, didn’t even change out of his bathrobe, and just sat on the sofa waiting.

In just ten minutes, his doorbell rang.

Gu Chenzhou got up and opened the door. Outside the door, a hotel waiter and He Hailou stood together. The uniformed waiter said with a smile: “Sir, this is the guest you were waiting for.”

Gu Chenzhou had already guessed this result and didn’t say anything. Firstly, what was the use of talking to a waiter? Secondly, if He Hailou could be stopped by a hotel waiter—then not only would He Hailou be a huge joke, but he, who had been confronting He Hailou, would also become a huge joke.

“I know,” he nodded to the waiter who brought He Hailou up and said.

The waiter retreated tactfully. Before leaving, he took a few more glances at the relaxed and handsome He Hailou—this hotel had hosted many stars and successful people surrounded by crowds, but those stars wearing black sunglasses didn’t have the aura of the person he brought up; successful people didn’t have the handsomeness of this person…

Thinking of this, he glanced at the hotel customer the other party came to find. But before he could look carefully, he saw the handsome man, who was talking and laughing softly at the door, turn his head slightly and glance at him.

This glance was cold and sharp, like a sharp piece of ice suddenly falling on the skin. The waiter quickly withdrew his gaze, walked quickly around the corner, letting the wall block the other party’s gaze.

He Hailou then withdrew his gaze with satisfaction, deepening the smirk on his lips: “I shouldn’t have come to disturb Young Master Gu so late, but—I saw outside that Young Master Gu hadn’t rested yet, and Young Master Gu happened to see me too. Isn’t this a remarkable fate? It would be even more rude not to say hello, so I came late at night to disturb Young Master Gu—”

“What does Young Master He want to say?” Gu Chenzhou asked, leaning against the door frame.

Honestly, He Hailou didn’t often see Gu Chenzhou like this: wearing only a bathrobe, his neck and collarbone, and even a line of his chest further down were exposed. His expression and movements seemed lazy, eyelids half-drooped, looking casual. The skin color on his hands and face was fair as usual, but the chest exposed outside the bathrobe showed a faint red from under the skin… He Hailou guessed it was because Gu Chenzhou had been drinking tonight. Although drinking didn’t show on his face, it showed on his body. It was a bit strange but—

He Hailou looked once, looked again, and looked yet again. Unexpectedly, he thought of a famous dish called Drunken Shrimp… He coughed, waved away the image that suddenly popped into his mind, and said to Gu Chenzhou: “Young Master Gu wants to talk here?” implying, aren’t you going to invite me in to sit?

After saying this, He Hailou thought the other party would at least show some sneer, contempt, or hostility—but there was nothing.

Gu Chenzhou just laughed and stepped aside: “Young Master He, please.”

This unexpected agreeableness made He Hailou look at Gu Chenzhou a few more times. Of course, he wouldn’t think that Gu Chenzhou had forgotten the antagonistic relationship between the two families or even the two of them. But indeed, since Gu Chenzhou smashed the car, He Hailou felt that the person standing in front of him was like a multiple-choice question. At first glance, all answers were very intuitive, but with a little carelessness, one would choose wrong:

He thought Gu Chenzhou wouldn’t play so big all at once, but Gu Chenzhou did; he thought that since he messed with Wei Xiangjin, even if Gu Chenzhou could hold back from punching him when they met, he would ignore him completely, but the result was… Gu Chenzhou had just come out of Wei Xiangjin’s house, and they were sitting on a sofa set. The atmosphere wasn’t friendly, but at least it wasn’t tense.

What kind of person is Gu Chenzhou exactly?

If Gu Chenzhou had pondered about He Hailou, He Hailou was also increasingly pondering about Gu Chenzhou’s body—and him as a person.

Calm, confident, composed, smart, a typical profit-seeker, and… unexpectedly indifferent and hypocritical.

He Hailou’s gaze swept over Gu Chenzhou’s body again. This time he didn’t make any disguise, his gaze moving inch by inch over Gu Chenzhou’s body and exposed skin.

But the other party still sat opposite him normally, legs apart, collar slightly loose, the ring finger and little finger of the left hand resting on the sofa armrest slightly bent casually, showing no reaction to his gaze…

Likable confidence and pride. He Hailou thought to himself.

But now he really couldn’t move against Gu Chenzhou quickly… He Hailou lowered his eyes for a moment and saw Gu Chenzhou raise his index finger and tap the armrest lightly.

This was a sign of his impatience.

He Hailou laughed: “I came this time to tell Young Master Gu a piece of news. I don’t know if Young Master Gu is interested.”

“I’m all ears,” Gu Chenzhou said.

“Young Master Gu should have been paying attention to the matters in Suilin,” He Hailou mentioned seemingly inadvertently, “Suilin has completely stabilized. Premier He went to Suilin yesterday and met with the local government of Suilin.”

Gu Chenzhou, who was starting to consider kicking the other party out if he didn’t speak, was moved.

He Hailou meant something by this. What did he want to say?

Suilin, local government, Premier He…

He Hailou added: “He also specially went to inspect the Sangzan area—”

Sangzan is an area within Suilin Province inhabited by ethnic minorities and governed by them autonomously.

“Whether it was the meeting or the inspection, it went very smoothly.” He Hailou stopped at just the right point and said to Gu Chenzhou with a smile, “Now that the situation in Suilin has stabilized and traffic has reopened, it is said that the snow-capped mountains and grasslands in the Sangzan area are beautiful. Is Young Master Gu interested in going to Suilin for another trip?” Saying this, he added, “With me.”

Gu Chenzhou looked at He Hailou quietly for a moment, didn’t refuse immediately, but said meaningfully: “The attractions are snow-capped mountains and grasslands?”

He Hailou smiled ambiguously: “No matter how beautiful the snow-capped mountains and grasslands are, how can they be as beautiful as people of different colors?”

“Makes sense,” Gu Chenzhou also smiled, but then changed the subject and asked the other party, “Why did Young Master He suddenly mention this to me?”

He Hailou still had a faint smile on his lips: “I saw Young Master Gu was so interested in my background, I thought Young Master Gu understood very well.”

Gu Chenzhou glanced at He Hailou, thinking that this excuse was too clumsy.

But at this time, He Hailou laughed again: “Premier He told me not to fool around if I have nothing to do, so I had to go over to appreciate the beautiful scenery and cultivate my sentiments. But being alone on the road is too lonely—”

Gu Chenzhou said: “I’m afraid Young Master He will still have to go on the road alone.”

He Hailou raised his eyebrows.

Gu Chenzhou continued: “However, Young Master He might as well give me the address of the destination. Maybe we can meet by coincidence then?”

The smile on He Hailou’s lips deepened, but he didn’t take out pen and paper. Instead, he stood up, walked to Gu Chenzhou, bent down slightly, leaned close to the other’s ear, and said: “Donglin District, Sangzan City. Young Master Gu can wander around. I think we will definitely meet—”

He saw the other party’s ear close at hand, and his heart was suddenly tickled by a feather. Just as he was hesitating whether to go further or simply retreat, Gu Chenzhou suddenly turned his head.

Their gazes met.

He Hailou straightened up seriously and stepped back two steps, implying that he had no malicious intent, while deeply regretting that he had missed another good opportunity. However, he couldn’t help thinking, this giant lobster, even when drunk, wields its claws well…