Chapter 75#

Chapter 75: Interests, Interests, Interests#

The circle Gu Chenzhou belonged to sometimes acted as a weathervane for the political climate in the capital.

Gu Chenzhou, who had parted ways with He Hailou on the grasslands and returned to the capital on a separate flight, felt this acutely. Before he could even make it home, he was intercepted at the airport by well-informed individuals. Notably, among those who called him out was Qi Lin, the third-generation scion he had specifically sought out at Sangzan Airport.

“Young Master Gu, this isn’t right!” At the airport, Qi Lin feigned a stern expression as soon as he saw Gu Chenzhou. He wasn’t very old, around twenty-five or twenty-six, slightly chubby, with a very genial appearance. Even when trying to look stern, he didn’t seem serious. “We agreed you’d come to my place when you got back. If I hadn’t been keeping tabs on you, you would’ve stood me up!”

“My mistake,” Gu Chenzhou laughed. “Since Young Master Qi is here, how about I play host and treat you to a few days of fun?”

Qi Lin immediately beamed with joy. “I was waiting for you to say that! Everyone heard it; I didn’t force him, Young Master Gu said it himself.”

The people around them immediately started jeering good-naturedly, surrounding Gu Chenzhou as they walked toward the parking lot. Since Gu Chenzhou hadn’t driven, Qi Lin quickly snatched him into his own car. While driving, he leaned toward Gu Chenzhou in the passenger seat and said, “Young Master Gu, I took the liberty of hiding the airport records for you and He Hailou. Do you need…?” This was both a probe and a favor.

Gu Chenzhou smiled nonchalantly. “I just went to the grasslands with him for a trip; it’s no big deal. The people who need to know already know.”

The “people who need to know” naturally referred to He Nanshan and Gu Xinjun, and even the leaders of the factions behind them. As for “went for a trip,” Gu Chenzhou wasn’t lying, but the word “trip” itself could imply many things.

Sure enough, Qi Lin suddenly realized, “So that’s how it is, that’s how it is! I was being meddlesome.” He had thought Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou going to Ishvish together at this time was to do something secretive. But thinking about it a bit more, that was unlikely: if they really wanted to do something secretive, why would Gu Chenzhou have called him?

“I appreciate the sentiment, Young Master Qi,” Gu Chenzhou finally got to the point.

Qi Lin was finally satisfied. “It was just a small effort. What’s the point of mentioning it, Young Master Gu? Say one more word about it and I’ll get angry!”

The subsequent gathering didn’t last too long.

This group of people had rushed to the airport to wait for Gu Chenzhou mainly to show their attitude. Once the message was conveyed, it was enough. Dragging Gu Chenzhou, who had just gotten off a plane, to do physically exhausting things like drag racing or drinking contests would have been too tactless.

Therefore, when Gu Chenzhou parted ways with everyone and returned home, it wasn’t even dinner time yet. He left his luggage in the bedroom, took out a change of clothes from the closet, and was about to take a shower when he received a phone call. He picked it up and looked at the name on the screen. His hand, which was about to decline the call, moved to the answer button. “Zhengjia?”

The call was from Gu Zhengjia.

“Big brother, are you back?” At this time, Gu Zhengjia should still be at school. Besides his voice, there was a lot of background noise of people talking and loud bells ringing.

“Just got home. What’s up?” Gu Chenzhou asked. Although the relationship between the two brothers had been improving since his return to the country, due to the age difference, Gu Chenzhou didn’t often receive calls from Gu Zhengjia.

“Did something happen at home?” Gu Zhengjia’s question almost rendered Gu Chenzhou speechless.

Gu Chenzhou paused. “I just got back. What do you mean?”

“Since last night, several people I don’t usually interact with insisted on dragging me out after class. Same thing when I arrived at school today, and during the lunch break. Just now, I saw things weren’t looking good, so I ran out…” Gu Zhengjia lowered his voice. The noise around him was gradually fading, as if he were walking in the opposite direction of the crowd. “I feel something is wrong. Why are they swarming like ants that smelled honey?”

The matter regarding He Nanshan and Gu Xinjun was only finalized yesterday during the day, yet by that evening, a bunch of people had already gotten the news. This speed…

Gu Chenzhou was also impressed: although news traveled fast in the capital, Gu Zhengjia had absolutely no reaction to it. He simply told Gu Zhengjia, “Dad took over the border affairs from He Nanshan in Suilin.”

Gu Zhengjia immediately understood. “Does that mean Dad won?”

“What kind of talk is that?” Gu Chenzhou chuckled. “Didn’t Auntie tell you?”

“She went on a business trip,” Gu Zhengjia said, feeling a bit out of touch with current events. “Was this on the news yesterday? I didn’t turn on the TV yesterday…”

“…If they had to rely on the news to get information, it would be like peaches on a tree—anyone could pick one,” Gu Chenzhou said. “Where are you now?”

“Still at school,” Gu Zhengjia replied.

“Has everyone left?” Gu Chenzhou asked.

“No, I’m taking a hidden path,” Gu Zhengjia coughed.

“I’ll come pick you up.” Gu Chenzhou threw the clothes he had taken out onto the bed, turned around, and grabbed his keys. “Don’t leave. Go back to your classroom. If those people are there, tell them to wait and that I’m coming over—since Auntie isn’t here, I’ll take you out to eat.”

“Okay,” Gu Zhengjia, who had been told by his mother since childhood to get along well with his big brother, agreed reflexively before asking, “Brother, how many people are eating?”

“Just the two of us.” By the time Gu Chenzhou finished saying this, he had already gone downstairs, gotten the car, and was driving toward Gu Zhengjia’s school.

It was rush hour, and traffic was bad. When Gu Chenzhou arrived at Gu Zhengjia’s school, thirty minutes had passed since their phone call.

In the classroom, just as Gu Zhengjia had said, a large circle of people surrounded him. Gu Chenzhou walked up, patted Gu Zhengjia on the shoulder over the crowd, and then casually exchanged a few words with the people around them. Before Gu Zhengjia could say anything, the surrounding men and women dispersed contentedly. Before leaving the classroom in twos and threes, they all greeted Gu Zhengjia with bright smiles.

Gu Zhengjia: “…”

Gu Chenzhou pulled him along. “Let’s go.”

Gu Zhengjia: “That’s unscientific. You didn’t even say anything…”

Gu Chenzhou said, “After you bond with those people every now and then, you won’t need to say anything either. Just show an attitude, and they’ll understand.”

Understood. So my words are useless. Gu Zhengjia made a wry face.

“What do you want to eat tonight?” Gu Chenzhou asked.

Gu Zhengjia thought for a moment. “Anything is fine. It’s the weekend, no evening study hall. Usually, if I have time, I just whip something up myself…”

Gu Chenzhou, who had suggested eating together, suddenly felt the burden of “whipping something up” land on his shoulders. Having just gotten off a plane and rushed over, he made an executive decision: “Let’s order takeout. Chinese food?”

“Whatever works.” Gu Zhengjia really didn’t care.

In the end, Gu Chenzhou drove Gu Zhengjia home. He didn’t order takeout from a big hotel but chose a nearby restaurant with decent food—anyone would get sick of eating rich meals every day.

Afterward, Gu Chenzhou turned on the TV to watch the 7:00 PM news broadcast as usual. Gu Zhengjia sat with him for a while, then rubbed his full belly, told Gu Chenzhou he was going out for a walk, and left.

Gu Chenzhou nodded absently, understanding why his brother had zero sensitivity to such matters: despite being born into a political family and watching the daily news with the family since childhood, he had never truly developed the habit of watching the news…

Half an hour later, the news broadcast ended, and Gu Zhengjia returned from outside. However, entering the house along with Gu Zhengjia, who had gone for a walk, was Gu Xinjun, who had just flown back from Suilin. If it weren’t for the impending leadership change and the factional struggle—one being the Head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the other a Vice Premier, both incredibly busy with countless tasks—it would have been impossible for the two of them to stay in one province for so long.

“Dad,” Gu Chenzhou stood up and greeted him, not surprised.

Gu Xinjun nodded, walked to the sofa, sat down, and asked, “When did you get back?”

“Three o’clock this afternoon,” Gu Chenzhou replied.

“Any reaction from outside?” Gu Xinjun asked.

“Nothing special. Whichever side of the Yu or Wang faction tips the scale, they lean that way.” To outsiders, this might seem a bit hasty, but in reality, those who rushed out were all the younger generation who hadn’t entered officialdom yet. On the surface, it was indeed the most direct signal of “I think highly of you, I support you.” But in reality, what did it matter if these second and third generations changed their stance ten times a day? As long as the elders in the political arena didn’t move, could you really take a child’s actions seriously?

But at the same time, once they chose the right direction, the actions of these “children” became the reason for the adults in the political arena to make contact later: they were both testing the waters and extending olive branches.

Just as Gu Xinjun was about to speak, a call came directly to his mobile phone.

The number of people who could contact him directly was limited. Gu Xinjun glanced at the phone, answered, and said, “Secretary Wang, why are you calling?”

“Minister Gu, you’re home, right?” Wang Boyuan said on the other end.

“Yes, just arrived…” Gu Xinjun said. Wang Boyuan then said in a deep voice, “Just after you left Suilin Province, Comrade Chenshui was taken away by the discipline inspection people!”

Gu Xinjun was startled. Due to displeasure and slight anger, his voice dropped noticeably. “What? What’s going on! When I left, the attitude was already very clear that Comrade Chenshui would take full responsibility for border affairs in my stead—I just got off the plane, it hasn’t even been five or six hours, how is he already in custody?”

Wang Boyuan said, “It’s about an urban planning and construction case from a year ago. Someone sent an anonymous report letter to the discipline inspection, saying Comrade Chenshui was unjust and corrupt during that demolition. The time, place, and events were listed very clearly.”

This was to say that such a thing did indeed happen.

Gu Xinjun frowned and said after a while, “Secretary, for something from a year ago to blow up at a time like this,” referring to the moment when Jiang Chenshui was about to take on heavy responsibilities, “it was planned long ago.”

Who had planned it long ago was self-evident.

Gu Xinjun stated his position again: “It was my mistake not to take good care of Comrade Chenshui. Secretary, leave this matter to me to handle!”

Wang Boyuan sighed. “Minister Gu, if we’re talking about mistakes, we both made them.”

Gu Xinjun paused. “What do you mean, Secretary?”

Sitting on the sofa in his own home, Wang Boyuan said slowly, “Comrade Chenshui is the person the Old Master entrusted to me.”

Gu Xinjun seemed greatly shocked, his voice sounding a bit strange. “Jiang Chenshui…”

Wang Boyuan’s voice was heavy. “Not many people know about this. Old Gu, we’ve already failed the Old Master’s intentions once; we can’t let it happen a second time!”

But this time, Gu Xinjun didn’t make a direct and decisive statement like before. “Secretary Wang, I understand what you mean, but since He Nanshan has intervened… You know his methods. Since the deed is done, every aspect has been considered. Even if I can get Comrade Chenshui out, I’m afraid I can’t smooth over the matter that has been exposed…”

For these officials, it was fine as long as things weren’t exposed. Once exposed, it became a lifelong political stain, basically ending any hope of promotion.

“Vice Premier He probably doesn’t know about this either,” Wang Boyuan pointed out on the phone—in fact, it wasn’t “probably,” but definitely. If He Nanshan knew, he wouldn’t touch Jiang Chenshui, whom the Old Master had noticed, even if he moved against Gu Xinjun.

Gu Xinjun’s tone suddenly became indifferent. “I understand what you mean, Secretary Wang. I think Minister Hao would be very suitable to be the notifier.” This made it clear he refused to have any private or public compromise with He Nanshan.

Wang Boyuan lowered his voice. “Comrade Gu Xinjun, when we worked together in Suilin, you didn’t have the habit of pushing things onto others!”

Gu Xinjun simply clarified, “Secretary Wang, regarding He Nanshan, Minister Hao is indeed more suitable. At least their relationship is much simpler than mine with He Nanshan.”

Having said this much, even a leader had to be considerate of a subordinate’s feelings, not to mention that Wang Boyuan and Gu Xinjun didn’t have a direct subordinate relationship right now. Wang Boyuan could only say faintly, “Then let’s leave it at that,” and hung up.

The call ended. Separated by half of Beijing, both parties on the call smiled faintly at the same time.

In the living room, Wang Yuhan brought out a bowl of rock sugar pear soup for coughs and placed it on the table, calling her father over. “Dad, your soup.” She happened to see a hint of a smile on her father’s lips and recalled the bits and pieces she had just heard. She couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong? Who were you talking to? Didn’t you seem unhappy chatting?”

Wang Boyuan chuckled, stood up, and sat at the dining table. “What is there to be unhappy about?”

Wang Yuhan glanced at her father strangely, thinking it was probably political matters again, so she didn’t pry. She watched Wang Boyuan finish the soup, cleared the dishes, and went back to her room to do her own things.

“He Nanshan moved against Jiang Chenshui.” After hanging up, this was the first thing Gu Xinjun said to Gu Chenzhou sitting beside him.

Gu Chenzhou smiled slightly and tapped the armrest of the sofa with his finger. “The toughness He Nanshan is showing now is partly orchestrated by that person from the Yu faction behind the scenes, but the other half belongs to him personally—even if he wasn’t that tough originally, after so many years, he’s used to being tough. A tough person is often very confident. This confidence isn’t just in himself but extends to the people around him…”

Gu Chenzhou spoke slowly, “Fang Yu is someone He Nanshan picked personally. He has been with He Nanshan for so long and has never made a mistake, enjoying He Nanshan’s deep trust. Psychologically, He Nanshan trusts the documents he produces by 50% right off the bat. For the remaining 50%, we didn’t even need to do anything special. We just had to place Jiang Chenshui on the opposite side of He Nanshan. If Jiang Chenshui is low-key, he’s easy to handle, and Fang Yu, knowing He Nanshan wants to establish authority, would inevitably add him to the list; if Jiang Chenshui isn’t low-key, he lacks tact, and Fang Yu would want to remove him for He Nanshan even more—”

At this point, Gu Chenzhou smiled again. “As for how to put Jiang Chenshui on the opposite side of He Nanshan, it couldn’t be simpler. Didn’t Secretary Wang ask Dad to take good care of Jiang Chenshui? The current administration handing Jiang Chenshui over to Secretary Wang already made him naturally take a side; Secretary Wang then handing him over to you, and you vigorously promoting and ’taking good care’ of him…”

The key to this round, besides He Nanshan’s personality and Jiang Chenshui’s position, was that He Nanshan wasn’t well-informed enough and didn’t know that Jiang Chenshui was someone noted by the current administration. However, Gu Xinjun, standing with the Wang faction and controlling the promotion and transfer of all officials, could easily analyze these things through clues.

They didn’t even have to intervene much to solidly pit He Nanshan. After a simple exchange of interests with Gu Xinjun, He Nanshan, who had just retreated from the storm in Suilin, appeared in the eyes of the current administration again.

Actually, it was originally like this: He Nanshan could analyze Gu Xinjun’s personality and use the Shi Shan matter to solidly pit the Gu and Wei families once, forcing them to side with the Wang faction, but at the same time exposing himself. Once both sides were in the open, if He Nanshan could analyze the Gu and Wei families, the Gu family could naturally analyze He Nanshan and similarly use the flaws in his personality to win a round.

“The timing is about right…” Gu Xinjun said.

Gu Chenzhou smiled knowingly, understanding that his father meant He Nanshan getting the news. He asked, “Will the Old Master use this matter to make a move?”

Gu Xinjun shook his head. “The Old Master certainly favors Secretary Wang—that’s because Secretary Wang is from his faction. But in the Old Master’s heart, if Secretary Wang won’t do, that person from the Yu faction might not be unacceptable. The fact that this matter successfully made the Old Master take notice of He Nanshan is also because He Nanshan has been too much in the limelight recently.”

Gu Chenzhou nodded slightly and said no more.

Just as they expected, He Nanshan received the news at this time.

Yu Shuifeng told him personally. For two consecutive days, Yu Shuifeng had personally called He Nanshan twice.

After taking this call, He Nanshan’s face darkened rarely. He walked to the window and looked out for a long while. Then he dialed his chief secretary Fang Yu’s number. Once connected, he said only one sentence: “Come to my place within an hour, and bring He Hailou.”

Receiving the call unexpectedly, Fang Yu dared not delay. He quickly set off from home, first digging He Hailou out of some money-squandering den in the capital through various informants, then driving hurriedly to Zhende Garden. When he arrived at Zhende Garden, it was exactly five minutes to the hour.

“Premier, I’m here.” When Fang Yu walked into the hall with He Hailou, He Nanshan was sitting on the sofa.

He Nanshan nodded slightly, pointed to the sofa opposite him, signaling Fang Yu to sit down, and then said indifferently to He Hailou, “You sit down and listen too.”

He Hailou nonchalantly tugged at his open collar. He was about to button the second button of his shirt when he saw a faint red smudge on his clothes. He was stunned for a moment, then seemed to recall something, and his expression became a bit strange.

“Jiang Chenshui is the Old Master’s man.” He Nanshan said only one sentence. In fact, it was just this one matter.

He Hailou didn’t react much, but Fang Yu, who had prepared the documents and acted swiftly to handle the matter, turned pale. He still remembered the document he gave He Nanshan; on the fourth line of the first page was this person’s information, the general gist being that he had no backing but jumped around the most happily!

This was the gravest mistake. Cold sweat trickled down Fang Yu’s back, and for a moment, he couldn’t even maintain his basic composure. “P-Premier, I didn’t—”

He Nanshan said indifferently, “Since the other party wanted to hide it from you, of course you couldn’t find out.”

Fang Yu breathed a long sigh of relief inwardly, followed by inexplicable gratitude. This matter was, of course, a game between He Nanshan and Gu Xinjun, but it was also inextricably linked to him; it was a very serious error in his work.

With the responsibility lifted first, Fang Yu’s usual shrewdness and competence returned. “Premier, what do we do now?”

He Nanshan lowered his eyes slightly. “How is Jiang Chenshui’s case?”

Fang Yu vaguely grasped He Nanshan’s thoughts and said cautiously, “All the evidence is ready, and the process is almost complete.”

“Good work,” He Nanshan said. “Speed it up and finalize the case directly.” What’s done is done. Now that it had caught the current administration’s eye, stopping now wouldn’t salvage much of an impression. It was better to play the time difference and finalize the matter directly—if they waited for the administration to state a position, he would be forced to stop. Then, people in officialdom wouldn’t say Jiang Chenshui was the administration’s man; they would only say he, He Nanshan, couldn’t even clean up a small department-level figure.

Having simply explained the matter here, He Nanshan started talking to Fang Yu about Gu Xinjun.

He Hailou, listening to their conversation on the adjacent sofa, had a slight flicker in his eyes. He Nanshan was talking about Gu Xinjun, but he was thinking of Gu Chenzhou.

Did Gu Chenzhou know about this? Did he participate? Was it even… his idea?

Just like how this exchange of interests between the Gu and He families was first brought up to He Nanshan by him…