Golden Scale [EN]: Chapter 151

The Movie Review: Golden Carp is Not Meant for the Pond

Hou Longtao and Long were driven back to the hotel in Huo Jiacheng’s Rolls-Royce.

“We’ll buy a few of these later,” Long patted Hou Longtao’s back. “That car is a real status symbol.”

“Buy one yourself if you want. I don’t want one. Only old men ride in those things.”

“Look at you. Is that why your Uncle Gu didn’t stick with you back then?” Long tore off his tie. Wearing such formal evening wear was really uncomfortable.

“Hmph,” Hou Longtao shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it was to motivate me to keep working hard. You can’t buy Oriental Plaza without effort.”

“Did you lose earlier?” Long followed Fourth Brother out of the elevator.

“Lost over 20,000. What about you?”

“I won over 50,000. My treat for some action? The girls here are top-notch. Let’s get ten or twenty of them to have some fun.”

“Hahahaha, get lost.” Hou Longtao kicked Long in the butt, pushing him into his suite.

“Damn, giving you face and you don’t want it.” Long closed the door.

Hou Longtao opened his suite with his key card.

Feng Jie, wearing sexy lingerie, immediately greeted him, cupping the man’s cheeks and kissing his lips. “Husband…” Her expression and actions were like those of a newlywed wife, endlessly infatuated with her beloved husband.

Shi Ya did not disappoint Hou Longtao’s trust. All obstacles to Dongxing Group’s entry into the pharmaceutical market were cleared with her help.

Beijing Shuntiantang Hospital provided the best conditions for clinical trials of Dongxing Pharmaceutical Group’s new kidney drug, “Golden Carp Treasure.” Over a month, after 1,500 clinical tests, the effectiveness rate reached a shocking 100 percent.

Major media outlets “friendly” with Dongxing Group, including CCTV [China Central Television, the state broadcaster], began to introduce the new drug extensively, calling it a “boon for kidney patients and those with kidney deficiency.”

In less than half a month after “Golden Carp Treasure” hit the market, many pharmacies were already out of stock. Dongxing Pharmaceutical Group’s factories had to work overtime to produce it, and the construction of the new factory was in full swing.

Xiang Nianxiu’s American pharmaceutical company promoted him to Deputy Director in China. With his help, they purchased the exclusive agency rights for the overseas market of “Golden Carp Treasure.” The contract amount was not disclosed to the public, but industry insiders estimated it to be in the “millions of dollars per year” range.

At the end of June, Huanghe Industrial and Dongxing Real Estate Group signed a contract in Beijing for the transfer of ownership of Oriental Plaza.

In an instant, Dongxing’s reputation soared, becoming a top Asian business group. According to outside rumors, Dongxing’s senior executives had good personal relationships with idol-level business stars such as Huo Jiacheng and Liu Zhaoji.

Dongxing’s most basic projects were also constantly developing and growing. In two months, more than a dozen cities had passed regulations mandating the installation of motor vehicle exhaust purification devices.

If Dongxing Group was at its zenith now, it would not be an exaggeration. Its exposure rate in Chinese and foreign media was also very high, but the names of Dongxing’s leaders never appeared in any reports.

Sexy Sakura Tamako lay on He Liping’s mature and plump body, their lips and tongues intertwined.

The Movie Review: Golden Carp is Not Meant for the Pond

Tu Qingying slapped the hot mom’s round buttocks from behind.

Hou Longtao leaned against the headboard, delicate Xue Nu rising and falling on him, the Xingyue sisters curled up beside him, sucking on his chest.

Ru Yan ran in excitedly from outside, jumped onto the bed, pressed on Zhi Ji’s body, pressed several keys on the phone in her hand, and then put it to the man’s ear.

Hou Longtao’s dick was tightly clamped by the beautiful girl’s tight pussy. He was already in a state of intoxication. After hearing the phone call, the corners of his mouth almost reached the back of his ears. He also pressed a bunch of keys, and then pressed the speakerphone on the phone, “2004 Beijing Summer College Entrance Examination results, student name, Xue Nu, admission ticket number, XXXXXXXXX, subject, total score, six hundred and forty-three points.”

The huge room fell silent, and all the charming moans stopped.

“How much?” Xue Nu herself couldn’t believe it. A trace of doubt appeared on her flushed face after several orgasms.

“Hmph, my prodigy, the campus belle of Peking University next year.” Hou Longtao threw down the phone, straightened up, and hugged the beautiful girl’s white body.

That night, more than thirty people gathered in two interconnected huge private rooms of “Dongxing Da.” Hou Longtao and his fourteen wives, six brothers, the brothers’ wives, three good friends, and the good friends’ wives all came to congratulate Xue Nu.

Hou Longtao also took this opportunity to gather everyone together to have fun and be lively. During this period, without Tian Donghua supporting him, he was personally busy before and after, and he hadn’t held a large dinner party for a long time.

“Monkey,” Bao Ding raised a glass of beer, pushed Wu Da away, sat next to Hou Longtao, and patted him on the shoulder. “I have an idea. Listen to it.”

“Okay.” Hou Longtao hugged Yu Qian, who was sitting on his right leg.

“Find dozens of people from your crew with clean backgrounds. If they don’t have talent, I’ll send them to the patrol police team. If they have talent, I’ll send them to police academy. In a few years, the entire Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau will be our private army.”

“Hey, what are you talking about?” Yu Qian pushed Bao Ding’s forehead. “I’m from the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Ministry of Public Security. Are you saying this in front of me?”

“Oh, oh, I forgot about that.”

“Don’t be afraid of her,” Hou Longtao kissed the girl’s face. “She’s my person first, and then she’s from the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Ministry of Public Security.”

“Do you want to die?” Yu Qian glared at the man.

Hou Longtao immediately made a very sad and aggrieved expression.

“Hmph,” Yu Qian smiled and kissed the man’s lips. “I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything.”

“It’s a good idea,” Hou Longtao turned to Bao Ding again. “How did you think of it?”

“He watched ‘Infernal Affairs’ too much,” Yixiu also chimed in. “A few nights ago, he came to my place and watched all three in one go, and then he was just thinking wildly.”

“Yes, yes, ‘Infernal Affairs,'” Wu Da pointed at Yixiu. “I thought his idea sounded familiar.”

“What do you mean by thinking wildly?” Bao Ding was not happy. “It was inspiration, damn it. We should learn from other people’s good ideas so that we can continue to improve.”

“Okay, okay, Brother Ding is right.”

The Movie Review: Golden Carp is Not Meant for the Pond

Long clapped his hands straight, “But you forgot what happened to Eric Tsang [a famous Hong Kong actor]?”

“Tch, that’s just acting in a movie. Of course, the gangsters have to be finished. Besides, we’re not sending undercover agents into the Public Security Bureau to help us commit crimes, but to strengthen our team and make our relationship stronger and easier to handle. I’m training street hooligans to become public servants and fight crime. That’s a good thing.”

“Damn, you even have a whole set of arguments,” Da Pang stuffed food into his mouth. “Don’t learn from that stinky monkey. It’s not good.”

“He didn’t learn it from Monkey. He became like this after watching ‘Infernal Affairs’ that day. He always wants to talk in circles and pretend to be profound.”

“Alas, there’s no way,” Bao Ding shook his head helplessly. “A good movie can have a subtle influence on the audience.”

“Good movie? ‘Infernal Affairs’?” Hou Longtao curled his lips. “You think ‘Infernal Affairs’ is well-made? Which one?”

“One, two, and three are all pretty good.”

“Bullshit,” Hou Longtao said dismissively. “The screenwriters are so bad. In our country, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, the weakest are pure police and gangster films with reasoning and tactics. The main reason is that the screenwriters are not good enough. They’re too sloppy and always have obvious loopholes and unreasonable things. If the reasoning and tactics can’t be self-consistent, how can the film be good?”

“‘Infernal Affairs’ is a rare good film in recent years. You can still find so many faults?” Bao Ding stared at Hou Longtao “fiercely.” “I see. Where can’t it be self-consistent? Where are the loopholes? You have to tell me.”

“Damn, what’s there not to say?” Hou Longtao put Yu Qian off his lap. “Let’s start from the back to the front, from the light to the heavy.”

Yu Qian leaned on her lover’s shoulders from behind, biting his ear.

Hou Longtao lit a cigarette. “In the third episode, Anthony Chan, Eric Tsang, and Leon Lai all acted very pretentiously. They wanted to give people a sinister and gloomy feeling, but they didn’t show it at all. Does constantly drooping the corners of their eyes, speaking in a weird tone, and having empty eyes mean they’re sinister?”

“Is this a problem with logical reasoning?”

“No, no, why are you in such a hurry?” Hou Longtao glanced at Li Angyang. “Have you all seen ‘Infernal Affairs 3’? Can anyone tell me why Eric Tsang had Tony Leung beat up Anthony Chan’s brother?”

“Is there an explanation?” Bao Ding turned to Cen Erdezi.

“Who the hell are you asking?”

“Isn’t there?” Bao Ding turned his head back.

“I didn’t see it,” Hou Longtao shrugged. “Maybe I missed it. I didn’t watch that film carefully. Maybe the screenwriter thought the reason was too obvious and didn’t need to explain it. If that’s the case, then I’m stupid.”

“You’re still stupid?” Yu Qian rubbed the man’s face.

“Hmph,” Hou Longtao pulled the girl’s hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Anthony Chan has hundreds of millions of idle funds and the government’s care, and then he wants to join drug trafficking. Only an idiot would believe that. Either he’s an idiot, or would anyone cooperate with an idiot? If I wanted to traffic drugs now, you would all definitely”

The Movie Review: Golden Carp is Not Meant for the Pond

think I’m crazy.”

“That’s true. Really rich people don’t traffic drugs, and most government officials don’t want to have anything to do with drug dealers.” Bao Ding was relatively clear about this.

“But you can’t be too serious about this,” Liu Nan chimed in. “Most people who watch this film are ordinary people. They won’t know the mysteries. Like when you watch U571 [a WWII submarine movie], can a torpedo graze a submarine? It would have exploded long ago, but only real experts know that. We’re just watching for fun.”

“Okay, then let’s not talk about the third episode. Let’s talk about the second episode.” Hou Longtao took a sip of Coke. “The FBI has records of all the big Thai drug lords. They will be closely monitored as soon as they enter the country. They still want to kill the whole family?”

“Here we go again.” Liu Nan threw a napkin on Hou Longtao’s face.

“Third Brother, what are you doing?” Yu Qian kissed her lover’s face with distress.

“I’m fine,” Hou Longtao patted the girl’s hand. “Can’t we let this go? In the beginning, Eric Tsang was very valued by Wu Zhenyu’s family, and Eric Tsang was also very loyal. Carina Lau can just inexplicably ask Andy Lau to kill Wu Zhenyu’s father. There’s still no explanation for why she did that. Is she sick?”

“Ah…” Bao Ding was a little speechless. “That was for Eric Tsang’s good. She just wants her man to be good.”

“What?”

“Damn it, nothing,” Bao Ding waved his hand. “The first episode.”

“Don’t, the second episode isn’t over yet, hehehe,” Hou Longtao wanted to laugh when he saw Bao Ding’s expression. “Andy Lau wants to sleep with Carina Lau, and he stops after getting slapped? Is he a saint?”

“Okay, damn it, the first episode.”

“Okay, okay,” Hou Longtao was so happy. “Only Anthony Wong and another policeman in the entire Hong Kong Police Department know that Tony Leung is an undercover agent. He dares to reveal his identity to Kelly Chen. Is he bragging? Does he not want to live? He sees a psychiatrist once a week.”

“Damn you, that’s in the third episode.”

“Is it?” Hou Longtao scratched his head.

“Um… or it’s in the second episode. I don’t remember. They’re all mixed up. Anyway, it’s definitely not in the first episode.”

“Okay, let’s not talk about this. Eric Tsang is at least a big brother who has made a name for himself. Is he so bad at dealing with people? Andy Lau is already a senior police officer, and he still talks to him in a weird tone, treating him like his subordinate. If that were really the case, he wouldn’t even need Andy Lau to do anything. He would have been killed by someone else long ago.”

“You can’t blame the screenwriter for this. This is just your personal understanding. Are there people like that? Of course there are.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that,” Hou Longtao rubbed his nose. “What I’m going to say next is the biggest logical error and the biggest reasoning loophole in ‘Infernal Affairs’.”

“You’re still trying to be mysterious,” Bao Ding slapped Hou Longtao’s thigh several times. “Tell me quickly.”

“Hmph,” Hou Longtao cleared his throat. “Do you remember the scene where Tony Leung was in Andy Lau’s office?”

“I remember. That’s the part where Tony Leung discovers that Andy Lau is an undercover agent.”

“Yes, think carefully again. Is that part reasonable?”

“Where is it unreasonable? Just tell me.” Bao Ding was about to jump up.

“Tony Leung saw the envelope and knew that Andy Lau was the gangster’s mole in the police station. Why did he run?”

“Are you stupid? Of course, it’s because he’s afraid that Andy Lau will harm him.”

“You’re the stupid one. Why would Andy Lau harm him? Andy Lau doesn’t know that Tony Leung already knows he’s a gangster. Tony Leung’s running away actually alerted Andy Lau. If he didn’t run, he could have restored his police identity and secretly monitored and investigated Andy Lau, and finally brought him to justice…” Hou Longtao stopped suddenly, his brows furrowed tightly, looking like he was thinking hard.

“What’s wrong? Continue,” Bao Ding pushed Hou Longtao. “Continue, hey, what are you doing?”

Hou Longtao slowly stood up as if he hadn’t heard Bao Ding’s words, covering his forehead with his right hand and pacing back and forth. “Holymotherofgod.”

“Did you eat something unclean? What are you muttering about?” Bao Ding sat there scratching his head.

“Fuck!” Hou Longtao slapped his forehead hard. In order not to attract the attention of the women at the other table, he sat back in his chair, but still slapped his forehead hard, gritting his teeth and continuing to curse, “Fuck! Fuck! Shit! Damn it!”

“What’s wrong?” Yu Qian turned around and sat back on Hou Longtao’s lap, pulling his hand away and licking and kissing his forehead where he had slapped himself. “What kind of crazy are you going through?”

“Hmph,” Hou Longtao’s eyes were full of excitement. “I thought I was smart, but I was still played by Tian Donghua. Hmm, he’s got some skill.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t talk about this issue today. I still have to think carefully. I’ll talk about it at the company meeting on Monday.” Hou Longtao was very determined.

Oriental Trade City includes a total of eight office buildings. After Hou Longtao took over Oriental Plaza, he cleared out three entire floors in one of them to serve as the headquarters of Dongxing Group, handling all Dongxing-related businesses.

With his own building, he naturally removed the office in Guangda Building. For two months, the people Hou Longtao arranged had basically mastered how to control the purifier business, and a group of middle-level managers promoted by Tian Donghua gradually lost their power.

In the huge conference room sat ten men and one woman. The woman was Yu Qian in police uniform. She was absent from work again today. Bao Ding, Yixiu, and Li Angyang were not directly related to this matter, but they had watched Hou Longtao’s performance the day before yesterday, and they wanted to come and listen out of curiosity.

“Let me clarify one thing first,” Hou Longtao waited until everyone was comfortable and had prepared their cigarettes and water before starting. “Some time ago, I think everyone could feel that Long and Yu Qian were very close, and there was a big gap between Long and me. That was all fake. It was all a show we put on for Tian Donghua.”

The others stirred, except for Wu Da.

“Oh, I,” Da Pang scratched his head, as if he understood, but a confused expression soon appeared on his face again.

“That’s not right either.”

“If you want to understand this matter, you have to start from the beginning. Are you all interested?” Hou Longtao lit a cigarette.

“Yes, I like listening to you,” Bao Ding took out a bag of melon seeds from his pocket. “Start.”

“Hmph,” Hou Longtao smiled. “The matter started more than a year and a half ago, when I first met Tian Donghua. According to the market value at the time, he doubled the agreed-upon remuneration. If calculated according to the current market value, he asked for more than 300 million. Ma Lian, do you remember what I said at the time?”

“I remember. You seemed to say that one day you would let him know your dissatisfaction.”

“That’s what I said. My impression of him at the time was that he was particularly deep and scheming. Although that’s not a flaw in itself, if it’s on someone I don’t trust, then I have to pay extra attention. Ma Lian, it’s still you. The time I was hospitalized, he helped you solve the prostitute problem, right?”

“That’s right. At that time, you told us not to take advantage of the company in the future.”

“Hmm,” Hou Longtao curled his lips. “That’s because the way he handled it was very appropriate and smooth, but the question is why did he help you? He’s the mayor’s son, an MBA from a famous American university, and at that time he controlled Dongxing’s financial resources. Why would he be so obedient to your hooligan’s unreasonable demands? Why would he be so polite to you?”

“Hey, what do you mean?”

“Don’t be emotional about irrelevant things.” Liu Nan pushed Ma Lian. “Monkey, continue.”

“I just had that feeling at the time. His behavior didn’t seem like a real princeling [son of a high-ranking official], but there was no real evidence that he had bad intentions, but I really felt that there was something wrong with him. He was too close to me, making it difficult for me to sleep and eat, but I couldn’t kick him away at the time, so I had to put someone I trusted next to him.”

“Your quarrel with Long over the vase was to show him?” Liu Nan figured it out.

“It was to let him know that the relationship between our brothers wasn’t really unbreakable.”

“Then why didn’t you tell us in advance? I thought you were really fighting at the time.” Da Pang waved his hand dissatisfied.

“I’ll say it again, if I had told you in advance, your reactions wouldn’t have been real. Even a subtle facial expression could have exposed us.” Hou Longtao lit another cigarette. “In Qinhuangdao, I wanted that mayor’s secretary to feign bribery of Tian Donghua. If he had taken that kickback, it would not only have left me with the capital to deal with him in the future, but also proved that he was greedy for petty gains. People who are greedy for petty gains can’t do great things, so he would be an opponent not to be feared.”

“That kickback wasn’t a one-time thing. An annual income of tens of thousands is not a petty gain.” Ma Lian calculated more carefully.

“That depends on who it is for. A laid-off worker can’t earn hundreds of thousands in a lifetime, and you can earn millions in a day. Would you care about hundreds of thousands? Tian Donghua isn’t as rich as you, but he definitely doesn’t lack those hundreds of thousands. The reason he didn’t take the kickback wasn’t because he was so upright. You can tell from the way he appeared that he doesn’t reject these actions.”

“He doesn’t reject it doesn’t mean he will participate,” Yixiu tried hard not to laugh. He probably thought of something funny in his head. “I don’t reject you people, and I’m very close to you, but I didn’t act like you hooligans.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Damn you, are you looking for a beating?”

“This damn Wang An.”

“Beat him up.”

The whole room started cursing at the same time.

“Inappropriate,” Hou Longtao pointed at Yixiu. “At that time, I couldn’t be sure why he would do that, but it definitely increased my suspicion of him and strengthened my determination to have Long approach him. Later, Yu Qian came back. She had known Tian Donghua for many years, and the Tian Donghua she talked about was very different from the Tian Donghua we knew.”

“The Tian Donghua I know is arrogant,” Yu Qian grabbed a handful of melon seeds from Bao Ding’s pocket. “Absolutely arrogant. I’m surprised he would give you a good face.” She pointed at Ma Lian. “I don’t believe he would let you stab him in front of others. If it were on the street, he wouldn’t even look at you.”

“Hey, why are your words so harsh?” Ma Lian’s face turned a little pale. “We are his bosses.”

“At most, he treats Tao Ge as his boss. You? In fact, he doesn’t even care about Tao Ge.” Yu Qian’s understanding of Tian Donghua is deeper than anyone else’s…(Golden Carp is Not Meant for the Pond)