Golden Scale [EN]: Chapter 74

“The higher-ups?” Hou Longtao stopped in his tracks. Frankly, he didn’t want to get involved in political struggles. Once you fall into that quagmire, it’s hard to get out. He returned to the table and sat down. “How much can you tell me?”

“Not much, but it should satisfy your curiosity.” Seeing that the other party wasn’t pressing him, Gu Quanzhi breathed a sigh of relief. “Since we’ll be working together in the future, I should at least give you a general idea.”

“Alright, Uncle Gu, tell me as much as you can.” Hou Longtao’s tone had softened considerably. He understood that Gu Quanzhi was just an ordinary businessman, and if he were truly involved in a power struggle, he would likely be helpless himself. “Do you know how big ‘Evergreen’ is?”

“The largest private real estate company in Northern China, with total assets exceeding 1.5 billion US dollars.”

“You’ve really done your homework.”

“Know yourself and your enemy, right?”

“In the early days of reform and opening up [Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms starting in 1978], the real estate industry was just emerging. There wasn’t a systematic management system at that time, which created many overnight millionaires. But when I entered the real estate industry, speculative methods and capital alone were no longer enough. To gain a foothold and continue to develop and grow, the support of political figures is essential. To put it this way, my connections in Beijing weren’t built in a day or two, or with a hundred or two million. However, they are still not as strong as Mao Zhengyi’s connections with the Shanghai officials, and my words don’t carry as much weight as his.”

“That’s for sure. Although Shanghai is also a municipality directly under the central government, Beijing is the imperial capital. Old Mao can be the local emperor of Shanghai, but no matter how much money you spend, you can’t dominate Beijing.” Hou Longtao was even more convinced of his earlier thoughts. “There’s no need to tell me all this. I already guessed that you have your difficulties. Haven’t you noticed that my address to you has changed?”

“Very good, very good. Then let’s get down to business. How much do you know about Chinese history?”

“History? I don’t know much, but I know the dynasties and such.”

“You understand the principle of ‘a new emperor, a new court,’ right?”

“I understand that.”

“What is the first major task after the crown prince ascends the throne after the old emperor dies?”

“To rectify the court and eliminate dissidents.”

“Yes, except for those old ministers who have made great contributions and are loyal, from the regional officials to the palace eunuchs, anyone with the slightest disloyalty will be on the blacklist.”

“Does this have anything to do with us?”

“No, I’m just chatting with you about history. Not far away, in recent history, Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty [reigned 1875-1908] found that Ronglu was disloyal to him after he ascended the throne. What should he do? Ronglu was Cixi’s [Empress Dowager Cixi, 1835-1908] man, so he couldn’t just be arrested and killed. Guangxu went to Cixi and told her that Ronglu was very bad and that he wanted to get rid of him. Of course, Cixi knew that Ronglu was bad, but he was her man, and if she killed him, her power would be greatly weakened, and she also knew that Guangxu wanted to weaken her power to some extent…”

“Wait, wait,” Hou Longtao interrupted Gu Quanzhi. “Historically…”

“You wait,” Gu Quanzhi interrupted Hou Longtao again. “What did I just say about you? You have brains, but no patience. Are you sure that the history you know is correct? Why don’t you wait for me to finish before you offer your opinion?”

“Okay, okay, you go on, I won’t interrupt anymore.” Hou Longtao put a cigarette in his mouth.

“The problem is that Guangxu was the rightful emperor, and Cixi couldn’t let him lose face too much. Cixi asked her son what specific crimes Ronglu had committed. Guangxu said he had taken huge bribes, colluded with treacherous merchants, and oppressed the people. Cixi told him to produce evidence, not just rely on words. But Guangxu didn’t have any real evidence in his hands. Now Cixi had something to work with, and she scolded her son severely, telling him not to make baseless accusations again.”

At this moment, the waiter brought in the Peking duck. Gu Quanzhi didn’t stop. “Guangxu secretly resolved to find the evidence. But how easy was that? Ronglu was an important minister in the court and was protected by Cixi. If he were to be investigated through normal procedures, nothing would be found, and it might even anger Cixi. Especially if the Qing Dynasty’s official laws were not strictly enforced during the investigation, it would be giving Cixi an excuse to weaken or even strip Guangxu of his power.”

“Tan Sitong should appear now, right?” Hou Longtao asked as he stuffed duck into his mouth.

“Yes, you can’t investigate the bribed officials, but you can investigate the bribing merchants. But if you investigate openly, you still need to pay attention to procedures, and it’s impossible to bypass the local government where the treacherous merchants are located. So Tan Sitong went through many twists and turns and found someone who knew the inside story of the treacherous merchants and had potential conflicts of interest with them. That person was Yuan Shikai.”

“Uncle Yuan, eat some duck.” Hou Longtao put a piece of duck meat on Gu Quanzhi’s plate.

“Hmph, hmph, that Yuan Shikai is a commoner. He can use all legal and illegal means to get the evidence and then give it to Tan Sitong anonymously. Tan Sitong will then report it to Guangxu, and Guangxu can then attack Ronglu and plant his own forces in Ronglu’s original position. If Yuan Shikai is caught in the process, according to the prior agreement, he will not, and dare not, reveal his superiors, so Guangxu will not be implicated.”

“It’s a bit like the CIA spies in the movies. The country will not recognize your existence.”

“It’s a bit like that, but even if you don’t admit it, people still know where you come from, it’s just that there’s no evidence. But Yuan Shikai himself wants to seize the property of the treacherous merchants. If he is caught, he has enough motivation to make people believe that his actions are completely independent.” Gu Quanzhi couldn’t say too much, but once he started talking, he couldn’t stop.

Except for a few details, Hou Longtao understood almost everything. “Based on the evidence found by Yuan Shikai, I don’t think only Ronglu will be in trouble, the entire Ronglu faction will not have a good time, right?”

“That’s why investigating treacherous merchants is much more cost-effective than directly investigating Ronglu.”

“So I’m just a pawn in this matter.” Hou Longtao was a little self-deprecating, because he had always thought that Mao Zhengyi was the ultimate target.

“You can’t say you’re just a pawn, you’re a relatively important pawn. If he hadn’t insisted on resisting foreign aggression and killing his own strategist, Yuan Shikai would not have had the opportunity.”

“What benefits will Yuan Shikai get for helping Guangxu so much?”

“He will take over all the land of the treacherous merchants at a shockingly low price. At the same time, the 1.3 million mules and horses originally belonging to Ronglu will be equipped with dung catchers [a euphemism for being assigned undesirable tasks or positions].” Gu Quanzhi smiled slightly.

This last sentence made Hou Longtao laugh. “Sis, please leave, we don’t need you here.” He had been concentrating on listening to Gu Quanzhi’s lecture and hadn’t noticed the waiter next to him, otherwise he would have asked her to leave long ago. That sister was a girl from another province with a junior high school education, and she was also studying high school courses on her own. As soon as she left the private room, she couldn’t help but cover her mouth and laugh. Today, she had finally seen how uncultured Beijingers could be.

“Uncle Gu,” Hou Longtao leaned forward and shook Gu Quanzhi’s hand. “With that one thing you just said, I won’t pursue Yuan Shikai’s greed for life and fear of death.”

“Hmph, hmph, sit down. Yuan Shikai is not greedy for life and afraid of death. He made a very careful consideration, weighed the pros and cons, and finally decided to let his nephew go.”

“Oh? Then I’ll listen carefully.” Hou Longtao’s butt fell back into the chair.

“Simply put, no one can save Yuan Shikai, but Yuan Shikai can save his nephew. In fact, when his nephew was in prison, Yuan Shikai lied to Tan Sitong that all the evidence was still in his nephew’s hands and was willing to pay for his nephew to hire a carriage. Because of Yuan Shikai in the middle, Tan Sitong dared to send a car. If Yuan Shikai himself was in prison, Tan Sitong would not dare to save him. It sounds a bit convoluted, but if you think about it carefully, you should be able to understand.”

“In other words, Tan Sitong would never associate with the front-line figures who were against the treacherous merchants.”

“You’re really quick-witted,” Gu Quanzhi nodded. “Our future cooperation will be very pleasant.”

“Don’t talk about the future, let’s continue to talk about history.” Hou Longtao was not completely satisfied yet. “If Guangxu agrees to send a car, it is impossible to completely hide it from the Ronglu faction. How can they cooperate?”

“First of all, they don’t know the purpose of that carriage. Secondly, not everyone in the Ronglu faction has been valued by the treacherous merchants. Rather than being frustrated, they would rather see the old pattern broken and become heroes in establishing a new pattern. Throughout history, these people are an indispensable force in all reforms.”

“I understand. One last question, also an old question, why didn’t Yuan Shikai tell his nephew about the possible danger?”

“If a person knows that he is surrounded by crises, he will be nervous, unable to think well, and the probability of making low-level mistakes will be greatly increased. The place he is going to is a dangerous place. In addition to adapting to the circumstances, other preparations are in vain. If he takes many people there, once the battle starts, no matter whether the treacherous merchants’ family members can deal with it, the situation will be out of control. Ronglu, who didn’t need to intervene, would have to send troops, which would ruin the big event.”

Hou Longtao didn’t say anything for a long time after listening. What the other party said made sense. If he really took dozens of people to Shanghai, whether it was necessary or not, if a fight really broke out, although he and Longdu were unlikely to be injured, the Shanghai police would have to come forward. “Ginger is still old and spicy. Compared with you, I am far behind. I don’t consider problems comprehensively enough. I hope you can teach me more in the future.”

“Longtao, you really make me very satisfied,” Gu Quanzhi patted the young man’s shoulder. “You are still young. With your brains and courage, and after a few years of training and accumulating enough experience, I believe you will never be a thing in a pond [remain insignificant]. With you and Nannan at the helm of ‘East Star’ and ‘Evergreen’, I am very relieved.”

“Thank you, Teacher Gu, for your praise.” Hou Longtao took out a cigarette from the cigarette case, respectfully handed it to Gu Quanzhi, and respectfully lit it for him, which was regarded as acknowledging him as his teacher.

“Are there any knots between us?”

“No.”

“Then the purpose of our meal has been achieved,” Gu Quanzhi knew from his understanding of Hou Longtao that this young man would more or less have doubts about the truth of the matter, so he made a separate appointment with him before the official celebration banquet to give him a chance to vent. “Are you full? If you’re full, let’s go. Tonight’s meal is the real meal.”

“Okay,” Hou Longtao stood up. “What should we do next?”

“We have already done what we should do. After you came back last night, Secretary Huang sent the evidence to the venue. Now everything is in Tan Sitong’s hands. Next, we just wait for the good news. By the way,” Gu Quanzhi took out a photo from the inner pocket of his suit and handed it to Hou Longtao. “I heard from Bei Ying that you seem to have a special interest in this, so I privately kept it.”

Hou Longtao glanced at it and put the photo away. “Hmph, Mr. Wu has followed Mao Zhengyi for so many years, and he has really developed the ability to observe people’s expressions.”

“You are also one of his new bosses. Whether he has any dissatisfaction with you or not, he still has to please you. I think he is more worried that you will not forget the old grudges against him.”

“He can rest assured on this point. Now everyone is a comrade in the same trench. He was not targeting me personally before. I still have the magnanimity to forgive and forget the past.”

The two came downstairs. Gu Quanzhi’s S600 had been waiting for him by the side of the road. Before getting into the car, he asked again, “Longtao, have you ever suspected that Nannan was also involved in designing you?”

“No, never.”

“What if I tell you he was also involved?”

“Then it can only mean that you are lying to me.” Hou Longtao smiled slightly and walked towards his SL500…

There was nothing special about the feasting and drinking at “Shunfeng” in the evening. After the dinner, the seven brothers came to Liu Nan’s duplex apartment in Shuangjing, ready to play mahjong all night. “Out with a one of bamboo.” Hou Longtao was watching today, observing the battle behind Da Pang. “I was cheated on.”

“What!?” Da Pang stood up suddenly, almost overturning the table. “Fourth brother, what did you say?”

The others were also a little dazed by this sudden sentence. “Green hat [cuckolded]?”

Hou Longtao didn’t say anything, pouting his lips and sitting on the sofa. For him, admitting in front of his brothers that his woman had been messed with by someone else was not an easy thing. He didn’t know how to start, so he blurted out a sentence like that just now. “You didn’t drink just now.” Wu Da walked over and handed him a cigarette. “I’m not kidding. When Long and I were in Shanghai, Li Ping was taken, which is why she had to see me last night.”

“Who the hell is it!?”

“Fourth brother, you…”

“Quick, let’s go chop up that bastard!”

“Yes, castrate him!”

“Dare to touch my sister-in-law, bury that bastard alive!” The scene now is probably what is called “popular indignation.”

“Okay, okay, stop arguing.” Hou Longtao suppressed everyone’s voices. “You can’t even castrate him, the other party is a lesbian.”

As soon as these words came out, the remaining six brothers looked at each other. For a while, the only sound in the entire hall was the sound from the TV. “Damn, laugh if you want to.” Hou Longtao saw that everyone was trying to hold back, especially Er Dezi, whose facial muscles were twitching. “Hahaha…”

“Hehehe…” Several people laughed, and then started to shuffle the cards again. The tense atmosphere just now was gone. “Don’t you like GirlOnGirlAction?”

“You’re really a bunch of bastards. What I like is the same-sex behavior of my women with feelings. According to you, if any aunt [lesbian] comes to my women, I should be very happy?”

“Hehehe,” Wu Da laughed strangely. “Why are you still pretending to be righteous in front of us? If things were really as simple as you said, you would have done that woman long ago.”

“That’s right, fourth brother, just tell us, who is that girl?”

“Situ Qingying.”

“I fuck.”

“Hehehe…”

“Oh…”

“Um um um…” There was another commotion. Liu Nan also sat next to Hou Longtao and put his arm around his fourth brother’s shoulders. “That girl is pretty hot. She messes with your woman, so you go fuck her pussy. Anyway, we haven’t had time to settle the ‘Tyrannosaurus’ account yet. Now that the Shanghai matter has been settled, it’s time to clean up the house.”

Hou Longtao frowned, looking at his third brother strangely. He didn’t understand what the last half of the sentence meant. Liu Nan saw that his fourth brother was a little confused and stopped smiling, putting on a serious expression. “I don’t care how complicated the relationship between you and ‘Tyrannosaurus’ is. Times have changed. As long as you can convince my uncle to come forward, it may not be easy to completely eradicate him, but it is definitely not difficult.”

“No,” Hou Longtao shook his head. “There is also a way. If we want to stand firm in the underworld, we must be trustworthy. The only change next Friday night is to allocate twenty people to me. Everything else will proceed as planned.”

“Since you say so, I have no objection.” Liu Nan shrugged. “Okay, our principle is to target things, not people.” Hou Longtao returned to the table to watch his eldest brother play cards…

In the next few days, the eighty security guards of the “East Star” factory were divided into eight groups, responsible for secretly protecting Hou Longtao’s seven beloved wives and his parents. He thought that Mao Zhengyi would jump over the wall in desperation [resort to desperate measures]. Even if he didn’t send people to Beijing to cause trouble, he would come to Beijing himself to seek a chance to recover. But for several days in a row, there was no movement, as if nothing special had happened.

Hou Longtao called Gu Quanzhi almost every day to inquire about the development of the situation. Gu Quanzhi’s answer was always “still talking,” until Friday afternoon, when he told Hou Longtao that “Guangxu and Cixi had reached an agreement.” Although he did not reveal the specific details, he made it clear that “the treacherous merchants were under Guangxu’s strict surveillance and could not pose any threat to Yuan Shikai and Yuan Shikai’s family.”

In addition to this matter, Hou Longtao was worried about Aunt Qi these days. He had not received a call from his life-saving benefactor. On Wednesday, he simply sent two people to Shanghai, but the people at the dock did not know where Aunt Qi’s family had gone. Hou Longtao could only order his people to hire two people to guard there every day. Once Aunt Qi returned to Shanghai, he would know immediately…

On Friday night, dark clouds were dense, and not a trace of moonlight could penetrate the thick clouds. At 11:00, five groups of people set off from “East Star Rising,” four of which went to the four mid-range restaurants under the name of “Tyrannosaurus,” the purpose of which was self-evident. The last group was led by Hou Longtao himself, with a Lamborghini followed by three “Jinbei” vans [a type of Chinese minivan], heading straight to the Fuli Plastic Factory located in the southeastern corner of Chaoyang District. The director and party secretary of that factory were old acquaintances of “Tyrannosaurus”…

In a large warehouse of the Fuli Plastic Factory, half of the space was filled with plastic containers that had not yet left the factory. The lights in the warehouse were not too dim. Five shiny “Yamaha 400CC” motorcycles were parked in a three-two formation in front of stacks of packaging boxes several meters high. Further ahead was a black-seated, pure silver-bodied Harley-DavidsonVRSCAV-ROD, the factory price of the basic model of this car is 18695 US dollars.

In a corner of the warehouse, there was a square table, and five rogue-looking men were sitting at the table playing poker. The door of the administrator’s room opened, and a slender woman with a cigarette in her mouth and a pure silver motorcycle helmet in her hand walked out. She was wearing black low-waisted shiny leather pants, and a black navel-baring tight-fitting high-necked T-shirt. Behind her head was a parabolic braid that dragged all the way to the parallel position of her round and upturned buttocks, which were stretched by the leather pants. This person was Situ Qingying.

“Sister Feng.” The five rogues stood up when they saw the woman approaching. “Today is the first time I lead the team myself. Everyone should do things beautifully and earn me some face.”

“Sister Feng, don’t worry, it’s just smashing two stores.”

“Okay,” the woman looked at her watch, it was almost 0:30 in the morning. “Let’s set off now. My godfather told me to only target things, not people.”

“Why is that?”

“Hmph, my godfather hasn’t given up on that idiot yet. He wants to force him to cooperate. If you ask me, just do him directly.” Situ Qingying picked up a baseball bat from the wall. “Let’s go.” When facing her, the rogues all looked respectful, but when the woman turned to walk towards the motorcycle, their eyes fell on her buttocks, and their eyes almost burst into flames. If they wouldn’t die if they touched her, they would probably have pounced on her and raped her.

Situ Qingying was very excited today. In the past, when she went out to do errands, she was always accompanied by one or two older brothers. Two days ago, she had her twenty-first birthday, and “Tyrannosaurus” finally agreed to let her lead the team herself. In order to prove that she was stronger than her brothers, she ignored “Tyrannosaurus”‘s warning and insisted on halving the number of people in the team, only taking five people to complete the task of ten people. In fact, there was also a reason why she didn’t take Hou Longtao seriously.

According to the information provided by “Tyrannosaurus,” Hou Longtao was likely to spend the night in one of the two targets tonight. When Situ Qingying thought about leading people into the bar later, dragging the sleeping Hou Longtao out of bed, and scaring him to piss his pants, her whole body became hot. The woman stopped and turned her head. “Did you bring the camera?”

“Brought it.” A man patted the satchel he was carrying on his body.

“Record the whole process later, especially the appearance of that ‘East Star Prince’.” Although “Tyrannosaurus” said “target things, not people,” Situ Qingying still planned to beat Hou Longtao up, at least slap him a few loud slaps, and then take the video to show the only woman who really moved her heart, to let her know what the man looked like, and to let her know who was the real strong one.

The beauty straddled her “mount,” inserted the stick into the leather case hanging diagonally on the rear wheel, threw away the cigarette butt, crushed it on the ground with her black leather boots, and pressed the helmet on her head with both hands. Her helmet was different from ordinary “full helmets.” There was an opening at the back of her head, like a card slot, leaving her braid empty. The five men also hung their sticks on the hooks attached to their cars, ready to set off.

Situ Qingying wrapped her braid around her neck twice. Although the VRSCAV-ROD was a fully enclosed wheel, it was still safer to do so. She put down the helmet’s mask with a “pop,” raised her right hand, and bent two fingers forward. The warehouse was immediately filled with the sound of “rumbling, rumbling” engines. A man pressed a remote control hanging from the roof, and the metal rolling door of the warehouse slowly rose…