Ch92.2 – Father and Son
“There’s nothing to say to him.” Zhou Sheng said with slight weariness, “Let’s go ba, I don’t want to say anything else in the future either.”
Yu Hao got up from the wooden box and walked over to Zhou Laichun.
“Yu Hao?” Zhou Sheng was stunned.
“I don’t remember much about my Dad.” Yu Hao said to Zhou Laichun, “I only remember that he used to work in a stone material factory. He would always go to work happily every day, and he never used to say things like how tiring or hard his life was because of me.”
“Yu Hao.” Zhou Sheng said, “Stop talking.”
Zhou Laichun frowned deeply and stared at Yu Hao in bewilderment.
“My Dad worked very hard and couldn’t earn much money.” Yu Hao said, “It was only after I grew up that I knew it wasn’t easy for him. My family was poor, but he worked hard to earn money to support me. He was just one of the thousands of ordinary people out there, but to me, he was as successful as you. He couldn’t earn as much as you……”
Zhou Sheng frowned deeply as he watched Yu Hao carefully.
“But my Grandma also taught me, is there anything more important than money in the world? Yes, our lovers and family, right?” Yu Hao continued, “No matter how much money you leave behind for Zhou Sheng, if you end up getting imprisoned, he would only feel even more upset ba?”
Zhou Sheng stood quietly. Zhou Laichun grasped a cigarette, his fingers slightly trembling.
“Uncle, you’re really rich and very successful.” Yu Hao looked out of the window at the river, “But in the eyes of children, if we had to choose between money or love, we would not hesitate to choose a blissful family. We would rather have no money, but parents who love each other, who don’t quarrel, no violence, no affairs……
These are all things that no amount of money can buy. But now, we are all doomed to lose them. It has all come to an end, become part of the past, and turned into expectations that would never be realised.
Parents often say that for their children, make do ba. But we actually respect our parents’ decisions and only wish for their happiness. Even if they do get a divorce and start a new life, we will have no complaints, right? So, at least in the future, Zhou Sheng hopes that you and Aunt can both live a good life, and he hopes that nothing bad will happen to either of you. He loves you, that’s what he wants to say.
I wish that my father were still alive. I guess that Ou Qihang must have thought that way countless times ba? As children, we have nothing, and even our skin and body are given to us by our parents. Our opinions aren’t very important, but even so, we still hope that our parents can seriously listen to just one sentence of ours, and not wait until losing it before……”
Zhou Sheng continued to tremble. He walked out and closed the door. Zhou Laichun didn’t say anything else and walked to stand in front of the French windows.
Yu Hao pushed the door open the go find Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng was sitting down in the corner of a corridor, exhausted. Yu Hao sat next to him with his back against the wall, then leaned his head on Zhou Sheng’s shoulder.
Zhou Sheng stared at Yu Hao in a daze.
“Do you miss your mother?” Zhou Sheng suddenly asked.
“As long as she’s living well after she left me, then it’s okay.” Yu Hao answered, “I’ll have you from now on, won’t I? This is our family.”
“Let’s go back ba.” Yu Hao was being hugged by Zhou Sheng, and he was afraid that Zhou Laichun would see them. He said, “I’ll go let your father know.”
Yu Hao was a bit puzzled. He looked at Zhou Laichun.
Zhou Laichun flicked the ashes off his cigarette, “My Shixiong and I were in the same kitchen. At first we agreed to start a business together after retiring, but because of some things that happened later on, we didn’t become partners. When I brought you guys out for a meal that day and watched you two talk, I remembered that I used to have such a close bro too……”
Yu Hao recalled the owner of the stir fry shop.
“To be fair,” Yu Hao smiled, “I think his food really is better than yours.”
“When it comes to cooking, I’m really not as good as him.” Zhou Laichun was a little distracted and fell silent again after a while. Eventually, he turned towards Yu Hao.
“Thank you, Yu Hao.” Zhou Laichun said, “It’s Zhou Sheng’s fortune to have a friend like you.” As he spoke, he threw his cigarette away a little sadly, as if he had returned to normal in that moment.
Yu Hao thought, if you knew about our relationship, you’ll probably hold me down on the spot right now and kill me ba……and couldn’t help but turn meek. His just and righteous manner from just now had completely vaporised.
“Where’s Zhou Sheng?” Zhou Laichun remembered his son, “Get in here!’
No answer came from outside. Yu Hao said, “There’s still training in the afternoon, so we have to go.”
Zhou Laichun thought about it for a bit, and knew that Zhou Sheng was listening outside, so he said to Yu Hao, “Even if that kid really did jump off the building and die, he wouldn’t have been able to . Uncle’s words are coarse, but please don’t mind it since I have to explain this clearly.”
Zhou Laichun explained patiently to Yu Hao, “If those on top want to get rid of you, anything you eat, drink, the act of washing your feet at foot massage parlours, and touching a male waiter’s butt could all be used as reasons. If the top doesn’t want to touch you, they’ll have all sorts of ways to protect you. China really isn’t a society ruled by law.”
Yu Hao didn’t answer and just stared at Zhou Laichun quietly.
“If Ou Weihong’s son had really died today, everyone would naturally get busy with their respective tasks — those in charge of deleting would delete everything, those who had to notify would send out the notifications, those who had to pull strings would pull them. In any case, they would be able to suppress it somehow; there’s a surplus of people around to think up of ways. I don’t know how you two got involved with that kid. After Ou Weihong’s death, everyone’s been paying attention to his son. Zhou Sheng’s my son, and news travels fast in the government circle, so everyone will know soon enough. But after what you said today……”
Zhou Laichun sighed.
“Go back ba.” Zhou Laichun recalled something and asked, “Lack money recently?”
Yu Hao quickly said no, and Zhou Laichun continued, “Let Uncle know if you guys run out of money, don’t mistreat yourselves.”
“See,” Yu Hao said, “Even without the Golden Crow Wheel, we can resolve a lot of things.”
“That’s because you’re the Golden Crow Wheel.” Zhou Sheng tore off the instant noodle cover and glanced at Yu Hao.
“He wants to be a member of the .” Zhou sheng bought two bowls of instant noodles and sat by the river with Yu Hao to eat as they enjoyed the breeze. Yu Hao was starving by now; Zhou Laichun had actually forgotten to treat them to a meal today.
“That’s amazing!” Yu Hao cried in surprise.
However, after he thought about it seriously, if Zhou Laichun became a member of the PCC or an NPC deputy, they would have to face even more obstacles. Yu Hao thought, sometimes, having an amazing father isn’t a good thing.
“Being an official is like singing in an opera.” Zhou Sheng stated truthfully, “For whichever song or act that’s being performed, you would have a script in hand, so you just have to follow the script.”
“That not necessarily true ba.” Yu Hao said, “Wang Laoshi’s really good, and everyone’s a part of reality.”
“Where did another Wang Laoshi pop out from?” Zhou Sheng doesn’t know about Wang Hongyan. He threw away the instant noodle bowl and took Yu Hao back to college while constantly checking his phone. In the afternoon, Fu Liqun brought the two of them out to practice and kept saying, “Focus, what’s wrong with you two today?”
“I’m very normal!” Yu Hao said.
“I’m talking about Zhou Sheng!” Fu Liqun bounced the ball a few times and asked, “Young Master, are you alright?”
Zhou Sheng’s attention kept wandering and he said impatiently, “Come, come, give me all you’ve got! You think I’m scared of you?”
Fu Liqun, “When will the silk banner arrive?”
Zhou Sheng, “I’ll go issue them an order to hurry it up.”
“Okay!” Fu Liqun said, “Xiao Zhou, I’m at ease if you’re the one handling things!”
The next morning, Yu Hao received news from Huang Ting. He tidied up his books and sneaked out from the back door of his classroom. Zhou Sheng was waiting outside. They hailed a cab after they left the college and went straight to the city bureau. The one who received them was another policeman, who re-confirmed their testimonies according to the records they had.
Xiao Yujun came out after she took her bag. Ou Qihang’s mother was waiting outside with a haggard appearance. When she apologised to Xiao Yujun, Xiao Yujun whispered, “Aunt, don’t be upset anymore. I’m not angry.”
As she spoke, Xiao Yujun hugged her gently, and Ou Qihang’s mother began wiping her tears away again. She was a middle manager at a state-owned enterprise and had been waiting in the city bureau since last night. She had already roughly guessed what had happened. After making a round of calls, no one showed up at all, and even the owner couldn’t be found; all the calls were answered by the secretary.
Ou Qihang’s uncle was on his way. Huang Ting came out of the interrogation room and said to Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng, “Come with me.”
Huang Ting took the two of them across the small courtyard of the city bureau and said to Yu Hao, “Ou Qihang has been saying that he wants to see you. He managed to get Yujun’s laptop password through trial and error.”
Zhou Sheng said, “You’ve been tormenting him for one day and one night?”
Huang Ting was clearly very irritated too and answered, “How’s it any of my damn business? I want to resolve this as soon as possible too. Laozi hasn’t slept since that night. I didn’t expect that after this case made one whole round, it still would come back to me in the end.”
It would soon approach the 24-hour mark. Yu Hao roughly knew that Ou Qihang’s robbery charge was confirmed because they had found Xiao Yujun’s bag in his dormitory, but he probably didn’t confess about what he had planned.
“Have there been any rumours outside?” Zhou Sheng said, “All ready to delete the ties?”
Huang Ting said, “He got his friend to take a picture of him jumping off the building to upload it onto Weibo. Since he didn’t die, there won’t be a large-scale public outcry.”
Yu Hao remembered that Ou Qihang had told him that he had planned it out with his online friend to use his death as a catalyst for a sensational event.
“So, he wants to talk to me?” Yu Hao asked.
“His mother wanted to bail him out.” Huang Ting said, “But we must get some crucial answers before we can go through those formalities for him.”
“But you can’t do anything if he doesn’t confess, right?” Zhou Sheng said, “You’ll need to release him in a few hours.”
“He can be detained.” Huang Ting said, “He can’t escape the robbery charge.”
Zhou Sheng said indifferently, “Then detain him ah. It’s not like you’re detaining me, do whatever you want!”
Yu Hao suddenly understood that Huang Ting was tasked by his superiors to get a detailed report of Ou Qihang’s arrangements and motive out of him.
“Will he be alright?” Yu Hao said, “You’re making me do this, so at the very least I need to guarantee his safety ba.”
“No one wants to lower themselves to the level of a high school student.” Huang Ting suppressed his annoyance and whispered, “As long as he clearly explains his reasons, motives, and the people involved, no one will do anything to him. However, it is inevitable that he will be monitored.”
Zhou Sheng said, “That’s not necessarily true. I’ve seen tons of people who would go back on their words.”
“What benefit would come out of screwing him over?” Huang Ting stopped moving and said, “The top issued a life-or-death order, smoothing things over takes priority.”
Yu Hao suddenly said, “It’s pretty useful.”
Huang Ting, “What? Zhou Sheng, what are you laughing at?”
Zhou Sheng said, “I’m laughing at how there are people who are scared of a defenseless high school student. Isn’t that pretty interesting?”
Huang Ting said seriously, “I don’t care what they think, I want him alive.”
Yu Hao nudged Zhou Sheng as a signal for him to lay off of Huang Ting, so Zhou Sheng stopped talking.
