Chapter 1143 - 1016: My Buddy Is a Bit On Edge

Chapter 1143: Chapter 1016: My Buddy Is a Bit On Edge

On the Zhou Family’s first floor, ever since Zhang Guoqing’s circle of friends kept expanding, Zhou Xiaozheng had added another study next to his own for him to use.

In his father-in-law’s words, he had truly stepped into the workplace now; paperwork he could still take upstairs, but some visitors really weren’t suitable to receive there.

So the adjacent study became the reception room where he usually discussed important matters with people. As for handling key documents and official business, he still chose the second-floor bedroom of his own.

Of course, in a way, Zhang Guoqing was different from his workaholic father-in-law; he really disliked bringing work home, so this study-cum-reception-room was basically idle most of the time.

But on this day, it actually fulfilled its purpose for once. As the saying goes, ginger gets hotter as it gets older.

Right now, a brief silence hung in the study; the springlike room temperature still couldn’t drive away the chill in people’s hearts.

As soon as Yi Jiefang finished speaking, Zhang Guoqing fell silent.

It’s here. It still came in the end...

"Uncle Yi Ming even came to my place last night and stayed in the study with my old man for more than three hours. Xiao Wu, I’m really on edge here."

It wasn’t just him who was jittery. Zhang Guoqing could easily imagine how Old Man Yi had been bombarded one round after another; the kind of hard days the Yi Family must be going through lately were obvious.

If his father-in-law was still the perennial "young man," then Old Yi was a tumbler that never fell. Not only was he old and cunning, he was slick and crafty, and behind him there was also a strategist son, that Yi Fox.

Now even he had become a target the other side was desperate to strike at; one could imagine how severe the situation had become, and whether their own family might be next.

"I asked my old man, but he wouldn’t let a single word slip. He either tells me to mind my own business, or that the sky isn’t going to fall. Analyze this for me—does this mean my grand-uncle’s side has already decided which camp to stand in?"

"But is it that easy to dock safely? Right now that crowd basically has one hand over the sky; one wrong move and it’s total annihilation. The one I’m most worried about is my old man. Damn it... Isn’t being a soldier just about defending the country, isn’t that enough?"

Listening to his rambling, Zhang Guoqing silently sighed along. He agreed with that sentiment, of course. Put bluntly, the army existed to protect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity from infringement.

In that sense, as long as it was an internal contradiction among the people or the country’s sovereignty hadn’t been violated, a soldier shouldn’t have his own political stance.

Because he served only the state; in other words, no matter what political changes took place in the country, soldiers only needed to protect the country, and that was it.

But now not only was party and government blurred, even law and order had been completely wrecked. With the lessons left behind by the older generation who had passed away, who would willingly sit and wait to be slaughtered just to protect themselves?

For the Yi Family, no matter what decision they made, it wouldn’t be surprising.

What really worried him, though, was that this rising storm was very likely to implicate his father-in-law; the alliance Yi Fox had wanted to form with their family back then—its critical moment had finally arrived.

After Yi Jiefang finished, he stood up irritably, one hand shoved in his pocket, pacing back and forth in front of the sofa. It wasn’t that he expected Zhang Guoqing to come up with some plan—besides him, he simply had no one else he could open up to about his worries.

Though the two branches of the Yi Family shared the same roots, he didn’t trust Old Man Yi. There were plenty of people who would marry off their own children to achieve their ends; even sacrificing pawns to save the king wasn’t unheard of.

His old man was too straightforward by nature; he’d already been fed up with the people up top for years. Now that a fuse had been handed to their door, there was a real chance he’d be turned into a front-line pawn.

Zhang Guoqing’s eyes were going blurry from watching him pace. He straightened up and grabbed him. "Sit first."

Yi Jiefang let out a sigh and followed his pull to sit down beside him. "Tell me, should I think of a way to get my brother transferred back to Beijing?"

"Are you sick? Do you see any sign that Yi Hunu wants to come back?" Zhang Guoqing gave him a sidelong glance. "Don’t panic yet. Your old man isn’t as simple as you think."

Yi Jiefang rolled his eyes at him. "You know shit. That’s his eldest uncle; he’s always followed the old man’s lead."

Zhang Guoqing frowned, vaguely catching the meaning in his buddy’s words, then shook his head with a laugh. "Emotionally and logically, as long as your dad’s in the General Staff, he’ll protect your dad."

They both knew who "he" was. Closing his eyes, Yi Jiefang leaned back on the sofa, mulling it over; he felt he was starting to get what Zhang Guoqing was hinting at.

Yi Ming was under constant surveillance now, and what mattered even more was that he was in the Ministry of Public Security, while the Yi Family were in the army. His dad really did seem to be a key figure.

"Got it?" Since Yi Jiefang had even come to talk to him about something this major concerning his own family, as a good brother, Zhang Guoqing wasn’t about to let him down.

He said slowly, "One more thing—the old man won’t choose a side. It’s unrealistic whichever side it is. He’s a big shot who stands on equal footing with them; you think he’d willingly be someone else’s bricklayer?"

Yi Jiefang jumped at his words, springing up to stare at him. What was this guy thinking? Did the Yi ancestral grave sprout green smoke and turn into a dragon vein or something?

Seeing his buddy so jumpy, Zhang Guoqing knew he was overthinking it. Still, heh, who knew—maybe Old Man Yi really had dreamed that dream.

Doesn’t the saying go, "A soldier who doesn’t want to be a general isn’t a good soldier"? Who didn’t want to be the top leader? Of course, that excluded his father-in-law; that father-daughter pair were cut from the same cloth—afraid of trouble, afraid of being the one who stuck his head out.

"Brother, you think this is still Daqing?"

Zhang Guoqing shot him an exasperated look. You really hit the nail on the head—wasn’t it that not everyone wanted to be Empress Dowager Cixi? "Where’s your mind going? I’m dying for an age of peace and prosperity."

"You think we’ll live to see a peaceful age? I feel like these people have already shaved decades off my life."

"You’re just overthinking it. Aren’t things fine for us at work? Just live our little lives; the big stuff has big shots to carry it."

"I don’t have a mindset as good as yours. With a knife hanging over my head, damn it, I’d rather it just drop and be done with it. I only want to go to work, do my job, have a little drink—why is that so hard?"

Zhang Guoqing teased, "Don’t be scared, I’ve got your back. The good days will come soon. A little drink is nothing—aside from no pretty girls, you can have whatever you want."

Yi Jiefang burst out laughing. "You think I’m Da Yong? Then it’s settled: if anything happens, you have to give me the heads-up the first chance you get."

Chuckling, Zhang Guoqing nodded repeatedly. "Do I even need to say it? I don’t want a certain someone yelling about cutting ties with me again."

Yi Jiefang glared, eyes wide. "Believe it or not, I’ll go find a mat right now?"

"I believe you, of course I do. See, I’ve already surrendered under your tyrannical might."

"..."

The two bros chatted and bantered, their talk drifting further and further off-topic, but at least they’d gotten away from those worrying issues.

With a cup of plain tea and a plate of pastries, they sat in the study teasing each other. Having been comforted by his good brother, Yi Jiefang, who had come in all gloom and doom, finally left with a beaming face.