Lantern: Behold the Bayonet

Chapter 54: Ching Ming

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During the Qingming Festival, it rains heavily, and pedestrians on the road want to die.

Pei Zhi got off the car at the gate of the cemetery, and then walked two steps quickly to help his mother open the umbrella.

"It's quite comfortable to be drenched in this drizzle. Ah Zhi, look at this drizzle, grass-colored mountains and beautiful scenery. Doesn't it look like our hometown in the south of the Yangtze River?"

Mrs. Pei was a lady of the scholarly family back then, but at this age, she still has a bit of romanticism. Pei Zhi glanced around the cemetery, and said with a smile: "The gardens in the north can be repaired as you like these days. The difference between the north and the south is not so big. Having said that, you should also pay attention to your feet, the road is slippery."

Pei Zhi is very busy at this time of year. He has to accompany his paternal relatives to socialize everywhere, and he also has to accompany his mother to visit the grave of an uncle who was buried in Beijing.

There is no way around this. The situation of Pei Zhi's family is different from those of his princeling buddies. The parents are free to marry in love, and their background has changed from politics to business. Compared with other families, the relationship between people and relationships is more free and frequent.

Pei Zhi and his mother sent flowers in front of his uncle's tombstone, and stood with them for a long while, before noon, they planned to go down the mountain to have dinner. Halfway on the way, Mrs. Pei suddenly patted her son, pointed to not far away and asked, "Isn't that old army commander Hou and the second boy of the Han family?"

Pei Zhi looked up, and sure enough, he saw a few people standing in front of the two tombstones beside the arched bridge not far away, the tall one in the middle was Han Yue, and the one standing and talking in front of him was Old Army Commander Hou.

And standing behind Old Army Commander Hou was someone he knew, Hou Yu whom he hadn't seen for a long time.

Pei Zhi's mind was more careful. When he saw the situation, he first thought how could these two groups of people meet here? It is true that someone from the Hou family is buried here. It seems that it is Hou Yu's grandfather or uncle. It is not surprising that their family came here to sweep the grave; but are there any important relatives of the Han family buried in this cemetery

I haven't heard of it.

"Mom, the driver is waiting for you at the door a little ahead. I'll go say hello to Uncle Hou and the others first." Pei Zhi stuffed the umbrella into Mrs. Pei's hand, and made three steps in two without waiting for his mother to stop him. ran over.

After Chu Ci's incident broke out, the relationship between Han Yue and several family members was a little delicate. Some people lamented that the violent-tempered Second Young Master Han is also a seed of infatuation, which is really unimaginable; some people gritted their teeth with hatred, wishing to force Han Yue to find out Chu Ci and cut him to death.

But no matter what, Han Yue was a man to be offended. Among his contemporaries, he has the toughest background, the highest status, and the most ruthless means; he is unexpectedly firm in the matter of Chu Ci, the Heavenly King and I don't buy it, and he dares not even listen to the commander's wife's orders. Who else dares to force him

In the twinkling of an eye after Chu Ci disappeared, everyone was looking for him, but no one could find him. Han Yue turned his back on many people because of him, but unexpectedly, the relationship between him and Pei Zhi gradually eased, and he even seemed to be a close friend. Sometimes Han Yue was cornered by the Hou family, and Pei Zhi would often mediate and help him deal with the elders; sometimes Han Yue got some clues about Chu Ci, and would notify Pei Zhi and ask him to help. Find it together.

In fact, Pei Zhi is a typical smart person, and Han Yue is not stupid, they both know that it is no fun to fight and kill each other under the situation of internal and external difficulties.

Pei Zhi ran a few steps behind Commander Hou, then slowed down and greeted loudly: "Uncle Hou! Why are you here?"

Old Army Commander Hou turned his head, changed his face in an instant, and asked kindly with a smile: "Xiao Pei, why are you here? Are you accompanying your mother to visit the grave?"

Pei Zhi nodded to Han Yue, then smiled at Commander Hou: "My mother's eldest brother was buried in Beijing back then, and she often came to visit during the holidays, so I accompanied her. But now that she has gone down the mountain, we Just wander around here and smoke a cigarette."

When he said this, his eyes seemed to glance casually at the two tombstones behind Han Yue.

The stone carvings of the two monuments are good. The price of each acupoint in the same cemetery is different, depending on Xiaotou Fengshui. These two tombs are not far from Pei Zhi's uncle's tomb, so the price is probably not cheap.

There are only small one-inch black-and-white photos on the two tombstones, which are difficult to see clearly from such a distance, but the names of the tomb owners are clearly engraved, one is Li Weili and the other is Li Gaoyang.

Pei Zhi's eyebrows twitched slightly.

"That's right, that's right. Mrs. Pei's family had a son who died in Beijing. Please let me know next time you visit the grave, and we can come with you." Old Army Commander Hou said with a smile, then turned his head and said to Han Yue: "Han Er, think about what Uncle told you. Uncle is not trying to harm you. After all, you are so old, aren't you?"

Han Yue gritted his teeth and made a smiling face, without saying a word.

"Then let's go first." Old Army Commander Hou said kindly to Pei Zhi, "I've seen your father, Lingtang. Say hello to them for me."

Pei Zhi smiled and agreed, and the old army commander Hou took his son and his men and turned around slowly.

When Hou Yu turned around, he glanced at Pei Zhi with deep meaning. Pei Zhi was stunned for a moment, and asked him with puzzled eyes, but he shook his head, pointed at Old Army Commander Hou, and made a zipper motion on his mouth.

Then they passed by.

"What did Commander Hou tell you?" When they were far away, Pei Zhi turned his head and asked Han Yue, "And what are you doing here? Did you really change the tomb for Chu Ci's adoptive mother and younger brother?"

Han Yue sighed, straightened the crooked bouquet in front of the tombstone, and said, "They also came to sweep the tomb, and they happened to meet. Old man Hou said to introduce someone to me."

"He shouldn't be anxious about this matter. Even Commander Han doesn't care. Why are the Hou family joining in the fun?"

"I don't know, it's an organizational routine." With the word "annoying" clearly written on Han Yue's face, he said, "There was another big mess last month, and the Ninth Office went to Guangxi to carry out a mission, but it turned out that Long Jiwei had cultivated it by himself. The deputy director died unexpectedly because of something, but Long Jiwei couldn't wake up. The upper management temporarily appointed an airborne soldier to take charge of the Ninth Division. It is said that he was the son of a certain leader. He had a lot of face, but no one in the Ninth Division bought it. , the recent chaos."

Pei Zhi said: "It's actually a struggle between old and new forces."

"So I hate politics. If it wasn't for... I would have left Beijing long ago."

The pause in the middle was very subtle, Pei Zhi knew what Han Yue omitted.

Chu Ci disappeared in Beijing that year, and Han Yue has not been able to find any news about him. He was not the only one trying to search for Chu Ci. Han Yue stayed in Beijing, so he could restrain those people's movements and make it easier for him to inquire about the news. If he went somewhere, he would not be able to use his manpower and connections in Beijing to find out Chu Ci's whereabouts.

In fact, two winters and summers had passed since Chu Ci's disappearance, and Han Yue tried his best to find out any news about him.

Now there are only two possibilities. The first is that Chu Ci really escaped. Whether he lived in seclusion in the countryside or fled abroad, in short, he has successfully hidden himself in the vast crowd, and he will never see each other again for the rest of his life.

The second is that he is dead.

Sometimes Pei Zhi is very desperate.

Two years of cold and heat, gastric cancer in the middle stage, no surgery, only conservative treatment. How likely is it that Chu Ci is still alive

Is he dead

On a certain day that none of them knew, maybe that day was sunny and the world was clear, he was hiding alone in a corner of a dilapidated and dark hospital, and slowly stopped breathing.

What might they be doing at that time? Han Yue may work in the Military Commission, Pei Zhi may be on a business trip somewhere, they may be socializing at a banquet, they may be wandering in the bustling streets, they may be chatting and joking with people, or they may be swearing vigorously in the office.

However, at the moment no one noticed, Chu Ci left this world forever.

As long as Pei Zhi thinks about it, a horrifying horror surges up his spine, making his whole body ache from the cold.

"After the Ching Ming Festival, I will go to Qinghai with people from the Ninth Office to hand over some top-secret information, and I may not be able to come back for a while." Han Yue said with a sigh: "Damn, why did I go? I am so damn I don’t want to get involved in those crap things from the Nine Offices.”

Pei Zhi muttered absent-mindedly, recalling the look in Hou Yu's eyes just now, and always felt that there was something interesting in it, but he couldn't guess what it meant at the moment.

At this moment, his mobile phone rang suddenly, and he took it out to look, only to see a new text message, and the number showed that it was from Hou Yu.

"Madam Pei is urging you?" Han Yue asked.

"...No, no." Pei Zhi opened the text message and read word by word: "I'll see you at the old Xijing tea house at noon, you come alone, I have something important to discuss... Damn, Hou Yu asked me to meet, do you have something to tell alone? I?"

Hou Yu sat down in the box of the Xijing Tea House, and a young girl in uniform beside him handed over the tea order respectfully. He ordered a pot of Huoshan Huangya, ordered a few snacks, and waved the girl to leave. He was left alone in the box.

Hou Yu lit a cigarette, thinking about something, this always playful, noisy and fresh person showed an unusual seriousness on his face.

After a while, there was a knock on the door of the private room. He thought it was someone serving tea, so he said casually, "Come in!"

The door was pushed open, and Pei Zhi walked in steadily, holding the tray in one hand: "Hey, Mr. Hou, why did you think of inviting me today?"

Hou Yu laughed, took the tray with both hands, and joked with a smile: "It's really a blessing that has been cultivated for eight hundred years. I asked our dignified Boss Pei to serve tea and water! Just you? Where's Mrs. Pei?"

"I'm going home. I see you're so chattering. Is there something important you want to tell me?" Sitting opposite Hou Yu, Pei Zhi poured himself a cup of tea calmly and said, "I'm right here , what kind of tricks do you want to play, just come on.”

Hou Yu laughed all of a sudden: "What kind of tricks, it seems that your words are ugly! My father and uncle and they don't want to see Han Er because of Hou Hongchang's matter. I still treat Han Er as a brother. Let's talk to you, little Lord, why didn't I think of you first when I was a child? Even if something like this happened to Hou Hongchang, we are still friends."

Pei Zhi laughed and said no more.

Hou Yu's friends all know what kind of person he is. This young man is really a powerful person—he is more sophisticated than Pei Zhi who has been in business for many years, and he is more decisive than Han Yue who is a big guy in the army.

These days, the young people with real background in the family are all lower-key than the other. Pei Zhi himself is a master who makes a fortune in silence. Although Han Yue has a bad temper, he has never done a single thing in front of outsiders. Only this young master Hou Yuhou, who likes to jump around and have fun all day long, eats, drinks, and does things like being in the limelight, is one of the big stubborn masters in Sijiu City.

It stands to reason that the more vigorous the jumping, the shorter the life expectancy, but Hou Yu can't go beyond that speed in doing things, and if he goes too far, he only goes too far at the critical point of the bottom line and then stops. Therefore, he has been so active in these years, but he has never had any accidents. He has been working smoothly in the most sensitive military supply department, and he was promoted steadily a year ago.

Pei Zhi stared at Hou Yu closely, wondering what he wanted to say. Unexpectedly, Hou Yu sighed, and asked a question first: "Boss Pei, I remember that after the incident with the surname Chu happened last year, you had a very tense fight with Han Yue for a while, and you were sent to prison because of this incident. Going abroad to avoid the limelight, right? I vaguely heard rumors at the time that you actually knew what Chugong did, and you deliberately covered him up... "

Pei Zhi was silent for a moment, then nodded calmly and said, "Since you asked that, I won't hide it from you. I'm not a person with a very strong sense of justice, but I just have personal feelings for Chu Ci, so..."

"That's no wonder. I also felt this way at the time. When Han Yue called Chu Gong out at several gatherings, it was because you incited him to do so intentionally or unintentionally. Just like the first time I saw him, it was also the same. You first talked about him, which aroused my curiosity, and then you hinted that I asked Han Yue to call Chugong out to meet him." Hou Yu paused, and asked in a complicated tone: "Is it because Han Yue You have already returned to Beijing to settle down, and it is inconvenient for you to meet Chu Gong while he is there, so you always create opportunities for him to come to our party?"

Pei Zhi was silent for a long time this time, and finally nodded with difficulty.

Hou Yu stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly slapped the table and said, "Damn! I heard people say what love is in the world, and I still think that love and love are nothing in modern society. Who knows my buddy Just his mother's living lover!"

Pei Zhi burst out laughing at what he said: "Come on, don't run the train with your mouth full! You asked me to come here just to ask this?"

"... No, I just want to make sure that you really like that engineer. If you don't like it, or don't like it very much, then let's stop here today."

Hou Yu took out another cigarette, put it in his mouth and lit it with a snap. Pei Zhi looked at him and asked, "What do you mean?"

Hou Yu took a deep breath of smoke, pondered for a while, and suddenly stopped answering and asked, "Pei Zhi, what can you do for that Chu? Do you dare to turn against a family for him?"

These words are very strange, Pei Zhi frowned, and said: "This is not such a simple question, it depends on the family and the matter."

"It's about that engineer's life. As for the family, it's our Hou family far away and close in front of us." Hou Yu paused, admired Pei Zhi's expression, and said slowly, "But it's not with me. Parents are Hou Hongchang's family, at most there will be another Mrs. Han."

Pei Zhimeng's heartbeat quickened, and he couldn't control his words: "Have you found Chu Ci's whereabouts? Do you have any news about him?!"

"To be exact, it's not that I have news about him, or that I discovered his whereabouts, but that I really know where he is."

Pei Zhi stood up suddenly: "Where is he?!"

"Shh, don't be in a hurry, and keep your voice down. It's risky for me to ask you to meet." Hou Yu pointed out the window with his finger, and said, "Take a taxi for half an hour after going out from here, and you can reach his hiding place now." But you can't just go there so easily, it's a long story, you have to listen to me, and then think about whether you want to go to him. "

Pei Zhi is also a master who can hold his breath. He took a breath for a while, then sat back slowly, took out another cigarette, lit it, and took a few puffs hard.

After doing all this, he raised his head, and his voice had barely recovered his composure: "Then you speak first, and I'll listen."

Hou Yu paused for a moment, probably sorting out the thoughts of the narrative. A few seconds later, he flicked the cigarette ash on the table and said, "This matter should start when Chu Ci returned to Beijing from Guizhou last month. It is said that he has been staying in Guizhou for the past two years, and this time he returned to Beijing Nor was he voluntary. To be precise, he should have been held hostage by some people and forced to go north."