Since Yu Qingqian's tragic death, Yan Qixiu, who had a deep love for her and made an everlasting vow to her, has been able to hold on alone, firstly because of hatred, and secondly because of Shangguan Shenxue. Whenever it was late at night, she couldn't help going crazy when she thought of the cold beauty lying in her arms that day. The pain was not enough to be eaten by insects and ants, and the sadness was not enough to be expressed. So on the one hand, she worked hard and numbed herself with a full schedule, not daring to have a moment of free time. On the other hand, she transferred all her thoughts about Yu Qingqian to Shangguan Shenxue, loving her very much, responding to her every request, and caring for her meticulously from life to work. Outsiders thought that the eight phoenixes were the most favored, but in fact, they could not be compared with Shangguan Shenxue.
Wen Liang suddenly remembered a story Lei Fang had told him. There was a deputy governor's son who tried to get close to Shenxue, but Shangguan Chenlu shot his penis in the head. Afterwards, he was only punished and moved to another place to avoid the limelight. The deputy governor was eventually dismissed and imprisoned. The endings were so stark. At that time, I thought Shangguan Chenlu was so valued by Yan Qixiu that he was willing to overthrow a deputy governor for her. Now I think that more reasons are actually due to Shangguan Shenxue. (See Chapter 83 for details)
After Yan Qixiu and Zhuang Shaoxuan were expelled from the capital, one lost his love and the other's career was ruined. There was no room for maneuver between the two, but due to the situation and rules, neither dared to act rashly. All they could do was to support small characters like Luo Yun and hold Zhuang Shaoxuan back. The same was true for Zhuang Shaoxuan. During the process of Huaneng Investment's growth, he was often secretly tripped up by him and suffered a lot of losses.
In other words, if the overall situation in the court does not change, small fights are fine, but a big fight like the one in the capital five years ago is out of the question. Whoever breaks the rules first will be completely eliminated, and there will be no second choice! At that point, it will be impossible to maintain the current situation, let alone have enough ability to take revenge.
Zhuang Yan and others are smart people, so they remained restrained, but restraint does not mean giving up. Precisely because they are smart people, they all understand one thing: in the decades since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the peaceful time without political disputes will not exceed ten years. As long as they wait patiently, they will always get the opportunity.
Five years later, the opportunity finally came!
In the past five years, as the dust settled on the Southern Tour Speech, the reformists completely gained the upper hand, kept pace with the times, eliminated malpractices and made innovations, and made drastic changes to the system and economy, breaking many of the previous rules and regulations, giving the whole country a new look. However, just like every reform in the past five thousand years, on the one hand, it violated the rights and interests of the upper-level vested interests, and on the other hand, it also caused a backlash from the middle-class people because of crossing the river by feeling the stones and taking many detours, especially in the state-owned enterprises, which were full of complaints. However, due to the unparalleled prestige of the chief designer, the situation was still stable. However, by the end of 1996 and the beginning of 1997, the country's leader was already old and insecure, and his deterrent power had dropped to the lowest point in history. When the old man died in February, the conservatives seized the opportunity and took advantage of the situation to attack. After a few years of silence, they once again made a strong voice belonging to their own faction!
"… This attack on the Zhuang faction was actually more of a warning. In the past few years, the old man has been pulling the left to fight the right, suppressing the Lei faction and gradually intervening in the military to cultivate some of his own people. Even the Ning faction, which has always been neutral, has to retreat to avoid its edge. It is said that Mr. Ning is even preparing to slowly retreat in the next two years. I don’t know whether it is true or not, but just from this rumor, we can imagine how hard everyone has been forced. When the Ning and Lei families behaved honestly, the Yan faction immediately stood out. The old man then turned around and pulled the right to fight the left, and forcibly seized several important towns in the hands of the Yan faction, which caused dissatisfaction among many people. The voices within the Yan faction to retaliate have never stopped, but they were forcibly suppressed by Mr. Yan."
"This series of plans were all made by Zhuang Maoxun. His mind and strategy are almost unmatched. He is unpredictable and unpredictable. No matter how difficult and unfavorable the situation is, he can always find a ray of hope in impossible situations, and then turn defeat into victory and become the winner with the last laugh. This year's 15th National Congress of the CPC is about to be held. There is news that the boss is preparing to let Zhuang Maoxun become a member of the Central Political Bureau. Once this happens, Zhuang's methods will surely exert greater destructive power. At that time, let alone the Yan faction, I am afraid that the Lei faction will also have to rely on others. From then on, the world will be one family, without a semicolon. Therefore, when the boss secretly went to see Lei Yunhai, he did not stop him, and even implicitly encouraged him. This is the reason!"
Wen Liang had lived two lives as a man, and although he had some understanding of the general situation in the court, it was only at the strategic level, such as who would be promoted and who would be demoted, who would win and who would lose, and he did not know much about the details. So after listening to Yan Huangyan's description, he realized that the reason why the Yan faction chose Pugongying as the breakthrough point for the attack this time was, on the one hand, to warn Lao Yi not to follow the reformists and go further and further, and on the other hand, to prevent Zhuang Maoxun from entering the Politburo.
For a person to be able to make his opponents so fearful, one can imagine how powerful he is!
However, the Lei faction and the Ning faction had tried this kind of counterattack, but they all failed without exception. At that time, the Yan faction stood on the side of Lao Yi and tasted the taste of victory. This time, the Ning and Lei factions chose to stop fighting, and the Yan faction had to fight against its former partner alone. Will the result be different
Wen Liang knew that would not happen. On the contrary, it was precisely because of the failure of the Yan faction’s attack that Lao Yi completely got rid of his embarrassing status and position, truly becoming the pinnacle of power and starting to steer this giant ship carrying 1.3 billion people!
This is the rule of politics, history is written by the victors!
Only after understanding these can we continue to analyze Zhuang Shaoxuan's actions. If Zhuang Shaoxuan intentionally let Fan Mingzhu overhear everything about Dandelion, and watched her join Yan Qixiu's camp indifferently, it means that he is not afraid of the news about Dandelion being leaked at all, or this was his intention from the beginning, and he wanted to give Yan Qixiu a big gift through Fan Mingzhu's mouth.
Zhuang Shaoxuan didn't owe Yan Qixiu money, but he owed her his life, so let alone giving her a gift like dandelions, even if he gave away all his property, it would be impossible for the two to reconcile.
Therefore, Zhuang Shaoxuan must have ulterior motives.
To analyze his intentions, we must first analyze Zhuang Shaoxuan's character. This man had remarkable achievements when he was an official, which shows that he is very capable. For the sake of the overall situation, he was able to take a year to plan long-term and quietly arrange Tang Ye into Yu Peidong's circle, which shows that he is very cunning. However, great loyalty may seem like treachery, great kindness may seem like evil, where there is light there is darkness, and under the apparent perfection, there must be unknown weaknesses.
Just as Yan Qixiu's weakness was that he was too deeply in love with Yu Qingqian, otherwise, even if Yu Qingqian died because of Zhuang Shaoxuan, it would not be difficult for her to get enough benefits as compensation, but she chose to take crazy revenge without considering the consequences; and Zhuang Shaoxuan's weakness was that he was arrogant and had a violent temper. He was smart and inherited his father's style. He had been smooth sailing all the way without any setbacks, which also gave him no chance to temper his character. Once he met an opponent like Yan Qixiu who was no less capable than him, he began to lose his patience and became impatient and impetuous. Since he opened a place like Dandelion when he was young, it is obvious what his attitude towards women was. Therefore, he abused Yu Qingqian to death, ruining others as well as himself.
It can be seen that character determines destiny, which is never an empty talk!
After Zhuang Shaoxuan left his official career, his mind had long been twisted, and he became even more tyrannical than before. The person he hated the most was, first, Yan Qixiu, and second, but to the surprise of many people, it was his father Zhuang Maoxun!
It is easy to understand why she hates Yan Qixiu, but she hates Zhuang Maoxun because he could not protect himself. At the critical moment, Zhuang Maoxun chose to protect himself. After all, his son had committed such a serious crime and he could not escape responsibility. In the capital five years ago, the strength of the Zhuang family was too weak. They had done their best to protect themselves, and as for their son, they could only abandon him.
Zhuang Shaoxuan did not blame his father for not being able to keep him safe, that was impossible and unrealistic. What he blamed was that his father not only failed to keep his public office, but even failed to keep his party membership. In the officialdom, ups and downs are commonplace. As long as the public office is still there, there will always be a day for recovery. Even if you take a step back and lose your public office, as long as your party membership is still there, you still belong to the organization. In the future, when the limelight is over, you can make some detours and retain the hope of returning to politics.
Unfortunately, he was demoted to the lowest position, removed from public office, and expelled from the party. Although according to Article 15 of the "Regulations on Disciplinary Punishments of the Party", one can reapply to join the party five years after being expelled from the party, there is an additional sentence after the regulations: "If there are other regulations prohibiting re-admission to the party, follow the regulations." His punishment specifically noted one point: he was not allowed to re-admit the party within twenty years, and this point was applied exactly!
Yan Qixiu's lover had died and he was blind, so of course he wouldn't be able to get away with it so easily. This would mean that his career path would be completely cut off.
From this day on, Zhuang Shaoxuan went crazy!
So he wanted revenge, even if it caused chaos in the world and many people died. The first step of revenge was to plunge the political situation into turmoil again!
He waited for five years and finally got the chance. What's the point of giving up a mere dandelion? Besides, only bait like dandelions can tempt Yan Qixiu and make the Yan family's top leaders make up their minds to take action!
As for the possibility that it might affect Zhuang Maoxun's entry into the Politburo (note that Politburo members and Standing Committee members are two different concepts), it was not within his consideration. Or, as a bystander, he saw clearly that it was impossible for his father to become a member of the Politburo at the 15th National Congress of the CPC. The Yan, Ning and Lei factions would definitely join forces to stop it. No matter how powerful the elder was, he could not force through this proposal when the majority opposed it.
If the enemy can't find Dandelion, they will find other handles. Instead of that, it is better to let Dandelion be the cannon fodder!
Broken bones are connected to the tendons. Although he hated his father, Zhuang Shaoxuan also knew that when it came time to clean up the mess afterwards, he would have to rely on his father's face and strength.
At this time, the conservatives were eyeing them covetously, and all they lacked was a breakthrough. Yan Qixiu controlled Fan Mingzhu, and learned from her about the many dark secrets involving Dandelion. She was also unwilling to miss this opportunity, even though Yan Huangyan warned her many times to be careful of fraud, she didn't care.
So what if it was a trick? She no longer had the patience to wait!
Therefore, when the situation had reached a critical juncture, two smart men who were crazy about revenge gave a slight push intentionally or unintentionally. The collision of the two forces made the seemingly powerful Dandelion disappear in an instant, and hundreds of powerful officials staggered into prison in an instant. Shangguan Chenlu, who was enough to stabilize the capital, suddenly became a ghost, and the favored Shangguan Shenxue began to flee!
Wen Liang sighed quietly. Compared with the methods of these two people, what he did in Qingzhou was just like playing house. It was truly amazing!
"… When the turmoil broke out, the Yan faction launched a sharp and sophisticated attack. Before Zhuang Maoxun could react, they had already taken back several important provinces that they had lost in the past two years with the help of Dandelion. The Zhuang faction was apprehensive and immediately arranged for someone to find the person in charge of the Yan faction to start negotiations. At this time, the Lei faction, who had been watching the fight from the sidelines, spoke out at the right time. He did not want to see the Yan faction dominate again, so he mediated and made the two sides reach some kind of agreement. Although the specific content is unknown, it is certain that the Zhuang faction must have made a big step back…"
Wen Liang did not say anything, because he knew that this concession was only temporary. In another five years, in the year 0, the Zhuang faction would make a comeback. That was another story for later.
"The things of the upper echelons are too far away, so let's not worry about them for now. Let's just talk about Zhuang Shaoxuan. His first target is very clear, and that is Chen Lu. First, in the war five years ago, Chen Lu had been fighting on the front line, and she offended Zhuang Shaoxuan the most. This time, it was Chen Lu who took the initiative to arrest Dandelion. Second, among the people under the boss, Chen Lu is the most representative. She has been in charge of the capital for these years, not only has she maintained the connection between the boss and the capital, but even after so many years, the boss's words still count in the capital, thanks to Chen Lu. Oh, some people say that the boss has eight phoenixes under his command, but in fact, there are seven phoenixes and one dog. It is the superior who is insulted. Only when you are afraid of someone, you will have to show off your verbal advantage. What's the use? Young Master Wen, to be honest, all of us have risen from humble beginnings. How can we dare to call ourselves phoenixes? We are just dogs under the boss, but Chen Lu is the most fierce, so she is scolded the most!"
Wen Liang shook his head and said, "There's no need to belittle yourself. As the saying goes, there are dragons and phoenixes among men. With Captain Shangguan and your talent, you deserve the word phoenix."
Yan Huangyan rarely smiled and said, "Master Wen, I'm very happy for Chen Lu when you say that!"
Shangguan Chenlu is gentle and silent. She is the most capable general under Yan Qixiu. It is not surprising that Zhuang Shaoxuan chose her to attack. This is why Shangguan Chenlu showed her intention to die outside Crescent Bay. She must know that she may not be able to escape unscathed from this fierce battle. But she is so calm in the face of life and death. Death is not scary sometimes. What is scary is that when you know you will die, you can still deal with it calmly. How can such a person not be worthy of the word "Phoenix"
Yan Huangyan raised her head slightly, not knowing whether she was afraid that Wen Liang would see the tears flashing in the depths of her eyes, and said: "... Ever since the boss decided to start with Dandelion, I have been very worried about Chenlu, but I am worried and there are many things I cannot say. Even though we are as close as sisters and confidants, since it is the boss's decision, I cannot disobey and must do my best to get it done. Chenlu actually understands it herself. She did not back down, and she did not even hesitate. The only request was that I look after Shenxue..."
"Because we all know that once Chen Lu gets into trouble, Zhuang Shaoxuan's second target will not be anyone else but Shangguan Shenxue! Only by capturing Shenxue can he humiliate the boss wantonly, just like he used Sister Qingqian to humiliate the boss back then."
"I'm not sure if the boss can still keep the last bit of sanity if something happens to Shenxue. There's a 90% chance that she will go crazy. Maybe that will be exactly what Zhuang Shaoxuan wants..."
Wen Liang had no choice but to accept the result. He took advantage of the chaos to kill Shangguan Chenlu first, cutting off one of Yan Qixiu's arms and also depriving Shangguan Shenxue of protection in the capital. Then, as long as he could control Shangguan Shenxue, it would be like controlling Yan Qixiu's weak spot. With Zhuang Shaoxuan's means, he had plenty of ways to make Yan Qixiu go crazy, and then there would be countless deep pits waiting for her to jump into.
But since Shangguan Chenlu could ask Yan Huangyan for help and could also ask herself for help, she was unwilling to entrust her sister to Yan Qixiu, who had the most power and the person who hoped to protect her. Isn't this strange
What's the problem
"The boss may not care about Chenlu's life or death, but she will definitely not let Shenxue get into trouble, so she asked me to personally take people to pick up Shenxue to Suhai. I went there, but I didn't pick her up!"
Yan Huangyan bit her lower lip, suddenly turned around, took off her shirt with her back to Wen Liang, revealing her entire jade back. Wen Liang was slightly stunned, and then was stunned by what he saw.
The back, which should have been as smooth as jade, was now covered with hideous centipede-like whip marks. Some places were even turned outwards. It was not known whether it was due to inflammation or some other reason, but the purple-black rotten flesh was faintly visible.
"This is… "
"Those who have made contributions must be rewarded, and those who have made mistakes must be punished. This is the rule under the boss's rule," Yan Huangyan put on his coat, turned around, and said nonchalantly, "Since I didn't catch anyone, I had to accept these thirty lashes. If the boss hadn't spared me twenty lashes out of pity, I might not have lived to go boating and enjoy the moon with Master Wen."
Wen Liang couldn't imagine what kind of psychological torture Yan Huangyan had gone through before he decided to disobey Yan Qixiu's order and secretly hide Shangguan Shenxue, and how he delivered her to him in Qingzhou with obvious whipping wounds on his body, and how he went boating with him on Taihu Lake without showing any sign of pain, allowing him to ask everything he knew and telling him everything.
Such a person is admirable and lamentable!
Wen Liang finally asked, "Why doesn't Captain Shangguan want Shenxue to go to Suhai?"
Yan Huangyan's hands tightened, and his voice suddenly became hoarse, and he said: "Because she doesn't want Shenxue's future to be the same as ours!" (To be continued)