GBP Chapter 1993: How could someone like me have ever been afraid of anyone?
Chapter 1993: How could someone like me have ever been afraid of anyone?
In the study, Shangguan Wuji's footsteps paced back and forth, hurried and heavy, like a wild beast trapped in a cage, restlessly pacing about.
"Sir!" He finally stopped, turned to face the screen, and made no attempt to hide the almost desperate anxiety in his voice, "You're driving me to my death!"
The person behind the screen remained silent for a moment.
The silence carried an invisible pressure, causing Shangguan Wuji's forehead to be covered in even more sweat.
“Wuji,” the man’s voice finally rang out, tinged with a hint of inquiry, “you are afraid.”
This is not a question, but a statement.
Shangguan Wuji froze.
"I...no," he opened his mouth, wanting to deny it vehemently, but swallowed the words back down.
After clenching his fists, he sat back down in the armchair, resting his hands on his knees for a while, trying to straighten his back. He was trying to regain the aura that belonged to the head of the Shangguan family!
"Sir! I'm not afraid!" After pouring himself a cup of hot tea, Shangguan Wuji, veins bulging on his forehead, said, "I, Shangguan Wuji, have been in charge of the Shangguan family for thirty years. What storms haven't I seen? The open and covert struggles among so many aristocratic families in Yanjing, the ups and downs of the business world in the capital over the years, the ever-changing political landscape in the imperial court—when have I ever been afraid?"
He touched the pack of Zhonghua cigarettes on the table, took one out, lit it, and raised his head, his eyes flashing with the arrogance of a patriarch of a powerful family: "My Shangguan family is the head of the five great families in Yanjing! My ancestors fought alongside the founding emperor to establish the country, my fathers stood firm during turbulent times, and in my generation, our businesses are spread throughout Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, and our disciples and old friends are all over the court and the country. Has someone like me ever been afraid of anyone?"
The wind and snow outside the window seemed to have lessened a bit, but the sky was getting darker.
The dim light in the study cast a long shadow of Shangguan Wuji onto the screen, overlapping with the blurry shadow inside.
“But Little Buddha,” Shangguan Wuji’s tone suddenly turned serious, “this person… he’s different!”
He paused, walked to the window, opened it, and let the cold wind blow on his face. He forced himself to calm down, exhaling several puffs of smoke before carefully choosing his words: "He is not one of those political enemies in the court, nor one of those rivals in the business world, nor even one of the overt or covert enemies of those aristocratic families in Yanjing. Those people still have rules, bottom lines, desires, and fears!"
He turned around and looked at the screen. "But Young Master is different, very different!"
"Tell me!"
Shangguan Wuji's voice revealed a deep sense of apprehension: "He doesn't follow the rules, or rather, his rule is that there are no rules! He has no bottom line either, or rather, his bottom line is that there is no bottom line! Is he without desires? No, this person desires much more, but what he wants is not the same as what we desire!"
Upon hearing this, an "oh" came from behind the screen—a second "oh"—as if the speaker was extremely interested in the statement.
"Then, sir, do you know why I'm so wary of him?" Shangguan Wuji exhaled smoke. "It's not because of the bloody methods that were rumored, although those methods are indeed terrifying compared to those of our aristocratic families! It's because—this person cannot be judged by ordinary standards!"
"What do you mean?" a voice came from behind the screen.
Shangguan Wuji pulled on the window, drew a circle on the glass with his finger, leaned forward, and pulled the window back so that his husband could see.
"No matter how much we fight, we're still in the same circle! And this circle has its own unspoken rules: don't cross the line, always leave yourself an out! Why?"
"Because we know that if you bring me down today, the forces behind me might retaliate tomorrow! If you harm my family today, your family might suffer tomorrow! It's a tacit understanding, a balance!"
He then added, "Of course, the Li family's case is a special exception!"
After saying this, his eyes dimmed. "But, Little Buddha broke this balance! He doesn't care about any tacit understanding or balance at all! He gets what he wants, and he kills the people he hates! And when he acts, he doesn't care about the consequences at all! Or rather, the consequences he calculates are completely different from what we calculate!"
The gentleman hummed in agreement, signaling him to continue.
Shangguan Wuji took a deep breath and continued, "You may not understand what I'm saying, but you'll understand even better the next two things I'm about to tell you!"
"In the summer of '79, I heard that Little Buddha had heard that a foreigners' karaoke bar had opened in Donghai, so he went to have some fun. The owner of this karaoke bar was surnamed Feng. His family had been in the foreign trade business for over a hundred years. They had many connections abroad, were very influential, and had strong relationships with ministries!"
"There's a piece of land behind that karaoke bar that belongs to him. Little Buddha took a liking to it and wanted to buy it to build a similar karaoke bar! Of course, Boss Feng wouldn't sell, saying it wasn't a matter of price. He had already planned to build a hotel on that land, and he even had a famous designer from Hong Kong draw up the design plans!"
"This young master sent people three times to negotiate, but Boss Feng refused each time! The last time, the young master even went in person, but Boss Feng still said the same thing: if this place isn't for sale, please leave!"
Shangguan Wuji paused here, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.
"and after?"
"And then?" Shangguan Wuji smiled bitterly: "Three days later, Boss Feng's only daughter, who was studying at a university in Hong Kong, disappeared on her way back to Donghai for summer vacation!"
The study was eerily quiet.
"Boss Feng frantically searched for people, using all his connections, even begging the Ministry of Public Security! He received a call on the fourth day!" Shangguan Wuji's voice was very low. "He didn't say anything on the phone, just played a recording—his daughter's crying, and a 'Daddy, save me!'"
"Boss Feng was paralyzed on the spot! He immediately contacted Little Buddha, saying he would sell the land for any price as long as his daughter returned safely!"
"How did the young master respond?"
"Young Master sent someone to deliver the contract, and the price was one-third of the market price! Boss Feng signed it on the spot, and his daughter came home that afternoon! She was completely unharmed and didn't even know what had happened. She only said that she had fainted and woke up at her doorstep!"
He paused, then added, "From then on, Boss Feng collapsed! The hotel project naturally failed, and his reputation in the foreign trade circle and the nightclub industry plummeted! The most terrifying thing is that he never dared to mention this matter to anyone again, and even when someone asked, he would say that he had sold the land on his own initiative! His nightclub was later acquired by Little Buddha!"
Silence fell again behind the screen.
"There's something else!" Shangguan Wuji continued to recall, as if he wanted to pour out all his fears at once: "There's a Director Fei in Jin Port who's in charge of approving cultural relics. Just at the beginning of this year, Little Buddha wanted to export a batch of goods, but the paperwork got stuck with Director Fei. The origin of those goods was unclear, so naturally Director Fei didn't dare to approve it!"
"Young Master invited Director Fei to dinner, but he didn't go! He offered money, but Director Fei returned it! He offered antiques and curios, but Director Fei turned them over directly!" Shangguan Wuji wiped his sweat. "Everyone thought Director Fei was a tough nut to crack, and Young Master is going to run into a brick wall this time!"
"And then?" A hint of emotion finally surfaced behind the screen.
"And then?" Shangguan Wuji's voice was dry: "A month later, Director Fei was taken away by the Discipline Inspection Commission! The charge was bribery, and the evidence was conclusive! Twenty gold bars and a stack of US dollars were found under his bed!"
"Did he accept it?"
Shangguan Wuji shook his head: "Nobody knows! But what's strange is that the serial numbers on those gold bars are all consecutive, clearly from the same batch! And that batch of gold was the same batch that was stolen from the central bank half a year ago, and that case is still unsolved!"
"Director Fei kept proclaiming his innocence in prison, saying the items weren't his and that someone had framed him! But who would believe that? The gold bars were in his house, under his bed, and his fingerprints were on them! Only his own fingerprints were on them, which proves that he hid them himself, doesn't it?"
"Although the chief prosecutor in charge of the case was unwilling to see such an upright official framed and kept dragging his feet on closing the case..." Shangguan Wuji shook his head: "But Director Fei died of a sudden heart attack in prison three months later!"
"So that batch of goods still managed to leave the country smoothly in the end?"
The wind outside picked up again, making the windowpanes whistle and rattle.
Shangguan Wuji nodded, looking completely exhausted as he leaned back in his chair, his face pale.
“Sir!” he spoke slowly again, “Now do you understand my apprehension? I’m not afraid, I’m facing it head-on! Facing a force that we cannot control, predict, or understand with common sense!”