28: Chapter 28: The First Lesson in Teaching My Father to Be an Official – Power Is Not About Wagging and Bowing.

The dining room of Villa No. 4 was bathed in pale, harsh light.

It was still that same mahogany round table, still those same three people.

But the air was thick with the suffocating heaviness that follows a battle.

Li Juan was not wearing a facial mask, nor was she putting on the airs of a Provincial Party Committee heiress.

She stood before the tea cabinet like a true hostess, opening a packet of fresh tea, boiling water, and brewing it.

The hissing sound of boiling water pouring into the purple clay teapot was the only sound in this deathly silence.

At the head of the table.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe's tea remained untouched.

In the crystal ashtray, cigarette butts had piled up into a small mountain.

He pulled out another Huanghelou cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag.

Thick smoke rings swirled before him, lingering for a long time, much like his troubled thoughts at this moment.

Another one burned down. His hand reached for the cigarette pack.

A fair hand was faster than his, snatching the cigarette pack away directly.

"Do you have a death wish?"

Li Juan tossed the cigarette pack onto the sideboard in the distance and set down a glass of warm water with a heavy thud.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe did not retort.

He picked up the water glass, his Adam's apple bobbing violently as if swallowing something bitter.

Setting down the glass, his gaze finally turned to his son opposite him.

"Zhu Wenhao, why didn't you give me a heads-up today at The Su Family?"

Secretary Zhu Tianhe spoke. His tone carried the questioning of an elder, yet lacked any shred of confidence.

In The Su Family's study, his son had directly named his price for the position of Director of the Development and Reform Commission right in front of Mayor Su Changming.

That wasn't a negotiation. That was carving a piece of flesh right out of the new mayor's mouth.

Zhu Yuntong sat in the mahogany chair, his hands folded.

"If I had told you beforehand, Father, would you have dared to speak up?"

Secretary Zhu Tianhe's breath was instantly cut off by these words. He opened his mouth, but could not make a sound.

In the dining room, only the cold "ticking" of the wall clock remained.

He would not have dared. This answer was like a needle, piercing the facade of dignity he had maintained for half his life.

As the Executive Vice Mayor of Linjiang City, the number two figure in the government, he held the reins of the Development and Reform Commission and the treasury.

Yet, the Director of the Development and Reform Commission, Zheng Jianguo—his subordinate in name—dared to treat him like air.

This was not normal. The root cause was that Secretary Zhu Tianhe's spine was too soft.

His career had been too smooth, like a potted plant in a greenhouse, carefully pruned by his old leaders and father-in-law, rising all the way up without ever truly taking root in the soil or weathering the storms.

He had never fought his way through the tangled quagmire of local interests in the counties with real, life-or-death struggles.

He had no team of his own, no loyal followers willing to charge into battle for him.

He was accustomed to seeking stability in all things, accustomed to smoothing things over.

Zhu Yuntong watched his father's evasive gaze.

"Father, officialdom is like rowing a boat against the current."

"If you do not advance, you die."

"Compromise cannot buy respect."

"It only invites further humiliation."

Standing to the side, Li Juan's body, which had been tense the whole time, relaxed imperceptibly for a moment upon hearing these words.

What her father had valued in Secretary Zhu Tianhe back then was his kindness. Kindness is a good virtue, but it is not a good weapon.

At the poker table of power, those with soft hearts are the first to be swept out of the game.

Zhu Yuntong continued, his voice devoid of any ripples, as if stating a cold, hard fact.

"Mayor Su Changming bowed his head today not because of family affection, but because he is weak."

"Zheng Jianguo is dead, and the Inspection Team is hanging over his head. He needs our Zhu family to be his shield."

"If you do not take advantage of his illness today to strike him down and wedge our people into the heart of the Development and Reform Commission..."

"...once he catches his breath and wipes away all traces, do you think he will remember your 'kindness' today?"

"In officialdom, there is never anyone offering help in times of need. There is only taking advantage of others' misfortunes and exchanging benefits."

Zhu Yuntong's fingers tapped lightly on the mahogany tabletop. Thud, thud.

"Political Commissar Wang Haitao is the wedge we will use to crack open the iron plate of the Linjiang Municipal Government, and he is the first blade you will use to intervene in personnel matters."

"Father, you are the Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee in charge of organization and personnel."

"With no one under your command, who will fight for you? Do you want to be a puppet who only claps and conveys documents for the rest of your life!"

Every word pierced his heart.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe's hand, holding the teacup, froze in mid-air. The water in the cup had long since gone cold.

He looked at his son before him, feeling an unprecedented sense of estrangement and fear.

He had spent half his life struggling and climbing, yet he didn't see things as clearly as a twenty-four-year-old young man.

If he had nodded today at The Su Family, that marriage would have become a shackle, binding him and Mayor Su Changming inextricably together.

And he, Secretary Zhu Tianhe, would forever be that hollowed-out puppet.

"Gulp." Secretary Zhu Tianhe downed the cold water in one go. The bottom of the cup clattered heavily against the tabletop, making a sharp sound.

He raised his head, his eyes bloodshot.

"I... need to think about it."

These words were squeezed out from between his teeth, every single one stained with blood.

It was a negation of the survival philosophy he had held for the past several decades.

Zhu Yuntong stood up and straightened the creases of his coat.

"Father, from today on, you must abandon your past self. Become a real Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee."

The night deepened.

Donghuwan Apartment.

Zhu Yuntong pushed open the door, and a warm little light was on in the entryway.

In the living room, Su Qinghan was curled up on the sofa, a thin blanket draped over her.

The television was playing a tedious midnight drama on mute, the light and shadow flickering across her cold, aloof face.

Hearing the door open, she turned her head.

"You're back."

There were no extra greetings.

"Yeah."

Zhu Yuntong changed into slippers and took off his coat, which carried the chill of the night rain.

He sat down beside her, with the distance of a throw pillow between them.

"Today in the study," she stared at his sharp-angled profile, her voice very soft, "did you use our marriage as a bargaining chip?"

She asked directly.

Zhu Yuntong turned his head and met her gaze.

"Yes."

He did not deny it.

"Mayor Su Changming needs the card of marriage to stabilize his position as mayor. Therefore, the appointment of Political Commissar Wang Haitao is the down payment he must pay."

"If he doesn't give it, this marriage won't happen. If he gives it, then we have a reason to continue talking."

Su Qinghan lowered her eyelids, her long eyelashes casting a shadow on her face.

As expected.

All tender affection has the most precise price tag on the scales of power.

"However."

"In this transaction, you are not a bargaining chip."

Su Qinghan raised her head abruptly.

"You are my kind."

Zhu Yuntong gazed at her.

For sixty years in the Great Ming, he was a lonely ruler, never trusting anyone.

But in this strange steel jungle, in this game of chess where he was surrounded by enemies, he needed an ally to whom he could entrust his back. One, of his own kind.

Su Qinghan understood.

Bargaining chips can be discarded at any time.

One of her own kind, cannot.

She picked up the milk that had long since gone cold and took a small sip.

"Is this Political Commissar Wang Haitao reliable?" She changed the subject, her voice returning to calm.

"He is not reliable." Zhu Yuntong answered crisply and decisively.

"Betrayal is addictive. If he can sell out Zheng Jianguo today, he can sell us out tomorrow."

"Then why use him?"

"To pay a high price for a horse's bones."

Zhu Yuntong stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the lights of the city beneath his feet.

"I want all the fence-sitters in Linjiang City who are watching to see."

"As long as they dare to defect to my Zhu family, wealth and honor will be within their grasp."

"As for Political Commissar Wang Haitao, he has no choice but to follow us."

Su Qinghan looked at that solitary figure standing alone, set against the backdrop of the city's myriad lights, which strangely exuded a loneliness that looked down upon all living beings.

It was the loneliness of an emperor.