usatvline Chapter 137 Sorry!
Chapter 137 Sorry!
Chapter 137 Sorry!
They clearly knew each other, and their attitude was very respectful.
Brother Chen crossed his arms and stared at the lure rod that was drifting further and further away in the river. His body language suggested that he didn't want to talk to anyone.
The sun shone brightly, a gentle breeze caressed the water's surface, creating shimmering ripples. From near and far, the occasional chirping of birds drifted by, clear and melodious.
The middle-aged man's face, which had been smirking, now became incredibly stiff, and he stood there awkwardly.
Meanwhile, Little Tyrant's brother—the burly, bearded man who had been about to hit someone with his stool—quietly threw his weapon on the ground and dared not make any further moves.
In stark contrast to the somber atmosphere, Old Xu calmly removed his hook and tossed the seven or eight ounces of crucian carp he had just caught into his fish basket. He glanced at the throng of people, clapped his hands, and got up, ready to see what was going on.
However, just as he was about to take a step, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.
"Hey, Lao Zhao," Lao Xu answered the phone, his tone calm.
On the other end of the phone, Old Zhao sounded incredibly tired, both mentally and physically exhausted: "Brother Xu, you probably already know what happened. This matter clearly has nothing to do with me; it's all just young people acting on their own and making a mess of things. I only ask one thing of you, brother."
Old Xu peered at the crowd through his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes slightly cloudy, but his gaze wasn't truly focused.
When he first heard that Zhao Yuan had gone to the procuratorate to file a formal complaint against Xiao Lin for embezzlement and dereliction of duty, he was genuinely shocked.
After all, Kobayashi is about to take over as editor-in-chief and is the backbone of the newspaper. It's impossible not to be worried when such a storm occurs at this critical juncture.
However, upon hearing the reason that Kobayashi and her daughter lived a life of luxury, owning luxury cars, luxury clothing, and so on, and then thinking about Kobayashi's wife's workplace, I immediately felt that these so-called 'evidence' were insignificant.
Instead of letting these messy things get to me, I put them out of my mind and focused on fishing.
After pondering for a moment, Old Xu spoke: "Go ahead and say it."
"Brother, I've never really asked you for anything before, but this time I only have one request for you, Brother Xu: please let my nephew Zhao Yuan resign." Old Zhao's voice was hoarse and weak, clearly indicating that he was extremely worried.
Upon hearing this, Old Xu's heart stirred; the situation was indeed not too bad.
Being dismissed from the system for violating laws and regulations will affect one's political background check. In order to protect Zhao Yuan's future, Zhao Yuan had no choice but to seek help from Xu.
Zhao Yuan's actions constitute intentional fabrication of facts and defamation, which is illegal. Even more serious is the fact that he damaged the reputation of an official based on unfounded accusations, which could result in up to three years imprisonment or detention.
"You're still thinking about your nephew even now, that's really admirable." Old Xu nodded, but didn't immediately agree.
He asked cautiously, "Have you spoken to Kobayashi?"
“I spoke with him on the phone before calling you. Xiao Lin is still cooperating with the investigation by the procuratorate. He promised that after this matter is over, out of consideration for our decades-long friendship, he will not pursue Zhao Yuan’s legal responsibility.” Old Zhao’s voice revealed a deep sense of helplessness.
This time, Old Lin was really screwed over by his nephew. The implication of his words was that their decades-long friendship had come to an end, and they would probably never see each other again.
Old Zhao felt that he was about to lose face.
When he received the news in the afternoon, he was shocked and immediately called Zhao Yuan to scold him, but the kid was still smug and didn't know his own limitations.
Old Xu turned to look at the few withered leaves floating on the river and chuckled, "Since Xiao Lin isn't going to pursue the matter, then let's do as you say."
"Thank you so much, Brother Xu!" Old Zhao breathed a sigh of relief on the phone.
Letting Zhao Yuan leave the company is the best outcome.
A few withered leaves were propelled slowly forward by the current, undulating and swirling on the water's surface, sometimes approaching, sometimes moving away.
Brother Chen turned his gaze from the lure rod on the distant river to the leaf that had drifted to his feet.
After a long pause, Brother Da Wu finally spoke, his tone tinged with displeasure: "What a coincidence! Your younger brothers certainly have quite the tempers. They tried to kick us out right away, and even threw my fishing rod into the river."
Big Brother Wu put his hand on the shoulder of the voluptuous woman beside him, turned to look at the burly man with stubble, and asked with a forced smile, "Really? Is that so?"
The burly man with stubble glanced at the little tyrant with a hostile look, thinking to himself that this kid was the one who caused all the trouble.
He quietly shifted his foot, blocking the stool on the ground, and then quickly shook his head, saying, "Brother Wu, I was just fishing, and I just got here."
Upon hearing this, the overweight Jun Ge was stunned.
He couldn't help but curse inwardly: That bastard just came over! It was clearly you who stirred things up and started it all!
However, now is not the time to argue, since he was the one who came over first and started hurling insults and even threw away someone's fishing rod.
So he turned to face Brother Chen, bowing and scraping, and said, "Buddy, I'm really sorry, I didn't expect you to know Brother Da Wu. This is really a case of the flood washing away the Dragon King's temple, please don't take offense."
"Don't keep calling me 'bro' like that." Brother Chen chuckled. "You need to get this straight, I don't know him, but he knows me."
Upon hearing this, Yu Huan, who was standing next to him, suddenly smelled a foul odor.
After hearing this, Brother Wu knew exactly what had happened.
It's all because those three idiots called him so affectionately that now he can't pretend they don't know him.
This sudden and unexpected disaster made him feel as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed a fly.
He gazed at the fishing rod that was gradually drifting to the other side of the river, silently took off his shiny leather shoes, put his socks on the muddy ground, took a few steps forward, and jumped into the river with a "plop".
The river was so deep that the bottom was unseen, and the person disappeared instantly.
Upon suddenly losing sight of Brother Wu, the voluptuous woman couldn't help but scream.
But when she saw a head emerge from the water, with Da Wu's wet hair plastered to his scalp, he let out a long sigh, shivered from the icy river water, and then swam around with a thud, her expression finally calmed down from the panic.
Little Tyrant stared dumbfounded at the scene, as did his older brother and his brother's older brother. Their supposedly powerful and all-powerful Brother Wu was about to jump into the river to retrieve Jun's fishing rod just because Jun threw it in?
The overweight middle-aged man who had initially been pushing and shoving and even threatened to hit someone swallowed hard and chuckled awkwardly, "Brother, I was blind and didn't know my place. Please be magnanimous and don't hold it against me."
His attitude made a complete 180-degree turn, clearly stunned by Brother Wu's actions.
Upon hearing this, Brother Chen saw Brother Wu swimming around in the water, and waved his hand without turning his head.
"What's wrong with this guy?" Old Xu walked to the edge of the crowd, looked at Brother Wu who was swimming hard in the river, and patted Grandpa Yu on the shoulder with some doubt.
Grandpa Yu turned around, led Old Xu back to his fishing spot, waved his hand and said, "It was just a little quarrel between the young people. They threw your son-in-law's fishing rod into the river. This guy must know your son-in-law, so he went into the water to retrieve the fishing rod without saying a word."
"So that's how it is." Old Xu had seen it all, and he wasn't interested in this little argument. He didn't bother watching the spectacle and quickly sat back down at his fishing spot.
He watched as Big Brother Wu thrashed about in the river, swimming faster and faster, before grabbing the fishing rod and turning back. He couldn't help but sigh, "Youth really is a good thing."
Grandpa Yu smiled and said, "This is nothing. If it were ten or twenty years earlier, I could swim back and forth in the river when it snows."
"Huh?" Old Xu was a little skeptical.
This old man is getting more and more outrageous. It's one thing to be good at fishing, but is he also a winter swimming champion?
Grandpa Yu chuckled and suddenly raised both hands, waving them at Old Xu.
He held up one index finger with his left hand and five fingers with his right hand.
"Brother Yu, what do you mean by this?" Old Xu was even more puzzled.
Grandpa Yu explained leisurely, "Brother Xu, I have successfully rescued fifteen drowning people in my life. I would never lie about such a thing."
Upon hearing this, Old Xu bowed respectfully and said, "Brother Yu, you're brilliant!"
Being flattered by such a high-ranking official as the president of the Jiangnan Morning Post, Old Master Yu nodded with considerable pleasure.
The two old men were rambling and talking nonsense.
After struggling to climb ashore, Brother Wu was soaked to the bone. He endured the biting cold and refused to let his body tremble and show his weakness.
He respectfully handed the lure rod to Brother Chen with both hands, and said humbly, "Director Chen, my subordinate was ignorant and caused you trouble. I will host a banquet tonight to apologize to you, please don't take it to heart."
As they were talking, the overweight middle-aged man quickly took off his coat, wanting to go forward and put it on Brother Wu.
However, Brother Wu turned around and said to him sternly, "You're the one who caused all this trouble. Hurry up and apologize to Director Chen!"
The overweight middle-aged man's lips trembled, his heart filled with bitterness and grievance. Holding his coat, he bowed deeply to Brother Chen: "Director Chen, I'm sorry!"
"And you guys?" Big Brother Wu turned his head again, looking at the bewildered Little Tyrant and the bearded man.
The stubble-faced man quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, Director Chen!"
Little Tyrant, feeling guilty and flustered, collapsed to his knees, saying, "I'm sorry!"
Seeing this, Yu Huan frowned and stepped forward to help the little tyrant up: "Hey, there's no need to kneel."
He thought to himself, if we weren't classmates and didn't have this relationship, he wouldn't bother to reach out.
Little Tyrant stood up shakily, looking at his old classmate Yu Huan, who always seemed so calm and collected, chatting and laughing with such an awesome person; their relationship was clearly very good.
I felt that his depths were unfathomable, and he was probably not as simple as he humbly claimed; he must be some kind of formidable character.
Hearing Yu Huan's words, Brother Chen glanced at the timid Little Tyrant, took the fishing rod from Brother Da Wu's hand, and gestured with his chin, saying, "Forget about the banquet. Since you've already retrieved my fishing rod, let's stop here. Don't do anything that violates the rules. Take your men and leave quickly, don't disturb our fishing fun."
"Alright." Brother Wu cupped his hands in thanks. "Thank you, Director Chen, for not holding a grudge."
After he finished speaking, he slipped on his leather shoes, and the plump woman hurriedly helped him up.
The burly man with stubble didn't even dare to pick up the stool he had thrown on the ground. He hurriedly went back to his fishing spot and quickly tidied it up.
Little Tyrant followed behind this guy, his legs weak and his heart still pounding with fear as he carried the fishing gear bag. The two of them, carrying and hugging each other, caught up with the three people in front.
The group remained silent, each lost in their own thoughts, and gradually walked away from each other.
Watching their retreating figures, Yu Huan asked Chen Ge curiously, "Director?"
"Just a deputy director." Chen shook the water off his fishing rod and chuckled. "My unit is the Xingcheng Planning Bureau, which happens to be the same department as that guy called Brother Da Wu, so he knows me."
"Oh." Yu Huan nodded.
That being said, deputy director is a position, while deputy division-level is a rank.
Within the system, the deputy director position, as an administrative post, generally wields real power.
Furthermore, considering the unit he is in charge of, the Xingcheng Planning Bureau, is a department at the division level, so Brother Chen's real power in the unit is probably second only to one person.
It's understandable that Brother Wu, who's clearly in the sand and gravel business, would act like a mouse before a cat when he sees Brother Chen.
Yu Huan glanced at the lure rod in Brother Chen's hand and said with a smile, "The fishing conditions here are different from those abroad, so it's not really suitable for lure fishing."
There's something he can't say: if live bait is banned years later, and you can't use jigs with loaches for lure fishing, then there'll be even less fun fishing.
(End of this chapter)