An ant trying to shake a tree
Father Gu took Gu Zian and Xia Zhitang to visit an old comrade's home.
Several old men sat around the coffee table, sipping tea and discussing the recent situation of the Su family.
"Xiao Xia, what do you think the current situation is like?" Father Gu suddenly asked.
Xia Zhitang picked up the purple clay teapot and refilled the tea for the three elders: "It's like shooting an explosion scene. If you blow it up too early, you'll hurt your own people. If you blow it up too late, you'll miss the best shot."
The old comrade touched the walnut and smiled: "Old Gu, you picked a wife very well."
Gu Zian, who was biting a piece of fruit at the side, blushed suddenly and glanced at Xia Zhitang shyly.
Xia Zhitang refilled Gu Zian's cup of tea: "You misunderstood, I am Gu Shao's acting teacher."
"Better than the acting teacher." Father Gu unfolded the map of the Su Family Wharf. "What did you see?"
Xia Zhitang traced her fingertips along the coastline. "That's the route they take when transporting the prop trucks." She circled a certain dock. "Last week, when we were filming a night scene for a yacht music video, there was a ten-minute blind spot when the tide reached the unloading area."
Father Gu looked at her with interest: "What's the specific time?"
"The 18th to the 23rd of the lunar calendar, 7:40 to 7:50 pm." Xia Zhitang pulled out his phone and pulled up the crew schedule. "This is what the crew wrote down when we were filming the sunrise scene at sea."
The old comrade laughed and slammed the table: "That's right! The Su family's smuggled goods..."
Father Gu raised his hand to interrupt, then turned to look at Xia Zhitang: "How did you notice?"
Xia Zhitang pushed the mung bean cake in front of Gu Zian and said, "The MV shoot was a cover. I invested money specifically to stake out the area, but later I discovered that the security guards would change shifts and smoke at a fixed time every night, and the surveillance camera in the upper left corner was broken."
Father Gu rolled up the distribution map and stuffed it into his briefcase. "Have the audit department check the container list for this time period tomorrow." He pointed at Gu Zian and ordered, "Go and move the Moutai from my trunk."
After Gu Zian left, his father continued to ask, "Why didn't you tell me this information earlier?"
Xia Zhitang shook his head: "Without the information you provided, these little things can't be connected."
Father Gu smiled and added snacks to her plate: "Without your presence, we can't put together the most important piece of the puzzle."
Gu Zian ran in with a wine box in his arms: "Dad, why do you have my high school photo in your car?"
"Show your wife how upright you were at that time."
"You call a buzz cut normal? If you want to see it, then show it now!" Gu Zian retorted unconvincedly, winking at Xia Zhitang smugly.
Xia Zhitang choked on her tea, and Gu Zian patted her on the back.
The old comrade smiled and smoothed things over: "It's great to be young..."
Father Gu turned to Xia Zhitang and said, "There's a big show at the Su Family Ancestral Hall tonight. Do you dare to accompany me and play the villain?"
"Do you want to dismantle the set? Our crew is very good at dismantling ancestral halls."
Father Gu laughed and stood up: "No wonder Zi'an's mother told him in a dream that it's time to have a new family."
Gu Zian stamped his feet in shame: "Dad! You promised me you wouldn't rush me into marriage!"
"Who urged me? I mean we should get a military advisor!"
On the way back, Gu's father suddenly handed him a tablet and said, "Take a look at this merger and acquisition case."
Xia Zhitang took the screen and looked at it carefully, pointing to a piece of financial data: "It looks like the Su family's money laundering method. I suggest checking the financial statements of their prop rental company."
Father Gu suddenly patted the back of the driver's seat and said, "Turn around and go to the procuratorate! Xiaoxia, come with me to see someone!"
Gu Zian clung to the seat and shouted, "I'm going too!"
"You wait in the car."
Watching Gu's father and Xia Zhitang walk into the compound, Gu Zian laughed foolishly.
The driver looked at him strangely.
Gu Zian took out his phone and ordered two cups of milk tea, whispering, "My wife is going to become my dad's nemesis!"
Three days later, Xia Zhitang came to the Su family ancestral hall again. The exquisite carved beams and painted rafters could not hide the decadence of the Su family.
Xia Zhitang supported Gu's father and walked through a series of dark and depressing corridors that were like the mouth of an abyss.
Xia Zhitang couldn't help but wonder what kind of mood Lin Jingming was in when he danced in this golden cage with shackles.
In the deepest part of the ancestral hall, Old Su was sitting in the middle of a row of seats, hanging on a ventilator.
As soon as he left this place, the old man's blood pressure soared uncontrollably. After several standoffs, an interrogation room was temporarily set up here. This old man, who had experienced countless hardships in life, was like a statue, using himself as a threat, making a final resistance in the ancestral hall that had lost its prosperity.
When Father Gu brought Xia Zhitang in, Old Su raised his eyes slightly, then closed them again without moving.
Father Gu circled the rows of gold-rimmed tablets twice and shook his head. "The glory of our ancestors can't support the falling of rotten cotton. What's the point of inlaying gold rims when the current foundation is crooked."
Old Su forced his eyes and snorted: "If you are here to laugh at me, you can leave now."
"Do you know who this kid is?" Father Gu pointed at Xia Zhitang. "Three years ago, Su Qiwen killed her husband and fabricated evidence to escape punishment. Now, she's the one who found evidence of your son's smuggling and dug up your company's original account books."
Father Gu laughed heartily, hammering his cane loudly. "Do you think you can ignore the lives of ants just because you're at the top? Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. The higher you stand, the more you must be respectful and cautious."
Mr. Su's breathing became rapid and the instruments strapped to his body began to beep, startling the medical staff outside the door who rushed in pushing the equipment.
Old Su took the opportunity to throw his pen at Xia Zhitang: "I should have cut the grass at its roots!"
"With the current chain of evidence, we can get them in even without your signature." Xia Zhitang circled the ancestral hall, knocking on the seats and the brick walls. "You insist on staying here because you want to keep the most important evidence right under your nose, right?"
"Use the best equipment." Father Gu ordered, looking at the violently emotional Su Lao, "Let him live to receive the punishment he deserves."
Xia Zhitang threw the three tablets at the top to the law enforcement officers, and after knocking them over, he picked out a few more tablets in the lower rows.
Law enforcement officers used tools to pry open the interlayer of the tablet and pulled out a few pieces of thin paper, which revealed their network of relationships.
Old Su's expression turned pale, his shrewd eyes quickly became cloudy, and within a few minutes he looked completely old.
Everyone searched the ancestral hall again and found two boxes of gold bars under the altar, but no new discoveries were made.
Father Gu pointed at the collapsed throne and said, "If you can't educate your descendants well, you won't be able to maintain the stability of your home even if you provide for your ancestors for twenty generations."
Xia Zhitang wiped his hands clean and walked over to Elder Su, looking down at the dejected old man. "Three years ago at your birthday party, Lin Jingming drank so much that he had stomach bleeding, but he still toasted you."
Old Su was stunned for a moment, then he grinned cruelly: "That's what he should do. Without the Su family..."
"Even without the Su family, he'd still be a talented director!" Xia Zhitang suddenly felt unworthy for Lin Jingming. "You're treating him like a puppet, using the dirtiest strings!"
"Are you standing up for him?" Old Su panted, his eyes lingering viciously between Xia Zhitang and Old Gu.
"He's half my teacher." Xia Zhitang suddenly smiled and turned around, "But it doesn't matter. He's free, and I'm free too."
Xia Zhitang took off the red rope he had been wearing for more than three years, turned around and supported Gu's father as they walked out of the noisy Su's ancestral hall.
The two stood outside the door, watching the staff rushing in and out of the ancestral hall, listening to the occasional sound of firecrackers and the mournful cries of the Su family's descendants trying to visit them, and they couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion.
"Son, go back. Zi'an is still waiting for us." Father Gu patted Xia Zhitang's shoulder and got into the car first.
Xia Zhitang watched as the lights the staff had brought in to illuminate the office pierced the depths of the ancestral hall, like torches in the night sky piercing through the decay. She couldn't help but pull out her phone, snap a picture, and send it to Lin Jingming: "The cage has collapsed."
She took another deep look at the huge creature that had trapped her for more than three years, and finally smiled with relief.
The car stopped in front of Gu's house. Gu Zian, wearing a sweatshirt, smiled at their backs.
"Let's go to Nanshan Cemetery with Xiaoxia tomorrow." Father Gu suddenly said.
Gu Zian was stunned for a moment, then looked at Xia Zhitang with anticipation.
Xia Zhitang hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not refuse.
Gu Zian observed her expression, felt relieved, and began to ask her what to bring tomorrow.
He held Xia Zhitang's hand and walked into the warm and bright living room, where hot meals were already placed on the dining table.
Xia Zhitang held Gu Zian's hand and sat down. The burden that had been weighing on her for more than three years was finally lifted. She looked at Gu Zian, who was in high spirits beside her, and smiled unconsciously.
Gu Zian met Xia Zhitang's bright and focused eyes, and his face turned red inexplicably.
Father Gu pretended not to notice the flirting between the two young people and happily poured himself a glass of old wine from a newly opened jar.
Gu Zian parked the car at the foot of Nanshan Cemetery. Although it was morning, the sky was overcast and the wind blew his windbreaker.
Xia Zhitang took Gu Zian and climbed up the stairs against the wind.
This journey was the most brisk one in all these years. Xia Zhitang turned his gaze to Gu Zian, who was wearing a black suit, a rare formal outfit, and his eyes softened a little.
After the last worship, she also attended a dinner party. She was in a very bad mood at that time, but it was the first time they met...
Two half-old tombstones stood side by side. Xia Zhitang placed flowers in front of the two tombs, knelt on the stone floor and kowtowed three times to each of them.
Gu Zian helped light the incense and handed it over, watching the thin white smoke slowly rise and dissipate in front of the two black and white photos.
"Mom and Dad, this is Gu Zian." Xia Zhitang poured three glasses of wine on the ground.
"Hello, uncle and aunt!" Gu Zian twisted the incense and inserted it into the incense burners on both sides. "I am Xia Xia's boyfriend. I will take good care of her in the future."
The two completed the rest of the ceremony in silence and moved to another tombstone.
The two old men had already placed offerings in front of the tombstone and were now burning paper in the iron stove.
Xia Zhitang went over to burn incense and pour wine, and Gu Zian followed Xia Zhitang.
After it was over, Xia Zhitang threw the red rope he had worn for several years into the iron stove and watched the raging flames engulf the red rope.
When going down the mountain, Xia Zhitang and Gu Zian each supported an old man who was walking unsteadily and slowly walked out of the lonely cemetery.
At the foot of the mountain, the bustling and noisy sounds of the world gradually returned, isolating the sadness behind a door.
The old lady patted the back of Xia Zhitang's hand and said, "It's our family that's unlucky." She glanced at Gu Zian who was supporting the old man and choked up, "Tangtang, live your life well."
"Uncle Chen, Aunt Chen, don't worry." Gu Zian subconsciously raised his head and chest and assured.
"If you dare to do Tangtang wrong, I will fight for justice even if my old bones have to." Uncle Chen narrowed his eyes and patted Gu Zian on the back.
"I will never let her suffer any injustice." Gu Zian nodded vigorously.
The two of them helped Uncle Chen and Aunt Chen, who were supporting each other, into the car, and then left hand in hand.
At 3:30 in the morning, Gu Zian opened his eyes in a daze, touched the hot Xia Zhitang next to him, and was startled awake.
I rummaged through all the boxes and put a fever-reducing patch on her. I took out the thermometer from her armpit and saw that her fever had reached 39℃.
Gu Zian hurriedly put on his clothes and packed his things to take Xia Zhitang to the hospital.
"I don't want to go to the hospital. I'll just take some medicine." Xia Zhitang was so sick that he was confused, but he still had the strength to hold Gu Zian's hand tightly like an octopus and refused to get up.
"The fever is too high. It would be safer to go to the hospital." Gu Zian coaxed softly.
"No, feed me the medicine first." Xia Zhitang buried her head in Gu Zian's chest, rubbing against him gently and acting coquettishly, "I'm just tired."
This look, even more charming than in bed, left Gu Zian at a loss for words. Finally, he said in a frustrated tone, "Make an appointment with your family doctor to come and see you tomorrow morning."
He found the antipyretic medicine, poured some warm water, carefully helped Xia Zhitang up and fed her the medicine.
In the darkness of the night, Gu Zian sat beside the bed, looking at Xia Zhitang who was sleeping in a daze, and gently stroked her face.
The previously agreed round-the-world trip was put on hold because Xia Zhitang fell ill unexpectedly. Fortunately, his fever subsided quickly after taking the medicine, but he still felt a little lethargic.
Gu Zian was cooking porridge in the kitchen wearing a pink apron. Xia Zhitang, who had woken up, quietly walked behind him and hugged him.
Gu Zian stirred the porridge with a spoon in one hand and stroked Xia Zhitang's hand with the other: "Would you like to sleep a little longer?"
"I've slept all day." Xia Zhitang buried his head in Gu Zian's back.
"The porridge will be ready soon." Gu Zian turned off the fire, turned around and hugged Xia Zhitang.
Xia Zhitang stood on tiptoe and kissed the corner of Gu Zian's mouth: "That's great."
The two of them finished their meal in a sweet relationship, and then watched a movie in each other's arms.
Lying in Gu Zian's arms, Xia Zhitang suddenly became depressed. She poked Gu Zian's waist and said carefully: "Zi'an, I want to travel alone."
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