Game within game: chess player

The old house of the Hai family.

"If you don't recuperate at home, it will definitely be bad for you to visit us at this time, especially with such good wine." Mr. Hai sat on the wicker chair and glanced at Ye Fang, then at the four bottles of 30-year-old Maotai on the table. Wine said with a smile.

"Master, please don't call me so utilitarian." Ye Fang said with a laugh.

Mr. Hai glanced at Ye Fang slyly and said, "Okay, since there's nothing wrong, I'll take a nap."

"No, old man, I have something to do." Ye Fang said quickly.

Mr. Hai chuckled and said, "I'm just telling you, you must have something to do. Tell me. It's rare for someone to come over and give me a gift. You are the first one in so many years."

With your current status, someone must dare to give you gifts, Ye Fang thought to himself.

"That's it, old man..." Ye Fang told Mr. Hai about Liu Jianbai. Ye Fang knew that in ancient times, Mr. Hai should be regarded as the emperor's master, and he was a close official of the emperor. Moreover, since the old man had retired from politics, he indicated that he would be consulted on many personnel matters, so Ye Fang believed that he could definitely find out from Mr. Hai. Get some buzz.

After hearing this, Mr. Hai nodded and said slowly, "If you ask about this, I may disappoint you. To tell you the truth, I don't know the person who arranged this, which means he has not entered the center yet. You Do you understand? And the day of big changes has not come yet. If you really want to inquire about this matter, you will have to wait for a year and a half."

Mr. Hai looked deeply at Ye Fang's words and said each word, and his compelling thoughts made Ye Fang's heart beat wildly. Ye Fang understood one thing instantly, that is, the level of Mr. Hai was too high. If Mr. Hai didn't get the news, it can only be said that Liu Jianbai's change was not a big step, or a smooth adjustment, or a change. One small step.

Mr. Hai looked at Ye Fang's thoughtful look on his brows, and seemed to want to teach him intentionally. He asked in a low voice, "Do you know what triple jump is?!"

"Triple jump?!" Ye Fang didn't understand why Mr. Hai was involved in the triple jump.

"I know this person you are talking about." After saying this, Mr. Hai slowly stood up from the wicker chair and said to Ye Fang, "I have said enough today, please go back."

After saying this, Mr. Hai ignored the brooding Ye Fang and walked out of the room. Ye Fang sat alone and was still thinking about the meaning of Mr. Hai's words. He seemed to have figured it out, but he seemed not to have understood anything at all. Ye Fang Knowing that he is not a member of the system, perhaps everything will become clearer only if he relays the original words to Liu Jianbai himself.

Thinking of this, Ye Fang stood up slowly while holding the wound on his abdomen. At this time, Ma Lingyun opened the door and walked in quickly, helping Ye Fang in time.

"If you don't recuperate at home and come here to chat with Old Man Hai, do you really think you are completely healed?" Ma Lingyun complained.

"I'll walk slowly now. It'll be fine. Don't worry." Ye Fang has long been used to Ma Lingyun's nagging. Ye Fang doesn't dare to complain about this health doctor. First, his identity is there; His family background is there, and no matter which one is brought out, Ye Fang is not allowed to say a word "no".

Ma Lingyun helped Ye Fang out of the room and into the middle of the yard, where she happened to meet Hai Wenshan who was returning from get off work. The two exchanged a few words, and Hai Wenshan asked about Ye Fang's injuries. Ye Fang was grateful to Hai Wenshan and his son for catching the killer in time. Then Ma Lingyun helped Ye Fang leave the Hai family's old house. Hai Wenshan came to Mr. Hai's study and asked what Ye Fang was doing here.

"It's nothing. Let him chat with me and see how he is recovering." Mr. Hai closed his eyes slightly and said with a leisurely look.

Hai Wenshan looked at his father with suspicious eyes and said casually, "You are just lying to Dongzi. I don't believe it. Looking at Ye Fang's appearance, it seems that he came here specially because of something very important. Otherwise, his children Just recuperating at home."

"What, you want to know?" Mr. Hai asked.

"I don't want to know that if Ye Fang can find you, what he's talking about shouldn't be trivial. I have a shallow ear and can't hear this." Hai Wenshan said directly.

Mr. Hai chuckled and said, "You are just timid. Look at Ye Fang. At such a young age, he dared to come directly to me to inquire about the future of a senior official. The most important thing is that he gave me a few bottles for this purpose. Good wine." At this point, Mr. Hai laughed heartily again. In his eyes, it was a happy thing that someone in his position could give him gifts.

"You dare to accept the gift from Ye Fang, but I think you won't dare to accept it if it's someone else." Hai Wenshan replied.

"Others dare?! I'll beat them out directly!" Mr. Hai said without anger.

"I think you have a short mouth that eats others, and an even shorter mouth that drinks from others." Hai Wenshan said.

"That's up to me." Mr. Hai hummed the Peking Opera lyrics leisurely.

Ye Fang, who returned to Xiyuan, met Liu Jianbai again in the inner courtyard. Liu Jianbai knew that Ye Fang was going to the Hai family's old house today, so he waited here specially. Although he was a little panicked inside, Liu Jianbai still behaved calmly and tried his best to control his emotions. I don't want it to be bad news, but I also hope it will be good news. It feels like waiting for the lottery draw and is full of expectations.

So when Ma Lingyun supported Ye Fang and walked slowly into the study, Liu Jianbai stood up and greeted Ye Fang. After Ye Fang sat down, Liu Jianbai couldn't wait to ask for the specific results.

"No results." Ye Fang replied.

"No results?" Liu Jianbai couldn't hide his disappointment when he heard Ye Fang's words.

"However, the old man said some interesting words. I didn't understand them for a while, so I brought them back to ask you." Ye Fang said.

"What words?" Liu Jianbai asked.

Then Ye Fang repeated what Mr. Hai said to Liu Jianbai. After listening to Ye Fang's story, Liu Jianbai also felt that there was a lot of information in it. Liu Jianbai stood up unconsciously and paced back and forth in Ye Fang's study, sometimes lowering his head in thought, sometimes frowning, sometimes smiling, sometimes closing his eyes in concentration.

Ye Fang did not speak, but nervously paid attention to Liu Jianbai's expression. He hoped to read some information from Liu Jianbai's micro-expression.

The first conclusion Liu Jianbai can draw now is that he is definitely not a high-ranking person, but he will not be a low-ranking person either. The second conclusion is that this step forward is only temporary, and there may be further arrangements later. Then this step is most likely an assessment, which will take about a year and a half. If you pass the assessment, there will be a qualitative leap. The third conclusion is that Liu Jianbai subjectively concluded that he should have entered the sight of the upper class. This assumption was mainly derived from Mr. Hai's last sentence.

Liu Jianbai once again considered every word Mr. Hai said, feeling that his reasoning should not be too far off. Liu Jianbai then told Ye Fang his reasoning. Logically speaking, Liu Jianbai would never share these words with anyone. Once spread, there would be unpredictable consequences.

But for Liu Jianbai, perhaps the key to his ability to leap forward lies with Ye Fang. Of course, this is also related to his political achievements in the remaining year and a half, but at Liu Jianbai's level, there is no doubt about his work ability. The person who will play an absolute role in his political career in the next 20 years is people. Is there someone behind you who can give you a push?

Now Liu Jianbai once again combined what Mr. Ma said before, and Liu Jianbai was basically sure that this opportunity must have been won by the Ma family. Whether he can seize the opportunity depends on Liu Jianbai's performance on the one hand, and whether there is any force that can push Liu Jianbai back at the next critical moment.

Liu Jianbai told Ye Fang his speculations. After hearing this, Ye Fang felt suddenly enlightened about the meaning of Mr. Hai's words. The nodes that he had not understood at first were suddenly understood through Liu Jianbai's interpretation.

"So that's it. This bad old man is really bad! Is there anything you can't say clearly?" Ye Fang said casually.

"This is the Chinese art of speaking. If everything is said so clearly, the test is not the human heart, but human nature." Liu Jianbai finally showed a rare smile, and the tense nerves in the past two days can finally relax a little Some.

Liu Jianbai was suddenly in a good mood and asked Ye Fang tentatively, "Would you like to have a drink with Uncle Bai?"

Ye Fang knew that after Liu Jianbai became clear about his future, he felt relaxed at any time, so he smiled and said, "Just drink."

Then Ye Fang asked Aunt Yun to make four authentic Jiangnan side dishes, then took a bottle of 20-year-old Moutai and filled it up for himself and Liu Jianbai respectively. Just when Ye Fang was about to raise his glass and say a few words, Ma Lingyun, who knew that Ye Fang was going to drink, suddenly rushed into the study, grabbed the wine glass from Ye Fang's hand, and said, "Your injury is not healed yet, you can't drink! "

Liu Jianbai already knew Ma Lingyun's identity and family background from Ye Fang. Seeing this scene, Liu Jianbai was a little embarrassed, so he could only look at Ye Fang with his wine glass in hand.

Ye Fang looked at Ma Lingyun as if asking for help, stretched out a finger, and begged, "Just one cup! I swear, just one cup! Uncle Bai is happy today, so I have to express it, what do you think?"

Ma Lingyun also knew Liu Jianbai's identity. If an ordinary person knew that he was in front of a high-ranking official, he would definitely be obedient. But Ma Lingyun grew up next to Old Man Ma, and has seen too many high-ranking officials since she was a child. It is rare and common for provincial and ministerial officials to meet at home during the holidays, so Ma Lingyun is very interested in Liu Jianbai didn't catch a cold at all.

In Ma Lingyun's eyes, Liu Jianbai cannot even be called an official. This is a vision formed since childhood and cannot be changed. However, Ma Lingyun also knows that this is not her family after all, and she cannot be too disrespectful to Ye.

"Okay, just one cup! A man keeps his word!" Ma Lingyun emphasized.

Ye Fang nodded hurriedly and promised, "Just one cup! Just one cup for sure!"

Ma Lingyun rolled her eyes at Ye Fang angrily, stepped aside and supervised Ye Fang's drinking.

"Come! Uncle Bai, I respect you!"

Then Ye Fang and Liu Jianbai's wine glasses touched each other. In order to continue drinking with Liu Jianbai, Ye Fang only touched his lips slightly with the glass of wine.

On the other hand, Liu Jianbai drank it in one gulp, and after finishing the drink, Liu Jianbai loudly praised, "Good wine!"

Liu Jianbai knew that Ma Lingyun was supervising from behind, so he didn't mind Ye Fang drinking like this. When Liu Jianbai successfully entered the center a year and a half later, when he recalled today's drinking party, he couldn't help feeling inexplicable. He has been in politics for decades, and in the end he was in charge of the political party and even entered the central government. He is the only one who can drink in front of him like Ye Fang, who only touches his lips but not his mouth.

Although Ye Fang had the objective factor of having an abdominal injury, if someone else had had the opportunity to drink alone with Liu Jianbai at that time, it would have been worthwhile, even if the wound was torn again due to drinking, and he would not hesitate.

At today's lunch, Ye Fang drank a whole bottle of Moutai with Liu Jianbai from a small wine cup worth more than [-] yuan. In the end, Liu Jianbai got so drunk that he lay down on the table. This was the only time Liu Jianbai got drunk in so many years, and it was also the only time Ye Fang drank him down with a two-cent wine cup.

Ye Fang knew that Liu Jianbai was very happy today, so much so that he lost his composure. At the wine table, Liu Jianbai used the wine to tell many secrets of officialdom and the sadness he had experienced since entering politics. This was the only time Liu Jianbai revealed his true feelings to a person in this way.

Looking at Liu Jianbai lying on the table, Ye Fang raised his wine glass with a smile and said slowly, "Uncle Bai, I wish you will get your wish! You will be promoted step by step!"

After speaking, Ye Fang drained the wine in his glass. When Ye Fang turned back to look for Ma Lingyun, he found that she had fallen asleep on the sofa. When Ye Fang looked at the time, he and Liu Jianbai had been drinking for three hours without realizing it. At this time, Ye Fang also felt a little sore in his waist. Ye Fang called Su Long and Leng Chuan in and asked them to help Liu Jianbai go to the guest room to rest.

When Liu Jianbai was helped out by Su Long and Leng Chuan, he happened to run into Duanmucheng and Duanmu Ruoyu who were returning from business talks. Duanmucheng saw at a glance that the drunk man who was helped out turned out to be Liu Jianbai. At this time, Duanmucheng was shocked beyond measure. What kind of person could make Liu Jianbai, a high-ranking member of the party, have such a moral character? Although Duanmucheng had not been in the mainland for a long time, he still had some experience in thinking about the living habits and official life of mainland officials at that time.

A person of Liu Jianbai's status would never drink like this. This is something inconsistent with his status. Soon Duanmucheng saw Ye Fang walking out of the study, looking very tired.

Duanmu Cheng thought to himself that Liu Jianbai must have become this virtuous because of Ye Fang's drinking.

"Mr. Duanmu, how's the business going?" Ye Fang saw Duanmu and his daughter coming back and walked over slowly. Duanmu Ruoyu saw that Ma Lingyun did not follow, so he quickly stepped forward and helped Ye Fang up.

"Thank you, Ruoruo!" Ye Fang said politely.

"It's okay, thank you for nothing." Duanmu Ruoyu replied shyly.

Duanmucheng was very pleased to see that his daughter was so capable.

"It went very well. We'll be ready to sign the contract in two days." After Duanmucheng finished speaking, he hesitated and whispered, "The one who drank too much just now seems to be..."

"Oh, Liu Jianbai, the big boss of Binhai City." Ye Fang replied casually.

"Did you drink him too much?" Duanmucheng asked in surprise.

"He drank too much himself, so I drank a small glass." Ye Fang reached out and gestured and replied.

"How... little... just that? Just drink him down?"