Chapter 835: Chapter 624: Mutual Blackmail

"Brother Wu, if you have something to say, just say it straight."

"On Bai Sidong’s side, I’ll help you settle it, but I’ll have to trouble you, Brother Yin, to give me my tail back."

Yin Shiqing’s brows lifted slightly, then he let out a small laugh.

"So that’s what this is about. I was wondering, Brother Wu, with skills like yours, how could you possibly go back on a promise you’d clearly agreed to..."

Wu Rong smiled. He picked up the teacup in front of him, inhaled the lingering fragrance of the tea, a bitterness hiding in the aroma...

"This is good tea."

"But Wu Rong, playing this kind of little scheme with me—aren’t you underestimating me a bit?"

Wu Rong put down the teacup in his hand and looked at Yin Shiqing.

"Brother Yin, let me say a few words. You listen. If you think I’m wrong, just take it as me farting."

"..."

"Me, I’ve always believed that intimacy between people, especially bonds like ’comrades’ and ’friends,’ is built on shared interests. There are no eternal friends in this world, and no eternal enemies. In my eyes, everything people do is driven by利益—by interests."

On this point, Yin Shiqing agreed.

"Brother Yin, for you to climb to the position you hold in politics today, I truly admire you from the bottom of my heart. There’s an empty seat at the Central now, and everyone knows you’re the one most likely to move up into it."

"We’re both in officialdom, both determined to make something of ourselves on this stage. And it just so happens the two of us aren’t rivals."

"We can completely be friends who help each other, leaning on one another, with power-for-profit as our bond, right?"

Wu Rong sounded a bit like he was delivering an old sermon.

"But the problem is, right now you’re holding my weakness in your hand, Brother Yin, and using it to threaten me, constantly forcing me to make unilateral sacrifices. Selfishly, I can’t help but think..."

He lifted his gaze to meet Yin Shiqing’s dark eyes and said,

"A relationship like this can’t last. Look at...Shi Shengde is a perfect example, isn’t he?"

"..."

Yin Shiqing’s eyes narrowed.

"For me to help you wholeheartedly as a friend, and for you to coerce me into helping you by holding certain things over my head—the goal may be the same, but the means are entirely different. And as the one doing the work, how I feel about it is completely different too."

Wu Rong looked at Yin Shiqing.

"Brother Yin, what do you think...does what I’m saying make sense?"

What Wu Rong said did have its logic, and it was quite easy on the ears.

"I’m not in a hurry for you to give me an answer, Brother Yin. I came today just to give you advance notice: Yin Bowen, whom Bai Sidong has set his sights on, is not in a very good situation."

"..." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"There’s still time. You can think it over slowly, Brother Yin, but only until twelve o’clock noon tomorrow..."

"..."

"After noon tomorrow, what happens next will be completely beyond my ability to interfere with."

As Wu Rong spoke, he then rose to his feet; standing up straight, he was just a bit taller than Yin Shiqing.

Yin Shiqing quietly looked at the man before him...

A man not all that old yet, but already fighting tooth and nail to climb upward, a man full of ambition.

"Fine. Give me some time to think. I’ll contact you myself."

Yin Shiqing said to Wu Rong.

"I’ve said what I came to say, so I won’t disturb you any longer, Brother Yin. We’ll see each other around."

Wu Rong walked out of the study. Over there, Yin Junjie was just coming down from the third floor, the milk bottle in his hand already empty.

"Little Jun Jie."

"Uncle Wu."

Yin Junjie still greeted him politely.

"Uncle Wu came in a rush today and didn’t get you any gifts. Next time Uncle Wu comes, I’ll definitely bring something for you and your little brother."

"Thank you, Uncle Wu, but you don’t need to go to the trouble."

Yin Junjie’s well-behaved sensibleness did not make Wu Rong feel comfortable.

At whatever age, one should behave like that age. To say Yin Junjie’s behavior was wildly out of step with his years wouldn’t quite be accurate.

It’s just...

Wu Rong still couldn’t help but give this twelve-year-old, not very tall boy a few more looks.

After sending Wu Rong off, Yin Shiqing went back to the study. He stayed in there alone for a long time before finally coming out to call Yin Bowen in.

Seeing her husband’s expression so stern and his tone so harsh, Shi Haiyan knew that Wu Rong’s visit just now hadn’t brought any good news.

Sure enough, Yin Bowen had barely been in the study a few minutes when, even through the door, one could hear Yin Shiqing roaring in fury.

Shi Haiyan listened outside, feeling miserable.

After so much had happened, she had finally seen clearly what kind of son she’d raised.

A hopeless case...

Stupid? Not really. Yin Bowen was actually quite smart, but that cleverness had never been steered in a good direction.

So that by his thirties, everything he did was just petty cleverness, with no real wisdom.

Not only that, Yin Bowen had far too many flaws in his character. Of all the bad traits he could’ve inherited, he just had to inherit her elder brother’s arrogance, hubris, and self-righteousness.

"Bai Sidong again..."

Yin Bowen clenched his fists in hatred, the three characters of Bai Sidong’s name practically squeezed out from between his teeth.

"If you could handle things a little more calmly, if your temperament were just a bit steadier, how would you let Bai Sidong grab hold of your weakness again and again?!"

Yin Shiqing glared fiercely at Yin Bowen.

"Before this, Wu Rong bent over backwards to get you out of the detention center, but now he’s had enough."

"Then what exactly did Uncle Wu say when he came?"

Sitting in the large leather office chair, Yin Shiqing pulled open the locked drawer on his left and took out a kraft file envelope.

"This."

Yin Bowen’s brows drew together slightly, his face full of confusion.

"This is..."

"You really think Wu Rong is so kind, hauling you out of the fire pit time after time?"

"..."

"Every time he drags you out of the fire, he himself runs the risk of getting burned. He has no blood ties to us at all, so why would he help you like this?"

Yin Bowen stared at the dark brown kraft envelope,

his eyes suddenly widening.

"So...Father, you’re holding his weakness?!"

Yin Shiqing gave a cold snort.

"Whether as the former Public Security Department Director Wu Rong or as the Wu Rong now serving at the Central, he’s a very good chess piece."

"Then...since you’ve got this, doesn’t that mean he can’t refuse?"

"You think everyone is like you, with such a simple mind?!"

Bringing this up made Yin Shiqing’s head feel twice its size. He truly couldn’t understand how he’d ended up with such a disappointing son.

"No one is willing to become someone else’s chess piece just because they’re being held by the throat, much less a man like Wu Rong, who has always been full of tricks and deep in the art of concealment."

"..."

"He brought up your eldest uncle, Shi Shengde."

"Ah?"

"The point was to threaten me: if I keep using this leverage to blackmail him, he might resort to some extreme measures and treat me as an enemy. Even if it comes down to mutual destruction in the end, he’d be willing to go that far."

Yin Shiqing said.

Yin Bowen listened, feeling cold sweat down his back.

Other than his uncle, who’d always butted heads with his father in the past, Yin Bowen had never seen anyone dare to ’yell’ at his father like this head-on. This was a threat...

"So...he wants Father to give that leverage back to him?"

"Exactly."

Yin Shiqing said with a low hum, clearly extremely reluctant. Wu Rong wasn’t wrong: a relationship based on利益—on shared interests—does offer some security, but it still can’t compare to having Wu Rong’s fatal weakness in his own hand.

At this point, Yin Bowen more or less understood why his father had flown into such a rage.

"Can’t we copy it?"

As soon as Yin Bowen made this suggestion, Yin Shiqing shot him another withering glare. Yin Bowen swallowed; he truly didn’t understand what his father meant.

"The reason I called you in is to tell you this is the last time I’ll clean up your mess. If you screw up again, there will be nothing more I can do."

"Dad, don’t worry, I’ve learned my lesson!"

Yin Bowen hurried to say earnestly. Yin Shiqing put the kraft envelope back into the drawer, and father and son walked out of the study together.

At the end of the second-floor hallway, Yin Junjie was standing there with a washed, empty milk bottle in his hand...

After Yin Bowen and Yin Shiqing had both gone downstairs, Yin Junjie went into his grandfather’s study alone. The calm in his eyes had shed the childishness a twelve-year-old should still have.

He felt for the drawer key in the pen holder on the desk, opened the top drawer, and took out that kraft envelope.

He closed the drawer, put the key back, walked out of the study, gently shut the door, and went upstairs to his room.