Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"You've been assigned a car too—it's just that you won't drive it." Xia Yan knew Yang Ce was only making idle talk and would never genuinely be interested in such things. If he had any interest in the Bureau's authority, things would not be as they were now.

The car turned onto a side road at a fork ahead, then made a right onto a very quiet little lane. It bumped and jolted along, and finally entered a compound that looked like a factory from the outside.

But once inside the compound, one discovered how different it was—tightly guarded, with sentries everywhere, all of them armed with loaded weapons.

Yang Ce and Xia Yan got out of the car and led Chen Dazhuang toward the office building.

Chen Dazhuang saw nothing amiss, since he had seen little of the world and assumed this was simply some sort of detention facility, where so many sentries were only to be expected.

They came to a door. Xia Yan opened it, and the three of them walked in together. This was the temporary holding site for Chen Afu.

Chen Afu was inside writing something at a desk. When he saw people come in, he looked up, caught sight of Chen Dazhuang, and froze.

"Afu!" Chen Dazhuang ran over in a few quick strides, but a large pane of glass stood between them, so he could only look at Chen Afu from the outside.

"What are you doing here?" Chen Afu stared at Chen Dazhuang in great astonishment.

"Afu, I'm your father—I came to see you!" Tears welled up in Chen Dazhuang's eyes as he looked at Chen Afu. "Afu, you may have broken the law and done wrong, but you're still my son."

"You—hurry up and go. I don't want to see you." A wave of panic surged through Chen Afu's heart, and he spoke hastily.

"Afu, can you still not forgive your father? Back then I..." Chen Dazhuang wanted to go on, but Chen Afu turned his head away and refused to listen.

Chen Dazhuang stood outside watching for a long while before he heaved a sigh and turned to leave. Yang Ce was faintly angered—how could Chen Afu be so heartless? Chen Dazhuang had gone to great lengths, asking favors and pulling strings, just to see him once, and after all that trouble, the man would not even acknowledge him.

"Brother Xia, you and Uncle Chen Er go out first. I want to talk with Chen Afu," Yang Ce said with a frown.

Xia Yan nodded and went out. He did not know what Yang Ce meant to do, but he trusted that Yang Ce would not do anything harmful to the Bureau's interests.

"Good timing, Yang Ce. There's something I've been wanting to say to you too," Chen Afu said hurriedly after hearing Yang Ce's words.

"You? What could you possibly have to say to me? Your father went to such trouble to see you—he sought out Chen Shutang's father, pulled strings with heaven knows how many people, and finally got to see you, and you just ignore him?" Yang Ce berated him.

"Yang Ce, that's exactly what I want to talk to you about. Hear me out before you start cursing me." Chen Afu sighed. "These past few days, I've thought things through. What I did before really was somewhat extreme. But later on, I truly did not want to keep frightening people—I'd had enough. It was the Right Elder who forced me to do it. I had no choice."

"There's no use telling me all this. What punishment you'll receive specifically isn't up to me." Yang Ce spoke impassively.

"I'm not pleading with you for leniency. I'm only stating what's on my mind." Chen Afu smiled bitterly. "Besides, I've decided to cooperate with your research into the Right Elder's Gu sorcery. I'm only getting life imprisonment, after all."

"Then what is it you want to say?" Yang Ce asked.

"Chen Dazhuang is my father. How could I feel nothing at all for him? Yes, I hate him. He walked out on me and my mother when I was small and never looked back. But he is my father, after all." Chen Afu sighed. "The way I treated him just now, I only wanted him to give up on me, because I'm leaving Songjiang very soon and we may never meet again. If I had left him hoping, wouldn't that make it worse for him? What would he do with the rest of his days?"

Hearing this, Yang Ce was rather stunned. He truly had not expected Chen Afu to have words like these in him. Then again, so much had happened, and Chen Afu had been punished besides; his state of mind was bound to be different now.

"So I've decided to be cold to him, and that way he can start a new life afterward," Chen Afu said. "Yang Ce, I heard him say that Chen Shutang and I are relatives. However much you dislike me, whatever trouble I caused you in the past, I'll say sorry to you here. I hope that, for the sake of our having been classmates, and for the sake of my being Chen Shutang's relative, you can help my father a little. I know you have ways, and finding him a job shouldn't be too difficult."

"Set your mind at ease about that. I'd do it even if you never asked." Yang Ce nodded. "But you're a fool. Do you think your father is happy with you as you are now? That his heart is at peace? You wouldn't even acknowledge him at your last meeting, so how will he ever be easy in his heart? If it were me, I'd regret it all my life."

"Ah!" Chen Afu cried out. Yang Ce's words woke him as from a dream, and he said hurriedly, "You're right, of course. Why didn't I think of that before?"

"It isn't too late now. All right, everything you've said, I can agree to, since Second Uncle Chen is Mengyan's relative after all, and looking after him is only proper." Yang Ce said, "I'll go and bring him in. Whatever you have to say, say it."

"All right. Thank you, Yang Ce. Truly." Chen Afu nodded, his voice choking.

Yang Ce waved a hand and went out of the room. The old grudge between the two of them seemed like nothing to him now. Back then Chen Afu had been nothing but a lackey of Wang Lin's, and whatever his master told him to do, he naturally did.

Seeing Yang Ce come out, Chen Dazhuang hurried over and asked anxiously, "Yang Ce, what did Afu say?"

"Second Uncle Chen, Chen Afu says he wants to see you alone again," Yang Ce said. "Go on in, he's waiting for you in there."

Chen Dazhuang's face lit with joy. He understood as well that Chen Afu must have changed his mind only after Yang Ce had said something to him. He nodded his thanks and went in.

"I never knew you were so good at talking people round," Xia Yan said to Yang Ce with a smile once Chen Dazhuang had gone in.

"So you heard all of that?" Yang Ce glanced at Xia Yan and asked, smiling.

"Mm." Xia Yan pointed at the tiny earpiece in his ear. "But I wasn't eavesdropping on purpose. I simply keep an ear on what's going on in there at all times."

"I understand. No need to explain." Yang Ce waved a hand and smiled as though it were nothing.

Just to be safe, it was only proper for Xia Yan to keep watch on the situation inside, and Yang Ce certainly would not hold it against him.

Some half an hour later, Chen Dazhuang came out of the room with his eyes red. His conversation with Chen Afu, of course, had reached the ears of Xia Yan and Yang Ce word for word, and both of them were rather moved.

Chen Dazhuang had gotten what he wished for, and knowing that his son would spend the rest of his life repaying his debt to society steadied him considerably. He said to Yang Ce and Xia Yan, "Thank you both for giving me this chance. Well then, let's go back."

To be continued.

1034. The Task Wei Jin Commissioned

On the way back from the Investigation Bureau, Chen Dazhuang was again seated in the back, though his expression was bleak and grieved. Yang Ce hesitated, then said to Xia Yan, "I'll sit in the back for a while."

Xia Yan knew Yang Ce meant to console Chen Dazhuang a little, so he nodded in agreement.

The rear door closed slowly and the light in the cabin came on. The interior was evidently rather comfortable, with soft seats and even an automatic water dispenser.