oked at Yunxi who kept her head down; she appeared blushing and bashful, which stirred something inside Xiao Yu. He slowly walked towards where Yunxi stood.Yunxi felt Xiao Yu approaching and couldn’t...Chapter 518: Engagement

When Zhou Xiantian stepped out onto the corridor, he wiped the sweat off his forehead. Although the people inside spoke kindly to him, he was still sweating profusely.

"Alright, Little Zhou, let them perform for you soon!" Director Gu said to Zhou Xiantian as he came out. He hadn’t expected that there would be a relationship between the Zhous and the Zhongs, and since none of the Xiaos were minding it now, he naturally wouldn’t make trouble. After saying this, Director Gu took the elevator down.

Director Gu had also gained much today. Right after Hu Director left, he went to Xiao Yu’s VIP room and handed a business card to someone there who seemed inexperienced with social interactions; it was easy for him to befriend such people.

The fact that they could come here to eat with Xiao Yu proved their close relationship. Although Xiao Yu seemed far away now, Director Gu believed he would soon get along well with these people under the flattery of a bureau-level official like himself.

After Zhou Xiantian and others left, Xiao Yu looked at his mother in confusion about what she meant by her words.

Xiao Jianying noticed Xiao Yu’s puzzlement and explained to him. Upon hearing Xiao Jianying’s explanation, Xiao Yu instantly understood the situation.

"In the eyes of ordinary people, power isn’t worth much!" After listening to his mother's words, Xiao Yu shook his head and sighed.

"Indeed..." Old Zhong sighed after hearing Xiao Yu's comment. As a former secretary of discipline inspection in the past, he had seen countless officials lose their way due to power; thus, Xiao Yu’s words hit close to home for him.

Xiao Yu stayed at the Zhongs' place for a while before leaving and returning to his VIP room since there were still many people waiting there. The Zhong family naturally knew this and didn’t insist on keeping them longer.

Watching his excited sister and grandfather’s guards, Xiao Yu nodded inwardly; watching the Spring Festival Gala today had made one of his dreams come true.

Xiao Yu hadn't been idle during these days of New Year. He visited all the elders like General Li Su jun, Lord Song, and Lord Ye in turn to pay respects.

Since the start of the lunar new year, Lu Jianhong had been accompanying Wan Hongguang around visiting people and seeing his leaders, which was a great opportunity for him to expand his network. He certainly wouldn’t miss it.

The fifth day of the New Year, Xiao Family Compound was already bustling with activity. Batch after batch of people came to the Xiao family, and most of them brought their entire families. Even Zhang Dahai returned from the deep sea.

On this day, the Xiao family prepared a large pot meal to entertain today's guests. Due to Xiao Yu's engagement, the Xiao family had two busy days on the fifth and sixth day of the New Year.

At eleven o'clock in the morning, Xiao Yu's phone suddenly rang. When he took out his phone, he saw it was a call from Zhong Jianguo. On New Year's Eve, the Zhong family also learned that Xiao Yu would be engaged on the sixth day of the New Year, so they must have called about this matter.

After answering the call, Xiao Yu walked out of his house. The Zhongs only knew that their family had moved into Beijing and were living in a neighborhood near Beihai Gate but didn't know exactly where it was.

Xiao Yu came to the street and looked around. Suddenly, he saw two cars parked by the roadside, with Zhong Jianguo holding his phone outside the car, looking around.

Then, Zhong Jianguo noticed that a figure had circled around the parked cars by the roadside and was heading towards their vehicle.

The row of cars at a distance, Zhong Jianguo and company had already seen them but didn't know what they were doing. So they stopped far away to call Xiao Yu.

As Xiao Yu walked over, he waved at Zhong Jianguo. Since Zhong Jianguo knew where the Xaos lived, he drove his car over.

Xiao Yu directed the Zhongs to park their cars properly. After they parked, Old Zhong, Aunt Yang, Zhong Jianguo, and Zhong Tianming got out of the car.

"Old Zhong, Madam Zhong, Governor Zhong, you're too considerate!" Xiao Yu said after they got out of the car.

"Haha, Xiao, how could we miss your engagement" Old Zhong laughed upon hearing what Xiao Yu said.

"Hehe, Old Zhong, Madam Zhong, please..." Xiao Yu gestured with his hand and led them towards his house.

Suddenly, Zhong Jianguo's face changed. He tugged at Old Zhong and pointed to the car parked by the roadside.

Old Zhong looked puzzled and followed the direction pointed by Zhong Jianguo. When he saw the car parked by the roadside, his expression changed as well, showing a look of shock.

Old Zhong observed these two rows of long queues of cars parked by the side of the road. As one of the former Nine Elders, he knew more than Zhong Jianguo about these matters. To Zhong Jianguo, all the license plates were just special ones; however, some of them looked quite significant to Old Zhong.

As they walked forward, Old Zhong could imagine the appearance and status of the car owners according to their license plates.

Zhao Yu's group followed him in silence. They were all somewhat perplexed by Zhao Yu now. Some of these cars’ owners would even be rarely seen by them, let alone meeting several at once.

Zhong Jianguo’s reaction was slightly better. In his eyes, the vehicles just had special license plates. He didn’t know what each car represented, but he knew that many departments were involved and only a few cars had private license plates.

The Zhongs felt suppressed by their seniors’ reactions, so none of them spoke either.

In their eyes, even though Zhao Yu was indeed extraordinary, he should still just be a doctor with no background. The people he knew were probably only the Song and Zhuo families. Therefore, they couldn’t figure out why there would be so many special license plates parked here.

"Old Zhong, Madam, please come in!" When Zhao Yu led them to his courtyard gate, he turned around and said with a wave of his hand.

“Uh... Okay!” Hearing Zhao Yu's call, Old Zhong snapped out of his reverie and replied hurriedly. They then followed Zhao Yu up the steps.

However, just as they were about to enter the gate, the Zhongs suddenly realized something and stepped back a few paces when they saw the scale of the courtyard.

When the Zhongs stood outside and looked at this yard, they finally felt truly shocked. They had never imagined that Zhao Yu would be living in such a place!

They were all very familiar with this courtyard because it was where the vice-state leader’s downfall began. At that time, Old Zhong was still in power. He opposed the decision to deal with the vice-state leader just over one yard; it felt too trivial.

And on the first day when it was being processed, apart from the top leader who agreed with it, everyone else opposed it. Initially, this matter was dismissed since there were eight votes against and only one in favor. However, the top leader suppressed the decision for further discussion.

But just after the old leaders dispersed the meeting, they received a call from their superior urging them to push through with it.

The next day when the meeting was reconvened, there were nine unanimous votes in favor. Though Old Zhong didn't know what happened overnight, he couldn't deny the change in outcome.

At this point, they realized that this courtyard wasn’t ordinary. He even asked his superior about it, but the latter said nothing and only told them not to interfere. Since there was evidence of a state-level official's crime, the procedure should be followed. Especially as an inspector-general like Old Zhong wouldn't hesitate just because one state-level official was involved for fear of causing unrest.

When Xiao Yu entered the courtyard and noticed that Old Zhong and others hadn’t followed him in, he returned to ask, "Old Zhong, what's wrong"

"Oh! Nothing!" Upon hearing Xiao Yu’s words, they snapped out of it, entering the quadrangle with a hint of nervousness.

When Xiao Yu brought Old Zhong and others to the third courtyard, seeing the elderly gentlemen sitting inside, Old Zhong was momentarily stunned. He thought, as expected! All these esteemed elders were here; earlier he saw their cars parked in the convoy, thinking they might be coming here. Indeed!

But what kind of relationship did these venerable men have with Xiao Yu On the day before his engagement, Xiao Yu had come to this place. In northern areas, only those who are very close would visit on such a day.

Their appearance here showed their relationship was quite special indeed. Furthermore, almost all of these respected elders were present—although they no longer meddled in affairs, their influence couldn't be overlooked by anyone.

Old Zhong greeted the venerable men while Old Zhongguo and others had no right to speak here; Xiao Yu knew they would feel constrained staying there, so he led them to Song Hushan's room instead.

Upon arriving in this room, Old Zhongguo began chatting with Song Hushan and Ye Fei, as their ranks were similar, making conversation easy.

In the afternoon, Xiao Yu’s group prepared a pot dish for lunch. Thanks to some chefs from Song Hushan who had long been involved in state banquets, this meal was quite rich.

By late afternoon, most guests except Zhang Dahan and Song Hushan left.derstood his limits; if he overstayed and made Xiao Yu unhappy, it would be counterproductive."Xu, Yunxi, let’s go now. We’ll catch up later!" Lu Jianhong said to Xiao Yu and Yunxi as well. After that...