Cheng Tianxun spent the entire morning in meetings.
They were discussing the deployment of troops in Sucheng.
None of the three Cheng brothers wanted to go to Sucheng themselves, but neither were they willing to give up the profits from its docks. So they planned to send trusted men in their place.
They were unwilling to leave Nancheng, the center of political power, yet couldn’t bear to give up the enormous profits. Their little schemes were perfectly clear to the Marshal and the division commanders under him.
The argument had dragged on without end.
Cheng Tianxun was close to winning.
However, the Marshal had always favored his eldest son. Until the very end, Cheng Tianxun wasn’t completely confident.
At lunchtime, his mother sent for him.
She normally lived in the main building at the back of the Marshal’s residence. The Marshal, on the other hand, rarely stayed there.
“Your eldest brother and your third brother are working together now. They’re trying to push you out,” his mother said.
Cheng Tianxun’s eldest brother was the son of the Marshal’s first wife and was the best at winning their father’s favor. His third brother was born to his father’s second concubine, with whom the Marshal had been in love.
That had happened before the Marshal’s wife entered the family.
Cheng Tianxun’s mother and the Marshal had married for political reasons. They were a couple only in name, each harboring their own plans.
And among the three brothers, Cheng Tianxun was the least favored by his father.
He never held back when he did things, and his temperament was domineering. He had never cared about being a “loving and respectful brother.”
When they were children and got into fights, he once grabbed his eldest brother by the head and slammed it against a rock, nearly blinding him in one eye. His third brother had also nearly been beaten into disability by Cheng Tianxun.
The Marshal had called him vicious, malicious, and devoid of humanity.
But when it came to marching troops and fighting wars, he was far more capable than his two brothers. The territory under his control was stable and prosperous. The Marshal needed someone like him to support the family, and over the past few years, his opinion of Cheng Tianxun had improved somewhat.
Unable to defeat Cheng Tianxun on their own, his eldest and third brothers had actually set aside their differences and formed an alliance against him.
“Two chickens tied together think they can fly?” Cheng Tianxun casually pulled out a cigarette and offered one to his mother. “Sucheng will be mine.”
His mother took a slow drag.
“Beiping has issued another order. They still want peace talks. Your father hasn’t had the energy to deal with the fighting among you brothers lately. If you move quickly, you can win.”
“Peace talks about what?” Cheng Tianxun sneered. “If they want to absorb us, they should just say so.”
The first condition of the peace talks was disarmament.
“The warlords in the south will never agree to that. There’ll have to be another war.”
“I’d actually like to agree,” Cheng Tianxun said. “Once the north and south are unified, who ends up in charge won’t be for the northern side to decide.”
His mother’s eyes caught the tiny glow of the cigarette ember, giving them a faint, sharp brightness.
“You’re like your uncle and your grandfather. You have ambition and foresight. You’re nothing like these local warlords. All they know how to do is stare at their own little patch of land. They’re short-sighted and foolish.”
While mother and son were talking, Adjutant Qian knocked on the door.
“Marshal, the Commander wants you to come to the conference room.”
Cheng Tianxun raised his wrist and glanced at his watch.
“It isn’t even one yet. The meeting doesn’t resume until three. Why does he want me there?”
“Director-General Du from the Ministry of Finance has come to complain. He says Young Madam injured members of his household’s entourage and frightened his daughter into fainting,” Adjutant Qian said.
Cheng Tianxun frowned.
The Marshal’s wife frowned as well.
Cheng Tianxun stubbed out his cigarette and stood.
“I’ll go take a look.”
As soon as they left the main building, Cheng Tianxun asked Adjutant Qian, “What exactly happened?”
Adjutant Qian was meticulous as always. He had already investigated everything that had happened at the newspaper office and now gave Cheng Tianxun a full account.
When Cheng Tianxun reached the small lounge beside the conference room, he found that Director-General Du from the Ministry of Finance wasn’t the only one there.
Chief of Staff Lan was there too.
The Du and Lan families were related by marriage. Chief of Staff Lan’s wife was Du Zhuojun’s aunt.
Marshal Cheng was seated in the main chair.
Cheng Tianxun entered and walked straight over to sit beside his father.
He crossed one leg over the other.
“Director-General Du, how are you planning to apologize?”
The Director-General of the Ministry of Finance did not fall under the military government. He answered to the cabinet. At present, Nancheng’s military and civil governments were separate.
The Du family was extremely wealthy. By now, virtually every official in the municipal government was a confidant of Director-General Du, and he had nearly reduced the cabinet to a figurehead.
“Young Marshal, your wife injured one of my men. The bullet tore through my daughter’s ear, and the doctor says her eardrum may have been damaged, possibly leaving her with a permanent disability.”
Director-General Du had already been furious. Seeing Cheng Tianxun’s attitude only made him angrier.
“My wife went to the Du residence and attacked your people?” Cheng Tianxun asked.
Director-General Du hesitated.
“This…”
“Or did she go to Miss Du’s newspaper office?” Cheng Tianxun asked again.
Director-General Du looked toward the Marshal.
“Marshal?”
Marshal Cheng cleared his throat.
“Tianxun, it’s nothing major. Don’t make such a fuss over it. Apologize, pay some compensation, and let it go. Director-General Du isn’t an unreasonable man.”
“He’s reasonable.”
Cheng Tianxun stood.
“Then I’ll be reasonable too.”
He was tall. After taking off his military uniform, he was dressed only in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing muscular forearms crisscrossed with prominent veins.
He took several steps toward Director-General Du and punched him squarely in the face.
The Marshal and Lan Changming were both stunned.
“Tianxun!”
Cheng Tianxun grabbed Director-General Du by the hair to keep him from falling, then drove two more punches into his ribs.
There was an unmistakable crack of breaking bone.
“You insulted my wife and humiliated me?”
His grip never loosened. He slammed Director-General Du’s head against the corner of the tea table.
Blood immediately poured from the man’s forehead.
Cheng Tianxun was still not satisfied. He was about to smash his head against it again when Lan Changming rushed forward to stop him.
“Young Marshal!”
Cheng Tianxun raised his foot and kicked him squarely in the chest.
He only stopped when the Marshal drew his gun.
“You bastard! Are you trying to kill someone in my own lounge?”
The Marshal was furious beyond words.
He couldn’t help remembering what had happened in the past.
Whenever Cheng Tianxun fought with his brothers, this was exactly how he fought.
He beat them as though he intended to kill them.
Over the past few years, he had finally settled down a little.
And now he was acting up again.
People from the Ministry of Finance were difficult to deal with, so the Marshal was willing to show Director-General Du some respect.
He simply hadn’t expected Cheng Tianxun to actually try to beat the man to death.
Not only had he attacked Director-General Du, he had even kicked his father-in-law, Lan Changming.
And Lan Changming was a high-ranking official in the military government.
Cheng Tianxun finally released his grip.
Director-General Du had already passed out, lying motionless in a pool of blood like a dead dog.
The Marshal gestured for an adjutant to check on him.
“He’s still breathing, Marshal,” the adjutant reported.
Another adjutant helped Lan Changming up from where he had fallen in the corner.
Lan Changming was both humiliated and furious.
Cheng Tianxun’s kick had nearly ruptured his internal organs, and the pain was so intense that he couldn’t even speak.
“Father, if there’s nothing else, I’ll head back. I won’t attend the afternoon meeting. Give me the deployment in Sucheng, and I’ll double the amount of money I pay you every year,” Cheng Tianxun said.
Then he left.
By the time he reached the gates of the Marshal’s residence, his mother came hurrying after him.
“Why did you lose your temper again?”
“I didn’t lose my temper. I thought it through before I acted.”
Cheng Tianxun rubbed his wrist.
His hand hurt from all the punching.
“And you still say you didn’t act impulsively? Why did you even hit Lan Changming? He’s your father-in-law.”
“My wife’s surname isn’t Lan. What kind of damn father-in-law is he?” Cheng Tianxun said.
What was his wife’s name again?
Oh, right.
Qin Yan.
She definitely wasn’t a Lan.
So he hadn’t hit the wrong person.
Once he had sorted that out in his head, Cheng Tianxun called out, “I’m leaving, Mom.”
Sitting in the car, Cheng Tianxun suddenly remembered something he had overlooked for a very long time.
“Do the people in Nancheng know that my wife is Lan Changming’s daughter?”
They probably didn’t.
He returned to the villa.