Coming out of the bookstore, less than 200 meters east from Xisi East Lane, the first place to turn into the alley is Cui's house.

It is also a unique courtyard house in Yanjing, and the yard is cleaned up. There are some potted flowers and plants, terrazzo eaves, small lattice inlaid glass wooden doors, but there are no other particularly conspicuous places, to say that compared with ordinary people, the biggest feature is that the yard is very spacious.

The hall in the center is open to the courtyard, and there is a man in a navy uniform who is talking on the phone with his back to the courtyard, not tall, but with deep shoulders, which is very similar to Cui Xiangdong, the old man of Cui.

Because the person had his back to the courtyard, he couldn't see the epaulettes and collar emblems, and Shen Huai couldn't confirm that this person was Cui Yongping, the eldest son of Old Man Cui.

Speaking of Cui Xiangdong, Cui Yongping's father and son's general history, it is also very strange.

Cui Xiangdong was one of the main generals of the Yellow Sea Fleet in his early years, and before the turmoil of ten years, he served as the commander of the Yellow Sea Fleet, and was the first to be affected in the early days, and resumed work in 74 years, but there was a serious leak accident in the Yellow Sea Fleet in 75 years, Cui Xiangdong took responsibility, was severely reprimanded by the Military Commission at that time, and was dismissed from his post, and has not held the leadership position of the Navy since then.

However, Cui Xiangdong's eldest son, Cui Yongping, was not affected by this incident in the slightest, and his development in the navy has always been in an orderly manner, and at this time, before the age of 50, he was already the deputy director of the Navy Equipment Department with the rank of rear admiral and deputy military rank.

"Don't you dare to ask, I'll go to the one surnamed Ding tomorrow, just allocate this money, how to repair the twenty-three big ships on the Yellow Ocean Sea?" The middle-aged man's tone on the phone was not so kind, as if he was arguing with the other party about something.

Cui Xiangdong coughed lightly, nodded to the driver and guard in the yard, and the middle-aged man put down the phone and turned around when he heard the movement. Seeing that his face was the same as Cui Xiangdong, Shen Huai confirmed that he was Rear Admiral Cui Yongping, deputy director of the Navy's Armament Department.

Cui Yongping shouted: "Dad, you said you were going out for a spin, why did you come back?" and glanced at Shen Huai, who came back with his father, suspiciously, and wanted to ask but didn't ask.

Cui Xiangdong had a better understanding of his son's temperament, and did not say why he turned back, but pointed at Shen Huai in a voice and said: "He is the son of Song Bingsheng, the fourth elder of the Song family." ”

Cui Yongping just nodded at Shen Huai, although he couldn't see how strong his old grudge against the Song family was, but he was also quite indifferent, Shen Huai could at least be sure that the relationship between the Song and Cui families would never be harmonious.

"You come in with me. Cui Xiangdong didn't want to say anything more to his son, so he directly asked Shen Huai to go in with him.

Shen Huai could only follow Old Man Cui into the side wing, and when he walked in, he saw that there was a bedroom inside.

The inside is very simple, one bed, one table and one cabinet, if it weren't for the net pocket that Old Man Cui carried with him on the train and placed on the table next to the bed, Shen Huai would almost not believe that this was Old Man Cui's bedroom.

Cui Xiangping walked to the table, untied the net pocket, took out two glass cans from it, handed them to Shen Huai, and said, "The day after tomorrow is Song Hua's 80th birthday, you give him these two things......"

Shen Huai took the canned bottle, looked at it as if it was tea, it looked a little broken, and he was even more puzzled in his heart, the master in front of him kept saying that he didn't recognize the old man of the Song family, and he looked like he had a lot of grudges against the Song family, and he looked like he had a deep grudge against the Song family, why did he ask him to bring back two bottles of tea as gifts?

Shen Huai thought that Cui Xiangdong seemed to be very angry with the second uncle Song Qiaosheng, and thought to himself, could it be that the Song family was the second uncle, Song Qiaosheng, who offended the old man in front of him so badly that the two families couldn't erase their old friends?

The previous Shen Huai had a grudge against the Song family, so it was impossible to have a fair evaluation, and at this time, his impression of the Song family was vague. Even if there are some impressions, they are unreliable.

Shen Huai didn't delve into what kind of grievances the Cui and Song families had, as a junior, not to mention that Cui Xiangdong just asked him to bring two bottles of tea, even if it was a more demanding request, he couldn't refuse.

"Does the old man have any other instructions?" Shen Huai asked again.

"No, you go back," Cui Xiangdong was simply slight, with a wave of his hand, he wanted to drive Shen Huai away when he ran out of people, but before Shen Huai came to the door, he said again, "There are so many juniors in the Song family, so you kid looks more authentic......"

Listening to Old Man Cui's praise, Shen Huai didn't know whether it was better to cry or laugh, seeing that Old Man Cui didn't mean to talk to him anymore, he could only say goodbye and leave first.

Just as Cui Yongping walked out of the yard, he saw Shen Huai come out, just like just now, he nodded without much expression on his face, and as a greeting, he got into the black Audi car directly and left.

Shen Huai returned to the bookstore at the entrance of the alley with two cans of tea, and the owner had already tied the books he wanted to buy with plastic ropes.

"This is a book list, you can compare the books when you go back and see if the money is wrong," the shopkeeper handed the book list to Shen Huai, and explained the reason for the high total price, and said, "Several of the books you picked are all original foreign language editions, and the price code is relatively higher......

Shen Huai expressed his understanding and chatted with the shopkeeper for a few words, only to know that the shopkeeper's surname was Tan, and he was really a professor who retired from Yan University in recent years. Because of his health, he retired to recuperate when he reached his age, and he did not continue to stay in school to teach, nor did he spend a lot of energy on learning.

While chatting, a phone call came in, urging the owner to go back to eat, and Shen Huai took tea and books to say goodbye and left.

At this time, the sunset is just sinking, and through the narrow door, you can see the burning clouds in the west. Shen Huai first took a taxi to the apartment arranged by his sister-in-law Song Wenhui for him in the family area of the Ministry of Electric Power, after all, he had gone away under the pretext of going to the Beijing Office to meet with the officials of Donghua, so it was inconvenient to take this large stack of books directly back to his sister-in-law's house.

Shen Huai had dinner casually, walked back to Xisi Lane in the family building of the Ministry of Electric Power, and when he passed by the bookstore, he saw a beautiful girl wearing a floral dress standing under the lamp in the room, and did not see Professor Tan.

I don't know if this girl is the "little five" that Professor Tan said, Shen Huai didn't walk into the bookstore again, but went back to her sister-in-law's house directly.

Song Wenhui and Tang Jianmin had already returned home and were quite strange to see Shen Huai holding two cans and bottles.

Shen Huai explained the reason to them, and then asked, "The old man of the Cui family seems to be a little resentful of the second uncle, what is going on?"

Song Wenhui was very clear about the past of the year, since Shen Huai asked, there was no need to hide it, sighed lightly, and said: "There have been two incidents, one is that Old Man Cui was found out and criticized in six or seven years, and it has something to do with your second uncle, but that turmoil also quickly involved our Song family, so I can't talk about who is right and who is wrong; Because of these two things, the relationship between the two families has never been good......"

Shen Huai nodded as if he had realized something, thinking that Cui Xiangdong was only about sixty years old when he was removed from the post of commander of the fleet, because he had a hand behind the back of his second uncle Song Qiaosheng, and since then he has been idle at home, watching his former colleagues go to positions at the military region level or even higher one by one, where can the resentment in his heart be dissipated?

For example, if he used means to remove Tan Qiping from the position of secretary of the Donghua Municipal Party Committee at this time, Tan Qiping would not hate him to the core, and it would be called hell.

Cui Xiangdong can ask him to bring two cans of tea to the old man as a congratulatory gift at this time, and he must be regarded as an open-minded person. I don't know if Cui Yongping's promotion to rear admiral in the naval system in the later period was quite smooth, is there anyone in Zhongyāng who is making up for the Cui family?

Shen Huai thought that the second uncle, Song Qiaosheng, was only thirty-five or sixteen years old at the time, and as for participating in the investigation of the leak of the Yellow Sea Fleet that year, he should not be the key person in charge, and he didn't know what kind of mentality he had and what tricks and feet he used to get Cui Xiangdong.

These secrets, Shen Huai knew that even if his sister-in-law knew, he would not be able to tell him as they were, and he would not ask anything.

In a small Donghua City, there is such a turbulent undercurrent, and it is naturally impossible for Zhongyāng to be a mass of harmony. The situation of the zhongyāng faction is much more complicated than imagined, and in addition to the fact that the four major field armies have their own military and political systems, they have a great deal to do with the many movements within the party before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the transformation of a considerable proportion of underground parties into local party and government officials after liberation.

"Sister-in-law, then you go to grandpa tomorrow and bring these two cans of tea from Old Man Cui over......," Shen Huai said.

"Since Old Man Cui entrusted you, then you can give it directly to the old man the day after tomorrow. Song Wenhui said that she knew that Shen Huai had no status in the Song family at this time because of the past, and let others know that Cui Xiangdong actually asked Shen Huai to give the old man a congratulatory gift, which would make people look at him a little impressively.

"Okay. Shen Huai nodded, agreed, and asked about the Xiangzikou Bookstore, "Professor Tan of the Xisi Lane Bookstore seems to be very clear about the grievances between the Cui family and our Song family, how could he open a bookstore in the alley?"

"You said Professor Tan, he is Ji Lianyun's son-in-law. Song Wenhui said.

Shen Huai secretly said to himself, he didn't expect Professor Tan to be this identity.

Although Ji Lianyun no longer holds the leading position of Zhongyāng in 92, two of the current leading group of Zhongyāng were promoted by Ji Lianyun, and it can be said that they are still powerful figures who play a decisive role in the current political situation.

Shen Huai didn't expect that Ji Lianyun's son-in-law would run a bookstore in a small alley after retiring from Yan University, but it was normal to think about it. Not everyone is obsessed with officialdom, Shen Huai thought to himself that his little uncle Tang Jianmin might be treated as an ordinary middle-aged doctor with not very good medical skills when he went out, and Professor Tan would not be involved in a deeper political whirlpool, and running a bookstore would not lose his wisdom to protect himself.