Ma Jun's father, Ma Dewen, sat in his study, staring at Zeng Fanzhi's oil painting on canvas on the wall in front of his desk. He rubbed his temples, he longed to go back to the past, to the poor time with Ma Jun and his wife's family of three, when they were happy and happy, a complete home.

But now everything has come to naught, only a few times occasionally, he can see Ma Jun smiling happily, it may not be true, even if it is true, he is afraid that he will not be able to get a good result.

He was hiding his vulnerability, keeping his secrets, and he prayed to God many times and many times, hoping that God would give him some clear instructions, but his desire made him powerless.

He once tried to live an ordinary life like other officials, abide by the law, and defend the program of the republic, but once he misstepped, he became a thousand years of hatred, he was afraid of complicated interpersonal relationships, afraid of his current life, and even more afraid that Ma Jun would ruin his life because of him.

At first, he used his son Ma Jun's paintings to open an art exhibition and accepted bribes. He went around a very ingenious circle and offered Ma Jun's works a sky-high price, and many people who wanted him to do things looked at Ma Jun's paintings and bought them. At first, Ma Jun thought that this was a manifestation of his talent, and he did not know that his paintings were just tools for money laundering. He continued to create and be inspired, and became one of China's leading young contemporary painters. But as he grew older, he began to slowly discover that his father used his paintings to embezzle and bribe as much as more than one billion! He began to put down his brush, and for the sake of justice, he created the last series of works "Cabbage".

Ma Jun once stopped his father from going farther and farther on the difficult official journey, but Ma Dewen was embarrassed by riding a tiger, and wanted to let go several times, but there were too many things involved, and if he let go and lose control, the consequences would be unimaginable. Once the road is opened, there is no turning back. But he couldn't think as Paul Cliff (2) said in The Crime Novelist: "You don't have to worry about where the train of life is going, because once it starts, it's hard to control." On the contrary, he was worried everywhere, because of this fear, he couldn't stay up all night, and every day he was thinking about how to make this game of chess alive. He sighed exhaustively, his mouthpiece dry, and took another sip of the decaffeinated Assam black tea in his cup.

At this moment, Ma Dewen heard the sound of a car motor, he stood up to see who was coming, and made sure that it was his son's car before sitting back in the chair. After a while, Ma Jun entered the study and said, "I heard that Zhao Youyou has withdrawn his bail?"

"Yes, it's strange to say, where did Zhao Youyou get so much money to protect a painting?"

"Dad, or we'll burn all the "Cabbage" series and stop it. Ma Jun asked this just because he couldn't bear to push his father to a dead end, so he wanted to see if his father could stop the precipice at this last moment.

"You think it's as easy as you think? ”

"Are you afraid that these paintings will be gone, and you will become as poor as before, right?"

"Ma Jun, I just want to give you a good life. At the beginning, if it weren't for your father and me, who were honest and poor, your mother would not have left us to remarry and go to Switzerland. Since the day I was fighting, I thought that I could no longer be looked down upon because I was poor. At that time, you were only four years old, and you didn't understand anything, so I thought, before you go to elementary school, you must get ahead, let you live in a sense of superiority since you were a child, and when you grow up, you will think that your father is incompetent, and your father is poor, and leave me. Speaking of this, Ma Dewen choked up.

Ma Jun sat on the sofa, his head turned to the side and looked out of the window, he really didn't want to see his father's face, he said: "If you don't do business in the sea, you can still make money, but you ......"

"Do you think it's so easy to go to the sea? At that time, your father and I didn't have a penny of savings, and we didn't even have the first start-up capital to do business, so how could I go to the sea to do business? Therefore, I could only use my meager rights to help people stamp a few stamps. ”

"How many stamps?" Ma Jun paused, really didn't want to continue, "Just because of a few stamps, it ignited the fire of your desire, and you want to make the official bigger and bigger, but now, look at it, you use me to accept bribes, and a pair of "Cabbage" is fried at a sky-high price, not to mention, forget it, you still let me ......"

"That's enough!" Ma Dewen was furious, "I'm tired of hearing your preaching! You can draw your drawings now, play with your car, and you don't have to worry about anything else." If it weren't for your father's scheming and step-by-step planning, you would be as chic as you are today? Don't be born in a blessed world and don't know how to be blessed, and don't poke me in a basket again! You must know that these paintings of yours can only be auctioned by those who need my help and bid at a high price. Look at you, you actually poked such a big hole in me, and casually took your painting to Christie's for auction, do you think Christie's can auction your painting for 15 million? If I hadn't asked Liang Peng to win it with a secret bid higher than 8 million, I don't know who this painting would have gone to, and if it was smashed out of the things hidden in the painting, it would be even more unimaginable! Who knew that his demonic girlfriend Zhao Youyou actually regarded this painting as Liang Peng's personal property, and was stupid enough to buy insurance!"

Ma Jun originally wanted to come back and have a few drinks with his father and talk about the happiness of father and son in the past, but every time he came back, he would hit the muzzle of the gun, and the two would face each other head-on. They couldn't go back, he thought, and a powerful force was pulling them farther away, unable to get closer.

Ma Dewen saw his son sitting there silently, sighed and said: "I've been really tired recently, thinking of where Zhao Youyou got so much money to protect a painting, I felt a chill down my spine, wondering if she had some behind-the-scenes mastermind playing cards with me?"

"Dad, I think you're enjoying yourself, aren't you?" said Ma Jun quite seriously.

"Don't be poor with me! I have already asked Liang Peng to check the details of Zhao Youyou, fortunately, now her son is under our comprehensive monitoring, and she does not dare to do anything for the time being, and her newly divorced ex-husband Chen Hao is also within the scope of our investigation. ”

As soon as Ma Jun heard this name, he asked, "What's wrong with that Chen Hao?"

"Some time ago, I asked people to keep an eye on Zhao Youyou at any time, and I stared too closely that night, mainly because the car suddenly accelerated, and we thought that we had traced the clues, and we could catch Zhao Youyou's mastermind behind the scenes. Unexpectedly, it was her ex-husband Chen Hao who was driving, the car was too fast, he overturned, and the gang I sent out was afraid of causing more trouble, so they ignored the overturned car and came back with a smoke. At first, I thought that Zhao Youyou was dying in this car, but I didn't expect that it was his ex-husband who had an accident, so I asked Liang Peng to bring Zhao Youyou here and lock him in a dark room for interrogation! But no matter how I asked, she didn't recruit, what can I do, she and Liang Peng are already being targeted by the police for drug trafficking! If I intervene again at this time, won't I set myself on fire? So, I wonder if Chen Hao has anything to do with this matter?

When Ma Jun heard this, he realized that the Chen Hao in his father's mouth was the same person as Li Wen's ex-boyfriend, so he smiled disdainfully, thinking that Chen Hao, who was in the hospital that day, was simply a wreck, what could he do? Could it be that he is still a plainclothes policeman? Professional undercover? I feel funny when I think about it!

He glanced at his watch, it was already past two o'clock in the morning, he got up and stretched, and said, "I'll stay here tonight." ”

Ma Dewen glanced at his son: "Then you stay alone, I am going back to the house in the city now, you must not bring anyone to this villa during this period, I recently contacted your mother, I want to transfer part of the property to the Swiss bank, I am also planning for you, if it is really difficult to stop this matter, I will deal with those paintings, I don't need you to remind me." On the other hand, if I really capsize in the ups and downs of this officialdom, I am also to blame, you still have a good life, and when the time comes, your mother will help you arrange it. ”

After speaking, Ma Dewen cleared his throat and got up to leave. He called his personal chauffeur to take him back to his residence in the city.

Ma Jun saw that his father was gone, so he sneaked to the basement, his eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness here, turned on his mobile phone and followed the light to find the switch, and turned on the incandescent light in the basement.

In the basement storage room, it is cluttered, and most of them are some oil painting studies and discarded manuscripts from Ma Jun's childhood to the present. There are also car parts and discarded engines. Following the same place where he had left his things last time, he took out an oil painting, cleaned the dust from it, and carried it to the garage of the villa. He activated the door of the other garage, put the painting in the larger Land Rover, slammed the throttle, and transported it to the studio in the creative park.