Chapter 458 – “Oh? Do show me this nice sword then.” (3)

As Gu Jiangxin thought about all these, he carefully picked a spot by the window where nobody could see him from the outside and sat down.

He didn’t have to wait long. The noises at the school died down quickly.

Heavy and steady footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway.

“Daddy Liu Xue. Right this way. Do come in.”

After she had taken the man there, the relative left understandingly, staying behind not a second more than she needed to.

Mayor Liu felt odd the moment he walked inside.

The literature teacher was chatting him up on the way to the office much like what she had told him when he was here previously for a parent-teacher conference.

He thought perhaps his daughter had misbehaved in school and the teacher wanted to talk to him in private about it. Nevertheless, she turned and left as soon as she had showed him to the office.

He took a couple of steps forward and saw a familiar face.

“What a coincidence, Mayor Liu.”

Gu Jiangxin stood up, his face beaming, and he smartly recited the speech that he had prepared.

“I happened to pass by the school where my wife’s Third Aunty teaches at today and came in to take a look. It so happened that she teaches literature and I had come across a good painting so I thought I’d have her take a look at the captioning on it.

“As it so happened, Mayor Liu’s daughter is a student here. Haha. This is fate, right?”

He did not mention that he had arranged the meeting and was waiting here for him but passed it off as a chanced encounter. That made it easier to explain away later on, should the need occur.

Mayor Liu’s face dropped right away.

Even Aunty Chen was aware that Gu Jiangxin was trying to butter up to him, let alone those who were watching every move of his closely.

He had been extremely cautious the last few days. Never mind about exhibitions, he even avoided going to shopping malls with his wife. Everyday, he travelled only between home and work and he’d go home immediately after work. He had declined all invitations to networking events.

He didn’t want to earn the reputation of being in cohort with someone as infamous as Gu Jiangxin after just 6 months in his new role, never mind about accepting bribes!

Mayor Liu did not want anything to do with Gu Jiangxin at all.

Lo and behold, he somehow found out where his daughter went to school and even bribe a teacher there to call him over!

That was… bold and reckless!

And he was probably a repeat offender. The way he smoothly covered up his behavior with words, how he was able to explain everything away. It was obvious that he had already done it countless times and was very used to it.

In Mayor Liu’s mind, he had already put a big red “X” over Gu Jiangxin and his realty!

Pigs would fly if his books were clean!

“Have a seat, Mayor Liu? Something came up for my Third Aunty and she had to step away for a little while. I heard that you have an eye for good paintings and love to collect. Perhaps you can take a look at mine and offer me some insight.”

Gu Jiangxin, with a face full of smile, quietly unrolled the painting.

He had found this out about Mayor Liu from Secretary Zhang.

If this new mayor was truly impenetrable, Secretary Zhang would not have told him about it.

Once he had pointed out a direction, and a specific artist at that. How was that not a blatant suggestion?

Seeing that Mayor Liu had stayed by the door and did not approach him any further, Gu Jiangxin carefully stepped forward with the painting in his hands.

He, too, was in his 50s and his eyesight was not as good as they were before.

Mayor Liu stood with his back to the light and the lights in the office had not been turned on. His face was dark and his expression unreadable.

Gu Jiangxin said in a low voice as he approached Mayor Liu. “The best sword should belong to a hero.”

Mayor Liu squinted his eyes and busted out laughing from being so angry. “Is that so? Alright. Then show me what good sword this is that you are speaking of.”