Chapter 1289 Family Barrier

Gu Chengyuan walked at the front, his posture upright.

With a gentle and just-right smile on his face, he whispered something to Wu Bin, the chief of staff of the theater command, and Wang Tiefeng, the commander of the theater army, beside him.

As the group approached the convoy, no further words were needed; well-trained staff and guards guided the leaders to their respective vehicles.

Gu Chengyuan boarded the executive minibus at the front of the line, which was not particularly flashy in appearance but had been fully armored and modified with enhanced communications. The other person, the only one from the night market, boarded the bus with him was Gu Jianguo, the chairman of the Night Province Management Committee.

As for Wu Bin, Wang Tiefeng, Chen Haitao, Zhou Tianyi and other members of the theater command standing committee, they followed closely behind and boarded the vehicles in turn, while other senior generals and representatives of friendly forces boarded their respective vehicles as arranged.

buzzing-

Soon, with a deep and powerful engine start-up sound, the long, light gray convoy of dozens of cars began to slowly move away from Victory Square, which was still immersed in the afterglow of the celebration.

The convoy drove onto the newly cleaned main road and headed smoothly towards the center of the night market.

There, a grand banquet is being prepared to celebrate the victory, entertain all parties, and inevitably involve much exchange and competition.

The scenery outside the car window flashed by. Although nearly three months of emergency cleanup and restoration had taken place, the scars of war were still visible on both sides of the street.

The charred building, the collapsed ruins, the damaged areas covered by a huge curtain. Yet, alongside these scars, life has begun to stir:

Teams of workers in overalls were clearing the rubble, trucks loaded with building materials were driving to the construction site, new signs or company nameplates had been raised on some relatively intact buildings, and celebratory banners hanging along the way were swaying slightly in the wind.

.......

Inside the cabin, the low rumble of the engine was almost inaudible thanks to the excellent sound insulation materials, and the air conditioning system delivered just the right amount of warm air, creating a quiet and private space that was completely different from the world outside, which was still filled with the smell of gunpowder and ruins.

With no other high-ranking officials, subordinates, or outsiders present, the absolute authority and public image of the supreme commander, deliberately maintained on the parade platform, receded slightly like the tide, revealing the more authentic but also more complex underlying nature of the "son" and "father."

Gu Jianguo turned his gaze away from the familiar yet unfamiliar street scenes rushing past the window.

Those slogans, those busy figures, those buildings that are carefully decorated but cannot hide their scars, all silently tell the story of the tremendous changes that this city has just experienced and the new chapter that is beginning.

The creator and core of all this was sitting right next to him, no more than a foot away, yet it felt as if there was an invisible membrane between them, constructed from power, achievements, and the gazes of countless people looking up at him.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm the complex emotions surging within him, emotions that were almost overflowing.

Were you gratified? Of course, you were extremely gratified. What father wouldn't be proud to see his son achieve such success?

Is it unbelievable? It's even more incredible. In less than two years, he went from being a college student who needed his family to support him and had just been discharged from the army to "Chairman Gu," who now commands a region, is revered by thousands of soldiers, and can decide the life and death of millions with a single word. The leap is so great that it's like a dream.

There were even a few moments when Gu Jianguo had a daze and wondered if all of this was just an overly realistic hallucination he was having under the pressure of the apocalypse.

It was like... like when he was caught in the vortex of infighting in the prime minister's gathering place and was almost in despair, when the well-equipped and tactically strong infantry company sent by his son suddenly appeared like a divine soldier and pulled him out of the mire. That feeling of extreme surprise and illusion was like that.

At that time, he was only shocked that his son seemed to have a considerable force at his disposal. Now, he clearly realized that his son was in control of a rising regime with the rudiments of a complete state apparatus!

And he himself, the father who once sheltered him from the wind and rain and planned his life, now truly lives under the wings built by his son, and even gains a status and respect that is difficult for ordinary people to reach because of this father-son relationship.

The dizziness brought about by this role reversal, along with the accompanying sense of loss and distance that was hard to describe, left Gu Jianguo momentarily at a loss for words.

He looked at his son's young face, which had already matured into a composed and dignified one. The face still vaguely retained the features of his youth, but the light in his eyes already showed the demeanor of a powerful ruler overlooking the mountains and rivers.

Familiar, yet utterly unfamiliar.

Between the two, the air seemed to freeze slightly due to their silent scrutiny and the flow of their thoughts.

An invisible film seemed to ripple gently in the quiet carriage.

Seemingly sensing the turbulent yet indescribable emotions churning within his father, Gu Chengyuan's expression softened.

He was no longer the Chairman Gu who stood at the top of the Zhou Bang, but suddenly bowed forward, stretched out his right hand, and gently grasped his father's slightly aged hand, whose skin had begun to sag, which was resting on his knee.

The palm was warm, the pressure gentle, offering a silent comfort.

Gu Chengyuan didn't speak, but gently squeezed his father's hand.

In that instant of grasping and squeezing, Gu Jianguo felt as if the invisible barrier had been pierced through by the familiar warmth of blood ties.

He gripped his son's hand tightly in return, his grip firm, everything unspoken...

Despite this outward appearance, at this moment, deep within Gu Chengyuan's heart, complex emotions were equally difficult to express.

It wasn't just his father; he himself must have felt this subtle alienation as well.

With his mother, his younger brother, and even his earliest companions, as he rose higher and his responsibilities grew heavier, the space for purely private emotional exchange was invisibly compressed and distorted.

Even though he tried his best to maintain and break through it, the "chasm" that naturally arose from the difference in status was there, silent yet real.

Perhaps this is a manifestation of the saying "the higher you climb, the colder it gets," an inevitable price that comes with power and responsibility, and a kind of "law of nature" that is difficult to defy.

Those who climb high will inevitably be lonely and poor.

However, neither Gu Jianguo nor Gu Chengyuan were the kind of people who would indulge in melancholy or self-pity.

After a brief emotional fluctuation, pragmatism and problem-solving instincts quickly took over, and that bit of melancholy and sentimentality was deeply suppressed in my heart, becoming a lonely feeling that could only be savored alone.

Gu Jianguo released his grip, cleared his throat, and broke the silence first. His voice returned to its usual calm, but his tone held a directness he only displayed when speaking to his son:

"Chengyuan, the military parade was a great success, truly awe-inspiring! But what are your plans for the night market area?"