Chapter 032: The Slap That Stunned Everyone

Chapter 032: The Slap That Stunned Everyone

They’d been married for years now—long enough that Liu Caixiu knew Lu Guangnian well. Whenever his face went this blank, this utterly devoid of expression, it meant he was pressing down fury that had reached its absolute limit.

Lu Guangnian’s temper had run hot and quick in his younger years. He’d deliberately trained himself out of it as he’d risen in the world—this blankness was the method he’d built for controlling himself.

“What… what’s wrong, husband?” Liu Caixiu asked, unease creeping into her voice.

She had no idea what that pretty boy had whispered to Lu Guangnian.

No one else in the room knew either, and the curiosity was almost unbearable—a fight had seemed seconds away, and then that one murmured conversation had not only stopped Lu Guangnian from turning on Wu Chen, but had also left Lu Guangnian’s mood twisted into something strange.

The whole atmosphere had turned eerie.

“Where did you go yesterday afternoon?” Lu Guangnian asked, his face blank.

“I… I was at the office.” Liu Caixiu’s expression shifted, visibly uneasy, and Lu Guangnian’s eyelid twitched at the sight of it. “I was in the office the whole time, with my cousin—we spent the whole afternoon working on a marketing proposal. Why are you suddenly asking about this, husband?”

Under ordinary circumstances, no one faced with such a simple question would offer this much unprompted detail.

It already carried the flavor of an excuse rehearsed in advance.

But Lu Guangnian hadn’t actually been interrogating her. He’d only asked, offhand.

“You and your cousin—together at the office the whole time?” Lu Guangnian asked again.

“Yes, we were in the office together the whole time, right up until the end of the workday. Ask my cousin if you don’t believe me,” Liu Caixiu said.

“I already did. Asked him this morning, just in passing.” Lu Guangnian’s words made Liu Caixiu’s face drain of color instantly. “He told me the two of you went out yesterday afternoon to meet with a client. Weren’t at the office at all.”

He was bluffing her.

In truth, Lu Guangnian had asked nothing of the kind.

Wu Chen had suggested it to him—bluff her a little, see if she would lie. A man of Lu Guangnian’s standing was no fool; he understood well enough how to extract the truth through indirection.

Deep down, Lu Guangnian hadn’t wanted to believe a word Wu Chen had told him. He still had no idea where this Wu Chen had come from, or when exactly Li Ruobing had picked up a boyfriend.

But this wasn’t the moment to dwell on any of that.

What Wu Chen had told him mattered too much to ignore.

He’d harbored suspicions for a long time already, sensing something was wrong between these supposed “cousins,” without ever pinning down exactly where the wrongness lay. He’d guessed, at most, that Liu Caixiu might be quietly funneling money to Liu Ligang, helping him skim a bit extra on the side.

That much, in Lu Guangnian’s eyes, hadn’t seemed worth confronting. He’d simply looked the other way.

But something had stayed lodged in him regardless—too many small things he’d never been able to reconcile, and that unresolved thorn was exactly what had left him willing, now, to test what Wu Chen had told him.

“Oh… is that so? That’s what my cousin said? He must be misremembering.”

Liu Caixiu was genuinely panicking now. She and Liu Ligang had slipped away together too many times to count—there was no way they’d coordinated a cover story in advance for every single occasion. And in all these years, they’d never once been caught.

Precisely because Lu Guangnian had never suspected the true nature of this “cousin” relationship, the two of them had grown careless, almost brazen about it.

“Misremembering? I’ll call him right now and ask,” Lu Guangnian said.

“I—I mean… oh, right, now I remember. We did go out yesterday afternoon to meet a client, but we were back by two or three, and after that we were in the office the whole rest of the time working on the marketing plan…”

Liu Caixiu had changed her story again.

A vein pulsed faintly at Lu Guangnian’s temple.

“Husband, why are you suddenly asking me all this? That pretty boy insulted me, and you’re not even going to stand up for me? Don’t you love me anymore? Don’t you love me and our son?” Liu Caixiu’s voice rose again, sharp with theatrical outrage, jabbing a finger at Wu Chen in an attempt to steer the conversation elsewhere.

Crack—!

A slap, sharp and resounding—so loud that everyone in the room felt an echo of the sting on their own cheeks.

Liu Caixiu was sent flying sideways, flung a full two meters before crashing headlong into a decorative planter.

Blood welled instantly at her forehead.

Blood slid down from the corner of her mouth as well.

The mark of the slap bloomed red and swollen across her face almost immediately.

Liu Caixiu sat there, utterly stunned.

Everyone else in the room stood equally frozen—Lu Guangnian’s devotion to his wife was legendary throughout Donghai. For him to strike her in public, and with such force, as though settling some blood debt years in the making?

Even Li Ruobing was startled.

She remembered, with sudden clarity, all those private conversations where Lu Guangnian had practically begged her not to make things difficult for Liu Caixiu.

She shot a sharp glance sideways at Wu Chen.

What exactly had this man said to him?

“Take Madam home.” Lu Guangnian’s face remained blank as he turned to instruct his bodyguards. “Don’t let her leave the house. Let her think about what she’s done.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Two bodyguards stepped forward, hauling the still-dazed Liu Caixiu to her feet, guiding her firmly toward the exit.

Lu Guangnian glanced once more at Wu Chen, said nothing, drew a deep breath, then turned and raised his hands in a placating gesture to the room, an apologetic smile spreading across his face. “My apologies, everyone, truly sorry for the scene. My wife’s spoiled rotten, doesn’t know how to behave—ruined everyone’s dinner. My sincere apologies, truly, I’m so sorry!”

Lu Guangnian pressed his palms together, bowing slightly toward every table within view, nodding his apologies to each in turn.

People often speak of certain men as “a real figure”—someone who commands the room.

This was exactly what that meant.

Lu Guangnian was exactly that kind of man.

“Boss Lu, no need at all.”

“Boss Lu, go on and see to your business, we’re fine here.”

Voices rose in response across the restaurant, people standing to offer their own polite reassurances.

“Everyone, eat and drink well tonight—every table’s bill is on me, Lu Guangnian! Order whatever you like, don’t hold back!” Lu Guangnian said, then turned to signal the restaurant manager standing nearby. “Send two bottles of Moutai to every table.”

A Chinese restaurant called for Chinese liquor, naturally—baijiu all around.

Whether anyone actually drank it mattered less than the gesture itself.

“Boss Lu, you’re too generous.”

“Really, Boss Lu, there’s no need…”

A few more voices rose in polite protest.

“Sit, sit, everyone please sit, enjoy your meal. Truly sorry again, my apologies!” Lu Guangnian pressed his hands down in another placating gesture, apologizing once more to the room at large.

Once everyone had settled back into their seats, he returned to his own guests.

Not many of them—five or six men who’d arrived with him, having just watched several minutes of unexpected theater. At the front stood a balding older man in glasses, somewhere around sixty, dressed in a suit, carrying himself with a scholarly air.

“Old friend, my apologies for wasting everyone’s time, letting you see all that,” Lu Guangnian said, offering the first apology.

“Old Lu, what exactly was—” the balding man leaned in, asking quietly.

“Ah, don’t even get me started. That prodigal wife of mine…” Lu Guangnian waved a hand, saying nothing further.

In truth, no one present could have pieced together anything real from what they’d just witnessed between Lu Guangnian and Liu Caixiu—the exchange had only touched on where she and her “cousin” had gone the day before.

Going somewhere with her older cousin hardly suggested an affair to anyone listening, let alone let them guess at what had actually happened.

Certainly no one could have leapt from that to the truth: that Lu Guangnian’s son wasn’t his own child at all.

Which was exactly why Wu Chen had chosen to lean in and murmur it privately, rather than announce it to the room.

The same piece of information, handled differently, could produce entirely different outcomes—sometimes the exact opposite of each other.

Wu Chen could easily have laid it all out plainly, in front of everyone, revealing even more than he had—more than enough to shatter Liu Caixiu on the spot. But doing so would have meant burning his bridge with Lu Guangnian completely.

Given Lu Guangnian’s standing, a public reckoning like that would have made headlines.

[Ten-Billion-Yuan Tycoon Tricked into Raising Another Man’s Son]—a headline like that would have set the whole country talking.

Lu Guangnian would have lost face not just across Donghai, but nationwide, his private disgrace turned into public spectacle.

In Wu Chen’s estimation, Lu Guangnian was a connection worth cultivating. There had been no need to expose him outright.

Make an enemy of him, or make himself a benefactor—Wu Chen had chosen the latter, without hesitation.

“Old friend, go on up ahead, have the food brought out—I’ve got a bit of private business to see to, my apologies, I’ll join you shortly… Hey, you there!” Lu Guangnian turned to call to his assistant. “Xiao Zhou, take good care of them, see they’re well looked after. I’ll be up in a moment.”

“Don’t worry, Boss.” The assistant responded at once, gesturing the way, guiding Lu Guangnian’s important guests up the stairs.

Lu Guangnian walked them as far as the staircase, murmuring quietly with the balding old man the whole way.

…

Li Ruobing had settled back into her seat, one hand resting on her wine glass, watching Wu Chen with something dark and searching in her eyes.

“Do I have something on my face? Why the stare?” Wu Chen asked, smiling, tipping his head back for a small sip of wine.

Li Ruobing tilted her head slightly, still watching him.

As though she really meant to see flowers bloom there.

“Ruobing, I’m so sorry, truly—I’ve told her off more times than I can count. I never expected she’d come bother you again.” Lu Guangnian, having seen his clients off, returned to offer Li Ruobing another apology.

In truth, the words weren’t really meant for her.

They were meant for everyone else listening.

Striking his own wife over something like this?

A genuine loss of face—but far better than letting the world know he’d been made a cuckold.

Lu Guangnian had no way of knowing whether Li Ruobing understood what Wu Chen had actually said to him.

“You’re too polite, Brother Lu,” Li Ruobing said.

Lu Guangnian turned his gaze to Wu Chen.

“Step outside for a talk?” Wu Chen said, not waiting for him to speak first.

Lu Guangnian paused, then nodded. “All right.”

Wu Chen rose, and the two of them walked out together toward the door.

Li Ruobing watched their backs recede, something new stirring in her eyes.

They could already step out for a private conversation, just the two of them?

What exactly had Wu Chen said to him earlier, that a man like Lu Guangnian would willingly speak with him alone now?

And now—

Something more to say? Something he intended to keep from her as well?!

Li Ruobing wasn’t an especially curious person by nature. But right now, her curiosity was very nearly boiling over.