Chapter 304: One Man Is a Network with Connections Everywhere!

Chapter 304: One Man Is a Network with Connections Everywhere!

“Yes! Very interested!” Lei Cheng answered without a moment’s hesitation.

He already knew what Wu Chen wanted to bring him in on.

The documents he had been reading contained nothing that touched his own business, or Wu Chen’s, or Wu Yurong’s.

They were a third party’s business plan.

Ding Ruilong’s business plan.

The latest one.

Before coming here, while he was on the phone with Wu Yurong, Wu Chen had told her to print several business plans with specific document numbers, along with the related files and contracts.

He had no intention of letting Lei Cheng see everything directly.

There was no need.

Not yet, at least.

Lei Cheng was a clever man.

He could tell whose plan it was—Ding Ruilong’s company name appeared in the documents—and he could easily guess why Wu Chen was showing him.

Wu Chen wanted him in.

To go after Ding Ruilong’s business.

And his money.

“Brother Lei, you don’t have to agree quite so fast. This isn’t as simple as you think,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“I know. We’re going after that bastard Ding, aren’t we?” Lei Cheng waved a hand grandly. “Then let’s go after him. Take his business. Take his money.”

“We are going after him.” Wu Chen smiled and nodded. “But we’re going to go big.”

“How big?”

“Bring him down,” Wu Chen said lightly, still smiling.

Lei Cheng’s expression changed.

That was not what he had been imagining.

He understood that these documents being in Wu Chen’s hands had to involve corporate espionage. Obtaining them was espionage in itself.

But business was war, full of deception and scheming.

Lei Cheng had no particular objection to that.

If Wu Chen could get hold of the material, it only proved how capable he was.

That was all.

And stealing Ding Ruilong’s business—that was business. Done in secret or not, it was still commercial competition.

A small problem.

But now Wu Chen was saying he meant to bring Ding Ruilong down.

How?

Push it far enough and there would be no hiding it.

And Ding Ruilong had the Ding family behind him. His personal businesses were, in essence, part of the Ding family’s holdings.

So trying to bring down Ding Ruilong meant moving in the direction of bringing down the Ding family’s business as well.

Reality might not turn that extreme, but they would absolutely provoke the power of the Ding family.

Not merely Ding Ruilong.

“Brother, you mean you want to make this big?” Lei Cheng asked, his expression shifting as he pictured it. “Go all the way at him?”

“That’s right.” Wu Chen smiled and nodded. After a pause he went on, “Brother Lei, there are things I couldn’t tell you before. But I can today. Our relationship has reached that point.”

Lei Cheng looked at him.

“As for the Ding family, I’ve already spoken with the Li family. You’ll have heard how much trouble Ding Ruilong has caused over the years, how many lines he’s crossed. He killed someone he should never have killed.”

Wu Chen said only that much.

Just enough.

“So…” Lei Cheng prompted.

He caught the implication, but he did not know exactly what Wu Chen meant.

“Six months at the shortest. A year at the longest. Something will happen to the Ding family. They’ll collapse,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

Lei Cheng’s face changed dramatically.

This was big.

Extremely big.

Lei Cheng had not moved much among the younger generations of the great families. Ten years lying low had left him relatively cut off.

But he knew the things that were easy enough to know.

And he knew exactly what kind of family the Dings were.

To make the Ding family collapse, and within a single year, the forces striking at them would have to be at least several times their strength.

And a struggle among great families could easily turn into open chaos.

Some would sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.

Some would fish in troubled waters.

The enemy of an enemy. The friend of a friend.

It would become a mess.

“Divide the pie in advance. The earlier you prepare, the more you get,” Wu Chen said, looking at him.

He put it very plainly.

Of course Lei Cheng understood exactly what he meant.

And still he had no idea what was actually going to happen.

Instinctively he found it hard to believe.

Because this was simply far too big.

“I went to Modu a few days ago,” Wu Chen said, smiling. “I’ve already settled things with Gu Ruibo. He and Sister Rong have met as well. Their part of the cooperation is decided.”

“Gu Ruibo…” Lei Cheng repeated the name, his expression turning strange.

Of course he knew who Gu Ruibo was.

A young master of the Gu family in Modu.

A business prodigy in the investment world.

And Ding Ruilong’s rival. Their clashes had produced more than one sensational incident, though their conflict had stayed inside business. Neither had used dirty tricks on the other beyond it.

Wu Chen had reached an agreement with the Gu family?!

Lei Cheng trusted Wu Chen deeply.

He also believed Wu Chen would not lie to him.

Remembering their first meeting, when he had been a failure and it was Wu Chen who pulled him out of the mire and showed him a glimpse of daylight—

No. Wu Chen was not deceiving him.

But this was still fucking unbelievable.

Something this big was about to happen?

The Li family?

The Gu family?

And the Li and Sun families were practically one body.

So the Li family, the Sun family, and the Gu family were joining forces against the Dings?!

Who else was in it?!

Was this real?!

“As for the newest part, my thinking is that Sister Rong and you should work together, Brother Lei. I won’t get involved in the specifics. You and Sister Rong can work out how to handle it afterward.” Wu Chen paused, then added, “That’s roughly it. Whether you join is up to you, Brother Lei.”

Lei Cheng fell silent.

He had agreed so readily before because he had not understood the scale.

Now he had to think seriously. If something went wrong in a matter like this, or if they botched it, the consequences would be enormous.

He was not afraid of Ding Ruilong.

But the Ding family was another thing entirely.

And Lei Cheng understood something else as well.

This was a tremendous opportunity.

A chance to make an enormous amount of money.

And it was not only about money.

What mattered more were relationships, connections, interests woven together. If this succeeded, then Wu Yurong and the Wu family, Gu Ruibo and the Gu family, even the Li family—through shared interest, Lei Cheng could build ties with all of them, or deepen the ones he already had.

And most important of all was Wu Chen.

Lei Cheng knew how uncanny the man was.

If this succeeded, he understood that his relationship with Wu Chen would inevitably grow closer still.

And it was no exaggeration to say that Wu Chen alone was a network with connections everywhere.

That was genuinely how Lei Cheng saw him.

Bang!

“I’m in!” Lei Cheng slapped the table and declared it.

He had not thought long before deciding.

“Fuck it! Brother, you’re bringing me in on something good. There’s no way I’d turn you down. I’m in!”

He had not only agreed. He had flattered Wu Chen in the same breath.

He was taking a real gamble.

Wu Chen had not told him the inside story.

He had not explained the specifics.

He had merely told him what was going to happen.

And Lei Cheng chose to trust him and enter the game.

That was exactly the attitude Wu Chen wanted from him.

“All right, then. Here’s what we’ll do.” Wu Chen glanced at Wu Yurong, then looked back at Lei Cheng. “Gu Ruibo is coming to Donghai in the next couple of days. He’ll meet with Sister Rong. You should go too, Brother Lei. The three of you can talk it through.”

“Sure! Hahahahaha!” Lei Cheng agreed, laughing again.

He genuinely wanted to meet Gu Ruibo.

And through Gu Ruibo he could get a sense of just how big this was going to be.

Were they really planning to go all the way at Ding Ruilong?

Wu Chen knew what he was thinking.

He also understood that even having agreed, Lei Cheng might not dare commit his full strength yet.

He did not know the inside story, after all.

But—

once Lei Cheng met Gu Ruibo, and learned that Gu Ruibo and Wu Yurong were prepared to use practically every method available, legal and otherwise, to hammer Ding Ruilong’s businesses and the Ding family’s money—

he would understand.

He would know for certain that this was truly going to happen.

Otherwise Gu Ruibo and Wu Yurong would never act that way.

And once that happened, Lei Cheng would inevitably stop holding back and commit himself fully.

“Hahahaha! Brother! Ms. Wu! Come on—let’s have a drink first!” Lei Cheng laughed, raising his wineglass in invitation.

Everyone raised their glasses.

Cheers.

Then they went on eating and talking, first about the contents of Ding Ruilong’s business plans, and how they could profit from them.

More than ten minutes later.

Tao Manying, who had mostly listened without saying much, stood, whispered something to Lei Cheng, and left the room.

She was going to the restroom.

A few minutes later.

“Ah!”

A woman’s scream rang out from outside the private room.