Chapter 311: The Problem Isn’t That He’ll Think Too Much—It’s That He Won’t

Chapter 311: The Problem Isn’t That He’ll Think Too Much—It’s That He Won’t

What was going on?

Tang Jingbin was not the only one who did not understand.

Even Li Ruobing and Li Ruotai were confused.

It felt as though…

wasn’t their uncle Sun Yongzhang being a little too friendly toward Wu
Chen?

Gu Ruibo understood somewhat more than the others, and even he felt
something was off.

Of the four left in the living room, Gu Ruibo alone knew some of the
details of Wu Chen’s cooperation with the Li family. There were things
even the Li siblings did not know that Wu Chen had told him while
arranging his partnership with Wu Yurong.

But what he knew had its limits.

So Sun Yongzhang’s manner puzzled him too.

Wasn’t he being far too accommodating?

Inside the study.

The room was elegantly appointed. Landscape paintings hung on the walls,
and the scholar’s four treasures stood on the desk, giving the place a
strongly classical air.

This was Li Ruotai’s study.

Naturally the decor was mostly cultivated taste laid on for guests.

Once the two of them were inside, Wu Chen hung back a step and closed
the door.

“Little Wu…” Sun Yongzhang turned to him as he spoke, glancing at the
door without meaning to.

“Let’s talk farther in.” Wu Chen glanced at the door as well, then
smiled and gestured toward the inner part of the study.

There was something faintly furtive about both of them.

Neither wanted anyone in the living room catching a word.

They had reached that understanding without a syllable of prior
discussion.

They walked to the inner end of the study, near the balcony.

As they went, Sun Yongzhang kept turning his head to study Wu Chen.

He had deliberately avoided looking at him too closely earlier, for fear
Tang Jingbin would notice something.

Tang Jingbin was an outsider.

And every word and action of Sun Yongzhang’s in Donghai could stand for
the Li family’s position.

He could not let Tang Jingbin see that the Li family had, internally,
accepted Wu Chen.

That would conflict with the Li family’s cooperation with the Ding
family.

If outsiders learned too early that the Li family meant to give up on
Ding Ruilong and abandon the marriage alliance, there would be serious
trouble.

“Little Wu.” Once they reached the balcony, Sun Yongzhang put out his
hand.

“Mr. Sun.” Wu Chen raised his at the same moment.

They shook.

That counted as their formal introduction.

“Come, sit, sit.” Sun Yongzhang gestured again.

The study was large. The balcony held a wooden tea table and chairs, all
of rosewood.

Wu Chen and Sun Yongzhang sat facing each other.

Everything about it felt natural, nothing like two strangers meeting for
the first time.

Not only because Wu Chen knew Sun Yongzhang.

But because—

Sun Yongzhang knew Wu Chen.

He knew a great deal about him.

“I’d been thinking I’d come find you for a talk once I’d finished with
Tang Jingbin,” Sun Yongzhang said, looking at him. “Didn’t expect you to
raise it first. I’d guess Tang Jingbin is suspicious now for certain.
That old bastard thinks too much. He’s forever analyzing people.”

“That’s exactly why I did it in front of him,” Wu Chen said with a
smile. “I want him thinking.”

“Oh?” Sun Yongzhang paused, then looked him over again.

After a moment he smiled.

“Lately I keep hearing my brother-in-law talk about you. Says you’re
mature beyond your years, that your mind is extraordinary…”

He stopped there, his gaze taking on a measuring quality.

He still did not know whether this young man named Wu Chen truly
possessed the astonishing talent Li Maoren claimed.

Li Maoren had even used the word “terrifying.”

He had said it himself, at a core meeting between the Li and Sun
families.

“Little Wu…” After only a few seconds Sun Yongzhang spoke again.

He had meant to ask why Wu Chen deliberately wanted Tang Jingbin to see.

Instead he changed course.

“You know why I came to Donghai, don’t you?”

“To keep me from killing Ding Ruilong,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

A glint passed through Sun Yongzhang’s eyes.

His smile showed surprise, though not a great deal of it.

Wu Chen had guessed right.

Li Maoren had already told Sun Yongzhang he probably would.

An extraordinary mind indeed.

“Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that.” Sun Yongzhang looked at him.

“I didn’t come to guard against you. Mainly it’s that Ding Ruilong is
too aggressive in how he operates. If the two of you run into each other
and another conflict breaks out, then to put it the way my
brother-in-law did, he can’t hurt you—but you might kill him.”

“I came chiefly to keep Ding Ruilong in check and stop him starting
anything. Not on account of you.”

“I understand.” Wu Chen kept smiling.

“Good.” Sun Yongzhang nodded quickly. “The Li family and our Sun family
already have the plan in motion. Ding Ruilong has to stay alive for what
comes next to work. He can’t die at a time like this.”

“Don’t worry. Ding Ruilong will leave Donghai alive,” Wu Chen said.

Something in his tone was subtle.

Sun Yongzhang heard it.

Wu Chen had said explicitly that Ding Ruilong would leave Donghai alive.

He had not said he would leave him untouched.

“Then what are you planning to… do?” Sun Yongzhang asked.

“Let things take their natural course,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

Sun Yongzhang could tell plainly that Wu Chen did not want to say.

He thought again of Li Maoren’s instructions.

His first purpose in Donghai was to prevent a conflict between Ding
Ruilong and Wu Chen. Second, since he was here anyway, he was to help Li
Ruotai settle the Tang Xinbao matter.

Li Maoren had told him that as long as Ding Ruilong left Donghai alive,
as long as that was accomplished, everything else…

Sun Yongzhang need not interfere much.

He could simply watch Wu Chen handle it.

If necessary, he was even to cooperate with him.

Sun Yongzhang truly did not know what magic this young man possessed to
make his brother-in-law value him so highly.

Li Maoren seemed almost to have blind faith in Wu Chen’s abilities.

Sun Yongzhang had only heard the stories. He had never seen for himself
what Wu Chen could do.

He did not know.

He did not understand.

And he found it hard to believe a young man could really be that
capable.

Even so—

Sun Yongzhang would listen to Li Maoren.

As long as Ding Ruilong did not die, little else mattered.

“Tang Jingbin’s attitude is very stubborn,” Sun Yongzhang said, dropping
the subject of Ding Ruilong abruptly.

He glanced toward the door, then back at Wu Chen.

“What are your thoughts on this, Little Wu?”

There was something in the way he kept putting questions to him.

He wanted to see what Wu Chen could do.

“I’ll handle it,” Wu Chen said with a smile. “Mr. Sun, just keep talking
and drag it out. Don’t settle anything yet.”

Sun Yongzhang raised an eyebrow and studied him again.

It was strange.

Emotionally, Wu Chen seemed to feel no pressure whatsoever.

And yet he did not look wildly confident either.

He was simply calm.

Natural.

Relaxed.

A deeply guarded nature—the kind that let no one see what he was truly
thinking.

“All right, then. I’ll leave it to you. Saves me the trouble.” After a
moment Sun Yongzhang smiled.

For the next ten minutes and more the two spoke privately about the Ding
family, the Wei family, and how Ding Ruilong was to be handled.

Sun Yongzhang was going to meet him.

Wu Chen would be present as well.

How Sun Yongzhang should treat Ding Ruilong, and how he should treat Wu
Chen in front of him…

all of it would require acting.

The details had to be settled in advance.

Soon they had covered nearly everything.

They reached a comprehensive understanding.

“When we go back out there…” Sun Yongzhang’s tone shifted suddenly. He
gestured toward the door, then looked at Wu Chen. “If I’m too friendly
toward you, Tang Jingbin is certain to suspect something. How about we
pretend we had a tremendous row?”

“No need.” Wu Chen shook his head gently and smiled.

“The truth is, the problem isn’t that Tang Jingbin will think too much.
It’s that he won’t.”

“But if he does get suspicious…” Sun Yongzhang frowned slightly. “Tang
Jingbin is an old fox. If he works out that the Li family and the Ding
family are already united in appearance but divided at heart, and word
gets out, the Ding family will probably start investigating…”

“Then don’t let him spread it. Make him keep the secret,” Wu Chen said
with a smile.

“Make him keep the secret?” Sun Yongzhang did not quite follow.

Wu Chen made it sound far too easy.

Who could possibly shut Tang Jingbin’s mouth?

“Bring the Tang family onto the boat,” Wu Chen said, still smiling.

“Onto the boat?” Sun Yongzhang stared.

“If the Tang family can cooperate with the Li family, then the Ding
family becomes the Tang family’s enemy. Once they’re sharing the pie
with us, with enough profit on the table, the Tang family naturally
won’t leak a thing.”

He finished with a smile.

Sun Yongzhang’s face changed abruptly.

He was stunned.

The Tang and Li families had very little contact.

Each had its own circle.

There was no foundation of trust between them, which meant no foundation
for cooperation.

And Wu Chen simply opened his mouth and proposed making the Tang and Li
families cooperate.

It was impossible.

Revealing something of that magnitude to the Tang family without
preparation carried enormous risk.

It could bring everything they had planned crashing down.

“What are you trying to do?! You…” Sun Yongzhang’s eyes widened as he
stared at him.