Chapter 334: Hadn’t We Already Agreed on This?

Chapter 334: Hadn’t We Already Agreed on This?

Wu Chen appeared not to have delivered the most important part yet, namely what the damaging information actually was. In truth, though, the “gift” he had thrown onto the table was far more staggering than the information itself. The Li family’s willingness to help the Tang family strike at the Liu family was the crux of it.

The Li family’s strength needed no explaining.

And the Li and Tang families belonged to different circles, with little overlap in their networks. The less the overlap, the greater the help the Li family could bring.

When great families went to war, it was never a matter between two houses alone. It was a collision of networks, a contest of strength between whole blocs of power.

If the Li family helped the Tangs, it would naturally bring every connection it had. A snake not killed would turn and bite. So once they struck, they would have to commit everything. Otherwise they would offend the Liu family without harming it, and reap nothing but endless trouble.

What did Tang Jingbin make of it?

What else could he make of it? Taken purely on its own terms, he thought it splendid. An ally dropped straight out of heaven.

But Tang Jingbin still could not understand it, and did not dare believe it.

Had the Li family lost its mind? To smooth over the business with Tang Xinbao, they would go to war with the Liu family? Set against a war between great families, Tang Xinbao’s problem was a tiny matter by comparison.

First they were handing over dirt.

Then they were pledging to help.

Shaken, Tang Jingbin wondered dimly whether Wu Chen was stringing him along. Great families did not break faith over matters like this. But the man promising to help the Tangs was not the Li patriarch, and not Li Maoren. It was Wu Chen.

True, Tang Jingbin now believed Wu Chen was speaking for the Li family.

But the Li family had never publicly acknowledged any connection to Wu Chen, much less said he could represent them. Strictly speaking, he was only the boyfriend of the eldest granddaughter of the family’s senior branch.

This was…

Tang Jingbin said nothing for a long time. He watched Wu Chen and thought, turning over how a young man could bring himself to utter something this outlandish, this groundless.

Beside him, Sun Yongzhang had begun to shift restlessly in his seat.

Weren’t they supposed to be drawing the Tang family in against the Ding family? What was Wu Chen doing? How had this veered onto the Liu family, who had nothing whatsoever to do with the Lis?

He wanted to cut in and stop him at once. He even wanted to step out and call Li Maoren.

But he did not act rashly.

He had thought it through: if Tang Jingbin saw that he and Wu Chen disagreed, that they were not of one mind, there would be no negotiating at all.

In fact Sun Yongzhang ought to have been able to work out why Wu Chen was saying these things. That he had not was understandable. Wu Chen’s reasoning had taken a rather long way around this time.

“Do you mean what you say?” Tang Jingbin finally spoke, asking it with complete seriousness.

“Of course I do.” Wu Chen met his eyes just as seriously.

“Xiao Wu!” Sun Yongzhang could hold back no longer. He raised a hand and cut across him. “This business—hold off on—”

He genuinely had no choice left. He could not contain himself.

He felt that if he did not intervene, something disastrous was about to happen.

Tang Jingbin’s head snapped toward Sun Yongzhang. He paused, then whipped back to Wu Chen, his gaze sharpening.

Before this he had been too shaken to pay Sun Yongzhang any attention, and Sun Yongzhang had said nothing.

Now that Sun Yongzhang was trying to stop Wu Chen, Tang Jingbin could hardly fail to notice.

One glance was enough. He saw it, and understood.

Sun Yongzhang did not know about this. Or rather, the two of them had never discussed it. Wu Chen had decided to say it on his own. It had not been agreed beforehand.

Then what the hell was this?

Was this not simply being strung along?

Wu Chen glanced at Sun Yongzhang too, but only smiled at him. Then he set him aside, turned back to Tang Jingbin, and asked, “Well, Mr. Tang?”

“Wu Chen, do you truly mean what you just said?” Tang Jingbin’s composure broke. He used Wu Chen’s full name, and there was an edge in it.

He suspected he was being played. Wu Chen had thrown out a matter this large without blinking, and of course that lit a fire in him.

“I—” Wu Chen began.

“Do you really have evidence about the Liu family?” Tang Jingbin cut him off, fixing him with a stare. “And the Li family helping the Tang family—can you decide that?”

Blunt, unceremonious questioning. Tang Jingbin all but had the word “doubt” written across his face.

Which was exactly the effect Wu Chen wanted.

Sun Yongzhang’s interruption and Tang Jingbin’s suspicion were both things he needed.

“It seems you don’t quite trust me, Mr. Tang.” Wu Chen remained composed, his smile easy, his tone mild. “Understandable enough. After all, you don’t know me yet.”

Tang Jingbin’s face had gone somewhat black.

A proposal this far outside reason invited suspicion on its own. And Sun Yongzhang’s present attitude only underlined how absurd the thing sounded.

“Then how about this.” Wu Chen considered a moment and smiled again. “I’ll make a call. Let’s confirm it first, so a misunderstanding doesn’t derail the talks and sour relations between us.”

He took out his phone as he spoke.

He scrolled his contacts and placed the call.

To whom?

Li Maoren, naturally.

Once the call was dialing, Wu Chen set the phone straight down on the coffee table and switched on the speaker.

Ring… ring…

Everyone could hear it. Tang Jingbin and Sun Yongzhang could both see that Wu Chen was calling someone saved as “Uncle.” Sun Yongzhang could guess which uncle that was. Tang Jingbin could not judge with certainty.

“Hello, Xiao Wu.” The call connected, and Li Maoren’s voice came from the phone, easy and familiar. Footsteps sounded behind it.

He had most likely answered while walking. Along a corridor, perhaps.

Tang Jingbin’s expression shifted. He recognized Li Maoren’s voice at once. So Li Maoren had approved this after all? But if he had, how could Sun Yongzhang not know?

“Here’s the situation, Uncle. I’ll keep it short.” Wu Chen went straight to it, smiling. “I’m speaking with Mr. Tang Jingbin about cooperation between the Li family and the Tang family. Mr. Tang is sitting right here. He simply wants to confirm the matter of moving against the northern Liu family together.”

The footsteps stopped abruptly.

Li Maoren was of course thrown for a moment. This was the first he had heard of the Liu family entering into it. But he recovered quickly.

In an instant he saw the logic.

“Hadn’t we already agreed on this? You can represent the Li family in your talks with Boss Tang. Why—does Boss Tang have some reservation?” Li Maoren said after only the briefest pause.

Tang Jingbin’s and Sun Yongzhang’s faces changed at once.

So Wu Chen truly had settled this with Li Maoren, and Sun Yongzhang had been kept out of it. What standing did Wu Chen possess?

And Li Maoren had said it outright: let Wu Chen represent the Li family. He had confirmed Wu Chen’s authority in this negotiation.

Personally. Fully. Unequivocally.

Which meant that if Wu Chen said the Li family would help the Tangs, then the Li family would help the Tangs. Should the Li family go back on it later, it would not be Wu Chen talking nonsense as a private individual. It would be the Li family breaking faith.

What they did not know was this.

Li Maoren had said it that way deliberately, for Tang Jingbin’s ears.

Wu Chen had given him the cue by mentioning that Tang Jingbin was sitting right there. The remark was slightly abrupt, which told Li Maoren that Tang Jingbin might be able to hear the phone.

Hence his choice of words.

In truth Li Maoren had little room to maneuver. He had no idea what Wu Chen had already told Tang Jingbin, so he dared not speak loosely, for fear of contradicting him and rousing suspicion.

Li Maoren also understood that Wu Chen had folded him into the calculation and borrowed his authority. But Wu Chen was working for the Li family, and Li Maoren lent that authority willingly.

And the core of it—helping the Tangs strike the Lius, the Li family going to war with the Liu family—

Though Wu Chen had only just raised it, Li Maoren saw it at once.

The Liu family really was an enemy of the Li family.

Because the Lius and the Dou family were related by marriage.