Chapter 366: Something’s Wrong!

Chapter 366: Something’s Wrong!

An Menglan’s face went stiff as she struggled to piece together the night before.

She remembered eating with Wu Chen in the afternoon.

They had drunk a fair amount, but she had only been half drunk then, so all of that she remembered.

Afterward they had come back to the presidential suite and signed the contract.

Then they drank again.

Drinking together, one playing while the other sang, on and on until eight or nine at night.

That was where the gaps began.

Whole stretches of detail had vanished.

But the important things, the unusual things, naturally remained.

The memory of kissing Wu Chen came back quickly and sharply.

That part she could recall in full.

And afterward.

She had a dim sense of having stood up.

Washed her face, perhaps?

And then?

There was no then.

She could remember nothing else.

So where were her clothes?

Who had taken them off?

And taken every last one, at that.

She had blacked out.

Her expression shifted again and again.

As she thought she turned toward the bedroom door, her gaze going slightly unfocused. She could faintly hear a television playing the news in the living room.

Someone was watching it.

Wu Chen was still here, and already up, watching television.

That was her guess, because it could not be anyone else. Her assistant and her bodyguard would never enter her room without permission, much less sit out there watching television.

“Oh, God. What happened? Why did I drink so much…” An Menglan muttered, distressed.

Frowning slightly, she lifted the covers for another look.

Having no experience in that area, she could not tell whether anything had happened between her and Wu Chen the night before.

She guessed it had.

Otherwise where had her clothes gone?

But.

What she could not tell was whether she had been the one to start it, or whether Wu Chen had done something to her while she was drunk.

She did not want to think badly of him. Still.

Her clothes could hardly have come off by themselves.

And since she remembered taking the initiative the night before, sitting in his lap with her arms around him and kissing him, who was to say she had not lost control a second time and made another move?

The thought brought color to her face.

She was furious with herself, too.

How had she failed to hold out against this man’s charm?

Li Ruobing had warned her only the night before last, and yesterday she had apparently gone and crashed headlong anyway.

How had things.

turned into this?

One point was worth noting.

Because An Menglan remembered taking the initiative, it did not matter in the end whether anything had happened between them, or who had made the final move. She did not blame Wu Chen.

She blamed only herself.

Once a woman had gone that far with a man of her own accord, whatever followed could hardly be laid at the other person’s feet.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

The doorbell suddenly rang in the living room outside.

From the bedroom An Menglan could just make it out.

Then something about “room service” and “food delivery.”

In the living room of the presidential suite.

The breakfast Wu Chen had ordered had arrived.

Nearly fifty minutes had passed since he placed the order.

Mainly because Beef Wellington took a long time to prepare.

He had done it deliberately. He had no idea when An Menglan would wake, so he had ordered something slow to cook. If it came later, she might still make it.

One exquisite dish after another was set out on the coffee table.

Beef Wellington, Western-style potato soup, some vegetable and fruit salad.

Two servings in all.

Once the attendant had arranged everything he pushed his service cart away.

Wu Chen began eating at once.

There was no particular reason to wake An Menglan for breakfast.

If she made it, she made it.

If not, so be it.

Someone who had drunk that much could easily sleep until noon.

A few minutes later.

Wu Chen was cutting into his steak while he watched television.

Ring, ring…

His phone rang.

He set down his knife and fork, picked it up, glanced at the screen, and answered.

“A-Tai.”

“Brother-in-law, Ding Ruilong’s gone. He just boarded the plane,” Li Ruotai said straightaway.

“Mm…” Wu Chen made a sound of acknowledgment, then asked, “How did the talks go?”

Ding Ruilong had been in the hospital ever since his injury on the night of the twenty-third.

Sun Yongzhang had left Donghai on the twenty-fourth.

After that, with Sun Yongzhang no longer there to keep things in check, Li Ruotai had gone to the hospital whenever the mood took him simply to curse Ding Ruilong to his face.

Ding Ruilong had naturally kept men digging into the Crown Entertainment fire.

But apart from tracing the trail back to Jiang Chuan, they had found nothing.

The night before, the Ding family had sent someone to Donghai.

Ding Ruilong’s uncle by marriage, Tan Qinwu.

For the past several days Ding Ruilong had effectively been held in Donghai by Li Ruotai.

He had a whole crowd of bodyguards around him, but leaving Donghai without Li Ruotai’s permission was impossible.

He could not even reach the airport.

The Ding family had sent someone specifically to take him home.

Get the man out first.

Investigating the truth, providing an explanation, settling whether compensation would be paid, all of that the Ding and Li families could discuss afterward.

The Dings certainly would not try to duck responsibility over something like this. They would not wreck their working relationship with the Li family for it.

If they could not explain it, they would have to pay.

And the afternoon before yesterday, when Wu Chen went to Crown Entertainment to see Li Ruotai and Crooked Zhao, the two of them had discussed this privately.

On Wu Chen’s instructions, Li Ruotai was demanding at least one billion yuan from the Ding family.

Wu Chen spoke with him another two minutes, then ended the call.

Li Ruotai had only been reporting in.

He went back to his breakfast.

About ten minutes later.

Buzz-ding…

His phone vibrated with a message.

He picked it up again.

From Li Ruobing:

Good morning, my dear Mr. Wu!

He typed back:

A rare day off, and you’re up this early on a weekend?

She replied quickly:

No one’s here to keep me company. Early to bed, early to rise, good for the health! Darling, where did you spend the night?

Wu Chen answered with two words:

The hotel.

He waited a minute.

She did not reply again, so he sent nothing more.

He put down the phone and returned to his breakfast.

Click.

The master bedroom door opened.

Wu Chen turned his head.

An Menglan came out.

She had not washed or made herself up. She wore a conservative nightgown and slippers, her hair somewhat tangled, her face a little haggard.

The haggardness came from drinking too much the day before. Even awake she had not fully recovered, and her head still ached.

As for not washing or dressing.

Naturally she had no heart for it.

An Menglan’s head was still full of one question.

What exactly had she and Wu Chen done last night?

She was a little panicked.

She had made that bet with Li Ruobing.

If that sort of thing truly had happened, then she had lost far too fast.

“Morning, Miss An.” Wu Chen turned and greeted her with a smile, then gestured toward the table. “Perfect timing. Breakfast? It hasn’t been here long.”

An Menglan walked toward the sofa looking distinctly unlike herself.

She looked blankly at the food on the coffee table, then glanced at Wu Chen.

Without a word she sat down in an armchair.

Almost unconsciously she reached out and touched the knife and fork beside her plate, then turned to look at him again.

Everything about her was off.

“Miss An, what’s the matter?” Wu Chen asked with a puzzled smile.

“Mr. Wu… we… yesterday, did you… I…” She plainly wanted to ask something and could not get it out.

“What is it?” he asked again.

Just then.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang.

It broke her train of thought instantly.

She turned toward the entrance.

“Who is it?”

“Room service! Please open the door,” someone called from outside.

“Coming.”

An Menglan rose and walked to the door.

Wu Chen watched her go, and very quickly his brows drew together.

Something was wrong.

Room service.

Hotel staff carried master key cards. With authorization they could swipe themselves in.

They did not need the guest to open the door.

And even if their hands were full and opening it was awkward, Wu Chen had not ordered any further room service.

So at a moment like this…

While he was still thinking, An Menglan had reached the door and opened it.

The instant it swung wide, something like a cannon barrel was nearly shoved into her face.

Click!

Click!

Flashes.

Shot after shot in rapid succession.

Several lenses were trained on An Menglan.

Others aimed past her into the room, firing toward Wu Chen.

Paparazzi.