Chapter 389: Is She Pretending to Be Drunk?!

Chapter 389: Is She Pretending to Be Drunk?!

“Brother, hahaha…” Lu Guangnian burst into hearty laughter the moment the call connected. It wasn’t just habit. Wu Chen could hear something joyful in it.

Good news.

Lu Guangnian hadn’t called out of the blue to ask a favor. He was inviting Wu Chen to his wedding.

With Wu Chen’s help, Lu Guangnian had won back his first love, Ma Huifang, and gained a happy, complete family in the bargain: a son, a daughter-in-law, and a granddaughter.

To make up for his mistakes back then, and for everything he had owed them all these years, Lu Guangnian had been spending most of his time with his family lately.

He had already begun planning the wedding.

Lu Guangnian had been married before.

Ma Huifang never had.

He meant to give his first love a grand wedding, one that would set the whole city talking.

The date was set for August 2, the coming weekend. He had called simply to let Wu Chen know.

As Lu Guangnian put it, he would of course send someone to deliver an invitation to Wu Chen’s home. But given what they were to each other, an invitation alone wasn’t enough. He had to call and tell him personally, at the very least.

“Congratulations, Brother Lu.” Wu Chen smiled.

They talked for a few minutes. Besides the wedding, Lu Guangnian brought up Li Ruotai.

The two of them were close in private.

Li Ruotai had told him he would soon be leaving Donghai, and Lu Guangnian knew some of the story behind it.

Ten-odd minutes later.

Around five-thirty in the afternoon.

The commercial street in Central District. Unicorn Western Restaurant.

It was one of the most upscale, and most expensive, Western restaurants in Donghai. As far as Wu Chen knew, though, business had always been middling, mainly because it hadn’t been open long and had yet to make a name for itself.

This was where he and An Menglan had agreed to meet.

An Menglan had chosen it.

Or rather, Wu Chen guessed, her assistant Liu Jing had. Neither of them knew Donghai, so they had probably looked up prices online and picked somewhere especially expensive.

The Lamborghini pulled up and parked outside.

As he got out, Wu Chen noticed the Rolls-Royce in the next space. It was a company car registered to Senlan Group, lent to An Menglan by Song Xuan.

She was already here.

Two minutes later.

Second floor, Private Room 203.

“Mr. Wu.” A-Li, the bodyguard posted at the door, greeted him and reached back to push the door open.

Wu Chen nodded, straightened his suit jacket, and went in.

An Menglan was reading a menu. Liu Jing stood beside her, bent slightly at the waist, murmuring something to her. When Wu Chen walked in, both women looked up, their expressions rather subtle.

“You’re here, Mr. Wu.” An Menglan smiled.

“Mr. Wu.” Liu Jing greeted him, then turned to An Menglan. “Boss, I’ll go, then…”

“Mm.” An Menglan nodded.

Liu Jing hurried out.

A-Li pulled the door shut from outside.

“When did you get here, Miss An?” Wu Chen asked with a smile as he walked to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

“Just now, myself.” She nodded toward the second menu on the table. “I didn’t know what you’d like, Mr. Wu, so I haven’t ordered. Let’s order first…”

Wu Chen smiled and picked it up.

They ordered.

“Mr. Wu, are you really not going to explain anything to me?” An Menglan asked, still turning the pages. She glanced up at him as she spoke, then lowered her eyes to the menu again.

“Explain what? Go ahead and ask,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“What did you do to Peng Wei?”

“That sounds like a strange question.” Wu Chen laughed.

They made small talk for a while. Once the food was ordered, they ordered wine too. It came quickly. Two bottles were opened: one to drink right away, the other poured into a decanter.

“A toast to you, Mr. Wu!” An Menglan lifted her glass of red wine toward him.

“Cheers.” Wu Chen touched his glass to hers.

She downed the first glass in one go.

She really could drink, and she loved it. Head tipped back, she drained the glass, let out a slow breath, and set it down, looking thoroughly refreshed.

“Peng Wei is rather strange. He actually tried to give me money, said it was an apology. An apology’s one thing, but why money?” Her words plainly carried more than they said.

“He wants to get on your good side,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“Why would he want that? I’m a singer, he’s a paparazzo. We’re on opposite sides.” Her tone was subtle. She paused briefly, then asked, “Did you say something to him, Mr. Wu?”

“I told him to apologize to you,” Wu Chen said.

“You… told him to apologize to me?” Her smile shifted slightly. Then, with evident interest, she asked, “And why would he listen to you, Mr. Wu?”

“We talked it through and made peace. Naturally he had to apologize.” Wu Chen said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Nothing wrong with the answer.

And yet something felt off about it. It was too much of a stretch.

“How did you talk it through? What exactly did you say? Could you describe it for me, Mr. Wu?” An Menglan asked, in the tone of someone seeking instruction.

In truth, she was simply curious.

Wildly curious.

To her, Wu Chen had always been a man of mystery, with a talent as dazzling as the sun. And now he had done something just as mysterious.

She had all sorts of theories.

It made her think of the questions she’d been asking herself. Why had Li Ruobing fallen for this man? Why was Wu Yurong his lover?

She felt she was close to an answer.

“I had his people picked up…” Wu Chen said.

He actually told her.

He told her about seizing the men, arranging the negotiation, Peng Wei photographing him with another woman, Peng Wei threatening him, and so on. He even told her about the two tasks he’d given Peng Wei at the end, including sending him after Zhou Shenglong.

In broad strokes, he told her everything.

So An Menglan learned roughly what Wu Chen had done. But… she couldn’t follow the logic.

That was all?

How could that be?

She didn’t know who Zhuang Xiaodie was, but she could picture it. Peng Wei had taken photos like that and used them to threaten Wu Chen. Once he found out the photos were useless, so what?

Weren’t those photos just an extra card?

Peng Wei hadn’t backed down to begin with. With or without those photos, he hadn’t backed down.

So how had they suddenly made peace?

Peng Wei had even agreed to break with United Media and work with Wu Chen instead?!

An Menglan wasn’t Peng Wei. She hadn’t been through what he had been through or borne the pressure he had borne. She couldn’t feel what he had felt, so naturally she couldn’t understand.

And there were some details Wu Chen had left out.

The meal lasted a full three hours and more…

For a French dinner served course by course, that wasn’t so unusual.

At first, they kept talking about Peng Wei. Wu Chen explained the situation, and although An Menglan still couldn’t make sense of it and kept feeling something was missing, she didn’t dwell on it.

After that, they talked about music, and about Wu Chen’s romantic and private life.

An Menglan learned that Li Ruobing and Wu Yurong weren’t the only women in his life.

Strangely, his womanizing didn’t make her dislike him.

If anything, it eased something in her.

It gave her the feeling that even if Li Ruobing found out she had kissed him, maybe it wasn’t such a big deal after all.

Before they knew it, it was past nine at night.

An Menglan had drunk a little too much again, and her cheeks were flushed pink.

“Mr. Wu, we’re more or less done eating. Why don’t we… go back and keep talking? I had Sister Jing book a room…” Smiling broadly, looking tipsy, she extended the invitation.

“Sure.” Wu Chen didn’t refuse.

Time to go.

They rose one after the other. An Menglan swayed a little. She took two steps to the side, picked up her sunglasses, put them on, and suddenly stumbled…

“Careful, Miss An.” Wu Chen was quick. One step and he had caught her.

One hand under her elbow, the other around her waist.

She could barely stand. Leaning against him, she pressed a hand to her forehead and gave an embarrassed smile. “S-sorry, Mr. Wu. I’ve had too much…”

Wu Chen’s eyebrow went up.

He glanced at the wine bottles on the table.

Something didn’t add up.

Given her tolerance, what she’d drunk tonight was enough to get her drunk, yes. But not this drunk. There was no way she should be unable to stand.

So…

He glanced down at her.

Was she pretending to be drunk?!