Chapter 438: The Deeper Reason
by cnwebnovelsChapter 438: The Deeper Reason
Wu Chen had never before unloaded every piece of fatal dirt he had on a target all at once.
Not even with Ding Ruilong.
Because when it came to exposing dirt, the most important thing wasn’t the dirt itself.
It was having someone who could actually use it to make things happen!
If dirt on a “major figure” landed in the hands of an ordinary person, it was essentially worthless!
Even if an ordinary person filmed a major figure committing murder and posted the video straight to the internet, it wouldn’t matter!
Before long, reports would surface claiming “the video was edited,” or “face-swap technology was used,” or “the footage is from a well-known case years ago, and the person responsible has already been sentenced.”
And that was an extreme example.
At most, it would cause a “major figure” a bit of trouble.
There was no chance at all of it bringing them down.
So the dirt mattered.
But the person who could wield it mattered even more!
Ever since his new life began, Wu Chen had been widening his network step by step.
Put plainly, his methods evolved as his network did.
Different stages, different strategies.
If this business with the Qi brothers had come up on the first day of his new life, he would certainly have handled it another way.
A family worth more than RMB10 billion, and lapdogs to a great clan besides. Teaching people like that a lesson wasn’t hard.
But truly taking them down was extremely difficult!
Now, however, Wu Chen had built a network capable of sending the entire Qi family away!
Of course, his decision to expose all their dirt at once and finish the whole family in a single swift stroke wasn’t only because he now could.
He genuinely couldn’t stand rotten people.
And there really was another, much deeper reason…
One that was the most important of all.
“Xiaodie, let’s go.”
Wu Chen finished putting everything in order, picked up the envelope, and headed for the door, calling to her on the way.
Zhuang Xiaodie got up from the sofa, hurried a few steps to catch up, and slipped her arm through his.
They made for the door of the president’s office.
They had only just reached it when they heard footsteps outside, among them the sharp tap-tap-tap of high heels.
The door opened from the other side first.
It was An Menglan and Yu Xiaohu.
The timing was about right. They should have made it through the whole album once by now.
“Any problems?” Wu Chen asked with a smile, getting straight to it.
“N-no. No problems. It’s wonderful,” An Menglan said.
She was visibly elated, yet she kept looking at him as though there was something she wanted to say, something she wanted to express, but couldn’t quite let show with Yu Xiaohu standing there.
“Mr. Morning Mist! I swear, you’re the greatest musician I’ve ever met! You’re a born musical genius! Perfect! The album is absolutely perfect!”
Yu Xiaohu was just as worked up, and far more direct.
That was simply how he was…
Whenever his emotions ran high, he tended to say wildly exaggerated things.
From anyone else, a lot of those lines would have sounded overblown and cringeworthy.
Not from Yu Xiaohu.
When the feeling was real, people could tell.
“If there’s no problem, release it.” Wu Chen smiled and lifted the envelope slightly. “I’ve got something to take care of, so I won’t—”
“Mr. Wu, you’re… leaving?” The excitement on An Menglan’s face faltered.
A tangle of complicated feelings rose in her chest.
She even forgot to call him Teacher Morning Mist and addressed him simply as Mr. Wu.
This was huge.
Wu Chen had once again pulled off something close to miraculous.
The album could go out right away.
On her way over, An Menglan had already been thinking about how to thank him. They should have dinner together, she’d thought, watch the public reaction together once the album went live, and so on.
This meant a great deal to her.
She took it extremely seriously, and there was so much she wanted to say to him.
But now…
He’d finished everything and was just going to leave?
As if he wasn’t looking forward to anything at all.
It even struck her, all of a sudden, that she and Wu Chen should have been closer.
Even as collaborators, they should have been closer than this.
Never mind the fact that they had already slept together.
Yet somehow, after the past two days, it felt as though they had drifted into being mere acquaintances.
It was complicated.
Strange.
“I have a dinner appointment. I should get going.” Wu Chen smiled at her and gestured lightly. “When to release the album and how to handle it, that’s up to you two…”
“Then…” An Menglan started to say something and stopped.
What else could she say?
He’d made the appointment first. She couldn’t very well ask him to break it.
Her upbringing wouldn’t allow it either.
Besides, the album was only finished. The release and the promotion that would follow hadn’t even started.
“Then… thank you for today, Mr. Wu. Shall we sign the producer contract tomorrow, after the fact?” An Menglan asked with a smile, though something in her expression was still off.
“Sure.” Wu Chen nodded.
An Menglan held out her hand.
Wu Chen shook it, then shook Yu Xiaohu’s.
And off he went!
He didn’t let them see him out. Everyone had their hands full, and there was no need.
A little over ten minutes later.
It was already past seven in the evening.
Under the night sky, Modu blazed with light, its streets thick with traffic, prosperous and loud.
On Tonghai Avenue.
The Bentley Continental moved along at an easy pace. There was plenty of time. Wu Chen had arranged to meet Tang Jingbin at seven-thirty.
Wu Chen drove. In the passenger seat, Zhuang Xiaodie was carefully touching up her makeup with a powder puff.
Ring, ring!
His phone again.
Wu Chen picked it up, glanced at the screen, answered, and raised it to his ear with a smile.
“Boss Gu.”
It was Gu Ruibo!
They had eaten together just last night, along with Mao Rusong. Gu Ruibo wouldn’t call out of the blue for no reason.
Clearly, Mao Rusong had told him Wu Chen was going after the Qi family.
In the end, Mao Rusong hadn’t been able to hold it in.
That came as no surprise to Wu Chen.
In fact, Gu Ruibo had been part of his calculations from the very start.
That “deeper” reason was directly tied to Gu Ruibo!
If Gu Ruibo hadn’t called to ask, it actually wouldn’t have worked.
“Mr. Wu, you and Qi Jun… are you going to… do you want…” Gu Ruibo’s words came in fits and starts.
It wasn’t a bad connection.
His thoughts were tangled, and he kept skipping over parts of what he meant to say.
He had wanted to ask: What happened between you and Qi Jun?
What are you planning to do?
But Mao Rusong had already told him all that!
How the clash had started, and even that Wu Chen meant to send the entire Qi family away. Wu Chen had made all of that perfectly clear.
He just hadn’t said how!
Gu Ruibo knew Wu Chen was about to do something enormous!
Something so big that even Wu Chen might not be able to weather the fallout.
It could easily spin out of control!
This was Modu, after all.
Not Donghai.
“Do you… Mr. Wu, do you need my help?” Gu Ruibo finally gave up on the questions and offered help outright.
Wu Chen mattered enormously to Gu Ruibo now!
Even setting aside Gu Ruibo’s increasingly mystical view of him, there was his current partnership with Wu Yurong and Lei Cheng.
He couldn’t just stand by and watch Wu Chen blow things up and lose control.
The hunt for the Ding family’s peripheral assets involved tens of billions of yuan.
Nothing could be allowed to happen to Wu Chen, the linchpin of the whole thing!
And that wasn’t even counting Gu Ruibo’s close personal friendship with Li Ruotai.
“Help? I don’t really need anything…” Wu Chen said, a smile in his voice, drawing out the last word.
“Mr. Wu, don’t turn me down just yet. Why don’t we meet? Let’s talk.”
Gu Ruibo was unusually insistent.
It wasn’t that he doubted Wu Chen’s ability.
But if he didn’t know exactly how Wu Chen intended to pull this off, he wouldn’t be able to rest easy!
He might not even be able to sleep!
The Qi brothers were deeply entangled with the Xiang family and sat on more than RMB10 billion in assets!
How could anyone just crush them on a whim?
And in a matter of days?!
Gu Ruibo didn’t want Wu Chen doing anything drastic.
Hell, he’d sooner do something drastic on Wu Chen’s behalf than let Wu Chen do it himself!
The difference was that Gu Ruibo was a direct-line member of the Gu family.
And the Gu family was one of Modu’s great established families!
He could take the heat!
Wu Chen was an outsider.
If something went wrong, he might not be able to.
“Meet, huh? I already have plans…” Wu Chen thought it over. “Tell you what. Nine tonight, Shengjing Grand Restaurant.”
“All right. I’ll be there at nine.” Gu Ruibo agreed at once.
Right now, all he wanted was to see Wu Chen as soon as possible!
The call ended.
A little over ten minutes later, it was nearly seven-thirty.
Lujiazui, Dongpu District, Modu.
Shengjing Grand Restaurant.
It was one of the most famous Cantonese restaurants in Modu. The guests who came and went were without exception high officials, dignitaries, and the wealthy from every corner of the country.
It was no exaggeration to say that if you wanted to eat well at Shengjing, a single table of dishes could run several hundred thousand yuan, not counting drinks.
Wu Chen pulled right up to the entrance.
A valet hurried over and opened the door.
Wu Chen stepped out, tossed him the keys, looked up at the Shengjing Grand Restaurant sign, straightened his suit, and smiled.
This was where Tang Jingbin had invited him to dinner.
And it was also where he’d told Gu Ruibo to meet him.
An hour and a half apart.
If all went to plan, Gu Ruibo would make a sudden appearance in the latter half of Wu Chen’s dinner with Tang Jingbin!
Until then, neither would know the other was there.
Time to get to work!
Wu Chen had no interest in dragging this out.
Tonight, he would settle the matter of sending the Qi family away, once and for all!
Zhuang Xiaodie came to his side and took his arm.
They went in.