Chapter 470: Su Ruiwen Grows Suspicious

Chapter 470: Su Ruiwen Grows Suspicious

Wu Chen was a little surprised. By his plan, he would definitely meet Su Ruiwen today. It had simply happened a bit sooner than expected.

It changed nothing.

“Dad, this is Wu Chen. Mr. Wu.” Su Qingying quickly pushed down her panic and made the introduction formally.

“Mr. Wu, this is my father,” she said, turning to Wu Chen.

“So you’re Mr. Wu…” Su Ruiwen looked as if something had just fallen into place.

Of course he had heard of Wu Chen. At first it had been from his wife, because of everything that followed when Wu Chen took Su Qingying away from the golf course.

His first impression had simply been that this was an exceptionally lucky young man.

Lucky enough to catch Li Ruobing’s eye, and to have her protect him that fiercely.

After that, things changed.

All sorts of stories about Wu Chen began circulating through Donghai.

Lu Guangnian had once put the word out across all of Donghai that Wu Chen was his brother through life and death, and that anyone who crossed Wu Chen was crossing Lu Guangnian.

Zhan Xiumei, daughter of Donghai Chamber of Commerce founder Zhan Jianyi and herself a vice president of the chamber, was a close personal friend of Su Ruiwen’s.

Chatting in private, they had gotten onto Li Ruobing and Wu Chen. Zhan Xiumei had praised the young man, saying her good-for-nothing live-in husband had offended Li Ruobing and very nearly caused a disaster, and that it was lucky Wu Chen had lent a hand.

Some time ago, Su Ruiwen had also run into Wu Yurong at a banquet.

While they were chatting about recent goings-on in Donghai, Wu Yurong had even joked that if she were twenty years younger she might just marry Wu Chen, that he was truly outstanding.

It had only been a joke between friends in a quiet corner, but it had still given Su Ruiwen quite a start.

And there were many more rumors.

Rumor had it that Li Ruotai was very much afraid of his brother-in-law, Wu Chen.

Rumor had it that the Tang and Li families had nearly become enemies, that Crooked Zhao had almost been killed, and that it was Wu Chen’s mediation that had made the Tang family back down.

Rumor had it that Ding Ruilong had come to Donghai and ended up crippled.

Every source confirmed that Ding Ruilong had hurt himself by accident, but… there was something eerily coincidental about it all the same.

There was even a rumor that, with Li Ruotai temporarily away from Donghai, the man handling affairs on every side in the city was Wu Chen.

That was the word in underworld circles.

“Mr. Wu of Donghai.” Some people were already calling him that.

By now Su Ruiwen no longer doubted it. Ordinary as Wu Chen’s family background was, he was a remarkably capable young man.

A man with real methods.

“Mr. Wu, I keep hearing your name lately. Such achievements at your age.”

“You’re too kind, Boss Su.”

The two stepped toward each other and shook hands.

Su Ruiwen had always admired promising young people. But there was something odd in the way he looked at Wu Chen, beyond admiration.

Whatever Wu Chen was capable of had nothing to do with him.

What he cared about more was… what exactly had just been going on between his daughter and Wu Chen? Wu Chen was Li Ruobing’s boyfriend.

“Did you come alone, Mr. Wu? Miss Li didn’t…?”

“She’s busy. Something came up at the factory, so she asked me to bring Miss Su a document.”

It was a first meeting, so they traded the usual pleasantries.

Yet Su Ruiwen’s gaze never quite settled. Every so often it slid toward his daughter.

Su Qingying knew her father was suspicious. She was truly rattled. She was doing her best to hold it together, but her expression was still the tiniest bit unnatural.

No. There was something here.

Su Ruiwen grew surer.

Seeing his face, Wu Chen knew that the first step of the big thing he’d come to accomplish had worked! He had another important matter to see to today as well, and that matter itself served this larger goal.

He wanted Su Ruiwen to meet him, grow suspicious, and start paying attention to him.

Originally, Wu Chen had never meant to let Su Ruiwen know about him and Su Qingying.

They could simply keep it hidden. Su Ruiwen’s health was genuinely poor, and there was no need to trouble him with it. He could go to his grave never knowing who his daughter’s man was.

That would be best for everyone.

Wu Chen hadn’t even planned to meet him.

But.

Yesterday at Huancai, Su Qingying had said she wanted a child.

Wu Chen had agreed.

That raised a problem. She would soon be pregnant, and within a few months she would have symptoms and begin to show.

And however poor Su Ruiwen’s health, he wasn’t going to die right away. He could likely hold on another six months to a year.

It couldn’t be hidden.

Sooner or later, Su Ruiwen would learn that his daughter was carrying a man’s child.

Wu Chen understood that Su Qingying might already be prepared to refuse to say who the father was no matter what. She was the Su family’s only child and Jinfu Group’s sole heir. In the end, no one could really do anything to her.

But the pressure, the gossip, the rumors would make her life miserable.

As a man, Wu Chen would never let his woman carry all of it while he hid away without a word.

On this matter, Madam Su was no longer a problem.

She could no longer control Su Qingying. And with her obsession with face and perfection, if something like this happened, she wouldn’t put much pressure on her daughter. She would do everything she could to hide it from the outside world.

The only problem was Su Ruiwen.

He had always been the more lenient parent. But an unmarried pregnancy, and the succession of the Su family’s business empire? He would insist on getting to the bottom of it.

Otherwise he would never rest in peace.

So Wu Chen had come today.

“Mr. Wu, this is our first meeting, isn’t it…”

“I’ve heard of you for a long time, Boss Su… How’s your health?”

“Ah! Same old trouble. I’m getting old. Can’t keep up with you young people anymore.”

They traded a few more courtesies.

Su Ruiwen was polite to Wu Chen not only because of what he’d heard about him. The bigger reason was to give Li Ruobing face.

It was all hearsay, after all. He didn’t actually know Wu Chen.

“Dad, you came over about…?” Su Qingying cut in.

“Ah, right. At the meeting just now…”

Wu Chen went and sat on the sofa first.

Su Ruiwen had come to talk business with his daughter: roughly, the proposal she’d made at the meeting and the objections several shareholders had raised, chiefly the second-largest shareholder, Xu Zhenyuan. He’d come to walk her through the issues.

Lately Su Ruiwen had been saying less and less in meetings.

Su Qingying had already taken over the floor.

Su Ruiwen backed his daughter up while handing her the authority to chair all kinds of meetings. Everyone knew he was doing everything he could to groom her as his successor.

Xu Zhenyuan had always been a thorn. Even with Su Ruiwen in the chair, he would sometimes oppose him outright, let alone with Su Qingying presiding.

Su Ruiwen talked through the problems raised at the meeting and how to deal with them.

He had come specifically to teach her.

Wu Chen was there, but Su Ruiwen didn’t avoid discussing it in front of him. In the earlier boardroom power struggle, Su Qingying had won the backing of a majority of seats. Even Yao Honglin, a die-hard Xu Zhenyuan supporter, had switched sides and backed her.

Why Yao Honglin had turned remained a mystery to this day.

Su Ruiwen had asked Su Qingying about it afterward. She had said… Li Ruobing had approached Yao Honglin privately, and she didn’t know the details.

With that link to Li Ruobing, and Wu Chen being Li Ruobing’s boyfriend…

He was one of their own.

Su Ruiwen talked with his daughter for a while. Only a brief discussion, nothing too deep, and soon he was more or less done.

He glanced at his watch as though about to leave, then suddenly said, “Oh, Qingying. How far along is the partnership with Miss Li? Mr. Wu just brought a document over, didn’t he? Let me have a look.”

Su Qingying’s face changed slightly.

Wu Chen hadn’t given her any document.

It had only been a cover. She knew her father was suspicious and was asking on purpose.

“Mm… Dad, hang on, let me find it… I put it in a drawer…” She tucked her hair back, feigning calm.

She bent, pulled open a drawer, rummaged a moment, and came up with a document.

Jinfu Group and Huancai Fashion had been trading documents constantly lately.

The one she’d taken out really had been delivered by someone Li Ruobing sent. Just not today. Yesterday.

She handed it to her father.

Su Ruiwen leafed through it. Su Qingying had full charge of the Jinfu-Huancai partnership. He only checked in now and then and kept an eye on the overall direction, so this was actually his first time seeing this document.

Two pages in, he spotted the problem.

The date was wrong.

There was text in the document that referred to dates.

And the date was yesterday.

Wu Chen had lied to him!

And his own daughter had helped him do it!