Chapter 493: Actually, There’s Something I’d Like to Advise You

Chapter 493: Actually, There’s Something I’d Like to Advise You

Wu Chen took the stairs inside the villa straight down to the underground garage. He Shiqin had wanted to see him off, but he wouldn’t let her.

Until the moment Wu Chen left, He Xinxin never once took her eyes off the television, apart from calling out, “Goodbye, Teacher!”

That American series really was good!

And He Xinxin was just at the age when she was curious about everything and craved excitement and thrills. A drama centered on a strong female protagonist made it easier for her to put herself in the heroine’s shoes. Some of the story even struck a chord with her.

For instance, He Xinxin had grown up without her father around, and she’d been bullied by classmates in elementary school. Things like that appeared in the television heroine’s flashbacks too.

“Xinxin, what are you watching…” He Shiqin came over to the sofa and sat beside her daughter. She’d barely asked the question before she began scolding. “What show is so good that you can’t even eat a proper meal? You’re not a little girl anymore. Your teacher came over today, and you showed no manners at all. Next time, if you…”

He Shiqin took her daughter’s upbringing very seriously.

She could tell that Wu Chen wouldn’t mind whether He Xinxin ate properly or showed enough manners. But just because someone didn’t mind something didn’t mean you could do as you pleased.

“Oh, Mom, I know, I know…” He Xinxin replied distractedly, her eyes still fixed on the television.

“Xinxin, I’m talking to you. Don’t act like that again. Eat properly at meals. Don’t let people think you haven’t been brought up right…”

“When did I ever do that…”

“You didn’t?”

“Mom, you’re still scolding me…”

“What’s wrong with scolding you?”

“Wasn’t I just… trying not to interrupt you and Teacher?” He Xinxin turned to look at her mother with a mischievous grin. Then, instinctively lowering her voice, she asked, “Mom, tell me something. Do you like my teacher?”

“Goodness! You little brat! What are you talking about?” He Shiqin glared at her in annoyance.

It was the first time her daughter had dared say anything like that to her.

“You even put on makeup today, and you wore high heels! Who wears makeup and high heels to cook dinner at home? You only did that because Teacher was coming…”

“You little brat! Keep talking, just you keep talking…” He Shiqin grabbed a cushion and pretended she was going to hit her daughter. Her face had turned red with anger and embarrassment.

“Sorry, Mom! I’m sorry…” He Xinxin hurried to apologize, though she was still giggling.

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At 7:45 that evening, Donghai glittered with lights beneath the night sky.

Laopinxuan Cantonese Restaurant, a private dining room on the second floor.

Wu Yurong sat alone in a blue-and-white porcelain-patterned qipao, one hand resting against her teacup. Feeling the warmth of the cup against her fingers, she stared into space.

She had arrived at Laopinxuan a full half hour early. She hadn’t had anything else to do, and since she’d already made plans with Wu Chen, she’d canceled her original arrangements. She would have to wait somewhere anyway.

So she sat alone, lost in thought.

It was rare for Wu Yurong to be like this. She was always busy, busy, busy. But today’s situation had genuinely left her at a loss, and she was deeply worried. She wasn’t afraid anything disastrous would happen. She trusted Wu Chen’s ability to handle everything.

What she didn’t know was what would ultimately become of her friendship with Su Ruiwen.

Unlike the powerful men who pursued her because they wanted something from her, Su Ruiwen had always been straightforward in his intentions. Jinfu Group and Senlan Group didn’t even have business dealings with each other… Wu Yurong truly regarded Su Ruiwen as a friend.

There were very few people she considered friends. She could count them on her fingers, and Su Ruiwen was one of them.

A lover was certainly more important than a friend.

And Wu Chen meant far more to Wu Yurong than the word lover could encompass. He was the first man she had ever truly been with, and the only one.

That joke she’d made back then hadn’t really been a joke at all. If she’d been twenty years younger, she really would have wanted to marry Wu Chen, to compete with Li Ruobing for him.

Wu Chen would unquestionably come first.

In fact, when it came to this matter, there was no second place to speak of. There was nothing to weigh up. Whatever Wu Chen said, she would do.

But… Wu Yurong still hoped for the best possible outcome. Unless it was absolutely necessary, she truly didn’t want to break off her friendship with an old friend.

And she had no idea how things would turn out under Wu Chen’s arrangements.

“Boss Su…” A bodyguard’s voice suddenly sounded outside the door. The next moment, the bodyguard pushed it open, and Su Ruiwen stepped inside in his suit.

Su Ruiwen had also arrived early.

Given his habits and his position, Su Ruiwen was an extremely punctual man. He wouldn’t be late, but neither would he arrive early to flatter anyone or make a show of himself.

The fact that he was early today… Wu Yurong could sense his urgency. There were things he desperately wanted to understand.

“Brother Su.” Wu Yurong rose and greeted him with a nod.

They didn’t shake hands. It wasn’t that they never exchanged such courtesies, but they generally only did so when they hadn’t seen each other for a long time. And they’d already met earlier that very day, at Lu Guangnian’s wedding.

“Yurong, sit, sit…” Su Ruiwen spoke with easy familiarity, motioning for her not to stand on ceremony.

Wu Yurong sat down.

Su Ruiwen pulled out a chair as well and sat directly opposite her.

“Brother Su, coming out at this hour—didn’t your wife ask about it?” Wu Yurong opened the conversation in a casual tone, though the question seemed both perfectly ordinary and rather strange.

There would have been nothing unusual about asking an ordinary person that.

But Su Ruiwen was a busy business magnate who often ate away from home. He and his wife were deeply devoted to each other, and Mrs. Su certainly didn’t keep tabs on his every move.

“Yurong, there’s no need to try to draw me out. My wife doesn’t know about you, Qingying, and Wu Chen yet. I haven’t told her. And I haven’t talked to Qingying about it either…” Su Ruiwen said, looking at her.

As he spoke, he turned the glass lazy Susan on the table, bringing the small tray holding the teapot and cups around in front of him. He picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup.

“Yurong, how many years have we known each other?” he asked.

“More than thirty,” Wu Yurong replied.

“More than thirty years…” Su Ruiwen sighed, his voice filled with nostalgia. “I still remember the first time we met… I was nineteen that year. I’d just managed to open a little shop. Master Wu had opened a new factory and booked an entire floor of the old Fuhua Hotel for a banquet. I only got in by tagging along with a friend who had connections. I wanted to meet more people…”

“You were following Master Wu around back then. Were you still in elementary school?” he asked. The Master Wu he referred to was Wu Yurong’s father, Wu Weidong, now chairman of Senlan Group.

The chairmanship, however, was only a title.

Wu Weidong hadn’t managed Senlan Group’s affairs for many years. His daughter was simply too capable. When Senlan faced a crisis years earlier, it had been Wu Yurong who turned the situation around and saved the group. From then on, Wu Weidong deferred to his daughter in everything.

Compared with Su Ruiwen, Wu Weidong had belonged to Donghai’s earliest generation of newly wealthy entrepreneurs. He’d begun making his fortune in the early 1980s, while Su Ruiwen’s rise came in the 1990s.

A business prodigy who was fearless and willing to fight for success, Su Ruiwen had already become Wu Weidong’s equal in Donghai by the early years of the new century. But there was a generational difference between them. Old Master Wu was now nearly seventy, and everyone called him Master Wu.

“Yes, I was in elementary school. When that new factory opened… I think I was in fourth grade. You have a good memory, Brother Su. You still remember…” Wu Yurong said with a smile.

In truth, she could barely remember when she’d first met Su Ruiwen.

As a child accompanying her father, she’d met far too many people. Plenty who’d been nobodies back then had since become famous figures in Donghai.

The reason Su Ruiwen remembered so clearly was that the occasion had left an impression on him, not because of Wu Yurong, but because of Wu Weidong. He’d practically forced himself into the banquet by going with a friend, hoping to meet wealthy people and broaden his network so they would come to his shop to buy jade and gamble on uncut stones.

At the time, Wu Weidong hadn’t even known who Su Ruiwen was.

As for when Wu Yurong had first become aware of Su Ruiwen, that was after he’d made repeated trips to Myanmar and gotten involved in some major incidents. Some of the men who followed him had even died there. Strange stories about this “young man” named Su Ruiwen had begun spreading through Donghai…

Many wealthy people in Donghai had discussed Su Ruiwen back then—how he’d become rich in just a few short years, and all the rest. There were even rumors that he’d killed people while dealing in jade in Myanmar. Wu Yurong had heard the adults talking about him…

But the two hadn’t actually become close until the past ten-odd years.

That was after Wu Yurong divorced, returned home, and joined Senlan Group.

“So many years… I’ve grown old, but you’re still so young, Yurong,” Su Ruiwen sighed again.

“What’s all this about being old? You’re only in your early fifties, Brother Su,” Wu Yurong said with a smile. “With the energy you’ve got, you could tell people you’re forty and some would believe you.”

“There’s no need to flatter me, Yurong. Everyone knows what shape my health is in. Another year or two, and that’ll probably be it…”

“Don’t talk so pessimistically, Brother Su. Nothing’s certain. Have you thought about going abroad for treatment? Perhaps…”

“What’s the point of seeing more doctors? It’s not as if I haven’t tried… This is fate. I’ve come to terms with it. I’ve been luckier than most people for much of my life. If Heaven wants to take me, then I have to accept my fate. It’s just… Qingying has only been with the company for a few years. I don’t have time to teach her much more. I can’t stop worrying about her…”

The private room fell silent for a moment.

Su Ruiwen had brought up his daughter, Su Qingying.

Wu Yurong knew what he was getting at. She weighed her words in her mind, thinking it over, and for a long time said nothing.

“Yurong, we’ve been friends for so many years.” Su Ruiwen looked her in the eyes. “Tell your old brother the truth. Wu Chen… what’s really going on with him?”

“What about him? What do you mean?” Wu Yurong asked back. She wasn’t pretending to be clueless; she wanted to know exactly which aspect he was asking about.

Wu Chen was extraordinary in practically every respect!

But Su Ruiwen took her question as an attempt to play dumb, and not without reason. He could sense that she had certain reservations.

“I won’t ask about him and Qingying. Let’s just talk about you…” Su Ruiwen paused, then continued. “Yurong, how did you end up with him… as his lover?” It was an exceptionally blunt question.

“He…” Wu Yurong began, then smiled gently and said, half joking, “He’s handsome.”

“Come on. That’s no answer.” Su Ruiwen looked at her. “Everyone knows how high your standards are, Wu Yurong. Ever since your divorce, how many men have pursued you over the years? Some had more assets than the entire Wu family and were willing to divorce their wives to marry you. They even offered to let you set whatever terms you wanted in a prenuptial agreement. You turned them all down. But now you’re willing to be Wu Chen’s lover without even getting the status of a wife? Because he’s handsome?”

“Because of love,” Wu Yurong said, changing her answer.

Su Ruiwen fell silent. He just looked at her.

Wu Yurong met his gaze, her smile slowly fading. Then she suddenly picked up her cup and took a sip of tea. After setting it down, she said, “Brother Su, the truth is, I’m not entirely sure what I’m allowed to tell you and what I’m not. So it’s… difficult for me to say much.”

That Wu Yurong would state her thoughts so plainly… She really did regard Su Ruiwen as a friend.

Su Ruiwen considered her words.

Wu Yurong couldn’t even speak freely about Wu Chen? Did she need Wu Chen’s permission to say anything?

“Brother Su, as a friend, there’s actually something I’d like to advise you about. You may not want to hear it, but I think I ought to say it,” Wu Yurong began again.

“Advise me about what?” Su Ruiwen asked.

“Don’t act rashly. Everything can be discussed. Whatever you do, don’t act on impulse,” Wu Yurong said earnestly.

“…You’re trying to tell me not to cross Wu Chen, aren’t you?” Su Ruiwen asked.

“…Yes!” Wu Yurong nodded in admission. After a pause, she added, “Brother Su, I sincerely hope our friendship can continue. But if things really… get completely out of control, I can’t promise I’ll take your side…”

Su Ruiwen knew Wu Yurong. He knew she was a woman who could make people feel comfortable with her words, yet here she was saying something distinctly uncomfortable.

That meant she was absolutely serious!

He could also tell how much she valued their friendship. She didn’t want anything to destroy it.

He couldn’t imagine what Wu Chen had done to make her feel this way.

“You seem to be… afraid of Wu Chen?” Su Ruiwen asked.

“…A little.” Wu Yurong nodded, then smiled. “But more than that, I’m grateful to him.”

Su Ruiwen clearly couldn’t understand what she had to be grateful for.

As for fear… Li Ruobing had told him quite plainly that afternoon that she was sometimes afraid of Wu Chen.

Li Ruobing felt that way.

And now, astonishingly, so did Wu Yurong.

One thing was certain: neither of them was likely to be afraid because Wu Chen had threatened her. Though their manners were different, both were exceptionally strong-willed at heart. Neither was the sort of woman who could be intimidated by threats.

There was only one possible explanation.

Wu Chen himself—his abilities, his methods, everything about him—was simply terrifying!

“Mr. Wu…” A bodyguard’s voice suddenly called out in greeting from outside.

Wu Chen had arrived!