Chapter 500: A Small Problem

Chapter 500: A Small Problem

Wu Yurong had cried so hard that her makeup was a mess. The instant she looked up and saw Wu Chen, her sobs caught in her throat, and she pressed her lips together.

Their eyes met.

Her emotions were so turbulent that her body was still trembling, but she forced herself under control, sniffed, and stood up.

Her high heels made it awkward, so getting up took a little effort. Once she was standing, she smoothed the wrinkles in her qipao with one hand, then wiped away her tears.

She tried to look natural, though she didn’t quite manage it.

“You’re here.” Wu Yurong gazed at him with tear-filled eyes and sniffed again.

As though nothing unusual had happened.

She didn’t show him utter helplessness the way an ordinary woman might have, nor did she fling herself into his arms and sob.

Wu Yurong wasn’t an ordinary woman.

She allowed herself to show vulnerability only when she was alone. Even with Wu Chen… She might cry over him when he wasn’t there, but face-to-face, she insisted on hiding her feelings.

It wasn’t only because Wu Yurong was a woman who strove to maintain a flawless image.

Nor was it simply that she didn’t want Wu Chen to see her completely lose control.

More importantly, Wu Yurong understood men’s minds far too well. She had always believed a woman’s tears were her most powerful weapon, capable of touching the softest part of a man’s heart.

But tears could also put pressure on a man.

If a woman cried merely because she was sentimental, or over some small matter, and constantly displayed her tears to obtain forgiveness or concessions, then sooner or later… those tears would stop working.

That was why Wu Yurong didn’t want Wu Chen to see her cry today. She didn’t want him to think her unreasonable and begin to tire of her.

After all, nothing particularly serious had happened between them today.

Wu Chen might have been angry, but he had still come to see her.

“What’s wrong, Sister Rong?” Wu Chen walked toward her and stopped beside the coffee table. As he asked, he glanced at the wine bottle, then back at her. “Drinking alone, crying alone…”

“N-no, it’s nothing. I just…” Wu Yurong sniffed once more, then continued, “I remembered a few things from the past, and I started thinking… why didn’t I meet you sooner? Ha. I got a little sentimental…”

She gave a laugh and, making a show of casualness, raised her hand to wipe away another tear. She smiled sweetly, as though there really were nothing wrong.

Tears glistened on her beautiful face.

Once the most beautiful woman in Donghai, the only woman to earn a perfect ten, a masterpiece of God’s creation, Wu Yurong still looked young, still breathtakingly lovely. Her reddened eyes made her even more alluring.

Wu Chen smiled and studied her.

Wu Yurong hadn’t fully composed herself. She seemed afraid to meet his eyes, her gaze drifting away. She gestured lightly with one hand and said, as naturally as she could, “Let’s go upstairs first. I…”

Wu Chen suddenly stepped forward, placed a hand around her shoulder, and drew her toward him. She took a small step and found herself leaning against his chest.

She naturally slipped both arms around his waist.

Wu Chen held her waist with one hand and rested the other on her back, gently patting the back of her shoulder. Smiling, he whispered in her ear, “What do you take me for? A monster with no feelings?”

Wu Yurong, who had nearly regained control of herself, broke down again.

She didn’t cry aloud, but tears streamed down her cheeks.

The arms around his waist tightened unconsciously. She buried her face against his chest, her tears soaking his shirtfront, her shoulders trembling faintly.

Wu Chen moved the hand that had been patting her shoulder upward and gently stroked the hair at the back of her head… as though comforting a little girl.

In truth, Wu Chen rarely used conventional, even cloying methods to woo a woman. He could usually skip that part entirely and give her an altogether different experience.

But today, with Wu Yurong in this state, he felt it was appropriate.

Wu Yurong and Li Ruobing were alike in that both were extraordinarily strong-willed women. Yet there was a vast difference between them at heart. Li Ruobing’s strength was innate. To put it plainly… Li Ruobing simply wasn’t an ordinary woman.

Wu Yurong, on the other hand, was.

Before she turned twenty-one… more precisely, before she was forced into marriage, she had been gentle through and through. It was that sham marriage that had changed her, forcing her to become strong.

But that change hadn’t altered how she approached love. Her scheming and deception, her pursuit of power—all of it had been for the freedom to make her own choices.

And she had achieved it.

Yet when it came to love, she genuinely still had a young girl’s heart.

Wu Yurong was the kind of woman whose reason could overcome her emotions. Reason had kept her from ever beginning a romantic relationship. But once she had rationally chosen Wu Chen, she poured more of her feelings into that relationship.

Human beings, after all, were creatures of emotion.

A new day: August 3, 2020.

At exactly seven in the morning, Wu Chen opened his eyes on time. Gazing up at the ceiling of the second-floor bedroom, he smiled.

Then he rolled over, wrapped an arm around the still-sleeping Wu Yurong, and went back to sleep.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Wu Chen seemed to sense something. He opened his eyes and found himself looking straight into Wu Yurong’s.

She was awake and had been quietly gazing at his face without making a sound or moving. His sudden awakening startled her.

But she recovered quickly. She blinked, leaned forward to kiss him, and said in her soft, sweet voice, “Good morning, my dear Mr. Wu.”

“Morning,” Wu Chen answered with a smile.

“Yesterday I… drank too much.” Wu Yurong hesitated. She seemed to want to explain something, but in the end, that was all she said.

“Ha.” Wu Chen chuckled.

“Were you angry yesterday?” Wu Yurong pressed her lips together and asked, sounding easy and natural. She hadn’t forgotten about it.

“Of course. You made me so angry yesterday I almost died of it,” Wu Chen replied with a smile, even imitating her way of speaking.

To Wu Yurong, that was an immense relief.

Of course she could tell he meant the opposite of what he said. He was joking. If he were genuinely holding a grudge, even if he denied it, he wouldn’t make light of the subject.

Her smile grew sweeter. She stretched out both arms and put them around his neck…

After spending a while being affectionate, they got up.

They washed and dressed.

Wu Yurong had prepared more new clothes for Wu Chen, along with leather shoes and a watch. Originally, she had hardly ever stayed at this villa herself. It was only after meeting Wu Chen that she began living here.

Having never truly had a partner before, Wu Yurong had bought an enormous number of things for him, so many that they were piled up at the villa.

Women already enjoyed shopping and had a strong desire to buy things.

And since meeting Wu Chen, whenever Wu Yurong went shopping, she no longer looked exclusively at women’s clothing. She browsed men’s clothes too, eager to buy Wu Chen one thing after another.

She was also so wealthy that spending money was no burden.

They went downstairs before nine that morning and had breakfast together. Wu Yurong had asked her bodyguards to order breakfast for delivery, having called them before washing up.

As they ate in the dining room, they talked about quite a few things.

Two matters in particular: Su Ruiwen, and Wu Yurong’s cooperation with Gu Ruibo and Lei Cheng.

On the first subject, Wu Chen spoke casually. The situation Wu Yurong had worried about hadn’t occurred, and from what he said, it clearly wasn’t going to occur either.

As for her cooperation with Gu Ruibo and Lei Cheng, Wu Yurong felt some minor problems had arisen, though neither Gu Ruibo nor Lei Cheng was responsible.

Because of Wu Chen, both men had made enormous concessions to her. Or rather, they regarded her as Wu Chen’s representative in this matter, and naturally didn’t dare create difficulties for her.

The small problem lay within Wu Yurong’s own family.

“…Recently, I’ve withdrawn all the funds that had any indirect connection to the Ding family. Within Senlan, without affecting operations at all, I can still mobilize more than a billion yuan in cash…” Wu Yurong paused, then continued, “The day before yesterday, on the first, I reported to my father. He asked about it…”

Wu Yurong was now vice chairwoman and president of Senlan Group.

Although she had complete control over the fashion giant and was solely responsible for its operations, with no problems at board meetings, she didn’t actually hold a controlling stake in Senlan.

Otherwise, she would have been chairwoman.

At present, Wu Yurong owned only a small portion of Senlan’s shares. Most of the controlling equity remained in the hands of her retired father, Wu Weidong.

Wu Weidong supported his daughter wholeheartedly.

And given the way things were developing, when Wu Weidong passed away, or simply grew older, he would certainly transfer most of his shares to his exceptionally capable daughter, leaving only a small portion to his son.

Nothing would stand in the way of that.

Wu Yurong had long ago brought her older brother thoroughly to heel. She was the one who called the shots in the Wu family.

However… for the time being, she still had to report to her father every month.

Ordinarily that wouldn’t have mattered. But toward the end of the previous month, Wu Yurong had made some very unusual moves, gathering large amounts of cash in reserve… Many people inside Senlan couldn’t make sense of them. The plan to carve up the Ding family’s assets was still strictly confidential, so Wu Yurong couldn’t explain it to anyone.

As a result, when she reported to her father at the start of the month, Wu Weidong asked several extra questions.

Wu Yurong found excuses and brushed them aside.

It really was a small problem. Wu Weidong had delegated full authority to his daughter and hadn’t concerned himself with the business for years. Yet it was a problem nonetheless. Once the plan to move on the Ding family’s assets reached a certain stage, the destinations of much of that money would become obvious. When Wu Yurong next reported to her father, the excuses she had used before certainly wouldn’t hold up.

But explaining that the Ding family was about to fall, that she was cultivating ties with Gu Ruibo and Lei Cheng, and everything else wasn’t easy either.

For a business family, involving itself in the struggle among powerful clans just to get a share of the spoils was taboo to begin with.

And to explain the whole situation, she would have to bring up Wu Chen. How was she supposed to explain him?

That was what had been troubling her a little.

Admittedly, Wu Weidong felt guilty over the marriage he had forced her into years ago, especially after Wu Yurong had led Senlan to such success…

And Wu Yurong was already in her forties. Even if she was involved with a younger man, even as his lover, Wu Weidong might not interfere. He might simply leave her alone.

But Wu Chen couldn’t be summed up by the words “younger man.”

There were the relationships involved, his labyrinthine network of contacts and influence, all the things he was doing…

Anyone who didn’t understand Wu Chen would think the risks he was taking were astronomical. Wu Yurong didn’t know how to explain it all in a way that would put her father’s mind at ease.

More importantly, she didn’t know whether she was allowed to tell her father about Wu Chen. Would Wu Chen permit it?

That was why she had concealed the truth from her father in her report at the beginning of the month.

And why she was bringing it up to Wu Chen today. She wanted to know where he stood. Would he let her tell her father?

“Hmm…” Wu Chen pondered after hearing her out.

He knew that Wu Weidong, an old-school businessman who had built his industrial enterprise step by step, had always kept his distance from complex capital maneuvers, let alone disputes between powerful families.

That wasn’t cowardice. Powerful families often didn’t play by ordinary business rules. Playing their game really was playing with fire.

Being cautious and not greedy was no mistake.

If Wu Weidong learned the truth and disagreed with his daughter, or even believed her actions might bring disastrous consequences upon Senlan, he would certainly stop her. He might even temporarily take back her authority to give her time to cool off…

“Actually, my father doesn’t involve himself in company affairs at all these days,” Wu Yurong said when she saw Wu Chen thinking. “He only comes to the company for the annual shareholders’ meeting, making an appearance once a year. He’s delegated all his board voting rights to me on a long-term basis.”

“Every month I take the financial reports to him, and he just glances through them and asks a few casual questions… I could keep it from him indefinitely.”

Wu Yurong certainly could conceal the truth from her father indefinitely.

She had run Senlan Group for so many years that the company was filled with people loyal to her. Even if she gave Wu Weidong falsified accounts, he wouldn’t be able to tell…

But judging from her words, she still hoped to win her father’s support rather than go on deceiving him.

And with his support, Wu Yurong could act with a freer hand and pursue even greater gains.

“Hmm…” Wu Chen thought for another moment, glanced at his watch, and smiled at Wu Yurong. “I should be going to Modu again in the next couple of days… I’ll have a talk with your father.”

“Huh?” Wu Yurong was taken aback. She hadn’t meant to ask Wu Chen to intervene personally. Surely this wasn’t important enough to trouble him over.

It wasn’t a big problem.

She had only wanted his permission to speak, so that she could weigh her options afterward. If she decided to tell her father, it would only be because she was confident she could convince him. Otherwise she certainly wouldn’t say anything.

“How about this? If you have time today, go to the office later. We’ll head over once we’ve finished breakfast,” Wu Chen said with another smile.

“Ah…” It took Wu Yurong a moment to recover. This was so sudden. “Of course I have time. I don’t even have to go to the office today. But… what are you planning to say?”

“Just tell him the truth,” Wu Chen replied with a smile.

“Tell him the truth, meaning…”

“I’ll have him transfer his shares to you.”

“What?!”

Clatter!

Wu Yurong’s chopsticks slipped from her hand and fell onto the table.