Chapter 503: Mr. Wu, You Really Know How to Play Your Cards!

Chapter 503: Mr. Wu, You Really Know How to Play Your Cards!

For a moment, Wu Weidong instinctively thought he might have misheard. But that was nothing more than an attempt to reassure himself. He was getting on in years, but he’d spent decades free of worry and taking good care of his health. His hearing and eyesight were both perfectly fine.

There was no way he’d heard wrong.

Wu Weidong froze in mid-sentence. He looked at his daughter, Wu Yurong, then at Wu Chen, before finally returning his gaze to his daughter.

“Rongrong, what did you just call Mr. Wu…?” he asked, touching the slightly hot teacup with one hand.

He remained remarkably calm. Only the smile he’d been wearing had disappeared.

“Darling,” Wu Yurong said, looking her father in the eye. She glanced tenderly at Wu Chen, then turned back to her father. “Dad, Wu Chen and I… we’re exactly what you’re thinking.”

On this point, Wu Yurong truly had nothing to fear!

She could tell her father straight out, without mincing words. She was no longer an innocent little girl. At her age, Wu Weidong wouldn’t interfere in her affairs. In fact, he couldn’t. Wu Yurong was a formidable businesswoman who had led the family to prosperity. There were even plenty of times when Wu Weidong had to rely on her.

But what was happening today went beyond the question of whom Wu Yurong was involved with.

“Ah…” Wu Weidong responded to his daughter in a measured voice, as if he understood. He glanced at Wu Chen, then looked back at his daughter. “Does Miss Li know about this?”

After asking, he turned to Wu Chen and added, “Have you and Miss Li broken up, Mr. Wu?”

Clearly, his concern now wasn’t simply whom his daughter was dating. It was whether the relationship would cause her trouble.

“Ruobing knows about me and Sister Rong. We haven’t broken up,” Wu Chen replied with a smile.

Wu Weidong opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Once again, he wore an expression of apparent understanding.

After taking a moment, he asked Wu Chen, “Does Miss Li allow you to…?” He left the sentence unfinished, moving his hand vaguely back and forth to make his meaning clear.

For once, Wu Chen paused in silence before smiling. “I don’t need her permission.”

Wu Weidong’s face went a little blank.

He really needed time to process this. It was an awful lot to take in!

His hand rested on the teacup, lifting away by the smallest amount, then returning to it over and over. The tea was still too hot to drink, and his movements were entirely unconscious. Meanwhile, his gaze darted between his daughter and Wu Chen.

He repeated the motions many times.

Wu Weidong remained silent. His emotions had never shown any particularly dramatic change. After all, he was an old man who had weathered his share of storms, even if he wasn’t as capable as Su Ruiwen or his daughter.

Whatever he thought of the situation now, whether he accepted it or wanted to object, he wasn’t about to quarrel with his daughter in front of an “outsider” like Wu Chen.

In fact, he wouldn’t quarrel with her at all.

By this point, father and daughter were more like friends who could speak as equals. It was difficult for Wu Weidong to invoke his authority as her father to demand or order anything of her.

Even in the business whose shares he held, he generally followed her lead. Her private life was another matter entirely.

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be complicated. Leaving everything else aside, Wu Yurong had simply found herself a younger boyfriend. Wu Weidong wouldn’t even have asked about that. His daughter had been divorced for more than ten years; so what if she wanted to keep a handsome young man around?

He trusted her abilities. If she wanted to enjoy herself, that was her affair. It wouldn’t interfere with anything.

But he was convinced Wu Chen wasn’t some kept boy. Nor could he tell whether Wu Chen had been bluffing when he said he didn’t need Li Ruobing’s permission.

“Well, that explains why Rongrong suddenly came home and brought Mr. Wu with her…” Wu Weidong said at last. From his tone, he seemed to think his daughter had brought Wu Chen home to meet the family. He turned toward Wu Yurong again. “How did you two get together? How long has it been?”

“Not long. A little over two weeks,” Wu Yurong answered.

“Does Xuanxuan know?” he asked.

“It’s not a good idea to tell her yet,” Wu Yurong replied.

“Ah… so was it Mr. Wu who pursued our Rongrong?” Wu Weidong turned to Wu Chen.

Under ordinary circumstances, that would have been an exceedingly strange question. Wu Yurong was already in her forties.

But she was obviously not someone who could be judged by ordinary standards.

In appearance alone, she looked no older than Li Ruobing: like a woman in her twenties. And her beauty was in no way inferior to the younger woman’s.

Wu Weidong knew perfectly well how attractive his daughter was. There was nothing particularly strange about a young man in his twenties pursuing her.

“Sister Rong and I…” Wu Chen began, but stopped halfway.

“I was the one who made the first move,” Wu Yurong interrupted bluntly.

Wu Chen hadn’t asked her to flatter him like this. Clearly, Wu Yurong thought it necessary. Besides, she was telling the truth. On the day they met, over dinner that evening, she’d been the one to rub her foot against his under the table and invite him with words full of suggestion.

Wu Weidong immediately turned toward his daughter.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t surprised.

As her father, of course he understood her. He knew how shrewd she was. Over the years, any number of powerful men—even men whom the Wu family itself had reason to fear—had pursued her. And they’d done so as suitors who didn’t dare offend her lightly.

A few had even approached Wu Weidong himself. Back in the years when he still had more energy, they frequently chartered planes to take him overseas to play golf, addressing him respectfully as Master Wu or Uncle Dong at every turn.

To tell the truth, even Wu Weidong had been tempted.

He’d imagined what might happen if his daughter married a man of that caliber. He’d even discussed it with her. But Wu Yurong hadn’t been interested, so he’d stopped bringing it up.

He’d made the mistake once. He wasn’t going to make it a second time!

Gradually, Wu Weidong came to understand that if his daughter wanted to maintain her network and wield influence beyond what her own wealth could command, she had to remain single.

And for more than ten years, that was exactly what she’d done.

Yet now… she’d taken the initiative?!

She’d actually pursued a man who already had a girlfriend?!

What did Wu Chen have that those billionaires and heirs of powerful families didn’t? Outsiders might have had trouble understanding why Li Ruobing had chosen Wu Chen, but Wu Yurong’s choice was even harder for her own father to comprehend.

Li Ruobing had always done things her own way. With her, anything was possible.

Wu Yurong was different.

Her decision to remain single after her divorce had also been driven by very strong considerations of self-interest!

“Ah, I’m getting old. You young people and your affairs…” Wu Weidong suddenly sighed.

He looked as though he’d given up trying to make sense of it all. In reality, he simply couldn’t discuss it properly with his daughter while Wu Chen was present.

There were even things he couldn’t comfortably ask.

The situation was so tangled, with far too many questions he could have raised. But all of them were sensitive. Naturally, he couldn’t ask his daughter, in front of Wu Chen, things like “What exactly are you thinking?” or “What do you see in him?”

Questions about Li Ruobing were even more awkward.

“Does Mr. Wu intend to marry Rongrong?” he asked suddenly, still sighing, as though he’d misunderstood why his daughter had brought Wu Chen home to meet the family.

Wu Chen knew perfectly well that the old man was only pretending not to understand. He wanted to probe their relationship more closely and see what Wu Chen would say.

“Dad—I won’t be getting married again,” Wu Yurong said before Wu Chen could answer. She glanced at Wu Chen, then looked back at her father. “Wu Chen will marry Miss Li.”

“And you’re all right with that?” Wu Weidong promptly asked her.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Wu Yurong asked with a smile.

And there truly wasn’t any reason she shouldn’t be! Wu Yurong didn’t need marriage. Her daughter was already grown!

But Wu Weidong could tell that his daughter was defending Wu Chen at every turn!

There was a world of difference between hearing a particular statement from Wu Chen and hearing it from Wu Yurong. “Wu Chen doesn’t want to marry Wu Yurong” and “Wu Yurong doesn’t want to marry again” were hardly the same thing!

It made Wu Weidong think that Wu Chen was… damn, the man was something else!

How on earth had he managed to make the daughter Wu Weidong was so proud of behave this way?

Click, click, click…

The sound of high heels drew closer.

It came from outside the pavilion.

Everyone inside turned to look. An elegant, richly dressed woman who appeared to be in her fifties was approaching.

She wore a black embroidered qipao, her hair pinned up and a jade bracelet on her wrist. Though age showed in her face, it was still clear that she must have been a stunning beauty in her younger days.

They all knew her!

She was Wu Weidong’s wife and Wu Yurong’s mother, Han Yuzhi. She was actually sixty-five, though a lifetime of comfort and privilege, along with reasonably good self-care, made her look considerably younger.

These days, hardly anyone used the name Han Yuzhi. Outsiders generally addressed her as Mrs. Wu.

Wu Yurong didn’t resemble her mother all that closely. Rather, she’d inherited the best features of both parents. Even now, Wu Weidong was a handsome old man. In her taste in clothes, however, Wu Yurong was very much like her mother.

She’d learned her love of qipaos from her.

“Mom…” Wu Yurong greeted her.

“Rongrong, you’re back… I heard from Little Xu that we have a guest…” Han Yuzhi said as she climbed the two steps into the pavilion.

Wu Yurong and Wu Chen both stood.

“Mom, let me introduce you. This is Wu Chen…” Wu Yurong moved a couple of steps and gestured toward him. “Darling, this is my mom…”

“Mrs. Wu, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Mr. Wu, my granddaughter has told me about you. Oh, how she praised you! I’ve wanted to meet you for ages.”

Han Yuzhi shook Wu Chen’s hand. There were two words that best described the way she spoke: gentle and graceful!

From Han Yuzhi to Wu Yurong to Song Xuan, all three generations spoke in soft voices. Their voices had different tones, but their manner of speaking was remarkably similar. It had been passed down from Han Yuzhi.

“…And now I finally get to meet you. Such a fine-looking young man, Mr. Wu…” Han Yuzhi went on praising him as she released his hand.

She was about to move toward a seat beside Wu Weidong when she stopped abruptly.

“Rongrong, what did you just call Mr. Wu?” She turned sharply toward her daughter.

“Mom, he’s my man,” Wu Yurong replied, looking straight at her.

Han Yuzhi’s expression stiffened.

A few minutes later.

Silence settled over the pavilion once more.

Han Yuzhi was seated beside Wu Weidong. Compared with her husband’s casual, old-man way of sitting, she maintained an elegant, proper posture even in her chair.

She now understood the situation. She had asked everything she needed to ask.

The atmosphere had grown exceedingly delicate.

Wu Weidong could barely exercise any authority over Wu Yurong, and Han Yuzhi had even less. In fact, she was sometimes afraid of her own daughter because of things that had happened within the family. If Han Yuzhi hadn’t pleaded for mercy back then, Wu Yurong had nearly sent both her own elder brother and her maternal uncle to prison.

Han Yuzhi took a sip of tea, then suddenly set down her cup in a hurry, as though she’d just remembered something. She rose. “Oh, that’s right! There’s still soup simmering on the stove. Brother Dong… Mr. Wu, please carry on talking…”

There was no need for her to watch over the soup. She was simply finding an excuse to leave.

She’d barely taken a step when she gestured to Wu Yurong. “Rongrong, come with me a moment. There’s something I need to tell you…”

As long as they weren’t in conflict, a mother was still a mother. Wu Yurong glanced at Wu Chen, then stood. “You two carry on…”

Mother and daughter left the pavilion, one after the other. Han Yuzhi even linked arms with Wu Yurong and leaned close, speaking softly.

Clearly, she was taking her daughter aside to question her privately.

Wu Yurong understood exactly what her mother wanted. She also knew that it might be easier for Wu Chen to talk to her father with her gone. Even on her father’s side, there were things he couldn’t easily say in front of her.

The two women moved farther away.

Only Wu Chen and Wu Weidong remained in the pavilion.

Wu Weidong watched them go. Then he looked away, lifted his teacup, and took a sip. He gazed at the pond outside the pavilion, a little off to one side. As he lowered the cup, he turned to Wu Chen.

“Mr. Wu, you really know how to play your cards!”