Chapter 516: Then Let Them Come and Kill Me!

Chapter 516: Then Let Them Come and Kill Me!

“Mm. Go ahead,” Wu Chen said into the phone.

“Mr. Wu, Mr. Wu, here’s the thing…” Meng Junhao was speaking rather quickly. He seemed desperate to explain something, but had to choose his words carefully, so he repeated himself and kept breaking off.

“Mr. Wu… Ding Ruilong called me just now. He… he offered to pay me to… to make a move against you, Mr. Wu. Said it had to be as soon as possible. He said he’d give me two hundred million once it was done…”

“He certainly knows how to spend money,” Wu Chen said with a smile. His reaction was utterly calm; in fact, there was hardly any reaction at all.

Meng Junhao thought Wu Chen might not have realized the gravity of the situation, so he spoke again.

“Mr. Wu, the thing is, of course I wouldn’t make a move against you. Naturally, I couldn’t possibly agree to that. But he said so much, even gave me advice and made promises… He said…”

Meng Junhao told Wu Chen everything Ding Ruilong had said, exactly as it had happened, without concealing a thing.

He had originally been a “double agent,” but he had stopped being one after his first conversation with Wu Chen. He would pass information to Wu Chen, but he would not voluntarily tell Ding Ruilong what he knew about Wu Chen.

The fact that he was being so thorough this time, even mentioning Ding Ruilong’s offer to pay him a hundred million in advance, was also a way of demonstrating his loyalty.

Although he doubted even Wu Chen could solve the problem, he still clung to that tiny shred of hope.

He hoped Wu Chen could find a solution, rather than leaving him no choice but to flee and suffer enormous losses.

As he recounted the conversation, Meng Junhao also mixed in his own words and thoughts. It took him a full four or five minutes to finish telling Wu Chen everything.

“…The terms Ding Ruilong offered really are enormous. I’m sure you can see that too, Mr. Wu. Anyone offered those terms would agree. If I didn’t agree to Ding Ruilong’s proposal, he’d definitely think something was wrong with me! That I wasn’t acting like I used to,” Meng Junhao concluded, his heart still uneasy.

Although he had explained the situation, he was afraid Wu Chen might misunderstand and think he was playing double agent again, genuinely intending to attack him.

Wu Chen understood now. Meng Junhao had agreed to Ding Ruilong’s proposal.

“Mm. You did the right thing. Better to be cautious. Ideally, don’t let him suspect you in the slightest,” Wu Chen said.

Meng Junhao felt an enormous weight lift from his chest. He even found himself wondering why he hadn’t met Wu Chen sooner.

Working under Wu Chen was so much more comfortable than working for Ding Ruilong.

“But… but…” Meng Junhao began, sounding deeply troubled. “Mr. Wu, you know what Ding Ruilong is like. I’ve agreed to his proposal now. If I don’t make a move against you, he certainly won’t let me off. But there’s no way I can actually attack you. I… what am I supposed to do?”

What a predicament!

Meng Junhao truly felt he was in an impossible position!

“Hmm…” Wu Chen considered it briefly.

“Mr. Wu, I… if… if there’s really no other way, I still couldn’t possibly attack you. Then I’ll have to leave. I’ll go abroad and hide until things settle down. I… I have no choice… I can only…”

Meng Junhao even told Wu Chen about his plan to flee.

Because of those words, “You did the right thing,” Meng Junhao felt Wu Chen wasn’t the sort of ruthless person who would murder his own people to silence them.

Of course, it also had something to do with the fact that Meng knew relatively little about Wu Chen. Even if he revealed what he knew, it wouldn’t cause serious consequences.

At the same time, Meng Junhao was clinging to another faint hope. He no longer expected Wu Chen to have a good solution to this predicament. What he hoped was that after he fled, Wu Chen might help him dispose of his assets and businesses in China.

Even if he could handle only part of them, that would help minimize the losses.

“You going abroad…” Wu Chen began. After a pause, he continued, “There’s really no need for that.”

“Then… then if I stay, Mr. Wu… once Ding Ruilong starts suspecting me—even if he doesn’t know about my connection with you, just suspecting me is enough. I’ve worked for him for so many years. I know a lot… He might very well kill me to keep me quiet.” Meng Junhao sounded a little anxious, though inwardly he was frantic.

If Wu Chen wouldn’t let him leave, wasn’t he simply being forced to his death between the two sides?

“Just don’t give him any reason to suspect you,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“I… I… how could I possibly do that? If I don’t attack you, how could Ding Ruilong not suspect me? He’d definitely…” Meng Junhao was so frantic he could barely speak.

“It’s very simple,” Wu Chen said.

“Mr. Wu, you mean…” Meng Junhao responded immediately.

“He told you to kill me, so go ahead and try to kill me,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

Silence!

Meng Junhao fell silent at once, stunned.

Su Qingying, right beside Wu Chen, was stunned too. Her eyes widened.

Meng Junhao had been instinctively lowering his voice throughout the call. Although Su Qingying could hear him through Wu Chen’s phone, she caught only fragments. She had heard the name Ding Ruilong clearly, because Meng had repeated it so often that she was bound to catch it at least once.

But she hadn’t understood what the conversation was actually about. She’d heard only scattered words.

Wu Chen’s final sentence, however, had been perfectly clear!

He told you to kill me? So go ahead and try to kill me?!

A chill went through Su Qingying. She instinctively hugged Wu Chen’s arm more tightly. She knew there were many things about Wu Chen she didn’t know. She also knew that in many cases, even Li Ruobing wouldn’t know everything.

Su Qingying rarely tried to pry into Wu Chen’s secrets. Her relationship with him was very different from Li Ruobing’s relationship with him.

Su Qingying merely had some family problems. They wouldn’t put Wu Chen’s life in danger.

Li Ruobing was another matter. Su Qingying had long heard what kind of man Ding Ruilong was!

And just now, for the first time, Su Qingying had personally heard Wu Chen discussing the mortal danger Ding Ruilong posed to him. The word “kill” had been spoken outright.

She desperately wanted to ask about it, right then and there, but she held back.

Wu Chen was still on the phone.

“This… try to kill you? But… how…” Meng Junhao began after recovering from his shock. Then he suddenly sounded as though he understood. “Ah… Mr. Wu, you mean we put on a show? I send people to kill you, you get attacked but come out unharmed, and I simply fail? We stage it for Ding Ruilong?”

“More or less,” Wu Chen replied.

“Then… but…” Meng Junhao hesitated again, apparently having thought of something else. He even began objecting. “Mr. Wu, I’m afraid that won’t work.”

“Ding Ruilong said he’d send people to Donghai to contact me. If we’re only pretending, his men will be right there. They’ll certainly ask how I intend to carry out the attack. Ding Ruilong himself might demand a full explanation before I act. With other people around, it’ll be easy for them to realize it’s fake.”

“Besides, I don’t know who Ding Ruilong is sending, but I imagine they won’t be any weaker than the people Jiang Chuan brought last time. They might even be professional killers. They’re trained for this…”

“I’m afraid they won’t just investigate the arrangements. They might also lie in wait after I make my move. That could put your life in danger, Mr. Wu…”

Meng Junhao had thought through a great many things. His reasoning was clear, and everything he said made sense.

Putting on a show this time was entirely different from when Wu Chen and He Shiqin had acted out their relationship and Meng Junhao had arranged for people to photograph them!

Ding Ruilong hadn’t sent anyone to Donghai then. Throughout that performance, there had been no outsiders on Meng Junhao’s side. He could tell Ding Ruilong whatever he liked.

But if they staged another performance now, Meng Junhao would be under observation.

The risk of being exposed was too great, and so was the risk of something happening to Wu Chen!

“You don’t need your men to act. You’re the only one who needs to put on a performance,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“I act? My men don’t?” Meng Junhao didn’t quite understand. He repeated the words and pondered them for a moment before the realization struck.

“Mr. Wu, you mean I shouldn’t tell my men it’s an act? I should send them to genuinely try to kill you?!” Meng Junhao exclaimed suddenly, his words tumbling out at great speed.

His voice was loud, and the bedroom was quiet. Su Qingying heard him clearly too.

“Exactly!” Wu Chen confirmed.

“But…” Meng Junhao drew the word out in a high-pitched voice, completely dumbfounded.

Earlier, he hadn’t been able to comprehend Ding Ruilong’s madness.

Now he couldn’t quite comprehend Wu Chen either.

Wu Chen was… risking his life!

He really wanted Meng to send people to kill him? And he would face them head-on? If Wu Chen won, fine. It would count as Meng Junhao’s failed attempt, not because Meng had done anything wrong but because Wu Chen was simply too strong.

But what if Wu Chen lost? What if he couldn’t withstand the attack?

He would die!

“Mr. Wu, you… you don’t have to do this. I… at worst, I’ll just go abroad. I’ll run away. This is far, far too risky… If I don’t tell my men, they… they might really kill you…” Meng Junhao sounded genuinely sincere.

Whether or not some of it was an act, Meng Junhao did feel grateful to Wu Chen.

If Wu Chen did this, Meng Junhao would no longer have to shoulder any risk. He wouldn’t have to flee. Not only would Ding Ruilong have no reason to suspect him, but Ding would pay him an enormous reward, and Meng wouldn’t have to abandon his domestic businesses.

Nothing but benefits.

Almost all the risk would fall on Wu Chen himself!

The only potential problem was Li Ruotai, but even that could be resolved. As long as Li Ruotai was informed in advance, then even if something happened to Wu Chen, Meng Junhao couldn’t be blamed.

Despite all that, Meng Junhao was the one refusing.

For one thing, there were too many variables. Li Ruobing’s temper, for instance. Even if Li Ruotai understood the situation and didn’t blame Meng, Li Ruobing might feel differently. Ding Ruilong’s decision to send men to Donghai was another concern; those men introduced even more uncertainty.

More importantly, Wu Chen’s proposal placed all the danger on himself while giving Meng Junhao all the benefits. Meng was genuinely moved by that.

A “boss” like that was often worth risking one’s life for.

Meng Junhao truly couldn’t understand what Wu Chen was thinking. Yet at that moment he felt it would be better for him to flee. And he had complete confidence in Wu Chen.

He believed that with Wu Chen’s attitude toward his “subordinates,” Wu Chen would certainly help him deal with his domestic businesses after he went abroad.

He would even handle them better than Ding Ruilong had promised!

After all, Donghai was the territory of Li Ruotai, Wu Chen’s “younger brother-in-law.” Meng Junhao’s businesses there weren’t particularly outstanding, but they were sound. With Li Ruotai making introductions, selling them wouldn’t be difficult.

“Since I’ve proposed it, naturally I’m confident I can handle it. Just do as I say. I don’t think I need to explain what you’ll gain from this…” Wu Chen said.

“But… but…” Meng Junhao tried to persuade him again, feeling even more deeply moved.

Wu Chen knew exactly what Meng Junhao was thinking.

And that was precisely the result Wu Chen wanted.

At present, Wu Chen had only two direct subordinates. The second was Old Dao, and the first was Meng Junhao. Wu Chen had already won Old Dao over completely. He had practically bought the man’s freedom, and Old Dao’s loyalty was beyond question.

With Meng Junhao, Wu Chen needed to employ a few more tactics.

In fact, while Meng Junhao saw this as Wu Chen gambling with his life, it wasn’t. Only Wu Chen himself knew that he would face no danger.

Even in the worst-case scenario, Wu Chen held a trump card capable of reversing everything. He could always “reset.” And the matter itself wasn’t particularly dangerous to him anyway.

If the possibility of resetting were excluded, then it couldn’t be said there was absolutely no danger. But for Wu Chen, the chances of failure were extremely low.

Naturally, anything worth even that slight risk to Wu Chen had to offer benefits beyond imagination.

Ding Ruilong believed Meng Junhao was his man planted in Donghai. In reality, Meng Junhao was Wu Chen’s man planted close to Ding Ruilong!

Before this, Meng Junhao had been no more than a peripheral contact who maintained ties with Ding Ruilong.

But once he made his move, whether he succeeded or failed, he would have done his best. Ding Ruilong had promised him so much that, barring unforeseen developments, he wouldn’t go back on his word.

Ding Ruilong would begin to trust Meng Junhao enormously! He would give him even more support!

It was no exaggeration to say Meng Junhao would become one of Ding Ruilong’s closest confidants—and the deepest, most useful agent Wu Chen had placed beside him!

What benefits would that bring?

Meng Junhao himself didn’t realize what it would mean, because he knew nothing of the plans Wu Chen had already made against the Ding family.

Put it this way… once Meng Junhao became Ding Ruilong’s absolute confidant, Wu Chen could use the intelligence he had gathered about the Ding family during his thousand years in the loop and work through Meng Junhao to strike directly at the family!

He could use Meng Junhao to make the assets Wu Yurong, Gu Ruibo, and the others intended to hunt down even larger! He could even use Meng to influence Ding Ruilong’s decisions and the thinking of certain people within the Ding family.

These were all things Meng Junhao couldn’t accomplish on his own.

But with Wu Chen behind him, Meng Junhao would be enormously useful. In Wu Chen’s eyes, he would be even more valuable than Old Dao.

To be fair, even Wu Chen hadn’t quite expected Meng Junhao to rise so quickly into Ding Ruilong’s innermost circle.

Ding Ruilong himself had handed him the opportunity.

Offering Meng Junhao money to make an attempt on Wu Chen’s life had obviously been an impulsive decision. It wasn’t something Wu Chen had anticipated, but it was a welcome surprise!

“I’ll draw up the plan. On your end, you must be the only person who knows it’s a performance. All you need to do is arrange for your men to act according to my plan. Then there won’t be any problems. Understand?” Wu Chen said with a smile, partly to reassure Meng Junhao.

“Then… then your plan…” Sure enough, Meng Junhao sounded somewhat calmer.

Wu Chen would devise the entire plan and arrange every step, while Meng Junhao would merely carry it out. In that case… naturally Wu Chen would make sure he was safe.

“The plan… there’s no rush. We’ll discuss it face-to-face when the time comes. Ding Ruilong just ordered you to kill me. It would be strange if you could act immediately. Give it a couple of days, and then we’ll meet.”

“All right! Yes, Mr. Wu. Whatever you say.” Meng Junhao readily agreed, temporarily relieved.

“That’s all for now. We’ll be in touch.”

“All right! Of course! I won’t disturb your rest any longer, Mr. Wu.”

The call ended.

Wu Chen reached over and placed his phone back on the cabinet, then turned to Su Qingying with a smile. “Time to sleep.”

As though nothing had happened. When it was time to sleep, he slept.

That was Wu Chen.

Su Qingying, however, couldn’t calm down.

“Hubby, j-just now… did Ding Ruilong send someone to kill you?” Su Qingying asked, hugging his arm and looking up at him.

“That’s right.” Wu Chen nodded, then smiled. “It’s all right. He’s one of our own.”

“But… but didn’t you just say…” Su Qingying immediately replied, sounding nervous. “You told him to send people to kill you. I heard it too. The man on the phone said that if he didn’t tell his subordinates, they’d really try to kill you…”

“That’s right.” Wu Chen nodded again. “But I’ll be making the plan, so it won’t be much of a problem.”

That phrase, “not much of a problem”…

Naturally meant there was still a problem!

Even if the risk was only slight, it was still a matter of life and death.

Su Qingying wasn’t stupid. Quite the opposite: she was extremely intelligent and perceptive. Her view of the situation was the same as Meng Junhao’s—Wu Chen was gambling with his life!

“Isn’t that too dangerous? What if… Why not let the man on the phone go abroad instead?” Su Qingying asked, unconsciously biting the corner of her lip as she looked at him.

“There’s no danger. Ha.” Wu Chen chuckled and lightly tapped her nose to comfort her.

Wu Chen wasn’t lying.

There was a little danger only if the possibility of a “reset” wasn’t taken into account.

But Wu Chen could reset. Therefore he could say with complete confidence that the matter posed no danger to him whatsoever. Not the slightest bit.

“Sleep, sleep. I’ve told you it’ll be fine. I’ll explain the details to you when the time comes, all right? Don’t worry.” As he spoke, Wu Chen tightened the arm around her shoulders a little.

A little reassurance.

Then he reached over and switched off the light.

The bedroom abruptly grew dark. The moonlight outside was beautiful, spilling through the window and bathing the room in a faint, hazy glow.

Holding Su Qingying, Wu Chen slid down and lay flat.

Time to sleep!

Silence.

A long, long time passed.

Su Qingying still hadn’t fallen asleep. She couldn’t sleep anymore. Although her relationship with Wu Chen was far from conventional, she had fallen for him completely. She cared about him no less than Li Ruobing did.

Wu Chen treated her exceptionally well. He had fundamentally changed her career and even her whole life. Wu Chen wasn’t merely her lover. He was also…

And compared with what Li Ruobing knew about Wu Chen, Su Qingying knew less. She knew even less about the reckless, seemingly suicidal things he had experienced or done before.

That was why this incident had genuinely frightened her.

She was afraid of losing him.

“You know I’m… pretty extraordinary, right? So nothing will happen. Go to sleep.” Wu Chen suddenly spoke in the darkness. He knew Su Qingying was still awake; her breathing had never settled into an even rhythm.

Wu Chen rarely praised himself. The fact that he had actually described himself as “extraordinary” this time was naturally meant to reassure Su Qingying.

In Wu Chen’s judgment, Su Qingying was much less capable of bearing this sort of emotional strain than Li Ruobing.

He didn’t want his women to spend their time worrying about him.

But from the moment he had chosen Li Ruobing, such situations had become inevitable. There would always be occasions when others thought he was courting death. Only Wu Chen knew he wasn’t.

That was also why he so often disliked explaining things in detail. To outsiders, some of his plans seemed unimaginably risky, so bizarre they couldn’t possibly succeed.

Explaining them fully wasn’t easy either, so he might as well say nothing.

Whoosh.

In the darkness, Su Qingying abruptly sat up. She turned slightly and stared straight at Wu Chen.

There was moonlight, so once one’s eyes adjusted, it was possible to make out the other person vaguely.

Su Qingying’s eyes were especially bright.

“What are you doing?” Wu Chen asked with a smile, shifting his hand to give hers a gentle tug.

But Su Qingying suddenly moved again. She leaned over and switched on the light. The bedroom instantly brightened. She sat back down and stared at Wu Chen once more.

“Y-you… if you go through with it, then… then I’ll tell Ruobing! I’ll tell her right away!”

She was too worried. She was going to tell on him!