Chapter 518: Let Him Stew!
by cnwebnovelsChapter 518: Let Him Stew!
Li Ruobing’s reaction was dramatic, as though Ding Ruilong’s words had immediately caught her attention.
“Wu Chen has other women?” she repeated, then gave a cold laugh. “Ha! Ding Ruilong! Are you trying to drive a wedge between Wu Chen and me? How childish can you get? Take my advice and concentrate on recovering from your injuries. Getting used to holding your phone in your left hand? Don’t use your right. You might end up permanently disabled. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
A cold laugh. Disbelief. Mockery.
But Li Ruobing didn’t hang up afterward. That told Ding Ruilong that she cared about Wu Chen.
She said she didn’t believe him, but she still wanted to hear more.
“I know you’re deeply prejudiced against me, but this time, I swear I’m not lying to you!” Ding Ruilong forced down his anger and tried to keep his voice even.
“If swearing oaths worked, you’d have fucking died ten thousand times already!” Li Ruobing sneered sarcastically.
Ding Ruilong was momentarily at a loss for words. He fell silent, and Li Ruobing could hear his heavy breathing.
“…Is Wu Chen there? Beside you?” Ding Ruilong suddenly asked.
“Of course he is. We’d already turned the lights off when you called like a lunatic.” Li Ruobing turned toward Wu Chen, her voice abruptly becoming tender. “Darling, he says you have other women.”
There was mockery in her voice, but it wasn’t aimed at Wu Chen. She was mocking how crude Ding Ruilong’s attempt to sow discord was.
“That idiot. Maybe the explosion damaged his brain too,” Wu Chen replied with a smile.
The remark not only insulted Ding Ruilong but also amounted to a denial of his accusation.
Stir up his emotions!
Make him even more desperate to tell Li Ruobing.
And when the time came, he’d break down even further and behave even more extremely.
“You mother—” Ding Ruilong had naturally heard their exchange. He erupted in fury, then stopped himself abruptly.
Don’t curse. Don’t curse.
He was forcing himself to control his temper, doing everything he could to avoid clashing with Wu Chen during this call. He knew perfectly well that if he cursed Wu Chen now, Li Ruobing would refuse to talk to him any longer.
She might simply hang up, switch off her phone, and go to sleep.
He would have other opportunities to tell Li Ruobing the “truth,” but he was too impatient. He wanted to tell her now, this instant, and make her see Wu Chen’s true colors!
“Ruobing…” Ding Ruilong spoke again after several long seconds.
“I’ll say it again. Don’t call me Ruobing!” Li Ruobing cut him off through clenched teeth.
“Fine, fine, fine! Fine! Miss Li!” Ding Ruilong said at once. He took a deep breath and asked hoarsely, “Do you know He Shiqin?”
“He Shiqin?” Li Ruobing repeated the name as though she hadn’t heard it in years. Then she gave a cold laugh. “Ding Ruilong, I used to think you were shameless. I never imagined you could be this shameless!”
“Your Ding family is desperate to marry into our Li family, and you’re bringing up He Shiqin? Granted, this whole marriage business has nothing to do with me. It’s all your family’s wishful thinking. But you’re bringing her up to me? That daughter He Shiqin bore you out of wedlock must be thirteen this year, right? Or fourteen?”
“I hear the little girl doesn’t even have your surname. Ding Ruilong, you’re a real animal! You won’t acknowledge the woman who bore your child, and you won’t even acknowledge the child?”
“Why is someone like you still alive? Why don’t you find a rope and hang yourself?”
Insult him! Just keep insulting him!
At the same time, Li Ruobing was making it appear that she didn’t know He Shiqin personally. She’d merely heard of a woman by that name who had an illegitimate daughter by a member of the Ding family.
This was crucial!
It could affect whether Ding Ruilong suspected He Shiqin of revealing that he’d killed Dong Yuantao.
Ordinarily, Ding Ruilong wouldn’t easily make that connection. It had happened fourteen or fifteen years ago, and even if the matter had come to light back then, it wouldn’t have shaken the Ding family’s foundations.
Only because the Dong family had risen in recent years would exposure now have such serious consequences.
And Dong Yuantao’s death was hardly the only disgraceful thing Ding Ruilong had done that could cause serious trouble for his family.
Compared with the others, though, this secret was the best protected.
No one had any substantial evidence. There was only one eyewitness, and her testimony alone would prove nothing.
As for He Shiqin… Ding Ruilong knew her too well. He knew she lacked the courage to speak about it. If she’d had that courage, she would have fought him to the death back then instead of swallowing her grievances and submitting.
Even so…
If Ding Ruilong discovered that Li Ruobing had already known He Shiqin was in Donghai and was with Wu Chen, it could have a serious consequence.
He might suspect that it wasn’t Wu Chen who’d brought He Shiqin to Donghai, but Li Ruobing!
The wager would be decided at the end of the year, and Ding Ruilong still held the advantage.
He might mistakenly believe Li Ruobing was preparing one last desperate gamble: unable to win their wager, she would use He Shiqin and He Xinxin against him.
Ding Ruilong believed He Shiqin wouldn’t volunteer that secret.
But what if Li Ruobing took the initiative and asked He Shiqin what she knew about Ding Ruilong?
They absolutely couldn’t let his thoughts turn in that direction.
So Li Ruobing could only “learn” from Ding Ruilong that He Shiqin was in Donghai, brought there by Wu Chen to make a cuckold of him. She absolutely couldn’t let Ding Ruilong think she’d known all along, much less that she’d already met He Shiqin.
The difference between Li Ruobing deliberately seeking He Shiqin out and learning about her passively was enormous.
Ding Ruilong was on the verge of losing his mind.
Li Ruobing had cursed him before, but this time was different. She simply wouldn’t let him speak. Whatever he said, she found a way to turn it into another round of abuse.
“He Shiqin is in Donghai!” Ding Ruilong suddenly raised his voice.
“Oh? So what?” Li Ruobing replied as though the words had slipped out naturally.
“She’s with Wu Chen! Wu Chen brought her from Modu to Donghai! They even had dinner together tonight!” Ding Ruilong blurted out in one breath.
Li Ruobing fell silent.
As though she were trying to decide whether he was telling the truth!
Only after several seconds did she speak again.
“Ding Ruilong! Don’t you realize how ridiculous you sound? Such a childish, pathetic lie, just to drive us apart! You expect me to believe you? Ha!” Once again, she sounded utterly unconvinced. She paused, then continued before he could speak. “Besides, what business is it of yours whether Wu Chen has other women? It just proves my man is capable. Stop spreading gossip to stir up trouble between us!”
These words were utterly at odds with the public’s understanding of Li Ruobing, and naturally with Ding Ruilong’s understanding of her as well.
Everyone knew that Li Ruobing, the eldest granddaughter of the Li family’s main branch, was strong-willed and domineering, a woman who wouldn’t tolerate the slightest offense.
Therefore…
Ding Ruilong took her words as something said in anger, deliberately meant to provoke him.
“I have proof! I have photographs!” Ding Ruilong growled, his hoarse voice taking on a shrill edge.
“You even managed to take photos? Send them over and let me see…” Li Ruobing sounded deeply concerned, but then she changed tack and sneered. “One word of advice: tell your people to do a better job when they Photoshop them. Don’t let me spot the fakes!”
With that, Li Ruobing hung up.
Performance over!
The instant she ended the call, she couldn’t hold back her smile. She even turned and kissed Wu Chen’s cheek again. That smile…
She had truly, truly never felt so satisfied.
She’d always cursed Ding Ruilong before, but that had merely been a way of venting her anger. It hadn’t brought her any pleasure. If anything, dealing with him was irritating.
Li Ruobing still had a company to run. She couldn’t leave her phone switched off all the time. She couldn’t afford to lose the wager and had to do everything she could, so she had no choice. Hearing Ding Ruilong’s voice annoyed her, but she still had to answer his calls.
This time, though, she wasn’t annoyed.
She had him completely figured out!
She could sense every shift in his emotions. He was beside himself with rage but didn’t dare curse her. He was so frantic he was close to breaking down, yet he still hoped his attempt to turn her against Wu Chen would succeed!
That was the most amusing part!
If Ding Ruilong eventually understood that she, Li Ruobing, would rather share Wu Chen with other women than marry a piece of trash like Ding Ruilong, would he want to die?
“Feel better after getting that off your chest?” Wu Chen asked with a smile, glancing at Li Ruobing beside him.
“Hmph.” Li Ruobing gave a soft snort, still smiling. “That bastard. Why doesn’t he just get so angry he drops dead?”
On Wu Chen’s other side—
Su Qingying rested her chin on his shoulder and watched them with her head slightly tilted. She’d faintly heard what Ding Ruilong had said on the phone. In truth, he hadn’t said very much. Li Ruobing had done most of the talking, and most of that had been cursing.
Su Qingying had also understood what was happening. She knew Li Ruobing was acting.
Although she hadn’t grasped all the implications, they weren’t important to her. As she’d listened, she hadn’t really been thinking about any of those other things. Only one thought had occupied her mind: Ding Ruilong had hired someone to kill Wu Chen!
Yet Li Ruobing hadn’t mentioned that to Ding Ruilong even once.
She was clearly pretending she didn’t know.
That made Su Qingying feel even more reassured.
Because it showed that Li Ruobing truly had confidence in Wu Chen. She believed his plan would succeed and that his life wouldn’t be in danger.
They were going to put on a show for Ding Ruilong!
Plunk!
Li Ruobing’s phone suddenly made a distinctive notification sound. An email had arrived.
She immediately opened it and extracted the compressed attachment. It contained those photographs, which she’d already seen.
Ring, ring…
The phone rang.
Ding Ruilong was calling.
Li Ruobing didn’t even answer. She declined the call and then switched off her phone.
Let him stew!
Li Ruobing knew Ding Ruilong must be desperate to learn whether seeing the photographs would send her into a rage, whether she would confront Wu Chen… He wanted to know the outcome, wanted to know whether she would break up with Wu Chen over them!
Li Ruobing wasn’t about to let him find out so easily.
“I’m going back to sleep.” Li Ruobing turned to Wu Chen. She seemed to be in an excellent mood, but she also gave him a meaningful look.
She still hadn’t had a serious discussion with Wu Chen about staging the assassination attempt.
Tonight was clearly no longer the right time. They had to discuss it alone, without Su Qingying present.
Tomorrow, then.
Li Ruobing got up and left, returning to the guest bedroom.
A new day: August 4, 2020.
At exactly seven in the morning, Wu Chen opened his eyes on schedule. He turned to look at Su Qingying, who appeared peaceful in her sleep, and smiled. Without making a sound, he wrapped an arm around her, rolled over, and closed his eyes again.
There were very few occasions when he woke at precisely seven and simply went back to sleep without first opening his eyes.
He needed to establish one thing: time was moving forward.
He had no desire to return to that life of being trapped in the same day. So he always opened his eyes, looked around, and made sure.
Time passed silently.
Eight in the morning.
Wu Chen and Su Qingying woke one after the other. After a quick wash, they got dressed and left the bedroom.
As they approached the staircase, there was no sound from the first-floor living room. That suggested Li Ruobing hadn’t gotten up yet.
“I’ll go check,” Wu Chen said, gesturing with his hand.
“Mm, okay.” Su Qingying nodded.
She went downstairs first.
Wu Chen headed to the other end of the hallway, opened the guest bedroom door, and walked straight in.
Li Ruobing was actually already up. She sat before a mirror doing her makeup. When Wu Chen entered, she glanced at him, then returned her attention to the mirror and continued applying lipstick.
“Ding Ruilong hasn’t called you again?” Wu Chen asked with a smile as he approached her dressing table.
“My phone’s off. There’s no hurry,” Li Ruobing replied.
She twisted the lipstick closed, pressed her lips together, then turned toward Wu Chen. Tilting her head slightly, she propped her left hand against her cheek, struck a little pose, and smiled sweetly. “Am I beautiful?”
“Beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous,” Wu Chen said with a smile.
“Then why are you still going to risk your life? Aren’t you afraid something might go wrong and you’ll actually die? Are you really so willing to leave me behind?” Her smile faded sharply.
“You know the answer. You’ve asked me before. I’m… not an ordinary person,” Wu Chen said, smiling.
“So you’re not made of flesh and blood?” Li Ruobing raised an eyebrow.
“Of course I am.”
“Then what more is there to say? If you’re flesh and blood, you can die when you gamble with your life!”
“Are we having an argument?” Wu Chen asked with a smile.
“You think I want to argue with you?” Li Ruobing sounded weary.
“You don’t know my plan or what other arrangements I’ve made, yet you’re questioning me again? When has questioning me ever worked?” Wu Chen had reached her by then and placed both hands on her shoulders.
“When has anything been as dangerous as this?” Li Ruobing shot back.
“To me, it’s all the same. None of it is dangerous.” Wu Chen smiled.
“You…” Li Ruobing wanted to say more.
“All right… I have to go to Modu today. As for the assassination, we won’t make the actual arrangements until I return to Donghai. We’ll talk it through properly then. There’s no rush…” Wu Chen gently squeezed her shoulders.
“Hmph. In such a hurry to see An Menglan?” Li Ruobing snorted.
“Jealous?” Wu Chen asked with a smile.
“Of course. I’m positively dying of jealousy.” Her sarcasm was unmistakable, and she sounded a little annoyed.
They exchanged a few more barbs before leaving the bedroom one after the other and going downstairs.
While Wu Chen and Li Ruobing had been talking, Su Qingying, who’d gone down ahead of them, had already started working in the kitchen. She genuinely loved cooking. Having been controlled so harshly in the past, she now felt that preparing food with her own hands was what living was all about.
She wasn’t making anything elaborate.
Fried eggs and grilled sausages. Everything she needed was in the refrigerator, along with slices of bread.
Breakfast could be simple.
…
Around eleven thirty that morning.
Modu.
After speeding along for more than two hours, a blue Lamborghini with Donghai license plates finally exited the expressway. Normally, the highway drive from Donghai to Modu took more than four hours. Wu Chen had driven at breakneck speed.
It wasn’t a question of whether he was in a hurry. He simply felt like driving fast.
After leaving the expressway, the blue Lamborghini headed toward Linjiang Avenue in Dongpu District. An Menglan’s company wasn’t located there, but Wu Chen didn’t need to visit her until the afternoon.
At noon, he had another plan: lunch.
Zhuang Xiaodie was already waiting for him at the restaurant.
Eleven forty-five. Dolphin Bay Western Restaurant, Linjiang Avenue.
Seated beside a window, Zhuang Xiaodie noticed the familiar Lamborghini pull up at the roadside outside. She rose eagerly, her high heels clicking as she hurried out of the restaurant.
Wu Chen had just parked and stepped out when Zhuang Xiaodie reached his side. She naturally slipped her arm through his and said softly with a smile, “Mr. Wu, you’re here.”
“Let’s talk inside.” Wu Chen smiled, his gaze casually sweeping their surroundings.
Someone was watching Zhuang Xiaodie.
Though “watching” wasn’t quite the right word. They were secretly protecting her.
They were people from the Tang family.
Zhuang Xiaodie had always gotten along well with Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi. And ever since Wu Chen had brought the Tang family into an alliance with the Li and Gu families, his standing with the Tangs had risen to the point where Tang Jingbin had to treat him as an equal.
Wu Chen himself wouldn’t be staying in Modu permanently.
Zhuang Xiaodie, however, would.
So to the Tang family, she was more than just Wu Chen’s woman. In a sense, she also served as his representative.
Mao Rusong had already planned to assign bodyguards to Zhuang Xiaodie, both openly and covertly. But in this respect, Mao Rusong clearly couldn’t compare with the Tang family. It wasn’t that Mao Rusong was unreliable; the Tang family’s people were simply more professional.
The Tangs were a military family. None of their bodyguards came from an informal background. Every one of them was a retired special forces soldier!
Wu Chen and Zhuang Xiaodie went inside.
They sat down by the window.
They ordered food and chatted.
It was nothing more than casual conversation.
“Getting used to being the boss?” Wu Chen asked with a teasing smile.
“It’s all right.” Zhuang Xiaodie smiled with her lips pressed together, looking a little embarrassed.
They hadn’t seen each other for several days, and Zhuang Xiaodie really had changed quite a bit. She was still a university student and hadn’t graduated, but her clothes and appearance were more mature. She wore a dark purple, waist-fitted dress. Of all Wu Chen’s women, she had the finest figure, and the dress only enhanced her appeal.
Her makeup was a little bolder, too.
But her new “maturity” was mostly an impression, an air created by her clothes and styling.
She couldn’t possibly have undergone any fundamental change in just a few days.
It was simply that she’d acquired equity and taken a place in the company’s management. She needed to dress more like a woman than a girl.
In front of Wu Chen, though, she couldn’t help herself. She could hear the teasing in his voice and still grew shy.
“How’s Boss Mao doing?”
“Still in the hospital… I heard he’s basically fine, but they want to keep him under observation for a week before discharging him.”
They continued chatting.
Their food soon arrived.
Before they knew it, it was twelve thirty.
Ring, ring!
Wu Chen’s phone rang.
He took it out and looked. An Menglan was calling.
“Hello, Miss An,” Wu Chen answered with a smile.
“He jumped off the building,” An Menglan said immediately.