Chapter 546: Do You Have Any More Questions?

Chapter 546: Do You Have Any More Questions?

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Boss Tang,” Wu Chen said with a faint smile, referring to everything he had seen on his way upstairs. The display was exceptionally lavish. Wu Chen knew that had Tang Jingbin merely been meeting Li Maoren in private, he would never have staged such theatrics; he had practically garrisoned the restaurant with guards.

The primary point of the spectacle was for An Huaiguo to see.

Why stage this for An Huaiguo?

To demonstrate support for Wu Chen, of course!

Tang Jingbin was thoughtful in precisely that manner. Even now, he had deliberately closed the distance, speaking arm-in-arm. They had never converse in this fashion before; it was entirely superfluous, yet Tang Jingbin went out of his way to project an intimate bond. Clearly, he wanted An Huaiguo to witness every bit of it!

“Hahahaha! Thoughtful? What nonsense is that! You’re far too polite, Mr. Wu! Come, come, let’s take our seats…” Tang Jingbin turned and gestured, addressing the entire room.

As tonight’s host, it fell upon him to attend to the arrangements.

He had deliberately refrained from introducing An Huaiguo and Wu Chen to each other. It was unnecessary; had An Huaiguo refused to shake Wu Chen’s hand, the atmosphere would have turned mortifying. It wasn’t so much that he feared embarrassing Wu Chen—the graver peril was that An Huaiguo would be left with no graceful retreat to salvage his pride!

Under Tang Jingbin’s orchestration, the gathering commenced in an atmosphere of warmth and harmony. He intended to keep it that way.

The table was enormous, allowing them to sit comfortably apart.

Wu Chen moved toward the right, casually pulled out a chair, and sat down. He tossed the document envelope onto the table, smoothed his suit jacket, adjusted his tie, and crossed his legs.

Li Maoren took a seat a few chairs to Wu Chen’s right, while Gu Hongtu sat to his left.

Spacious gaps separated them all.

Moving leftward from Tang Jingbin, the seating order settled as Li Maoren, Wu Chen, Gu Hongtu, An Huaiguo, and back to Tang Jingbin.

Because Tang Jingbin and An Huaiguo sat close together—having shared cigars and small talk earlier—Wu Chen ended up seated almost directly opposite An Huaiguo.

An Huaiguo kept track of Wu Chen through his peripheral vision the entire time. Yet this was Tang Jingbin’s gathering; he had to show his host proper respect. Even if he harbored grievances, he could hardly throw a tantrum here, especially since he had already sensed the bizarre undercurrents permeating the room.

“Mr. Wu, take a look and order a couple more dishes.” Tang Jingbin tossed the menu to Wu Chen, bypassing even Li Maoren.

…There was truly no need to accord him this much face!

“I’m easy when it comes to food,” Wu Chen replied with a smile, glancing toward Li Maoren and Gu Hongtu. “Uncle? Boss Gu… care to take a look?”

“You go ahead.” Gu Hongtu offered a faint smile and waved a hand, patting down his pockets.

“Brother Hongtu, smoke one of mine.” Tang Jingbin slid his cigar case across the table.

“Order whatever you like,” Li Maoren said, nodding toward Wu Chen.

Aside from Wu Chen, Li Maoren was the figure An Huaiguo watched most intently. He held the loftiest station among them, and Wu Chen was publicly known as his daughter’s boyfriend…

Yet Li Maoren’s posture…

Even a fool could tell that Li Maoren and Wu Chen shared the closest relationship in the room. They wasted no words; when they spoke, they exchanged looks laden with tacit understanding that outsiders could never decipher. Only individuals bound by genuine intimacy could trade such glances.

Gu Hongtu picked up a cigar cutter, clipped the tip, and lit up!

“Brother Maoren…” Tang Jingbin offered the cigar case toward Li Maoren as well, but Li Maoren waved it off. He had smoked cigars before, but had cut back recently.

“Then I’ll have one myself,” Tang Jingbin said cheerfully, lighting another cigar.

A momentary hush fell over the suite. By rights, the conversation should never have stalled; there was always some topic to bridge the gap, and someone of Tang Jingbin’s caliber would never permit an awkward chill. Yet the room lapsed into a brief lull all the same. It seemed… they were all waiting for someone to speak.

“Let us discuss the business at hand. It won’t take long, and once we’re done, the food can be served,” Wu Chen said with a faint smile.

At that instant, An Huaiguo’s heart began thumping with abnormal violence!

It was the nervous reaction born of a situation so unfathomable it bordered on horrifying!

Why was Wu Chen the one speaking?!

Why was Wu Chen the one speaking?!!

An Huaiguo screamed the question in his mind, his gaze locked onto Wu Chen.

Wu Chen retrieved the document envelope he had tossed onto the table, drew out five dossiers, dropped them onto the large lazy susan in the center, and gave it a gentle spin. “Take a look, everyone.”

The turntable completed a circle. Each man picked up a dossier, leaving the final copy before Wu Chen.

The five dossiers were identical, spanning a mere nine pages each. It was both a timetable and an abridged plan for the destruction of a corporate conglomerate—an extraordinarily bare-bones blueprint. It essentially detailed which event would unfold, who would be brought down using evidence, who would be exposed, and who would be reported to the authorities and arrested by the police.

The actual evidence was nowhere to be found in the text.

It was utterly absurd!

Yet because it was Wu Chen who produced it, it somehow shed that absurdity.

Especially in the eyes of An Huaiguo… He had seen Wu Chen’s evidence; he knew this plan of destruction was actionable and entirely achievable!

The four men leafed through the pages.

The other three remained largely indifferent. They were already privy to the matter to varying degrees, but more importantly, they knew who Wu Chen was and what he had done. An Huaiguo—the only one among them who had scrutinized the underlying evidence—was the most visibly shaken, his expression changing repeatedly!

“Hezhong Media! I will destroy it! I’ll have Menglan swallow that behemoth whole! I had Peng Wei draft this plan; he’s been working under me for some time now and does decent work. That is the broad outline,” Wu Chen said with an easy smile. “Beyond those present in this room, the Sun family and others will participate, though they are absent tonight.”

“Boss An,” Wu Chen addressed him suddenly, “do you have any more questions?”

At that precise moment…

Li Maoren, expressionless; Gu Hongtu, cigar clamped between his teeth; and Tang Jingbin, wearing a genial smile, turned their heads in unison toward An Huaiguo.

Crushing pressure rolled over him like a tidal wave.

Cigar smoke drifted lazily through the air.