Chapter 039: You Should Worry More About Yourself

Chapter 039: You Should Worry More About Yourself

In truth, Wu Chen had been standing at the fourth-floor landing for some time already. He’d trained his footsteps to be near-silent, the kind of walk built for infiltration work—if he moved slowly enough, he’d make no sound at all, stairs or no stairs.

He’d caught enough of the conversation between Mu Qianqian and Wan Li to understand exactly what was going on.

The heavy footstep just now had been deliberate—a warning that he was home.

He kept climbing.

At the landing between the fourth and fifth floors, he stopped again, looked up at the two of them just now rising to their feet, and smiled. “Both of you, huh.”

Said that way, it landed strangely—as if Wu Chen knew not just Mu Qianqian, but Wan Li too.

He did, of course. Though across the thousand-year loop, his knowledge of Wan Li had always trailed behind his knowledge of Mu Qianqian. In his sprawling investigations, Wan Li had mostly been a side character.

Partly because her looks were only average—by Wu Chen’s own standard, even with makeup she didn’t clear a seven, more like a six point five. But because her father was a billionaire, because she was Mu Qianqian’s best friend, and because she’d burned through an unusual number of boyfriends, Wu Chen still had a fair amount on file about her.

His impression of her, honestly, wasn’t bad.

Her private life was a mess—wilder than Mu Qianqian’s by a wide margin—but that had nothing to do with him. He had no interest in sleeping with her.

Setting that aside, Wan Li was decent. Toward Mu Qianqian, at least, her loyalty was the real thing.

“That’s him?” Wan Li, now standing, tilted her head and murmured to Mu Qianqian.

“Yeah…” Mu Qianqian’s expression was strained.

“Look at that slicked-back pretty-boy face. One look and you know he’s trouble. Ooh, and a nice suit too—where’d you get the knockoff? Off scamming some other girl?” Wan Li’s voice climbed as she rounded straight on him. “You bastard con man!”

Wu Chen glanced at the small stun baton in her hand, then kept climbing, one slow step at a time, smiling. “Since you think I’m a con man, here’s a question—what made two girls barge over here so recklessly? Aren’t you worried I might just grab you and do something? However you slice it, I’m a grown man a head taller than either of you.”

“You—don’t try scaring us. You know who my dad is? If you dare—” Wan Li’s own words gave away just how rattled she was.

She hadn’t exactly thought this through.

And the fact that Wu Chen kept climbing, unbothered by the baton in her hand, only rattled her more.

Presence mattered, when facing trouble.

And Wu Chen’s calm, climbing those stairs without a flicker of hesitation, carried plenty of it.

Wan Li might be a billionaire’s daughter, but she was young, still a girl, still shielded from whatever methods her family actually used. Background aside, right now she was just a high schooler deep in her rebellious phase.

“Your father is Wan Jianmin. I know. No need to spell it out,” Wu Chen said, cutting her off with an easy smile. “I know your family has money. But money, however much of it, doesn’t put out a fire nearby when the water’s far away. Is anyone flying in to save you right this second? You tell me.”

He grinned, showing a flash of white teeth.

Under the dim yellow light of the stairwell, that smile alone was enough to raise the hair on Wan Li’s arms.

“You—what are you going to do? I’m warning you, stay back!” Wan Li yanked Mu Qianqian backward, waving the baton with her free hand.

“I never asked either of you to come find me. You showed up on your own.” Wu Chen kept grinning.

He’d reached the fifth floor.

Wan Li had already dragged Mu Qianqian up onto the stairs beyond it, as though Wu Chen meant to do something and had forced them into retreat.

“You! Don’t come any closer! I’ll scream! I’ve trained for this—one hit from this baton and you’re going down, you—” Wan Li shoved Mu Qianqian behind her, brandishing the baton in front like a shield.

She didn’t finish the sentence.

Because she’d just watched Wu Chen pull out… his house key.

“Fighting with thin air, are you? I’m just heading home. Look how spooked you are.” Wu Chen said this while unlocking the door, his back to Wan Li, still a few steps above him.

“Here’s a thought—instead of worrying whether I’m a con man, maybe worry about yourself instead,” he added, still working the lock. “Do you really think you’re Hu Xiaowei’s only girlfriend?”

“Lili, don’t—!” Mu Qianqian cried out.

Wan Li had already lunged, baton raised toward the back of his neck.

She froze mid-motion.

Because he’d just said a name. Hu Xiaowei.

Her current boyfriend. The one who’d come back yesterday.

Wu Chen pushed the door open a little, then turned to face Wan Li, now stopped a meter away. She flinched back two steps, nearly tripping on the stairs, and Mu Qianqian caught her just in time.

“No need to panic quite that much, is there?” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“You—what did you just say about Hu Xiaowei? How do you know him?” Wan Li demanded, shock and suspicion tangled together.

“Everyone knows Miss Wan changes boyfriends faster than she changes outfits. None of them last three months. Everyone knows they’re temporary. So ask yourself—if you weren’t rich, young, and easy, who’d bother with you at all?”

“You son of a—” Wan Li nearly spat the rest, stung by how blunt he was.

“Hu Xiaowei got back to Donghai four days ago,” Wu Chen went on before she could finish cursing, a teasing edge in his faint smile. “First stop was his girlfriend’s place—201, Unit 3, No. 19 Fuyuan Road. Then two days of KTV and bathhouses with a few of his lowlife friends. He ran out of cash yesterday, which is exactly why he showed up at your door so late.”

“Bullshit! You—you—”

“Why not just call and check? How long have you two been waiting here? You think he’s actually home right now? Want to guess whether he’s off with yet another girlfriend the second you leave? And didn’t he hit you up for money again before you two split up this time?”

A whole barrage of questions.

The kind that cut straight to the bone.

Wu Chen didn’t actually know for certain whether Hu Xiaowei would slip out again after Wan Li left today, but odds were good.

Because that’s exactly how it had gone before.

Hu Xiaowei was a jobless pretty boy who lived on lies, specializing in fishing rich girls out of their money.

“You—you just wait. Talk trash about Xiaowei, will you? Watch this, Qianqian—I’m calling him right now and proving this con man is a lying sack!” Wan Li shoved the baton into Mu Qianqian’s hands, dug her phone out of her bag, dialed Hu Xiaowei, and hit speaker.

“Hey, Xiaowei. You home?” she asked. By home, she meant her own luxury apartment.

“Yeah, babe. You coming back? What do you want to eat? I’ll run down and grab it now.” A voice came through, soft and doting.

“Good boy. No, I’m not coming back—I’m out with Qianqian.” As she spoke, she shot Wu Chen a triumphant look, then went sweet again. “Xiaowei, go check the vanity drawer in the bedroom. There’s ten thousand yuan in there. Read me the serial number on the top bill.”

“Huh? Ten thousand? Uh… is there money in there?” His voice cracked immediately.

“There is. Go check, hurry. Qianqian and I made a bet,” Wan Li said.

“Uh… thing is, I’m in the bathroom right now. Give me a sec, I…” His stammering made her face shift.

She wasn’t stupid.

“Screw you, Hu Xiaowei! You’re not home?! You lying to me? Which little vixen are you fooling around with right now?”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The line went dead.