Chapter 064: That Kneeling…

Chapter 064: That Kneeling…

Wu Chen had no interest in humiliating Li Ruobing. Honoring a lost bet had nothing to do with humiliation—not in his mind.

But he understood something about a woman like her. If he wanted to win her over, wanted her to set down that iron will of hers where he was concerned, he had to start by getting her to bow her head to him first. Forcing that outright would be next to impossible, and threatening her might only provoke something worse.

A bet, though—a bet was different.

Li Ruobing’s fierce pride, her need to come out on top, only meant anything if she also kept her word once she lost. Otherwise winning and losing were both meaningless to her.

Behind the desk, Li Ruobing fixed Wu Chen with a dark, unreadable stare. Regret would be an understatement. Why had she ever agreed to raise the stakes with this man? She could have accepted anything else. Kneeling was the one thing she couldn’t stomach.

She’d only agreed because she’d never imagined she would lose.

“Fifty million.”

“No.”

The offer came out of nowhere. His refusal came faster still—almost before she’d finished the sentence.

To anyone else, the exchange might have needed explaining.

Wu Chen didn’t need a word of it explained.

The original terms were that Li Ruobing had hired him to find a spokesperson, paying him twenty million if he succeeded. The bet layered on top was that if Wu Chen failed, he would pay Li Ruobing twenty million instead; if he succeeded, Li Ruobing would pay him the twenty million commission and also promise not to get jealous over any other women in his life afterward.

None of that was the problem.

The added condition—kneel and apologize—was the problem.

So when she said fifty million, what she meant was clear enough: an extra thirty million, in exchange for skipping the kneeling.

She’d pay that much, gladly, just to stay on her feet.

They said a man’s knees were made of gold.

Under Li Ruobing’s knees, apparently, sat an entire vault.

“Nothing to discuss?” she tried again.

“Go back on it if you want. I can’t force you.” Wu Chen even shrugged.

“I’m not going back on it. I’m negotiating. You hold the power here.” She said it fast.

“Nothing to negotiate.” He smiled faintly. “Tell me, Boss Li—if I’d lost, would you have let me swap out the terms? You’ve always been a woman who means what she says. Take your bet with Ding Ruilong, for instance. If you actually lose that one, you’ll honor it too, won’t you?”

It was unbearable.

Truly unbearable.

Just the thought of kneeling before a man like Wu Chen made her head throb.

Her opinion of him, before all this, had been genuinely high. Genuinely good, even—his abilities, his methods, had gone far beyond anything she’d expected.

Before he’d even come to her office, she’d already caught herself wondering why she cared at all that he might have gone off to see some other woman for fun.

She’d even suspected, for a moment, that she’d fallen for this mysterious man she’d known for barely two days.

The less she understood him, the more he pulled at her.

And raw competence like his fit exactly what she wanted in a man.

But.

After that call this morning, she’d started to think he wasn’t quite as impressive as she’d assumed.

To her mind, this wasn’t a question of morals or law. It was simpler than that—what kind of capable man couldn’t even control his own urges, risking disease to chase after women like that?

Would it kill him to just keep one instead?

There was no getting around it: after that call, Wu Chen’s standing in her eyes had taken a serious hit.

Which was exactly why she felt so wretched right now.

“Seventy million.” Another offer.

“Don’t do this. You’re making it sound like I’m the one strong-arming you.” Wu Chen smiled, unbothered. “You know what, forget it. If you really don’t want to, I won’t push. We’re partners now. No sense making things ugly between us.”

If anything, that only made backing down completely impossible.

Owing him this much, and on top of it leaving him with the impression that she didn’t keep her word—that, Li Ruobing could not allow.

“Then just name something. I really don’t want to kneel. Pick another condition, you decide,” she tried once more.

“Forget it.” Two words. Nothing further.

She stared at him. He said nothing, held her gaze without flinching.

Both hands braced on the desk, Li Ruobing pushed herself slowly to her feet.

“I, Li Ruobing, am not someone who goes back on her word.” She said it plainly, looking straight at him. She meant it—she always kept her word, though she also knew how to bend when it served her. But since he wouldn’t budge, there was nothing left but to see the bet through as agreed.

“After you.” Wu Chen extended a hand, indicating the spot before him.

Li Ruobing came out from behind the desk, stopped at its side, braced one hand against it, and turned to remove her heels one at a time, letting them drop to the floor. Kneeling in heels was next to impossible.

Her movements were slow, almost reluctant.

Wu Chen understood. Even someone who prided herself on keeping her word could still find herself waging a fierce war within, faced with something like this.

Heels discarded, she stood there in her stockings, about to step toward him.

Her phone rang.

It was still on the desk. She glanced back, walked over, picked it up, checked the screen, and answered.

“Sis, is Brother-in-law at your office?” Li Ruotai.

“He’s here. Why, you need him?” she said.

“Someone’s investigating him. Serious connections involved. Just got word myself,” Li Ruotai said quickly.

“Who?” Her brow creased.

“Jinfu Group. The Su family. I’ve already got people digging in the other direction, but we don’t know yet which one of the Sus is behind it.” He kept going. “You want to tell him yourself, or should I call him?”

“I’ll tell him. Wait—” Something seemed to catch in her mind. She paused. “What was that, the first thing you said?”

“Someone’s investigating Brother-in-law—”

“No, before that.”

“Is Brother-in-law at your office? What’s wrong, Sis? Didn’t you send him there yourself?”

“How do you know he’s there?”

“Because he was here all morning!”

“At your place?!”

“Yeah, here. Locked-up neck, came in for a massage, I set it up myself. Over two hours of it. What’s going on?” Li Ruotai could hear something off in her voice now, and his own tone turned careful.

“Nothing. It’s fine.” Her voice came out flat, distant.

“Sis, you okay?” He still had no idea what was happening, and it made him even more careful.

“I’m fine. Hanging up.” She ended the call.

She stood by the desk, phone clenched in one hand, back to Wu Chen, her expression running through half a dozen things at once—irritation at having been played, and underneath it, a loosening, a relief. Complicated, all of it tangled together.

Wu Chen was still Wu Chen. Mysterious, unreadable, faintly miraculous.

He hadn’t done the thing that, in her eyes, would have made him something cheap and driven purely by appetite.

“You were messing with me.” She turned to face him.

“Messing with you how?” He played innocent.

One look at his face told her everything. She’d been had, deliberately.

“You really have nothing better to do, do you?” She set the phone down and crossed the room to stand in front of him, quick steps.

Thud.

She knelt.

Knees together, facing him square.

“I was wrong. I’m sorry.” Even on her knees, her back stayed straight, her chin lifted, her voice carrying the same dignity as ever.

Somehow that kneeling came out looking less like submission and more like the bearing of some doomed hero in an old tale, hurling defiance at the court before the blade fell.

The apology finished, she rose at once, no pause at all.

Walking back, she muttered under her breath, “How can someone have this little to do?” Bent over her shoes now, back to him, she added, “Want to get lunch? Oh—and Atai just called. Said someone’s investigating you. Jinfu Group, the Su family. Any idea who?”

Her voice was perfectly ordinary, as if the woman who’d just knelt before him and apologized had been someone else entirely.